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Post by Willie Dog on Nov 19, 2024 19:38:59 GMT -5
McDavid is playing like he's possessed against the Hens
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Post by jkr on Nov 19, 2024 20:10:35 GMT -5
Boston could be in tough if Swayman keeps playing like an average NHL goalie. I have no idea if the players liked Montgomery, so it is hard to predict whether a bolt of energy is going to run through the room and onto the ice. I have no idea what Gorton and Hughes think of Montgomery, but in the event that things go wildly bad this season it would reason that he would be on the secret short list of candidates. Obviously, Vincent would be under strong consideration. I wonder if Tanguay is also potentially on the list, albeit not near the top. I didn't know Montgomery was born in MTL and is bilingual I knew he was from Montreal but I don't know his language skills. He played very briefly for the Habs after he was acquired for Carbonneau. Carbonneau had run afoul of the Habs brass over something that happened in the off season in the summer of 94. A terrible deal. Montgomery was a career minor leaguer and Carbonneau played another 6 years & won a Cup in Dallas in 99. |
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Post by jkr on Nov 19, 2024 20:14:55 GMT -5
McDavid is playing like he's possessed against the Hens Also 3 points for Bouchard already. |
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Post by Willie Dog on Nov 19, 2024 21:29:58 GMT -5
Hens are getting pumped by the Oil 5-1 with a little over 7 left in the 3rd... it's nice that the Habs beat a team and then that team takes their frustration out on the Hens or Loafs... it's usually the other way around
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Post by seventeen on Nov 20, 2024 13:32:10 GMT -5
I know Ocechkin is injured right now but I see that at the age of 39 he leading the NHL with 15 goals. He's now 27 goals away from passing Gretzky. Can't help hoping it's a long term injury. Yeah, I'm a jerk who is not a fan of Ovie. |
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Post by Willie Dog on Nov 20, 2024 15:27:26 GMT -5
Jim Montgomery is the latest example of “Show me a good goalie and I’ll show you a good coach “. Fired by the Bruins because management is too embarrassed to lookin the mirror and admit there is a cost to going for it year after year. To add more hilarity to the situation, Joe Sacco has been named interim coach. You may not remember Joe Sacco, but while he was in Colorado as HC, Sylvain Lefebvre was there as his assistant, learning everything he could about coaching. 😇. http://instagram.com/p/DCkkm3aSTnZ |
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Post by folatre on Nov 20, 2024 21:30:18 GMT -5
Vegas and Toronto playing heavy, nasty hockey tonight.
Grebekin got things started with a clear boarding on Hanifin, no call. Then Whitecloud literally jumped into a high hit on Knies along the wall and the refs oddly decided whatever nothing to see here.
Woll has been standing on his head for the Leafs. Jack Eichel is playing like Kirby Dach.
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Post by Disgruntled70sHab on Nov 20, 2024 22:21:08 GMT -5
Then Whitecloud literally jumped into a high hit on Knies along the wall and the refs oddly decided whatever nothing to see here. |
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Post by seventeen on Nov 20, 2024 22:46:28 GMT -5
Leaped off his skates. Led with the shoulder. Pretty obvious head shot.
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Post by seventeen on Nov 20, 2024 22:48:41 GMT -5
Vegas and Toronto playing heavy, nasty hockey tonight. Grebekin got things started with a clear boarding on Hanifin, no call. Then Whitecloud literally jumped into a high hit on Knies along the wall and the refs oddly decided whatever nothing to see here. Woll has been standing on his head for the Leafs. Jack Eichel is playing like Kirby Dach. Interesting to note that (as I pump my premise that TO should have traded Matthews 3 or 4 seasons ago) the Leafs are on a nice role, without any huge improvement in defense, but without Matthews. Ever since he got hurt they've changed their game and are winning. Imagine this team with the haul they could have gotten for Matthews. |
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Post by jkr on Nov 21, 2024 7:43:14 GMT -5
I dont think they changed their game that much since Matthews has been out. They seem to be playing a more conservative game with lower shot totals even when he was there. They have to play that way because they have 2 goalies that are unproven as starters.
They already have top offensive talent. Trading Matthew's wouldn't help them much unless they got a top flight goalie back.
The old adage applies here - whoever's gets the best player wins the deal.
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Post by CentreHice on Nov 21, 2024 8:11:22 GMT -5
An excerpt from GM Treliving's comments on Matthews's status. Huh...I thought they said it was an UPPER body injury....
