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

[Miller Time]

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.

Time will tell, but if last year is any indication, Weber in the lineup had minimal positive impact on the team's results & performance...

I wouldn't hold my breath in thinking he'll have a net positive impact on the team

 

[ImNeverWrong]

habs overhaul their team repeatedly and still loses to this garbage oilers roster consistently. i mean, wtf. they could adopt team canada for a game and still fall to the oilers in edmonton.

 

[ImNeverWrong]

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.

size had nothing to do with this game. speed and transition is where the game is at...you wanna be the kings or ducks?

 

[ImNeverWrong]

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 question is WHY do the habs always suck on this trip? it literally makes no sense. year after year with new rosters on both sides, still the same general outcome.

 

[The Great Weal]

I cringe when people say we lose because of size. No we didn't lose due to McDavids physicality, we lost because McDavid's skill and skating.

 

[The Great Weal]

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.

I mean if Domi even cools off a little our offense would be f***ed.

 

[Beendair Donedat]

size had nothing to do with this game. speed and transition is where the game is at...you wanna be the kings or ducks?

Teams that have won the cup more recently than 25 years ago? Those Kings or Ducks?

Size has plenty to do with the game. Speed and transition are extremely important, there’s no doubt about it, nobody has said otherwise, but when your forwards are averaging 5’9, 180 lbs, they aren’t winning any board battles, position battles in front of the net, or intimidating the opposing defense. Look at any teams that are true cup contenders or recent winners, nobody is close to being as small as we are up front.

Obviously this isn’t the only issue with the team, since I named several, but it is an issue, and one that needs to be addressed.

 

[McDaddy]

We just saved the Oilers coach's job.

Damn you, you did.
I was hoping for an ass-whooping tonight (kind of).

 

[Beendair Donedat]

I cringe when people say we lose because of size. No we didn't lose due to McDavids physicality, we lost because McDavid's skill and skating.

And again, nobody said that was the ONLY issue. I cringe when people take one part of a post, ignore the rest, and attempt to magnify it as a gross oversimplification.

How many teams have as many small forwards as the Habs?

 

[Max2]

Teams that have won the cup more recently than 25 years ago? Those Kings or Ducks?

Size has plenty to do with the game. Speed and transition are extremely important, there’s no doubt about it, nobody has said otherwise, but when your forwards are averaging 5’9, 180 lbs, they aren’t winning any board battles, position battles in front of the net, or intimidating the opposing defense. Look at any teams that are true cup contenders or recent winners, nobody is close to being as small as we are up front.

Obviously this isn’t the only issue with the team, since I named several, but it is an issue, and one that needs to be addressed.

Pittsburgh are a pretty small team and have won 2 cups in the last three years.I reckon they are about the same size as Montreal on average.Chicago were also one of the smaller teams in the league during their last cup winning years.

 

[PaulD]

Time will tell I guess. Barring injuries I don't see anyone challenging McDavid for the art Ross in the forseeable future, and he's already tied both after 2 full seasons.

I have no doubts, no doubts at all that whenever he is finally surrounded by championship talent, that he will exceed all career accomplishments of both ovi and Sid, with the obvious exception of ovis Richard trophies.

Sid won a cup in 017 surrounded by anything but championship talent on the blue line.

and his wingers while winning the Con Smythe /016 Cup were two rookies . Guentzal and Sheary.

I like MacD but two Connies and 3 Cups for Sid (so far) . No guarantee of Connor surpassing that.

 

[The Great Weal]

And again, nobody said that was the ONLY issue. I cringe when people take one part of a post, ignore the rest, and attempt to magnify it as a gross oversimplification.

How many teams have as many small forwards as the Habs?

You made it seem like it was the main issue. Our forwards could all be 3 feet tall and it still wouldn't be the main issue. Look at the beach balls our goalies let in. How is that because of our small forwards? Look at the defensive breakdowns we have every shift. How is that because of our small forwards? We have the 2nd most hits in the league right now, our physicality is most definitely not the main issue like you made it out to be.

 

[The Great Weal]

@Runner77 I'm sure you can do something with Alzner sleeping at 1:49 in the video below

 

[nhlfan9191]

Time will tell, but if last year is any indication, Weber in the lineup had minimal positive impact on the team's results & performance...

I wouldn't hold my breath in thinking he'll have a net positive impact on the team

Never said he would have a great impact, but it’s so bad right now that he can’t shift things a little.

 

[Runner77]

@Runner77 I'm sure you can do something with Alzner sleeping at 1:49 in the video below

I've been trying to play the clip for several hours now and it won't download. I can't wait to see it.

 

[The Great Weal]

I've been trying to play the clip for several hours now and it won't download. I can't wait to see it.

Have you tried youtube? It's on the Habs channel.

 

[Runner77]

Have you tried youtube? It's on the Habs channel.

I have. Same issue. Something is off with my laptop. I'll have to fix it.

