Around the NHL 2015-16: Part II

[Montag DP]

Columbus in general looks silly. Thought maybe they would have a 2nd half turn around like last year but I don't see it happening. Awful team. Congratulations at trading your crybaby franchise center for what you hope is a franchise defensemen but it doesn't really help your team. Now they have to hope they can land Matthews at the draft so that in two years he's as good as Johanssen. Then by that time your veterans are on their last legs and you're recycling roster spots again. One step forward two steps back in Columbus ever since Jarmo took over.

I mean, obviously that goal by McDavid was amazing, but I still can't figure out what that second defenseman was trying to accomplish by coming across, stabbing at the pucking, and then falling over. It looked like a junior hockey play.

 

[Havok89]

Jack Eichel watches that replay and the goal doesn't even amaze him. It's the one touch pass by Eberle to get the play going that has him crying. Has Eichel been on the ice for a play half that nice by a teammate all season?

McDavid is still on another level. I don't think it's that close, either.

 

[Moskau]

McDavid is still on another level. I don't think it's that close, either.

It's not but the play by Eberle is something very few players on Buffalo would have done besides RoR and Reinhart.

 

[Samsonite23]

McDavid is still on another level. I don't think it's that close, either.

I've always said McDavid is the best player of that young of age that I've seen in my lifetime. I'm only 24, but still. I honestly was more unsure about what level of awesome that Jack was going be (either Lemieux like (that was always a stretch) or Stamkos like). I always thought Connor was going to be the best player in the league for a long time either way.

 

[Takeo]

Will McDavid still finish with more points than Eichel?

 

[Havok89]

Will McDavid still finish with more points than Eichel?

Probably. Buffalo has been horrible at ES all season.

 

[Zip15]

Will McDavid still finish with more points than Eichel?

I understand your brand is trolling, but I'll answer, anyways: it's unlikely. Eichel has been a point/game since before Christmas. Even if he tails off a little bit and only scores 25 pts in the final 32 games, that's 59 pts. McDavid would have to score 44 in his final 31 for a tie. Not impossible, but he's not playing the Columbus Blue Jackets every night, either.

 

[Moskau]

Canada's Game.

 

[Myllz]

Glad to see McDavid not missing a beat, he's incredibly fun to watch. I have no idea what the hell the Columbus defense was doing on his goal, though.

 

[1point21Gigawatts]

Canada's Game.

I still can't believe how hard Montreal crashed. It's not impossible for them to make the playoffs, but at this rate i would be surprised if they could string together even one decent string of wins.

 

[Jim Bob]

I still can't believe how hard Montreal crashed. It's not impossible for them to make the playoffs, but at this rate i would be surprised if they could string together even one decent string of wins.

It goes to show how valuable Price is to the Habs.

 

[brian_griffin]

I mean, obviously that goal by McDavid was amazing, but I still can't figure out what that second defenseman was trying to accomplish by coming across, stabbing at the pucking, and then falling over. It looked like a junior hockey play.

As noted, the touch-pass by Eberle to allow McDavid another stride of acceleration without the puck was special.

Nice move through Jack Johnson. Johnson, and especially Justin Faulk, just grossly misplayed it. First person take the man, second person take the puck.

And a deke on a rookie goaltender.

Yes, a nice play in front of a home crowd, but let's not pretend that Columbus plays NHL-quality defense.

 

[TehDoak]

Maybe he's upset with how they treated Scott

I have a feeling Darcy "Yes Man" Regier might be the fall guy for the John Scott saga in Arizona, actually. The Sabres did some petty **** when he was GM, including losing McKee to UFA because they tried to save what, $30k? And the whole issue with going to war with anyone who took them to arbitration, most notably Danny Briere.

 

[1point21Gigawatts]

It goes to show how valuable Price is to the Habs.

For sure, but at at what point does Bergevin look at the roster and ask "what the **** did i do?"

 

[FearTheBeard]

As noted, the touch-pass by Eberle to allow McDavid another stride of acceleration without the puck was special.

Nice move through Jack Johnson. Johnson, and especially Justin Faulk, just grossly misplayed it. First person take the man, second person take the puck.

And a deke on a rookie goaltender.

Yes, a nice play in front of a home crowd, but let's not pretend that Columbus plays NHL-quality defense.

Schultz.

Justin Faulk would have never looked that foolish

 

[Zip15]

Schultz.

Justin Faulk would have never looked that foolish

Justin Falk, actually. Schultz is on McD's team.

 

[1point21Gigawatts]

As noted, the touch-pass by Eberle to allow McDavid another stride of acceleration without the puck was special.

Nice move through Jack Johnson. Johnson, and especially Justin Faulk, just grossly misplayed it. First person take the man, second person take the puck.

And a deke on a rookie goaltender.

