Confirmed with Link: Habs Sign Tyler Toffoli (4 Years @ $4.25M AAV)

[ECWHSWI]

Defense is not a necessary a bad obsession. I don't want to repeat the Devils of the the late 90's, ... but a minimum of defensive awareness is needed to win games.

sure, but Price had a 1.8GAA these PO, and also had a 1.8GAA when we were eliminated by NYR, so yeah I thinnk Habs could easily do with a few players not being good defensively.

 

[26Mats]

Drouin is one of the rare smurf on offense but he can contribute as long as he have chemistry with Suzuki, like in the play offs. Witch gives Suzuki and KK a split on the two new arrivals. Who of Anderson and Toffoli will play with? I say Toffoli with Suzuki and Anderson with KK. The last two ones will crash their opponents. Lehk will stay on 3rd line and Armia downshift on 4th line.

Drouin is 6' feet. How is he a smurf?

He sure plays small though.

 

[le_sean]

I did, and it doesnt awnser the very simple question I asked.

And the rest of your post does not change the fact there's always someone talking defense when talking about goal scorer and point producer... this time it was you, someone else will talk about his/her obsession with defense eventually.

First of all, we don’t “obsess” over defence

Second of all, hockey is not as simple as looking at a stat sheet and saying “boy that player is good”

Third of all it’s extremely simplistic to attribute Price’s stats to only him rather than the system and players in front of him

You want all of the lines on a team to be able to chip in offensively as well as not be liabilities defensively. That is how LA won their Cups, how the Blues and Bruins won their Cups, and how the Caps finally won their Cup. It’s how the NYI got to the ECF and how Vegas has found success in a short time span.

If this wasn’t the case, then it would have been Edmonton vs. Colorado in the West and the Leafs vs. Tampa in the East. But it takes a little more than goal scoring to get there.

 

[Catanddogguitarrr]

Drouin is 6' feet. How is he a smurf?

He sure plays small though.

They are not really smurfs, ... but close. The top 9 of the Habs have Suzuki, Gallagher, Lehkonen, Drouin and Tatar. The rest have size.

But some small players plays like they are big and some big players plays like they are small, I know.

 

[BaseballCoach]

I'm still hoping Bergey lands Hoffman for a short 5M max deal. We move Byron and Weal/Lek out, we could fit under the cap. That would give us some serious depth.

It would. I'm not sure what it will take to fit under the cap, but it might not work. Byron is not enough, and Weal doesn't move the needle that much.

Perhaps we can fit in Eric Haula, he would be a great bottom 6 player than play both C and LW. Probably won't cost over $2.5M

 

[26Mats]

They are not really smurfs, ... but close. The top 9 of the Habs have Suzuki, Gallagher, Lehkonen, Drouin and Tatar. The rest have size.

But some small players plays like they are big and some big players plays like they are small, I know.

Yes I agree. Drouin is taller than all those players you mentioned, but the weakest at protecting the puck on the boards and the least likely to go to the dirty areas.

 

[26Mats]

It would. I'm not sure what it will take to fit under the cap, but it might not work. Byron is not enough, and Weal doesn't move the needle that much.

Perhaps we can fit in Eric Haula, he would be a great bottom 6 player than play both C and LW. Probably won't cost over $2.5M

I have my heart set on Granlund. He's a work horse, great defensively and could help his linemates produce.

But Haula would be a great update over Byron. Byron gets bumped off the puck so easily and squandered so many chances in the playoffs.

 

[Catanddogguitarrr]

sure, but Price had a 1.8GAA these PO, and also had a 1.8GAA when we were eliminated by NYR, so yeah I thinnk Habs could easily do with a few players not being good defensively.

We got eliminated so fast and we didn't do PO for 4 years so the stats doesn't mean anything. We didn't face Boston, St-Louis, Predators, Tampa Bay, Avalange, Sharks or Columbus, we just saw Rangers few years ago, a declining Pittsburg and an average Flyers. Not enough for argument stats. What we would do against top offensive teams if we have some players bad defensivly? Pastrniac, Kucherov, Panarin and co will find a way to score.

 

[ECWHSWI]

First of all, we don’t “obsess” over defence

Second of all, hockey is not as simple as looking at a stat sheet and saying “boy that player is good”

Third of all it’s extremely simplistic to attribute Price’s stats to only him rather than the system and players in front of him

You want all of the lines on a team to be able to chip in offensively as well as not be liabilities defensively. That is how LA won their Cups, how the Blues and Bruins won their Cups, and how the Caps finally won their Cup. It’s how the NYI got to the ECF and how Vegas has found success in a short time span.

If this wasn’t the case, then it would have been Edmonton vs. Colorado in the West and the Leafs vs. Tampa in the East. But it takes a little more than goal scoring to get there.

in no point I did that...

not being liabilities does not mean all players on have to be good, and it does not have to be every line... Caps won the cup with a better commitment to D yet their superstars were all below average defensively, Hawks won a few cups with Kane not even pretending to care about defense, LA won cups with their #1D attempting lots of risky plays.

 

[ECWHSWI]

We got eliminated so fast and we didn't do PO for 4 years so the stats doesn't mean anything. We didn't face Boston, St-Louis, Predators, Tampa Bay, Avalange, Sharks or Columbus, we just saw Rangers few years ago, a declining Pittsburg and an average Flyers. Not enough for argument stats. What we would do against top offensive teams if we have some players bad defensivly? Pastrniac, Kucherov, Panarin and co will find a way to score.

imagine that, we didnt face top teams and yet 1.8G on average was enough to take us out.

they always do anyway, really...

 

[le_sean]

in no point I did that...

not being liabilities does not mean all players on have to be good, and it does not have to be every line... Caps won the cup with a better commitment to D yet their superstars were all below average defensively, Hawks won a few cups with Kane not even pretending to care about defense, LA won cups with their #1D attempting lots of risky plays.

But Kane is Kane and Doughty is Doughty. Hoffman is not near that level of talent where you can just ignore everything else.

Of course he scores a lot of goals, he played nearly 4 mins a game on the PP this year.

 

[Catanddogguitarrr]

Yes I agree. Drouin is taller than all those players you mentioned, but the weakest at protecting the puck on the boards and the least likely to go to the dirty areas.

But he skate so fast, he could transport the puck for one or two zone. He can come back for conter attack, he's faster without the puck. He might be the fastest skater of those mentioned. Lehkonen and Tatar are close behind.