Habs are "pretty ok" according to some other NHL front offices

[beowulf]

Interesting way to put it.

Don't look now, but some NHL front offices think the Habs are...pretty OK? | Montreal Gazette

Some of them are suggesting Montreal could be the best Canadian team in the NHL.

Interesting, maybe I should be more optimistic than I currently am.

Click to read more...

 

[MXD]

Well, being the best Canadian team doesn't mean that much. It wouldn't make us a Top-5 team, maybe not even a Top-8 team.

I don't think the Habs will end up being the best Canadian team, but we're at the point where stranger things have happened.

 

[beowulf]

Well, being the best Canadian team doesn't mean that much. It wouldn't make us a Top-5 team, maybe not even a Top-8 team.

I just found it funny they said "pretty ok" so is that good or better than good? LOL

 

[Habs]

Interesting way to put it.

Don't look now, but some NHL front offices think the Habs are...pretty OK? | Montreal Gazette



Interesting, maybe I should be more optimistic than I currently am.

and if my grandmother had wheels she would have been a bike.

 

[Kriss E]

Interesting way to put it.

Don't look now, but some NHL front offices think the Habs are...pretty OK? | Montreal Gazette



Interesting, maybe I should be more optimistic than I currently am.

I mean, 2 of 15 people said they were the top team. Another 4 said second best...so more than half the people thought we're middle of the pack at best.
But ya, a lot of the Canadian teams are unpredictable. Aside from Ottawa who we know will suck, they could all be pretty good to pretty mediocre.
For CGY-VAN-MTL a lot rides on kids, Mtl brought in quite a bit of help so I'd put them over those two teams. Toronto should be the best team but somehow they can't put it together, so who knows with them too. Winnipeg despite their losses stay afloat and are always dangerous.
I'd put Mtl as the 3rd best too, but it's a bit of a crapshoot.

 

[Kriss E]

and if my grandmother had wheels she would have been a bike.

 

[peate]

As long as we beat the Leafs...

 

[Justsayin]

"pretty ok" is a notch above "kinda not that bad" which is just higher than "not really all that far from kinda bad".....

 

[26Mats]

Well, being the best Canadian team doesn't mean that much. It wouldn't make us a Top-5 team, maybe not even a Top-8 team.

I don't think the Habs will end up being the best Canadian team, but we're at the point where stranger things have happened.

Being a top 8 team would be a very good thing. Is the ultimate goal to be a top 8 team? No. But it's a good start, considering we've missed the playoffs 5 of the last 6 years.

 

[Habs]

You know how long I've been saving that? You weren't supposed to bust out the video yet!

 

[Roadhouse]

As long as we beat the Leafs...

The roles are reversed from the Fraser/Orr/McLaren era to a mild extent. We might lose a few but we'll win some, and through all those games we will be beating them up physically. Guys like Hyman, Nylander, Marner, Mikheyev, Vesey, Sandin, Dermott and even Tavares will get the rails from our Webers and Andersons. The whole season. In mini series format on top of everything. Jacknicholson.gif.....

 

[Kriss E]

You know how long I've been saving that? You weren't supposed to bust out the video yet!

Lol..my bad.

 

[Just Linda]

LeBrun: Predictions from NHL execs, coaches, scouts on the all-Canadian division

15 NHL staff members interviewed, only one said Habs aren't a playoffs team while 2 said that the Habs would be top of the division.

 

[CauZuki]

I think it's obvious we aren't a "sexy" team but we have some real solid depth that could be really dangerous if all our pieces gel together and produce at their full potential.

However, it's harder than most think to get 20 NHL players on the same page at all times. Should be interesting to see (if there's a season...).

 

[TopTenPlayz]

Don't see how we can be the best Canadian team when others have players like Matthews, Marner, Tavares, Petterson, Hughes, Scheifele, Wheeler, Laine, Monahan, Gaudreau, McDavid, Drai, etc. etc. etc.

