News Article: I don't heart Brian Wilde
- Thread starter Maffew
- Start date
Maffew
Born. Raised. Habs. Always.
It's how negative he always is with our team, for better or for worse. It irks me. He's calling us a terrible team before the team's played one game.
Are you trying to say that we're not a terrible team?
Like it or not, this is the team that finished 15th in the conference, 28th overall.
Marc the Habs Fan
Moderator
If this ruffles your feathers, then you better not read many NHL previews in the next few days. The entire hockey world is going to pick us to be in the bottom of the Conference.
From an outsiders perspective, they see: Virtually the same roster that failed miserably last year + questionable new head coach + short training camp to learn new systems/coach to learn his team + team with several injury prone players playing a frantic 48 game schedule.
From an outsiders perspective, they see: Virtually the same roster that failed miserably last year + questionable new head coach + short training camp to learn new systems/coach to learn his team + team with several injury prone players playing a frantic 48 game schedule.
Ginu
Registered User
Wow someone's sensitive. There's nothing wrong in the tweet or the article. Most would agree with him.
I remember making the mistake of listening to Brian Wilde on TSN Radio when Markov first signed in the KHL, the nonsense he was saying made me feel dumber.
It's one thing to be pessimistic (this team is probably going to be below average), but Wilde is overemotional. I guess it's a counterpoint to Stubbs and the Gazette crew and their fluff pieces, but meh.
It's one thing to be pessimistic (this team is probably going to be below average), but Wilde is overemotional. I guess it's a counterpoint to Stubbs and the Gazette crew and their fluff pieces, but meh.
Maffew
Born. Raised. Habs. Always.
I'm still one of the ones who thinks last season was a one-off. There were enough asterisks to last season's result that I'm not ready to say anyone's prediction on the team this year is likely to become reality. Jury's out for me, but I hate pessimists.
Maffew
Born. Raised. Habs. Always.
haha, I'm not raging out here or anything, just mentally facepalming at Wilde's continual hate parade.
Hackett
BAKAMAN
If there is one positive, its that the team should automatically do better as long as they don't get devastated by injuries again. Having said that, the roster from opening day last season was better than what we have now.
Bottom line: If healthy, this team can contend for a playoff spot right to the end, but full health is always a big "if".
Bottom line: If healthy, this team can contend for a playoff spot right to the end, but full health is always a big "if".
The team is almost exactly the same as the one that finished with 3rd overall pick last season. Can't blame anyone for not expecting success.
Cole Caulifield
Registered User
- Apr 22, 2004
- 27,967
- 2,465
Look the habs have been terrible for 20 years and have not won anything. During those past 20 years we have had about 1 good season and 1 decent playoff run.
Last year we finished last in the east and fact is that not much has changed from last year's roster to this year's roster.
The truth is that this roster is not that good. IF everything goes perfectly we will likely make the playoffs but it rarely ever goes perfectly.
If someone has been mostly negative over the past few years I'd say that person had good cause. And if you have cause for being negative, are you negative or just realistic ? And isn't being realistic what a journalist should do over being a fan ?
hototogisu
Poked the bear!!!!!
HankyZetts
Twi2ted
- Mar 16, 2004
- 3,348
- 393
Montreal will be much better this season with Markov back. People that disregard the fact our best skater is healthy for the first time in forever, aren't worth paying much attention to.
Brian Wilde is a nice guy, but he's a pessimist for sure, and with all due respect, he isn't a hockey buff.
Brian Wilde is a nice guy, but he's a pessimist for sure, and with all due respect, he isn't a hockey buff.
Cole Caulifield
Registered User
- Apr 22, 2004
- 27,967
- 2,465
Is finishing last really a one-off ?
Bad luck and injuries can drag you down.. but it can't drag you down from 1st to 15th. So what was our real level last year ? between 6-10 as usual. An average team which crumbles the minute it starts to rain a little.
Cole Caulifield
Registered User
- Apr 22, 2004
- 27,967
- 2,465
Markov is a huge wildcard at this point. Who knows how good he will be and for how many games ?
Maffew
Born. Raised. Habs. Always.
I'm sharing an article about the Habs on the Habs board. I could care less about whether or not he's liked or gets hits for the post. I'm sharing my opinion on him. Please mock me some more, Mr. Lead-By-Example.
We didn't finish 1st the season before though. A disaster of a season tossed us from the middle to the bottom. I think that if there's any semblance of normalcy (average amount of injuries, and not a whole lot of ridiculously subpar play by players who are better than that), we'll be in the playoff picture again.
groovejuice
Without deviation progress is not possible
It rained more than a little last season. It was a freakin perpetual hurricane. Asst. coaches fired on game days, players traded between periods, head coach fired... a cluster fluck of a season if ever there was one.
