Montreal coming back into the picture

[Cleatus]

I think it's funny that some posters are assuming the Leafs will make the playoffs.

I think its funny that some posters still think the Leafs are coached by Randy Carlyle and Ron Wilson.

 

[David Suzuki]

Regardless, even though they're on a hell of a streak right now, the Habs still have their work cut out for them this season. Better hope Price stays 100% healthy.

"team better hope best player stays healthy"

 

[Cleatus]

"team better hope best player stays healthy"

Truly good teams can still do well without their best player.

Leafs went 4-0 without Matthews for instance.

 

[PensandCaps]

They've done more than the Caps.

Not true. And I'm not a caps fan, so I don't care.

 

[Lshap]

Regardless, even though they're on a hell of a streak right now, the Habs still have their work cut out for them this season. Better hope Price stays 100% healthy.

Montreal's in a hole because they had the worst goaltending in the league for 20 games. Even league-average goaltending would've had them much higher in the standings right now.

That's the funny thing about the perception of Price on the Habs. Everybody talks like the ship sinks the moment he's out, or in the case of October, when he's playing like crap. The Habs need Price to be a god, or they stink, right? Wrong. It's not the absence of Price that kills them; it's the league-worst goaltending that replaces him. Losing a goalie of Price's calibre is a hit, sure, but replacing it with a sub-.900 SV% is the real kill-shot. In 2015/16 Price missed most of the season, and his replacement was rookie Mike Condon, Dustin Tokarski, and Ben Scrivens. The Five-Holey Trinity. The Netminders of the Apocalypse. They combined for the absolute worst goaltending in the NHL and, not surprisingly, Montreal collapsed. Their goaltending didn't just dip down a level from the penthouse; it plummeted past the sub-basement and through the concrete foundation.

Last season Price marches back in, plays great, and it looks like he singlehandedly lifted the team on his shoulders. Don't get me wrong, Price is fantastic, but going on after Inspector Clouseau made him look like The Terminator.

This year it swing back to the other extreme again. Price started out at league-worst. Now he appears to be back. And Montreal's fortunes have followed. They're winning not just because of great goaltending, but because they're no longer being sabotaged by terrible goaltending.

Yeah, no question, 'work cut out for them' and all that stuff. If goaltending isn't bi-polar Montreal should make it again.

 

[PensandCaps]

K. Nashville wouldn’t have made the playoffs in the east last year and they went to the finals.

They had atleast a #1 C and 4 #1-#2 Dmen....

 

[JJ68]

Not true. And I'm not a caps fan, so I don't care.

Lets see Habs have made multiple ECF appareances. Caps, despite this so called superior talent, cant get by the second. Ever.

 

[Lshap]

Truly good teams can still do well without their best player.

Leafs went 4-0 without Matthews for instance.

Habs went 3-0 with Lindgren in net. A handful of games means nothing.

 

[ole ole]

I'm sure it'll go back to that when the Habs hit another wall, as they still have their annual February/March slump to go through.

A Leafs fan bringing up an annual slump. So cool.

 

[CauZuki]

Truly good teams can still do well without their best player.

Leafs went 4-0 without Matthews for instance.

4 games is not a season, Habs were 7-1-2 with Condon after Price's first injury, that season ended with Habs out of playoffs and drafting Sergachev 9th overall.

I can agree that having your goalie be your best player is risky as that truly is a position that influences the game (imo) more than others. I don't think Leafs are nearly as good without Matthews. This is comming from a Habs fan that respects the recent rebuild strategy employed by the Leafs. In fact I hope Habs emulate this success by getting rid of the playoff chockers, cleaning up management with a winning attitude/culture and drafting/developing a few more elite prospects. Habs are too young to do a complete rebuild but a Leafs tweak could be very beneficial.

 

[1specter]

I think it's funny that some posters are assuming the Leafs will make the playoffs.

Put money down that they won't

 

[Peter Puck]

C'mon now, are we going to get into which team controls their destiny more?

Huh? A team can't control its own destiny "more". It either controls its own destiny or it doesn't. Right now, every team controls its own destiny.

 

[Peter Puck]

From what I've noticed, I guess it's always just a second half slump for them in general (December to end of season basically). Pretty much the only reason they ever make the playoffs is by having insane Octobers, which changed to a really awful October followed by a great November this season.

I'm personally guessing the 18 wheeler goes off the road by the end of January this time around.[/QUOTE]

I'm confused, are you talking about the habs or the leafs? As I understand it, the 18 wheeler goes off the road refers to the usual leaf's sudden collapse leading to missing the playoffs.

 

[Cleatus]

A Leafs fan bringing up an annual slump. So cool.

When was the last time the Leafs completely collapsed and missed the playoffs?

It wasn't that long ago, but it was a completely different team, management, coach, and leadership back then.