He (Matthews) and our Doc Forman went over to Germany to see a doc that he's used in the past. More as a general checkup, but also to get some work done on his thing.
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Post by jkr on Nov 21, 2024 8:20:16 GMT -5
An excerpt from GM Treliving's comments on Matthews's status. Huh...I thought they said it was an UPPER body injury.... He (Matthews) and our Doc Forman went over to Germany to see a doc that he's used in the past. More as a general checkup, but also to get some work done on his thing.Nothing like transparency. He's going all the way to Germany for a checkup? Ya, right. they have been mysterious about his status since the playoffs last season. |
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Post by CentreHice on Nov 21, 2024 8:36:04 GMT -5
An excerpt from GM Treliving's comments on Matthews's status. Huh...I thought they said it was an UPPER body injury.... He (Matthews) and our Doc Forman went over to Germany to see a doc that he's used in the past. More as a general checkup, but also to get some work done on his thing.Nothing like transparency. He's going all the way to Germany for a checkup? Ya, right. they have been mysterious about his status since the playoffs last season. My sophomoric humour went straight to the to get work done on his thing. So, it must be a LOWER body injury. |
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Post by Polarice on Nov 21, 2024 9:28:08 GMT -5
An excerpt from GM Treliving's comments on Matthews's status. Huh...I thought they said it was an UPPER body injury.... He (Matthews) and our Doc Forman went over to Germany to see a doc that he's used in the past. More as a general checkup, but also to get some work done on his thing.The Doctor he is seeing specializes with back issues. |
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Post by frozone on Nov 21, 2024 14:13:26 GMT -5
Nothing like transparency. He's going all the way to Germany for a checkup? Ya, right. they have been mysterious about his status since the playoffs last season. My sophomoric humour went straight to the to get work done on his thing. So, it must be a LOWER body injury. I wouldn't assume so generously. |
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Post by seventeen on Nov 21, 2024 14:53:14 GMT -5
I dont think they changed their game that much since Matthews has been out. They seem to be playing a more conservative game with lower shot totals even when he was there. They have to play that way because they have 2 goalies that are unproven as starters. They already have top offensive talent. Trading Matthew's wouldn't help them much unless they got a top flight goalie back. The old adage applies here - whoever's gets the best player wins the deal. My entire premise is that Matthews adds nothing to a team. Oh sure one can point out the huge number of goals he has scored, blah, blah. The bottom line is how much does he help the team? He is a scoring winger playing centre. His team success in the playoffs is abysmal and has been since he was in the US NTDP. Why is that? I have no idea, but he just seems to carry a lot of bad luck with him. As to the haul, the Leafs could have gotten a young, developing, potentially elite defenseman, an excellent 2C and a goalie along the lines of Jesper Wallstedt or Jacob Fowler, plus a first rounder or two. I differentiate slightly between winners and losers in trades. Most often, the team getting the best player wins, but not always. Joe Neiewendyk for Jarome Iginla. It could be argued that Jarome is the better player, but Dallas won a Cup, Calgary didn't. Eric Lindros for a passel of guys and picks. Lindros was probably the best player (but there's an argument for Forsberg). Quebec/Colorado won a Cup. Lindros didn't. Would fans of Colorado or Dallas negate those trades because they gave up the better player? I appreciate Matthews' skills and he has improved in several areas, while still being a scoring machine, but his teams lose. Until Holtby went on that outlier stretch through the playoffs, you could say the same of Ovechkin. Great player, no cups. When the discussion turns to the best defensemen of all time, Scott Niedermayer is not mentioned often. I have Orr and Robinson at the top myself, but I could make a really good argument for Niedermayer to be in the top 5. Four Cups with 2 different teams, a Memorial Cup, WJC champ in 1991, two Olympic gold medals and an IIHF World Championship. Good scorer, but not outstanding like Orr, Leetch or others. His teams just won. That's what I like to see in a player. |
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Post by seventeen on Nov 21, 2024 14:56:35 GMT -5
My sophomoric humour went straight to the to get work done on his thing. So, it must be a LOWER body injury. I wouldn't assume so generously. Can't top that.  |
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Post by CentreHice on Nov 21, 2024 19:27:41 GMT -5
My sophomoric humour went straight to the to get work done on his thing. So, it must be a LOWER body injury. I wouldn't assume so generously.  |
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Post by jkr on Nov 21, 2024 20:16:27 GMT -5
Leaped off his skates. Led with the shoulder. Pretty obvious head shot. Whitecloud playing tonight in Ottawa so no discipline I guess. |
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Post by seventeen on Nov 22, 2024 1:57:42 GMT -5
Jimmy Murphy, from the Sick Podcast Eye Test, argued vehemently that Whitecloud did not leap upward into his opponent. No, rather he has discovered the long lost secret of levitation. How a guy can look at that sequence and somehow come up with the conclusion that it was a clean hit is mindbending. He was head hunting, period and the fact the NHL has made a mockery of consequences for that practice, is an indication of their disregard for the health of the players. I now have much less respect for Jimmy Murphy and since I had even less respect for his partner, Pierre McGuire, I doubt I will check in with that podcast any longer. McGuire was already ticking me off for making it seem like he knows every prospect, every prospect's parents, siblings and lineage back to the Tudors and their dogs as well is nauseous. He name drops Scotty Bowman all the time, and seems to have had a hand in every improvement on the Penguin's championship teams during Scotty's tenure there. Yeeesh. No wonder he has not been able to latch onto a job with a real NHL team. The arrogance is amazing.
