Player Discussion David Savard

JianYang

Registered User
Sep 29, 2017
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Bergevin wasn’t terrible but he was inconsistent and he didn’t understand team building. He acquired guys, sometimes it worked out, sometimes it didn’t.

The last offseason was terrible. He couldn’t have done much worse.

2017 was bad too.

Lost radulov and Markov.... Tried to make up for it by signing Hemsky, semin, streit, alzner and schlemko. All of them were a fail.

Markov was a point away from becoming 2nd in all time points by a habs dman (he was currently tied for 2nd).

He was also 10 games away from 1,000.
 

1909

Registered User
Jul 6, 2016
20,705
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2017 was bad too.

Lost radulov and Markov
.... Tried to make up for it by signing Hemsky, semin, streit, alzner and schlemko. All of them were a fail.

Markov was a point away from becoming 2nd in all time points by a habs dman (he was currently tied for 2nd).

He was also 10 games away from 1,000.
Both wanted longer contracts and $$$.
 

JianYang

Registered User
Sep 29, 2017
17,953
16,447
Both wanted longer contracts and $$$.

It's poor management. You might be able to shrug it off is a one off case, but it happened twice in 2017, and then it happened in 2021 again with Danault

He lost more inner core players for nothing than any other habs GM I can remember, and then tried to gloss it over with garbage that failed every single time.

I'm not overly critical of Bergevin compared to others on this board, but there's no way to deny that he completely fumbled 2017 and 2021 off seasons.
 

Beendair Donedat

Punk in Drublic
Dec 29, 2010
5,708
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Truth or Consequences, NM
Looks like he had another solid off season of working hard on his conditioning. I was able to get ahold of this shot of him, deep in concentration, as he implemented his unorthodox technique. His dedication cannot be questioned, but I thought he was going to collapse on the ice at one point.


IMG_3927.gif
 

Ezpz

No mad pls
Apr 16, 2013
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I think Savard is already looking worse than last year where he had a mini-resurgence despite his stats being bad. He's supposed to be the calming vet influence but he is more of a liability. I really don't think we'd be worse off if he were traded at the deadline. I don't think he can handle the minutes he gets anymore. Granted Xhekaj had a nearly 20 minute penalty so Kovacevic and Savard had to play an extra 50% of the time so maybe he was just tired since he's not a 25 minute player at this stage. I think if we wait until next year's deadline his footspeed will already make him an even bigger liability and we won't get anything back.

At the same time, I'm not sure if our rookies are ready to lead the lineup, so waiting til the deadline is safer. Harris has looked worse through pre-season and game 1 than last year. Xhekaj has been adjusting since he missed a fair bit of time last year and honestly got outplayed by Norlinder in pre-season. Guhle also has looked a little off at times but has been a standout in others. The irony is other fans see we had 5 goals against and think our D are overrated, then you see Matheson and Savard were the only minus players.

I hate to say it but I think we may need another stopgap vet after shipping Savard out. Most non-elite top 10 pick Dmen aren't going to hit their prime til 25 and if we didn't throw the young D to the wolves last year I don't think we will this year or next. Kovacevic for example looks like a top 4 D now at 26. We're lucky there cause he's already passed a few of the Jets D they kept over him. Even them I'm wondering if Hughes can resist the temptation to trade a top 4 D making 766k, Kovacevic may even get traded at the deadline in a Hagel/Jeannot overpay.

Anyways back to Savard, I think he needs to move down the lineup and let the young guys take a chance in the top 4 so we can better evaluate what we have.
 

Catanddogguitarrr

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Jul 3, 2016
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I don't think he can handle the minutes he gets anymore.

At the same time, I'm not sure if our rookies are ready to lead the lineup,
He can handle the minutes, no problem.
You're right, our roster is too young and can't lead the lineup
Guhle also has looked a little off at times but has been a standout in others.
Ghule is young. He need a vet like Savard on his line. Savard is not perfect, he is what we have and he's fine in his role.
I hate to say it but I think we may need another stopgap vet after shipping Savard out.
Trying to find another D to replace Savard? Not a good idea, we'll overpay for nothing. At the end, the new D will cost more for a lower return. Savard is liked among the players, it's something to consider.
Anyways back to Savard, I think he needs to move down the lineup and let the young guys take a chance in the top 4 so we can better evaluate what we have.
I don't think so. The poster just before you bring stats with or without Savard in the line-up. In the actual situation, Savard is more valuable with us that the return he might get. But maytbe Hughes can make a great deal at the tdl. I don't see the other young D ready. Losing too many games with an huge goals difference is bad for their confidence. You wrote it yourself, our rookies are not ready to lead the lineup. Savard is experienced and strong between the ears.
 

