Player Discussion Alexei Emelin

[Fazkovsky]

It's not the first time I say this Im definitely not a bandwagon type of fan anymore. Even though Vanek isn't dominating as we wish I still want him. His lack of speed is a bit annoying but you would be blind to not see that he is exactly what we needed for a good number of years now. A RH shot that can tip, play in front of the net, shoot and pass. As for Desharnais, people wanted him out at the beginning but I said be patient with him and look now.

There is a huge gap to be filled, Subban 53 points, markov 43 points but whos next? Emelin 17 pts and Gorges 14 pts? Those are the dman that we pay 4 millions each? I am sorry but this just can't work. Problem is Subban isn't exactly stellar defensively but he is doing well in the playoffs but I mean overall, his defensive play is meh. Markov is becoming a bit slower, Emelin is on the slow side too. I like Gorges but he can't even shoot. Weaver is a true number 6. Beaulieu will make us a better team. Tinordi coming up is also very very good news.

What you guys think of Emelin? He brings heavy hitting but what does he do else well? Tinordi is a superior player. I will be honest with you Emelin and Gorges aren't true number 3 or 4 dman. NUmber 3 or 4 dman brings way more to the table. The rangers have banked on the fact that we don't have true number 3 or 4 dmen, they have found our '' weakeness '' as Alain Vigneault was stating. Weaver can even chip offensively sometimes, something Gorges can't do.

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[Hannibal]

Not a fan of his, and i'm a fan of physical play and toughness. That says it all.

Bergevin has to find a way to make Tinordi and Beaulieu regular next season.

Markov-Gorges (Gorges can play RD)
Tinordi-Subban
Beaulieu-Weaver

 

[rockjngo]

Emelin is a #5 defenseman. He excels against physical teams. Loves to hit. Being that said, he lacks hockey sense and cannot be an offensive threat. Paired with Markov on his off side, he needs to cover better as Markov is a shadow of himself years ago. Emelin and Subban might work better.

 

[qwerty123]

What you guys think of Emelin? He brings heavy hitting but what does he do else well?

You got it, thats all he brings. Nothing else. He can't play the game.

 

[overlords]

Not a fan of his, and i'm a fan of physical play and toughness. That says it all.

Bergevin has to find a way to make Tinordi and Beaulieu regular next season.

Markov-Gorges (Gorges can play RD)
Tinordi-Subban
Beaulieu-Weaver

I also think Emelin is the odd man out this off-season. I like the guy a lot, but he's too expensive to keep around for what he brings, especially with cheap depth coming up from the AHL. We could also probably get a nice piece for him.

 

[Kenny Powders]

Emelin was good when he was hitting everything that moves. It made the forwards playing against him scared to work his corner.

Now he's soft as a pillow, cam't skate for **** and is dumb as a rock.

At least his agressivity gave him something great, now he's completly lost.

4 millions for this kind of defenceman is laughable

 

[Luigi Habs]

You guys need to chill the **** out

It's ONE GAME!

Emelin was great against the Bruins, he's definitely a top 4 defenseman. I'd like to see him play on the left side next year but he's definitely a keeper.

 

[Fazkovsky]

I also think Emelin is the odd man out this off-season. I like the guy a lot, but he's too expensive to keep around for what he brings, especially with cheap depth coming up from the AHL. We could also probably get a nice piece for him.

I agree. I thought we learnt the mistake with Bob Gainey already. Why lock up players when you always have prospects coming up? Beaulieu-tinordi a much better duo them emelin-gorges. Tinner is better offensively then we give him credit for, its an aspect of his game he has tried to improve. Sometimes he does end to end rushes.

 

[Et le But]

Emelin has a lot of talent, but low hockey IQ. He's a bottom pairing defender, you can't rely on him enough to be anything more than that.

Resigning him for that money was one of Bergevin's more baffling moves. If you can trade him this summer, do it. I love when he's on, but it seems to be one every four games.

That being said for now he's still a better option than Murray or Bouillon, and could still have value by going after Kreider.

 

[Cole Caulifield]

Emelin is a good player playing on his off side with slow ass Markov. He plays against strong opposition too, and missed the beginning of the season to a serious knee injury. Players who miss training camp + beginning of the season tend to always be a bit behind everyone else for that season. He's a good player. People are turning on him like they turned on Plekanec when he had a 39 pts season. Like they turned on DD when he was struggling last year+beginning of this season. Like they turned on Subban when he was struggling after the olympics. We haven't seen enough of Emelin to make half the comments that have been made in this thread so far. Not to mention that we're in the ECF with this guy playing a prominent role.