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Post by Cranky on Nov 22, 2024 3:16:07 GMT -5
I did a thorough engineering analysis on Whiteclouds hit and it appears that he reached escape velocity from gravitational pull .5 seconds before hitting Knies head.
Had Knies removed his head, it's likely that he could indeed reached a white cloud.
Of course if Reaves happens to also reach escape velocity on Eichel head, possible ending his career, then it's fair and proportinal application of physics.
The NHL is a clown show...
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Post by Boston_Habs on Nov 22, 2024 11:51:03 GMT -5
Boston could be in tough if Swayman keeps playing like an average NHL goalie. Bruins nation is pretty panicked right now and I love it. As is often the case in sports and business and life, things deteriorate slowly and then all at once. The Bruins have been the best regular season team for much of the past 10-15 years, but the old core (Bergeron, Chara, Krejci) has moved on and the talent level has dropped off. Marchand's best years are behind him, McAvoy isn't close to a Norris caliber dman, and now Pastrnak isn't scoring and the fans have a love-hate relationship with him. He's an elite scorer but not very tough and tends to disappear in big moments. And then you had Swayman mouthing off during his contract dispute, acting like a diva, and now he's playing like crap. That's a death sentence in a blue collar hockey market like Boston. I listen to sports radio on the way home and pretty much the whole roster is on trade watch. Marchand, Pasta, McAvoy...anyone. Fans are ready to blow it up and start over, but they don't have much of anything in the pipeline and that's on Don Sweeney, who could be next to go. Their UFA signings (Lindholm and Zadorov) haven't done much either. They may be able to get to the playoffs on fumes but it's clear the Bruins are living on borrowed time. I thought the slide for them would start last year but they had 109 points and beat Toronto (again) in the playoffs. A testament to the consistency and dedication of that group. Over the past 15 years the Bruins average point total (on a full 82-game season) is 108, the best in the NHL. That's the kind of long-term performance that every franchise wants. For the Bruins you can say the results were a bit disappointing with a 1-2 record in Cup finals and then a flame out after that crazy 135-point season but we all know how fickle playoff fortune can be. If you told me we would go to 3 Cup Finals over the next 10-15 years I'd sign up for that today and take my chances. |
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Post by seventeen on Nov 22, 2024 15:04:39 GMT -5
If you told me we would go to 3 Cup Finals over the next 10-15 years I'd sign up for that today and take my chances. Boston's fall from grace has been coming for a long time, as you pointed out. The early warning signals are inevitably a team's drafting record. On one dumb podcast yesterday (probably the Sick Eyetest one with Jimmy Murphy and Pierre McGuuire), they said that the Bruins didn't replace Chara, Bergeron and Krejci. Duh. Now that's an immensely great grasp of the obvious. No kidding. Why didn't the Bruins just go to the Dollar Store and pick up a new Bergeron? Since they drafted McAvoy and Pastrnak (was that great drafting or just luck being in the right draft position at the right time as Montreal was with Caufield?), their top picks have been Uurho Vakaanainen, (18th overall 2017), Axel Andersson (57th overall, 2018), John Beecher (30th overall 2019), Mason Lohrei (57th, 2020), Fabian Lysell (21st 2021), Matthew Poitras (45th, 2022), Chris Pelosi (92nd!, 2023) and Dean Letourneau (25th, 2024). Remember too, that just before McAvoy in 2016 they had the infamous 2015 draft of Zboril, Debrusk and Senyshyn, at 13,14 and 15 in a deep draft. That's what poor scouting and trading away picks to go for it all can do to you. I'm not critical of them for trading picks to make a run, but they often made some good picks even at positions that weren't the best and that hasn't happened either. As Bostonhabs says, a decline can happen slowly for a long period and then the freight train smacks you. I kept waiting for the fall off the cliff, but it took Bergeron's retirement to get it going full speed. Anyway, Neely and Sweeney have to look in the mirror because that lack of pipeline talent is all on them. This is a good lesson for we Habs fans. The pipeline is critical. It's one reason that unless there is a compelling reason for it, I'm not