HF Habs: Out Of Town Thread: 2023-2024 season

[JianYang]

Zach Hyman has 50 goals???? lolll

Pretty sure he had 40 plus last year as well.

McDavid is one of those special players that elevates everyone around him.

 

[red devil]

Pretty sure he had 40 plus last year as well.

McDavid is one of those special players that elevates everyone around him.

He had 36 last year which was the 1st time in his career to have more than goals. Him playing with McDavid and the Oilers powerplay has definitely increased his goal output

 

[The Great Weal]

Everyone and their mothers thought the Hyman signing would be brutal

 

[PeteWorrell]

He had 36 last year which was the 1st time in his career to have more than goals. Him playing with McDavid and the Oilers powerplay has definitely increased his goal output

He is doing his job of going to the dirty areas on the ice. He definitely benefits from McDavid but he is also being rewarded by doing what he was signed up to do.

Everyone and their mothers thought the Hyman signing would be brutal

He did have injury problems while being with the Leafs while he has been healthy with the Oilers.

 

[red devil]

 

[PeteWorrell]

It will just mean more disappointment in the playoffs as a few will lose in the first round when they were expected to go far.

 

[Naslund]

Pretty sure he had 40 plus last year as well.

McDavid is one of those special players that elevates everyone around him.

The "Rob Brown" effect.

 

[the valiant effort]

Hyman has well above average IQ, moves well, hounds pucks, and has sneaky good hands. If healthy he’ll be on Team Canada for more reasons than being akin to McDavid’s Kunitz.

 

[Scintillating10]

Drouin 2 goals tonight. His line of Drouin/MacKinnon/Lekhonen was outstanding against Pitt. Hard to believe we had two of those players. Got nil for them. Never had great player like MacKinnon though. To make them notch better.

AVS going to tough to beat in playoffs. Mittelstald has gave them depth on top 6.

Walker played good game also. He's a player Montreal should make offer to this summer. He's UFA. Right shot, given Savard final year next yesr. a lot of defensemen don't develop until 300 NHL games. Habs would never lose money on him.

 

[JianYang]

It will just mean more disappointment in the playoffs as a few will lose in the first round when they were expected to go far.

There is no super team any more. You can poke holes through all these teams. Heck, as powerful as the 2022 avs were, you could still poke a hole in them in goal.

Really, there hasn't been a team you can't poke holes in since the lightning from the covid era. The result is that you have a bunch of pretty good teams all vying to be the top dog but I don't see a great team.

 

[salbutera]

There is no super team any more. You can poke holes through all these teams. Heck, as powerful as the 2022 avs were, you could still poke a hole in them in goal.

Really, there hasn't been a team you can't poke holes in since the lightning from the covid era. The result is that you have a bunch of pretty good teams all vying to be the top dog but I don't see a great team.

Which is whole purpose of having a hard cap - create parity

 

[JianYang]

Everyone and their mothers thought the Hyman signing would be brutal

I thought it was a pretty good signing to be honest from a hockey perspective anyways. The Oilers needed alot of everything at the time, and that included some grit for the top end of their lineup.

The question was how well it ages because Hyman plays a certain style where things can go south quickly. So far, so good.

 

[Team_Spirit]

 

[JianYang]

Which is whole purpose of having a hard cap - create parity

I think the main purpose of a hard cap was to prevent owners from shooting themselves in the foot, and create more cost certainty. I'm pretty certain this expansion surge and increased demand to join the league would not have been possible under the pre cap system. The nhl would just have too many "have not" teams.


A predictable byproduct of that has been parity, but I don't think that was the primary goal. Regardless, we have seen some really good teams winning the cup in the cap era too but this year feels like a lot more "good" than any "great"

 

[LaP]

Zach Hyman has 50 goals???? lolll

Rob Brown 2.0

Joke aside (yeah he's better than Brown) but anyone who think he can get close to 50 goals playing with a normal center like Suzuki or Aho is living in la la land.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Rob Brown 2.0

Joke aside (yeah he's better than Brown) but anyone who think he can get close to 50 goals playing with a normal center like Suzuki or Aho is living in la la land.

Credit where it’s due though, he scores dirty goals and every team needs that.

 

[LaP]

I think the main purpose of a hard cap was to prevent owners from shooting themselves in the foot, and create more cost certainty. I'm pretty certain this expansion surge and increased demand to join the league would not have been possible under the pre cap system. The nhl would just have too many "have not" teams.


