What if David Desharnais produces this year?

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Monctonscout

Monctonscout
Jan 26, 2008
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I don't see a trade market for DD. Grabovski is a more proven center, was known for having a tonne of heart in Toronto, (see how he played against Chara), and Grabovski had a hard time getting a contract.

If teams won't sign players like him as a UFA, they won't be trading for DD.

Grabovsky lost out because he waited too long looking for the home run contract. The top 10-12 guys got paid then the money dried up.

If we try and trade DD next summer it will be a completely different market, teams will have money coming off the books, plus the cap is probably going up. There are always teams looking for centers and they often end up overpaid...this summer was different because of the drop in the cap.
 

Darth Joker

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Dec 12, 2009
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This again. Can't win playoffs with small centres?

It's not so much that you can't win in the playoffs with small centers.

I mean, look at Datsyuk and Zetterberg in Detroit. Both are 5'11'', so they're not exactly big.

So it's not size alone, or even size per se.

It's having the right combination of talent, tenacity, and physicality in order to impose your will on the ice. It's about being both mentally tough and physically tough to knock off the puck. Some guys (like Datsyuk and Zetterberg) have that "imposing presence", while other guys simply don't.

DD is not mentally soft, but he is soft physically. He's easy to knock off the puck.

To win the Stanley Cup in the modern era, at least one of your top 2 centers needs to be a force that can impose his will on the ice. Pleks and DD are both good players in some ways (Pleks in more ways than DD), but neither are that "power center" that teams need at least one of on the top two lines in order to win in the playoffs. Eller and Galchenyuk probably aren't there yet, but they show the potential to become that kind of "power center" that Cup winners need. Both of them may become that sort of "power center" one day, but DD never will.

I don't like saying this, but Montreal will not win a Stanley Cup with Pleks and DD as the top two centers. Period.
 

Runner77

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Jun 24, 2012
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This... if the guy is producing 60+ points in the NHL, that is pretty good. How can people keep arguing in the face of impressive #s?

Because we acquired another small player in Brière who can do the same job as DD, if not better, over the next 2 years.
 

Blind Gardien

nexus of the crisis
Apr 2, 2004
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I don't like saying this, but Montreal will not win a Stanley Cup with Pleks and DD as the top two centers. Period.
But that shouldn't automatically imply that the team MUST eradicate those players from the lineup NOW. Yeah, sure it would be nice to get better. It would be super-nice if Eller stepped up into the Pleks role of 50+ pt 2-way #2 center and Galchenyuk became the Super Star #1 guy. But since they aren't all that yet, we have to bide our time with what we have.
 

onemorecup*

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It's not so much that you can't win in the playoffs with small centers.

I mean, look at Datsyuk and Zetterberg in Detroit. Both are 5'11'', so they're not exactly big.

So it's not size alone, or even size per se.

It's having the right combination of talent, tenacity, and physicality in order to impose your will on the ice. It's about being both mentally tough and physically tough to knock off the puck. Some guys (like Datsyuk and Zetterberg) have that "imposing presence", while other guys simply don't.

DD is not mentally soft, but he is soft physically. He's easy to knock off the puck.

To win the Stanley Cup in the modern era, at least one of your top 2 centers needs to be a force that can impose his will on the ice. Pleks and DD are both good players in some ways (Pleks in more ways than DD), but neither are that "power center" that teams need at least one of on the top two lines in order to win in the playoffs. Eller and Galchenyuk probably aren't there yet, but they show the potential to become that kind of "power center" that Cup winners need. Both of them may become that sort of "power center" one day, but DD never will.

I don't like saying this, but Montreal will not win a Stanley Cup with Pleks and DD as the top two centers. Period.

period end of story , well said :yo::yo::yo::yo::yo:

DD and Pleks arent warriors and never will
 

onemorecup*

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Grabovsky lost out because he waited too long looking for the home run contract. The top 10-12 guys got paid then the money dried up.

If we try and trade DD next summer it will be a completely different market, teams will have money coming off the books, plus the cap is probably going up. There are always teams looking for centers and they often end up overpaid...this summer was different because of the drop in the cap.

good point , next summer he might be moveable
 

Runner77

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Jun 24, 2012
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no team with dd midgets win cups and havent in 20 years

Current ice surface size and bigger players who play with both speed and physicality (the vast majority of their ilk not on the Habs roster) make the reliance on too many small players, a recipe for failure.
 

