Mathradio
Drive for 25
I definitely am not willing to jettison Plekanec... our penalty kill will definitely suffer; Eller isn't at his defensive level yet.
Yes Plekanec should be considered for the Selke, and he's a good playoff competitor too.
first let's look at last year 13-14 playoffs penalty kill ranking: Montreal 11th out of 16 team.
Then let's look at Plekanec stats during these playoffs:
-8th in team scoring
-last in +/-
-49.5% in faceoffs
-2 hits
Although he was the second player taken by the Habs in his draft year he proved to be far more valuable than the first, Mike Komisarek.Plekanec has been my favorite Hab for years and Saku & Markov running a close 2nd most of that time. Now of course Price, Pacioretty & Subban are reaching those lofty heights with their consistent play, all very determined to be the best at their positions.
look at how Plek is acting during this whole video that occurred in last years semi-final, this is very embarrassing, he cant play during the playoffs, he has to act:
look at how Plek is acting during this whole video that occured in last years semi-final, this is very embarassing, he cant play during the playoffs, he has to act:
Trade Pleks.. we have to keep Desharnais' 4 more points a season.
One of the problems is there should be more of a distinction made between embellishment and a pure dive.
On the players side they have absolutely zero faith the Ref is going to see an infraction. The most common embellishment is the head snap on high sticking. This tends also to be the one that ires most fans when there is actually no contact. So if the league cracks down on these offenders (after the fact) this should help some.
The only way to eliminate embellishment diving is to make it a 4 minute penalty. Why not? It is more despicable than that accidental clip where the player was able to sqeeze out a drop of blood. It will also allow
us to rid the game of those ridiculous off-setting (easy way out) calls. Players dive because they KNOW the ref is likely to call both at the very worse. So four and two or a straight four for a particularly bad performance. This will clean things up a lot quicker,,,
first let's look at last year 13-14 playoffs penalty kill ranking: Montreal 11th out of 16 team.
Then let's look at Plekanec stats during these playoffs:
-8th in team scoring
-last in +/-
-49.5% in faceoffs
-2 hits
You are selective in pulling up those stats. If any other Hab center played with those line mates in the role to which Therrien assigns him I can assure you their stats would not be elegant.