More talented roster: Vegas or Habs?

[SirClintonPortis]

I think most simply do not know enough about Vegas to have a strong opinion here.
Sure, Habs might have a better roster on paper, that is...if Karlsson and Marchessault are having one hit wonders. If not, then those two alone are better than the Habs.

Marchessault did hit 30 goals once and 50 points. He'd be a two-hit wonder at worst. Karlsson might cool off, but 50 points should also be the norm with him.

 

[pepperMonkey]

To put it simply...the Habs got a few extremely talented players that are better than Vegas players but unlike Vegas, they have a total turd of a team and an even bigger turd GM.

Until that GM is washed away I can't judge the coach as he really shouldn't be 'that' bad.

 

[Kriss E]

To put it simply...the Habs got a few extremely talented players that are better than Vegas players but unlike Vegas, they have a total turd of a team and an even bigger turd GM.

Until that GM is washed away I can't judge the coach as he really shouldn't be 'that' bad.

I think if we were Vegas, we would laugh at the idea of the Habs being a better team than us on paper.

 

[Goodbahd]

Vegas has the better offense and better goaltending for sure.

 

[beowulf]

On paper the Habs probably have more talent but on the ice, where it matters, the Vegas players have gelled better and are giving it their all day-in-day-out.

 

[swimmer77]

Vegas is impressive, but I wouldn't be surprised if they were dead last in the league next year.

While that may be true I think most of the hockey world has been waiting for them to falter and go on a losing streak BUT........they just don't seem to do that. At this point I think I'd be surprised if they were dead last next year. That bunch of cast offs and misfits just don't seem interested in going away.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

I agree a vezina worthy season on a team playing this poorly would make him a strong contender to a hart. My point is - he's CAPABLE of that level of play. He's done it before. This is a bad season for him anyway you look at it. On paper we should have been better than we are, and Price is one of the reasons for that

It's tough to put up Vezina numbers with one top four blueliner who's ideally paired on the 2nd line. Without Weber it means more Benn, more Alzner, more crap... It would be one thing to do it with 20+ minutes of Weber per night but to do it with this group would be an amazing accomplishment. He's .918 since coming back. I'll be curious to see how those numbers look when the season's over.

As for the difference in the two rosters, we've got more talent but it's been a disaster in terms of usage with Drouin/Galchenyuk. That really hurt the offense. Without Weber in the lineup though is our D really any better than theirs? I don't think so.

 

[bobholly39]

It's tough to put up Vezina numbers with one top four blueliner who's ideally paired on the 2nd line. Without Weber it means more Benn, more Alzner, more crap... It would be one thing to do it with 20+ minutes of Weber per night but to do it with this group would be an amazing accomplishment. He's .918 since coming back. I'll be curious to see how those numbers look when the season's over.

As for the difference in the two rosters, we've got more talent but it's been a disaster in terms of usage with Drouin/Galchenyuk. That really hurt the offense. Without Weber in the lineup though is our D really any better than theirs? I don't think so.

Weber was there most of the year when Price was playing horrible though. So you can't really use Weber as an excuse.

Usage is the coach's fault, not GM. I wish Julien would get blamed more than he does. It's like he's immune of any blame because he went to Boston and won a cup 7 years ago.

 

[jackeymoon]

Their C position is much stronger, not even close, done with guys who Bargainbin could've easily traded for to boot.

Their D corps have a much more promising future with Shea Theodore at the helm, again, a guy Bargainbin could've drafted but chose instead to get a 4th liner.

Vegas isn't much more talented but they're much deeper, more well built and ironically have a ton of real character along with a better developmental system. Sad how it only took 60% of ONE season to figure that all out while Geoff is still contemplating giving Bargain another shot.

 

[Sam of Montreal]

Yeah, Montreal is not that bad when you look at it separately. It is evident that this disastrous season is not because of lack of talent alone. Although there is also a lack of talent when comparing with the best teams.

The most obvious factor is that there are many holes in the roster. Centermen has been a weakness for a really long time for Montreal. The lack of a big #1 centerman has been our worst problem for a really long time. However, we at least used to have other centermen who, even though not big, had some talent. This season it is horrible. The real centers on the team with any kind of talent are Danault and Plekanec. Knowing that Plekanec slowed down in the last 2-3 years and can only be considered as a defensive specialist at this point and that Danault is injured, we have noone at center. Concretely, it means that we lose more faceoffs than we should and so we are constantly chasing the puck.

Defense is a huge mess also. Letting go Markov was a weird thing. It makes this year a transition year (which is a really bad idea considering we shouldn't be wasting primes years of Weber, Price and Paccioretty). It totally screwed half of our season as there was no transition game in Montreal without any puckmover.

Now, in the coming years it shouldn't be too bad. With Weber back, Mete and Jerabek in regularly and eventually Juulsen in, we should have a middle of the pack defense going forward.... but it is definately not great unless we hit jackpot in the draft (with Dahlin or another surprise high impact selection).

Overall though, our team is mediocre now and, considering our best players are in the primes now and our prospects are nothing special, it will continue to be mediocre unless MB decides to finally make some moves that make sense. Which IMO would be to retool (trade Paccioretty for 2016/2017 draftees, embrace the youth movement).

 

[Burke the Legend]

Hard to really figure out Vegas when guy like Perron, on his 8th team in 6 years, suddenly jumps from a 50 point player to PPG. Did everyone else underrate him this whole time and he is a real emerging superstar? Or is there something special going on there with a great mix of chemistry, coaching and confidence?

 

[pepperMonkey]

On paper the Habs probably have more talent but on the ice, where it matters, the Vegas players have gelled better and are giving it their all day-in-day-out.

We are like the Rangers from before the cap. Where they just spent $$$ as if it rained by getting elite player after elite player but the team just couldn't play together. The only difference is that we don't get elite players but bottom 6/bottom 4 players.