Confirmed with Link: Martin St. Louis Back for 3 More Seasons (Club Exercised Option)

[Habssince89]

Habs have had no PP QB since Markov…. Hutson is here now to fill that role. The PP, even under Burrows will be just fine, in fact I’m expecting a top-10 PP next season

There are many factors that should improve the PP next season, on top of the progress we saw this year:
-Adding Dach, Roy, [high draft pick] or others to the forwards available
-Slafkovsky showing he can screen and tip pucks well
-Hutson joining the D
-Caufield 100% recovered
-Matheson against weaker opposition on PP2

I would like burrows gone though lol

 

[Andrei79]

Good news. He's the right coach for where the team is at and there's been significant both individually and as a group.

 

[vokiel]

MSL needs better asst's
the pp sucks , needs to be addressed with young players coming up

He needs a nanny more than assistant coaches ah.

 

[GordonGraham]

He wont see the end of it

 

[frenchcanayan]

He wont see the end of it

IF that happens, his successor needs experience. + the french factor = Patrick Roy (depending how it goes in the next few years) or Jim Montgomery… maybe Guy Boucher (not really the Hugo type of system I think)

When one is available it may accelerate things (specially Montgomery), kind of like when Claude Julien became available(2nd time).

It’s not like there’s 10-15 candidates

 

[The Real Timo]

There are many factors that should improve the PP next season, on top of the progress we saw this year:
-Adding Dach, Roy, [high draft pick] or others to the forwards available
-Slafkovsky showing he can screen and tip pucks well
-Hutson joining the D
-Caufield 100% recovered
-Matheson against weaker opposition on PP2

I would like burrows gone though lol

With MSL extended I would bet Matheson and Burrows points don't happen. Matheson will remain PP QB and Burrows will still... whatever it is the f*** he does.

 

[BehindTheTimes]

Like what they have done so far, disagree with them on where we are in the process. This group needs a lot of help to be a playoff team imo.

 

[SOLR]

I'm wondering this as well. What is the Habs pp efficiency before and after Monahan this season? I thought he was the catalyst behind our PP being good this season.

Slafkovski, not Monahan at all.

Like what they have done so far, disagree with them on where we are in the process. This group needs a lot of help to be a playoff team imo.

I think we need one star-ish player, I think we have the assets to make the move (considering Dach would be coming back).

 

[Kimota]

Marty is fine for the rebuild. But can the rest. He needs a veteran coach to help him out as right hand man.

 

[1909]

Marty is fine for the rebuild. But can the rest. He needs a veteran coach to help him out as right hand man.

It seems that he doesn't want one. He is comfortable with his actual staff. Who's better placed to judge the value of his assistants ? Us or him ?

 

[BehindTheTimes]

Slafkovski, not Monahan at all.



I think we need one star-ish player, I think we have the assets to make the move (considering Dach would be coming back).

I don’t expect anything from Dach. Until he can prove he can play 3/4 of a season I’m going to assume he will miss a bunch of games. Like what he was doing, but I feel his play style will continue to see him injured often.

I like the d corp, even if it is half rookies it should be pretty good, but the forward group is too weak.

 

[SOLR]

I don’t expect anything from Dach. Until he can prove he can play 3/4 of a season I’m going to assume he will miss a bunch of games. Like what he was doing, but I feel his play style will continue to see him injured often.

I like the d corp, even if it is half rookies it should be pretty good, but the forward group is too weak.

That's what I'm saying about Dach. We need one additional star, and that forward group becomes potent, considering they are pretty young and still just maturing.

 

[Team_Spirit]

We just dodged a full year of the Habs media talking about this every other week.

Thank you Kent. Free Kirby hat.

 

[1909]

Still lots of work to do.

Improve offensive output from the middle-six lines

Improve PP a lot

Improve PK a lot

Have a better defensive system in the d-zone

Learn to keep leads

Add some size and physical players upfront

 

[BenchBrawl]

Great move.

 

[Habby4Life]

Marty is fine for the rebuild. But can the rest. He needs a veteran coach to help him out as right hand man.

Yep, a veteran who can implement a system for when they are in their own end. Man v Man is bush league and it shows.

 

[Estimated_Prophet]

Yep, a veteran who can implement a system for when they are in their own end. Man v Man is bush league and it shows.

Bush league would be a poor choice of words as Brind'Amour uses it in Carolina and John Cooper uses a variation of it in Tampa. It is absolutely a bad idea to use man vs man if you don't have the correct personnel but MSL is trying to get his core players accustomed to it while HuGo slowly add compatible pieces. I suspect that there will be more switch offs like Cooper uses when we have full 5 man units with an understanding of how to successfully communicate and execute them.

MSL wants his players making reads over the entire length of the ice and when you drop into zone defence that mindset is altered. I think MSL sees this tactic as something that will work when he has better personnel with a higher cumulative IQ and he also views it as a developmental tool where players are forced to stay sharp and think at all times and not fall into a rigid, structured system where IQ is not as important and is more difficult to nurture in players who are looking to improve in this area.

