Player Discussion Victor Mete: Part II

[The Great Weal]

All these are playing top 4 minutes?

No they aren't

 

[DangerDave]

All these are playing top 4 minutes? So habs are better off than one critics,good! would be nice though that Mete can pinch in a wee bit more.

Yup. According to Daily Faceoff anyways.

I agree that he should be more assertive in the offensive zone. We started to see it more frequently as the season progresses but I'd like to see it even more, especially with Weber backing him up and with his amazing speed.

 

[RealityBytes]

What do you do with Mete? He's smart, kind of good, better than a lot, but doesn't score and can get pushed around. Sort of a catch 22 ... too good to lose him, but is he good enough to win?

 

[angusyoung]

Well that is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. If you dont want to take my word for it, check out the thread: Recalled/Assigned: - Mete sent to the AHL

Mete had to beat out Kulak, Schlemko, Reilly, and Alzner. 3 of those guys cleared waivers and Reilly didn't play much. Weber also made guys like Emelin, Beaulieu and Kulak look much better than they were when he played with them. Price played like a God since like December. These are all pretty important factors when it comes to evaluating Mete's role on the Habs. Hate to sound like a broken record, but Mete is not a top 4 dman right now.

He compliments Weber because of his speed, not because of many other elements of his game. He is an offensive liability and the opposing team focuses more on the other dman because he isnt a threat.

An offensive liability? he moves the puck out of the zone quickly,has great wheels! Still a kid so still time for him to amp it up some on the goal scoring deficit. He beat out those others as he had the wheels and could cover when needed. Kulak really improved with some proper guidance and should be able to improve on last season, and at a potential bargain.

 

[The Great Weal]

An offensive liability? he moves the puck out of the zone quickly,has great wheels! Still a kid so still time for him to amp it up some on the goal scoring deficit. He beat out those others as he had the wheels and could cover when needed. Kulak really improved with some proper guidance and should be able to improve on last season, and at a potential bargain.

Yes, an offensive liability. That isn't related to his skating ability. The opposing team is aware that his peewee level shot isn't a threat so they focus on other threats.

 

[BaseballCoach]

Not at the moment,but he does compliment Weber at the moment.

Not sure how you would know that, but it would be interesting to hear what Mete could be saying to Weber in July.

Some possibilities:

• "Great golf game, but we're getting too much time to hone it every year."
• "It was the best seeing you at the draft table when you selected the only guy smaller than me"
• "Hey Daddyo, your quiet strength dwarfs my own father's"
• "Even if you don't have Lindsay Vonn on your arm, you're still more awesome than PK!"

Any other possiblities?

 

[The Great Weal]

Yup. According to Daily Faceoff anyways.

Like I said, it's an improper way of looking at it. Haydn Fleury did not play top 4 minutes with Carolina. He averaged 12 minutes a game in those 20 regular season games. That's just one of many examples.

 

[DangerDave]

Like I said, it's an improper way of looking at it. Haydn Fleury did not play top 4 minutes with Carolina. He averaged 12 minutes a game in those 20 regular season games. That's just one of many examples.

But that's the projected lineup this year. And that's just cherry picking one example when many here did in fact play top 4. Either way, Mete was playing against the very best last year and posted very good defensive numbers. How many dmen can say they did that at 20? Not v ry many.

 

[angusyoung]

Not sure how you would know that, but it would be interesting to hear what Mete could be saying to Weber in July.

Some possibilities:

• "Great golf game, but we're getting too much time to hone it every year."
• "It was the best seeing you at the draft table when you selected the only guy smaller than me"
• "Hey Daddyo, your quiet strength dwarfs my own father's"
• "Even if you don't have Lindsay Vonn on your arm, you're still more awesome than PK!"

Any other possiblities?

Not a fan I gather, A? Habs went with the best options,and Mete showed he had more to offer than the rest at the time. Not calling him another Krug,but skates like 1,and just starting out.

Heard he has an impeccable short game though,great around the greens.

 

[angusyoung]

Yes, an offensive liability. That isn't related to his skating ability. The opposing team is aware that his peewee level shot isn't a threat so they focus on other threats.

Not sure many player are threatened by any shot,easily blocked. Creating lanes is paramount and he does
that to a degree.

