Speculation: So after Galchenyuk, who is the next skilled scapegoat?

[NobleSix]

Do you really believe this?

Drouin sucked ass all season long last year, except for a handful of games near the end when he apparently decided it was time to stop pouting. Absolutely brutal. Lazy as all hell, looked like he didn't even want to play hockey at some points, was a turn over machine, absolutely zero clue defensively, invisible at 5 on 5, put more effort into taping his stick than showing up and actually working hard for long stretches. He was terrible for the most part. I can't believe I initially liked that deal when it was announced. Was I ever wrong on that one. Yikes.

All of that, and he was somehow completely immune to nearly all criticism from a certain portion of the media. I don't like drawing a line in the sand on here between English and French media because the pride of some posters won't allow them to open their eyes and realize that there is without a doubt very real differences between the two, and that they both have their respective agendas. Without getting anyone triggered here over language, I think we can all agree that if Drouin's last name was Drokov, he would have seen a lot more criticism from outlets like TVA, RDS, and programs like L'Antichambre. And no, this isn't a blanket statement about all french media members, there are definitely those that simply tell it like it is without any BS. But come on, for the most part Drouin has been completely shielded from nearly all criticism.

So yes, I really do believe that he has gotten a free pass so far.

 

[Gravity]

after Galchenyuk, who is the next skilled scapegoat?

Scapegoat of the medias or of the fans ?

i would answer ;

The next player with addiction problems or/and off-ice issues

Carboneau ( the finger )
Ribeiro
Higgins
Kostitsyn
Galchenyuk
etc ...

Well subban, camalleri, radulov, eller, andrighetto, kassian...... All for "attitude" reasons

 

[Kriss E]

Not if he scores goals at a good clip. We all would forgive him.

He's scored pretty consistently over the years at a very good clip and that didn't stop people.
People have issues with how he plays the game, not his lack of scoring. The fact he didn't put up a lot of goals just made it worse, but go back to the Captaincy debate threads, a lot of people just don't like his game, and considering he is in for a significant raise, I suspect he will be getting a lot of heat this year.
Add this to the fact Bergevin apparently said he isn't going to talk extention, it's only a matter of time before he's traded imo.

For the scapegoat, not sure why people are saying Scherbak. The kid didn't even play as a regular NHLer yet.

Things will fall on Price-Drouin-Domi, and people will continue to talk about how big of a fail swapping Weber for PK was.

 

[yianik]

Domi is going to get annihilated when Galchenyuk puts up 65 points this season and Domi scores 12 goals and 45 points.

?

I don't see how Domi gets annihalated if Chucky has a good year as a centre.

I do see MB getting annihilated for trading a top 6C ( if Chucky is successful ) for a winger.

Be prepared though if Chucky has success at centre, for ( after saying he wont get into names or speaking about players not in the organization) :

1. Just because a player can score 80 points does not make him a centre.

2. Sometimes a player gets traded and their whole attitude changes. They have success with their new team which they never would have had with their old team, despite their old team having done everything to get them going. It's the player.

 

[nhlfan9191]

Price without a doubt. They went after his family last season and I’m sure there’s more to come. Drouin is likely next in line. Even tho I agree with everyone in here pointing out the large elephant in the room regarding language, I believe the Montreal media will eventually turn on Drouin.

 

[OldCraig71]

Drouin sucked ass all season long last year, except for a handful of games near the end when he apparently decided it was time to stop pouting. Absolutely brutal. Lazy as all hell, looked like he didn't even want to play hockey at some points, was a turn over machine, absolutely zero clue defensively, invisible at 5 on 5, put more effort into taping his stick than showing up and actually working hard for long stretches. He was terrible for the most part. I can't believe I initially liked that deal when it was announced. Was I ever wrong on that one. Yikes.

All of that, and he was somehow completely immune to nearly all criticism from a certain portion of the media. I don't like drawing a line in the sand on here between English and French media because the pride of some posters won't allow them to open their eyes and realize that there is without a doubt very real differences between the two, and that they both have their respective agendas. Without getting anyone triggered here over language, I think we can all agree that if Drouin's last name was Drokov, he would have seen a lot more criticism from outlets like TVA, RDS, and programs like L'Antichambre. And no, this isn't a blanket statement about all french media members, there are definitely those that simply tell it like it is without any BS. But come on, for the most part Drouin has been completely shielded from nearly all criticism.

