Post-Game Talk: The Edmonton McDavids win 6-2 , bad start to the road trip.

[Catanddogguitarrr]

The defence is a distraction to everybody. Not Price. We have a putrid backend. Price stunk really bad for 3 games. That’s not why we can’t keep the puck out of our net.

It's a team bad plays in their zone. Whatever the goalie, that team sucks. Our D talent is below average, brain cramps during execution, no more speed without Byron, no Armia too, no Weber and no Price. It's 4 important players out of the play.

 

[sandviper]

Habs have a serious chance of dropping hard in the standings if they don't fix the defense and goaltending. Washington is 2 points back with a game in hand. Philly and Carolina are 2 points back. Detroit is 3 points back. Florida is 4 points back with 3 games in hand.

To put it in perspective, we currently hold the last wildcard spot. 2 points separate us from 8th and 11th in the conference.

4 points separate us from second to last (OTT) and 6 points separate us from dead last (NJD). Jersey has 2 games in hand.

 

[The Great Weal]

To put it in perspective, we currently hold the last wildcard spot. 2 points separate us from 8th and 11th in the conference.

4 points separate us from second to last (OTT) and 6 points separate us from dead last (NJD). Jersey has 2 games in hand.

That's just from the East. Of course Weber can come back and the Habs push everyone down defensively and get much better. This will obviously make our goalies better too.

 

[Grand Admiral Thrawn]

Don't get why fans are upset. I mean when haven't the Habs been utterly bad in their Western trips?

As if this wasn't to be expected!

 

[the]

Well we wanted a high energy, hard forechecking, offensive oriented team and we got it. Unfortunately the way this team is constructed it also means that we will also get scored on more.

Whatever, I’d rather we score a few and lose by a few than to not score and lose by 2.

The arrival of the Man Mountain and hopefully with Pricer playing a bit better we will be more polished in our end.

 

[OnTheRun]

That's what Benn ought to do for a living -- making gyros.

However, I bet you he'd probably **** that up too with his massive beard shedding.

Benn, Alzner and Schlemko will be working full time at the Bell Centre snack bar pretty soon, so I guess this could be possible.

 

[nhlfan9191]

It's a team bad plays in their zone. Whatever the goalie, that team sucks. Our D talent is below average, brain cramps during execution, no more speed without Byron, no Armia too, no Weber and no Price. It's 4 important players out of the play.

You mentioned Price being a distraction. I’d argue it’s opposite. He’s been a meatshield. He’s taken all the criticism while the D gets a pass. You can’t win in this league getting the defending we are. We were scoring 4+ a game, but there’s a reason for that. We’ve been completely abondoning our own zone.

 

[Guy Larose]

1 NHL caliber D.
KK should replace Danault on the 2nd line. Danault is a 3rd line centre.
Ago sting on the PP...really?

 

[Guilliam]

We'll be out of a playoff spot by the end of this road trip and hopefully we'll still be there as the deadline approaches. This team is entertaining but they are who we thought they were. They're nowhere near ready to contend. Stay the course, sell at the deadline and load on picks and prospects.

 

[sheed36]

Hard to believe but there are 2 teams even worst than the Habs on the PP this season. The Habs are now @ 13% on the PP. The Preds are last @ 12.1% on the PP and the Hawks are second last @ 12.5%. I was quite surprised to see that the Preds were dead last on the PP.

 

[Archijerej]

It seems like our defensemen are pinching automatically. "Three forecheckers below the goalline? Doesn't matter. I'll pinch anyway." Hard to imagine it's a system thing. Just bad decisions all around. None of our goalies will be any good with this kind of play. The mental strain on them will be impossible to handle.

 

[Frank Drebin]

Hard to believe but there are 2 teams even worst than the Habs on the PP this season. The Habs are now @ 13% on the PP. The Preds are last @ 12.1% on the PP and the Hawks are second last @ 12.5%. I was quite surprised to see that the Preds were dead last on the PP.

With pk and josi?

How?

 

[mitchmagic]

Well the best player in the world exposed our terrible defense.

 

[DAChampion]

With pk and josi?

How?

Subban has always been better at ES than on the PP, but regardless he has been playing injured .

 

[Habs]

Yup. Soon as the cushy schedule starts to turn, the team folds like a cheap tent.

 

[NobleSix]

Can Dach play defense?

Yikes, tough crowd around here.

 

[Athletique_Canadien]

Well, since we flat tired today I figured I'd post my newly completed video here. I searched the forum but couldn't find any video threads.

 

[Runner77]

I produced the above using the original version in French by HabsMemes:

Here's the clip that generated the above stills:



Pretty lame stunt.

