Confirmed with Link: Habs Sign Galchenyuk to 3 year deal, $4.9M AAV

[Spring in Fialta]

Philip-David Desharnault is the new scapegoat, and for good reason. Dude was the reason we couldn't buy a goal in the second half of the year and in the playoffs. Brutally bad.

Chucky was bad in whatever ways he was, but I'm willing to bet a lot of it was due to confidence. This team has done a spectacular job of taking a hard-working, never-say-quit mentality and totally dismantling it over the years - imposing an overbearing, personal, intensely incompetant coach in Therrien does that to a team's mentality. Chucky is far from being the only one, Emelin, Petry, Beaulieu, all the busted prospects - they all waxed and waned in their performance with their confidence. Clod didn't show much else either, placing Chucky on a line with non-NHLers Martinsen and Ott.

But yeah, it's all Chucky's fault

 

[CauZuki]

Why ES points only? Goals are goals. I'm not even referring to stats, but his general play. He wasn't effective going forward. Our team wasn't effective going forward. In the playoffs Danault was one of our worst players, in fact.

Also, 29 in 47 is 0.6 PPG, which is a ~50 point paice... but is it really good to get 50 points playing with Pacioretty and Radulov? I think it's not good enough. And now that Rads is gone and an inferior RW will replace him, I doubt Danault flirts with 0.6ppg again - unless something really changes in his game.


Well said burn aside... I don't think that at all.

Philip David Desharnault is going to get a lot of ice-time with players that are better than him. That's the concern. They did it before with Desharnais and wrecked the balance of the team, they'll do it again with Danault. Danault is a much better hockey player than Desharnais but he's still going to be overplayed and over-relied upon. Giving Chucky and whoever else tougher matchups, making them less effective.

DD to his credit did have good hands but didn't have size and smart 2-way play like Danault. I think in an ideal world Danault is our 3rd line C who replaces Plekanec and plays a sound game while chipping in 30-40 points. Unfortunately, due to our lack of C depth and Plekanec's declining play, we have no choice but to use him as our 2nd C. I'll always remember that play with Radulov when he deked and outmuscled everyone and then setup Danault only for him to completely miss an open net. Radulov was so mad, he had that expression on his face like he wanted to murder him.

 

[WhiskeySeven*]

You realizes this means Danault will play with Drouin, right?

URGH.

Just having some fun, glad you enjoyed it.

DD to his credit did have good hands but didn't have size and smart 2-way play like Danault. I think in an ideal world Danault is our 3rd line C who replaces Plekanec and plays a sound game while chipping in 30-40 points. Unfortunately, due to our lack of C depth and Plekanec's declining play, we have no choice but to use him as our 2nd C. I'll always remember that play with Radulov when he deked and outmuscled everyone and then setup Danault only for him to completely miss an open net. Radulov was so mad, he had that expression on his face like he wanted to murder him.

Danault is going to be rammed down our throats so fiercely.

I remember genius grifter Grant McCagg proclaiming that he's already a top2 centreman and will carry us in the playoffs. Dude is 24, he's not going to get better without some divine intervention.

BargainBin should've gotten another C...

 

[LaP]

I'll always remember that play with Radulov when he deked and outmuscled everyone and then setup Danault only for him to completely miss an open net. Radulov was so mad, he had that expression on his face like he wanted to murder him.

I remember it too. Radu was clearly very frustrated when coming back to the bench.

 

[CauZuki]

URGH.


Just having some fun, glad you enjoyed it.


Danault is going to be rammed down our throats so fiercely.

I remember genius grifter Grant McCagg proclaiming that he's already a top2 centreman and will carry us in the playoffs. Dude is 24, he's not going to get better without some divine intervention.

BargainBin should've gotten another C...

Don't worry Bergevin was a genius and took advantage of Yzerman tough situation (about to lose a solid piece to the expansion draft, unsigned RFA with known attitude issues). We at least didn't trade our best D prospect and highly coveted asset amongst all NHL GMs . Also, we have a tonne of cap space! Come on man have some faith don't let the past 5 offseasons cloud your judgment you know what they say 6th times a charm!

 

[scrubadam]

It did not fall off a cliff in the 2nd half but it did at the end of the season. Danault had 13 points in his last 31 games (February 1st to the end of the season). This is a pace of 34 points every 82 games and this while playing mostly with Patch and Radulov 17:04 minutes a game. If you consider this good be my guest. But reality is it's not at all. It's actually very bad. AG post this kind of production while playing 17 minutes a game with Patch and Radulov and he is out after not even 10 games.

