GDT: Pittsburgh Penguins vs Montreal Canadiens, 7:00PM (RDS)

[Leon Lucius Black]

I know that a lot of people hate Desharnais, but I find him very smart. If he plays on a 3rd line, do you hate him a bit less ?

He's a useful player when he's moving his feet and working the way he did once he first came into the league. Whenever he's with Pacioretty he always seems to just coast and always passes instead of shooting when he has the chance, when he's on a lower line he works harder and he's been shooting a lot more in pre-season.. if he can play in the regular season like he has so far then he'll be a useful player and can give us three lines that can score.

 

[hototogisu]

I hope the same applies to Flynn. He is not a vet with a secured spot and he should not play like one. I think sending a message with Flynn might be a good idea. The message that unless you're a 30+ vet with 700+ games played you got to show up at the camp or you're done.

Flynn scored a lucky goal yesterday but he is really a waste of a jersey right now.

Flynn's spot is a little more secure because he would have to clear waivers but I expect/hope he'll be in the 13th forward role as opposed to a guy who's going to play 82 games for us.

 

[Rapala]

You're biased out of your mind. Desharnais faced Bonino's line all night long for most shifts, and did quite a good job. People are blaming Therrien because he put him on the ice for the EN goal... As far as I know they did good while being a man short.

People are just so biased against Desharnais that they actually wish to see him fail more than they want the team to succeed. No reason to touch the lines the way things are going so far. Eller should focus on not being offside 50% of the time, and he might stay on that line long enough to have his first 30+ points season. Weird that you will laugh about DD's EN assist, yet will credit Eller for his goal. Lol. A cone would've put that in. Hell, he probably didn't even see the puck.

HaHa,
To be fair players making extra moves at the blueline are also at fault.
The line itself has has two semi meaningful exhibitions so timing is still an issue.
Nobody wants to see Davey fail.
What they can't abide is him succeeding up until the point we really need him only to find he isn't there.

 

[waffledave]

I say 15 games into the season:

Pacioretty-Desharnais-Semin
Eller-Plekanec-Gallagher
Flynn-Galchenyuk-Kassian

 

[Bryson]

You're biased out of your mind. Desharnais faced Bonino's line all night long for most shifts, and did quite a good job. People are blaming Therrien because he put him on the ice for the EN goal... As far as I know they did good while being a man short.

People are just so biased against Desharnais that they actually wish to see him fail more than they want the team to succeed. No reason to touch the lines the way things are going so far. Eller should focus on not being offside 50% of the time, and he might stay on that line long enough to have his first 30+ points season. Weird that you will laugh about DD's EN assist, yet will credit Eller for his goal. Lol. A cone would've put that in. Hell, he probably didn't even see the puck.

How many points does Desharnais make being buried in the Dzone, with no PP and no Pacioretty?

Who do you take in the playoffs? Eller or DD? The answer to that question will determine which one of us is truly biased.

 

[Rapala]

I say 15 games into the season:

Pacioretty-Desharnais-Semin
Eller-Plekanec-Gallagher
Flynn-Galchenyuk-Kassian

But the staff will still insist Chucky's line is #1

 

[Bryson]

I say 15 games into the season:

Pacioretty-Desharnais-Semin
Eller-Plekanec-Gallagher
Flynn-Galchenyuk-Kassian

Do people feel Therrien should be fired if this actually happened?

 

[LaP]

Flynn's spot is a little more secure because he would have to clear waivers but I expect/hope he'll be in the 13th forward role as opposed to a guy who's going to play 82 games for us.

I really do hope that he will play only if a guy has the flu and that if there's an injury we will call up a kid and give him some games.

I understand we can't keep Hudon as the 13th forward but right now he is a better options if we need to replace a guy for 5+ games.

 

[LaP]

Do people feel Therrien should be fired if this actually happened?

Yes.

