Predict the next Stanley Cup champion (I vote Montreal)

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NoelVilla

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Feb 25, 2019
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Surprised how many that says Vegas. Improving defense when what you lack is centers. Not sure they have improved on a whole.
Lets see how Tampa solves their cap situation before predicting them.
Right now its Colorado, Dallas or Carolina for me.
 
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Lshap

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You mean a Carey Price who was leading them to 12th in the East before the lockdown, a defense led by an often injured and aging Weber and center depth led by a second year player who paced for 50pts and another young player who spent half the year in the AHL because he sucked so bad?

Ill be surprised if they're even in the playoffs.
Luckily for Montreal, your imagination has no effect on its players or the standings. Weber was injured three seasons ago and has been healthy and playing great since. Price remains a top goalie. And your creative take on their two 20-year old Cs may as well include unicorns.

There are legit reasons the Habs won't win the Cup. You've targeted none of them.
 
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Lshap

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Elite coaching... ? :huh:

Incredible depth like what? They had 1 single player score 50+ last year. They traded their 3rd highest scorer for a guy who had 4 points last year. As for Price.. hes far from awful but his SV% and GAA were relatively pedestrian last year.
Yeah, I'd parse the positive (and negative) hyperbole through a more realistic lens. Julien is still a very good coach, IMO, but not elite. Referencing Anderson's injured season is meaningless to his performance in Montreal, since he's no longer injured. His 4-points were Columbus' problem. It's reasonable to expect a solid season from him, although no guarantee he'll be that 25-30 goal scorer. But if we're being realistic, between Anderson, Toffoli, and another year of experience for their two kids at C, Montreal is a stronger offensive team. As you said, Price was solid last season but had his lapses. The biggest problem is that he typically plays more games than any goalie, and the overwork shows in his game. We all saw the difference when he was rested in the playoffs. If Allen is a capable backup, it helps his overall performance.

Bottom line: Habs aren't among the top teams and would never be my pick for the Cup, but they've improved to the point of making the playoffs.
 
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Lshap

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No offense, but I find it hard to believe that a team that was swept in the regular season by the 39 point, -122 GD Detroit Red Wings is suddenly the Cup favorite after acquiring Anderson and Toffoli.
Who is suggesting Montreal is the Cup favourite (outside of maybe one person)?
 
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GlitchMarner

Typical malevolent, devious & vile Maple Leafs fan
Jul 21, 2017
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Who is suggesting Montreal is the Cup favourite (outside of maybe one person)?

That was directed specifically at the man who started the thread.

BenchBrawl is a good poster, though, hence why I said "no offense."

I'm a habs fan, and I believe with the moves they made this off-season Montreal is the #1 contender going into next season. Bergevin is proving himself as one of the best GMs in the league.

What's your prediction?
 

nbwingsfan

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Luckily for Montreal, your imagination has no effect on its players or the standings. Weber was injured three seasons ago and has been healthy and playing great since. Price remains a top goalie. And your creative take on their two 20-year old Cs may as well include unicorns.

There are legit reasons the Habs won't win the Cup. You've targeted none of them.
Creative ways? Did Suzuki not score at a 50pt pace and KK play half the year in the AHL?
Weber was injured 3 years ago? How many games did he play in 18/19 again? Also missed games last season.

And you say I have an imagination :laugh:
 

Lshap

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Creative ways? Did Suzuki not score at a 50pt pace and KK play half the year in the AHL?
Weber was injured 3 years ago? How many games did he play in 18/19 again? Also missed games last season.

And you say I have an imagination :laugh:
Weber came back from his injury (the one he got three seasons ago) in 2018/19 and has been healthy since. Suzuki and Kotkaniemi are 20 years old - not exactly finished products. So yes, your opinion is an impressive creative strain.
 
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Roadhouse

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Creative ways? Did Suzuki not score at a 50pt pace and KK play half the year in the AHL?
Weber was injured 3 years ago? How many games did he play in 18/19 again? Also missed games last season.