And RAdu had 15 points from Feb 1st till the end of the season. (he played 4 less games). Doesn't seem like Radu was carrying Danault much during that time frame.

If 13 points is very bad, what does that make Radu just regular bad? One guy just got 6.25x5 the other is paid 912K.

 

[DangerDave]

URGH.


Just having some fun, glad you enjoyed it.


Danault is going to be rammed down our throats so fiercely.

I remember genius grifter Grant McCagg proclaiming that he's already a top2 centreman and will carry us in the playoffs. Dude is 24, he's not going to get better without some divine intervention.

BargainBin should've gotten another C...

I agree with much of what you said but do you really think all players peak at 24? I don't want Danault centering the top line either but he can still improve

 

[WhiskeySeven*]

Don't worry Bergevin was a genius and took advantage of Yzerman tough situation (about to lose a solid piece to the expansion draft, unsigned RFA with known attitude issues). We at least didn't trade our best D prospect and highly coveted asset amongst all NHL GMs . Also, we have a tonne of cap space! Come on man have some faith don't let the past 5 offseasons cloud your judgment you know what they say 6th times a charm!

I give him until trade deadline 2034 before we can adequately judge him.

that 2008-2011 draft period was just so bad!!

I agree with much of what you said but do you really think all players peak at 24? I don't want Danault centering the top line either but he can still improve

Progress slows down by your mid-20s. What you get from a 24 year old is going to be pretty much what you get from him throughout his career.

Never said he's peaked, but I don't think he's gonna suddenly become a regular 50+ point centreman. He'll never become as good as Plekanec either, for that matter.

 

[MXD]

Eh... If Danault is deployed like he is last year, 45 pts would pretty good, no?

 

[ColinO]

I give him until trade deadline 2034 before we can adequately judge him.

that 2008-2011 draft period was just so bad!!


Progress slows down by your mid-20s. What you get from a 24 year old is going to be pretty much what you get from him throughout his career.

Never said he's peaked, but I don't think he's gonna suddenly become a regular 50+ point centreman. He'll never become as good as Plekanec either, for that matter.

Plekanec scored 47 points when he was 24. But yeah - no chance a 40 point Danault could ever be close to being as good because he has obviously can't improve much.

 

[DangerDave]

I give him until trade deadline 2034 before we can adequately judge him.

that 2008-2011 draft period was just so bad!!


Progress slows down by your mid-20s. What you get from a 24 year old is going to be pretty much what you get from him throughout his career.

Never said he's peaked, but I don't think he's gonna suddenly become a regular 50+ point centreman. He'll never become as good as Plekanec either, for that matter.

Danault seems like a perfect fit on the 3rd but we could do far worst if hes on the second. He improved so much in the last couple years that I wouldn't discount him becoming a 50 point defensive specialist like plekanec once was. Remember that plek was 25 when he broke out. He potted about 45 at 24 just like Danault

 

[lamp9post]

I give him until trade deadline 2034 before we can adequately judge him.

that 2008-2011 draft period was just so bad!!


Progress slows down by your mid-20s. What you get from a 24 year old is going to be pretty much what you get from him throughout his career.

Never said he's peaked, but I don't think he's gonna suddenly become a regular 50+ point centreman. He'll never become as good as Plekanec either, for that matter.

This will be the defining year for Danault. He got his chance last year and exceeded expectations. Now he has the opportunity to build on that or plateau as a good #3C. Hopefully he's a late bloomer and keeps progressing, but I agree that it is probably not the most likely outcome.

 

[LaP]

And RAdu had 15 points from Feb 1st till the end of the season. (he played 4 less games). Doesn't seem like Radu was carrying Danault much during that time frame.

If 13 points is very bad, what does that make Radu just regular bad? One guy just got 6.25x5 the other is paid 912K.

If? It is very bad. A pace of 34.39 points while playing with two 50+ points winger 17 minutes a game is bad. There's no other way around.

BTW the 15 points in 27 games Radulov got in the same sequence is a pace of 45.56 points in 82 games. Slightly under 50 points. A bad sequence for sure. But certainly not as bad as a pace of 34.39 points. That's a 11 points difference.

BTW why do you bring Radulov into this? We are talking about Danault. Don't deflect.

 

[LaP]

Danault seems like a perfect fit on the 3rd but we could do far worst if hes on the second. He improved so much in the last couple years that I wouldn't discount him becoming a 50 point defensive specialist like plekanec once was. Remember that plek was 25 when he broke out. He potted about 45 at 24 just like Danault

I have no problem with trying him on a "2nd" line. But if we enter next playoffs with him centering our two elite wingers (Patch and Drouin) then we are doing it wrong again and will fail again.

