Speculation: Brian Burke: Pacioretty has not asked for a trade

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Kudo Shinichi

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Apr 20, 2012
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Last year, the season was lost about 7 games in.

I don't think motivation will be a problen this year, as these guys don't want to get off to another horrid start which just kills the whole season.

The problem is that the team sucks. Motivation can only take you so far.

People forget this, but the habs were actually in a playoff spot in around late december. It lasted for about a week, but they did rebound from their terrible start to the season. Unfortunately, injuries started piling up after that. Weber, Danault, Shaw, etc. all went down.

On december 22nd, we had a winning record. 16 wins/15 losses/4 ot.

A better start to the season and a better luck with injuries, and we might have made the playoffs.
 

Kriss E

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May 3, 2007
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I'm a bit sad to see how this situation has deteriorated.

The fans now mostly want him gone, but it wasn't always so.

I remember the 2008 development camp. Timmins said that Pacioretty was the most advanced prospect, and everybody was excited. He was projected as a Shayne Corson type of player, who could be counted on to chip in 20-30 goals a year. He had a great pre-season where he got to play with Robert Lang and his childhood idol, Alex Kovalev. Pacioretty was part of the future, of a bright future. He, along with Eller, Pouliot, Cole, etc would be part of a trend of the Habs getting bigger in the top-6.

But it didn't turn out that way unfortunately. Chara almost killed him. Later on, Pacioretty was good for the Habs, but he was expected to be the franchise forward. He's good, but he's not that good and was never going to be. Pacioretty can be the 3rd or 4th best forward on a contender, but not the number 1 forward. He never lived up to that dream, partly because he played with Desharnais and Plekanec rather than Galchenyuk and Eller, and now fans want him gone. He's been a playoff choker in Montreal, but if he goes to a good team and plays on the 2nd line, he might actually do well in the playoffs.

Patches was still very good once he came back from the Chara hit. He played with Cole and was learning the ropes to be a powerforward.
That DD-Cole-Patches trio was very solid. Unfortunately that's all we had so it didn't provide us for much of anything.
Patches was still going hard in corners and crashing the net during that time.
I'm not sure exactly when after it happened in the next season, but I remember him injuring his groin and publicly stating he will have to change his game because he feels he's getting injured too often.
That's when he became softer, stopped crashing, and more of a perimeter player.
 
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Kriss E

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People forget this, but the habs were actually in a playoff spot in around late december. It lasted for about a week, but they did rebound from their terrible start to the season. Unfortunately, injuries started piling up after that. Weber, Danault, Shaw, etc. all went down.

On december 22nd, we had a winning record. 16 wins/15 losses/4 ot.

A better start to the season and a better luck with injuries, and we might have made the playoffs.

I mean...that's barely a .500 record. You don't get into the POs that way.
 
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MadMslm

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It's the highest they got to. It was also one of the only two times where their record was at least one game over ,500

Even a broken team will have hot streaks.

Look at the Coyotes in the second half of the season. They had the third or fifth best record and it wasn't enough to erase their horrendous first half.
 
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Kriss E

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Look at the Coyotes in the second half of the season. They had the third or fifth best record and it wasn't enough to erase their horrendous first half.
They were 21-16-4 in 2018. That's not all that good. 46pts in 41gp...That wouldn't even have given them a POs spot had they produced at that rate all year. They'd be 3 pts shy, and even then, they'd lose the tie break if we base ourselves on this year's 8th seed.

I don't know if they indeed had the 3rd or 5th best record, but as you can see..that doesn't mean much.

I think a team to point to are the Avs...from what I remember they were quite bad and struggled with the Duchene "controversy". They traded him and then won what...10 games in a row or something?
Even that barely got them in.
 

MadMslm

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Jun 16, 2018
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They were 21-16-4 in 2018. That's not all that good. 46pts in 41gp...That wouldn't even have given them a POs spot had they produced at that rate all year. They'd be 3 pts shy, and even then, they'd lose the tie break if we base ourselves on this year's 8th seed.

I don't know if they indeed had the 3rd or 5th best record, but as you can see..that doesn't mean much.

I think a team to point to are the Avs...from what I remember they were quite bad and struggled with the Duchene "controversy". They traded him and then won what...10 games in a row or something?
Even that barely got them in.

Yes, exactly what I was trying to prove. Having a good period during the season is not enough to erase the shortcomings you had earlier.
 
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Kimota

ROY DU NORD!!!
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My impression was that they let him walk on his own accord rather than giving him the boot.

But not before he leaked trash about Dougie Hamilton to the press after the trade. "Hamilton likes to visit museums rather than drink with the boys." Melnick more or less confirmed that before they abruptly cut to commercial last week.