Yes, a nice play in front of a home crowd, but let's not pretend that Columbus plays NHL-quality defense.

Agreed. Most teams with competent defense could have handled that cleanly. Not to take away from McDavid's clear skill set.

 

[TehDoak]

Columbus in general looks silly. Thought maybe they would have a 2nd half turn around like last year but I don't see it happening. Awful team. Congratulations at trading your crybaby franchise center for what you hope is a franchise defensemen but it doesn't really help your team. Now they have to hope they can land Matthews at the draft so that in two years he's as good as Johanssen. Then by that time your veterans are on their last legs and you're recycling roster spots again. One step forward two steps back in Columbus ever since Jarmo took over.

What's crazy to me is every single contract they gave out was about 10-15% over market simply because people don't want to come to Columbus...but when it came to Johansen....let's play hardball. They have a whole bunch of middle six forwards locked up to long term, expensive deals and no top line players (except maybe Saad). Sure Johansen was no saint during the process either, but you can't simply toss away your franchises top center. Make peace and get him extended. Finding a new GM is alot easier than finding a franchise center.

The entire front office there needs to be canned. Blame their problems on injuries, blame it on "bad luck", the fact is that the front office has made a long string of bad moves with bad results. And honestly, if the front offices strategy is to "tank" the rest of the season and hope to win a 1 in 5 lottery.....really really really awful idea. What they should do is try to purge out every contract of a player over 25 now. Build around your youngsters are pray one of the centers they have (Jenner/Wennberg) can fill that #1 center void while Jones/Werenski hopefully become a top pairing D-pair.

 

[joshjull]

For sure, but at at what point does Bergevin look at the roster and ask "what the **** did i do?"

He knows that he took advantage of having a MVP goalie. It's a much quicker way to rebuild a team than the long tear down and rebuild. It's obvious flaw is being terribly exposed right now.

But in that market I'm not sure any GM would have the balls to do a complete tear down and build through the draft.

 

[1point21Gigawatts]

Justin Falk, actually. Schultz is on McD's team.

Amazing the difference one little letter "u" can make.

He knows that he took advantage of having a MVP goalie. It's a much quicker way to rebuild a team than the long tear down and rebuild. It's obvious flaw is being terribly exposed right now.

But in that market I'm not sure any GM would have the balls to do a complete tear down.

I have never paid close enough attention to Montreal to see how they are building/rebuilding the team, but yeah, montreal does not seem like the market for making big sweeping changes, at least not if you want to have any sort of career longevity.

 

[TehDoak]

Glad to see McDavid not missing a beat, he's incredibly fun to watch. I have no idea what the hell the Columbus defense was doing on his goal, though.

McDavid's game last night reminds me of Eichel's first couple games where the teams just didn't know how to react to him. Not taking anything away from McDavid's game, he was best player on the ice last night by far, but, I expect he's going to have alot less time and space in future games. Though, he's in a great position with Draisatl-Hall playing so well on the other line.

 

[TehDoak]

He knows that he took advantage of having a MVP goalie. It's a much quicker way to rebuild a team than the long tear down and rebuild. It's obvious flaw is being terribly exposed right now.

But in that market I'm not sure any GM would have the balls to do a complete tear down.

Norris trophy winning d-man, enough offense to get by, probably the softest division in the NHL...the Habs SHOULD be an average team without Price. Issue is their coach is awful and lost the room. Price saved their bacon alot, sure, but even the Hasek era Sabres were able to skate along at .500 without Hasek.

 

[1point21Gigawatts]

McDavid's game last night reminds me of Eichel's first couple games where the teams just didn't know how to react to him. Not taking anything away from McDavid's game, he was best player on the ice last night by far, but, I expect he's going to have alot less time and space in future games. Though, he's in a great position with Draisatl-Hall playing so well on the other line.

i'd also add that McDavid is well rested. He hasn't played in months, so his energy level is likely through the roof. Not trying to draw comparisons between two different style of players, but i don't think it's coincidental that Eichel came back from the christmas break re-energized and with a bit more jump in his step (i expect more after the allstar break).

As the rest of the season wears on with no breaks, i'll be lookin to see if McDavid's speed slows down a titch

 

[tsujimoto74]

It goes to show how valuable Price is to the Habs.

It's not even just that, though. Their offense has totally tanked. Even missing Price earlier in the year, they were still scoring enough to win. The rate they're scoring now, they wouldn't be good even with Price back and healthy. He can't pitch a shutout every game.

 

[Jame]

Norris trophy winning d-man, enough offense to get by, probably the softest division in the NHL...the Habs SHOULD be an average team without Price. Issue is their coach is awful and lost the room. Price saved their bacon alot, sure, but even the Hasek era Sabres were able to skate along at .500 without Hasek.

They should acquire Bylsma to motivate the room but keep Therien's system in place