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Post by M. Beaux-Eaux on Sept 11, 2005 9:37:00 GMT -5
We have this excerpt:
...The sens tied it in the 3rd about 1/2 way through I think. But on a beauty play by Latendresse to get around a defender and make a pass to (I think) Lambert through the slot we went up to 3-2 and the eventual winner.
Thinks that stood out...
Chipchura and Latendresse are BIG boys they weren't the tallest by far but they had big frames, especially Latendresse - he looks the part at least of a power forward. Sergei Kotstitsyn was pretty good, after the winning goal he made a great move on a d-man and almost popped another goal, he was tricky with the puck all night. And Lambert was pretty good too.
On D Lavallee and Sanford were not pretty good, lavallee was probably the best of the bunch and 6'3" 210 to boot. Alex Dulac-Lemelin was a dud however and made a few passes that made me cringe as they were tape to tape passes to ottawa guys or just plain stupid.
Price looked good in net, he made a few really good saves on clean shots and was good at scrambling to make the 'ruckus in front of the net saves'...
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Post by mic on Sept 11, 2005 11:09:51 GMT -5
I always thought that you could only sign a Northamerican players once he was 20 and still not chosen during the entry draft. Don't know where that came from. However, aren't those rules subject to the CBA and such subject to the new one? Example: Olivier Michaud was undrafted and signed by the Habs at age 18. He played in an NHL game at that age, being called up from his junior team. He then had to be either kept on the Habs roster or be sent back to his junior club. He could not play in the AHL/ECHL until he was 20 years old. European players were exempt from the above restrictions—see Kostitsyn, Andrei. If I remember correctly, Michaud was signed as a free agent thanks to a rule that allowed teams who had all their goaltenders on the injury list to sign a junior goaltender. Garon was our only healthy goaltender. I'm searching for an article, but haven't found one yet. Do you have another example? Because that would mean that we could have simply signed Komisarek (was 19 when Savard drafted him). Or does the fact that he comes from the univerity system change something? I know the rule that prevents players from Northamerica who are under 20 to be sent to the AHL, but I have never seen an under 20 being signed by an NHL team (exept Michaud). |
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Post by M. Beaux-Eaux on Sept 11, 2005 12:20:26 GMT -5
Example: Olivier Michaud was undrafted and signed by the Habs at age 18. He played in an NHL game at that age, being called up from his junior team. He then had to be either kept on the Habs roster or be sent back to his junior club. He could not play in the AHL/ECHL until he was 20 years old. European players were exempt from the above restrictions—see Kostitsyn, Andrei. If I remember correctly, Michaud was signed as a free agent thanks to a rule that allowed teams who had all their goaltenders on the injury list to sign a junior goaltender. Garon was our only healthy goaltender. I'm searching for an article, but haven't found one yet. Michaud was signed by the Habs before he made his NHL appearance. Just off the top of my head, Rich Nash was signed by and starting playing for Columbus at the age of 18. |
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Post by PTH on Sept 11, 2005 13:22:29 GMT -5
Just off the top of my head, Rich Nash was signed by and starting playing for Columbus at the age of 18. There are 2 distinct mechanisms at work. Once drafted, players can be signed, so if drafted at 18 (or 19, or whatever), they can be signed and can play in the NHL or AHL (AHL is only from 20 onwards for North American players). For undrafted players, teams can invite them to camp shortly after the draft, and then offer them deals; there's a very short window of opportunity for inviting and signing players. In effect, a team can sign plenty of players and get their rights without needing to waste picks on them; on the other hand, players are signed right way, so unlike a draft pick you can't let the kid mature a year or two before signing them. Michaud was a case of the 2nd scenario; invited to camp, impressed and was signed. Sydney Crosby and plenty of others are examples of the 1st case. |
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Post by montreal on Sept 11, 2005 13:23:13 GMT -5
