Player Discussion Victor Mete: Part II

[Vachon23]

Vanilla in which sense? he improved a fair amount with proper tutelage and got more confident at the same time.

No dominant quality, not PP guy and not a PK guy either. I have no problem with him, on a 3rd pair I have no problem with him but he’s the kind of player that you can find everywhere.

 

[Vachon23]

I don't think many GM's like dealing with Bergy , nor do they return his calls. Find a new GM, find new solutions. I'm not going to pretend finding top dmen is easy, but Mete is a 5-6 ... he can be replaced.

That’s completely false

 

[angusyoung]

No dominant quality, not PP guy and not a PK guy either. I have no problem with him, on a 3rd pair I have no problem with him but he’s the kind of player that you can find everywhere.

OK,not a stud in 1 domain or another. Habs have a lot of options going forward this year. They seem to have cornered the market on LD.

 

[Vachon23]

OK,not a stud in 1 domain or another. Habs have a lot of options going forward this year. They seem to have cornered the market on LD.

I have absolutely no problem with Kulak on the 3rd pair ! He’s a NHLer. I just think that some Habs fans put him a little to high

 

[habergeon]

I have absolutely no problem with Kulak on the 3rd pair ! He’s a NHLer. I just think that some Habs fans put him a little to high

I agree, and I actually have no problem with Mete right now in the top 4, preferably on the 2nd pairing.

We need a 20+ min guy on the top pair that can play in all situations. As good as Mete and Kulak have looked, imagine how much better they will once properly slotted.

 

[angusyoung]

I have absolutely no problem with Kulak on the 3rd pair ! He’s a NHLer. I just think that some Habs fans put him a little to high

Possible,have to see him more in a comfortable position.

 

[Tyson]

You don’t know this at all

None of us have insider info, we are fans who speculate. Of course he doesn’t know this at all...it’s called being a fan and speculating based on everything we read, hear and see.

 

[loudi94]

Meat Sauce is going to be a great partner for Weber once/if he gets the offence sorted out.

 

[admiralcadillac]

None of us have insider info, we are fans who speculate. Of course he doesn’t know this at all...it’s called being a fan and speculating based on everything we read, hear and see.

What we do have is the fact Bergy is consistently one of the busiest gms in the league and has had no issue trading, even if they weren’t all great trades. You’d need insider info to prove what he’a saying not the obvious data.

 

[Mrb1p]

Who cares if he never scores a goal, hes a positive presence because hes a play driver. Last year he went on a stretch were him and Weber gave up 3 goals in 20 games and were on the ice for 15+, dont tell me that's not great.

 

[dackelljuneaubulis02]

Who cares if he never scores a goal, hes a positive presence because hes a play driver. Last year he went on a stretch were him and Weber gave up 3 goals in 20 games and were on the ice for 15+, dont tell me that's not great.

Plus the pretty great rushes and all the opportunities he got. The fact that he's getting lots of good chances to score is good in and of itself. All this while being quite reliable defensively on a top pairing is just pretty damn impressive for his age. I just don't understand how all this just gets to be hand waved away.

If someone can remind me of all the 20 year old D we've had in the last 20 years that have done that well on a top pairing let alone even played on a top pairing, I'm all ears.

 

[Mrb1p]

Plus the pretty great rushes and all the opportunities he got. The fact that he's getting lots of good chances to score is good in and of itself. All this while being quite reliable defensively on a top pairing is just pretty damn impressive for his age. I just don't understand how all this just gets to be hand waved away.

If someone can remind me of all the 20 year old D we've had in the last 20 years that have done that well on a top pairing let alone even played on a top pairing, I'm all ears.

Heck, even just 23 and under.

I'll say it but this reeks of "Back in my days".

 

[The Great Weal]

Mete is playing in the top 4 because our LHD depth is one of the worst I have ever seen on an NHL team. It's NOT because he is good enough to be a top 4 dman right now.

