Go Habs Go!

[jalimon]

But he IS NOT Marc-Andre Fleury.

I would just hope he go anywhere (Although untradeable, unless Montreal keeps/pays 90% of his salary), I don't think
there will be another GM to make a full out of himself by taking over his salary.

Cruiser you are a high end tech engineer who is much more intelligent then me but really what do you know about hockey??? haha just kidding

Our only hope is that when Seattle makes it's intra league draft Price is the best option. After all he would almost be home over there.

Cheers,

 

[EagerBeaver]

Does an expansion team want to pick up such a huge contract? I know that Vegas made a great decision drafting Fleury but I question whether the Seattle team couldn’t find a cheaper experienced goalie. By all means they should draft the best experienced unprotected goalie, but not someone with such a huge contract.

Is Montreal permitted to expose Price under the contract? Wouldn’t a no trade clause prevent this action?

 

[Cruiser777]

but really what do you know about hockey???

Cheers,

Oooooops, the secret is out.

I know, I know just enough that, Price is No F......n good, LOL

Let alone so called "The Best Goalie In the World" as some people (Including so called "Expet" TV personalities" put it).

 

[No_Church_InThe_Wild]

The Canadiens drafted him pretty high considering they had depth at that position when they got him . Did he live up to expectations? Well that depends on who you ask . Don’t remember him making deep runs in the playoffs, and when he did he wasn’t the difference maker . But it’s hard to fault a guy playing for mediocre Habs teams through out his career

For me Price was a good poster boy for the franchise . He was always a highly regarded prospect with enough talent
But I never thought he had what the great goalies had . These intangibles are sometimes difficult to measure and many times it is the lightly regarded prospects that possess them , just my two cents

 

[Doc Holliday]

Many in Montreal predict that Price will be going to Seatle in 2021 a little bit like Marc-Andre Fleury ended up in Las Vegas. Maybe the only viable option...

As for Weber he is not as bad as you say Doc. And he is one of (if not the) most respected player in the league. He could really help the Leafs win it all this year and next, or at least be a real contender... Still being the Leafs I would target Pietroangelo in Los Angeles in priority.

There's now way....ZERO way....that Carey Price will waive his non-movement clause in order to start over & join an expansion team at his age! Plus the fact why would an expansion team want to take on one of the biggest contracts in hockey which only ends in 2026? No way!

As for Weber you say that he's not as bad as i say. But i don't follow the habs with blinders on. Sure he may be one of the most respected players in the league but if someone wants respect they are better off getting themselves a dog! Respect doesn't win hockey games!

Of course he could presently help the Leafs or some other team. He still has 1-2 good years left. But he also has to be a good fit. Right now he looks good since he's playing and getting big minutes on ONE OF THE WORSE TEAMS IN HOCKEY!

On top of that his current team has sucked monkey balls ever since he was named captain. WHERE'S THE LEADERSHIP??? After every game we see Brendan Gallagher getting interviewed. Carey Price getting interviewed. Last night Philip Danault getting interviewed. Every night it's poor Claude Julien facing the media. I DON'T REMEMBER THE LAST TIME WE SAW SHEA WEBER GETTING INTERVIEWED AFTER A LOSS AND HE'S THE TEAM CAPTAIN!!!

But the big reason why most teams will shy away from Shea Weber isn't because they don't consider him to still be good player or that he wouldn't be able to help their team. It's not because he isn't the type of leader many people thought he was. No. IT'S BECAUSE HIS BIG FAT CONTRACT EXPIRES ONLY IN 2026 AND HE'S ALREADY 34 FUCKING YEARS OLD!!! That's why.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Weber could be the missing piece for the Leafs that will put them over the top. What Dubas has to ask himself is whether he is really confident in the playoffs with the defensemen corps he has now, or whether it’s lacking and would be enriched by acquiring Weber. Is it an upgrade to the team? I think so.

I don't know why you have such a hard-on for Shea Weber. Sure, he's not a bad looking dude, i get it. But he's slow, he's very average defensively and i consider his leadership skills to be poor. This season his numbers are overblown considering he gets major minutes and major powerplay minutes on one of the worse teams in hockey. On the best teams in the league his minutes would be greatly reduced. And he's fucking 34 years old with only 1-2 productive years left. And then the team he's with will be stuck with his big fat contract which expires in only 7 years. The only way they'll be able to get rid of his big unproductive contract by then will be to bribe other teams with either first-rounders or top prospects....similar to what Toronto had to do to get out of Patrick Marleau's remaining year on his expiring contract this year.

