Top 20 Montreal Canadiens Forwards since 2000 - #3

[JuicyHam]

snap! when I voted it was 50/50, big change.

 

[JayKing]

Turtleneck

 

[jpchabby]

snap! when I voted it was 50/50, big change.

Yeah me too, I made it 26/25 for Plekanec, and all of a sudden everyone votes for him

Plekanec is still a very effective player, and had 69 and 70 point seasons while offering almost Selke caliber defense... It deserves something.

 

[LyricalLyricist]

Where's DD?

He wouldn't be selected at this point but he along with ryder and others should be listed for the next poll.

 

[Kojo]

I voted Patches but only because of his still untapped potential, while we already saw the best that Plek has to offer. Otherwise Plek would get my vote.

 

[Hope Of Glory]

Plekanec, I love Patch but Pleks has been our most important forward all around since Koivu is gone.

 

[MSLs absurd thighs]

Another example of how criminally underrated Pacioretty is. He's #1 on that list and it's not even close. Before both Kovalev and Koivu.

Scoring 39 goals, when the next highest scorer of the team has 20? All of that on a bottom-10 team offensively? League-leader in GWG?

Yeah. Nobody in that list ever came close from hitting that level. Kovalev did it one year. Pacioretty can realistically do it year in and year out, at 4.5M a season.

I'd like people to stop saying how Plekanec was a "70 points, elite two-way center" at his peak. That's not true. Plekanec hit 70 points one single season. His numbers started decreasing right after Cammalleri's injury that year. Plekanec has always been a 55-60 points center, with good (not exceptional) two-way play in his prime. That's very good, but nowhere near "elite". Still worthy of being top-5 in that list, though.

My list would probably go as follow:

1. Pacioretty
2. Kovalev
3. Koivu
4. Plekanec
5. Cammalleri (it's a shame Volchenkov essentially destroyed what could've been a career of 40 goals per season)
6. Ryder
7. Gionta
8. Ribeiro
9. Zednik
10. Perreault
11. A. Kostitsyn
12. Cole (???)

Starting lineup:

Pacioretty - Koivu - Kovalev
Cammalleri - Ribeiro - Ryder
Tanguay - Plekanec - Gionta
Kostitsyn - Perreault - Cole

I guess that's something

 

[MSLs absurd thighs]

Plekanec, I love Patch but Pleks has been our most important forward all around since Koivu is gone.

Tell me what the Habs would've done last season with Plekanec and his 20 goals as the club's leading scorer.

 

[MSLs absurd thighs]

And the thing is, "since 2000" means that a lot of people around here didn't get to see these guys playing.

Yeah, I'm sure the likes of Juha Lind and Eric Landry are worthy of making that list...

The only names worthy of mention in the early 2000s are Koivu, Zednik, Perreault and Petrov. Gilmour was washed and didn't stay here enough. The rest just doesn't belong.

 

[Mrb1p]

Tell me what the Habs would've done last season with Plekanec and his 20 goals as the club's leading scorer.

You can't just take out a player like that and hope we don't have another asset instead of him.

And even so, what would the Habs do without Plek's 2-way play and 20 goals a season ?

 

[HatTricK09]

I vote Tomas Jagr

 

[WhiskeySeven*]

Pleks is extremely underwhelming offensively. It's Pacioretty no question.

 

[25get]

Patches by a good margin.

I do love Plek but Pacioretty already finished a full season as 4th scorer in the league.
To put things in perspective, Plek was able to score 69 points once with Kovalev scoring 84 points.
Just want to see Patches scoring with a linemate who can score 84 points.
We may see this when Galchenyuk scores 70+ points.

Things have changed in NHL:
Just to put thing in perspective, Richer scored 50 goals twice, in 1987-88 he was 8th and in1989-90 he was 8th again.

Cammy was incredible in the 2010 PO. This was among the best in the last decade...

But back in 2008-9 he did score 39 goals but was 9th.

If Patches only get another season with 30 goals, he will be in an other category above Cammy.

This guy is still improving. Only 25. I can't wait to see him score 40 goals and a few more seasons at 30+ goals.

Just thinking that we have this guy at 4.5M is so great.
Next contract will me much more expensive... Great for him.

 

[David Suzuki]

1. Kovalev
2. Pacioretty
3. Koivu
4. Plekanec
5. Cammy
6. Gionta
7. Ryder
8. Zednik
9. Deshernais
10. Riberio I guess

 

[Le Barron de HF]

Another example of how criminally underrated Pacioretty is. He's #1 on that list and it's not even close. Before both Kovalev and Koivu.

Scoring 39 goals, when the next highest scorer of the team has 20? All of that on a bottom-10 team offensively? League-leader in GWG?

Yeah. Nobody in that list ever came close from hitting that level. Kovalev did it one year. Pacioretty can realistically do it year in and year out, at 4.5M a season.

I'd like people to stop saying how Plekanec was a "70 points, elite two-way center" at his peak. That's not true. Plekanec hit 70 points one single season. His numbers started decreasing right after Cammalleri's injury that year. Plekanec has always been a 55-60 points center, with good (not exceptional) two-way play in his prime. That's very good, but nowhere near "elite". Still worthy of being top-5 in that list, though.

My list would probably go as follow:

1. Pacioretty
2. Kovalev
3. Koivu
4. Plekanec
5. Cammalleri (it's a shame Volchenkov essentially destroyed what could've been a career of 40 goals per season)
6. Ryder
7. Gionta
8. Ribeiro
9. Zednik
10. Perreault
11. A. Kostitsyn
12. Cole (???)

Starting lineup:

Pacioretty - Koivu - Kovalev
Cammalleri - Ribeiro - Ryder
Tanguay - Plekanec - Gionta
Kostitsyn - Perreault - Cole

I guess that's something

I think you're severily overrating Pacioretty and the underrating the others. Pacioretty is not #1, #2 or even #3 IMO. I can justify Kovalev over Pacioretty because Kovy not only had game breaking talent but he's had better seasons in the Habs uniform and is a much more complete player offensively. Let's be honest, Pacioretty hardly works for his goals, he's all speed. If he ever gets his achilles tendon cut or a brutal knee injury, his goal scoring will drop drastically.

I'd rank Saku over Pacioretty too. Saku in the early years was THE guy and represented everything a Montreal Canadiens player should all be about. Heart & class. Koivu's had better seasons than Pacioretty and made his teammates a whole lot better than Patches.

Plekanec's two way game makes this an easy call as far as I'm concerned. Plekanec's best years (69 & 70 pts) are better than Patches' and that's without the Selke calibre defense. Both players have had meh playoffs careers but I think you're underrating what Plekanec is bringing to the table. Sure, if we were to lose either one right now you could argue that Patches' impact would be bigger. But if you repeat the same exercise in 2011, losing Plekanec would have been a pretty big loss.

 

[Hope Of Glory]

Tell me what the Habs would've done last season with Plekanec and his 20 goals as the club's leading scorer.

Globally, I meant. Of course he wasn't the most important forward offensively last season but in the 5 years since Koivu left he's the most important.

Oh, and if you think 20 goals is all Plekanec provides to a team, then I don't know what to tell you.