 

[Habs]

What we do have is the fact Bergy is consistently one of the busiest gms in the league and has had no issue trading, even if they weren’t all great trades. You’d need insider info to prove what he’a saying not the obvious data.

He's one of the busiest, because he's always scrambling from mismanagement, bad signings and bad trades. Back on topic, Mete should be playing 3rd line duties, its a joke to see him on a top pairing.

 

[dackelljuneaubulis02]

Mete is playing in the top 4 because our LHD depth is one of the worst I have ever seen on an NHL team. It's NOT because he is good enough to be a top 4 dman right now.

This argument keeps getting trotted out and it would carry a lot more weight if he didn't actually do quite well there.

No one can convince me that you can throw any scrub of a D beside the Shea Weber of the 2nd half of last year and he'll finish a +16. If he was so in over his head he would've been exposed. He wasn't. Weber was not so tremendous last year as to make a wholly undeserving partner look more than capable.

Sure on most other teams or every other team, he doesn't get that opportunity but that doesn't matter. All that matters is how he did there.

 

[habsfan92]

Just a question, how many guys looked bad playing with Weber? Beaulieu, Emelin, Kulak? I would think that any average dman would look decent.

Truth is, I would rather Mete go to Laval to try & develop some kind of offensive game to add to his attributes.

 

[dackelljuneaubulis02]

Just a question, how many guys looked bad playing with Weber? Beaulieu, Emelin, Kulak? I would think that any average dman would look decent.

did any of them last as long on Weber's side as Mete did? were any of them 20 years old? was the Weber of the last half of last season as good as the Weber that played with the others? did any of them finish with such a high +/-? etc etc etc

 

[The Great Weal]

This argument keeps getting trotted out and it would carry a lot more weight if he didn't actually do quite well there.

No one can convince me that you can throw any scrub of a D beside the Shea Weber of the 2nd half of last year and he'll finish a +16. If he was so in over his head he would've been exposed. He wasn't. Weber was not so tremendous last year as to make a wholly undeserving partner look more than capable.

Sure on most other teams or every other team, he doesn't get that opportunity but that doesn't matter. All that matters is how he did there.

Shea Weber made Beaulieu look decent. He made Emelin look a lot better than he actually was. Victor Mete isnt a good top 4 dman as of right now, he is best suited as a bottom pairing dman.

 

[admiralcadillac]

He's one of the busiest, because he's always scrambling from mismanagement, bad signings and bad trades. Back on topic, Mete should be playing 3rd line duties, its a joke to see him on a top pairing.

That completely contradicts your other comment in several ways bud

 

[dackelljuneaubulis02]

Shea Weber made Beaulieu look decent. He made Emelin look a lot better than he actually was. Victor Mete isnt a good top 4 dman as of right now, he is best suited as a bottom pairing dman.

he made NB look okay for a very short period of time until NB got exposed. He made Emelin look better but again he didn't look as good as 20 year old Mete did. Both of those guys didn't last as long as Mete did as a partner of Weber because they ultimately got exposed. While Mete just seemed to get better.

And again That was the Weber of a few years ago. Not the Weber of last half of last season who was looking pretty rough a lot of the time. Mete was bailing him out at times.

 

[The Great Weal]

he made NB look okay for a very short period of time until NB got exposed. He made Emelin look better but again he didn't look as good as 20 year old Mete did. Both of those guys didn't last as long as Mete did as a partner of Weber because they ultimately got exposed. While Mete just seemed to get better.

And again That was the Weber of a few years ago. Not the Weber of last half of last season who was looking pretty rough a lot of the time. Mete was bailing him out at times.

Beaulieu had a career year because he played with Weber. Mete didnt do anything special in the top 4. Both of those guys didnt last because of the expansion draft and Markovs departure made them force Mete into the top 4 with nobody else playing ahead of him.

