Habs beat Sabres 4-1 in Buffalo [Season Opener]

[scrubadam]

25 min TOI
1 assist, +3.

Made many little great plays. He pinched in and blocked one of Buffalo zone exit and it leads to a big scoring chances. (radu to lehkonen). Made many small and key plays like that, both in the offensive zone and defensive zone. Was pretty physical too.

Nothing too exhuberabt. Nothing flashy. Kept it all simple.

Definitely played like you want your top defenseman to play

I think he will have some games where he will bring even more production and physicality and probably sequences where his lack of agility will make him look like a fool too.

Definitely still an elite top defenseman in the game tho.

He has nothing to envy to any player in this league.

Love your enthusiasim for Weber! He is going to be a rock back there.

I know you love Radu and I am a believer as well. Got a prediction on when he will break out? I think he might get a few points against Ottawa this saturday.

Go habs Go!

 

[E82]

I hadn't gotten around to it, but here are my grades for the game:

Gallagher A
Galchenyuk C
Pacioretty C
Radulov B+
Lehkonen B
Plekanec C-
Carr A
Shaw B
Desharnais C
Byron A
Mitchell C+
Danault D
Weber B
Beaulieu C
Pateryn A
Markov C
Emelin A
Sergachev D-
Montoya B+

I agree with your list. Very reasonable. I might have given Carr a B though.

 

[Andrei79]

Hey guys .. How did Weber look? Missed the game just curious what your thoughts on his first game were...

Pretty much perfect defense. Guy is a rock back there, can see why people think he's been robbed of 2 Norris trophies. Love the guy, wish we could have a high end PMD like we had in Subban AND Weber.

 

[Stive Morgan]

I hadn't gotten around to it, but here are my grades for the game:

Gallagher A
Galchenyuk C
Pacioretty C
Radulov B+
Lehkonen B
Plekanec C-
Carr A
Shaw B
Desharnais C
Byron A
Mitchell C+
Danault D
Weber B
Beaulieu C
Pateryn A
Markov C
Emelin A
Sergachev D-
Montoya B+

Agree with this mostly except I give Montoya an A+ and Mitchell an A-

 

[Doc McKenna]

Hey guys .. How did Weber look? Missed the game just curious what your thoughts on his first game were...

Meh a little slow(but so was old man markov) But was positionaly sound, didn't notice him that much to be honest. Pateryn and him don't look that different other than weber having a much better cannon.

 

[Jaynki]

Love your enthusiasim for Weber! He is going to be a rock back there.

I know you love Radu and I am a believer as well. Got a prediction on when he will break out? I think he might get a few points against Ottawa this saturday.

Go habs Go!

Concerning Radu, there will definitely be an adaptation period as we have witnessed yesterday.

His skillset is obvious to anybody. But he will have to re-adapt to the speed of the NHL, the lesser reaction time, the system, make shorter shift etc.

I believe he will have a season similar to Erik Cole (2011-2012) in terms of production.

Will probably struggle for the 10-15 first games, then bang bang bang!

At some point, i also hope he will be paired with Galchenyuk and Lehkonen.

Pacioretty - Plekanec - Gallagher being a line that made their proof.

 

[Sniperr]

The shift where Radulov created a turnover and set up Lekhonen without his stick shortly was ****ing awesome.

 

[BatVader]

Ha ha ha ha. When you are surrounded by dullards, and the daft, you sometimes have to YELL!!!!!

Then you must hate the hall of mirrors!!

Weber for Subban is lateral at best, though due to age, energy, excitement, and desire to play in Mtl I'd put Subban ahead.
Don't kid yourself. Take off those Weber shaped glasses and put down your Weber sleeping blanket.

As for "The Czech", Plekanec is highly considered and respected across the league, except by Mtl fanboys and homers, and is considered one of the top 2 way centres in the league.
Right now, I'd take him over those 2 puppies you mentioned any day.
Last season he still put up 50+ points. It's called consistency. It's a good thing.

Maybe you should look more at a players ability, skill, and history and less at his draft rank and rookie card value.

Hope I didn't yell to loudly for ya...

 

[sandviper]

Then you must hate the hall of mirrors!!

Muahahah! Nice!

 

[Teufelsdreck]

Pretty much perfect defense. Guy is a rock back there, can see why people think he's been robbed of 2 Norris trophies. Love the guy, wish we could have a high end PMD like we had in Subban AND Weber.

It's relatively easier to replace a Subban than a Weber. If Sergachev lives up to his promise, the pain of losing Subban would be largely ameliorated.

 

[G0bias]

It's relatively easier to replace a Subban than a Weber. If Sergachev lives up to his promise, the pain of losing Subban would be largely ameliorated.

Completely disagree. It's a hell of alot harder to acquire a franchise 60 pts PMD.

Took us nearly a decade to find one since Markov, 25 years since Chelios.

With the way the league is trending, elite PMDs hold the highest value now.

Thankfully, we lucked out with Sergachev falling into our hands. But it cost us a collapse of historic proportion and a wasted season.

 

[Kudo Shinichi]

Completely disagree. It's a hell of alot harder to acquire a franchise 60 pts PMD.

Took us nearly a decade to find one since Markov, 25 years since Chelios.

With the way the league is trending, elite PMDs hold the highest value now.

Thankfully, we lucked out with Sergachev falling into our hands. But it cost us a collapse of historic proportion and a wasted season.

Yea but we traded Subban after the season was over. The fact that we drafted Sergachev might have made Subban a little expandable.