Congrats to Monty and Justin for their Gold

[habsorbed]

It was good to see Monty and Barron perform well in pressure situations and win gold!

Not sure how much one can read into it as the competition wasn't exactly NHL calibre. You had guys on the tail end of their carreers: Lucic and Sturm. And you had lots of minor leaguers and never NHLers. But you also had guys like Seider who is suppose to be an up and coming stud and he didn't dominate either.

But I'm wondering if Monty may be coming into his own as a late bloomer. He played well this season in difficult situaions with all the rookie dmen. He doesn't have to be an all-star, just provide us solid goaltending. I'm definitely content with him as our #1 for this season and see what he can do. I've given up on Allen as anything but an expensive back-up. And i'm losing hope for Primeau. But i don't think HuGo need to go chase down a #1 just yet. We may have one in Monty. Vegas has done pretty well with non-all-star goalies including some late bloomers.

Barron did not stand out in the tourney but that may not be a bad thing. He's still learning. Speaking of standing out; this Hutson guy looks pretty impressive - hopefully he can beef up!

[folatre]

For sure, that was a great experience for Montembeault and Barron.

Hockey is debatable and even more so the projection of goalies, but I now believe that Montembeault can be a tandem guy in the league. I imagine getting an extension ready for him this summer is a priority for management.

A week or two ago I had the misfortune to listen to Habs Lunch as Campbell and Gallo (?) debated what Montembeault's next contract could look like. As a disclaimer, I have a pet peeve about people who come to work or meetings unprepared. But it really stood out for me how these two guys just wing it and literally pull numbers with no basis in reality out of the sky. Campbell argued that Montembeault is in line for 4 x 5 or 5 x 5; and the other guy was totally in outer space with his contention Montembeault is worth $6.5 per.

They referenced guys like Ullmark (4 years/$20 million) and Husso (3 years/$4.75 per), but totally missed the context. Ullmark had three or four stellar seasons as a tandem goalie on terrible Sabres teams. And Husso started 40 games and posted top tier (.919 save) goalie numbers in St. Louis the year before he got paid by Detroit. Montembeault's career is trending the right way, but he has not matched what those guys did before they got good money. The proper comparables if you go by sample size and numbers would be Vejmelka and Anton Forsberg, and both of those guys' deals came in around $2.75 million per.

[seventeen]

folatre, I too dislike people who aren't prepared. I'm a director on a Foundation and it annoys the hell out of me when another director asks a question about something that was in the agenda material, that they should have read ahead of time. But I digress. I watched the IIHF final, paying attention to both our guys. Frankly I thought it might have been one of Monty's easier games. He didn't have to make as many amazing saves as in prior games. Weegar was the guy who stood out to me. Sammy Blais got player of the game, but clearly those voters only looked at the box score and not at who had the greatest impact on the game. Weegar was like a Lidstrom in that game. Give him the puck and move out because he didn't lose it and he always made the right play. Hassled by 2 forecheckers and he created time and found space to send a guy out with a soft pass between 2 sticks. Weegar is the better player in that Huburdeau trade, for me. What I wasn't crazy about was Barron. He is pretty good with the puck. He manages to skate well with it and make good outlet passes. What concerns me is that when the Germans scored, he seemed to be on the ice, even if he wasn't the direct cause. He wasn't the solution on those plays either. Germany's 2nd goal, I think, came about because of a bit of a lucky bounce and then Brad Hunt (?) Barron's D partner, fanned on the puck while trying to knock it down and the German player put it in, with Barron throwing himself into the play, but too late. I wondered if he didn't read the play well and check who might be the dangerous guy and go to him before the puck has a chance to arrive. It was one of the things Shea Weber did extremely well, and Barron could learn from watching a lot of his tapes around the net. Or maybe he just doesn't have that hockey IQ and if not, best we move him along.

I played soccer with a lot of guys like that. They were ball watchers. There could be a phalanx of opponents behind them and they went chasing after the ball carrier, who lobbed it to the phalanx of guys who scored. There was never a concept in their heads that, in the build-up, the guys without the ball are usually the most dangerous. Take away passes to them and you're in good shape. Barron has trouble reading that, or deciding which guy to take. Now, he's still 21, so there is time, if the IQ is there. D-men take longer to develop. One point of note. In the final 10 minutes of the final, I don't believe Barron saw the ice. Tourigny went mostly with his top 4, but Joseph got some ice time as well. It says something. Also, if you ask Canuck fans, if Tyler Myers beats you out on a defensive rating, that's not a compliment.