What parts are we missing?

[Masao]

Great teams can replace their stars... when Lemieux was injured the Penguins had Francis, Jagr, etc. The Wings could replace Yzerman if he was injured. And try to get through the playoffs without any of your stars getting injured... it's tough. Zednik being out really hurt the canadians badly in 2002 for example

If Subban or Markov gets injured, who takes over?

 

[FXBrassard]

Say we resign Vanek, the only piece missing for us to be serious contender would be an upgrade over Gorges or Emelin in the top 4 D. A bigger version of Briere or Gionta would be useful too.

 

[PricePkPatch*]

Great teams can replace their stars... when Lemieux was injured the Penguins had Francis, Jagr, etc. The Wings could replace Yzerman if he was injured. And try to get through the playoffs without any of your stars getting injured... it's tough. Zednik being out really hurt the canadians badly in 2002 for example

If Subban or Markov gets injured, who takes over?

So.. what you are saying is; the missing parts are spare parts?

 

[HeShootsHeScores]

Also, there is a difference between a cup contending team an a nhl all-star team. With the addition of Vanek and a healthy Price, we have all it takes right now at the key positions.

 

[Agnostic]

Habs need scoring depth, end of story. Doesn't matter though, if this team signs Vanek it's going to be so hard against the cap limit there will be no room to move.

 

[HabsSlappy]

We are missing:
#3 right handed defenseman.
Centres who can win draws.
A little more size up front, but that can be overcome.
Most importantly, a better head coach who can make in game adjustments.

That being said, I do feel that if everyone is peaking at the right time and Price plays lights out like he can, l think we have a shot to make the cup finals. Boston is the only team that scares me in the East but anything can happen in a rivalry series. Would be tough to beat the Blues, Ducks, Sharks, Kings, Hawks however because we can be physically outmatched.

 

[pezcore]

Playoffs are all about matchups. We struggle against big & physical teams and although we might be able to pull it off, We are usually to tired to get by the next round.

So what we need would be a bigger top 6 and less than predictable PP. I wouldnt consider our D to be a weakness as we are deep and we have around 8 guys who can jump in and do the job. Gorges return will surely help us.

As a first round matchup, Tampa is perfect. Not saying it will be easy but we do have the elements to battle against their strengths. We can shutdown Stamkos with the Plekanec line and have enough firepower to produce with the other lines. I think that alot of Tampa`s success will depend on Bishop.

 

[TheGoalJudge]

Biggest hole is a #1 C.

Next biggest is someone who can play with Subban. A steady #2 D.

Minor weakness is another big top 6 or top 9 winger.

 

[JoelWarlord]

To me this roster is good enough to stand toe to toe with anyone in the East and perhaps just a tad below the big dogs (SJ, CHI, STL, LA) out west.

Pacioretty-???-Gallagher
Vanek-Plekanec-Galchenyuk
Bourque-Eller-Gionta/Briere
Prust-White-Moen

Markov-Subban
Gorges-??? (perhaps Beaulieu)
Emelin-Weaver
Tinordi

Price

The biggest holes to me are a top 4 right side D, and a top line center. I don't think we're quite good enough with DD as the top line C, and the Markov-Emelin pairing is getting lit up (Emelin just flat out isn't good enough and I'm not confident he'll rebound - the problems appear to be upstairs and his knee doesn't look to be an issue.) Not to beat the dead horse, but things were much better possession wise when the top 4 was 79-76, 26-61, because Diaz was a competent fringe top 4 guy on the right side. The key to me is that Markov-Subban are just such an excellent pairing and we need someone to be defensively reliable enough to take the tougher minutes. I think Gorges is good enough to anchor a 2nd pairing shutdown group, and if you can complement him with someone more capable of being in that role as well you'll be in good shape.

If one of Tinordi or Beaulieu can step into that top 4 spot on the right side I think we're in great shape on D. Ideally you move Emelin this summer and you can bring Beaulieu and Tinordi into the top 6. I'm not necessarily super attached to Weaver but if you can bring him back cheaply I think it's worth it, in case of injuries he's good enough to step into the top 4 next to a guy like Beaulieu (roughly analogous to his play with Kulikov) or Gorges (to emulate Hjalmarsson-Oduya as best we can). We need to get away from Markov-Emelin, it just isn't working and it's holding the team back when we only have 1 good pairing.

As for the top line C, ideally it's filled by Galchenyuk. Hopefully he can develop into that spot but we don't want to count our chickens before they hatch. I just think if we had a scarier scoring threat in that spot good for 70-80 points you'd see production increase across the lineup as Pleks wouldn't have to do so much heavy lifting, etc.

 

[Hannibal]

Size + physical presence in top 9 fowards.

 

[RaMMuT]

If the Universe Unfolds as it Should, we can win the East

I agree. But the west is so strong compared to the east...the Blues would probably own us

 

[Born in 1909]

We are missing timely goals from Eller... and Bourque.

... and a healthy Prust.

 

[CaptainBenn]

the coach

 

[Adam Spylo]

A big hard-nosed winger who is also able to score like Brouwer and a right-handed top 4 d-men (someone like Bieksa).

 

[PricePkPatch*]

We are missing timely goals from Eller... and Bourque.

... and a healthy Prust.

If Bourque can play like he did against the Wings, I don't care if he doesn't score.

that's what he should focus on; not scoring, but being physically dominant.