Ezpz

No mad pls
Apr 16, 2013
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He can handle the minutes, no problem.
You're right, our roster is too young and can't lead the lineup

Ghule is young. He need a vet like Savard on his line. Savard is not perfect, he is what we have and he's fine in his role.

Trying to find another D to replace Savard? Not a good idea, we'll overpay for nothing. At the end, the new D will cost more for a lower return. Savard is liked among the players, it's something to consider.

I don't think so. The poster just before you bring stats with or without Savard in the line-up. In the actual situation, Savard is more valuable with us that the return he might get. But maytbe Hughes can make a great deal at the tdl. I don't see the other young D ready. Losing too many games with an huge goals difference is bad for their confidence. You wrote it yourself, our rookies are not ready to lead the lineup. Savard is experienced and strong between the ears.
The guy with the stats post you're speaking of necro'd this thread. My post was from the beginning of the regular season when Savard was struggling to keep up.

Savard's injury last year overlapped with many more important injuries.

Likewise, Harris leads the team in negative +- this year and our recent success has been without him in the lineup, would you boldly claim Harris being out is why we're winning?

Mitchell Stephens has an even better record than Savard. I guess he's a significant factor in our success?

It's not like we could say look at the quality of competition we faced when Savard was in the lineup versus not. Not like we played 10 playoff teams or within a point or two of the wildcard in November and 4 basement teams.

Savard's a good minute eater but context is important with these sorts of claims. He's not Andrei Markov or Carey Price. I would still trade him at the deadline since I think he will be a worse player and have less value next year.

What's the point in keeping a guy who makes your pick slightly worse but doesn't move the needle towards the playoffs and has no long term future with the team and is the most valuable he will be for the remainder of his career? Not to mention Barron, Guhle, struble, etc took huge strides forward with him out of the lineup. Why do we want Savard playing 23 minutes and Guhle losing 3-4 minutes a game of development time for the sake of a couple points once in a while?

Just my opinion, Savard doesn't fill a role the Habs need going forward. Slow stay at home d are not part of the new NHL. When Tampa won a cup with him he played the least minutes on the team amongst D.
 

Catanddogguitarrr

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Jul 3, 2016
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The guy with the stats post you're speaking of necro'd this thread. My post was from the beginning of the regular season when Savard was struggling to keep up.

Savard's injury last year overlapped with many more important injuries.

Likewise, Harris leads the team in negative +- this year and our recent success has been without him in the lineup, would you boldly claim Harris being out is why we're winning?

Mitchell Stephens has an even better record than Savard. I guess he's a significant factor in our success?

It's not like we could say look at the quality of competition we faced when Savard was in the lineup versus not. Not like we played 10 playoff teams or within a point or two of the wildcard in November and 4 basement teams.

Savard's a good minute eater but context is important with these sorts of claims. He's not Andrei Markov or Carey Price. I would still trade him at the deadline since I think he will be a worse player and have less value next year.

What's the point in keeping a guy who makes your pick slightly worse but doesn't move the needle towards the playoffs and has no long term future with the team and is the most valuable he will be for the remainder of his career? Not to mention Barron, Guhle, struble, etc took huge strides forward with him out of the lineup. Why do we want Savard playing 23 minutes and Guhle losing 3-4 minutes a game of development time for the sake of a couple points once in a while?

Just my opinion, Savard doesn't fill a role the Habs need going forward. Slow stay at home d are not part of the new NHL. When Tampa won a cup with him he played the least minutes on the team amongst D.
It's Matheson who could be perfect trade at tdl, if you want a vet to bring a decent return. It's not like Savard takes important minutes of a young D. Ghule losing few minutes is nothing. We've seen too many times young players getting burned playing too many minutes early in their career. Savard might get a 2nd at best, more realisticly a 3rd or a 5th.

Sorry if I didn't read the posts were old, now I understand why it looked not connected with this year reality, lol.

Even Matheson, I would keep him too. Just 2 vets is ok in the situation. If you want some vets to be traded, there's enough playing forward who are way more useless.
 