And you say I have an imagination :laugh:

You mean behind Danault's TOI?

Which Muller, when he took over Julien in the COVID invitational, changed to Suzuki getting the most TOI and posting good playins/playoffs stats as a top 6 C?

Did you watch Weber in the playins/playoffs at all? Do you recognize how adding Edmundson & Romanov to Weber/Chiarot/Petry makes it a pretty alright D?

How about Price? Maybe a little viewing here and there? Have you seen our backups from the last 10 years and how they crippled the teams at the worst times?

You'll be "surprised if they make the playoffs" which is opposite every hockey reporter's current outlook to the 20-21 season, for the few who have written about it. Hot ish take.
 

Roadhouse

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As much as I respect the OP's right to his opinion, I actually heard the sound of thousands of Habs fans as they saw this thread and did the slow-motion movie scream, "NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!"

Very accurate. This is in my humble estimation a few years too early. The new product needs to mature and ELCs like Romanov, Caufield, Primeau and Norlinder may all be on this roster a few years from now when Montreal decides it's time to sign another piece and make a playoff push. For now I am certainly in "let's just enjoy the ride" mode.
 

BenchBrawl

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As much as I respect the OP's right to his opinion, I actually heard the sound of thousands of Habs fans as they saw this thread and did the slow-motion movie scream, "NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!"

I know. I couldn't resist pulling the trigger. Tired of Montreal getting no respect so I made a splash by putting my neck on the line. Spoke with my heart for a few days, left my head at home. I'm fine with holding that flag for next season until I'm either ridiculed or turned into a main board legend.
 
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nbwingsfan

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Weber came back from his injury (the one he got three seasons ago) in 2018/19 and has been healthy since. Suzuki and Kotkaniemi are 20 years old - not exactly finished products. So yes, your opinion is an impressive creative strain.
Exactly, they are complete unknowns. Saying they have "amazing" Centers like the OP was stating because they have some young players is reallyyy jumping the gun. Many Habs fans were expecting KK to be close to their #1C after his rookie season and instead he spent half the season in the AHL because he sucked.
 

nbwingsfan

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You mean behind Danault's TOI?

Which Muller, when he took over Julien in the COVID invitational, changed to Suzuki getting the most TOI and posting good playins/playoffs stats as a top 6 C?

Did you watch Weber in the playins/playoffs at all? Do you recognize how adding Edmundson & Romanov to Weber/Chiarot/Petry makes it a pretty alright D?

How about Price? Maybe a little viewing here and there? Have you seen our backups from the last 10 years and how they crippled the teams at the worst times?

You'll be "surprised if they make the playoffs" which is opposite every hockey reporter's current outlook to the 20-21 season, for the few who have written about it. Hot ish take.
Trading Domi for Anderson and adding a #6D and an unknown Rookie who may not even make the team now makes a team who was about to finish 12th in the East (at best) a favourite to make the playoffs? I dont buy it.

Tampa/Toronto/Boston are clearly better so theyre basically just battling for a wildcard spot

Buffalo got way better. Florida is still a good team. NYR made massive strides. NJ has gotten better

They are FAR from a favorite to make the playoffs
 
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stanley25

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As a Habs fan im truly wondering if this whole city is on some serious drugs.

MB has been well below subpar compared to his peers. Did 3 wins over the Pens really convince you all otherwise?

Edmunson will not be all that is needed to fix this D and with Weber having difficulty and being clearly tired after playing a few games, it will only make this D worst.

Anderson and Toffoli are alright players, but a motivated Domi has shown to be much better then either so are the Habs really better upfront? I think that depends on how much Suzuki, Kotka and others progress but as an organization I'm fed up on expecting young players to progress every year in order for us to even have an average offense. Do we even have a player that will put up over 60p? Doubt it.

All in all im betting another disappointing year for us Habs fans.
 

Roadhouse

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Trading Domi for Anderson and adding a #6D and an unknown Rookie who may not even make the team now makes a team who was about to finish 12th in the East (at best) a favourite to make the playoffs? I dont buy it.