keen on trading our pick, or Calgary's/Florida's pick. You need those to keep the pipeline full if you want to have a recurring, competitive team. It means you have to draft and develop better than average and you have to be willing to trade aging but not old (28-31 years old) players who are still very useful, but close to falling off that cliff and cost you more than the replacements coming up. Sean Monahan for example. This past draft, without that 26th pick we got from the Jets for Monahan we wouldn't have been able to move up (paired with the 2nd rounder from Colorado in the Lehky trade) to have a shot at Michael Hage. It all works, but it really takes discipline and patience. In hypothetical trade scenarios, I'm often willing to take a team's picks 3-4 years into the future. When Hughes traded Mike Hoffman and Rhett Pitlick to Pittsburgh for Petry and Casey Desmith in 2023, he also acquired Pittsburgh's 2025 2nd rounder. Who knew that 2 years later that pick would be approaching first round territory? Desmith also turned into Vancouver's 3rd rounder in 2025. Nice haul for Hughes by using CAP space. Keep on filling that cupboard, Kent. |
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Post by jkr on Nov 22, 2024 16:43:32 GMT -5
Immediately after those 3 Bruin picks in 2015 were Barzal, Connor and Chabot with Boeser a few picks later.
Debrusk turned into a decent player but the other two never amounted to much.
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Post by Disgruntled70sHab on Nov 24, 2024 10:24:54 GMT -5
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Post by folatre on Nov 24, 2024 12:43:22 GMT -5
Yeah, I saw that. Not a surprising move since the Blues have been scuffling all season and Montgomery is generally regarded as one of the better coaches in the business.
I am not sure how much of a bump St. Louis can expect because the Central is really tough. But this is consistent with the Doug Armstrong modus operandi. He does not entertain the notions of rebuilding or strategically tanking. In his 14 seasons as GM there, the Blues have only missed the playoffs four times. And the worst finish the franchise had under his tenure was 23rd in the league (I believe they got Dvorsky in round one).
This is not great news for Montreal because if things go horribly off the rails this season, having Montgomery as a leading candidate would have been a luxury.
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Post by seventeen on Nov 24, 2024 16:38:54 GMT -5
I think HuGo want to improve on the Armstrong model. Doug Armstrong has managed to keep his team competitive (as far as making the playoffs) by drafting in the early rounds relatively well. Going back to 2014, they have picked Robbi Fabbri (21), Ivan Barbashev (33) and Sammy Blais (176). In 2015 Vince Dunn (56) (Shout out to BadCompany, who kept yelling for the Habs to trade for him when he was young). Without the numbers, other picks were Tage Thompson, Jordan Kyrou, Robert Thomas, Klim Kostin, Scott Perunovich, Jake Neighbours, Zach Bolduc (developing) and recently and unproven but positive looking Jimmy Snuggerud, Dalibor Devorsky, Otto Stenberg, Theo Lindstein and last year, Adam Jiricek. Now some of the more recent picks may not pan out and there was a change in the Blues Scouting staff when Doug's son, Bill, left to take over as GM for the Yotes. but they are prospects.
The point of all those names is that scouting is really important. Thomas, Kyrou and Perunovich are core pieces for the Blues, but they'll need more. All this has done, though, is have the Blues make the playoffs, where they inevitably fade. Ok, they had the one year where Binnington came in and thought he was St. Patrick for a couple of months, but then he has reverted to an average at best goalie. So that season, I rack up to luck with hot goaltending. We don't want to rely on luck. Our kids have higher ceilings and we have more of them than the Blues.
Sorry, I digressed from the Montgomery hiring. Good move by Armstrong. Montgomery is better than Bannister at this time, with much more experience at the NHL level. He'll help, but until the Blues improve the talent level, they will remain in that Purgatory range.
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Post by folatre on Nov 24, 2024 16:57:16 GMT -5
For sure, they have frequently been in the murky middle. But in the eyes of ownership one Stanley Cup probably vindicated all the years Armstrong was simply constructing good though not great rosters.
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