Player Discussion #8 - Ben Chiarot: Swing Low, Sweet Chiarot

[Intangir]

I've been pleasantly surprised by Chiarot's play these last few games as he shows physicality, toughness, some speed, levelheadedness, clears the net well and has a much better first pass than Jordie Benn.

That said, the part that's amazed me the most is how much better he looks playing alongside Weber than he does alongside Petry. Fortunately for us, Weber is playing better with him than he did with Mete and it seems that Victor also gels better with Petry than our captain, so it's a genuine 4-way-win virtuous cycle here.

Now, if we ever managed to magically get rid of the better part of Alzner's cap hit and acquire ourselves some elite talent at D or at forwards on the cheap that's still young we'd really be in business.

 

[Habssince89]

Have we found Weber's partner?

Yes because Petry is our #1

 

[26Mats]

Yes because Petry is our #1

Weber's making a case with his recent play.

Remember that therapy day he took, like 7 games into the season. I strongly suspect he's been playing injured.

 

[Burke the Legend]

Looking like a pretty good signing

pro scouts make up for alzner debacle

 

[SpeedyPotato]

He's been really good, love him so far!

 

[Spearmint Rhino]

pro scouts make up for alzner debacle

I think we all feared Alzner Part II based on some of the feedback from Jets fans but I've been impressed so far especially partnered with Weber, definitely an improvement over Benn

 

[Estimated_Prophet]

Meanwhile, Gardiner has been brutal for Carolina.

Where are all of those off-season analytics worshippers now lol?

 

[JianYang]

Chiarot looks like he has found himself in Montreal after some rough patches early on. He had to adapt to moving the puck quicker, and straight ahead under this system.

I looked to him as a replacement for Benn, but in reality, he's looked just fine even when he plays top 4 minutes. He's at least as physical, and built more like a truck than benn. He also seems to jump into plays off the rush, which benn rarely did. He already has a couple goals coming in off the point.

 

[The Great Weal]

Jets fans have said that he looked good with Buff IIRC, so I think playing with Weber has also made him look good too. I hope he keeps it up.

 

[ahmedou]

What was his nickname again?

 

[Tanknation]

Terrible game by him today looked like Ben early on with the Habs.

 

[Archijerej]

Terrible game by him today looked like Ben early on with the Habs.

Didn't see the last two Columbus goals, but I can't agree with that. He had a strong game as usual, and then he made a mistake. It happens.

 

[TheGoalJudge]

He's pretty below average. Definitely not top 4.

He doesn't cover any ground. He just stands in front of the goalie, screens him and cross checks the forward, hopefully before a scoring chance but usually after. He hasn't anticipated a cross seam pass all year, like the first goal.

On the PK, he can't move more than 20 feet from the net to challenge a shooter and then recover, so he just screens the goalie.

I won't even blame him for the turnover in front of the net. At least he was trying to start a breakout.

 

[Habs Halifax]

Meanwhile, Gardiner has been brutal for Carolina.

Where are all of those off-season analytics worshippers now lol?

If we signed Gardiner, I would have not been happy about that! He sucks in his own end and so many people look at offense only. I rather have a guy like Chiarot who plays physical, skates well, and does the boring things in his own end well too.

Chiarot is a beast! We needed that in the mix. The problems are not our D at the moment. It's breakouts from our own end when the forwards get the puck and turning it over before the blue line where the puck stays in. It's driving me nuts! I know what they are trying to do (puck possession) but the games are only going to get tighter so they better figure that out

 

[Vachon23]

If we had a real top 4 who can take big minutes, I will start to really like our Defensive corps with Mete and Chiarot as #2/3 LD. Chiarot or Mete on a 3rd pair with Fleury will help alote. Julien could use his 3rd pair more often

 

[swimmer77]

I only caught glimpses of the last night but thought I saw Weber with Mete again. Maybe it was a shift change that got them back together.

A poster above mentioned Chiarot jumping in on the rush. I have noticed this with Petry, Weber, Mete and Chiarot and am pretty confident they have all scored at least one goal by coming down the middle. I just don't recall seeing this much last year. Is it a new wrinkle for this year and if so who is calling this shot?

 

[Harry Kakalovich]

I like Chiarot

 

[THE HOFF]

rare are the posts I comeback to once in a while. First verse is perfect it makes me laugh everytime.

I like that D.

 

[THE HOFF]

If he plays like this all season his contract is great value. 22 solid mins a night for 3.5mm is a great team deal.

I found the idea that Buff carried him a bit ridiculous. Buff looks like a nightmare to play with. Sure he is much better offensivey but struggling to understand how a player that is regularly out of position can carry his partner. Likely they balanced each other out.

that's what a reasonable person would say.

 

[The Great Weal]

Played over 30 minutes tonight and was awesome.

 

[ahmedou]

Looking good. There's improvement.

 

[Price4Prez]

People are gonna say hindsight is 20/20 but if you dig up my posts when he signed. I laughed at people who thought it was Alzner part 2. Alzners best day these days isnt better than Chariots worst...thats how close it is between them.

 

[japhi]

Looks great to me. And his advanced stats were used against him to make the claim that he is a plug. Take a look at his numbers this year, they are insane.

30 mins tonight, I’d say playing half the game for 4 percent of the cap is a good deal.

 

[FerrisRox]

Played over 30 minutes tonight and was awesome.

And he played just under thirty minutes against Boston.

 

[FerrisRox]

Looks great to me. And his advanced stats were used against him to make the claim that he is a plug.

As usual for this place, the same old suspects, desperate to grind an axe against Bergevin didn't let the fact that they knew nothing about Chariot's game stop them from offering their "expert" opinion on him and wrote him off as over paid and a lousy signing before he'd ever even suited up.

They do it again and again and never learn.

As usual, now that he's playing well, they have all gone silent as if we can't just go back and look at the silly things they said without so much as a clue what they were talking about.