 

[Kriss E]

We have Hudon, Shaw, Agostini on our 2nd PP wave...Petry is our #1D...
The Habs played like they're supposed to. Our October month was an anomaly going 6-3-2. We are 3-3-1 in November, that's a lot more reflective of this team. I expect this to be the norm moving forward.

 

[Runner77]

We have Hudon, Shaw, Agostini on our 2nd PP wave...Petry is our #1D...
The Habs played like they're supposed to. Our October month was an anomaly going 6-3-2. We are 3-3-1 in November, that's a lot more reflective of this team. I expect this to be the norm moving forward.

What do you suspect will happen when Weber comes back? I imagine he won't be effective right away since his timing and game shape are going to be off, however, what kind of impact do you see him making?

Also, I'm thinking one of the bottom Ds could be upgraded with someone in Laval or is that too optimistic? Someone like Kulak who has NHL experience -- I wonder if he's better than anyone on our third pair?

I don't see a trade happening now since most teams are still in it and they won't want to part with any assets until there is greater clarity and separation. So we're probably stuck with whatever assets can be graduated from Laval.

 

[Kriss E]

What do you suspect will happen when Weber comes back? I imagine he won't be effective right away since his timing and game shape are going to be off, however, what kind of impact do you see him making?

Also, I'm thinking one of the bottom Ds could be upgraded with someone in Laval or is that too optimistic? Someone like Kulak who has NHL experience -- I wonder if he's better than anyone on our third pair?

I don't see a trade happening now since most teams are still in it and they won't want to part with any assets until there is greater clarity and separation. So we're probably stuck with whatever assets can be graduated from Laval.

I think Weber will have little impact. Could improve our PP a bit, that's about it.
If I recall correctly, after Subban's trade, stats were brought up about how Weber's impact on the performance of his team were minimal. Whether he was on the ice or not, the guys produced about the same. Part of why the advanced stats guys were against this trade.
So I'm rather skeptical as to the impact he will have. He's not a one man show and I don't see how we can just give him 30min of ice. Even then, the rest of our defense is terrible. That's a lot to carry on your shoulders.
I expect us to remain about a .500 team.

 

[NotProkofievian]

Again, we're riding high on some wins that we weren't expected to get, and some OTL points. It's a long season that has, until this point, mostly broken our way. I think this team takes a little tumble some time before new years and never really recovers.

 

[nhlfan9191]

I think Weber will have little impact. Could improve our PP a bit, that's about it.
If I recall correctly, after Subban's trade, stats were brought up about how Weber's impact on the performance of his team were minimal. Whether he was on the ice or not, the guys produced about the same. Part of why the advanced stats guys were against this trade.
So I'm rather skeptical as to the impact he will have. He's not a one man show and I don't see how we can just give him 30min of ice. Even then, the rest of our defense is terrible. That's a lot to carry on your shoulders.
I expect us to remain about a .500 team.

Weber will have an impact. Our D is too bad for him not too. How much of an impact is the question. Other then him and Petry, the rest of the roster is a train wreck in their own zone, forwards included.

 

[Runner77]

I think Weber will have little impact. Could improve our PP a bit, that's about it.
If I recall correctly, after Subban's trade, stats were brought up about how Weber's impact on the performance of his team were minimal. Whether he was on the ice or not, the guys produced about the same. Part of why the advanced stats guys were against this trade.
So I'm rather skeptical as to the impact he will have. He's not a one man show and I don't see how we can just give him 30min of ice. Even then, the rest of our defense is terrible. That's a lot to carry on your shoulders.
I expect us to remain about a .500 team.

This is where we'll get a full measure of the GM's belief about how "attitude" will be a difference-maker. Weber being named captain and being the leader in the room -- all of that is not going to raise the team's level of play, but Weber will relegate Petry to second pairing where he'd be more effective. You're saying there is no way to patch up any of the other holes on D -- they are marred by slow skaters, mediocre vets out of their element and not quick on the puck.

If I understand you correctly, this is a byproduct of not having added the needed pieces in a timely fashion in previous years. And not having properly evaluated the players that ended up being targeted and kept.

 

[Beendair Donedat]

The Montreal Smurfs play against a western conference team and get smoked. Where have we seen this before? Every. Single. Year.

Our second line was invisible tonight and they are the only ones that can score other than the Domi line. We simply are too small, and don’t have enough talent up front. Meanwhile the defense remains a tire fire with poor Jeff Petry having to shoulder a load he’s not capable of carrying. Reilly is the definition of average these days, Schlemko was el-sucko and was embarrassed by McDavid, while Benn and Mete continue to be bad. Juulsen played alright.

Niemi was awful on a few goals while sensational making several saves and being saved by multiple posts. Score could have been much worse.

I’d say this is the turning point in the tank for this year. Calgary will embarrass this team worse than the Oilers did tonight. Doubt they beat Vancouver either.