You guys need to chill the **** out

It's ONE GAME!

Emelin was great against the Bruins, he's definitely a top 4 defenseman. I'd like to see him play on the left side next year but he's definitely a keeper.

I know right. Thank you for having common sense. It's insane how much people tend to overreact.

 

[qwerty123]

You guys need to chill the **** out

It's ONE GAME!

Emelin was great against the Bruins, he's definitely a top 4 defenseman. I'd like to see him play on the left side next year but he's definitely a keeper.

No its not one game. He has been making huge mistakes in his zone the entire year.

 

[Et le But]

Emelin is a good player playing on his off side with slow ass Markov. He plays against strong opposition too, and missed the beginning of the season to a serious knee injury. Players who miss training camp + beginning of the season tend to always be a bit behind everyone else for that season. He's a good player. People are turning on him like they turned on Plekanec when he had a 39 pts season. Like they turned on DD when he was struggling last year. Like they turned on Subban when he was struggling after the olympics. We haven't seen enough of Emelin to make half the comments that have been made in this thread so far. Not to mention that we're in the ECF with this guy playing a prominent role.

The difference between Plekanec and Emelin is that the latter has never been proven to be anything but inconsistent. Low hockey IQ and being slow is a terrible mix.

That being said, while he will likely never be worth his money, he is still a valuable player. The first step is to break up the Markov and Emelin pairing. I don't know why Therrien doesn't see this but they never were great together. Emelin actually played his best stuff with Diaz, and if anything, Emelin exposes Markov's weaknesses more. Emelin has terrible positioning sense and Markov needs to be able to get forward, speaking Russian doesn't make up for this mismatch

 

[Fazkovsky]

You guys need to chill the **** out

It's ONE GAME!

Emelin was great against the Bruins, he's definitely a top 4 defenseman. I'd like to see him play on the left side next year but he's definitely a keeper.

Its not one game. He isn't impressing me at all in the past 2 years. I don't see what Emelin brings to the table honestly. He hits hard but his overall play is meh. Top 4 dman? Maybe in the KHL. You realize Emelin has always been known as a hard hitting dman with average offence since he was a prospect? He was seen as a future bottom pairing dman and as we are seeing lately, he is just that.

So Emelin a number 5 dman? Who is number 3 or 4. Gorges? You already see why the rangers have killed us. Its just one game again but I hate when we lock up dman and pay them more then they are worth for. Remember guys like Rivet? I thought we learn from our mistakes. I will never ever say that Emelin is a stud thats not just one game, it`s for his play for the whole season. He hits hard wow but what else does he do well?

 

[Rapala]

You guys need to chill the **** out

It's ONE GAME!

Emelin was great against the Bruins, he's definitely a top 4 defenseman. I'd like to see him play on the left side next year but he's definitely a keeper.

Needs to play LEFT it is my lifetime dream to find balance on a D that hasn't had it since i don't know when. We are still in a very precarious situation with our D our top prospects being LEFT...
Gorges, Markov Emelin Beaulieu and Tinordi. Who do you move?

 

[JAVO16]

Bergevin just re-signed him. Do you guys really expect him to trade Emelin this summer and do you think the guy will fetch anything of value under these circumstances if he does ?

I agree. I thought we learnt the mistake with Bob Gainey already. Why lock up players when you always have prospects coming up? Beaulieu-tinordi a much better duo them emelin-gorges. Tinner is better offensively then we give him credit for, its an aspect of his game he has tried to improve. Sometimes he does end to end rushes.

 

[LeMAD]

Emelin is streaky, but I think it's because he isn't the best skater to say the least, which is problematic in high tempo playoffs game.

The lack of speed of our defense will be a problem against the Rangers.

edit: but no Tinordi isn't better than him, and to say Tinordi-Beaulieu would be better than Gorges-Emelin is nothing short of ridiculous.

Emelin was good when he was hitting everything that moves. It made the forwards playing against him scared to work his corner.

I disagree with this. He plays well when he plays a conservative game. When he starts running around he becomes a mess defensively. He was particularly atrocious in his first season, when he was hitting everything.

 

[Cole Caulifield]

The difference between Plekanec and Emelin is that the latter has never been proven to be anything but inconsistent. Low hockey IQ and being slow is a terrible mix.