Milhouse40

Registered User
Aug 19, 2010
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To be honest, DD has been one of our best players in preseason so far. Him and patches work magic. Now I know this is preseason only, but he's greatly outplayed the messiah Eller. Why don't we just wait to see how he does before we all want him gone. Any player who gets 60+points a season is more than welcome on my team, regardless of size.

Come on, show me that magic on video??
Please....cause the magic i saw was between Briere and Pacioretty.

And sorry, when everybody was in their seat...Eller outplayed DD last night: 1 points each....but Eller 7 hits and 2 blocked shots vs 0 and 0!

But season hasn't started yet...everybody has 0 points

Until someone is ready, and steals the role from DD, he is the best we have at that spot. So, I want this guy to fill the stat sheet with assists, every night.

I do not want him to fail, but I do not believe he is the type of player you build a winner around.

When the time comes, he will be replaced, but that will be a question of timing.

If the Kings suddenly thing that they are too stacked down the middle, I will accept Kopitar in a trade, or as a RFA. Same for Toews, H. Sedin, Getzlaf, Carter, E. Staal, Gino, etc.... but that is a very far fetched scenario.

Best bet is to wait for the Galchenyuk, Eller, Pleks (at Center) era to begin.

Seriously, after whatching the preseason, the first thing comes to mind is:
WTF Briere his doing on the wings.....he is the one feeding Pacioretty....and Galchy last night!

So we have Briere who is better than him....i think Galchy can do as good in the same role....and Eller DID better than him without having as much advantages as DD.



This again. Can't win playoffs with small centres?

1993 was not that long ago. If anything, the game was far more violent back then. Scott Stevens was allowed to hit guys in the head to knock them unconscious, and he made it to the Hall of Fame primarily for doing just that.

So 1993. Our # 2 center was...... Stephan Lebeau. Not exactly the prototypical Jonathan Toews type centre that most of you seem to think is necessary to win a Cup.

But wait, we must have had some really big other centres on the team, right? Well, after Muller, we also had a rather diminutive but effective Guy Carbonneau at 5'11", the hulking 5'9" Paul DiPietro and known pugilist 5'10" Denis Savard down the middle.

There is no blueprint for winning a Stanley Cup. Having one guy on your team that happens to be fairly productive does not automatically exclude the possibility of winning the Cup. That's not how it works.

If someone can show me how trading or ditching Desharnais makes the Habs a better team, I'm all ears. But throwing him on the scrap heap does not improve the situation. At all. Trading him for a pick doesn't help either, since the pick will likely never play in the NHL, let alone put up 60 points any time soon.

5'9"....5'10"...and 5'11 : those are small players
5'7" is smaller than all of those.

Do you think a 6' guy is like a 6'2"???

There's small...and there's smaller
 

Zathronas

Registered User
Aug 10, 2012
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Come on, show me that magic on video??
Please....cause the magic i saw was between Briere and Pacioretty.

And sorry, when everybody was in their seat...Eller outplayed DD last night: 1 points each....but Eller 7 hits and 2 blocked shots vs 0 and 0!

But season hasn't started yet...everybody has 0 points



Seriously, after whatching the preseason, the first thing comes to mind is:
WTF Briere his doing on the wings.....he is the one feeding Pacioretty....and Galchy last night!

So we have Briere who is better than him....i think Galchy can do as good in the same role....and Eller DID better than him without having as much advantages as DD.





5'9"....5'10"...and 5'11 : those are small players
5'7" is smaller than all of those.

Do you think a 6' guy is like a 6'2"???

There's small...and there's smaller

If you talk about last night only sure! but you forget he was really good in Quebec.

That being said I agree that we will have to see this year. I still think most fans hate Desharnais for very slim reason, A bad half-season. Is he perfect far from it, he is small and offensively minded only but I still think he'll give you 60-65 points this year.

I do agree we can't win a cup with Desharnais as our first center and he won't be in a couple of years. Even if we had Crosby as our first center, I don't think we could win the cup this year. We are 2-3 years away from being a contender with the right moves and a few prospects panning out.
 

The Gal Pals

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Oct 28, 2006
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As soon as his value is up we NEED to trade him for a bigger player. And Im a big DD fan but we can't have 4 midgets in the top 6-9.
 

