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Post by Habsolution on Jan 11, 2003 3:10:06 GMT -5
Now that we have a real first line. One that has chemistry. One with 3 players that are aware defensively. Will MT understand it's time to play our fist line against other team top lines ? Especially against Buffalo.... Play the JB-JJ-AD against kotalik !!!!!!! Am I crazy ? Or is playing JB-JJ-AD seems like a depressive appreciation of our talent ?
I mean playing JB-JJ-AD against other teams top lines seems like a depressive appreciation of our talent. Give our 1st line the time they need to be effective as a real 1st line.
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Post by MPLABBE on Jan 11, 2003 9:26:09 GMT -5
Welcome aboard Habsolution!
I believe last game the Koivu line played quite a few minutes against the Holik line...when your checking just isn't scoring...you gotta cut down their ice time and give some to your stars IMO...
We beat Buffalo 6-2.. 3 weeks ago without a checking line...will MT do the same tonight?
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Post by UberCranky on Jan 11, 2003 10:02:36 GMT -5
Welcome to the board Habsolution.
As an arm chair coach (aren't we all?) I would look at the circumstances.
If they have a first line that is defensively irresponsible then I would say by all means but if they are good at back checking then I think that we are wasting opportunity, mainly because our checking line could not score if it saved their life.
Our biggest problem is an ineffective 2nd and 4th line. The 2nd line has done nothing on the road trip with the absence of Gilmour and the fourth line does not seem to have any rhyme or reason. Other teams fourth line is a goon attack line. Ours is a "garbage bin" line that players who are not performing get send to.
Therrien seems to confuse himself on that 4th line. One day he has a bunch of hitters together then the next day it’s Ribiero and whoever was the waste of comvimience. One day, in the not too distant geological periods future, we will unscramble Therriens brain and find out what he was thinking. Unscramble, sigh, as if that is possible.
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Post by JacquesInFL on Jan 11, 2003 13:06:51 GMT -5
Come now, HA, how can you confess to not enjoying MT's penchant for throwing together two rag-dolls (Ribs and Audette) and a second-rate goon as a 4th line. No doubt it is one of the mysteries of the Burritozoic Era.
Habsolution, I agree with you about the reduced role for Joé's line. However, if you look over the tapes from the road trip (actually, starting in Pittsburg), you will find that MT finally gave up on quick switching the 3rd line out against opponents' top dogs. The results were very good too: Saku line (with Zed and Jan) scored 8 times in 6 games while only giving up 1 goal (that's +7 and that's a lot harder to top than some people may think). Yeah, MT returned home and opted to use his final change to match up on Holik & Lindros. But the trendline has already shifted strongly away from hiding Saku's line from the opponent's best. The key to making this possible, in my opinion, was twofold: first, Saku started winning more faceoffs in late November; and second, floaters like Audette and Czerk were banished from the Captain's wing and replaced by guys like Bulis that forechecked better, supported puck possession with skating & passing, and improved the defensive capacity of the 1st line.
Hossa exudes hockey quality (what a shot!), but let's remember he’s a 21 year old who still has some physical work to do. In NHL, big men are determined to take away your time & space and adjustments/growing is the normal course for most blue chip prospects. Hossa brings more of the size we need at forward, but as a sidenote from Tampa Hilton last season where a few of our young Euros were enjoying sunshine at the pool, Marcel though not skinny was hardly well-defined compared to the tree trunk quads on Zed and Jan Bulis. Ribs was not at the pool that afternoon, hopefully he was inside drinking protein shakes and honing those fast-twitch muscles. Sorry, I digress…<br> For me, I would simply break up the Juneau-Dackell combination. The 3rd line is too physically-challenged with those guys together. And if Gilmour continues to have back problems, Bulis should get a look on the 2nd line because MT sure has been sticking poor Yanic with some ill-fitting wingers lately.
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Post by MPLABBE on Jan 11, 2003 15:53:36 GMT -5
just wondering where you at the Tampa Hilton on vacation or you knew the Habs were there and wanted to spy on them
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Post by JacquesInFL on Jan 11, 2003 16:30:12 GMT -5
The wife and I were staying there on one of our Habs mini-vacations. A friend in the Lightning front-office told me where to make the reservations. We almost always go up to Tampa and over to Sunrise for Habs games with Lightning and Panthers despite the wife's disdain for hockey, which she calls a brutish Canadian habit. She usually spends part of the afternoons shopping, and I tend to enjoy a couple of cold ones at the pool or on the golfcourse.
I recall being disappointed because Hossa had a bad wrist at the time and did not play that night.
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Post by Habs_fan_in_LA on Jan 12, 2003 2:29:36 GMT -5
Hossa scores three goals in three games, but he didn't put enough tape on his stick so MT is sending him back to Hamilton for three more years. AS shruggs and says ok I guess, you're the coach Michael.
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Post by MPLABBE on Jan 12, 2003 15:46:19 GMT -5
Hossa scores three goals in three games, but he didn't put enough tape on his stick so MT is sending him back to Hamilton for three more years. AS shruggs and says ok I guess, you're the coach Michael. even MT isn't that stupid..
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