Let's not forget the avalanche of one goal or shoot out losses. A 7th to 10th place team reeling from every possible curse of bad luck, bad timing, and questionable management.
A bubble team with a prematurely burst bubble.
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Le Barron de HF
Justin make me proud
I hate to be that guy but Montreal is a lot better than what people on these boards give them credit for. Some of you want to tank this season again to get another draft pick and the season hasn't even began. People weren't saying stuff like this in september of last year. The idea of tanking didn't even cross our mind because the team seemed improve on paper and last year was just a disaster but I don't think it's a trend for the upcoming years. As much as you want to twist it, this team is definitely not a 28th place team, not at all. The reason we finished that low is due to numerous factors:
a) We purposely threw away the season with a quarter of the season remaining. I don't think trading away players like Cammalleri, Kostitsyn and Gill for assets that improve us long term was suppose to make the team better. By trading those players we pretty much tanked and decided to prepare for next season instead of wasting our time for a irrealistic playoff push. Gauthier could have made desperate trades to save his job and handicap us long term in order to finish higher but he didn't (thank god). If he would have done that we could have very well finished 11th or 12th in the East and 20th in the league.
b) We have a better coaching staff than last year. Cunneyworth was clearly an incompetent coach at the NHL level and didn't have a clue of what it takes to make a team victorious. He didn't want to break up the first line and that hurt the team more than it helped. Sure it helped Desharnais, Cole and Pacioretty reach personal highs in their careers but Plekanec was stuck playing with Ryan White, Mathieu Darche and a Rene Bourque with no confidence. I'm not the biggest Michel Therrien fan but I like the changes he wants to make and he's easily an upgrade over last year's fiasco.
c) Our PP was atrocious but our PK on the other hand was one of the best in the whole league and with the addition of Prust it could be even better. Obviously the loss of Gill could hurt us but in the last stretch of the season, the PK didn't seem to miss him and was just as effective. Anyway last year the Habs were one of the teams if not the team that lost the most games by a single goal. I don't feel like doing the proper research because I'm too lazy but how many games did we lose by a goal and the PP would go 0/5, frankly too many. With a healthy Markov (knock on wood) the PP should go back to being our bread and butter and performing at a 21%-24% of success. Having Kaberle on the 2nd unit will also help a lot since not every team can have the luxury of having a player of his caliber offensively on a 2nd unit. Him and Diaz could be a very good duo on the PP. The big question mark is that every successful PP has a booming shot at the point, if PK plays smarter and doesn't go for power but accuracy the PP will be effective.
d) We had injuries but I'm not really gonna go into details on this one because every team is affected and it's not a valuable excuse. But it'd be tough to beat the 350+ man-games lost to injury.
e) The team couldn't hold a lead to save their dear lives. At one point Montreal almost had .500 record when they were leading after 2, that's just pathetic. With the additions made by Bergevin in the offseason, the team sacrificed a bit of talent on their second line but has a lot more depth in the offense overall. The 4th line actually has an identity now, long gone are the days where Yannick Weber, Aaron Palushaj and Petteri Nokelainen would play on the 4th line to be a bouche-trous. The team now has grit and sandpaper. That depth on our 3rd line and 4th line should help remove workload on Plekanec's defensive duties and also diminish the amount of leads blown by the team.
I believe in this team and I'm actually excited for the season to start. I'm saddened to see that we won't have Travis Moen - Lars Eller - Andrei Kostitsyn as our 3rd line but I'm curious what Armstrong can do on a line with them. Emelin and Diaz should be better than last year since they're no longer rookies. I think this team can finish 6th or 7th, I see them a lot like last year's NYR, a team that will put emphasis on defense and will play a very aggressive style of play. The two glaring weaknesses are that we have no real #2 defenseman, Markov is a big question mark and Gorges is more of a #3 in my opinion. The other weakness is that 2nd line Left Winger spot, right now it probably belongs to Rene Bourque but who knows which Bourque will show up this year.
a) We purposely threw away the season with a quarter of the season remaining. I don't think trading away players like Cammalleri, Kostitsyn and Gill for assets that improve us long term was suppose to make the team better. By trading those players we pretty much tanked and decided to prepare for next season instead of wasting our time for a irrealistic playoff push. Gauthier could have made desperate trades to save his job and handicap us long term in order to finish higher but he didn't (thank god). If he would have done that we could have very well finished 11th or 12th in the East and 20th in the league.