MasterD

Giggidy Giggidy Goo
Jul 1, 2004
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Would you still wanna trade him for pocket change?

seems like most of the fans on hfboards wants him gone.

I could see him getting another season of 55-60 points if the power play works and Pacioretty & Briere score some goals.
Pocket change? No. But sell high.

There is no place for him AND Plekanec, with Eller on the 3rd line and Galchenyhuk who will need to play at center and at least on the 2nd line soon.

We can and will keep one of them, but no place for both IMO.

In the end, I could see Pleks traded just because DD is french speaking...

*Disclaimer I'm french, primarly
 

mrinsane

Registered User
Dec 8, 2005
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Desharnais will put 65 pts an be trade at the draft for high picks to Florida or Calgary
 

LyricalLyricist

Registered User
Aug 21, 2007
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A player defending his teammate.

I wouldn't say so. Max did the same when DD had a good year and DD had a good pre season. What's there to defend? I would agree he's complimenting a friend but I'd also say there's some truth(from his perspective) to it. He wouldn't just say absolutely anything.
 

Ohashi_Jouzu*

Registered User
Apr 2, 2007
30,332
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Halifax
I wouldn't say so. Max did the same when DD had a good year and DD had a good pre season. What's there to defend? I would agree he's complimenting a friend but I'd also say there's some truth(from his perspective) to it. He wouldn't just say absolutely anything.

Debatable at this point.
 

habsfanatics*

Registered User
May 20, 2012
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No trade value for DD imo, at least, not likely to make it worth it. We're better off keeping him, we just need to keep him with sheltered minutes, he is, in no way, a top 6 center.
 

Milhouse40

Registered User
Aug 19, 2010
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A player defending his teammate.

Correction: A player defending his bestfriend

http://www.rds.ca/hockey/canadiens/impatient-de-commencer-1.664695

Pacioretty's own words - Desharnais was the best Habs during camp.
Last part of the article.

Well Pacioretty should have take a good look at Bournival or Tinordi......and should've notice that most of his goals are coming from Briere...not DD. But then again, it's preseason, doesn't count anywhere.

I remember in 2011 preseason games, Gomez was one of the best player out there!!
 

Alexdaman

Wolfman
Mar 12, 2012
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Hell/Heaven
Those DD threads are getting old... Everyone just gargles what everyone else is saying and nothing new is debated and no consensus is reached.


This is what the reality is:

Desharnais is 5 ft 8.
Desharnais is our number 1 center for the moment
Desharnais has signed a 4 years 3.5M$ contract
Desharnais will likely always be playing with Pacio since they are supposed to have good chemistry
Desharnais has put up bad numbers defensively
Desharnais always passes the puck in the end zone (rarely shoots)
Desharnais often falls down when battling for the puck
Desharnais simply doesn't throw his body around, he doesn't have the size for it nor the will...

NOW that all has been said here is what I think we need to focus on.

What's important from now on is if him and Pacio can get their act together in the reg season and if Gallagher stays with them what impact will it have. I think Pacioretty had a so-so year last year and his ceiling is much higher than what he's shown so far, maybe DD can be the perfect center for him, only time will tell.
 

onemorecup*

Guest
Those DD threads are getting old... Everyone just gargles what everyone else is saying and nothing new is debated and no consensus is reached.


This is what the reality is:

Desharnais is 5 ft 8.
Desharnais is our number 1 center for the moment
Desharnais has signed a 4 years 3.5M$ contract
Desharnais will likely always be playing with Pacio since they are supposed to have good chemistry
Desharnais has put up bad numbers defensively
Desharnais always passes the puck in the end zone (rarely shoots)
Desharnais often falls down when battling for the puck
Desharnais simply doesn't throw his body around, he doesn't have the size for it nor the will...

NOW that all has been said here is what I think we need to focus on.

What's important from now on is if him and Pacio can get their act together in the reg season and if Gallagher stays with them what impact will it have. I think Pacioretty had a so-so year last year and his ceiling is much higher than what he's shown so far, maybe DD can be the perfect center for him, only time will tell.

the reality is this

if he is in your lineup your in trouble

there is no DD PLAYING ON ANY CONTENDER AND NEVER WILL

go down the list Boston, LA, Hawks , etc...

their dd`s are in the minors or not in thier system and will never be key guys in their lineup

8-10 players need to be flushed out before we can even think of being a contender one day

we arent close and the quicker we start the better we will be
 
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