The only thing Shea Weber would bring to a team is his offence on the powerplay. His big shot. Sure he misses the net 75% of the time but it's still a feared weapon. Just don't get any of your players close to the net if you don't want to see them on the long-term injury list. Ask Brendan Gallagher.

But Toronto has the best powerplay in hockey ever since changing coaches. So they don't need Shea Weber right now. Plus the fact he'd be taking Auston Matthews' position on the point and you can't have one of the best players in hockey off the #1 unit of the best powerplay in the league. And who would Weber replace? John Tavares? Marner? Matthews? Barrie? Rieilly? Who??

There's no doubt his addition could help the Leafs in the playoffs. But there are a dozen players around the league that could fit this bill and be a cheaper & more realistic addition than Weber's. But the playoffs are such a different beast that the best teams often don't even make it to the finals. Many of the league's best teams end up losing in the first round. Ask the Tampa Lightning. Last season at this time of the year the worse team in the league were the St-Louis Blues. They were where the Detroit Red Wings are right now. But guess what? After they called up Binnington and fired their coach they began to win...and win....and win....AND WON THE STANLEY CUP!

And that's why you don't mortgage the future by making stupid deals prior to the playoffs: because there is zero certainty about anything once teams enter the playoffs. It's a free-for-all and ordinary teams may or may not start appearing nearly invincible....and the best teams may start playing bad, getting injured or simply unlucky and face an early exit. That's a fact about the playoffs and a lot has to do with parity around the league (mostly thanks to the hard salary cap, which i actually hate).

But the main reason why Weber won't one day be a Maple Leaf: NO ONE WANTS A DECLINING 34-YEAR OLD WITH A BIG CONTRACT WHICH ONLY EXPIRES IN 2026. That's why. You simply don't roll the dice and mortgage the future. Ask Marc Bergevin how things have been going since he acquired Weber & gave Carey Price that big, stupid contract!

 

[Doc Holliday]

But he IS NOT Marc-Andre Fleury.

I would just hope he go anywhere (Although untradeable, unless Montreal keeps/pays 90% of his salary), I don't think
there will be another GM to make a fool out of himself by taking over his salary.

I agree 100% with you! And Montreal won't pay 90% of his salary since that would be going against the main reason why they'd consider trading him in the first place! And any GM who would trade for him would very likely be unemployed a year or two from now. He'd look like an idiot & would be proven so as time went on.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Does an expansion team want to pick up such a huge contract? I know that Vegas made a great decision drafting Fleury but I question whether the Seattle team couldn’t find a cheaper experienced goalie. By all means they should draft the best experienced unprotected goalie, but not someone with such a huge contract.

Is Montreal permitted to expose Price under the contract? Wouldn’t a no trade clause prevent this action?

Aren't you the same guy who thinks it would be good for a team out there to take Shea Weber off the habs' hands??? It's the same old scenario: both Carey Price & Shea Weber are aging hockey players and both with big fat long-term contracts that most teams wouldn't want to take over or else they'll be mortgaging their franchise's future!

But you're right about Price & Seattle: since he has a non-movement clause the team cannot expose him in the draft. They only way it could happen is that later on Seattle could acquire him via a trade but i can't see an expansion franchise wanting to take on an overpaid aging goaltender's big contract which only ends in 2026! And why would they? It would make zero sense!

 

[Doc Holliday]

Oooooops, the secret is out.

I know, I know just enough that, Price is No F......n good, LOL

Let alone so called "The Best Goalie In the World" as some people (Including so called "Expet" TV personalities" put it).

I've been laughing for the past 2-3 years whenever i hear the habs media refer to Price as the best goalie on the planet! It's hillarious!! It makes me wonder if they've been watching any other games around the league or simply centred on watching the habs?

Carey Price had one great season a few years ago. The year when he won the Vezina and other major awards. Yes he was the goaltender on the winning World Cup and Olympic teams. But those teams were filled with all-stars and superstars. I COULD HAVE WON A GOLD MEDAL HAD I BEEN IN THE NETS ON THOSE TEAMS!

But for the past 3-4 years i've noticed him declining and being nothing better than an average goalie. Were he playing for an American team no one would notice him or be talking about him. His huge contract also makes people talk about him but only in Montreal under the tutelage of Marc Bergevin and Geoff Molson would he be granted such a ridiculous contract!

