Not good enough for Montreal

[The Mad Ape]

Yet there he was, in his own end, for the last minute of the game, winning crucial faceoffs in game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals to help seal the win.

TMA

[gorgo...@gmail.com]

Not to mention 3 points too.

[Mike]

On 2018-05-31 06:46 AM, The Mad Ape wrote:
> Yet there he was, in his own end, for the last minute of the game, winning crucial faceoffs in game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals to help seal the win.
>
> TMA
>

Not to mention that while Bergy whines and complains about how hard it
is to find a centre, Vegas didn't have any trouble getting 4 of them. My
point of course is that the 4 centres they have were obviously
available, why was he unable to get one or two of them?

[Gerry]

Even aside from the question of centers, I think it's too bad they couldn't have a big inside track on PQ guys like Marchessault - undrafted, un-signed even after his overage year, goes and plays in the AHL for a year before finally getting picked up by Columbus... they threw him away in a minor league deal to Tampa... they let him walk as a free agent to Florida... they wanted to protect Pysyk and Petrovic on D so let him go in expansion to Vegas...

A lot of places along the road the Habs could have stepped in and shown interest there.

But of course he'd just be sitting or playing with 4th line scrubs anyway, so it STILL wouldn't have turned out the same.

Eller looks great out there. They really show confidence in him and that helps his game a lot.

Funny thing is the Habs could sign just about anybody and it would improve their situation. Even if it was say a guy like Derek Ryan to recreate the Desharnais role, he'd still be an upgrade. They could sift through the leftovers bin and still find players who would help at center relative to Danault-and-nobody-else.

With where their draft picks are slated to land for the next little while they can't really go rogue on the RFA offer sheet front anymore.

l8r,
Gerry

[The Mad Ape]

Bergy you look like a genius today.

TMA

[Mike]

On 2018-06-08 05:18 AM, The Mad Ape wrote:
> Bergy you look like a genius today.
>
> TMA
>

INfuckingDEED. DSP scored the tying goal, Eller the winner. Have no fear
though, ownership is apparently finally waking up to the fact that a
rebuild is in order:
https://twitter.com/prospects_watch/status/1004753522464870401?s=21

And who is leading the rebuild? Well the guy who fucked it up in the
first place - our friend Bergy. The guy who was given a good young core
of a team and dismantled it through incompetence, indignation and
secrecy. He gets to lead the rebuild. This is what is wrong with the
Montreal Canadiens and they'll never get it. This need to continually go
down the same road. Will they ever learn?

[Nyssa]

But, but, but he speaks FRENCH! <snort of disgust>

Funny how discrimination is okay when THEY do it.

Oh, and you forgot "prejudiced" in your catalog list of
failings of MB (with the too-long assistance of MT).

I'm bummed that the Golden Knights lost, although it was
a terrific game.

In spite of that, I'm very happy for Barry Trotz. I've
always thought he was an outstanding coach, going back
to his first days in Nashville. Glad to see a good guy
finally win.

I just can't get over how he has no contract for next year...
unless he's got a backdoor deal to be coach for the new
Seattle team. In that case, it might be like Gallant joining
Vegas early to toss his two cents in with McPhee in the
selection process. Maybe they'll announce something when
the official announcement comes for the new franchise along
with naming of a GM.

Nyssa, who has three coaches she enjoys listening to:
Barry Trotz, Paul Maurice, and Jon Cooper...but none of
them speaks French

[Chuck]

Nice watching two teams who had defencemen who could help sustain puck possession in the offensive zone as well as move the puck in their own end without an air of panic or never ending puck clearing to the opposing team.

[The Mad Ape]

Trotz is a great coach. He knows how to build winners and out their strengths.

Great summary of everything wrong with the Habs:

http://montrealgazette.com/sports/hockey/nhl/montreal-canadiens/what-the-puck-a-look-at-the-habs-this-week

TMA

[Nyssa]

Nice article and it pretty much mirrors what we've been grousing
about here in the froup for how many seasons now?

Aim to be average. Yep, there's a winning motto for you. Right
up there with "No Excuses" just before the Foxhole Spin Doctors
start reeling 'em off.

<sigh>

But being a GM is *hard*. Yep, especially when you're just
aiming for average.

What a zoo!

Nyssa, who is not looking forward to the long hot summer
without any hockey to distract her from the endless yard work

[Chuck]

Smith-Pelly was never part of the “Plan”, acquired as a whim. They were happy with a fourth line devoid of any puck skills, meaning no 4th liner stood much of a chance proving they could step up. And any chance of playing on the other lines was as part of a press box merry go round where short brief cameo appearances ensured no chemistry there either. (However if you were a tenured veteran, you could hold your spot despite going weeks between collecting points) They wanted Eller to be a top line player, but as another had said, they didn’t want to put the EGG line back together or clear the 3rd line center spot of Plekanec. When was the last time Plekanec proved he could step up his game as a 1st or 2nd liner, as a temp?

[Nyssa]

Chuck wrote:

> Smith-Pelly was never part of the ?Plan?, acquired as a

> whim. They were happy with a fourth line devoid of any
> puck skills, meaning no 4th liner stood much of a chance
> proving they could step up. And any chance of playing on
> the other lines was as part of a press box merry go round
> where short brief cameo appearances ensured no chemistry
> there either. (However if you were a tenured veteran, you
> could hold your spot despite going weeks between
> collecting points) They wanted Eller to be a top line

> player, but as another had said, they didn?t want to put

> the EGG line back together or clear the 3rd line center
> spot of Plekanec. When was the last time Plekanec proved
> he could step up his game as a 1st or 2nd liner, as a
> temp?

Add in another plot point: MB traded Sejak, who had become
a fan favorite and was showing some signs of ability, for
DSP. So they got a two-fer: pissing off the fans who liked
Sejak then getting a player who had shown hustle in playoff
games with the Ducks and once he got here, handed him over
to a coach who quashed any signs of hustle.

When the trade occurred, I remember that I was thrilled to
get DSP based on his Ducks play, but not happy that they
had traded Sejak just as he was starting to produce.

Sejak is back in Europe the last I heard, but at least
DSP got rescued and revived by Washington and repaid that
faith they put in him by scoring big goals in big games
when it counted.

Yeah, as you say, it's hard to build up chemistry with
linemates much less confidence in your play when you've
got as much chance spending the game eating chien chaux
in the pressbox as being out on the ice. Flip a coin.

Fumigate the Foxhole!

Nyssa, who has some bug killer around here somewhere that
might do the job