Post-Game Talk: Canadiens lose 3-0 to Leafs

[THE HOFF]

I think it's the excess 15lbs weight he put on. That's a lot to add on.

like I told you before, the explosiveness levels need to match the weight gain. He'll come around but it will take a few months.

 

[jedimyrmidon]

Ya I'm just trying to figure out the point here.
Did they really think Hudon-Suz-Drouin and Kk with 2 grinders is going to be just oh-so-awesome to keep around to start the year?
Is the objective to put a AHL bound/Grinder type of player on every damn line?
Hows KK with Cousins-Weal tried before I dont know...maybe Tatar-KK-Suzuki?...

Just what the hell is the rationale behind those lines. They seem completely and utterly random, with no future considerations.

Yeah, I agree. I have no idea what they're trying especially with KK. They put him with Armia and Hudon for most of the pre-season, Weal and Cousins this game... A bit of Drouin... They absolutely refuse to even try him with Tatar, Gallagher, even Lekhonen. Heck, even Suzuki would be interesting. By contrast, even Suzuki got tried with Tatar and Danault one game.

The classic Habs approach: make it as difficult as possible for certain players.

 

[Draft]

Just saw this on the GDT but since it's locked and I can't reply there, I did it here:



I'm okay if he is the 7th D instead of Juulsen and Fleury. I would rather Juulsen and Fleury in Laval playing meaningful minutes than to be in and out of the Habs' line-up as Alzner would.

Definitely fair. I think the tricky part will be balancing Brook, Fleury, and Juulsen's minutes in the AHL if they're all down there. Quite the logjam and I'm not sure any are that comfortable playing LD even at the AHL level. I think I recall Brook playing on his offside at the WJC?

 

[LyricalLyricist]

Ya I'm just trying to figure out the point here.
Did they really think Hudon-Suz-Drouin and Kk with 2 grinders is going to be just oh-so-awesome to keep around to start the year?
Is the objective to put a AHL bound/Grinder type of player on every damn line?
Hows KK with Cousins-Weal tried before I dont know...maybe Tatar-KK-Suzuki?...

Just what the hell is the rationale behind those lines. They seem completely and utterly random, with no future considerations.
If you put sticks in the middle and let one guy pick randomly pick them as we do.playing pick up games, you'd likely have better lines made.

I think they want to see if KK needs someone established on his line I guess.

Odds are he's with neither.

 

[jedimyrmidon]

I think they want to see if KK needs someone established on his line I guess.

Odds are he's with neither.

Joel Armia has a career high of 29 points at 26 years old. Charles Hudon had a career high of 30 points at 24 years old followed by a terrible season. Not many centers in the NHL would be able to do much with those two. Plus Armia is an established NHL vet and probably isn't trying his hardest in the pre-season.

KK at 18 just had a season of 34 pts. He really isn't being given a chance with Top 6 players.

 

[NotProkofievian]

Just watching the condensed game. Lol, Folin got horribly walked by Marner. I'm not sure what he was doing with his stick, allowing the middle but denying the...corner?

 

[Kriss E]

like I told you before, the explosiveness levels need to match the weight gain. He'll come around but it will take a few months.

I dont think it will, he isnt going to be training on his explosiveness during the season. His best bet is to lose weight.

 

[Kriss E]

I think they want to see if KK needs someone established on his line I guess.

Odds are he's with neither.

But that doesnt really make much sense...give Domi Cousins and Weal, that line wont do much either. I think it's more of a dumb old-message approach, which is pretty effin stupid.
Everytime a coach does that shows desperation and a lack of understanding from what the player is struggling with.
To me it's obvious, KK is “struggling” due to the extra 15lbs hes put on. Nothing is going to change that outside 1) losing weight, and 2) getting enough ice time to hopefully get used to it.

He got some ice so that's good, but ffs, give him wingers who can help him. Dont make him the go-to guy and have to carry grinders when hes already struggling.