So yes, I really do believe that he has gotten a free pass so far.

I could only like this post once and that sucks because I would have given it 10 if I could have. He looked like he lost his will to live in most games that I watched him, all of the tools in the world, drafted 3rd overall but such little compete level. Some Tampa fans told us this was coming and they got lit on fire here but escaped with their lives back to their own board. He is not good 5 on 5, he has zero hustle defensively and man was that ever magnified while watching him try and play center. I certainly would never trade one of the best D prospects in the world for him, hell I wouldn't have even traded Galchenyuk for him let alone Domi.

 

[InglewoodJack]

Price without a doubt. They went after his family last season and I’m sure there’s more to come. Drouin is likely next in line. Even tho I agree with everyone in here pointing out the large elephant in the room regarding language, I believe the Montreal media will eventually turn on Drouin.

After the stretch from around 2007-2010 where the entire city was ready to run Price out of town, I really don't know what else the fans could throw at him. I think Drouin is next, and then probably when Kotkaniemi doesn't put up 75 in his rookie season.

 

[WatchfulElm]

Skilled? Check.
Not a vanilla grinder? Check.
Russian? Check

Scherbak checks all the boxes. L'antichambre will be all over this kid next season.

The answer should be Drouin, but he possesses the only trait that apparently matters in this city when it comes to withholding all criticism.

I'd like to nominate this for "worst post of the year". Only someone completely ignorant from this fan base could ever think about pretending that French Canadians get a free pass.

Galchenyuk was not even a scape goat in the fan base. Certainly not at the level of Brisebois, Théodore and Richer, just to name a few. And Certainly not at the level that French Canadians are being made scapegoat on this board by the same exact people who accuse RDS and the French medias of having a bias. Brisebois, Latendresse, "Dandouillon", Desharnais and so many others all receive the royal scapegoat treatment on this exact board, and the language they speak seem to be bothering a lot of people (who are good posters when they write about something else).

 

[nhlfan9191]

After the stretch from around 2007-2010 where the entire city was ready to run Price out of town, I really don't know what else the fans could throw at him. I think Drouin is next, and then probably when Kotkaniemi doesn't put up 75 in his rookie season.

It’s not just the fans that are a problem. It’s the media. They can often be worse. Price is pretty well groomed to deal with outside noise.

 

[Habs Halifax]

It’s not just the fans that are a problem. It’s the media. They can often be worse. Price is pretty well groomed to deal with outside noise.

Agreed. The media is all over our team. They need to report something cause it's their job and there are many of them.. lots of attention on the Habs. Fans don't help as well cause we want a another cup but the media is brutal in Montreal when things don't go well. Having leaders like Price helps but we also need our coach to tell the media to shut up at times.... Just like how Babcock protects his players. He pushes them and can be hard on them but he don't single them out to the media. MT/CJ/MB have all singled out players when asked tough questions by the media and I don't agree with this.

Imagine what our management would of said about Matthews about his last playoff production. They would of tried to explained their 1st round exit due to Matthews not showing up to the media. I think our management is way to hard on young players calling out their attitude while they give a pass to the vets.

 

[DXStriker]

?

I don't see how Domi gets annihalated if Chucky has a good year as a centre.

I do see MB getting annihilated for trading a top 6C ( if Chucky is successful ) for a winger.

Be prepared though if Chucky has success at centre, for ( after saying he wont get into names or speaking about players not in the organization) :

1. Just because a player can score 80 points does not make him a centre.

2. Sometimes a player gets traded and their whole attitude changes. They have success with their new team which they never would have had with their old team, despite their old team having done everything to get them going. It's the player.

And other gems about Kopitar not being a #1 C ...