If only we had that 'problem' in Montreal. Lmao.

And the Flames agreed with him cause they got rid of him.
 

Kimota

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As did Radulov.

I think Pacioretty lacks motivation sometimes. He was pretty emotionless before Radulov joined the Habs.. Radulov passion revived Pacioretty and we saw him celebrating his goals with much more emotion.I think he needs someone to look up too cuz he's not that guy. I've never been a big fan of his game despite his great scoring abilities but I think he'd be a pretty good player if a joins a team that has better offensive star/center that he can play "under". He won't necessarily be better by scoring more goals but more implicated and motivated.

I also have a feeling Price had the same problem this last season and I'm not sure if he'd be that much better this upcoming season. The players are not stupid. They know when the team is just not good enough. Losing both Markov and Radulov, a long time vet and arguably our best offensive player last summer probably didn't have a good impact on both Pacioretty and Price. With all the rumors and last season debacle, Price's next contract kicking in, the horrible team that we will have, this next season will probably be even harder for Price and Pacioretty.. if he stays. A lot of people are already hating on them.. next year could be very ugly.

That shows how dumb dumb Bergevin was at not recognizing that by trading Cole and not doing everything he could to keep Radu.
 

PaulD

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I always thought Max and DD had a close relationship. I never saw any rumors or anything but I always got that impression. Max has given DD lots of credit for helping his career and stuck up for the him when he was being trashed even by the Mayor of this city.

It just seems like Max always wanted to play with DD. My tin foil had theory is that it wasn't really MT favoring DD to put him with Max, but rather giving in to Max requests to have DD play with him.

To me it seems more than coincidental that Max looked lost and disinterested the first season that DD is not a hab.

Just my 2 cents with no facts to back it up. Lets just remember that those 2 essentially came up in the habs org together and forged their careers together. DD and Max were doing their thing with Boucher in the AHL and then on the Habs under Martin and Therrien. It must of been like 6/7 years of them being tied at the hip on the ice.
Max has stated clearly that "DD is the best center i ever played with"

Largely telling what he thinks of Plekanec.
 
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PaulD

Time for a new GM !
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People forget this, but the habs were actually in a playoff spot in around late december. It lasted for about a week, but they did rebound from their terrible start to the season. Unfortunately, injuries started piling up after that. Weber, Danault, Shaw, etc. all went down.

On december 22nd, we had a winning record. 16 wins/15 losses/4 ot.

A better start to the season and a better luck with injuries, and we might have made the playoffs.
36 pts in 35 games. about 84 pts pace over 82 games.

"PLAY OFFS" ? did you say "PLAY OFFS" ?
 

Habs Halifax

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People forget this, but the habs were actually in a playoff spot in around late december. It lasted for about a week, but they did rebound from their terrible start to the season. Unfortunately, injuries started piling up after that. Weber, Danault, Shaw, etc. all went down.

On december 22nd, we had a winning record. 16 wins/15 losses/4 ot.

A better start to the season and a better luck with injuries, and we might have made the playoffs.

Agreed. We are not as bad as most think we are. The issue I have is we are not good enough and have to many holes to fill.
 

Habs Halifax

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36 pts in 35 games. about 84 pts pace over 82 games.

"PLAY OFFS" ? did you say "PLAY OFFS" ?

Well, if you subtract the worse start in franchise history, the pace would of been better than 84 pts if we had a healthier roster and Price on his game. That was the point. Regardless, we are still not good enough to go on deep playoff runs (if we made the playoffs last year or this year)
 

Andy

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Well, if you subtract the worse start in franchise history, the pace would of been better than 84 pts if we had a healthier roster and Price on his game. That was the point. Regardless, we are still not good enough to go on deep playoff runs (if we made the playoffs last year or this year)
If you subtract any team's worst set of games, they will have a better record.
 

CHwest

Talent sets the floor, character sets the ceiling.
May 24, 2011
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Well, if you subtract the worse start in franchise history, the pace would of been better than 84 pts if we had a healthier roster and Price on his game. That was the point. Regardless, we are still not good enough to go on deep playoff runs (if we made the playoffs last year or this year)
If, if's and but were candies and nuts, we'd all have a merry Christmas.
 

Habs Halifax

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If, if's and but were candies and nuts, we'd all have a merry Christmas.