Tampa/Toronto/Boston are clearly better so theyre basically just battling for a wildcard spot

Buffalo got way better. Florida is still a good team. NYR made massive strides. NJ has gotten better

They are FAR from a favorite to make the playoffs

FWIW Brian Burke absolutely does. He called it "The Blueprint". :laugh:

At no point in the last 10 years were things like "It’s a full squad. A deeper, stronger and better squad, with every penny invested" written about the Habs. And now it is. My guess is they "surprise" you over a compressed schedule and do make the playoffs, albeit as a WC quite possibly. Better than last year, and not as good as years coming.

As for Boston being "clearly better"... what?? With injuries and Krug gone do you know what their starting roster looks like? :skeptic:
 

nbwingsfan

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Dec 13, 2009
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FWIW Brian Burke absolutely does. He called it "The Blueprint". :laugh:

At no point in the last 10 years were things like "It’s a full squad. A deeper, stronger and better squad, with every penny invested" written about the Habs. And now it is. My guess is they "surprise" you over a compressed schedule and do make the playoffs, albeit as a WC quite possibly. Better than last year, and not as good as years coming.

As for Boston being "clearly better"... what?? With injuries and Krug gone do you know what their starting roster looks like? :skeptic:
Uhh we dont even know when the season will start to injuries really mean nothing.

Losing your #4D doesnt suddenly drop you from by far best team in the league to out of a divison spot completely
 

Roadhouse

Bring me back to 2006...
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As a Habs fan im truly wondering if this whole city is on some serious drugs.

MB has been well below subpar compared to his peers. Did 3 wins over the Pens really convince you all otherwise?

Edmunson will not be all that is needed to fix this D and with Weber having difficulty and being clearly tired after playing a few games, it will only make this D worst.

Anderson and Toffoli are alright players, but a motivated Domi has shown to be much better then either so are the Habs really better upfront? I think that depends on how much Suzuki, Kotka and others progress but as an organization I'm fed up on expecting young players to progress every year in order for us to even have an average offense. Do we even have a player that will put up over 60p? Doubt it.

All in all im betting another disappointing year for us Habs fans.

Respectfully,

-Kulak sliding down to the 3rd pairing is an understated effect of the Edmundson acquisition;
-Romanov coming in with fresh legs will also help the D;
-I'll take Anderson and Toffoli's finishing ability over Domi's disappearing act since March 2019 thank you very much;
-The hockey world is noticing Suzuki's progress quite a bit, not sure what your expectations were for now "being fed up". He's not stagnating nor regressing.

The Toronto Sun wrote this about Suzuki about 2 months ago. :naughty:

"The hockey world was still talking about the save and how Suzuki, who later hit a crossbar in the final seconds of the third period that would have tied the game, was developing into a No. 1 centre during these playoffs. They were talking about how, in two short weeks, he’s grown more than he did all season. And because of this, they were talking about his — and the Habs’ — long-term potential. This is the reason why no Canadiens fan should be upset their team missed out on a chance at drafting Alexis Lafreniere. And this is why every Leafs and Oilers fan should be upset their team failed to qualify. The playoffs are where the unlikely happens. Stories emerge. Players emerge. Teams emerge. If you didn’t know about Suzuki before, you do now."
 

Lshap

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I know. I couldn't resist pulling the trigger. Tired of Montreal getting no respect so I made a splash by putting my neck on the line. Spoke with my heart for a few days, left my head at home. I'm fine with holding that flag for next season until I'm either ridiculed or turned into a main board legend.
This is definitely a heart-over-head statement, but I have to give you credit for putting yourself out there, even knowing that everyone -- including your own fan base -- would push back hard. Bonus points for being a good sport about it.
 
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NjdevilfanJim

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Shortened season can really give Tampa the edge......Especially if they get their rfa's signed CAP figured out.
 

Jigger77

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Don't know about winning the cup, but if all goes well I think Montreal should compete for a playoff spot. We'll see what happens down the middle. KK and Suzuki haven't proven themselves over a full season yet.
 
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