Player Discussion Johnathan Kovacevic

[ReHabs]

At this point I believe Ghule's O game would advance far more paired with Kovacevic than with David Savard. Savard has this annoying habit of trying to be the guy to venture up ice leaving Ghule holding the fort. The opposite would be true with Kovacevic.

Savard sees himself as a skilled d-man and indeed it was part of his prospect profile back in the day.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

I thought he was really good last year on the bottom pairing am i nuts?

 

[morhilane]

I thought he was really good last year on the bottom pairing am i nuts?

You aren't nut. Him and Harris were a very stable pair defensively, they had good transition and possession numbers and made good first passes.

He looks stronger and faster this year. A bit more aggressive too.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

You aren't nut. Him and Harris were a very stable pair defensively, they had good transition and possession numbers and made good first passes.

He looks stronger and faster this year. A bit more aggressive too.

They seem like the Ideal bottom pairing D. Unfortunately I don't think they will still be here when we are competitive.

 

[26Mats]

They seem like the Ideal bottom pairing D. Unfortunately I don't think they will still be here when we are competitive.

The thing is, we can't have all high paid dmen. So, we may not be able to keep our best 6 dmen. You do need low cap hit players in the bottom pair and bottom 6.

Having said that, we'll probably have low cap hit young players coming up in the system for quite some time, especially if we keep drafting like this (Engstrom, Reinbacher, Bogdan in the last 2 drafts). So we may not need low cap hit vets for a while, if ever.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

The thing is, we can't have all high paid dmen. So, we may not be able to keep our best 6 dmen. You do need low cap hit players in the bottom pair and bottom 6.

Having said that, we'll probably have low cap hit young players coming up in the system for quite some time, especially if we keep drafting like this (Engstrom, Reinbacher, Bogdan in the last 2 drafts). So we may not need low cap hit vets for a while, if ever.

Yeah I totally agree , its just impossible that we get to keep Kovy and Harris at this price in 3 years , way she goes

 

[JT3]

Or we keep him because he proves to be so reliable. Defensemen are still in the business of keeping pucks out of their own net. Matheson and Kovacevic were our best defenders 5v5.

I have no problem with that option either, assuming he can continue to outplay the huge pile of prospects who we should expect to challenge over the next 2-3 years. His ask on his next contract will be a factor as well.

 

[Redux91]

I thought he was really good last year on the bottom pairing am i nuts?

Dude
77 gp as a rookie, finished with a + on a bottom 5 team
Guy can play, looks like he wants that RD2 spot now, and looks like he's getting it

 

[MadMslm]

I thought he was really good last year on the bottom pairing am i nuts?

He was good.

Some people will tell you he’s bad because he does have moments where he is overwhelmed in his zone, but that’s totally normal for a guy who plays 20 shifts a night.

At one point you can’t expect defensemen to be perfect when facing the best players every night. It’s only normal for those guys to get the upper hand over 2-3 shifts.

He also tried a few thing’s offensively and you can see that he has some understanding of offense. Apparently he tries a lot of things at practices.

The only thing I can say about him that I don’t like is the lack punishing physical presence. For a guy of this stature he’s pretty tame on the physical side.

He did get involved more in the preseason and last year against the Oilers I remember him hitting McDavid while he was down at the end of the year. Those are things he should more.

 

[Natey]

I thought he was really good last year on the bottom pairing am i nuts?

You're not nuts. He is a very good hockey player, who doesn't give up a lot to the opposition when he's on the ice.

 

[Tyson]

Hard to believe this guy was available for free. Every once in a while there are waiver pick ups that pan out. Habs have grabbed Byron, Montembeault and Kovasevic.

 

[Steve Shutt]

Again I cannot comprehend people having Lindstrom in the NHL line up??

Lindstrom is 24 years old and already has 128 career NHL games of experience. He plays RD and we just traded for him - I'd be surprised if he gets waived before they give a real shot.

