Different from last year?

[Takeru]

Before season started, most people said Habs were pretty much the same as last year.

We basically swapped Vanek/Gio for PAP/Sekac (this is an improvement since Gio was so bad, but none of the two we got is as dangerous as Vanek was LAST season).

There's also the Malhotra - Brière swap (both play on 4th line). I'd say this one is an improvement as well, considering Malhotra fills the duties of a 4th liner better, though Brière, despite his small TOI used to score the goal that made the difference.

Then there's the Gilbert - Gorges swap. Different players, small game sample to evaluate but so far I don't see this neither as a huge improvement nor a terrible downgrade.

So there you have it, our team has essentially the same potential as last year. Where it becomes interesting is when we look at the last season.


Here's my short summary of last season with what I'd call turning points:

1-Average start, then we get on a roll during Nov and get at least a point every game for 10 straight games.

2-Blow out 6-0 VS LAK, start struggling for a month or so despite some great moments (3rd period comeback VS Sens)

3-Gather a couple of wins before Olympic break.

4-Price is injured, having a hard time without him

5-Price is back, we get Vanek and end the season on a high note.


So yeah, I don't expect this year to be much different, we had our good sequence at the start and now we're in step 2 (funny how our struggles start with a loss to West Conf).

My point with all this is, we only saw a drastic improvement of performance after landing a high caliber player (Vanek) by paying the price (which fortunately was ''small'', prospect +pick)

What I mean to say is don't expect anything much different, you don't get huge improvements overnight (or summer in this case), you need to sacrifice something for it, whether it's roster players (good ones), prospects or picks, which MB hasn't seemed so eager to do in the past.

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[Lshap]

Based on personnel shift alone, you're right that there's not a huge change. But... this team is being steered by its young players, most of whom are still learning and improving. You can see the big spike in Galchenyuk's confidence this season; Beaulieu and Tinordi are earning their stripes; Sekac is looking like a potential solid 2nd or 3rd line forward. These players have nowhere to go but up. As they gain experience and ice-time, the team will get better.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Based on personnel shift alone, you're right that there's not a huge change. But... this team is being steered by its young players, most of whom are still learning and improving. You can see the big spike in Galchenyuk's confidence this season; Beaulieu and Tinordi are earning their stripes; Sekac is looking like a potential solid 2nd or 3rd line forward. These players have nowhere to go but up. As they gain experience and ice-time, the team will get better.

Problem is that our coach seems to be holding those players back. I'd have expected Galchenyuk, Tinordi, Beaulieu, Sekac all to have had bigger roles this year. That was a big reason for my enthusiasm coming into this season. But we see the same pattern of sticking with vets and benching the kids.

 

[Takeru]

Based on personnel shift alone, you're right that there's not a huge change. But... this team is being steered by its young players, most of whom are still learning and improving. You can see the big spike in Galchenyuk's confidence this season; Beaulieu and Tinordi are earning their stripes; Sekac is looking like a potential solid 2nd or 3rd line forward. These players have nowhere to go but up. As they gain experience and ice-time, the team will get better.

I agree with all this. What I meant to say was that changes like young players developping occur more slowly than say, landing an impact player, which is why we shouldn't expect things to be very different from last year. If nothing improves by the end of the season or next year, I'd be the first to be surprised, aside from the fact that'd be very disturbing.

 

[groovejuice]

Problem is that our coach seems to be holding those players back. I'd have expected Galchenyuk, Tinordi, Beaulieu, Sekac all to have had bigger roles this year. That was a big reason for my enthusiasm coming into this season. But we see the same pattern of sticking with vets and benching the kids.

Which is in direct contradiction to what Bergevin said before the season. Play the kids. Give them greater and more responsible roles. More leadership....

Haven't seen the coach buy into this philosophy, except some token inclusions.

I really don't like Therrien.

 

[Apoplectic Habs Fan]

In a lot a ways, it appears making it to the conference final has made many people forget the struggles and major issues this team had defensively, 5 on 5 and the PP this team had in the regular season last year and this is season is pretty much an extension of it.

This team isn't the most talented by any means, the star power is not there but depth is. The fact we are seeing no adjustments now a season and a month into a new season, you have to start questioning the coaching staff.

Add, Eller, Emelin, Subban, Gallagher, Tinner and Beauliue have not progressed at all is hugely disappointing. These guys are a big part of the future core and this coaching staff has no clue how to develop players

 

[Andy]

We basically swapped Vanek/Gio for PAP/Sekac (this is an improvement since Gio was so bad, but none of the two we got is as dangerous as Vanek was LAST season).
.

Not in the slightest. Sekac hasn't done anything to show that he would be as productive as Vanek or Gio were last year, that's ridiculous.

As for PAP, by the end of the year, he might be just as productive as Gio was last year while not being as versatile.

It's amazing how underappreciate Gionta was here. PAP might put up some offense on the board, but he's not really an offensive creator, he's more of an exploiter, will pick up the chances left over by his linemates. That's fine, he's playing well, but he's definitely not as good as Vanek was at the tail end of the regular season (POs are a different matter). He will probably be slightly more productive than Gionta, but he'll be far less versatile. PAP is currently one of the most sheltered players on the club.

The offense really hasn't improved at all. It's quite clear that MB was hoping on the internal improvement of Galchenyuk, Gallagher and Eller this year. It doesn't look like it's going to happen.

The offense of Briere, Gionta and Vanek was replaced with PAP and Sekac. The habs already struggled to score goals last year with the former trio. They've definitely downgraded.