That being said, while he will likely never be worth his money, he is still a valuable player. The first step is to break up the Markov and Emelin pairing. I don't know why Therrien doesn't see this but they never were great together. Emelin actually played his best stuff with Diaz, and if anything, Emelin exposes Markov's weaknesses more. Emelin has terrible positioning sense and Markov needs to be able to get forward, speaking Russian doesn't make up for this mismatch

Markov exposes Emelin's weaknesses just as much. I'm not a huge fan of that pairing either.

I've always wanted to see :

Emelin-Subban
Markov-Gorges

But now it's probably too late to do this.

 

[Cole Caulifield]

Its not one game. He isn't impressing me at all in the past 2 years. I don't see what Emelin brings to the table honestly. He hits hard but his overall play is meh. Top 4 dman? Maybe in the KHL. You realize Emelin has always been known as a hard hitting dman with average offence since he was a prospect? He was seen as a future bottom pairing dman and as we are seeing lately, he is just that.

So Emelin a number 5 dman? Who is number 3 or 4. Gorges? You already see why the rangers have killed us. Its just one game again but I hate when we lock up dman and pay them more then they are worth for. Remember guys like Rivet? I thought we learn from our mistakes. I will never ever say that Emelin is a stud thats not just one game, it`s for his play for the whole season. He hits hard wow but what else does he do well?

Do you remember when Emelin got injured in the lockout season and our defensive play went to complete and total **** ? Wasn't just because we lost him, but the guy is clearly a second pairing guy.

 

[Et le But]

Markov exposes Emelin's weaknesses just as much. I'm not a huge fan of that pairing either.

I've always wanted to see :

Emelin-Subban
Markov-Gorges

But now it's probably too late to do this.

Surprised we haven't seen Emelin and Subban more. I know Bergevin likes to separate hitters so they don't get caught out of position as much, but I think Subban has the hockey IQ to adjust.

Maybe next year I guess.

 

[overlords]

Do you remember when Emelin got injured in the lockout season and our defensive play went to complete and total **** ? Wasn't just because we lost him, but the guy is clearly a second pairing guy.

It didn't help, but it didn't cause a collapse like many here still believe.

 

[FrontierPsyCHiatrist*]

Emelin has a lot of talent, but low hockey IQ. He's a bottom pairing defender, you can't rely on him enough to be anything more than that.

Resigning him for that money was one of Bergevin's more baffling moves. If you can trade him this summer, do it. I love when he's on, but it seems to be one every four games.

That being said for now he's still a better option than Murray or Bouillon, and could still have value by going after Kreider.

Signing Emelin for this kind of deal was a smart move by Bergevin. I know a lot of GMs who wouldn't even blink an eye before acquiring a physical and feared d-man like him, especially at this low price. We will see if he stays with us for his entire contract, but like some said here, he's a good piece to deal to another team.

 

[Rapala]

Emelin is streaky, but I think it's because he isn't the best skater to say the least, which is problematic in high tempo playoffs game.

The lack of speed of our defense will be a problem against the Rangers.

edit: but no Tinordi isn't better than him, and to say Tinordi-Beaulieu would be better than Gorges-Emelin is nothing short of ridiculous.

I think we are in serious DooDoo if we don't split them up now...
PK/Markov Emelin/Gorges.
The Emelin/Markov pairing now burnt will be backing off like there is no tomorrow.
No standing up at either Blue is NOT good.

 

[Et le But]

It didn't help, but it didn't cause a collapse like many here still believe.

I think it had more to do with the alternatives being pretty terrible than Emelin himself being any good. Among other issues.

Signing Emelin for this kind of deal was a smart move by Bergevin. I know a lot of GMs who wouldn't even blink an eye before acquiring a physical and feared d-man like him, especially at this low price. We will see if he stays with us for his entire contract, but like some said here, he's a good piece to deal to another team.

I think Habs fans fear Emelin more than the NHL does. He's a great pest though.

 

[Cole Caulifield]

It didn't help, but it didn't cause a collapse like many here still believe.

Like I said, it wasn't the sole reason, but his absence showed pretty clearly that he's a second pairing guy because once we lost him our 3rd pairing guys weren't able to fill his shoes. I just find it ludicrous to hear stuff about him being a 3rd pairing guy.

 

[overlords]

I think it had more to do with the alternatives being pretty terrible than Emelin himself being any good. Among other issues.



I think Habs fans fear Emelin more than the NHL does. He's a great pest though.

Pretty much. Was more a depth problem than emelin being some irreplaceable cog in the machine.