 

[FireBurningBin]

Observations:

- Galchenyuk and Semin have some very obvious chemestry out there. I LOVE how Semin waits out in the 2nd wave in transition to wait for the drop pass and fire his shot at the net. It seems like he did it several times last night. Though, I think we'll get frustrated with Eller at times. He's not on par with these two offensively. He still does a great job along the boards for the most part though, and adds some needed defensive awareness to that line. What surprised me the most with Chucky though were the defensive plays he pulled off.

- Disclaimer: We should not evaluate/judge veteran on their training camp performance. But it's concerning to see how Plekanec can't create any kind of sustained pressure in the offensive zone, and seemingly doesn't show great chemestry with Gallagher. I would definitely wait before extending him.

- Desharnais wmight not have gotten a star, he deserved one before Eller and Dupuis IMHO. Great game. Fleischmann must be signed also. But please, replace Weise with Kassian on this line. He just doesn't have the skill required to match the other two. Lacks creativity.

- Hudon is NHL ready, or almost. He was great yesterday. I see a lot of David Perron in him.

- Petry is exactly where he left us at last season. Great acquisition.

- De La Rose is the forward remaining at training camp (excluding Bournival) that brings the least amount of elements to that team. Should not be an NHLer this year.

I agree on all points.

I do wonder how the Plekanec-Gallagher duo will react when Pacioretty is added to the line up. Comparatively, Plekanec and Gallagher both are not overly good at creating chances, other than taking advantage of space on the rush or defensive lapses by the opposition. It'd be nice if those two were able to feed off of Pacioretty's offensive talent.

I think Desharnais will benefit a lot should he play with Kassian as he has a greater scoring ability for sure than Weise, and potentially can be more physically involved (in terms of puck possession and driving to the net). I hope that Weise playing over Kassian is a temporary situation that will end once Kassian becomes more "comfortable" with the system, at least in Therrien's eyes.

 

[HCH]

You're biased out of your mind. Desharnais faced Bonino's line all night long for most shifts, and did quite a good job. People are blaming Therrien because he put him on the ice for the EN goal... As far as I know they did good while being a man short.

People are just so biased against Desharnais that they actually wish to see him fail more than they want the team to succeed. No reason to touch the lines the way things are going so far. Eller should focus on not being offside 50% of the time, and he might stay on that line long enough to have his first 30+ points season. Weird that you will laugh about DD's EN assist, yet will credit Eller for his goal. Lol. A cone would've put that in. Hell, he probably didn't even see the puck.

I agree with you about Desharnais but I really don't see the need to disparage another player in order to make your point. What kind of analysis is that?

 

[MXD]

The 3rd line doesn't have to be buried in the defensive zone. People with that mindset are absolutely stuck in the old days.

Still, regardless of this, I don't really like the lines setup, because you usually set your lower lines according to the upper lines. I absolutely like how DD is doing at what would be our 3rd line, but there's a serious drawback to this, and that is giving more DZS to the Galchenyuk line (than what we can legitimately expect him to handle well), or give way too much DZS to Plekanec's line.

Hence why I'm going on the record, right from the start, that I'd prefer DD on the wing. I just don't see the current setup as being very efficient.

 

[MSLs absurd thighs]

How many points does Desharnais make being buried in the Dzone, with no PP and no Pacioretty?

Who do you take in the playoffs? Eller or DD? The answer to that question will determine which one of us is truly biased.

To that question, based on last year, I'd say neither.

 

[shamrun]

I say 15 games into the season:

Pacioretty-Desharnais-Semin
Eller-Plekanec-Gallagher
Flynn-Galchenyuk-Kassian

Better off switching Eller and Flynn if this was to happen. i feel like Eller and plecky wont work at all. It would follow the bottom 6 player into a top 6 role approach we have seen.

 

[Soltantgris]

What I liked about the game:
-Desharnais is still getting a lot of chances. Was there at the end for the empty net. We don't have the TOI stats, but my feeling is that he played too much. They play well, but let's not overuse them.
-Plekanec and Gallagher seem to need Pacioretty pretty bad. Just hope Therrien doesn't mess it up again and puts Patches with DD.