At first I thought Y/T was down but now I know my computer is the issue.

 

[CaptnNemo]

Hey guys,

I rarely post on here as you can see, but I've been reading on here for a long time. I like the fact that a lot of you are knowledgeable in the sport. Changes from the kid's RDS forum

I am a long time habs fan since forever..I remember the last 2 cups here and there (blame pre-SQDC) as I am 43 now.
I believe that this year's roster, at least up front is refreshing for once but the D is still awful.

I think that this is the kind of season we'll have. On and Off performances and stability issues obviously. I know that Price has been very ordinary for the past 2 years or so and it really shows that this team was relying on him big time, as we can see now that he's performing subpar to his usual self.
I never thought he was the best goalie but a really good one among others in the league. Hopefully he gets his act together sooner then later.

As for the D, well, Weber's return can't come soon enough. Will he change the whole dynamic ? I don't think so but it will surely help on the PP more then what we see now and probably install somewhat of a stability in the D's pairings. Not enough for a full 360 but at least maybe we'll minimize the opponent's scoring chances a little bit more therefore give our goalies more room to breath. It's surely not an easy task for a goalie or any for that matter to keep it's team above water all the time with that kind of D.

The only issue I have is with Julien's coaching. It's like he never evolved to today's nhl. I mean, why did he start changing the pairings on D after the 7th or 8th game ? Nobody was injured on the D, everyone were in the right chair then all of a sudden, he changes that. Why? Only god knows...
Now he overplays them and with the lack of general talent, he also burns them with too much ice time for them to perform optimally.

All and all, it is more enjoyable to watch this year and with all the young ones slowly making their way in, I believe that this team will be a lot better 2-3 years from now in the hopes that our draft picks come to fruition.

Upper management is also an issue with shady trades, some good ones I agree but some decisions were dead wrong imo but it is what it is.

I am as passionate as any habs fan can be and I hate seeing them loose as I love seeing them win. We are indeed bipolar fans when it comes to this sport in this city and I strongly believe better days/years are ahead of us.

In the meantime, let's get the 2 next W's and pray that Price comes back from his own hell and that Weber is also close to a return. Armia and Byron can't comeback soon enough. When everyone is healthy and in the right chair, we are not that bad and we can compete. At least they are more exiting to watch then last year.

Cheers!

 

[Beendair Donedat]

You made it seem like it was the main issue. Our forwards could all be 3 feet tall and it still wouldn't be the main issue. Look at the beach balls our goalies let in. How is that because of our small forwards? Look at the defensive breakdowns we have every shift. How is that because of our small forwards? We have the 2nd most hits in the league right now, our physicality is most definitely not the main issue like you made it out to be.

You might want to try reading the post again. I mentioned size and multiple other things as well - bad goaltending, bad defense, no secondary scoring. It’s all there.

 

[The Great Weal]

You might want to try reading the post again. I mentioned size and multiple other things as well - bad goaltending, bad defense, no secondary scoring. It’s all there.

Your first sentence is about size and then you talk about how small we are. I know you mentioned other reasons, but those other reasons are 100 times hurting us more than size.

 

[The Great Weal]

I have. Same issue. Something is off with my laptop. I'll have to fix it.

At first I thought Y/T was down but now I know my computer is the issue.

Hope you fix it! We need to see what you can make out of it.

 

[Runner77]

Hey guys,

I rarely post on here as you can see, but I've been reading on here for a long time. I like the fact that a lot of you are knowledgeable in the sport. Changes from the kid's RDS forum ...

Are you sure you don't want to post more often? You could have made 7 posts from that text alone.

Welcome back to our crazy place and hope to read you more often.

 

[ImNeverWrong]

Teams that have won the cup more recently than 25 years ago? Those Kings or Ducks?

Size has plenty to do with the game. Speed and transition are extremely important, there’s no doubt about it, nobody has said otherwise, but when your forwards are averaging 5’9, 180 lbs, they aren’t winning any board battles, position battles in front of the net, or intimidating the opposing defense. Look at any teams that are true cup contenders or recent winners, nobody is close to being as small as we are up front.

Obviously this isn’t the only issue with the team, since I named several, but it is an issue, and one that needs to be addressed.

the clutching and grabbing days are over...the days the kings and ducks were dominant was during an era when karl alzner was a relevant player. the habs are where they are now because bargainbin finally saw the error of his ways an switched to a game of transition hockey. If you want size, ask the oilers about milan lucic.

 

[CaptnNemo]

Are you sure you don't want to post more often? You could have made 7 posts from that text alone.

Welcome back to our crazy place and hope to read you more often.

Haha!! right hey!? Sorry about that but yeah crazy place to read..loll.. I'll try to be less lengthy in my posts, I know to some it is annoying to read more then 20 seconds in a row...

 

[MasterDecoy]

i like how some people are blaming price when he didn't even play