Yes, if's. I don't believe we are as bad as most think we are. I think if we stay healthy in this next season and keep most of the team together (no trades), I think we walk into the 2019 draft with a 10-18 range pick (if we don't win the lottery). However, it's anybodies guess if we trade Patch, Byron, Petry, or even Weber this season.
 

habsfan909

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Yes, if's. I don't believe we are as bad as most think we are. I think if we stay healthy in this next season and keep most of the team together (no trades), I think we walk into the 2019 draft with a 10-18 range pick (if we don't win the lottery). However, it's anybodies guess if we trade Patch, Byron, Petry, or even Weber this season.

Where will we get the goals from? Look at our roster... we scored 207 goals last season (3rd worst in the league, just ahead of Arizona and Buffalo). Where will we get more goals than that this season? MAYBE Max bounces back but also lost a bunch of goals from Galch.
If we don't find someone to make up the scoring from 207 goals, then aren't finishing in the 10-18 range. I just don't see who will put the puck in the net.
 

Habs Halifax

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Where will we get the goals from? Look at our roster... we scored 207 goals last season (3rd worst in the league, just ahead of Arizona and Buffalo). Where will we get more goals than that this season? MAYBE Max bounces back but also lost a bunch of goals from Galch.
If we don't find someone to make up the scoring from 207 goals, then aren't finishing in the 10-18 range. I just don't see who will put the puck in the net.

Canes and Blues were in the bubble playoff team mix. They scored 228 goals and 226 goals. That's 18 more goals vs the Habs. Like I said, if the Habs keep the team in place and we are healthy, we walk into the 2019 draft with a 10-18 range pick. I hope we sell assets for solid futures (Patch, Byron, Petry, Weber) but if we don't, we are not as bad as most people thing. Yeah, we have holes in our roster and no real top 2 centers but I'm also not saying we are finishing in the top 12 either.

It's quite possible we end up with a 5-10 range pick too. But my comment was about if everything goes right for us. In this case, I see us with a 10-18 range pick in the next draft. I don't want this but I can see this happening. I hate middle of the pack strategy
 

DAChampion

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Canes and Blues were in the bubble playoff team mix. They scored 228 goals and 226 goals. That's 18 more goals vs the Habs. Like I said, if the Habs keep the team in place and we are healthy, we walk into the 2019 draft with a 10-18 range pick. I hope we sell assets for solid futures (Patch, Byron, Petry, Weber) but if we don't, we are not as bad as most people thing. Yeah, we have holes in our roster and no real top 2 centers but I'm also not saying we are finishing in the top 12 either.

It's quite possible we end up with a 5-10 range pick too. But my comment was about if everything goes right for us. In this case, I see us with a 10-18 range pick in the next draft. I don't want this but I can see this happening. I hate middle of the pack strategy

That would be a sad outcome.
 
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Habs Halifax

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That would be a sad outcome.

Agreed. I hate middle of the pack strategy! We need to accumulate more 1st/2nd round picks in the next two drafts buy trading Patch, Byron, Petry, Weber. Price can be moved later on... Summer of 2020 where most of his money would be paid by then and we have a higher salary cap.
 

777

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Where will we get the goals from? Look at our roster... we scored 207 goals last season (3rd worst in the league, just ahead of Arizona and Buffalo). Where will we get more goals than that this season? MAYBE Max bounces back but also lost a bunch of goals from Galch.
If we don't find someone to make up the scoring from 207 goals, then aren't finishing in the 10-18 range. I just don't see who will put the puck in the net.

Weber will add 10-15 more goals by himself (and should help open up space for others on the PP). I think letting Radulov walk was one of the worst moves MB has made, we lost a lot of offense there
 

Andy

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True, but our worse set of games was worse :sarcasm:
So what, remove everyone's worse stretch and the Habs record still doesn't look good compared to all the teams with their worst streak removed. It's a stupid thought experiment that only further cements the fact that the Habs were awful.
 

habsfan909

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Feb 20, 2018
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Canes and Blues were in the bubble playoff team mix. They scored 228 goals and 226 goals. That's 18 more goals vs the Habs. Like I said, if the Habs keep the team in place and we are healthy, we walk into the 2019 draft with a 10-18 range pick. I hope we sell assets for solid futures (Patch, Byron, Petry, Weber) but if we don't, we are not as bad as most people thing. Yeah, we have holes in our roster and no real top 2 centers but I'm also not saying we are finishing in the top 12 either.

It's quite possible we end up with a 5-10 range pick too. But my comment was about if everything goes right for us. In this case, I see us with a 10-18 range pick in the next draft. I don't want this but I can see this happening. I hate middle of the pack strategy
It's funny but "if everything goes right" actually translates to "if Vezina Price returns and drags us higher in the rankings" LOL
That is the only way we are anything but a miserable team again. It's tough because I want Price to bounce back as a fan but I also want to finish last in the league and have the best chance at Hughes.
 
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