Yes, we've improved compared to last year with our additions but still too many unknowns. Can Anderson bounce back from his injuries and become a 50+ pts power forward? How much will KK and Suze improve? Is Romanov as good as advertised? Can Drouin finally pick his head out of his ass and score 60 pts? Even if we have superior depth players, there are way too many question marks to our core players to rival with other teams. I see us finishing between 5th and 7th.

 

[Habs]

Don't see how we can be the best Canadian team when others have players like Matthews, Marner, Tavares, Petterson, Hughes, Scheifele, Wheeler, Laine, Monahan, Gaudreau, McDavid, Drai, etc. etc. etc.

Yes, we've improved compared to last year with our additions but still too many unknowns. Can Anderson bounce back from his injuries and become a 50+ pts power forward? How much will KK and Suze improve? Is Romanov as good as advertised? Can Drouin finally pick his head out of his ass and score 60 pts? Even if we have superior depth players, there are way too many question marks to our core players to rival with other teams. I see us finishing between 5th and 7th.

Even with Toffoli and Anderson we could use a little more size up front. Laine would solve a lot of problems!

 

[Just Linda]

Don't see how we can be the best Canadian team when others have players like Matthews, Marner, Tavares, Petterson, Hughes, Scheifele, Wheeler, Laine, Monahan, Gaudreau, McDavid, Drai, etc. etc. etc.

Yes, we've improved compared to last year with our additions but still too many unknowns. Can Anderson bounce back from his injuries and become a 50+ pts power forward? How much will KK and Suze improve? Is Romanov as good as advertised? Can Drouin finally pick his head out of his ass and score 60 pts? Even if we have superior depth players, there are way too many question marks to our core players to rival with other teams. I see us finishing between 5th and 7th.

It's quite easy to make arguments for the Habs over each of the other teams - except Toronto.

Edmonton is starting the season with Nurse, Barrie, Bear, and likely Jones as their top 4 with Koskinen in net, that's a recipe for defensive disaster.

Calgary lost so much depth on D and will be running a very young, underdeveloped D. They also have weak forward depth and their top line is very easy to shutdown.

Winnipeg's D is a bottom 8 d in the league by most observers opinion, it lacks a number 1 D and yeah, has been really bad for the last year and a half. Statsny has regressed a lot (or is just coming off a really bad year) which makes their centre depth subpar at best.

Vancouver is pretty flawed and Ottawa is Ottawa.

Habs have a blueprint to matchup well against any if these teams. I'm not saying Habs have a great d but we might have the least worst d of any Canadian teams this year.

 

[angusyoung]

If you just drank a 1000$ bottle of wine and said ''it's pretty ok'',sounds like it's just not good enough.

 

[habamillions]

And then tsn and sportsnet has them 6th place and the leafs 1st

 

[ThaDevilGirl]

I'll take "pretty ok" over the dumpster fire this team was last year...

 

[JoelWarlord]

I think these stories are usually a product of NHL people overrating Price and Weber a lot. The Habs lineup looks a lot better if you assume Price is still Vezina/Hart level Price and Weber is still the 2010-14 Man Mountain superstar, but that's not really the case anymore. They're both great players still but I think when NHL people see Shea Weber on Montreal's top pairing they pretty significantly overrate the gap between Weber as a #1 and a guy like say, Jake Muzzin.

 

[Deebs]

We'll be a better playoff team than a regular season team.

 

[LMFAO]

LeBrun: Predictions from NHL execs, coaches, scouts on the all-Canadian division

15 NHL staff members interviewed, only one said Habs aren't a playoffs team while 2 said that the Habs would be top of the division.

TBH the canadian division would be wide open... any team not the Senators could win it.

 

[Seb]

- Hey mom, how do you feel about me?

- Pretty ok

- (sad face)

 

[Habs 4 Life]

I think the "experts" just don't know which Habs we are going to see.
The one who lost all it's games against the Wings or the Habs we saw in the playoffs..