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Post by NWTHabsFan on Sept 18, 2022 12:20:40 GMT -5
JPJ’s nice goal.
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Post by Disgruntled70sHab on Sept 18, 2022 12:29:13 GMT -5
Xhejak gets two for a high hit. A Sens player takes him on right out of the penalty box, and Xhejak KO’ed the dude. Arber is tough. I knew he was in our system and making an impression, but how do you pronounce his name ... Cheers. |
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Post by folatre on Sept 18, 2022 12:29:16 GMT -5
According to Hockey DB, this Massicotte guy is 193 cm and 99 kg. His size was not exactly noticeable in that tilt. Xhekaj basically just got out the old sledgehammer and went to work on him.
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Post by seventeen on Sept 18, 2022 12:33:46 GMT -5
Xhejak gets two for a high hit. A Sens player takes him on right out of the penalty box, and Xhejak KO’ed the dude. Arber is tough. I knew he was in our system and making an impression, but how do you pronounce his name ... Cheers. Arrrrrr (like pirates) and then brrrr.   Seriously, I understand it's either Shack-eye or Jack-eye. The first is probably more common. |
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Post by seventeen on Sept 18, 2022 12:36:53 GMT -5
Xhejak gets two for a high hit. A Sens player takes him on right out of the penalty box, and Xhejak KO’ed the dude. Arber is tough. I knew he was in our system and making an impression, but how do you pronounce his name ... Cheers. If he makes it, no one's messing with our guys. Cranky wants to give him an 8 year, $5MM contract. Might be worth it. |
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Sept 18, 2022 12:46:36 GMT -5
Stapley with a nice effort on a late PK. Shortly thereafter, Crookshank made it 4-2 on the PP on a puck that seemed to bounce over Coulombe. 4-2 heading to the third.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Sept 18, 2022 12:48:04 GMT -5
Xhejak gets two for a high hit. A Sens player takes him on right out of the penalty box, and Xhejak KO’ed the dude. Arber is tough. I knew he was in our system and making an impression, but how do you pronounce his name ... Cheers. Most say Jack-eye (and I think that he is how he says it when asked). |
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Sept 18, 2022 13:02:18 GMT -5
Stapley and Simoneau with two quick ones, 6-2. Lots of bite in the little dog Simoneau today.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Sept 18, 2022 13:16:16 GMT -5
Another of the tiny ones, Tourigny, snipes a PP one timer home to make it 7-2.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Sept 18, 2022 13:18:35 GMT -5
Guhle doing Guhle stuff today. He also levelled a few with his open ice hits.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Sept 18, 2022 13:23:36 GMT -5
Fairbrother was injured a lot last season, so we sometimes forget he does like to lay the hits as well. Gianni incoming!
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Sept 18, 2022 13:25:14 GMT -5
Beck did not score today, but he still makes lots of smart plays.
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Post by seventeen on Sept 18, 2022 14:28:07 GMT -5
Most say Jack-eye (and I think that he is how he says it when asked). Tomaytoe, tomawtoe  |
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Sept 18, 2022 14:31:32 GMT -5
Most say Jack-eye (and I think that he is how he says it when asked). Tomaytoe, tomawtoe I wasn’t trying to be competitive 😉 |
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Sept 18, 2022 14:32:03 GMT -5
Marc Dumont’s take on the game.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Sept 18, 2022 14:34:37 GMT -5
Matt Drake’s (EOTP) take on the game.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Sept 18, 2022 14:37:15 GMT -5
And Pat Hickey’s turn.
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Post by Cranky on Sept 18, 2022 16:38:39 GMT -5
Xjack....is a pain distribution beast. He hurts people and he likes it.
Slaf...for sure he was playing. I did see his number. He was out there. Number 20. He had shifts. He did skate. He did touch the puck.
I'm not going to comment on his "abilities" because it may upset some people and possibly make other people cry. One observation, either he likes deep breathing exercises when he gets to the bench or needs to do suicides until his feet bleed.
Guhle...did the Guhle thing. Neither spectacular nor invisible. Got involved in one offensive journey and it was ok. He's suppose to have a cannon, but he left it at home.
Mysak...mature game. Starting to remind me of Turtleneck.
Roy...he like to have his name mentioned a lot since he gets involved a lot.
Simoneau....get him some growth hormones ASAP. The guy has game and fearless.
Keep reminding myself that it's a prospects game...but I certainly did not see gold where I was looking for it.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Sept 18, 2022 18:54:00 GMT -5
I will take Brady vs Xhekaj any day of the week.
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Post by Cranky on Sept 19, 2022 1:15:45 GMT -5
I posted this elsewhere...