Can an NHL team sign an 18 years old player? Don't they have to wait until they are 20? 18 year-olds can be signed to 4 year entry level contracts—but they can only play at the junior or NHL level—they must be 20 years old (for North Americans) to be able to play in the AHL. That is the CHL rule, so kids from the NCAA or say USHL can play in the AHL or ECHL at 18. Only CHLers can not play in the AHL under 20 due to the CHL rule which was set in place so that CHL teams do not lose their top players to the AHL/ECHL. Michaud was signed at 18 and sent back, Larrivee was signed at 19 and sent back to the Q as well. Bisaillon could be signed and sent back to the Q no problem. All teams can sign any CHLer not drafted up until a certain point early in the season. If they still have draft eligibility then after the season has started no team can sign them until after the draft. |
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Post by mic on Sept 11, 2005 13:47:21 GMT -5
Just off the top of my head, Rich Nash was signed by and starting playing for Columbus at the age of 18. There are 2 distinct mechanisms at work. Once drafted, players can be signed, so if drafted at 18 (or 19, or whatever), they can be signed and can play in the NHL or AHL (AHL is only from 20 onwards for North American players). For undrafted players, teams can invite them to camp shortly after the draft, and then offer them deals; there's a very short window of opportunity for inviting and signing players. In effect, a team can sign plenty of players and get their rights without needing to waste picks on them; on the other hand, players are signed right way, so unlike a draft pick you can't let the kid mature a year or two before signing them. Michaud was a case of the 2nd scenario; invited to camp, impressed and was signed. Sydney Crosby and plenty of others are examples of the 1st case. Yeah, that's it. I wasn't clear on the 2nd scenario. I thought that for those players you had to wait until they are 20. That's what I didn't understand. |
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Post by M. Beaux-Eaux on Sept 11, 2005 14:12:53 GMT -5
A tasty offering by a fan at HF:
First off, I've never seen live nor at the TV such a boring game as the Panthers vs. Leafs...
The Leafs "prospects / AHLers" made me want to puke. I'm not exagerating.
About the Panthers, best player on ice was Stefan Meyer. Rotislav Olesz, you could tell he as skills, but nothing happenned when he was on the ice. Anthony Stewart, from what I've seen is getting worst a hockey player as he's getting older. He scored, eventhough is one-timer was slower than Dementieva's second serve. He got lucky.
On to the Habs vs. Sens.
It was a fast-paced, exiting game to watch from a fan standpoint. Both goalies made good saves, both Glass was the most occupied of the two.
- Carey Price: Looks like a veteran out there. Moves very well. He's so fast to get up. Covers the net completely, positioned himself like he should. Got very quick legs.
- Matt D'Agostini: Tall & fast, he was also solid along the board, hustled all game long. He had good chances mainly because of his good release and anticipation. Caught many passes in neutral zone and/or took the puck away from the other players. Always were in traffic. Solid pick to my opinion.
- Maxim Lapierre: Tall & very fast, he was skating hard like it was his last game on earth. Got under a few people skins. Had many chances, and buried one. Easily one of the three best Habs tonight.
- Sergei Kostitsyn: From reading comments here, I firmly believed he didn't get enough praises for yesterday's effort. His biggest quality to me, is in the way he understand & play the game. So often he was in center ice, away from the play even, and then he'd caught a Sens player or the puck and he just flies into offense with it. Great burst of speed, good physical contact throughout the game. Made plays that were awesome. The first goal was all him as he open-ice checked someone in the middle and brought the puck with before dishing it to Sandford for the goal. He was always looking for open players to pass the puck, and so often did it very well. Great late pick, he has talent for sure.
- Guillaume Latendresse: This is a quote from André Savard to us:" Latendresse c'est un joueur"... He was answering a question as to whom we should watch tonight. He just replied that (Latendresse IS a player). How right is he ? Latendresse was clearly in a league of his own. He just did everything again tonight. He hits like if he were a road-train without brakes that is going down the Himalayas... Solidly built & naturally strong, he's so agile it is not even funny. He made some highlight-reel passes, got breakaways. He is by no means slow, I could even say he's fast. Goes to the net by passing through or with defenders on him. Played very solid defensively (penatly killing). Awesome pick. I don't want to exagerate, and I don't think he'll make the Habs, but I wouldn't be surprised if he would and I know it's only rookie camp.