Mete bailed him out because hes an incredible skater. And Weber even made Kulak look good when they played together last season. To say that Mete didnt struggle would be a lie because he got sent down. Mete is in no way a legit top 4 dman right now and he is forced to play there because we have nobody else.

 

[dackelljuneaubulis02]

Beaulieu had a career year because he played with Weber. Mete didnt do anything special in the top 4. Both of those guys didnt last because of the expansion draft and Markovs departure made them force Mete into the top 4 with nobody else playing ahead of him.

Mete bailed him out because hes an incredible skater. And Weber even made Kulak look good when they played together last season. To say that Mete didnt struggle would be a lie because he got sent down. Mete is in no way a legit top 4 dman right now and he is forced to play there because we have nobody else.

No one's arguing that he hasn't made other players look better. I can think of no other partner that lasted as long as Mete did in consecutive games as Weber's partner. NB didn't look anywhere near as good as Mete did.

Mete struggled at the beginning. My focus is more on how he did after. And I don't know how many times we're going to keep ignoring my point that Weber in the last half of last season was not prime Weber. Not the same Weber who made those other guys better. Weber was clearly getting pretty gassed down the stretch. And neither of those guys were 20 year old kids either.

You can't just hand wave all these variables.

 

[montreal]

People are talking about how Mete did with Weber but as we hopefully improve the roster, he shouldn't have to be a top pairing D unless either he warrants it or everyone else flops and MB just sits there with a stupid look on face saying he tried but it's hard to find that LD.

Emelin took a lot of heat when he was exposed for playing in a position he shouldn't have been put in. As a 5th or 6th D he was solid, but when used more you are going to have a bad time.

Mete should have played in the OHL last year and in the AHL this year. He didn't and now we just have to hope that his confidence wan't impacted and hearing everyday about how he's never scored a goal in the NHL doesn't cause him to one day shank a reporter or innocent fan asking when will he finally score.

The question is can Mete continue to improve? He'll be in his age 21 season so hopefully the answer is a very big yes. If not then hopefully when the Romanov, Struble, etc.. get here then at some point hopefully they are better and thus move him down to a more reasonable spot. If he does then we'll have to see by how much each year and where the others are at when they finally get to the NHL.

Mete is a top pairing D by default but that doesn't mean he can't become one. Do I expect him to, no but for me it was never about that. For me it's can Mete be a 2nd pairing D on a cup contending team or least a playoff contending team. I still don't know but I would have said not as likely and now I'm starting to think it's more likely that he can.

But we just need to see more of him and when we do we should keep in mind what we are seeing is someone that is likely playing above what he should be in terms of what's best for his development. That said who knows as maybe he learns a ton from Weber and down the road it pays off in spades.

 

[habsfan92]

did any of them last as long on Weber's side as Mete did? were any of them 20 years old? was the Weber of the last half of last season as good as the Weber that played with the others? did any of them finish with such a high +/-? etc etc etc

Mete's +/- was good because his ice time was managed to make it easier for him. Tougher nights when they needed some offence, he would be on the bench while other guys were relied upon to play more minutes against better teams. Mete was never on the ice when Montreal was down 1-2 goals in the last 2 minutes of a game, subject to empty goals against & high risk plays to try & score. The coach managed his shifts very well & his stats show it. Don't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear-I believe the saying is.

 

[dackelljuneaubulis02]

Mete's +/- was good because his ice time was managed to make it easier for him. Tougher nights when they needed some offence, he would be on the bench while other guys were relied upon to play more minutes against better teams. Mete was never on the ice when Montreal was down 1-2 goals in the last 2 minutes of a game, subject to empty goals against & high risk plays to try & score. The coach managed his shifts very well & his stats show it. Don't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear-I believe the saying is.

That's not enough to skew Mete's stats on a mediocre team imo. Plus you still have the other variables that you didn't take on.

I keep promising I'm done with this thread but I keep getting Godfather III'd. I am done now though. We'll wait and see if a 20 year old D man can't improve.