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Post by Polarice on Jan 21, 2015 13:45:23 GMT -5
I wouldn't say that price saved the game or held us in it....really out of the first two periods he might have faced two or three "scoring chances". The Preds were firing everything at him, but most were just soft saves.
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Post by CentreHice on Jan 21, 2015 14:37:16 GMT -5
All in all a great way to go into the break. Tough to get a read on where Bergevin's head is. Emelin and Gilbert are clearly 3rd pair material, which is fine, but how cofident is he in Beaulieu/Gonchar? Is he looking for another dman? Or is he looking at Dale Wiese on the 1st line and thinking we need another top 9 foward to balance things out better? I'd say we need a second pairing solid dman AND a Top 6 winger to truly be considered a legit contender. But if MB can get only one…I hope he goes with the dman, as it would immediately make Price's life better….and lessen the load on the aging Gonchar and Markov. Markov - Subban Gonchar - Mr. Aquisition Beaulieu - Emelin/Gilbert Two questions. 1. Which dmen of that calibre are apt to be available before or at the deadline? 2. With 37 games to go, should we rule out Tinordi for this season?
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Post by Skilly on Jan 21, 2015 16:09:20 GMT -5
With the PP starting to pick up two things are going to soon happen
1) we will start to hear the cries that the refs favour the Zhabs 2) we will start to get less PPOs
These last two victories we did get timely penalty calls go our way. I wouldn't count on that to continue. Yes yes, we've been on the other end of that pendulum too many times, but we can acknowledge when the pendulum swings in our direction. Good on the team for capitalizing on those opportunities!!
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Post by Willie Dog on Jan 21, 2015 18:18:39 GMT -5
All in all a great way to go into the break. Tough to get a read on where Bergevin's head is. Emelin and Gilbert are clearly 3rd pair material, which is fine, but how cofident is he in Beaulieu/Gonchar? Is he looking for another dman? Or is he looking at Dale Wiese on the 1st line and thinking we need another top 9 foward to balance things out better? I'd say we need a second pairing solid dman AND a Top 6 winger to truly be considered a legit contender. But if MB can get only one…I hope he goes with the dman, as it would immediately make Price's life better….and lessen the load on the aging Gonchar and Markov. Markov - Subban Gonchar - Mr. Aquisition Beaulieu - Emelin/Gilbert Two questions. 1. Which dmen of that calibre are apt to be available before or at the deadline? 2. With 37 games to go, should we rule out Tinordi for this season? I would think Gonchar's job is to mentor Beaulieu, so I would think Beau would stay on the second pairing. As for another D man, I want Tinordi brought up and given up until the trade deadline to see what he can do on the 3rd pairing. If he can't do the job or needs another season in the A, then MB can go looking for a D man. I am sure to get a top 6 forward or a top 4 dman would cost assets that I don't think MB is willing to part with. Vanek was a salary dump last year, I don't think that scenario will happen this year.
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Post by blny on Jan 21, 2015 19:02:28 GMT -5
Glad that Therrien praised Subban. With Weber and Jones on the other side of the ice, he had a lot of motivation. For all the praise Weber gets, his numbers are only marginally better. If the PP continues to improve, PK will be up with Giordano (8 points behind as of now).
Regarding UFA defenders, the top 10 available (by salary) are: Mike Green, Paul Martin, Lubomir Visnovsky, Sergei Gonchar, Andrej Meszaros, Zbenyk Michalek, Marek Zidlicky, Christian Ehrhoff, Justin Schultz, and Sheldon Souray.
Washington is in the thick of it, and fighting for a spot. Unless they tank the next month, he's not going to be available and he's not what Montreal needs. Paul Martin will likely be available as the Wild are outside looking in. He's not good enough in any one area to interest me. Guys like Visnovsky and Zidlicky are small and way passed their prime. Souray is on IR. Michalek will be sought after. Decent size, but not physical. Solid shutdown guy. Given the fire sale coming in Phoenix, he'll be near the top of their list to go. Shoots right, great shot blocker. I think the Pens will be trying to get him back. Pens aren't moving Ehrhoff, and we have our scoring D. Meszaros has good size, can play either side effectively, but is inconsistent. Buffalo will be shopping him.
If I were to target a couple and hope to land one it would be Michalek and Meszaros. Michalek would be my preference, but will likely cost more.
Scoring forwards are in even shorter supply. Drew Stafford might be the best option. There's very little else.
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Post by seventeen on Jan 21, 2015 19:24:23 GMT -5
You know guys, we (I know I have at least) put a lot of emphasis on one game or another, especially against teams we feel we really need to beat to take that next step. Tampa is the team that comes to mind for me. From the reaction that both the Pred players and Laviolette had yesterday, it made me wonder if Nashville wasn't looking at last night's game as a similar game for them? The reaction seemed over the top for a regular season game between two teams who don't have a rivalry of any kind. I found it quite peculiar. We sort of expect an emotional reaction from a guy like Ribeiro, but even he went further than one would expect. Yeah, you lost a game, and yeah, you might disagree with the penalty call, but to publicly blame the officiating is a bit extreme. One would have to be very emotionally attached to the result to get to that point.
Nashville has high hopes this year. Perhaps with Rinne, they have a chance too, but they're just not that talented at centre and if a team ups the tempo, like Montreal did in the 2nd half of the game, they don't have a response. I could be full of you know what too, and Nashville will win it all this year, but that would be the third Stanley Cup Travesty after the Canes and Lightning.
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Post by seventeen on Jan 21, 2015 19:31:34 GMT -5
2. With 37 games to go, should we rule out Tinordi for this season? One stat I pay attention to for Tinordi is +/-. His first year of juniour wasn't very impressive and he was -14 in 67 games. His second and final year he was much improved and he was +39 in 48 games. This year in Hamilton he is +3, but he's been +1 in each of his last two games since he came back from the concussion 3 games ago. Step up? I don't know but we'll see if the trend continues. Maybe, knowing he doesn't have to fight allows him to just play the game.
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Post by blny on Jan 21, 2015 19:49:07 GMT -5
There's no doubt, Tampa has the measure of us at the moment and it needs to be addressed. Whatever the team needs to do to be better, or get better, to beat them - without hindering beating the rest - is very important.
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Post by franko on Jan 21, 2015 20:49:30 GMT -5
2. With 37 games to go, should we rule out Tinordi for this season? One stat I pay attention to for Tinordi is +/-. His first year of juniour wasn't very impressive and he was -14 in 67 games. His second and final year he was much improved and he was +39 in 48 games. This year in Hamilton he is +3, but he's been +1 in each of his last two games since he came back from the concussion 3 games ago. Step up? I don't know but we'll see if the trend continues. Maybe, knowing he doesn't have to fight allows him to just play the game. maybe he had some sense knocked into him? I know, I know . . .
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