Wanted: Puck Moving D

Captain Mountain

Formerly Captain Wolverine
Jun 6, 2010
20,339
13,876
It's so mind boggling to me that Bergevin seems so obsessed with defensemen, adding them every chance he gets and always having an overabundance of them on payroll, but goes out of his way to actively ship out 3 of the highest potential Dman that hes ever had in his tenure. Subban, Sergachev, and Markov, all gone.

Like, wtf.

Due respect to McDonagh and Beauchemin, but Markov, Subban and (likely) Sergachev are the best D-men drafted by Montreal since 1987.

Also, perusing Montreal's draft history I have to wonder why Montreal never seems to like the really good D-men they draft and why they seem to just give them away.
 
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Deebs

Let's swim to the moon
Feb 5, 2014
16,730
13,260
Beaulieu was useful at being the poster boy of what not to do.......he was awful through and through.

Beaulieu was essentially a F1 car with an orangutan at the controls.

Well, a Ford anyways :)
 
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Laurentide

Registered User
Mar 24, 2018
3,246
3,408
Edmonton, Alberta
Due respect to McDonagh and Beauchemin, but Markov, Subban and (likely) Sergachev are the best D-men drafted by Montreal since 1987.

Also, perusing Montreal's draft history I have to wonder why Montreal never seems to like the really good D-men they draft and why they seem to just give them away.
It's hard to be humble when you're really good at what you do but the Habs value a player's humility more than his talent. Only the GM is allowed to have an ego. Right now, the Habs don't have any egomaniacs on the blue line. They also don't have much talent on it beyond Weber.
 

yianik

Registered User
Jun 30, 2009
10,605
6,022
I remember in 1988-89 looking at the Habs D and thinking, wow, great blend of veteran and youth, offensive ability and strong D play. I thought that this was a D for the now and would seamlessly transition into the future.

The cast included Robinson, Ludwig, Green, Chelios, Svoboda, Desjardins and Lumme. And, Mathieu Schneider was on his way.

But then............:help:

The trades started happening and what should have been, was reduced to rubble.

Same story since then.

A truth is that Montreal has done quite well at drafting and developing top 3D, but what is also true is the Habs GMs have done very poorly in managing these top players. Habs GMs trade them too much. And get back too little. This is not Play Station boys.
 
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Draft

Registered User
Jan 23, 2013
8,368
4,885
I'd be just as happy getting that puck moving D as I would getting a C. It puts a lot of pressure on the offence in the neutral zone to try and move the puck... something our team hasn't been great at .
 

LeHab

Registered User
Aug 31, 2005
15,956
6,259
It's so mind boggling to me that Bergevin seems so obsessed with defensemen, adding them every chance he gets and always having an overabundance of them on payroll, but goes out of his way to actively ship out 3 of the highest potential Dman that hes ever had in his tenure. Subban, Sergachev, and Markov, all gone.

Like, wtf.

It's almost as if he was building a team the way he played as a bottom pairing D.

When we look back the way he hardballed contract negotiations with our top talent Subban (bridge contract), Markov, Radulov and now Pacio feels like he holds some sort of grudge against talented players. Wants to show who really is da boss now. Only Price was handled with dignity.
 
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voyageur

Hockey fanatic
Jul 10, 2011
9,467
8,157
Well, I guess that we will be very easy to play against, much like last year. I also interpret simple plays as the type of plays a team is forced to make because it does not have the talent to do otherwise type of plays. You need a mix of north/south and east/west if you are going to be successful and since we have virtually eliminated the east/west guys from our lineup I expect us to be even easier to play against. That D that you listed will be in survival mode all season and will mostly have it's back turned to the play and pray to God that both the forwards and Price can bail them out. I predicted 65 points and I stand by it.

In response to another post of yours, the team I watch the most is the Jets. Jets didn't have the best puck movers, but still beat Nashville, largely do to defenseman leading the rush, or supporting it, with constant defensive pressure, reducing any gaps. So there are different ways. Centre support is fundamental for exits. The stretch pass, while effective, is also high risk. The weakness of the Canadiens in the recent playoffs was not pace, but strength, in battles and battling to get to the scoring areas. Beaulieu was awful in his last stint. Markov got beat. Hard to say that the new faces address fundamental flaws. Last year saw the most rookies get into the lineup in a very long time. On defense I am interested to see what Mete, Juulsen and Lernout bring to the table having got their first taste of being pros. 65 is reasonable if there is no spark. I'll say 76, just for kicks.
 

OldCraig71

Registered User
Feb 2, 2009
34,819
53,815
No one cares
In response to another post of yours, the team I watch the most is the Jets. Jets didn't have the best puck movers, but still beat Nashville, largely do to defenseman leading the rush, or supporting it, with constant defensive pressure, reducing any gaps. So there are different ways. Centre support is fundamental for exits. The stretch pass, while effective, is also high risk. The weakness of the Canadiens in the recent playoffs was not pace, but strength, in battles and battling to get to the scoring areas. Beaulieu was awful in his last stint. Markov got beat. Hard to say that the new faces address fundamental flaws. Last year saw the most rookies get into the lineup in a very long time. On defense I am interested to see what Mete, Juulsen and Lernout bring to the table having got their first taste of being pros. 65 is reasonable if there is no spark. I'll say 76, just for kicks.

Center talent is even more crucial in order for a team to be successful and we are at or near the bottom of the league in this area. At least 2 of those guys might become solid NHL defensemen but they need to be sheltered much more than they will be here and that is the sad part because we don't really have anyone outside of Petry that is head and shoulders above either of these young players. This team is really going to struggle for every single point it can get on the schedule.
 

Belial

Registered User
Oct 22, 2014
26,142
14,323
Montreal
Time for some numbers instead of biased opinions and eye tests.

Can someone explain to me how this team managed to get more shots towards the net and on the net, generate more scoring chances and more high danger scoring chances in 17/18 than in 16/17 and in 15/16 while there was no transition apparently?
 

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