It was truly revolting trying to watch Laval implement a man vs man defence with their tiny collective IQ and is the reason that they struggled......not the lazy approach of blaming Houle but the actual truth

 

[MasterD]

Like what they have done so far, disagree with them on where we are in the process. This group needs a lot of help to be a playoff team imo.

Funnily enough, I think the biggest issue mid-term is the bottom 6 F. Which is easier to fix than top6.

Caufield-Suzuki-Slaf-Dach-Newhook is a decent, not great, top 5. Add to that hopefully this year's 1st rd pick, maybe a winger comes in from a trade for one of our young dmen. Potentially Roy, but he's not my style so far.

If we can upgrade on Gallagher, Anderson, Evans, Pezzetta, Ylonen, etc it would help A LOT.

Our dmen just need more experience overall, and Montambeault/Primeau should be good enough to compete, at least make the playoffs.

 

[Kimota]

It seems that he doesn't want one. He is comfortable with his actual staff. Who's better placed to judge the value of his assistants ? Us or him ?

Us

 

[BehindTheTimes]

Funnily enough, I think the biggest issue mid-term is the bottom 6 F. Which is easier to fix than top6.

Caufield-Suzuki-Slaf-Dach-Newhook is a decent, not great, top 5. Add to that hopefully this year's 1st rd pick, maybe a winger comes in from a trade for one of our young dmen. Potentially Roy, but he's not my style so far.

If we can upgrade on Gallagher, Anderson, Evans, Pezzetta, Ylonen, etc it would help A LOT.

Our dmen just need more experience overall, and Montambeault/Primeau should be good enough to compete, at least make the playoffs.

I disagree on the top 6. Outside of Caufield, Suzuki, Slaf, Dach if he’s healthy, not convinced we will see him play a full season here. Newhook to me works on poor team with meaningless games, but to be a contender he’s not in my top 6.

We will see where the ceiling of Slaf, Suzuki, Caufield can reach, I don’t think we’ve seen it yet for any of them, but they need help.

 

[Habby4Life]

Bush league would be a poor choice of words as Brind'Amour uses it in Carolina and John Cooper uses a variation of it in Tampa. It is absolutely a bad idea to use man vs man if you don't have the correct personnel but MSL is trying to get his core players accustomed to it while HuGo slowly add compatible pieces. I suspect that there will be more switch offs like Cooper uses when we have full 5 man units with an understanding of how to successfully communicate and execute them.

MSL wants his players making reads over the entire length of the ice and when you drop into zone defence that mindset is altered. I think MSL sees this tactic as something that will work when he has better personnel with a higher cumulative IQ and he also views it as a developmental tool where players are forced to stay sharp and think at all times and not fall into a rigid, structured system where IQ is not as important and is more difficult to nurture in players who are looking to improve in this area.

It was truly revolting trying to watch Laval implement a man vs man defence with their tiny collective IQ and is the reason that they struggled......not the lazy approach of blaming Houle but the actual truth

Bush league is a strong choice of words. However, they are a disaster in their own end. Frankly, at some point they need to be much better defensively if they want to compete in the playoffs.

 

[OldCraig71]

Like what they have done so far, disagree with them on where we are in the process. This group needs a lot of help to be a playoff team imo.

I'd say that Molson wants to get back to playoff action or at least leave the fans with the hope that it is a possibility and that might be the reason Hughes said it.

 

[Walrus26]

Bush league is a strong choice of words. However, they are a disaster in their own end. Frankly, at some point they need to be much better defensively if they want to compete in the playoffs.

5v5, I don't think we're any more defensively disastrous than many middle of the pack /bubble teams.

We get a real kicking as soon as we're a man short, whether that's on the PK or 6v5 at the end of games. We won't get to the playoffs to try and compete if this isn't resolved.

 

[WeThreeKings]

I'd say that Molson wants to get back to playoff action or at least leave the fans with the hope that it is a possibility and that might be the reason Hughes said it.

They've always wanted to accelerate aa much as they can without rushing. They're obviously aware of what happens if you languish at the bottom for too long like Buffalo or Ottawa.

That being said they also don't want to put barriers in place for future key pieces of the roster. So they'll be looking for moves that either improve the edges of the team or someone like Necas who can improve the now but also be a part of the long term growth of the team.

They're not gonna give money and term to a Guentzel or Marchessault this summer.

 

[Rapala]

I'm wondering this as well. What is the Habs pp efficiency before and after Monahan this season? I thought he was the catalyst behind our PP being good this season.

If you recall we had a decent bump once Slaf joined.
We actually had it over 20% but it reverted back to it's normal level even with Slaf.
The same problems cropped up no creativity no sustained possession. Poor zone entries.
The left side remained a problem and it was the focal point of the opposition's PK attack.
Some dumb decision making on the ice and with the structure. At one point we were doing very well with winger assists on faceoffs.
Slaf was on the boards for draws on Suzuki's strong side and for some reason we went away from that.
Neither Caufield nor Newhook were anywhere near as effective as Slafkofsky was. I wouldn't line up Caufield on the wall like ever.
They may have decided Slaf would cause more of an issue starting net front but the point is moot if you don't have the puck.
Dach will help being another big body along the wall for retrievals.