2015 /2016 Habs thread. GO HABS GO !

[november]

Habs got destroyed in Arizona. They can pretty much kiss the playoffs goodbye.

It's good in a way, now they can face reality. They are going to be sellers at the trade deadline and try to get a good draft picks and prospects. This year hasn't been their year.

 

[Robert 21]

I agree. Subban has surprised me and i now wonder if he should not have been named captain instead of Pacioretty.

Disconnect between Canadiens' Therrien, Subban
Interpretations of turnover in Montreal loss to Colorado still vary

BROSSARD, Quebec -- Michel Therrien feels P.K. Subban will learn from it.

Subban doesn't feel there's anything to learn.

If there were a way to summarize the disconnect between the Montreal Canadiens coach and his top defenseman and leading scorer, that would be it.

They don't appear to see the game the same way.

It was true Wednesday in Denver, when Therrien blamed Subban for a 3-2 loss to the Colorado Avalanche after his offensive-zone turnover led to the winning goal late in the game.

It remained true Friday, when Therrien and Subban were each asked about the play again, and each had his own version of what happened.

The one thing Therrien and Subban agreed on was their relationship is fine, but the way they responded to the play, which has been dissected and analyzed in Montreal since Wednesday, suggests this is a situation that could repeat itself in the future.

"We want our players to be really active, we want our players to make plays, we want our players to be really aggressive, we want our players to make smart decisions," Therrien said. "That's part of the learning process. But there's a time and place. Game 7 with two minutes left, same situation, or [if] you play for the gold medal, you've got to make sure you make the right play at the right time.

"P.K.'s a smart player, a smart guy, and when he's going to be in that position again, I'm sure he's going to learn from it."

The play began at the Avalanche blue line with just over two minutes left in a 2-2 game. Subban got the puck at the right point and instead of dumping it back behind the net, decided to bring the puck to open ice on the left side with Avalanche forward Mikhail Grigorenko in pursuit.

Grigorenko stripped Subban of the puck just as he was falling, and the Avalanche broke toward the Canadiens end and scored the winning goal.

Despite the fact the Avalanche entered the Canadiens zone in a 3-on-3 situation, and that Therrien admitted Friday they blew the coverage on that play, he still maintained Subban was at fault.

Subban disagrees.

"You want to play the clock and you want to understand the timing of the game," Subban said. "In that particular situation I didn't see it as a high-risk play because I had full possession of the puck. I was in a strong position, I wasn't in a weak position. If I don't lose my edge there, I probably bump the guy and put it down the wall. But I lost my edge."

It was remarkably similar to the response Subban gave Wednesday after the game. So it's clear his opinion hasn't changed, and neither has Therrien's. It is a difference of opinion that has come up before during Therrien's tenure as Canadiens coach, which began in 2012. Which begs the question: Are Therrien and Subban compatible?

"I have a very good relationship with P.K," Therrien said. "The guy's adorable. He wants everyone to do well. He always comes to the rink upbeat. It's not a problem, it's the opposite. We want guys who have some emotion. It's fun working with him, but you have to guide him."

Subban has made several adjustments to his game over the past four years under Therrien, but the play Wednesday was an example of why Subban excels. His ability to create plays out of nothing is what sets him apart, and though he has toned down the frequency of how often he tries such plays, he would not be the same player if he removed them entirely from his repertoire.

And it doesn't sound as if that's something he plans to do.

"I haven't really seen it," Subban said when asked if he has reviewed the play in question. "To me, the way I look at it is I probably made that play 1,000 times already this season, and other times it's resulted in the puck in the back of the other team's net. So I'm not going to look over at that play again, because I know what happened."

Subban spoke Friday of lessons he has learned from athletes in other sports, such as basketball players Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, and how they taught him it is better to try and fail than to not try at all. It's something Subban has adopted into his own way of looking at the game, and something he sees as beneficial to the Canadiens.

"I think I'm part of the answers, not the problem," Subban said. "I look at my situation as I'm a part of the solution, and I want to be a part of the solution of helping our team be successful and helping our team make the playoffs. That's the way I approach it. If anybody questions that, the only people that really matter are my coach and [Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin], and if they don't think I'm a part of the solution. For me, I feel like I can be a part of it, I want to be."

The Canadiens undoubtedly want Subban to be part of the solution as well. The question is whether they share the same view of what the problem is.

***SOMEBODY CALL THE TITANIC***

 

[Doc Holliday]

If the habs lose to the Flyers tonight at the Bell Centre, it likely won't be too pretty in there after the game. Listening to the radio over the past two days, you'd think Isis has taken over the city and holding its citizens hostage. Crisis mode!