- Kyle Chipchura: Looks like a leader, acts like a leader (during warmup & the game). He was always at the right place, always hustled. Was physical, eventhough I'm sure he can do more. Had his chances, made some plays. He killed penalties, after penalties. Silent but solid.
- Juraj Mikus: Came out to play. Nice hands, smart guy. Didn't shy away from traffic, even throwed his body around a bit. Made a couple things happen. He still looked a bit more shy than Kostitsyn, but talent is there for sure. Another pickup I like.
I like the team efforts. Benoit, Sandford & Bisaillon looked good. I don't particularly like Dulac-Lemelin and Kevin Lavallée (it's not that he played bad, but I don't see much in him, aside for serious work). Bonneau didn't do much. Urquhart has talents, played ok, but the guy needs to do way more at this point. Michaël Lambert played very good hockey too. He didn't put enough weight in a couple of shots as I know he can throw the puck way harder than that, but he made up with efforts throughout the game, physical presence, nice plays in the corners, along the board. Offensive guy.
The only Sens I'll speak of is Andrej Meszaros.
Best hairdo hands down. Solid, solid shots on net. One-time some, and he almost broke a post once.
He did let Latendresse & Lemieux passed by him, other than that you can tell he's got it all.
He collided with Latendresse late in the third, both stayed up. The contact was heavy as both are very big and strong. I liked him a lot, and I like his chances at making the Sens this year...
On a side note, my friend & I got mistaken for Montreal Canadiens players, which is nice felling to have. We're both 6'01" and between 195/215 pounders. Looking young. I thought it was funny the guy telling us we had a poor showing the day before, and that he wished we'd do better tonight against the Sens, etc...
André Savard also told my friend which asked for Perezhogin if he'd make the club:"Oh! oui, oui.. oui..." (meaning: oh! yes, yes.. yes...) It's Savard's opinion which we can consider highly.
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Post by BadCompany on Sept 12, 2005 7:49:30 GMT -5
Unofficial stats from the Rookie Tournament, for some “name” players:
Latendresse: 1 G, 5 A, 6 pts
Urquhart: 1 G, 2 A, 3 pts
Lambert: 2 G, 1 A, 3 pts
Sanford: 1 G, 1A 2 pts
Lapierre: 1 G, 1 A, 2 pts
Mikus: 1 A, 1 pt
Kostitsyn: 1A, 1 pt
Lavallee (making the cut): 1 G
Chipchura: 0 pts
Halak: .935 save percentage, 3.00 GAA (46 shots)
Price: .919 save percentage, 2.50 GAA (62 shots)
Lacasse: .868 save percentage, 5.00 GAA (38 shots)
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Post by M. Beaux-Eaux on Sept 12, 2005 9:57:22 GMT -5
M. Beaux-Eaux aime entendre de bonnes nouvelles au sujet de Bonneau.
Bonneau has improved his skating by leaps and bounds (much to my surprise). When he was drafted, Bonneau's skating was atrocious. Now it's respectable. Still slow for NHL standards but it wouldn't hold him back from the NHL anymore.
His balance and strength on his skates is still an issue but improving.
Since Bonneau's skating has improved, so has his bodychecking. Bonneau used to be unable to land proper checks unless players served themselves to him in the most vulnerable, immobile positions. He's now able to catch players and land bigger hits.
With that said, Bonneau delivers checks using his upper-body strength exclusively, rather than pushing his full body into a crouching-to-upright motion, which is the proper and more effective method to delivering checks. He doesn't use his lower body at all, so his checking isn't yet effective. But it's improving, and will need a fair bit more improvement before he can be an effective bodychecker in the NHL.
Bonneau also looked to be more involved offensively. It isn't his game, and he'll never be a threat offensively, but he looks to be developing a game that is sufficient enough for a fourth line eventually.
He was relatively disciplined, okay offensively and in the neutral zone, worked hard defensively but still very raw and not too decisive on what he needs to be doing in anticipating plays.
That said, he's done a lot of solid work improving his play. He looked like he belonged on the ice, which is a change from previous camps.
