Buffalo vs. Montreal, Wednesday Feb 21, at 7 pm EST

[seventeen]

Feb 21, 2024 22:30:24 GMT -5 Skilly said:

Feb 21, 2024 21:37:27 GMT -5 seventeen said:

Another game we will look back on and appreciate the significance, as much as it sucks now.

Losing will only matter if they draft a difference maker. No weak draft excuses, no it was the consensus puck at that spot … they have to hit a home run. Otherwise it is just as well we win and draft outside the top 10

I’ll lay odds they pick another defenseman. Which would make the Reinbacher pick obselete.

I think the odds are pretty good (assuming we don't win Celebrini) that one of Demidov, Catton, Lindstrom and Eiserman will be there for us. I'd be really curious to know who was the top name on their list last year when #5 came up. It was probably Michkov, but with reservations. After that it may have been a toss up between Reinbacher and Leonard and they went with the position that has more value. A few years from now, we'll look back and rank how it might have gone.

Is Reinbacher plus Lindstrom/Catton/Demidov/Eiserman better or worse than Michkov/Leonard and Parekh/Dickinson/Buium?

[habsorbed]

Hate losing by a goal on a shortie. But hey, it's for the cause.! And Matheson has got me well accustomed to watching dumb plays.

Best news of the night was X. Looked like the dude I fell in love with last season. And Cranky is going to be down right smitten when he sees the replay.

[Disgruntled70sHab]

[Willie Dog]

Feb 21, 2024 23:04:54 GMT -5 seventeen said:

Feb 21, 2024 21:25:56 GMT -5 NWTHabsFan said:

Mathesons skating is superb.

His hockey IQ and decision making is, well…..not

You can see why Pittsburgh was willing to let him go, despite those amazing legs. I would not lose any sleep if he was traded elsewhere. I prize hockey IQ very highly, and he is no where near where most of his core teammates are in that regard. When you look at the guys holding this team back, (Anderson, Gallagher, Armia, Matheson) it's the same symptom....hockey vision and creativity, otherwise known as IQ. Anderson seemingly can't wait to get rid of the puck. Fortunately, none of those guys will be around in 2-3 years.

You'll notice I didn't include David Savard in that group. His limitations are physical. Not great hands, slow footed...but he can see the ice and knows where he should be, though he may not be able to get to that spot. I don't begrudge him that, even if I'm not re-signing him after next year. Hopefully he garners us another asset.

If we could transplant mathesons legs on to savard, we would have something... that looks like a chicken drumstick

[folatre]

I loved Xhekaj last night. I thought the Newhook line and Savard also played well. But there were a bunch of guys who played poorly.

[seventeen]

Feb 22, 2024 13:03:45 GMT -5 folatre said:

I loved Xhekaj last night. I thought the Newhook line and Savard also played well. But there were a bunch of guys who played poorly.

Nick was excellent, but didn't get any help from Cole or Slaf. Struble was solid and Harris was ok for his first game back. If Harris could avoid some hard hits, his career will last a lot longer.