Post-Game Talk: Habs or Knights. Who you picking to Win?

[Cosmix]

How’re the Sens supposed to compete in the Atlantic division for a full season? Panthers, Lightning, Leafs, and Canadiens are all good teams. It’s going to be extremely tough.

Perhaps we will win in another way: a very high draft pick.

I believe we will also have the CBJ first round pick in 2022.

Could be a great year, perhaps rivaling the 2020 draft and set the team up for a real FYOUS!

 

[ReginKarlssonLehner]

How’re the Sens supposed to compete in the Atlantic division for a full season? Panthers, Lightning, Leafs, and Canadiens are all good teams. It’s going to be extremely tough.

Price has been exemplary for three playoffs in a row now. He is not a regular season goalie as he cant keep that level of dominant play over a full season at his age. MTL is not as serious a threat, they are playing full throttle like we did in 07. We have the speed, physicality and elite play to match up extremely well against them.

Leafs are going to hit a wall soon unless they drastically improve the top end of their defense and goaltending. It is clear that is what is key to being championship team last few years. Panthers and Lightning are definitely a threat, I agree but I can see us battling for last playoff spot next year and finishing either in or just shy(depending on our moves) and then I see us firmly in contention yet again the year after for a playoff spot and then in contention for division 3 years from now; that's when Boston, TB should be slowing down and we're battling it out with Panthers as top dogs.

Perhaps we will win in another way: a very high draft pick.

I believe we will also have the CBJ first round pick in 2022.

Could be a great year, perhaps rivaling the 2020 draft and set the team up for a real FYOUS!

Nah we only have our own. Just TB's second rounder and Boston's 3rd. But I agree we could do very well for ourselves to compete in the tough division and add a top 10 pick in a deep top 10 draft. That could be the piece to put us over the top on their ELC 3 years from now.

 

[Samsquanch]

I wonder if PD would have hired Luke Richardson to coach Ottawa instead of Guy Boucher how things would have turned out?
How Richardson's circuitous journey prepared him to step in for Canadiens - Sportsnet.ca

I dont doubt that Luke and likely will eventually become a good NHL head coach.

But I absolutely do not think he was ready for it back when he was in talks for it with us for the job, and Boucher got more out of that roster than Richardson would have imo. And I was a bit surprised that he was so bold in his self belief and that he was 100% deserving and ready for an NHL job already.

His AHL record was nothing to write home about at all. Yes there was some positive growth from some of his players. But there were in reality dozens of more qualified candidates out there that had much better resumes than his. And if not for his NHL resume and his reputation of being well liked and respected, he was not deserving of the job at all tbh..

But he believed in himself so much that he turned down the Sens offer as an NHL assistant saying that he was ready to be a HC, and would wait for that time to come. Sat out a full year of hockey - then took a job for 1 year with the Islanders (a team with an associate coach - so he was way down the totem poll), got fired. Then he spent 3 years with the Habs which had Kirk Muller as the associate coach, and Ducharme as an assistant both ahead of him there as well.

Fast forward to today and he is coaching in the Stanley Cup finals due to a very, very whacky set of separate events. And yeah with Carey Price playing the way he is, and his team is already living on free money from the house where any success is considered a coup of sorts, he looks really comfortable behind that bench.

But I dont think hes better than DJ as a NHL head coach or feel like we missed the boat at all. And to be honest I think that Troy Mann is a way better minor league coach and developer of kids than Luke was for us. So Im very happy for Luke, but Im still not even sure if hes the guy I would be targeting for an HC role.