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Post by mikeg on Sept 19, 2022 7:02:39 GMT -5
I posted this elsewhere... I don't know...I saw a guy dragging 3 to 4 players into the corner and still coming up with the puck. A guy his size taking creative chances, trying to split the D on rushes, and hustling back with an active stick to break up plays. Coming in on a rush and heading to he net a few times instead of to the corner, so it kept his opponent a bit off guard. Speaking of opponents... did you see how often they bounced off him? I also saw a guy just throwing the puck out of the corner into the slot and no one was there... I hope that with more polished players who are in synch with him they'll know to hang out around there when he heads to the slot with 3 guys dangling on him because that puck will come out. I don't think it was a dominant performance by far, but I see the body of potential and with the right guidance and talent around him, I think he'll do some very good things. |
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Post by frozone on Sept 19, 2022 9:19:53 GMT -5
I posted this elsewhere... I don't know...I saw a guy dragging 3 to 4 players into the corner and still coming up with the puck. A guy his size taking creative chances, trying to split the D on rushes, and hustling back with an active stick to break up plays. Coming in on a rush and heading to he net a few times instead of to the corner, so it kept his opponent a bit off guard. Speaking of opponents... did you see how often they bounced off him? I also saw a guy just throwing the puck out of the corner into the slot and no one was there... I hope that with more polished players who are in synch with him they'll know to hang out around there when he heads to the slot with 3 guys dangling on him because that puck will come out. I don't think it was a dominant performance by far, but I see the body of potential and with the right guidance and talent around him, I think he'll do some very good things. Slafkofsky has the Ovechkin hardware but is still missing the Ovechkin software. I think eventually Slaf will manage to find a formula and playing style that works for him, but at the moment he still seems to be figuring out who he is as a player. Ovechkin found his office. Kucherov found his office. Matthews found 2 offices. I think Slaf will need guidance to find his formula, but he has way more options available to him than most prospects. How he pans out I think will depend on our coaching and development more than anything else imo. |
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Post by folatre on Sept 19, 2022 10:55:40 GMT -5
That is good way to describe it.
I just hope the organization can reign in the understandable enthusiasm about having the first overall pick here and just let his performance (of which productivity is an important part) determine what team he plays for this season.
My buddy who is a Sabres fan said those extra seven or eight months helped Power mature. He thinks it would have otherwise been a difficult season for the kid. Everyone there seems really confident that he is now about to kick off his rookie season in the NHL with a significantly higher degree of readiness.
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Post by seventeen on Sept 19, 2022 13:38:16 GMT -5
Owen Power is definitely going to be a force. He already was last year. He has a late November birthday so when he played those late games last season, he was 19.3 years old and had a full NCAA season under his belt. A year and a bit of development does help, though a defense position is harder to manage than wing. Power is 6'6" and 218 lbs. In that one stat I can see an issue with Slaf. 238 lbs is too much, IMO. Sure, it's turned him into an immovable object, but that carries over to his speed. I saw at least 3 instances in the rookie games where he couldn't get past a defenseman because he wasn't fast enough. He had the angle breaking in on the RW, but the Dman took the angle away and Slaf wasn't strong enough to power by him. As Cranky suggested above (striving for breath as he went to the bench), he may be out of shape. The extra poundage adds fuel to that possibility. If he was carrying 20 lbs less, he'd be quicker and faster. Quite honestly, he did not impress me. The first overall pick should show more than he did. He was outshone by several players, not just Beck and Mesar (though those 2 looked better to me than any prospect I saw in the 3 games). Now I also appreciate that he is a power forward (who typically develope slower) and he has shown enough skill and smarts to expect him to get better and better. He is also acclimating to a smaller ice surface.
But, to get away from a less positive example, how about so many of the other kids, huh? They showed a lot of intensity and speed. This was a very fast team and their zone exits and entries were pretty good, and improving as the tournament went along. I'm not sure how many will make the NHL, as that's a substantial leap, but one can see the philosophy at work. Smart, quick transitions; speed and skill. There were still quite a few smallish guys on the team, but it was amazing to me how many board battles all the players won, not just the bigger guys. I think Beck and Mesar are for sure NHL'rs. Kidney is likely, too. Stapley is a similar case to Jake Evans. Good college base, but is older, breaking into pro hockey at 23. Trudeau and Tourigny have outside shots. There are others who are obvious Habs...Guhle, Xhekaj (yes), Harris. Barron did not have a good tournament IMO. Not good enough, given his experience.
Goaltending though....yeesh. The best prospect of the 3 was supposed to be Vrbetic, but the game showed that he'll have to get better to have a chance. Big kid and he did well in the OHL last year. Goalie development is a long road, often 4-5 years longer than a forward's, so he has time. he'll be only 20 in October.
So these are all first impressions....and over time, things change, players improve or regress. Training camps start this week. Eeeeehaaaaa!
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Post by Cranky on Sept 19, 2022 18:04:31 GMT -5
The Canadian Dental Association announced a new 10% discount rate for "Xhekaj Disease". To qualify, you need to be a proffesional hockey player and need at least 4 teeth replaced.
After 8 teeth an additional 10% can be applied.
Very generous offer in inflationary times like these.
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Post by folatre on Sept 19, 2022 19:33:49 GMT -5
Jeje, who is that cool Sens bro fan wanting Tkachuk to fight Xhekaj?