 

[BaseballCoach]

Not a fan I gather, A? Habs went with the best options,and Mete showed he had more to offer than the rest at the time. Not calling him another Krug,but skates like 1,and just starting out.

Heard he has an impeccable short game though,great around the greens.

I'm not a fan? Of whom?

 

[angusyoung]

I'm not a fan? Of whom?

Had to check,it's a Mete thread,so guessing Mete.

 

[De Montreal]

Yeah he was so good that he got sent down. Of course he played better once he got called up, but that doesnt make him consistent.

Yeah, agree. What’s with 20 years old dman having to play a games on the AHL? That doesn’t bode well at all

 

[BaseballCoach]

Had to check,it's a Mete thread,so guessing Mete.

I'm fan of Mete, Weber and Subban. Was just having fun with the word "compliment" rather than "complement"

 

[schnapshot]

Yes, an offensive liability. That isn't related to his skating ability. The opposing team is aware that his peewee level shot isn't a threat so they focus on other threats.

You do realize that shooting can be improved with practice right? He broke his hand last year so he couldn’t work on his shot. He’s working with a shooting coach (Tim Turk) this summer...

It’s not like all good offensive Dmen are goal scorers either. Duncan Keith has scored a whopping 8 goals the past 2 seasons. Torey Krug had 6 goals this year. Erik Karlsson had 3, Ristolainen had 5.

I get that they’re not at all of the same caliber, but if you’re going to rip on Mete being an offensive liability, shooting isn’t a massive concern, especially at 21.

 

[The Great Weal]

You do realize that shooting can be improved with practice right? He broke his hand last year so he couldn’t work on his shot. He’s working with a shooting coach (Tim Turk) this summer...

It’s not like all good offensive Dmen are goal scorers either. Duncan Keith has scored a whopping 8 goals the past 2 seasons. Torey Krug had 6 goals this year. Erik Karlsson had 3, Ristolainen had 5.

I get that they’re not at all of the same caliber, but if you’re going to rip on Mete being an offensive liability, shooting isn’t a massive concern, especially at 21.

I have made it very clear that I was talking about the present and not the future. From what we have seen, it's been absolutely brutal.

 

[xNogaitx]

People are so down on Mete this is depressing.

The kid's only faults to date are not being 6'3, and has yet to score a goal.

Other than that, he's been surprisingly good in his defensive reads and in handling top 4 minutes...as a 19 and 20 years old.

In the grand scheme of things, Kulak and Chariot will battle it out for the bottom 2 spots on the left side until a kid like Romanov pushes them out further down the road. None of the two are #2-3 D, they are just fine #4-5 and so long as they can do better than Benn, our defense will improve.

Remember, Mete is going into is third season as a top pairing D at age 21! So long as he keeps improving, the Habs will be just fine.

By the way, here's a list of 20 years old and below defensemen who played in the league last year:

Dahlin
Heiskanen
Sergachev
McAvoy
Girard
Hronek
Chychrun
Cholowski
Lajoie
Jokiharju
Mahura
Valimaki

Btw, guess who had the best +/- of all! (Disclaimer, it's Mete at +17, most of those kids are well into the negatives.)

There's no need to get out there and strap 7M of cap space in a troubling player like Gardiner.

 

[Vachon23]

If he can step up this year offensively like he did defensively last year, that would be a great news for the Habs but we will still ask him to much if the line-up stay the same.

 

[dackelljuneaubulis02]

People are so down on Mete this is depressing.

The kid's only faults to date are not being 6'3, and has yet to score a goal.

Other than that, he's been surprisingly good in his defensive reads and in handling top 4 minutes...as a 19 and 20 years old.

In the grand scheme of things, Kulak and Chariot will battle it out for the bottom 2 spots on the left side until a kid like Romanov pushes them out further down the road. None of the two are #2-3 D, they are just fine #4-5 and so long as they can do better than Benn, our defense will improve.

Remember, Mete is going into is third season as a top pairing D at age 21! So long as he keeps improving, the Habs will be just fine.

