Player Discussion Who Made You Most Nervous Whenever He Touched the Puck

[AlexGretzchenvid]

Old markov..

 

[admiralcadillac]

I don't know if Radulov fits the bill but he did some kind of things, kinda like Kovalev, where he's not a superstar but the raw skills he possesses is way above average!

That was kinda funny.

Kovalev was a superstar when he wanted to be

 

[loudi94]

Scrivens had a goals against barely over 3.00 and a save percentage of .907. There have been much, much worse netminders for Montreal.

To be sure, there have and to be fair, the team in front of him was awful. However, during his time in Montreal, every shot was an adventure. Often I just had to laugh to keep from crying.

 

[Spearmint Rhino]

I remember how he was actually solid in the 1st half and looked like he got it together defensively. Then, Price got injured and PK tried to do way too much...

Personally, I remember about M-A Bergeron and actually, Jose Theodore on the downside of his MTL tenure.
Bergeron in the defensive zone was kind of awkward. You could tell he just tried to figure out a way to get the puck out of the zone, somehow. It's like he didn't know if he should pass, or skate up the ice... then tried a pass somewhere.

As for Theodore, in his final season or so, I was scared pretty much every time the opposite team took a shot. I guess my confidence in him was to the minimal. I believe his head wasn't into it with all the drama going on at the time.

Drouin in overtime always scares me to be honest... lol.

Drouin and Domi both scare me a little in OT

yeah for PK it was only the 2nd half that year or anytime we played Tampa or the Leafs with Babcock, always looked like he was auditioning for Team Canada and made some bonehead plays trying to do too much but he’s also one of the few that have electrified me in the last 30 years

 

[Draft]

My man Doug "Crankshaft" Murray. Good or bad, the energy that guy brought when he was within 5 feet of the puck was unparalleled. Is he going to bobble it? Move too slowly to make a play? Is he going to lay someone out? Excitement on skates.

 

[slybel]

Kovalev, Subban,Damphousse, Lafleur, Naslund, Bobby Smith, just to name a few, they made me nervous when they touched the puck but it was a good kind of nervous, those guys tried to and actually could create something, no dump and bore and chase in that group.

Bobby Smith with that reach was fantastic.... you did not know where he would go...

 

[QuebecPride]

I have to go with Patrick Traverse as well here. God was he ever bad.

I liked Spacek, but he could get in trouble as well with the puck. Funny story, there was this tabletop hockey game with little players swiveling from a handle at my friend's place. One of the players would always jolt out of it's pin. It was awful to play with, so we called him Spacek lol

 

[OldCraig71]

Bobby Smith with that reach was fantastic.... you did not know where he would go...

I really liked him as a hab. I said that Kotkaniemi reminded me of him but I want to put the brakes on that for a while, baby steps. Smith was a great center, great at the position and I hope that KK gets there one day.

 

[Holystik]

Ryan White at times.

 

[26Mats]

Poehling, KK, Hudon, Fleury.

But hopefully they'll all learn.

 

[Ozmodiar]

Michael Ryder on the PP.

 

[Habs]

I have to go with Patrick Traverse as well here. God was he ever bad.

I liked Spacek, but he could get in trouble as well with the puck. Funny story, there was this tabletop hockey game with little players swiveling from a handle at my friend's place. One of the players would always jolt out of it's pin. It was awful to play with, so we called him Spacek lol

Ah yes, Traverse. The reason for my Avatar, I made it the day we got him. Good lord he was bad. Do you know how long it took me to photoshop his head on Gump's body,and put 2 left handed skates in the pic? Old skool Corel paint, I couldn't afford PS back then!

 

[Schwang]

- Chiarot at the beginning of the year. But man, he is much better than I expected.
- Alzner of course
- Lindgren from what I seen last year lol.
- Komisarek
- Eller (off and on)
- Brashear
- Popovic
- Odelein
- Gill

Eller just went offside constantly. Amazing how he never seemed to use his team mates.

 

[calder candidate]

Spacek for me... maybe not the worst but he was awful by the end...

 

[That Habs Fan]

M-A Bergeron is my answer

A canon of a slapper, but his backwards skating, puck handling, and ESPECIALLY when he would have to pick the puck up in the corner and ALWAYS did a head fake like he was Derozan trying to draw a foul was hilarious (and scary)

 

[LaP]

Travis Moyen. I was afraid to die from boredom every time he touched the puck.

 

[DAChampion]

Gionta, in his later seasons he'd just shoot into the goalie's chest.

Desharnais also. He really declined in his last couple seasons.

 

[Spearmint Rhino]

Michael Ryder on the PP.

Pacioretty on the PP says hello

 

[Intangir]

I have to vote Douglas Murray here too. The guy was just so awkward and slow to process the game with the puck on his stick that I'd get chills whenever an opposing player came anywhere near him whenever he had control (?!) of it.

 

[BobbyShehan]

I remember being at one of the first games Spacek ever played for the Habs and thinking this guy had to be drunk. He was behind his own net and just couldn't figure out what to do with the puck until Gill had to come back from center ice and rescue him. I had never witnessed a guy being so helpless with basically nobody from the other team forechecking. Traverse, Ryder and Bergeron also come to mind. Spacek was fine offensively but just froze in his own zone. Can't believe some people mentioned guys like Hamrlik, Gill, Subban and Markov...

 

[OldCraig71]

Pacioretty on the PP says hello

I agree , he was bad.

 

[26Mats]

Pacioretty on the PP says hello

He was good in the high slot.

The funny thing is, he publicly stated he hated playing the half wall and asked to play the high slot, but the coaching staff wouldn't listen...

Just like he publicly all but stated how dumb a move it was to not bring Radulov back. Speaking the truth got him in MB's bad books and out the door.

 

[Beendair Donedat]

Starting with defensemen.

Peter Popovic. Handled the puck like it owed money to one of the Kostitysn brothers shady friends. Anytime he touched it, it was an adventure.

Craig Ludwig. He had two puck related moves. Block the puck and clear the puck. If he wasn’t doing one of those two things, bad things were about to happen.

Mike Komisarek. A modern Ludwig.

Jaro Spacek. Had the IQ of your average turnip,
and it would be touch and go on whether the turnip or Space Man would be the better puck handler.

Forwards:

Turner Stevenson. He had hands of stone, which helped him when he dropped the mitts, but did him no favours the rest of the time. Couldn’t put the puck in the ocean if he was standing on the beach.

Ed Ronan. I don’t think I ever saw Ronan skate more than 8 feet with the puck during his entire NHL career, which is pretty impressive.

Todd Ewen. The Animal’s job wasn’t to handle pucks so I probably shouldn’t be picking on him, but I picked him (barely) over John Kordic in the worst puck handling enforcer category (that I just randomly created myself). There’s a saying that goes “he could stick handle in a phone booth.” That didn’t apply to Todd.

 

[Monsieur Miz]

Price when he plays the puck. He has been pretty freakin' bad at it the last few years.

 

[TT1]

Galchenyuk/Subban