Yes .. Our GM , Ladies and Gentleman

 

[nhlfan9191]

Agreed. The media is all over our team. They need to report something cause it's their job and there are many of them.. lots of attention on the Habs. Fans don't help as well cause we want a another cup but the media is brutal in Montreal when things don't go well. Having leaders like Price helps but we also need our coach to tell the media to shut up at times.... Just like how Babcock protects his players. He pushes them and can be hard on them but he don't single them out to the media. MT/CJ/MB have all singled out players when asked tough questions by the media and I don't agree with this.

Imagine what our management would of said about Matthews about his last playoff production. They would of tried to explained their 1st round exit due to Matthews not showing up to the media. I think our management is way to hard on young players calling out their attitude while they give a pass to the vets.

Toronto can be awful as well. They had the rumour after they were eliminated from the playoffs that AM and Babcock were feuding and the media was playing into it. One thing they’re lucky they don’t have is something similar to L’antichambre where they have a group of hasbeen’s with no boundaries laying into our players and throwing around baseless accusations on things outside of hockey to a large audience. Toronto is still in their honeymoon stage at this point. Their team is young and there’s a lot of promise. The past two years, the expectations weren’t all that high. With the addition of John Tavares, the bar has been set at a new height. Every year they don’t win a cup from here on, their team and the guys like Matthews who are the face of the franchise will take the heat. We’ve seen it with Price here and he’s never had the team Toronto has. I can only imagine it’ll be worse for him if they don’t collect a cup within the next 5 years.

 

[NobleSix]

Do you live in Qc?

Irrelevant. Maybe I do, maybe I dont. It's none of your business because unlike with the Habs, it doesn't matter one bit where I live.

Are you saying this because I’m in Ontario and therefore have no clue about Montreal media?

Apparently it actually isn't 2018 and you need to be walking the streets in Montreal to grab a newspaper from the local kid on your neighborhood corner to be able to digest local media about the Canadiens.

I'd like to nominate this for "worst post of the year". Only someone completely ignorant from this fan base could ever think about pretending that French Canadians get a free pass.

Galchenyuk was not even a scape goat in the fan base. Certainly not at the level of Brisebois, Théodore and Richer, just to name a few. And Certainly not at the level that French Canadians are being made scapegoat on this board by the same exact people who accuse RDS and the French medias of having a bias. Brisebois, Latendresse, "Dandouillon", Desharnais and so many others all receive the royal scapegoat treatment on this exact board, and the language they speak seem to be bothering a lot of people (who are good posters when they write about something else).

Your nomination wont go very far because there are many people on here, outside of here, and in the media who agree with me. And no, it's not "xenophobia". There is a bias whether you care to admit it or not.

Desharnais went years here without ever getting criticized on L'antichambre. They sheilded his useless ass every single night. Thats one example. Please explain to me why that is, when by the end of his time here almost everyone was getting on him. I said that my statements weren't blanket over all local French media. I should have said that not all players are given a free pass either for their heritage, but there are definitely those that 100% do.

If not for being a local boy, please explain to me why Drouin got a free pass from the media last season. Give me a good reason why other than that.

 

[Mike Mike Caron]

Patch has always been the scapegoat. Galch had it easy.

 

[habsgirl5000]

nothing has changed.....they will blame the season on injuries again after Price plays his 20-30 games and is gone for the year,

"It's hard to win when your two best players are out for extended periods of time"

- MB end of season presser

 

[Captain Mountain]

Are we talking about a Pacioretty/Subban type scapegoat (a star player that's really good but doesn't have enough support), a Desharnais type scapegoat (a decent player undone by being misused) or an Emelin type scapegoat (mostly bad player that's overpaid)?

Because of those options, then Petry/Price, Drouin and Alzner respectively are my guesses.

 

[MXD]

Max Domi

 

[Laurentide]

It's not true that French Canadians are always forgiven by the media and local population.

Brisebois, Latendresse, and Desharnais all faced significant local criticism.

I think we need to make the distinction between which player will be a media scapegoat and which one will be a team management scapegoat.

Management: Scherbak
Francophone Media: Price
Anglophone Media: Drouin

 

[Bryson]

Max Domi

I really don't think so. He hasn't even played a single game for the habs yet and the expectations for him are not very high. If anyone is expecting him to be a game breaker than they are even more clueless than the GM. If Chucky ends up succeeding in Arizona it'll be the GM that will get the heat for that trade. As much as people really liked/loved Galchenyuk, I don't really feel the hate is there for Domi the way that it was/is for Weber.