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Post by BadCompany on Sept 12, 2005 11:31:41 GMT -5
Unofficial stats from the Rookie Tournament, for some “name” players: Latendresse: 1 G, 5 A, 6 pts Urquhart: 1 G, 2 A, 3 pts Lambert: 2 G, 1 A, 3 pts Sanford: 1 G, 1A 2 pts Lapierre: 1 G, 1 A, 2 pts Mikus: 1 A, 1 pt Kostitsyn: 1A, 1 pt Lavallee (making the cut): 1 G Chipchura: 0 pts Halak: .935 save percentage, 3.00 GAA (46 shots) Price: .919 save percentage, 2.50 GAA (62 shots) Lacasse: .868 save percentage, 5.00 GAA (38 shots) Some more stats, from the Ottawa Senators web site, via Hockey’s Future: +/-:Urquhart +2 Mikus: 0 Lapierre: 0 Latendresse: -1 Kostitsyn: -1 Lavallee: -2 Chipchura: -5 Lambert: -6 Shots: Lambert: 17 Lapierre: 17 Latendresse: 14 Urquhart: 13 Lavalee: 7 Bonneau: 6 Mikus: 5 Kostitsyn: 4 Chipchura: 3 |
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Post by Habs_fan_in_LA on Sept 12, 2005 11:40:46 GMT -5
I didn't see a single game and I'm just summarizing the posts I read, but in summary, we had a young team and finished middle of the pack with it.
Our best players were Price and Latendresse.
It seems that every year our newest draftees become our most promising players and our former potential superstars (Chouinard, Hossa, Kostitsyn) slow down on their career paths to greatness.
Prediction for five years from today.
Stanley Cup +
Locke, Kastitsyn, Kastitsyn Lite, Ryder, Chipchura, Latendresse and Price headed for greatness.
Gainey to the Hall of Fame as a player, GM, and good guy.
Theodore will be the wealthiest guy in the Mafia.
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Post by streitshooter on Sept 12, 2005 11:43:15 GMT -5
The most pleasant surprises for me were Latendresse and D'agostini. I'm a little disappointed that Chippy was unable to garner a single point, but the rest of his game is so good that it's not a major concern. Loves to complete his checks, is a strong forechecker, and makes really smart passes. Latendresse has improved his skating without question - interesting that the last two times I've seen him play (the under 18s, rookie camp) he was playing center. Might that be his future postion with the Habs? He's got great anticipation, and he's a smart playmaker...it's a possibility. I know the defencemen will appreciate having his big body helping to clear the crease and slot, almost like a third D-man out there. He'll have to improve his quickness, but a center with his size/skill has not been seen in Montreal since John Leclair, who of course became a great winger.  Anyway...as for D'ago, the kid has some serious skill - good stickhandler, good vision, good speed. He's grown 2-3 inches in the past year, unusual for a kid in his 18th year, and was a walk-on with Guelph last year. I would say he's at least 6-0, and all he need is to fill out, then his size won't be a problem. I was pleased with Mikus' combativeness, skill and vision, but he's a least a few year's away. His shot is midget-level, as is his strength at this point. Hopefully he finds a gym. Kosty2 needs to hit the weights as well. Some nice skill; he's a looong way from an NHL roster if he ever finds one. Sort of a poor man's Balej at this stage in his career. Price has terrific leg speed/flexibility, rebound control, etc.. He no doubt needs work, but he might be ready for backup NHL duty within two or three years as opposed to four or five. |
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Post by BadCompany on Sept 13, 2005 7:58:11 GMT -5
I was really happy when we took Latendresse, and if the reports that his skating has improved significantly are true, then I am ecstatic. Having said that, I don't think he should be moved to center. Even if his skating has improved (and I didn't see any of the games, so this is total speculation on my part), I doubt he'll ever reach above-average NHL speed. At best, he'll probably only be average, most likely slightly below average. Especially if the NHL does go to a speed game.
If that's the case then, I would rather have him working along the boards and in front of the net, where his size and strength can be maximized. He can then use his "average" speed to get back into defensive position, but won't have the chase and expanded defensive duties of a center.