This current Habs team is basically the same it's been for years, only older and downgraded in basically every facet. Yeah they have a different coach now, who I feel is a good one, but even the best coaches can't always make up for an overall lack of talent (Babcock on the last place Leafs two years ago, for example).

I think it's pretty safe to expect the same type of behaviour from this Habs team until they trade or let go most of their current players.

 

[JianYang]

Huh? A team can't control its own destiny "more". It either controls its own destiny or it doesn't. Right now, every team controls its own destiny.

Going back to the original point, I said that Boston is still in the driver's seat for the 3rd spot, and that Montreal is simply a placeholder at this point. Someone contested that and said Boston is not in the driver's seat. Perhaps I should not be talking about controlling the destiny to make my point. Another way I can explain it is that Montreal currently has a smaller margin for error than Boston does. I mean c'mon, would you rather be the team 1 point up with 4 more games played or vise versa?

 

[The Winter Soldier]

Julien's coaching record was just too good to have count the Habs out prematurely. Now that Price is back and they are back in it. This could get interesting.

 

[Bladerunner]

Lets see Habs have made multiple ECF appareances. Caps, despite this so called superior talent, cant get by the second. Ever.

The Caps have been ousted, while being very competitive, by the eventual SC champ 3X in past several years.

Yea we all know what happened in 2010. Habs busted their asses and upset Caps & Pens. Worn out they lost to Philly in 5. Give yourself a cookie for an EF final appearance

 

[Halakitlikethat]

Truly good teams can still do well without their best player.

Leafs went 4-0 without Matthews for instance.

True that was impressive that they still got some wins with Matthews minor injury, however my one critique if you could call it that is that we haven’t seen them fight through any real adversity or a major injury to a top player. 4 games in November does not prove much.

You think leaf fans would have leaned some humility but carry on, I would temper the expectations a bit.

 

[Riddum]

Put money down that they won't

The division is weak. Leafs will surely make the playoffs

 

[DaPhazz]

They had atleast a #1 C and 4 #1-#2 Dmen....

Good try, but that doesn't change that his argument is valid...not at the slightest

 

[sharks9]

The Caps have been ousted, while being very competitive, by the eventual SC champ 3X in past several years.

Yea we all know what happened in 2010. Habs busted their asses and upset Caps & Pens. Worn out they lost to Philly in 5. Give yourself a cookie for an EF final appearance

You know we went to the ECF after that year, right?

 

[CHaracter79]

The habs arent as good as this streak makes them look but they arent as bad as their start of the season was either. For almost a full month they got some horrific shooting % and average goaltending at best. Price was at 880%, unheard of.

Since their 1-7-1 start though they are 11-4-2 and 12 of those game were without price and another handful with out weber and drouin. They are 2nd in the league in shots per game. It would only make sense that the early trend wouldnt continue. Will it last? probably not. I cant see them continually playing 650 hockey til seasons end. but they are definitely a good hockey club. The defence now that everyone is healthy is actually surpisingly mobile with Petry, Schlemko Mete and Jerabek. Alot more mobile then last year and i believe this will continue to trend upwards in terms of controlled exits and the such.

Whether they can truly score goals has always been their problem. Gallagher is back to his old self with 13 goals already. Galchenyuk is back to h is pre injury form with 12 pts in his last 14 games. Drouin seems legit and Hudon is surprisingly great offensively and defensively. If he only buried 20% of his chances he would prob have 12-15 goals

 

[Kamina]

Montreal's in a hole because they had the worst goaltending in the league for 20 games. Even league-average goaltending would've had them much higher in the standings right now.

This year it swing back to the other extreme again. Price started out at league-worst. Now he appears to be back. And Montreal's fortunes have followed. They're winning not just because of great goaltending, but because they're no longer being sabotaged by terrible goaltending.

Yeah, no question, 'work cut out for them' and all that stuff. If goaltending isn't bi-polar Montreal should make it again.

This also applies to Ottawa, but Anderson hasn't figured his shit out yet. Never thought I'd be envying Montreal at any point this season but here we are...

 

[Lshap]

This also applies to Ottawa, but Anderson hasn't figured his **** out yet. Never thought I'd be envying Montreal at any point this season but here we are...

Yeah, what's going on with Anderson?? Ottawa was a great story last year and lots of fun to watch in the playoffs. Hopefully Craig turns it around and Karlsson fully recovers.

 

[Dustin]

I wasn't one of the doom and gloom people on here when they were going through their funk. That being said I would assume most Montreal fans aren't interested in just making the playoffs anymore. This is a team that should be in their window right now and I think you would be hard pressed to find too many fans who believe that Montreal is a contender this year.

Again it's a long season and many things can happen but in order for those things to be good they need to fill some pretty significant holes in their lineup before people view them as a dangerous team in the playoffs.