I am not saying Arber would maul him or anything because Tkachuk is a big boy who knows how wrestle for position and avoid haymakers. But looking at Tkachuk's fight card, he has not exactly fought a bunch of renowned pugilists. Heck, the only good fighters he dropped with are Trouba, Manson, and MacEwen. Yeah, he wrestled around Chiarot, Muzzin, Weber, Hamonic, and Beaulieu but so what. And the rest of the guys he fought are mostly laughable (Gallagher, Adbelkader, Ericsson) or ho hum (Cizikas, Subban, Bowey, Marino, Lauzon).
In my book, Tkachuk has conveniently avoided the few scary guys who were regulars in the league over his first four seasons (Chara, Lucic, Kassian, Wilson, Oleksiak, Deslauriers, Trenin, Johnston, Maroon, Zadorov, Jeannot, Martin).
Heck, even in his division, he has managed to decline to dance with Simmonds, Clifford, Goudas, Pezzetta, Frederic, and Nick Foligno. I get it that Tkachuk is a really good offensive forward so it does not make sense for him to simply drop with whoever in any circumstance. But the sample size after four seasons is getting large enough to conclude there are plenty of guys Tkachuk yaps with but ultimately avoids, even when the scoreboard would say hey bud have a go the game is already won or lost, because he is far from being a heavyweight.
I am not suggesting if I were Ottawa's GM or coach that I would want him to fight some rookie Habs third-pair d-man, but I just think the Sens fan boy is wearing some homer-goggles if he actually believe that Tkachuk is a good enough fighter to "tune up" Xhekaj.
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Post by Habs_fan_in_LA on Sept 20, 2022 11:07:28 GMT -5
Jeje, who is that cool Sens bro fan wanting Tkachuk to fight Xhekaj? I am not saying Arber would maul him or anything because Tkachuk is a big boy who knows how wrestle for position and avoid haymakers. But looking at Tkachuk's fight card, he has not exactly fought a bunch of renowned pugilists. Heck, the only good fighters he dropped with are Trouba, Manson, and MacEwen. Yeah, he wrestled around Chiarot, Muzzin, Weber, Hamonic, and Beaulieu but so what. And the rest of the guys he fought are mostly laughable (Gallagher, Adbelkader, Ericsson) or ho hum (Cizikas, Subban, Bowey, Marino, Lauzon). In my book, Tkachuk has conveniently avoided the few scary guys who were regulars in the league over his first four seasons (Chara, Lucic, Kassian, Wilson, Oleksiak, Deslauriers, Trenin, Johnston, Maroon, Zadorov, Jeannot, Martin). Heck, even in his division, he has managed to decline to dance with Simmonds, Clifford, Goudas, Pezzetta, Frederic, and Nick Foligno. I get it that Tkachuk is a really good offensive forward so it does not make sense for him to simply drop with whoever in any circumstance. But the sample size after four seasons is getting large enough to conclude there are plenty of guys Tkachuk yaps with but ultimately avoids, even when the scoreboard would say hey bud have a go the game is already won or lost, because he is far from being a heavyweight. I am not suggesting if I were Ottawa's GM or coach that I would want him to fight some rookie Habs third-pair d-man, but I just think the Sens fan boy is wearing some homer-goggles if he actually believe that Tkachuk is a good enough fighter to "tune up" Xhekaj. I really like Arber, but sending a teenage kid out to fight strong mature men is not the best plan for his development. He is big and strong for a junior but he isn’t Chara size or experience. Give him time to develop. Great fighters have great managers plotting their development and picking their opponents. |
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Post by seventeen on Sept 20, 2022 12:06:08 GMT -5
Xhekaj would have Tkachuk enrolling in Cranky's discount dental program. As folatre points out, Tkachuk's bark is a lot worse than his bite, while Arber's bite is Rotweiler quality.
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Post by folatre on Sept 20, 2022 13:39:48 GMT -5
Xhekaj turns 22 in January and just looking at him one would probably have to go somewhat far back in time to find video or photos where he had a teen body. I want him to focus on development and finding his ceiling as a d-man, so I certainly do not want him fighting guys like Reaves, Wilson, Deslauriers, or Lucic when he eventually gets a taste of the NHL. But if big, yappy star forwards like the Tkachuk brothers want to drop the gloves with Xhekaj I would gladly unleash him if I coached the Habs.
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Post by Cranky on Sept 20, 2022 13:57:07 GMT -5
Odelein comparison is close...but X is far bigger then him. Odeline was 5'11" and 200 vs 6'4" and 238.
It's been decades since we had a home grown beast with anger mismanagement issues. Way back to Brashear, Kordic and Nylan for heavy duty fighters. In fact, none of them were this big unless you count Laraque.
As for talent AND fightinng, way back to Furgeson.
Habs management has to pull put every trick they have to improve and get this kid into our top 6 defense.
Then enjoy a decade of muclear deterence.
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