Prospect Info: Victor Mete

[Halakitlikethat]

Can't wait for Pierre to be proven wrong once again.

man is this guy ever salty. Does he ever have anything positive to say about the habs?

I used to like him when he did color for TSN but I can’t stand the guy now. He will be proven wrong here.

 

[haseoke39]

Any worries about Mete's ability to adjust to a long season and to the NHL are invalid and completely short-sighted.

For one, he's 19 years old. Stamina-wise I'm not even worried about this. He just has to keep playing to his strengths and playing with Weber should prevent him from getting abused repeatedly.

Nineteen years old has nothing to do with it. A body in its mid-twenties, that's been abused by NHL checking for a few years and grown accustomed to 82 games plus playoffs, is going to be able to handle the game better. Youth does not work in your advantage strictly here.

Decision-making is tricky. Defense is a long development curve for most guys because they have to really learn how to space, position, find their outlets, when to chase and when to play an area, etc. Guys who look mentally on key for a few games at a time are not above falling apart in the next few games. You see it with other young defensemen.

And preseason is a bad time to judge players in general -- other teams aren't aggressively game planning their opponents so much as figuring their own system out. Starting this week, teams will be keying on this kid.

Mete has earned his spot, but you have to pace him. If he gets beat up after teams start keying on him, you have to be able to reduce his role, reevaluate after 9 games.

 

[1909]

Nineteen years old has nothing to do with it. A body in its mid-twenties, that's been abused by NHL checking for a few years and grown accustomed to 82 games plus playoffs, is going to be able to handle the game better. Youth does not work in your advantage strictly here.

Decision-making is tricky. Defense is a long development curve for most guys because they have to really learn how to space, position, find their outlets, when to chase and when to play an area, etc. Guys who look mentally on key for a few games at a time are not above falling apart in the next few games. You see it with other young defensemen.

And preseason is a bad time to judge players in general -- other teams aren't aggressively game planning their opponents so much as figuring their own system out. Starting this week, teams will be keying on this kid.

Mete has earned his spot, but you have to pace him. If he gets beat up after teams start keying on him, you have to be able to reduce his role, reevaluate after 9 games.

I agree with you. Let's wait and see. No needs to play him full time with Weber. He can play most of the time on the bottom pairing + PP time sometimes with Weber or Petry.

 

[tooji]

Depends what kind of minutes he's getting here come December/January. If he's down to sub 15min/game I don't see how playing 25+mins all situations as Canada's top dman for two weeks would hurt him.
Pastrnak was by all means having a good rookie season with the Bruins, they still loaned him to his national team.

Unless he's already playing top minutes here, then sure keep him.

There was a reason he was playing a lot with Benn towards the end of the pre-season. They wanted to see if he could handle playing not under the wing of a premier defenseman and wanted to gauge his chemistry with Benn who would be his most likely partner to start the season (once shlemko is back). I very much doubt the habs will be throwing him to the wolves on the top pair to start the season. He will get some looks with Weber for sure but it won't be his first spot.

 

[koyvoo]

Nobody will be to eager to run him with Weber nearby either

 

[skipp18]

man is this guy ever salty. Does he ever have anything positive to say about the habs?

I used to like him when he did color for TSN but I can’t stand the guy now. He will be proven wrong here.

Honestly I cant listen to him anymore

 

[Uncle Gary]

McGuire is an idiot. Ever since he was passed over for the Habs GM job he has nothing good to say about the Habs. He has been wrong so many times no one should take anything he says seriously.

 

[G0bias]

Nobody will be to eager to run him with Weber nearby either

Heh. That didn't really stop guys from running into Price.

 

[Belial]

Mete's awareness on the ice seems to be elite, he seems to always be ahead of the play. Even if he's small I don't think he'll get hit as much as people think, he's very elusive.

 

[EveryDay]

McGuire is an idiot. Ever since he was passed over for the Habs GM job he has nothing good to say about the Habs. He has been wrong so many times no one should take anything he says seriously.

This. SOOO MUCH!

McGuire: I'd be shocked to see Alzner sign in Montreal

 

[hey]

This. SOOO MUCH!

McGuire: I'd be shocked to see Alzner sign in Montreal

I used to be a big fan of McGuire but I can no longer stomach him anymore. It has been painful to listen to him these last few months. He has nothing positive to say about the habs and is overly dramatic.

 

[DramaticGloveSave]

A few things I said earlier in the thread that look much better today:

Mete > Sergachev
Mete reminds me of Krug (something CJ reiterated)
Mete and Poehling are our top 2 prospects...

 

[le_sean]

Do people still respect Pierre when it comes to the Habs? He just spews nonsense these days because he’s upset he didn’t win the job.