 

[Doc Holliday]

Habs looking to possibly trade P.K. Subban

by Luke Fox, Sportsnet

A juicy headline, to be certain. But let’s all take a deep breath before we jump to conclusions, shall we?

According to a TVA Sports’ Louis Jean, who cites an anonymous team executive, the Montreal Canadiens are gauging trade interest in all-star defenceman P.K. Subban.

Jean qualified his tweeted report by saying that he’s not suggesting general manager Marc Bergevin will trade his best player not named Carey Price. Jean says, to his knowledge, Bergevin is not shopping Subban.

“There is no question that the captain, Max Pacioretty, and Subban are not best friends,” Jean told Hockey Central at Noon Friday. “[Subban] is a guy that does rub others the wrong way.”

Jean was careful to explain that the locker room understands Subban does win his team games. When a team undergoes a long stretch of losing, that’s when the finger-pointing begins.

Subban, 26, has been a rare bright spot for a Canadiens club that has turned in the NHL’s worst record since Dec. 1 and fallen from the top of the standings to a trade-deadline seller.

“I think I’m part of the answer, not the problem,” Subban told reporters after Friday’s practice.

A Norris Trophy winner in 2013 and finalist in 2015, Subban has five goals and 39 assists this season and was the Canadiens’ lone representative at the 2016 All-Star Game.

Contractually speaking, July 1 marks a significant change for the star, whose eight-year deal carries a $9-million cap hit.

This season Subban will “only” make $7 million in salary. That figure leaps to $11 million for 2016-17 and 2017-10 and $10 million for each of the following two seasons. Also on July 1, Subban’s full no-move clause kicks in.

So if — and it’s a big if — Bergevin were to consider trading his passionate quarterback, it would be easier to do so prior to this summer.

With the Canadiens in a free fall, the mood surrounding the team has grown toxic. Canadiens head coach Michel Therrien singled out Subban after Wednesday’s loss to the Colorado Avalanche for making an “individual mistake.”

Subban's name has come up in trade talks

 

[gohabsgo]

Listening to the radio over the past two days,

The only satisfaction "Leaf fans" can getthese days is obsessing over the Habs - sad , but not too surprising

 

[lgna69xxx]

You mean like you always do about the Leafs? That Yea, that!

The only satisfaction "Leaf fans" can getthese days is obsessing over the Habs - sad , but not too surprising

 

[Doc Holliday]

The only satisfaction "Leaf fans" can getthese days is obsessing over the Habs.

Yep! And rejoicing over the fact our GM is doing his job instead of remaining invisible like the bearded one.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Just heard on TSN 690:

"If i'm a Maple Leafs fan, i'm very happy."-----------Tony Marinaro

Radio host and die-hard habs fan Tony Marinaro on the Leafs and the moves they've made lately and the direction, vision and plan they've followed to the letter this season.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Let me make a bold prediction:

P.K. Subban will be traded this season. His ego is too huge even for Montreal. And he's uncoachable and too much of a negative distraction inside the dressing room. A third of the team can't stand him and the coach has thrown in the towel in trying to coach and control him. The coach still has 3 years left to go on his contract. The GM never wanted to sign Subban to that bad contract. And the time to trade Subban is now since his no-trade clause will kick-in next season. Plus the fact the team captain can't stand him and usually the captain gets his wish. Same thing as years ago when Saku Koivu got Mike Ribeiro his one-way ticket out of Montreal.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Hearing today that the habs had Tomas Plekanec traded to St-Louis last fall, but he voided the trade with his non-movement clause.

In other news today, i'm hearing that Tampa's asking price for Jonathan Drouin was Alex Galchenyuk. For once, i agree with Marc Bergevin in saying no for an unproven player with a possible problem agent.

 

[Robert 21]

Montreal Canadiens apologize after Twitter celebration taken over by racist trolls

The attack on the Montreal Canadiens’ most recent Twitter campaign by racist trolls was entirely predictable and could have been easily avoided, a local social media expert said.

When the team reached 1 million Twitter followers Tuesday night, it decided to throw an avatar party, but it very quickly got out of hand.

Custom avatars were designed to feature Twitter handles on a jersey featuring 1M instead of the jersey number. Fans who tweeted the hashtag #CanadiensMTL1M were autotweeted a jersey with their name on it, but without a strong enough filter, the Twitter bot spewed out racist and offensive handles along with legitimate ones (and a couple from Leafs fans who liked the look of Go Leafs Go on a Habs jersey).

