Do the Habs even make the playoffs

[bondon]

LOLLLLLLLLLLLL

I've been a huge critic of the Habs in the past years(even before the Subban trade), but this take is just trash. The Habs are, with a healthy Price, a playoff lock. Their D is horrendous if you ask me. Bottom tier in the NHL no questions asked but the Habs have a top5 coach in the NHL with Claude Julien who has made miracles with the Bruins D in the past.

Yeah I agree. The Canucks are awful. Take that from a fan.

[bergman]

Who are their 2 30 goal scorers? MaxPac and? Drouin? He hasn't scored 30goals in his career. I wouldn't be surprised if he put up 30goals, but you can't bank on it.

Byron scored the second most of the Canadiens and shot the puck 96 times. He scored at an unsustainable rate. Even Gally scored at a high rate (16+% shooting).

Scoring will be an issue, but they're lucky they have Price.

Their two 30-goal scorers are the two that have scored 30 goals... namely Pacioretty and Galchenyuk. Why is Byron's shooting percentage unsustainable? ...and don't say because it "is bound to regress" or "is far too higher than the average". League-wide averages are useful for predicting the play of the average player, not any one individual. If you watch him play, you'll realize why his shooting percentage is as high as it is, and why it has remained that high. Probably a good quarter of those 96 shots came on a partial or full breakaway. Byron has shot at a 22.45% rate over two full seasons with Montreal. He has a career shooting percentage of 18.3% over 281 games. So again, is there a reason beyond "he must eventually become average" to indicate this is unsustainable? Regardless, it doesn't matter if he only scores 10 this year. The point is that there are enough goal scorers on this team to leave the actual goal-scoring ability of the team up to the team's play as a whole, not a lack of talent.

[Mr. Guru]

Price = playoffs.

No Price = no playoffs.

Losing Markov and Radulov will definitely hurt.

[tweetdrivr]

The Habs D is not horrendous. The depth may be suspect but we really don't know. And Weber has been one of the top shots against suppression D men in the league. That won't change this season. The other piece, which is a knock on Bergevin, is that you have three of the top six (Schlemko, Alzner, Mete, Davidson? Jerebeck? Morrow?) who are new to the team and the system. Schlemko hasn't even had a chance to practice with the team yet. There are a myriad reasons why playing sooo many pre-season games is stupid and worthless and this sort of hand wringing is one of them. If I'm in the Habs locker room I find it hilarious that so many folks are getting their panties all bunched up over the f'ing PRE SEASON. Heck, I'd even sand bag the crap out of it so no one knows what we have come Oct 4. Fog and Friction baby. Mark my words...Habs will, barring injury, win the Atlantic.

[2014olympicgold]

Their two 30-goal scorers are the two that have scored 30 goals... namely Pacioretty and Galchenyuk. Why is Byron's shooting percentage unsustainable? ...and don't say because it "is bound to regress" or "is far too higher than the average". League-wide averages are useful for predicting the play of the average player, not any one individual. If you watch him play, you'll realize why his shooting percentage is as high as it is, and why it has remained that high. Probably a good quarter of those 96 shots came on a partial or full breakaway. Byron has shot at a 22.45% rate over two full seasons with Montreal. He has a career shooting percentage of 18.3% over 281 games. So again, is there a reason beyond "he must eventually become average" to indicate this is unsustainable? Regardless, it doesn't matter if he only scores 10 this year. The point is that there are enough goal scorers on this team to leave the actual goal-scoring ability of the team up to the team's play as a whole, not a lack of talent.

I forgot about Gally, I'm Sorry.

If you think Paul Byron can sustain 20+% shooting based on breakaways, partial breaks, and "because of reasons", I want what you're on.

Like many have said, Montreal won't be in the playoffs based on scoring, it'll be based on Price. Mtrl will be middle of the league in team scoring by the end of the yr. 2016-17 Mtrl had 223Goals, league average was 227. I expect the same.

[Call of Doughty]

McGuire has them fighting for the last spot in the East. Any loss of either Price or Weber it would be a flat out no. Thin margin of error here. Even the coach has been disappointed with the lack of talent in his new comers/rookies. They are also not a very fast team in comparison to other East teams..cough cough leafs, cough cough.