I don't get the ''played too much'' and ''playing well''. DD's line has been very good so far - and Im a firm believer of ''you get the minutes you deserve''. I don't mind if it's DD's line, Mitchell's or other. It's good coaching to play the best avalaible line each given night. And this change a lot.

I would say DD impress me a lot so far. His line played a lot of O-zone start against Ovie the other night and managed to limit scoring chances while creating a lot of chances. If this is the kind of third line Habs will get this years, that say a lot about how powerful they are.

Oh and the second part I quoted answers the first part. Plek-Gally are playing a soso game so far - but it's not surprising, they have nothing to win in preseason, no spot to secure, and this line miss it's strongest member. While DD's line is loaded with players in a rush to prove something (Fleischamnn play for a contract, DD play for his career, Weise enjoy the best opportunity of his career and don't want to lose his spot to Kassian.). Let's ride these guys.

 

[Uber Coca]

People are just so biased against Desharnais that they actually wish to see him fail more than they want the team to succeed.

Great way of putting it.

 

[hototogisu]

Do people feel Therrien should be fired if this actually happened?

Of course not. I don't care who he plays where if it results in us winning games. If we're losing, that's another story.

 

[NoNachoNoParty]

Eller-Chucky-Semin
Pac-Pleks-Gally
Flash-DD-Kassian
DSP/Flynn-Mitchell-Weise

Looks guuuuuddd... Btw DD was really good yesterday. Guys like Bryson should quit hating for the f*** of it.

 

[MSLs absurd thighs]

Eller-Chucky-Semin
Pac-Pleks-Gally
Flash-DD-Kassian
DSP/Flynn-Mitchell-Weise

Looks guuuuuddd... Btw DD was really good yesterday. Guys like Bryson should quit hating for the f*** of it.

If that's DSP on the 4th line LW, I'm sold!

 

[Soltantgris]

How many points does Desharnais make being buried in the Dzone, with no PP and no Pacioretty?

Who do you take in the playoffs? Eller or DD? The answer to that question will determine which one of us is truly biased.

This is not the point. This was a discussion about one single game. DD has been VERY good so far, in each single game. It is pre-season, but hey, we are discussing pre-season. If later he get dominated on a regular basis, if he don't produce, if if if, well, will see. But for now, even a blind guy would see that his line is very good.

 

[MSLs absurd thighs]

This is not the point. This was a discussion about one single game. DD has been VERY good so far, in each single game. It is pre-season, but hey, we are discussing pre-season. If later he get dominated on a regular basis, if he don't produce, if if if, well, will see. But for now, even a blind guy would see that his line is very good.

It would be even better with Kassian playing RW on it, but alas...

 

[Kriss E]

What surprised me the most with Chucky though were the defensive plays he pulled off.

There wasn't much surprise to be honest. If you go back to his rookie year when he centered Prust and Gallagher, people were already discussing how his defensive game is actually pretty good.
This idea that he was some kind of liability and weak down low is pure garbage. It was an excuse from management to give to the media and people ate it up.

 

[Soltantgris]

It would be even better with Kassian playing RW on it, but alas...

Well that may happen reel soon. I do think Kassian should start there too - but Weise did a pretty good job last year, so I suspect MT giving him a try over newcomer is ok. Weise production has been almost 2nd line material.

That being said, Kassian is now miscasted for sure. He's not a grinder.

 

[JohnLennon]

You're biased out of your mind. Desharnais faced Bonino's line all night long for most shifts, and did quite a good job. People are blaming Therrien because he put him on the ice for the EN goal... As far as I know they did good while being a man short.

People are just so biased against Desharnais that they actually wish to see him fail more than they want the team to succeed. No reason to touch the lines the way things are going so far. Eller should focus on not being offside 50% of the time, and he might stay on that line long enough to have his first 30+ points season. Weird that you will laugh about DD's EN assist, yet will credit Eller for his goal. Lol. A cone would've put that in. Hell, he probably didn't even see the puck.

So so so true.

 

[habalifeok]

Wonder how chuck would have played against Cosby or Malkin . We will see soon enough.