 

[JeffreyLFC]

I think we need to make the distinction between which player will be a media scapegoat and which one will be a team management scapegoat.

Management: Scherbak
Francophone Media: Price
Anglophone Media: Drouin

Me : Bergevin

 

[Captain Mountain]

Me : Bergevin

Scapegoats are usually blamed for everything for expediency or deflect blame. Bergevin isn't a scapegoat, its actually his fault.

 

[FlyingKostitsyn]

Max Domi gets a pass because he's new, worst he could do is frustrate people. What really angers the average Quebecer is someone with great talent, salary or expactations who doesn't seem to be using it because he's ''lazy'' or simply unmotivated. If Pacioretty starts the year with us and plays another average/bad season he'll get booed. He's supposed to be our best player and he's captain. Drouin is another potential victim. ''Oh he's french he's ok!'' Yeah well no, you guys never learn - being a Quebecer is not a shield against criticism in Quebec unless no expectations are on you.

I'm pretty sure the younger generations of quebecer do not care about people's origins. The older folks tho? They want Guy Lafleurs, Maurice Richards and Patrick Roys. They crave a ''sports star'' from Quebec they can watch on TV and be proud of. Unfortunately Quebec sports star is a dying trend, but the pressure is still there and its been going on for a while. When a Quebecer shows up in any popular sport with what seems to be talent to be above average, the spotlights turn on him. He MUST get better, he's not allowed any respite, and should he turn out to be less than what people expect of him he'll be scorned and rejected. Jacques Villeneuve had a cult until he switched to a team with cars that kept breaking down. He then fell to obscurity and was laughed at as a fluke. Eugenie Bouchard was hailed as the future great tennis champion and now that she struggles a bit fans turn against her. She's lazy, she posts selfies instead of training, she enjoys life. A millionaire youngsters that uses the money to TRAVEL? Shame! She should practice Tennis 24/7 for the greater good of the enjoyment of the Nation. People love a good success story but they also like to lament on the failings of others. =

Back to hockey - remember Latendresse? He surprised everyone that preseason when he scored a bunch of goals. The media mobilized to make him Quebec's next star. It was foolish of course, the guy had far too many weaknesses to become a star in the NHL. When people noticed he couldn't get better he was accused to be a lazy bum that wasted his imaginary potential and was cast out.

Brisebois? It was hoped he could become a top2 defensemen. The organization put him in that situation, expectations about him rose. He disappointed everyone and was booed by everyone and their mother. The whole thing was a disgrace of course, but its perhaps the best example of the consequences of failing to meet expectations.

The only Quebecers who get free passes are those that are there purely because of hard work and nobody seriously thinks they can get much better. This protected Desharnais for a while, few truly believed he belonged to the NHL but he still produced so people loved him. Steve Begin, who was there only because of his charactère. Philip Danault gets this protection, he doesn't get that much attention and isn't flashy enough, but should people come to expect him to be a 50pts producing 2nd line center he might get criticism once he fails to meet that.

So back to Drouin - Drouin was drafted very high as a scoring forward. The Habs use him as first line center. They traded a guy who at 20 would be a top2 defensemen on our team for him. The expectations are there, people hate lopsided trades and they REALLY want a decent no1 center.

Jonathan Drouin will be swallowed by hate. Either this year or the next, unless he surprises us and performs.

 

[Peanut]

Skilled? Check.
Not a vanilla grinder? Check.
Russian? Check

Scherbak checks all the boxes. L'antichambre will be all over this kid next season.

The answer should be Drouin, but he possesses the only trait that apparently matters in this city when it comes to withholding all criticism.

Yeah I think I wanna change my vote now good post! Everything that is wrong with that Habs.

It won’t be real until he gets called Golden Boy though lol

 

[Teufelsdreck]

I'd say Drouin. He wasn't an unwise draft pick but he cost the Habs an excellent prospect in Sergachev.

 

[MXD]

Otherwise, it's already Drouin.