Patch and Drouin should not play on the same line at ES. There's absolutely no doubt my mind. We don't have one single center good enough to carry the likes of Gallagher/Shaw and Lehkonen/Byron on a 2nd line.

 

[DangerDave]

I have no problem with trying him on a "2nd" line. But if we enter next playoffs with him centering our two elite wingers (Patch and Drouin) then we are doing it wrong again and will fail again.

Patch and Drouin should not play on the same line at ES. There's absolutely no doubt my mind. We don't have one single center good enough to carry the likes of Gallagher/Shaw and Lehkonen/Byron on a 2nd line.

No doubt. Center position is a big issue for this team. We're just praying Chucky or Drouin can fill that 1 C spot at this point. I just wouldn't discount Danault though.

 

[WhiskeySeven*]

Danault seems like a perfect fit on the 3rd but we could do far worst if hes on the second. He improved so much in the last couple years that I wouldn't discount him becoming a 50 point defensive specialist like plekanec once was. Remember that plek was 25 when he broke out. He potted about 45 at 24 just like Danault

He can even be a 2nd line C, sure. I think he has the toolkit. But I'm not going to expect him to jump in quality from what we've seen.

He had a glorified hot-streak. Weise had one too. They happen.

This will be the defining year for Danault. He got his chance last year and exceeded expectations. Now he has the opportunity to build on that or plateau as a good #3C. Hopefully he's a late bloomer and keeps progressing, but I agree that it is probably not the most likely outcome.

Agreed. I want him to do well, it'll be a great value added event for us.

BTW why do you bring Radulov into this? We are talking about Danault. Don't deflect.

Same reason they bring up PK Subban whenever Weber is criticised. Deflect, dodge, dip, dodge, deflect.

 

[scrubadam]

If? It is very bad. A pace of 34.39 points while playing with two 50+ points winger 17 minutes a game is bad. There's no other way around.

BTW the 15 points in 27 games Radulov got in the same sequence is a pace of 45.56 points in 82 games. Slightly under 50 points. A bad sequence for sure. But certainly not as bad as a pace of 34.39 points. That's a 11 points difference.

BTW why do you bring Radulov into this? We are talking about Danault. Don't deflect.

I think first point is not to put so much stock into a stretch of games. We had 29 in 47 for a 50 point pace. Move the dates where you want and you can make the player look good or bad, just like I did with Radu.

Danault got 40 points this season at 24 his first full season in the NHL. Still young to continue his upward trajectory. Not saying he will be a 70 point C but not sure why everyone is so quick to tear him down.

While actually I am a bit sure, one of the reasons I can't say because it might result in a ban, and the other is because MB traded for him.

 

[Belial]

If? It is very bad. A pace of 34.39 points while playing with two 50+ points winger 17 minutes a game is bad. There's no other way around.

BTW the 15 points in 27 games Radulov got in the same sequence is a pace of 45.56 points in 82 games. Slightly under 50 points. A bad sequence for sure. But certainly not as bad as a pace of 34.39 points. That's a 11 points difference.

BTW why do you bring Radulov into this? We are talking about Danault. Don't deflect.

The team as a whole struggled at one moment at the season.

They went 5-7-1 in February.

And then finished the season with a 12-5-1 record since March 1st.

During that span, Danault got 10 points in 18 GP 45.5 P pace.

So what happened basically is that he had a really bad February with 3 points in 13 GP.

 

[CauZuki]

The team as a whole struggled at one moment at the season.

They went 5-7-1 in February.

And then finished the season with a 12-5-1 record since March 1st.

During that span, Danault got 10 points in 18 GP 45.5 P pace.

So what happened basically is that he had a really bad February with 3 points in 13 GP.

The team was going through a rough patch until Therrien got canned.

That is why Galchenyuk came from his injury and looked lost.
The team he left in December was not the same team he arrived to in February. That is why towards the end of the season he was getting his groove back and started scoring all of those game winning goals. I know he can get back to top form(and more), as I refuse to judge him on a 30 game sample after his return from injury. I'd much rather judge him on the 100 games before the injury where he was our 2nd best forward in terms of points and started the season in the top 5-10 of the NHL rankings.

 

[Leon Lucius Black]

It did not fall off a cliff in the 2nd half but it did at the end of the season. Danault had 13 points in his last 31 games (February 1st to the end of the season). This is a pace of 34 points every 82 games and this while playing mostly with Patch and Radulov 17:04 minutes a game. If you consider this good be my guest. But reality is it's not at all. It's actually very bad. AG post this kind of production while playing 17 minutes a game with Patch and Radulov and he is out after not even 10 games.