A predictable byproduct of that has been parity, but I don't think that was the primary goal. Regardless, we have seen some really good teams winning the cup in the cap era too but this year feels like a lot more "good" than any "great"

I think the main reason was to stop having to move teams around. Without the cap i think easily another 2-3 teams would have been relocated by now. If you want to have a strong product (or at least the illusion of it) can't have teams being relocated all the time.

The NHL was at a point where rich teams were signing bad players for 5-6 millions (in today's money) just for the sake of it. Like they did not need the player. NYR payroll before the lockout was 76 millions. This is roughly equivalent to 120 millions in 2024.

Bottom teams were not able to retain their players even the CH was struggling to keep pace. Baseball has a similar problem despite the revenue sharing. I mean the way LA stacker this summer is disgusting and there's many teams in the league who have not competed in ages depsite having good management.

 

[Pompeius Magnus]

Rob Brown 2.0

Joke aside (yeah he's better than Brown) but anyone who think he can get close to 50 goals playing with a normal center like Suzuki or Aho is living in la la land.

Super Mario did elevate quite a few guys to career seasons back in the day That said, Hyman has always been a good secondary scorer.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Super Mario did elevate quite a few guys to career seasons back in the day That said, Hyman has always been a good secondary scorer.

Btw, not for nothing but… I got him in the pool. 5th round.

 

[Ezpz]

Drouin 2 goals tonight. His line of Drouin/MacKinnon/Lekhonen was outstanding against Pitt. Hard to believe we had two of those players. Got nil for them. Never had great player like MacKinnon though. To make them notch better.

AVS going to tough to beat in playoffs. Mittelstald has gave them depth on top 6.

Walker played good game also. He's a player Montreal should make offer to this summer. He's UFA. Right shot, given Savard final year next yesr. a lot of defensemen don't develop until 300 NHL games. Habs would never lose money on him.

Only one player on that line that matters. The guy who has nearly double the cumulative points of the other two. Drouin's playing with a guy pacing for 140 and probably isn't even going to set career highs.

 

[Tyson]

Drouin 2 goals tonight. His line of Drouin/MacKinnon/Lekhonen was outstanding against Pitt. Hard to believe we had two of those players. Got nil for them. Never had great player like MacKinnon though. To make them notch better.

AVS going to tough to beat in playoffs. Mittelstald has gave them depth on top 6.

Walker played good game also. He's a player Montreal should make offer to this summer. He's UFA. RighHard to believe we had two of those playerst shot, given Savard final year next yesr. a lot of defensemen don't develop until 300 NHL games. Habs would never lose money on him.

"Hard to believe we had two of those players"

....folks complained about them when they were here and now they complain because we use to have them and let them go. Can't have it both ways

 

[teamfirst]

Rob Brown 2.0

Joke aside (yeah he's better than Brown) but anyone who think he can get close to 50 goals playing with a normal center like Suzuki or Aho is living in la la land.

Brown was super talented tho it just didn't translate in the NHL apart for his first 3 seasons with Mario, he had 173 and 212 points in his last 2 seasons in juniors with Kamloops.

I remember him very well cuz i won a pool back in 89 beceause of him and Yzerman, Yzerman finish that season with 155 pts and Brown with with 115, not one of my friends new who was Rob Brown when i drafted him.

 

[GrandBison]

"Hard to believe we had two of those players"

....folks complained about them when they were here and now they complain because we use to have them and let them go. Can't have it both ways

Lehkonen and Drouin are just a MacKinnon away from being first liners.

 

[LaP]

Brown was super talented tho it just didn't translate in the NHL apart for his first 3 seasons with Mario, he had 173 and 212 points in his last 2 seasons in juniors with Kamloops.

I remember him very well cuz i won a pool back in 89 beceause of him and Yzerman, Yzerman finish that season with 155 pts and Brown with with 115, not one of my friends new who was Rob Brown when i drafted him.

Fair enough

One a side note I won a pool back in 92-93 after taking Gilmour in the last round cause everyone thought he was finish and would do 70ish point that season.

 

[Tyson]

Lehkonen and Drouin are just a MacKinnon away from being first liners.

Yeah generational talents can help average players look way better than they really are.