As for Chipchura, I too am disappointed that he couldn't garner even a single point against what is, after all, rather inferior competition. And the three shots over four games doesn't seem to indicate he was just snake-bitten either. Having watched the games, do you think those pre-draft reports on him being a future 3rd liner were accurate? (and keep in mind, I think 3rd line players can be just as important as 1st line players)
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Post by M. Beaux-Eaux on Sept 13, 2005 8:49:20 GMT -5
Latendresse was shifted to C because a couple of othe C's (Aubin and I forget the other guy's name) were injured and couldn't participate in the camp. Management, according to quotes in the press, were pleasantly surprised at the improvement of his skating. However, I would expect that he will be back at RW for both the QMJHL season and the WJC.
Chipchura? I'm not worried. Again, game reports were positive, and there were no gasps or snickers of "... boeuf de l'ouest" in the press.
Over to you streitshooter.
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Post by Habs_fan_in_LA on Sept 13, 2005 11:07:49 GMT -5
Latendresse was shifted to C because a couple of othe C's (Aubin and I forget the other guy's name) were injured and couldn't participate in the camp. Management, according to quotes in the press, were pleasantly surprised at the improvement of his skating. However, I would expect that he will be back at RW for both the QMJHL season and the WJC. Chipchura? I'm not worried. Again, game reports were positive, and there were no gasps or snickers of "... boeuf de l'ouest" in the press. Over to you streitshooter. I really hope that Latendresse and Chipchura make it to the NHL before Lindros retires. Seeing the Maple leaf flattened along the boards would make my day! |
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Post by franko on Sept 14, 2005 12:48:30 GMT -5
I really hope that Latendresse and Chipchura make it to the NHL before Lindros retires. Seeing the Maple leaf flattened along the boards would make my day!
Day 2 at the Maple Leafs training camp reminded everyone on hand just how fragile Toronto's chances are of remaining among the NHL's top echelon teams.
The two oft-injured centres, brilliant when they're healthy, must stay out of the medical ward this season for Toronto to have any chance.
. . . 23-year-old defenceman Staffan Kronwall decked Lindros into the boards during the intrasquad game.
A sheepish Kronwall understood the implications of his hit on Lindros.
"I knew it was him and I tried to hold back," said the 603, 209-pound Swede. "I could have hit him harder. I definitely felt it wasn't the right guy to hit. I can’t believe I looked at a Leaf site . . . but it looks like you may not get your wish. "I knew it was him and I tried to hold back" . . . ya, that's going to happen in a regular game. |
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Post by Habs_fan_in_LA on Sept 14, 2005 14:24:02 GMT -5
Wait till Ribeiro hits him. Ribs won't hold back.
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Post by roke on Sept 14, 2005 18:30:07 GMT -5
Wait till Ribeiro hits him. Ribs won't hold back. My goodness, I wonder what would happen if Ribeiro ended up hitting Lindros with a clean body-check and Eric recieved a concussion as well. |
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Post by Habfaith on Sept 14, 2005 19:44:13 GMT -5
Lat I really hope that Latendresse and Chipchura make it to the NHL before Lindros retires. Seeing the Maple leaf flattened along the boards would make my day! I think Komisarek or Souray could handle that for us nicely...Keep your head up Lindros! |
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Sept 14, 2005 20:41:37 GMT -5
Latendresse was shifted to C because a couple of othe C's (Aubin and I forget the other guy's name) were injured and couldn't participate in the camp. Management, according to quotes in the press, were pleasantly surprised at the improvement of his skating. However, I would expect that he will be back at RW for both the QMJHL season and the WJC. Chipchura? I'm not worried. Again, game reports were positive, and there were no gasps or snickers of "... boeuf de l'ouest" in the press. Over to you streitshooter. I'll bite on this one. I saw two games and thought Chipchura was the best player the first game, and then Latendresse took over. Chip may not have managed any points, but he sure does a lot of good things on the ice. He plays so well in both ends of the ice too, so that must have kept management quite satisfied. I honestly expected a little more offensively from him, but it wasn't from lack of effort. Watching him out there checking and finishing up his hits, playing a solid and safe game, was just fine by me. The really noticeable thing was how he really looked like he was the leader out on the ice, so he definitely was deserving of the "C" that he wore. |
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