[ericdaoust]

When Victor Mete could turn out to be a life-or-death guy for the team you know something went terribly wrong over the summer. Individually I liked most of their additions but collectively the team is not built to play in the current NHL.

[tweetdrivr]

When Victor Mete could turn out to be a life-or-death guy for the team you know something went terribly wrong over the summer. Individually I liked most of their additions but collectively the team is not built to play in the current NHL.

In what way is Mete a life or death player? I don't get why you guys think the Habs D is in trouble. They have a legit NHL top 6 (ok maybe top 5) including an elite shot suppression guy in Weber. It's the pre-season people. have we seen anything but maybe 40% (seeing as Schlemko has yet to make an appearance) of their full D on the ice yet? No. Has Jerabeck had a chance to really adjust to the NA game yet? No. Easy midnight....

[newfcollins]

In what way is Mete a life or death player? I don't get why you guys think the Habs D is in trouble. They have a legit NHL top 6 (ok maybe top 5) including an elite shot suppression guy in Weber. It's the pre-season people. have we seen anything but maybe 40% (seeing as Schlemko has yet to make an appearance) of their full D on the ice yet? No. Has Jerabeck had a chance to really adjust to the NA game yet? No. Easy midnight....

If the Habs were playing well and losing preseason games, it would be a different thing. But they look awful out there. Especially the defence.

Their D is in trouble because they don't have a puck-moving dman back there unless Mete makes the squad. I'm thinking this will be a full season of the Habs simply dumping the puck out of their zone because their dmen aren't talented to get it out of the zone any other way.

[evans334]

Here's what the lineups were at practice today, and I'd imagine it's similar to what it's going to look on opening night.

Pacioretty-Drouin-Gallagher
Hudon-Plekanec-Lehkonen
Galchenyuk-Danault-Shaw
Byron-JDLR-Hemsky

Jerabek-Weber
Alzner-Petry
Mete-Benn

Price
Fucale

Anyways, like I said I'm definitely in the minority that thinks they are better, or a playoff team, but I'm definitely looking forward to Oct. 5 lol.

[Tobias Funke]

...

Losing Markov and Radulov will definitely hurt.

Me thinks not! Not when they have Streit and Hemsky as replacements!

[bergman]

I forgot about Gally, I'm Sorry.

If you think Paul Byron can sustain 20+% shooting based on breakaways, partial breaks, and "because of reasons", I want what you're on.

Like many have said, Montreal won't be in the playoffs based on scoring, it'll be based on Price. Mtrl will be middle of the league in team scoring by the end of the yr. 2016-17 Mtrl had 223Goals, league average was 227. I expect the same.

Given 2 goals would make about a 2% difference to his shooting, I consider his ballpark shooting percentage (18%-22%) to be very sustainable. There still has been no good argument whatsoever to suggest otherwise... You brought up his shooting percentage. You're preaching to the choir if your argument is that Paul Byron's scoring won't make or break their playoff hopes... Your expectations are what they are, but the team's scoring is set to increase. My original point was they have the same scorers they did before (2 x 30G, 2 x 20G, Drouin instead of Radulov, Weber) and now they're adding Hudon and Lehkonen is still improving, and that the team's goals will depend on how their defense can move the puck. A team's scoring is just as influential on the bottom line as its, or its goalie's, ability to keep the other team from scoring. I consider Price to be the constant here, not goals scored.

[The lying Frenchman]

Of course the Habs are making the playoffs. How are they gonna win the Cup if they don't?!

[Axeman33]

The longer Bergevin stays at the Habs GM, the worse this team gets. He's literally made a contender into a pretender in his tenure. It's sad to watch.

[tweetdrivr]

If the Habs were playing well and losing preseason games, it would be a different thing. But they look awful out there. Especially the defence.

Their D is in trouble because they don't have a puck-moving dman back there unless Mete makes the squad. I'm thinking this will be a full season of the Habs simply dumping the puck out of their zone because their dmen aren't talented to get it out of the zone any other way.

So who was this puck mover last year when their D was ok? Markov? No. Schlemko (who, I will say again, has not played yet this pre-season) is an upgrade over any puck moving D they had last year. If Mete makes the team and provides some speed and skill its gravy to what was planned. Jerabeck also has some potential once he's had time to adjust to the team and the NA ice. This Henny Penny stuff over the pre-season is a bit silly.