b) We have a better coaching staff than last year. Cunneyworth was clearly an incompetent coach at the NHL level and didn't have a clue of what it takes to make a team victorious. He didn't want to break up the first line and that hurt the team more than it helped. Sure it helped Desharnais, Cole and Pacioretty reach personal highs in their careers but Plekanec was stuck playing with Ryan White, Mathieu Darche and a Rene Bourque with no confidence. I'm not the biggest Michel Therrien fan but I like the changes he wants to make and he's easily an upgrade over last year's fiasco.
c) Our PP was atrocious but our PK on the other hand was one of the best in the whole league and with the addition of Prust it could be even better. Obviously the loss of Gill could hurt us but in the last stretch of the season, the PK didn't seem to miss him and was just as effective. Anyway last year the Habs were one of the teams if not the team that lost the most games by a single goal. I don't feel like doing the proper research because I'm too lazy but how many games did we lose by a goal and the PP would go 0/5, frankly too many. With a healthy Markov (knock on wood) the PP should go back to being our bread and butter and performing at a 21%-24% of success. Having Kaberle on the 2nd unit will also help a lot since not every team can have the luxury of having a player of his caliber offensively on a 2nd unit. Him and Diaz could be a very good duo on the PP. The big question mark is that every successful PP has a booming shot at the point, if PK plays smarter and doesn't go for power but accuracy the PP will be effective.
d) We had injuries but I'm not really gonna go into details on this one because every team is affected and it's not a valuable excuse. But it'd be tough to beat the 350+ man-games lost to injury.
e) The team couldn't hold a lead to save their dear lives. At one point Montreal almost had .500 record when they were leading after 2, that's just pathetic. With the additions made by Bergevin in the offseason, the team sacrificed a bit of talent on their second line but has a lot more depth in the offense overall. The 4th line actually has an identity now, long gone are the days where Yannick Weber, Aaron Palushaj and Petteri Nokelainen would play on the 4th line to be a bouche-trous. The team now has grit and sandpaper. That depth on our 3rd line and 4th line should help remove workload on Plekanec's defensive duties and also diminish the amount of leads blown by the team.
I believe in this team and I'm actually excited for the season to start. I'm saddened to see that we won't have Travis Moen - Lars Eller - Andrei Kostitsyn as our 3rd line but I'm curious what Armstrong can do on a line with them. Emelin and Diaz should be better than last year since they're no longer rookies. I think this team can finish 6th or 7th, I see them a lot like last year's NYR, a team that will put emphasis on defense and will play a very aggressive style of play. The two glaring weaknesses are that we have no real #2 defenseman, Markov is a big question mark and Gorges is more of a #3 in my opinion. The other weakness is that 2nd line Left Winger spot, right now it probably belongs to Rene Bourque but who knows which Bourque will show up this year.
Dharvey33
Registered User
- Apr 30, 2010
- 3,238
- 156
We are finishing 6th this year Desharnais Patches subban Eller Price Emelin and i'm forgetting some all of those are just going to get better. Prust is going to bring physical and emotional hockey that's what he did with the rangers.
Bourque scored 27 goals 2 seasons ago plus he came in on a very rough time last year i except him to bounce back and score 20 this year along with Plekanec and Gionta.
Gionta if he can stay healthy will still bring his 15-25 goals 40-55 points.
Markov is a huge x factor.
Plekanec is the best or one of the best two way second center in the league i'm not worried about him.
The big two if,s this year will be Price's play if he is average we are not getting close to the playoffs if he is good we are making the playoffs and if he posts elite numbers who knows maybe a 1st place? This shortened season will all be about who is hot early.
Maybe i'm the only one but i'm positive for this season. Playoffs is more than a dream it can actually happen and after it's all in their hands.
Bourque scored 27 goals 2 seasons ago plus he came in on a very rough time last year i except him to bounce back and score 20 this year along with Plekanec and Gionta.
Gionta if he can stay healthy will still bring his 15-25 goals 40-55 points.
Markov is a huge x factor.
Plekanec is the best or one of the best two way second center in the league i'm not worried about him.
The big two if,s this year will be Price's play if he is average we are not getting close to the playoffs if he is good we are making the playoffs and if he posts elite numbers who knows maybe a 1st place? This shortened season will all be about who is hot early.
Maybe i'm the only one but i'm positive for this season. Playoffs is more than a dream it can actually happen and after it's all in their hands.
Dharvey33
Registered User
- Apr 30, 2010
- 3,238
- 156
haha you're right i forgot this very important fact let's say 10-15 goals then more realistic along with 25-30 points.
