Confirmed with Link: Michael McCarron Extended (1-Year, 2-Way @ $700K AAV / $125K AHL)

Habs Icing

Formerly Onice
Jan 17, 2004
19,519
11,178
Montreal
McCaron's biggest physical flaw was a lack of conditioning.

I remember a common issue was that he would be gassed at the end of his shifts and unable to play a very involved game from start to finish.


Injuries and his size certainly have something to do with it, but at the end of the day, reasons and excuses won't change his spot on the depth chart. I cheer for him. I hope he can have a good year and earn himself a call up... Maybe become a regular if everything falls into place.
I was about to post this very thought!
 

yoteshot

Lazy Habs fan
Aug 6, 2005
3,091
309
Gatineau / Ottawa
I was happy to see him perform well during that 15 games stint last year and I really hope he can get back there this year with a better supporting cast. Laval could be very dangerous and I even have hopes that McCarron can play in Montreal on the 4th line, at wing, where he should have always been. He could bring something no one else can in Laval/Montreal and I'd rather have him on a 4th than guys like Barber, Peca or Hudon if he proves he's up to the task. I'll certainly be rooting for him to make it this year as it's pretty much do or die.

Like others, I was not a fan of him being moved to centre in juniors and even less at the pro level. I had always envisionned him as a big 2-way power forward and those aren't great at centre.
 

Le Barron de HF

Justin make me proud
Mar 12, 2008
16,248
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Shawinigan
Concerning his previous lack of stamina, a theory that was offered prior to last year was that his skating technique/stance played a big part in him being gassed out fairly quickly since he was wasting a lot of energy due to it's ineffective nature.
 

417

BBQ Chicken Alert!
Feb 20, 2003
51,255
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Ottawa
I know this is revisionist...but clearly, looking back, going to college should have been the route McCarron took.

He needed time to work on his skating/body/skills/stamina. The common thought at the time was that going to London and the Knights program was going to be the best thing for him given the Hunters, but that didn't quite work out.

If i'm not mistaken, had he gone the NCAA route and played 4yrs, this would be his 2nd year pro. I wonder how much the narrative on him would be different?

Either way, he was always seen as a long term project. After seeing him the first few years, I always thought that he'd eventually be an NHL player but that he probably wouldn't establish himself until he was 24-25-26yrs old.

Well he's 24yrs old now...hopefully with a strong summer he can push for a spot in camp and/or being one of the first callups.
 

angusyoung

The life of..The Party
Aug 17, 2014
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I know this is revisionist...but clearly, looking back, going to college should have been the route McCarron took.

He needed time to work on his skating/body/skills/stamina. The common thought at the time was that going to London and the Knights program was going to be the best thing for him given the Hunters, but that didn't quite work out.

If i'm not mistaken, had he gone the NCAA route and played 4yrs, this would be his 2nd year pro. I wonder how much the narrative on him would be different?

Either way, he was always seen as a long term project. After seeing him the first few years, I always thought that he'd eventually be an NHL player but that he probably wouldn't establish himself until he was 24-25-26yrs old.

Well he's 24yrs old now...hopefully with a strong summer he can push for a spot in camp and/or being one of the first callups.

Spot on! not groomed and guided properly,bad on the Habs.
 

overlords

#DefundCBC
Aug 16, 2008
31,515
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The City
Was he seriously hurt on that play? doesn't look that severe,fell bad?

I don't remember how serious it was at the time, but it seems that it was a lingering injury for him since then and he's only just had the surgery to fix it. The post I quoted had a good interview with him breaking down the situation.
 
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Andrei79

Registered User
Jan 25, 2013
14,849
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He had some very high praise for Bouchard in the Gazette. He really did make strides last year and looked like the guy who was trending up his first year in the AHL (and last year in the OHL). That said, it also likely shows just how brutal the development team was down there before JB came along. That lack of judgement alone worries me about anything MB does.

It would be nice if he develops into a good bottom 6 player. Having a 6'6" forward who can play is always good.
 
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Whitesnake

If you rebuild, they will come.
Jan 5, 2003
89,202
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We'll see what development does to a player. McCarron keeps praising Joel Bouchard and even went as far as to say how he made him love the game again. So we'll see what he does.
 
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Tyson

Registered User
Mar 1, 2007
44,586
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Texas
Every year McCarron is interviewed and says his skating has gotten better and every year it clearly hasn’t.
 
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Whitesnake

If you rebuild, they will come.
Jan 5, 2003
89,202
36,190
Every year McCarron is interviewed and says his skating has gotten better and every year it clearly hasn’t.

What I want to see at one point it's him not falling over CONSTANTLY. Never seen a big guy so weak.
 

dackelljuneaubulis02

Registered User
Oct 13, 2012
11,393
6,600
Moving him to center was probably one of the most stupidest thing this organization has done over the years.

I mean sure he did well in London when he switched over but after 5 years of pro and a league that has transitioned to a much faster one, maybe we move him back to wing.

I always liked Big Mac. He was one of a few guys who flat out regressed under Sly. I've definitely run out of hope for him but you have to maximize his chances.
 

Estimated_Prophet

Registered User
Mar 28, 2003
10,159
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McCarron could be useful if we make the playoffs. The refs allow clutch and grab hockey to take over and the result has been the two biggest teams in hockey have won the past two cups.
 

montreal

Go Habs Go
Mar 21, 2002
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It's great to hear him talk highly of Bouchard but at the same time it doesn't mean much as he's employed by the Habs, if he was in the KHL this year and never thought he would be coming back ala Scherbak who knows what he might have said although I would bet it would be much higher praise for Bouchard then Lefebvre.