I think the Habs are more likely to waive a forward and go with 8 dmen (13-8-2) then waive a young RD

 

[Tyson]

Lindstrom is 24 years old and already has 128 career NHL games of experience. He plays RD and we just traded for him - I'd be surprised if he gets waived before they give a real shot.

I think the Habs are more likely to waive a forward and go with 8 dmen (13-8-2) then waive a young RD

When he played he showed very little. If he is so good why would Detroit get rid of a young RD? He might be a great #7, I doubt much more.

 

[morhilane]

When he played he showed very little. If he is so good why would Detroit get rid of a young RD? He might be a great #7, I doubt much more.

I think Lindstrom asked out. During one of the pre-season game interview with him he said that Detroit had a very rigid game system that was stifling his playstyle.

We will see if that is true or not soon I guess.

 

[Ezpz]

Lindstrom is 24 years old and already has 128 career NHL games of experience. He plays RD and we just traded for him - I'd be surprised if he gets waived before they give a real shot.

I think the Habs are more likely to waive a forward and go with 8 dmen (13-8-2) then waive a young RD

We didn't trade for him, he was a cap/contract throw in to dump Petry.

 

[WeThreeKings]

We didn't trade for him, he was a cap/contract throw in to dump Petry.

This is pretty much it; the Red Wings had to send a contract/body back.. that's generally how most moves are made these days.

Lindstrom didn't have a spot with the acquisition of Petry, while I'm sure our pro scouts didn't hate him, the idea of Lindstrom is that he's a waiver body. You need to have someone warming the press box on road trips who can play in the case of injuries or day-to-day bumps and bruises.

 

[calder candidate]

Kovacevic is legit NHL Dman with Mailloux and Reinbacher he could make a guy like Barron expendable.

 

[ChesterNimitz]

Kovacevic is legit NHL Dman with Mailloux and Reinbacher he could make a guy like Barron expandable.

I was never a fan of Kovacevic. That being said, in this writer’s opinion, Kovacevic has been the team’s most improved player this pre-season. Rock steady and physical on defence and showing an offensive flair that I never knew he had, Kovacevic is a lock to make this team.

 

[HabzSauce]

Kovacevic is legit NHL Dman with Mailloux and Reinbacher he could make a guy like Barron expandable.

Barron makes himself expandable

 

[morhilane]

Barron makes himself expandable

Outch, but true.

 

[WeThreeKings]

Barron makes himself expandable

No, he hasn't.

He's very young for a defenseman.

Lets chill out.

 

[HabzSauce]

No, he hasn't.

He's very young for a defenseman.

Lets chill out.

Young and dumb

For real tho I hope he proves me wrong....so we can trade him in a package deal for more firepower upfront!

 

[Habs Icing]

Kovacevic is legit NHL Dman with Mailloux and Reinbacher he could make a guy like Barron expandable.

What are they doing to make him expandable? Shoving chocolate eclairs down his gullet?

 

[Ezpz]

Side note: the dude is tanned like an early 00's white girl after van-travelling the entire summer across the USA.

 

[Saku K]

Kovacevic was always amongst the best +/- on his team since his professional start. He has shown enough to get a shot as a top-4 defenseman 5-on-5 with the habs being weak on the right side. Very under-rated with the puck for a big defenseman, You'd wish he'd be more physical at that size but isn't.

Perfect cheap stop-gas player while our prospects develop their game. He should get a nice pay raise at the end of his contract and an incredible pick-up by HuGo.

I wouldn't mind trying him on a shutdown pairing with Guhle like they did in the pre-season.

Matheson - Savard
Guhle - Kovacevic
Xhekaj - Harris

I see some posters putting him at the #7 defenseman spot due to salary and some of our prospects potential but he isn't worst than a chiarot/edmundson type of top-4 defenseman who can move up and down the lineup on a very strong defense. Durable as well, I wouldn't trade Kovacevic until next year's trade deadline for a very good price which at that point the habs should be stacked at defense, which they already are but even better.