Mete’s advantage is his speed and his quick thinking. Obviously he’ll get hit every now and then, but he’ll avoid contact the vast majority of the time. He’s elusive, that’s why he’s staying up. And if games get physical, he has the most physically intimidating defenceman in the NHL as his partner.

I mean if we go with Pierre’s logic, Gaudreau should be dead by now playing in the West.

 

[Scintillating10]

Seemed like Mete changed paired with Weber

 

[Andy]

Mete won't be the first 19 year old D to make the nhl. Others have been fine, I presume Mete will as well.

 

[Bryson]

Mete won't be the first 19 year old D to make the nhl. Others have been fine, I presume Mete will as well.

Any other examples of 19 year old Ds making it in the nhl? In Piere's defense Mete took a big hit during preseason. It's a big jump going from juniors to the big leagues. He's gonna have to learn to keep his head up at all times.

5'9/5'10 180lbs isn't exactly huge for a dman.

 

[Habsawce]

A few things I said earlier in the thread that look much better today:

Mete > Sergachev
Mete reminds me of Krug (something CJ reiterated)
Mete and Poehling are our top 2 prospects...

I think Lindgren is in the top 2 prospects. He's the real deal.

 

[Habsawce]

Any other examples of 19 year old Ds making it in the nhl? In Piere's defense Mete took a big hit during preseason. It's a big jump going from juniors to the big leagues. He's gonna have to learn to keep his head up at all times.

5'9/5'10 180lbs isn't exactly huge for a dman.

Karlsson was like 160 lbs when he came into the league, he did ok. Krug is tiny, and he's fine. The league is different now, skating and puck movement rules all, these guys are so good they avoid contact so much that forechecking is more about the puck than the body these days.

 

[sampollock]

when Mete was drafted, there was comments Habs got a gem, and.....

 

[Jay Wolf]

It's simple: he's proven during training camp that he's one of the best defencemen in the organization. So, you play him. If at any point he can't keep up the pace or he shows signs of regressing, whether it be after 9, 20 or 30 games, you send him back to London.

 

[DramaticGloveSave]

I think Lindgren is in the top 2 prospects. He's the real deal.

Certainly. OT, but has anyone else noticed that Lindgren kind of looks like a young (skinny) Patrick Roy with his mask on?

 

[WeThreeKings]

My favorite day 2 pick..

He's small, but he can skate, his offensive upside is good, he thinks the game extremely well and he can defend despite not being very big.

Nice

 

[yianik]

Though Mete compliments Weber's game, the problem with him being paired with Weber right now :

1. Mete is small.
2. Mete is pure rookie
3. Even if he only plays at ES , he will still log 18 minutes a game or so.
4. Playing with Weber.

Teams will likely target the defenceman that is playing with Weber rather than go down Webers side, whenever possible, unless that D man is also formidable ie Josi.

A small green D man will be absolutely targeted by every NHL team out there. Playing him on the bottom pairing would still likely leave him targeted somewhat but teams likely will not want to avoid say Benn as they would Weber. He would play less. As we approached the play-offs though , depending on how things were going, we could try Mete with Weber.

Ideally Mete will have time to get physically stronger, like Frankie/ Cubes, and be a high skilled version of my favourite fire hydrant shaped D man, before he is on the top pair full time..

However, at this point I do not at all see what benefit Mete gets being returned to juniors. But okay, see how the 9 games goes and take it from there.

 

[Scriptor]

Though Mete compliments Weber's game, the problem with him being paired with Weber right now :

1. Mete is small.
2. Mete is pure rookie
3. Even if he only plays at ES , he will still log 18 minutes a game or so.
4. Playing with Weber.

Teams will likely target the defenceman that is playing with Weber rather than go down Webers side, whenever possible, unless that D man is also formidable ie Josi.

A small green D man will be absolutely targeted by every NHL team out there. Playing him on the bottom pairing would still likely leave him targeted somewhat but teams likely will not want to avoid say Benn as they would Weber. He would play less. As we approached the play-offs though , depending on how things were going, we could try Mete with Weber.

Ideally Mete will have time to get physically stronger, like Frankie/ Cubes, and be a high skilled version of my favourite fire hydrant shaped D man, before he is on the top pair full time..

However, at this point I do not at all see what benefit Mete gets being returned to juniors. But okay, see how the 9 games goes and take it from there.

If Weber stands up for Mete, you can bet that opponents will go after Mete just to try and take Weber out with a 5-minute misconduct. Still, that shouldn't be a reason not to play a good D.

You definitely wait until the 9 games are up to make a final decision. By then, Mete will have had time to sink or swim...

 

[The Great Weal]

He probably won't be getting much PK time.