“What this shows is in social media, you can’t automate,” said Sébastien Provencher, the vice-president of product at the Brossard-based digital marketing company Acquisio Canada. “I know it’s difficult for large companies, because it doesn’t scale nicely. So many people are thinking about automating social media, but it’s really a one-to-one experience.”

Provencher said the lesson to learn from this experience is that companies should not rely solely on software filtering systems for their marketing campaigns.

The Habs apologized Wednesday morning and removed the offensive tweets from their feed. Very few of the racist tweets were retweeted.

However, the whole campaign seemed to be a carbon copy of the one undertaken by the New England Patriots when the team became the NFL’s first to reach 1 million followers. In that case, too, racist jerseys were tweeted out, and they were retweeted thousands of times. The team apologized, saying its filtering system had failed.

“Obviously, the Canadiens are not learning from best practices within professional sports, but it also looks like this is the exact same technology vendor (as the Patriots),” Provencher said. “It’s the role of the vendor to educate its customers. There’s no reason why the Canadiens had to fail the same way the Patriots did.”

The Twitter campaign was a good one in theory, because it engages followers and helps give the team an image that it’s close to fans, Provencher said.

“But in this case it was a missed opportunity,” he said.

The Montreal Canadiens did not immediately return a request for an interview on Wednesday.

I do not use Twitter....not sure why a few have to ruin IT


***DO YOUR JOB***

 

[Doc Holliday]

Posted on November 25, 2015:

Carey Price re-aggravated his recent lower body injury and had to leave the game. It looked very painful. Early reports i've received is that he may have to undergo surgery in order to correct the problem. His season may be in jeaopardy.

Posted on December 1, 2015:

Two of my other sources have also confirmed what i had been saying all along: that Mr. Price will eventually require knee surgery, which will likely mean at least three months of rehab. Which is why the team decided to gamble and hope for the best. He could have underwent the surgery now and try to be back for the playoffs (if they do make the playoffs). But there was no guarantee he'd even be in 'game shape' by then. So he'll be out for 6 weeks and then they'll ease him back in. Unless that idiot Therrien plays him in every game, that is!

Posted on January 9, 2016:

Will Carey Price return this season??

This is the question of the day. A few weeks ago, i posted that Price would likely return in late January as the team promised, but that it would not surprise me if he was out longer since knee injuries for a goaltender can be extremely troublesome. I also posted that my sources (who are usually extremely reliable) had told me that the best way to treat Carey Price was to have him go under the knife, but this type of operation usually requires a three-month rehabilitation period. Were he to undergo the surgery back when he first got hurt, chances were that he'd be back in time for the playoffs 'in the best case scenario'. However, not having him for the second half of the season also made it a possibility that the habs may miss the playoffs, although they were way up in the standings at the time. So the team's medical staff decided to gamble and try to avoid surgery this season by having him rest for at least six weeks, hoping that his right knee would heal enough to permit him to be able to play by the end of January.

However, the team announced yesterday that (as i had foretold) that Carey Price will not be back this month. The earliest date of a possible return is now early February. I doubt very much it'll happen this soon. He's still as yet to skate, and once he gets clearance to skate and start practicing, it'll take him a few weeks to get back into game shape. He's a goaltender, not a forward, and getting back into game shape is a longer process since a goaltender's job includes a lot of acrobatics and bending down on the ice....and Price employs the famous 'butterfly' style, which is very demanding on knees and groins.

If he does indeed come back this season, i'm guessing a March 2016 return.

You heard it here first, folks! :nod: :nod:

 

[Doc Holliday]

Jeff Petrie out for the season with a sports hernia. Now hopefully they'll stop blaming his poor play on that clean bodycheck administered by Jamie Benn a couple of months ago.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Dale Wiese & Tomas Fleischmann traded to the Blackhawks for Phillip Danault & a 2nd-round pick in 2018.

Danault had something like 1 goal and 4 assists in 30 games with Chicago. He'll likely remain with the big club since he's a typical Marc Bergevin player. Not a bad trade i suppose. Not really a great one either. Typical Marc Bergevin trade. Monday should be fairly quiet at the Bell Center offices.

 

[november]

I like the trade. It would have been difficult to get more for those two guys. And there's always the chance Weise signs back with the Habs this summer, he like playing in Montreal. Like to see another trade made also. Monday should be interesting.

 

[Joe.t]

A little bit of house cleaning in order to get ready for the arrival of one Steven Stamkos this summer as per Nick Kypreos.

http://www.gohabsgo.com/2016/02/14/steven-stamkos-to-montreal/

 

[smuler]

He's going to NJ Professor

Best Regards

Smuler

 

[Doc Holliday]

I like the trade. It would have been difficult to get more for those two guys. And there's always the chance Weise signs back with the Habs this summer, he like playing in Montreal. Like to see another trade made also. Monday should be interesting.