Every year McCarron is interviewed and says his skating has gotten better and every year it clearly hasn’t.

I only recall hearing him say he was working on it last year and it clearly worked, his skating last year in Laval looked better for sure.

If he doesn't make it this time, he never will.

maybe with us but losing almost a full year set him back, Boyle didn't make the NHL full time till he was 25 and he had 6 pts in 71 games that year. So it took him till he was 26 to break out.

McCarron's in his age 24 season, if you have another bigger team win the cup next summer, some teams will clearly start looking at bigger players again.
 

The Real Timo

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Jun 18, 2019
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When I was reading McCarron's comments praising Bouchard, i couldn't help but look at them as a clear statement on how bad Lefevbre and other Bergevin cronies were. Just a horrible waste of many players' development years. Bergevin MUST be fired.
 

montreal

Go Habs Go
Mar 21, 2002
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When I was reading McCarron's comments praising Bouchard, i couldn't help but look at them as a clear statement on how bad Lefevbre and other Bergevin cronies were. Just a horrible waste of many players' development years. Bergevin MUST be fired.

I took a massive amount of heat for speaking out on Lefebvre, moreso earlier as less and less gave me shit with each passing year of such poor results but still every year I would get harassed by a few posters for suggesting that he wasn't good at his job and at the very least wasn't helping matters enough to warrant keeping around.

It's also when I started to turn on MB, I wasn't for him being hired as I didn't want a rookie GM but I thought he was doing a solid job. It was his re-hiring and then even holding the position open for him as he waited to see if he could get an NHL job only to re-hire him again that really pissed me off and made me question his judgement.

That said I would have liked to see more changes in the Habs scouting department as Sweden and the Q scouts have just not done a good job. On the development side I don't know how much impact or say or what guys like Lapointe, the Cube, Ramage, even do. I was happy to hear Evans say he wanted to sign with us because we kept in touch with him each year, so at least they are keeping in contact with the kids.

At the end of the day we clearly needed our scouts to do a better job at both ends, pre draft and the pro side. We needed the development team to do better, we needed the coaching staffs at both levels to help these kids more then they did. Bouchard sounds like he knows what he is doing, at least they finally hired someone that had been a head coach at any level before. I think that's a great start.

Another big thing that I'm personally against is rushing 18, 19, 20 year olds to the NHL. We'll see if this has changed as I know the league is getting younger so you have to push these kids more, just prefer we take more caution then not.
 

The Real Timo

Registered User
Jun 18, 2019
13,816
17,008
I took a massive amount of heat for speaking out on Lefebvre, moreso earlier as less and less gave me **** with each passing year of such poor results but still every year I would get harassed by a few posters for suggesting that he wasn't good at his job and at the very least wasn't helping matters enough to warrant keeping around.

It's also when I started to turn on MB, I wasn't for him being hired as I didn't want a rookie GM but I thought he was doing a solid job. It was his re-hiring and then even holding the position open for him as he waited to see if he could get an NHL job only to re-hire him again that really pissed me off and made me question his judgement.

That said I would have liked to see more changes in the Habs scouting department as Sweden and the Q scouts have just not done a good job. On the development side I don't know how much impact or say or what guys like Lapointe, the Cube, Ramage, even do. I was happy to hear Evans say he wanted to sign with us because we kept in touch with him each year, so at least they are keeping in contact with the kids.

At the end of the day we clearly needed our scouts to do a better job at both ends, pre draft and the pro side. We needed the development team to do better, we needed the coaching staffs at both levels to help these kids more then they did. Bouchard sounds like he knows what he is doing, at least they finally hired someone that had been a head coach at any level before. I think that's a great start.

Another big thing that I'm personally against is rushing 18, 19, 20 year olds to the NHL. We'll see if this has changed as I know the league is getting younger so you have to push these kids more, just prefer we take more caution then not.

People were passionate about Lefevbre? Wow... Clearly he was a hack. He was a Michael Therrien of the AHL in terms of his competence to coach. But I bet he was a good yes man, a buddy, un chum s'ti ,and god knows what else so Bergivin kept him until heat got too much.

I don't know Bouchard from adam, but from what is being said sounds like he is a lot more competent as far as both coaching and developing young players. The results weren't there last year either, but I imagine it would take a lot more than a year to clean Bergevein's mess at any level of the organization.
 

Treb

Global Flanderator
May 31, 2011
28,179
27,934
Montreal
People were passionate about Lefevbre? Wow... Clearly he was a hack. He was a Michael Therrien of the AHL in terms of his competence to coach. But I bet he was a good yes man, a buddy, un chum s'ti ,and god knows what else so Bergivin kept him until heat got too much.

I don't know Bouchard from adam, but from what is being said sounds like he is a lot more competent as far as both coaching and developing young players. The results weren't there last year either, but I imagine it would take a lot more than a year to clean Bergevein's mess at any level of the organization.

Results weren't there last year because Bergevin stole all the vets from Bouchard. Laval with Ouellet, Froese, Agostino and Chaput for the whole year probably makes the PO. Hopefully Bouchard told him to keep the vet down this year or go f*** himself.

This year, we have everything we need to make the PO if Ouellet, Varone, McCarron, Barber and one of Hudon/Peca makes it down. Alzner and the other of Hudon/Peca is gravy at this point.
 

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