Man Mountain's partner

Constable

corona fiend
Mar 17, 2014
3,390
115
You're banking on him to have a Zaitsev year.

and jerabeks only year is just marginally more productive than zaitsevs most productive year in the khl, soooo

and on the max paccioretty point, no one is giving up a very good center for paccioretty barring them having insane center depth. teams like philly and florida make the most sense and i'd only be interested in trocheck from florida and i'd rather sanheim from philly than any other player
 

Jaynki

Registered User
Feb 3, 2014
5,101
4,664
Alzner - Weber
Benn - Petry
Schlemko - Juulsen/Streit/Jerebek/Morrow

Big and strong group of D ! GO habs Go!
 

Scriptor

Registered User
Jan 1, 2014
7,776
4,747
You're banking on him to have a Zaitsev year.

Personally, I'm not counting on it, but I'm hoping he does something that comes close enough to it to eventually fill a spot decently on a 1st pairing and allow players like Alzner and Schlemko to solidify the D over last year while playing in the right seats.

I don't think that this is categorically impossible as some have laid it out to be.
 

Constable

corona fiend
Mar 17, 2014
3,390
115
Alzner - Weber
Benn - Petry
Schlemko - Juulsen/Streit/Jerebek/Morrow

Big and strong group of D ! GO habs Go!

this is the most likely pairings but also conveniently probably the least optimal pairings for the habs

the most optimal would be

schlemko-weber
davidson-petry
jerabek-benn

but if they do find optimal pairs it will more than likely look like this

schlemko/jerabek-weber
alzner-petry
schlemko/jerabek-davidson

and yes, i am saying the habs have about 7 defenseman more capable than alzner but we know that they'll play him prime minutes and when he turns into worse-gorges it will be fun to see the aftermath
 

Price is Wright

Registered User
Feb 5, 2010
12,494
5,571
essex
I don't think that this is categorically impossible as some have laid it out to be.

Impossible? Brian Bradley scored 40 goals on the expansion Tampa Bay Lightning in 93. Nothing is impossible.

Smart management to bet your left defence on a 26 year old NHL rookie who will be a UFA next year? Not really.
 

Scriptor

Registered User
Jan 1, 2014
7,776
4,747
and jerabeks only year is just marginally more productive than zaitsevs most productive year in the khl, soooo

and on the max paccioretty point, no one is giving up a very good center for paccioretty barring them having insane center depth. teams like philly and florida make the most sense and i'd only be interested in trocheck from florida and i'd rather sanheim from philly than any other player

I agree that a team very deep at C -- in the first place -- is the only team that would even be able to trade a productive C for Pacioretty without their GM being an incompetent buffoon. That stands to reason, though.

Then , you'd also have to consider that team's aspirations for Cup contention in the short, medium and long term to see just how good a fit pcioretty would be because he is currently 28 and only has a steal of a contract for two more years, at which point he will be 30.

Lots of mitigating factors that certainly don't make trading Pacioretty for a productive C a slam dunk.

However, to state that no one is giving a very good center for Pacioretty with so much authority belies conversations with NHL GMs that you, I'd be forced to surmise, probably never had to support such a staunch and diehard claim.
 

Constable

corona fiend
Mar 17, 2014
3,390
115
I agree that a team very deep at C -- in the first place -- is the only team that would even be able to trade a productive C for Pacioretty without their GM being an incompetent buffoon. That stands to reason, though.

Then , you'd also have to consider that team's aspirations for Cup contention in the short, medium and long term to see just how good a fit pcioretty would be because he is currently 28 and only has a steal of a contract for two more years, at which point he will be 30.

Lots of mitigating factors that certainly don't make trading Pacioretty for a productive C a slam dunk.

However, to state that no one is giving a very good center for Pacioretty with so much authority belies conversations with NHL GMs that you, I'd be forced to surmise, probably never had to support such a staunch and diehard claim.

take the number of true #1 centers and divide by 30 then include young 2c's who are pacing for that #1c role and you get maybe 3 teams that can make that trade.

one is the leafs, another is the flyers, the last is the panthers. i'd avoid NYI like the plague for centers, bailey and lee are not as good as they look, and spezza/hopkins make no sense for the other team. you're better off gambling on prospects and picks at this point and should look at capitalizing on closing cup windows (hello LA/Chicago!)
 

NotProkofievian

Registered User
Nov 29, 2011
24,476
24,599
Where's the option for Cap Space?

ps: that list is honestly ****ing terrible. None of those players should be anywhere near the top pairing. Jesus Christ :facepalm:

That was my thought when I saw the poll. Yikes. Do I have to choose one?
 

Constable

corona fiend
Mar 17, 2014
3,390
115
That was my thought when I saw the poll. Yikes. Do I have to choose one?

in fairness, a top pair really only needs one actually good defenseman- it's about finding someone who compliments that one defenseman really well. schlemko fits that bill
 

Talks to Goalposts

Registered User
Apr 8, 2011
5,117
371
Edmonton
The great Dennis Seidenberg, of course! Almost 28 mins/night in those playoffs, no less. The even greater Johnny Boychuk during the regular season, btw. Not exactly the second comings of Erik Karlsson.

Both Seidenberg and Boychuk are miles better than any of Montreal's current left defensemen.

And Shea Weber is not, and never has been, nearly the player Zdeno Chara was.
 

Hackett

BAKAMAN
Mar 4, 2002
21,545
9
Visit site
Are there any 1st pairing dmen available or has that ship sailed? Don't read many rumours about dmen out there.

1st pair dmen are usually not available unless you have a 1st pair of your own on the market.... Or a pretty good center.

The fact that jerabek has so many votes exemplifies the problem. There is no great option.

In a good situation, we would be hoping for jerabek to surprise, but not counting on him to be the solution.
 

OnceWasNot

Registered User
Jul 28, 2009
985
833
Looks like the options will be Alzner, Schlemko and Jerabek.

Two 3rd pairing D and a wildcard, great team building MB.:laugh:
 

smirob

Registered User
Jun 2, 2014
4,864
991
I know there was some experimenting with Petry-Weber in camp last year- though I don't know what you do with our second pairing then
 

Stjonnypopo

Rgesitreed Uesr
Jan 26, 2009
12,542
7
Mount Doom
Alzner would be a much better partner for Petry than for Weber. He won't compliment Weber he'll try to imitate him and we'll have too much of a good thing.

We need Jerabek, Schlemko, or anyone else who can skate and lead the rush while Weber hangs back and ****s everyones **** up.
 

Hank Scorpio

Registered User
Mar 7, 2010
717
9
Literally, whoever is seemingly playing best that game. I figure we can get two half-decent pairings out of whatever pairing he's on and Petry's on, so not Petry, but, otherwise, whoever is performing best.
 

Ohashi_Jouzu*

Registered User
Apr 2, 2007
30,332
11
Halifax
Something hilarious to me about so many of the "Sergachev probably isn't ready" folks are good with Jerabek being ready for 20+ minutes with Weber against the Penguins on the road.

One of these guys has played 6 seasons in pro leagues - won the Norris equivalent in one, was an all-star in the other. There is potentially much, much daylight between the readiness level of someone like that, and a 20 year old who still looked out of place just last year.
 

Ad

Upcoming events

Ad

Ad

-->