I read earlier today that he's unlikely returning to the habs since they won't have enough money under the cap to re-sign him for the amount of money he'll be looking for. They've probably already tried to re-sign him and realized that since he won't be back next season, might as well trade him now and get something in return.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Kipreos took too many blows to the head during his playing career. There's no way Stamkos is going to Montreal for various reasons. The main one is that it'll be impossible to fit his contract under the cap considering what they're already paying Subban and others like Plekanec and Markov. Pacioretty, Galchenyuk and Price will get big raises within the next couple of years.

Plus the fact not many players want to play in Mtl for various reasons. Among them is the circus-like atmosphere of playing there. It's a zoo and the players get followed around by local paparazzi. But the main reason is the tax situation. Montreal has the highest taxes among NHL teams. That's why they often wind up overpaying players in order to bribe them into playing there.

According to Stamkos' family members, he's had his sights in returning to Toronto for several years and they're convinced that's where he'll be playing next season.

Personally, as a Leafs fan i don't care whether he'll be playing in Toronto or not. I think his arrival may be a year or two too early considering they'll be only in year two out of five of the rebuild. Who knows, maybe he'll sign somewhere else for a year or two and then make his move to Toronto. But that's where he wants to go and the only way he won't be playing in Toronto next season is if the team tells him they're not ready for him yet.

By the way, there's no way in hell he'll be playing in that swamp where the Devils play. Buffalo is a possibility since it's close to his home (Toronto), but i still believe the Leafs have the edge if they want him.

One more thing: one rumour that's been floating around is that he'll land in Toronto next season, and then the Leafs will bring back John Tavares to his hometown two years from now.

 

[CockAsian69]

All this speculation and nothing solid, except my cock when I am with certain company...

Price would be better off NOT playing again this season. If he re-injures that knee and does not have surgery, I think that his career is done. I swear, every stupid Habs fan thinks that if he comes back he will lead us into the playoffs. I gave up on this idea months ago simply because, if he comes back he will be rusty. He will not be able to move fluidly and be able to do certain moves, if he is not 100%. People who's JOB is to watch for things like that will be all over him, rendering him even less effective. I hope he waits to be 100% and then comes back. Another thing is, despite scoring 8 goals in the last two games, it is more an anomaly than proof on how they will be scoring for the rest of the season. We need Scorers!

PK Subban will not be traded. MB said so and though I agree with a lot of you saying he is overpaid, over hyped and has a retardedly huge ego, he should not be included as trade fodder. He is a showboat, but plays with passion. He is uncoachable? I can see that happening, but he is self aware enough to not listen to sound advice. Stuff he can never get from Therrien. I do hate when he skates into the Offensive Zone and whirls around and loses the puck. Yes he looks great doing it, more often than not, it does not get us a goal.

Therrien is a Fucktard Moron who can't tell where his dick ends and where Desharnais' ass begins. The ONLY reason he is playing him so much is because he is FRENCH. Woah! No way! You mean if Galchenyuk was named Alexandre Gaston, he would get more playing time??? His Talent is 10 times more than Desharnais and yet he is not on the first PP line. Oh wait yes he is, now that Desharnais is injured!

There was a french article on the tragedy of the Habs being without a *gasp* French player on the ice since Desharnais was injured. WTF! Does he watch Hockey or even care if the Habs win? Why the fuck does it matter? It is this mentality that keeps Therrien behind the bench cause we need a French speaking coach. Fuck that! We need a good coach no matter what language he speaks! If he speaks German only but he is the best one available, fuck I would rather have him than Therrien. Hell, I would rather have a Dancing Elmo Doll than Therrien, and I HATE Elmo!

As for the rest of the team, I honestly would give up Paccioretty, Plekanec, Markov, Emelin and most of our third and forth liners. But no one will take most of them. Patches is a streaky scorer who cherry picks and is lazy as fuck backchecking. Not his Job to do so, right? But man he has one thing and that is his shot. Pleks is no where to be seen after his new contract. Markov, retire already. Your body can not handle it anymore and honestly, your ability to think on the fly is done. You make retarded judgement calls in the last few min of play with the game on the line. Keep him off of 3 on 3 and power plays at the end of the game. Emelin is just a guy who hits but not much else.

I HATE the Leafs but they are taking steps in the right direction, unlike my beloved Habs who whirl and turn around the same stupid fucking shit that will forever keep them mired in this shit. The French issue. Get rid of that, make decisions based on merit, and you will see how to turn this team around.

GO HABS, GO!