By the way, here's a list of 20 years old and below defensemen who played in the league last year:

Dahlin
Heiskanen
Sergachev
McAvoy
Girard
Hronek
Chychrun
Cholowski
Lajoie
Jokiharju
Mahura
Valimaki

Btw, guess who had the best +/- of all! (Disclaimer, it's Mete at +17, most of those kids are well into the negatives.)

There's no need to get out there and strap 7M of cap space in a troubling player like Gardiner.

wondering how many of them played on a top pairing as well

 

[Eegs]

Not a fan I gather, A? Habs went with the best options,and Mete showed he had more to offer than the rest at the time. Not calling him another Krug,but skates like 1,and just starting out.

Heard he has an impeccable short game though,great around the greens.

I've also heard he's still waiting to sink his first putt though. Great getting onto the green, just having trouble sinking it.

 

[HabsTown]

Love Mete. If he becomes a 25-30pts D-man, he's totally a 1st pairing D (#2). He's already a good #4/ okay #3 in my book.

 

[Runner77]

wondering how many of them played on a top pairing as well

Wondering if Mete would have been top pairing in any of those teams.

I don’t think so. The Habs used Mete at first pairing on account of a well documented and glaring paucity of options at LD due to the GM’s inability to provide for a viable candidate during his tenure.

Just because the GM fell short doesn’t mean Mete is at this time suited to fill the role. Mete being used on first pairing is thus not indicative of anything other than being pressed into a position out of need.

 

[Mrb1p]

Wondering if Mete would have been top pairing in any of those teams.

I don’t think so. The Habs used Mete at first pairing on account of a well documented and glaring paucity of options at LD due to the GM’s inability to provide for a viable candidate during his tenure.

Just because the GM fell short doesn’t mean Mete is at this time suited to fill the role. Mete being used on first pairing is thus not indicative of anything other than being pressed into a position out of need.

Sure, but he did good there. Hes not bad, every single stats point to him being good this year, well, aside from the goal column and this, despite being used as the 2nd D on this team (He was ahead Weber most of the year.)

He would also have been playing on thr first pairing of a few teams, to be fair. Tampa comes to mind, if he was a RD, Detroit, Ottawa, maybe even Chicago. Add in Florida, NJD, LA, heck, I think he even could have carved himself a spot in the Blues top 4.

 

[Playmaker09]

Wondering if Mete would have been top pairing in any of those teams.

I don’t think so. The Habs used Mete at first pairing on account of a well documented and glaring paucity of options at LD due to the GM’s inability to provide for a viable candidate during his tenure.

Just because the GM fell short doesn’t mean Mete is at this time suited to fill the role. Mete being used on first pairing is thus not indicative of anything other than being pressed into a position out of need.

Werenski and Provorov were. Provorov struggled mightily and Werenski was in over his head and had to be moved off of Jones' pairing.

Sergachev couldn't hack it in a top 4 role either.

You're selling Mete short. Not only did he get tough minutes but easily held his own in them. Why he got those minutes doesn't matter at all, only how he performed in them.

Or do you think William Karlsson is still a 4th liner because no team other than Vegas would have ever given him the opportunity on a top line? Or Pesce and Slavin as top pair in Carolina?

Beaulieu had the same opportunities Mete had and sucked balls on the top pair.

Some players look exposed when put in bigger roles, others rise to the occasion. Mete rose to the occasion. Trying to diminish what he did is bullshit.

 

[Runner77]

Werenski and Provorov were. Provorov struggled mightily and Werenski was in over his head and had to be moved off of Jones' pairing.

Sergachev couldn't hack it in a top 4 role either.

You're selling Mete short. Not only did he get tough minutes but easily held his own in them. Why he got those minutes doesn't matter at all, only how he performed in them.

Or do you think William Karlsson is still a 4th liner because no team other than Vegas would have ever given him the opportunity on a top line? Or Pesce and Slavin as top pair in Carolina?

Beaulieu had the same opportunities Mete had and sucked balls on the top pair.

Some players look exposed when put in bigger roles, others rise to the occasion. Mete rose to the occasion. Trying to diminish what he did is bull****.

My post was in reply to an assertion that appeared to me to imply that Mete is a first pairing D. I merely suggested that he is not at this time.

Put it to a vote and let’s find out if most Hab fans feel otherwise.