Sorinth

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Jan 18, 2013
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What's the point in keeping a guy who makes your pick slightly worse but doesn't move the needle towards the playoffs and has no long term future with the team and is the most valuable he will be for the remainder of his career? Not to mention Barron, Guhle, struble, etc took huge strides forward with him out of the lineup. Why do we want Savard playing 23 minutes and Guhle losing 3-4 minutes a game of development time for the sake of a couple points once in a while?

Just my opinion, Savard doesn't fill a role the Habs need going forward. Slow stay at home d are not part of the new NHL. When Tampa won a cup with him he played the least minutes on the team amongst D.
To be fair it's probably not Guhle that is losing any minutes, it will be the 3rd pairing guys who will have less minutes. And there's an argument that too many minutes, especially harder defensive minutes isn't best for their development.

The main reason we need to move on from Savard isn't that he can't be useful in helping develop our young D, it's that we simply don't have room for that role. Next season we are already at 7 D who deserve quality NHL minutes without Savard and without considering Reinbacher, Mailloux, or Hutson who we might want to see in the NHL.
 

dackelljuneaubulis02

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Oct 13, 2012
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It's Matheson who could be perfect trade at tdl, if you want a vet to bring a decent return. It's not like Savard takes important minutes of a young D. Ghule losing few minutes is nothing. We've seen too many times young players getting burned playing too many minutes early in their career. Savard might get a 2nd at best, more realisticly a 3rd or a 5th.

Sorry if I didn't read the posts were old, now I understand why it looked not connected with this year reality, lol.

Even Matheson, I would keep him too. Just 2 vets is ok in the situation. If you want some vets to be traded, there's enough playing forward who are way more useless.

Yeah keep Matheson and Savard. Give the kids some breathing room
 

Ezpz

No mad pls
Apr 16, 2013
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Yeah keep Matheson and Savard. Give the kids some breathing room
So when we go into next season with Xhekaj, Struble, Guhle, Harris, Barron, Hutson, and Reinbacher, we just send struble and Xhekaj along with the two hyped prospects down because they don't need waivers and we have no room for that many guys in Montreal? Regardless if Struble and Xhekaj outplay Barron and Harris?

Vet D need to move out as a rebuilding club
 

dackelljuneaubulis02

Registered User
Oct 13, 2012
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So when we go into next season with Xhekaj, Struble, Guhle, Harris, Barron, Hutson, and Reinbacher, we just send struble and Xhekaj along with the two hyped prospects down because they don't need waivers and we have no room for that many guys in Montreal? Regardless if Struble and Xhekaj outplay Barron and Harris?

Vet D need to move out as a rebuilding club
Really don’t see Hutson and Reinbacher being sent to Laval as a bad thing. Both have plenty they need to work on.

I’m sure a Harris or two gets moved. I don’t know if we have any D ready for top pairing minutes right now besides the two vets
 

26Mats

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Jun 23, 2018
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Because Guhle is playing way better since he is playing less. He’s at a stage where he can’t handle playing 23 min and +

It will be interesting to see if Hughes decides to deal one or both or neither of him and Monahan at this year's trade deadline.
 

Ezpz

No mad pls
Apr 16, 2013
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I would be cautious on moving Savard just yet. He is a huge asset to the young players.
He is also an UFA after next season and should be expected to decline over the summer due to his age. His peak value as an asset will be this deadline. Is his influence worth dropping from say a first round pick or decent prospect to a sixth rounder assuming he falls off like say what happened with Chiarot vs Edmondson. Holding assets can really bite you in the ass sometimes.
 

Tyson

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Mar 1, 2007
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Really don’t see Hutson and Reinbacher being sent to Laval as a bad thing. Both have plenty they need to work on.

I’m sure a Harris or two gets moved. I don’t know if we have any D ready for top pairing minutes right now besides the two vets
I have been critical of Harris like many on this site but watching him last night I came away thinking that this kid is pretty damn good.

He is also an UFA after next season and should be expected to decline over the summer due to his age. His peak value as an asset will be this deadline. Is his influence worth dropping from say a first round pick or decent prospect to a sixth rounder assuming he falls off like say what happened with Chiarot vs Edmondson. Holding assets can really bite you in the ass sometimes.
💯 % the counter argument.
 
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