 

[OldCraig71]

I gotta case of Dom Pérignon at the ready..... since 2016.

Full party mode for about 5000 of us negative nancies here, how will we ever feel joy being that we are so negative?

 

[Spearmint Rhino]

Watched the 1st period then the rest in ffwd as the end was predictable

Looked like a lot of individual efforts trying to show the coach they deserve to stay or play up in the line up, preseason coming to an end and we are still wasting ice time on AHL plugs when other teams are dialling in their line combos

 

[Lshap]

Another useless game with a bunch of useless shots. Are we having fun yet?

 

[FrankMTL]

Another useless game with a bunch of useless shots. Are we having fun yet?

Last night's game was about as much fun as a root canal

 

[TannedBum]

He got some ice so that's good, but ffs, give him wingers who can help him. Dont make him the go-to guy and have to carry grinders when hes already struggling.

He's playing like garbage and you want to give him better wingers ? I'm sure that would help the team win. NHL is not a development league. Kotka is dragging down everyone around him atm, not the opposite.

He clearly needs at least one more year heavy sheltering at NHL level. His physical side is not anywhere near ready. Poehling is the guy you want to try with top6 linemates. He is ready for that. Suzuki isn't there yet either, but closer than Kotkaniemi.

 

[Rapala]

I assume they are trying various combinations even though they'll return to the obvious Tatar-Danault-Gallagher combination IMO.

Probably I think CJ was hoping to spread some of that over two lines but the only other combo that had any chemistry was Lehk Domi Gallagher. Drouin not fitting in on the top six is giving him fits. I don't think he's prepared to play Suzuki there and KK hasn't shown much. We may end up with Weal or Byron in the top 6 which is not a sign of progression by any stretch.

 

[Rapala]

You do realize we’ve sucked the last few pre seasons and that it’s carried over to the regular season as well...

We aren’t a very good team and continue to not be a very good team. Bergevin being so awful, he’s actually failing his way into success down the road because of all the high picks from his terrible moves. Year 8 of the rebuild, Derniere pour Lafreniere commence maintenant!

I'm thinking more about two seasons ago when we heard the same refrain "it's only preseason"
In typical HF Fashion that refrain was a constant and was probably heard in the last GDT of that year.

 

[Rapala]

In some ways you are right, however keep in mind that cuts happened everywhere since then, and the closer we get from opening games rosters are more competitves with more NHL players. So I would say that results near the end of camp are likely more significant than at the beginning.

Funny how that works. It's eerily similar to how a regular season works heading towards the playoffs.

 

[Kriss E]

He's playing like garbage and you want to give him better wingers ? I'm sure that would help the team win. NHL is not a development league. Kotka is dragging down everyone around him atm, not the opposite.

He clearly needs at least one more year heavy sheltering at NHL level. His physical side is not anywhere near ready. Poehling is the guy you want to try with top6 linemates. He is ready for that. Suzuki isn't there yet either, but closer than Kotkaniemi.

First...what's with the ''NHL is not a developmental league'' crap comments? If that's the case, why the hell are 18-19yo in the NHL? You think those guys are developed? It doesn't mean anything, just a BS sensationalist line people like to spit out. All the rookies and sophomore spend time developing their games at the NHL level, it happens on every team, every year, and I'd argue it goes on through the first 5 years of a young athlete. After that it becomes more about little tweaks and fine tuning.

Now that this is out of the way, what do you think is better for a struggling skilled player, to be placed next to two grinders, or given two guys who can drive the play? If KK has issues creating plays and offensive chances it sure as hell won't be Cousins and Weal who's going to help him out of this funk.
But hey, what about trying him with guys who are steadily creating things? Surely, there are better odds of him getting chances up front if he's with good guys.

There used to be a time with playing with Plekanec would get players out of their funk. We'd give him a struggling Cammy, and boom, would do better. Gionta was being anchored by a finished Gomez...okay...give him Plek and again, improved.
Giving two grinders to KK isn't going to help him in the least. Either ship him down to AHL or give him guys that could legitimately help him out.