 

[Lshap]

Problem is that our coach seems to be holding those players back. I'd have expected Galchenyuk, Tinordi, Beaulieu, Sekac all to have had bigger roles this year. That was a big reason for my enthusiasm coming into this season. But we see the same pattern of sticking with vets and benching the kids.

Stay optimistic. We were moaning about Sekac being benched, then voila - he appeared last game. We're all pissed about Tinordi being in Hamilton; give it a week and he'll be back. Beaulieu's getting real ice-time, gaining confidence and learning to avoid some of his positioning mistakes. It's slow progress, but it's moving in the right direction.

My only concern is how fast it's moving. I'm okay with being overly-cautious with our rookies for now, just as long as they gradually increase their ice-time over the next few months and are ready for the playoffs.

 

[Lshap]

Not in the slightest. Sekac hasn't done anything to show that he would be as productive as Vanek or Gio were last year, that's ridiculous.

As for PAP, by the end of the year, he might be just as productive as Gio was last year while not being as versatile.

It's amazing how underappreciate Gionta was here. PAP might put up some offense on the board, but he's not really an offensive creator, he's more of an exploiter, will pick up the chances left over by his linemates. That's fine, he's playing well, but he's definitely not as good as Vanek was at the tail end of the regular season (POs are a different matter). He will probably be slightly more productive than Gionta, but he'll be far less versatile. PAP is currently one of the most sheltered players on the club.

The offense really hasn't improved at all. It's quite clear that MB was hoping on the internal improvement of Galchenyuk, Gallagher and Eller this year. It doesn't look like it's going to happen.

The offense of Briere, Gionta and Vanek was replaced with PAP and Sekac. The habs already struggled to score goals last year with the former trio. They've definitely downgraded.

I'm happy with Parenteau the Exploiter (sounds like a Medieval warlord). His talent addresses our biggest weakness, which is a lack of finishers. He's no Vanek, but he can shoot and bury pucks better than Gionta. I agree Gionta was under-appreciated, his defensive game was strong, but PAP puts us ahead offensively.

Sekac is a rookie with no concrete evidence for or against him. He's all potential right now. IMO his potential far outweighs half our forwards. We'll have to wait and see, and hope he gets the chance.

You're pretty harsh on Galchenyuk. The kid is 20, and has started to show real confidence this season. Do you really think that won't translate into more goals & points? I disagree.

Lack of scoring continues to be a problem, but it's not as big a problem as the past 10 days makes it appear. We're playing a new system with new personnel -- the picture might look very different in two weeks.

 

[Takeru]

We'll see what happens with player usage, but I'm a bit worried seeing a guy like Weaver playing every night. To me, he was supposed to be a kind of RH Bouillon, a 7th D-man, and Beaulieu/Tinordi would see most of the action. Thing is he won't be around next year (I hope at least), so we're wasting valuable ice time on him in a certain way. He should be the guy rotating and playing a game in 2 or 3 in my mind.

 

[optimus2861]

We'll see what happens with player usage, but I'm a bit worried seeing a guy like Weaver playing every night. To me, he was supposed to be a kind of RH Bouillon, a 7th D-man, and Beaulieu/Tinordi would see most of the action. Thing is he won't be around next year (I hope at least), so we're wasting valuable ice time on him in a certain way. He should be the guy rotating and playing a game in 2 or 3 in my mind.

Agreed. I like Weaver, he's good at his role with his limited skills. He's certainly a significant upgrade on the #7 D role from the likes of Bouillon & Murray, who were absolute trash (as punctuated by the fact that both their NHL careers are over), but he shouldn't be an 82-game player. He's not part of this team's long-term future. Beaulieu & Tinordi are. Weaver should be playing perhaps 2 of 3 games, in rotation with both NB & JT, and as those two guys develop, eventually Weaver can be eased out of the lineup entirely.

But Therrien loves his vets, so Weaver will play 70+ games easily and the other two will do well to get 45. Then come playoffs, Therrien still won't trust the youngsters, and play the hell out of Weaver instead. It's utterly predicable, and it's maddening as hell.

 

[WeThreeKings]

The only difference
That I see
Is we are exactly the same
As we used to beeeee

 

[LaP]

Not in the slightest. Sekac hasn't done anything to show that he would be as productive as Vanek or Gio were last year, that's ridiculous.

As for PAP, by the end of the year, he might be just as productive as Gio was last year while not being as versatile.

It's amazing how underappreciate Gionta was here.

He was under appreciated because others are failing as much as him?

I'm sorry but 18 goals and 40 points on a second line is nothing to write home about. It is the minimum acceptable at this position. And I'm not talking about his performance in the playoffs last year ...

AK was able to do that playing 1 game out of 5.

 

[Spearmint Rhino]

The only difference
That I see
Is we are exactly the same
As we used to beeeee

Took me a second to remember that one-album-wonder

The big difference is the kids, it totally frustrates me the double standard MT has - there's probably a method to his madness but that doesn't work for everyone and I think that's where he fails as a coach

Chucky started the year great, he made a couple of mistakes one game and got his ice-time slashed and since then his confidence is shot, Tinordi & Beaulieu are in the same boat and waiting to see if Sekac gets another game after taking that penalty last game

 

[HabsFanJosh]

I have a feeling like we are going to have to add another top six forward in order to get us going. Montreal was good at the tail end of last year when we got Vanek because it pushed Gio onto a line with Eller, who finally got a winger with some scoring ability. Then we had three lines that could produce.

Sekac is still adjusting, and Eller, as we all know, does not create chances by himself. Give him a wingers like Gally and Sekac, and fill in the missing spot in our top six, then you'll see a much better team. We don't have the high end talent to be a two-line team.