Because when Danault isn't producing he's at least solid defensively and it allows his wingers to play more offensive, when Galchenyuk isn't producing he's a disaster defensively and a liability on the ice.

 

[scrubadam]

The team was going through a rough patch until Therrien got canned.

That is why Galchenyuk came from his injury and looked lost.
The team he left in December was not the same team he arrived to in February. That is why towards the end of the season he was getting his groove back and started scoring all of those game winning goals. I know he can get back to top form(and more), as I refuse to judge him on a 30 game sample after his return from injury. I'd much rather judge him on the 100 games before the injury where he was our 2nd best forward in terms of points and started the season in the top 5-10 of the NHL rankings.

I agree. Post injury AG was not the same. I also think even though no one will agree it was not easy on AG to go from MT to CJ. His entire pro hockey career he knew one coach, one way of doing things and now a new guy comes in after AG is still recovering from injury. Hockey players are human. A new boss can rattle anyone.

If he returns to form we should be seeing the same 30 G, nearly PPG player we saw not the guy relegated to the 4th line.

 

[CauZuki]

I agree. Post injury AG was not the same. I also think even though no one will agree it was not easy on AG to go from MT to CJ. His entire pro hockey career he knew one coach, one way of doing things and now a new guy comes in after AG is still recovering from injury. Hockey players are human. A new boss can rattle anyone.

If he returns to form we should be seeing the same 30 G, nearly PPG player we saw not the guy relegated to the 4th line.

Pretty much, it's sad people are so quick to want to throw this 23 year old under the bus. I have feeling everyone is feeling frustrated with our lack success and the ones that aren't willing to take it out on the GM pick other sources for their frustrations.

 

[Belial]

The team was going through a rough patch until Therrien got canned.

That is why Galchenyuk came from his injury and looked lost.
The team he left in December was not the same team he arrived to in February. That is why towards the end of the season he was getting his groove back and started scoring all of those game winning goals. I know he can get back to top form(and more), as I refuse to judge him on a 30 game sample after his return from injury. I'd much rather judge him on the 100 games before the injury where he was our 2nd best forward in terms of points and started the season in the top 5-10 of the NHL rankings.

Why are you quoting my post and talk about Chucky? I was talking about Danault.

Because when Danault isn't producing he's at least solid defensively and it allows his wingers to play more offensive, when Galchenyuk isn't producing he's a disaster defensively and a liability on the ice.

I mean this is so obvious...

Pretty much, it's sad people are so quick to want to throw this 23 year old under the bus. I have feeling everyone is feeling frustrated with our lack success and the ones that aren't willing to take it out on the GM pick other sources for their frustrations.

Who is throwing this guy under the bus? Stop playing the victim...

We all want to see him do well.

 

[Price is Wright]

Eh... If Danault is deployed like he is last year, 45 pts would pretty good, no?

Honestly I'm fine with Danault as a #2C if he's deployed like a #2C. Not a "2C" like Desharnais was, where he still got comparable minutes to Chuck, but was deployed as the clear second line centre.

That's all I want really. Almost every trade suggestion for a centre sucks. Tavares is unrealistic. Just give Galchenyuk top ES/PP minutes with the best wingers because he's the best possible centre, and give the 2C something less but still valuable time.

Honestly at this point I'd be cool with Chuck getting Drouin and Lehkonen while Danault gets Pacioretty on the 2C, but that would of course mean that the line with Patches got the most time. Because he's considered the top winger. If it was handled more like when Koivu/Kovalev were on the team, I'd be fine with it.

But because Pacioretty is considered "the man", I'd want Galchenyuk to pair with him and Drouin while Danault gets Lehkonen and Gallagher. Maybe Hemsky.

Maybe I'm burned by Therrien too much but I never had much confidence in Julien.

 

[scrubadam]

I am not sure if Danault will get lots of PP time, wheras DD was getting prime minutes up until last season.

Danault will probably also play more D zone FO's and on the PK, again something DD never did.

After seeing Max for the last 5 years it should be clear he doesn't need a top C. You could put a broom out there with him and he will score 35 goals. So putting Max with Danault shouldn't be a problem and Danault can play at both ends of the ice and match up with other teams top players.

Max-Danault-Galley/Hemsky/Shaw
Drouin-AG-Lek

the "1st line" will be Max scoring his 35 goals and taking tougher match ups.

the 2nd line will get more PP time, easier match ups, ozone starts and the ability for Drouin and AG to get 60+ points.