 

[PhysicX]

In July: Summer's just begun... MB will add players to this squad.

Approaching October: We're less than a week away from puck drop *gulp*.

 

[Rapala]

In July: Summer's just begun... MB will add players to this squad.

Approaching October: We're less than a week away from puck drop *gulp*.

Send em all down. Hein Joel incoming...

 

[TannedBum]

First...what's with the ''NHL is not a developmental league'' crap comments? If that's the case, why the hell are 18-19yo in the NHL? You think those guys are developed?

Because the game evolves and nowadays 18-19 years old physically mature player is no longer a rare thing. For some it takes longer. Simple as that. Playing with Tatar and Gally wouldn't make KK any faster, stronger or agile. He needs time.

 

[Habs Icing]

I think it's the excess 15lbs weight he put on. That's a lot to add on.

Okay that explains the lack of physical skills. What about his lack of hockey IQ on the ice. Did he gain 10 lbs between his ears in the offseason? He needs to go to the AHL.

 

[Le Barron de HF]

The execution was poor overall but moreso on transition plays and zone exits in particular were extremely shoddy the last two games. Line and team chemistry were awful and our players had trouble finding themselves quickly on the ice. The effort was not there as a whole too and the Toronto players clearly wanted it more. Our passes were inaccurate most of the time and put in the wrong spots to be able to get shots off, we didn't succeed much on lobbed passes and, gravest of all, our players had the wrong timing on their passes most of the time. Our shooting was pretty bad, with many shots outright missed or too weak to have a chance to score. We didn't manage to produce many chances in the slot and stuck to perimeter shooting, to very poor results. Our powerplay was inconsistent, sometimes looking good, sometimes looking like a horse's behind. We didn't make the most of our team identity, speed, and instead looked uncharacteristically slow. Some of our players showed promise, but they were flashes here and there, not consistent performances.

All of these observations lead me to believe that our coaching staff still has a lot of work to do and will need to drill our players on cohesion, work-ethic, chemistry and ways to build-up speed in the neutral zone to lead to the offensive zone. They'll also need to work out ways for their players to reach the ''paydirt'' areas of the ice with more consistency and get shots off from there. If we don't want our team to fall into a hole to begin the season, we'll need to improve a lot in all of these facets.

Our talent level is not enough for us to win many games if we're not outworking the other team and using our speed to transition quickly and try to create offense on the rush. If we don't come into a game with that blue-collar mentality we had last year we're not gonna be winning much this season at all.

The good news though is that we're only in pre-season and that there is still more than a week to go until we're facing the Hurricanes in our first game of the new season, which means there's lots of time for our veteran players to correct some mistakes they make, for our roster to bet set, for our lines to find chemistry and for our coaches to work on all those aspects I mentioned.

As always I speak (write) too much, which, if the saying that ''brevity is the soul of wit'' holds true, says much about me.

On these words I say good night to you all.

Last night's pairing certainly didn't help. Only 2 actual NHLers on the backend. Mete was pretty quiet too. Alzner played alright but he's still below average with the puck. Folin is below average too. The game would have looked different if Petry was dressed.

 

[Ozmodiar]

Last night's pairing certainly didn't help. Only 2 actual NHLers on the backend. Mete was pretty quiet too. Alzner played alright but he's still below average with the puck. Folin is below average too. The game would have looked different if Petry was dressed.

That's an understatement.

He was so bad it was comical. I can't imagine him being on an NHL roster.

 

[Le Barron de HF]

As for the people bitching about KK, I could understand based on the previous games but he actually looked better yesterday... His skating is fine.

 

[MSLs absurd thighs]

I don't get the Kotkaniemi bashing based on yesterday's game. He's had a pretty average training camp, but yesterday he was actually involved in the action and trying to provoke things. I liked his game.