 

[Doc Holliday]

The Canadiens drafted him pretty high considering they had depth at that position when they got him . Did he live up to expectations? Well that depends on who you ask . Don’t remember him making deep runs in the playoffs, and when he did he wasn’t the difference maker . But it’s hard to fault a guy playing for mediocre Habs teams through out his career

For me Price was a good poster boy for the franchise . He was always a highly regarded prospect with enough talent
But I never thought he had what the great goalies had . These intangibles are sometimes difficult to measure and many times it is the lightly regarded prospects that possess them , just my two cents

I totally agree! The habs had Jose Theodore when they drafted Price, correct? So their drafting philosophy back then was different than today's when they drafter Kotkaniemi ahead of Tkachuk nearly two years ago. They had long needed a big centre and drafted need first and skill later. 95% of the other GMs around the league would have picked Tkachuk. Or a different player than Kotkaniemi whom many had outside the top 15 players in the draft.

But Price had one season where he was fantastic and the accolades he got were well-deserved. But did they ever get deep in the playoffs with him? I honestly don't remember other than maybe that series against the Rangers when he got hurt. I do remember Jaroslav Halak's playoffs run with the habs. But Price? I don't. Did he ever win a Cup? No and he won't win one with the habs. And had he played for better teams would we have noticed him as much? Possibly not. Playing saviour night after night on average-to-mediocre teams often makes you look better than you really are.

So did he live up to expectations considering how high he was drafted? That's a good question. We'd have to look at all the players the habs passed on in that draft in order to pass judgement on this. Where was Price selected? Fifth overall if i remember correctly? Tuukka Rask was picked 21st overall by the Leafs that year and a case could be made that he had as good a career as Price has had and his career is far from being over. I also remember Anze Kopitar being picked 11th. The habs could have had that big offensive centre right there. But since 10 other teams passed on him when he was picked it's a far-fetch to think the habs would have picked Kopitar had they not selected Price. Plus the fact the habs have had a knack of either ruining or trading away their top picks so there's no guarantee Kopitar would have amounted to anything had he been picked by the habs. So i'll go on a limb and say that the habs made the right choice by chosing Price with their 5th overall pick.

 

[EagerBeaver]

I don’t think he lived up to expectations but how many Habs draft picks really have. Subban and Pacioretty, can’t think of too many others. Galchenyuk was a bust. For a guy drafted as high as Price, just look around the league at the goalies that are top 10 in save %. Almost all of them drafted lower than Price. Not really much more to say.

 

[Doc Holliday]

I don’t think he lived up to expectations but how many Habs draft picks really have. Subban and Pacioretty, can’t think of too many others. Galchenyuk was a bust. For a guy drafted as high as Price, just look around the league at the goalies that are top 10 in save %. Almost all of them drafted lower than Price. Not really much more to say.

Subban overachieved considering he was selected in the second round and only 43rd overall. In other words he was a steal by the habs. Pacioretty was a late first rounder and went 22nd overall so in my opinion he did live up to expectations and some may say surpassed them.

Galchenyuk may look like a bust but it's the habs who are to blame. From day 1 of his first year of training camp i was saying right here that he should be returned to his junior team for more seasoning. He had missed his previous season of junior hockey due to knee surgery and basically had missed a year of hockey when the habs put him on their opening day roster. And putting any 18-year old kid on the opening day roster under that kind of pressure in hockey-mad Montreal is way too much for any kid!

The habs have a knack of rushing their players into the NHL and it's nothing new. And currently the same thing is happening with Kotkaniemi and Poehling. Not only are they hurting their development but it's taking a year or two away of player control from the team. Galchenyuk was barely 20 years old and he was already negotiating a new contract. But it's not too late for Chucky. The best thing that could happen to his career was to get traded to another organization and start over. But he has to find the right organization for the right fit.

The reason i said earlier that Price probably did achieve expectations was because i examined his draft year and other than Anze Kopitar the other players picked in the top 15 didn't amount to much. The habs wouldn't have got much had then passed over Price and since Kopital was picked 11th you can't blame the habs for not chosing him and not having chosen him had then passed on Price. But hindsight being 20/20 they could have picked Kopitar and later make a trade to put them in a position to draft Tuukka Rask. Had they done this they would have looked brilliant today.

 

[jalimon]

C'était drole hier entendre l'annonceur "yamamoto soutire le disque a suzuki..."

 

[Doc Holliday]

Out of the 60+ players drafted by the habs in the past 8 entry drafts guess how many are currently on their roster?

5.

As i've been saying the biggest problems with this team is the scouting system & player development.

Let's take a look at whom they drafted in the first round over the past 10 years. Since 2009 their first-round selections were:

2009-Louis Leblanc
2010-Jared Tinordi
2011-Nathan Beaulieu
2012-Alex Galchenyuk
2013-Michael McCarron
2014-Nikita Scherbak
2015-Noah Juulsen
2016-Mikhail Sergachev
2017-Ryan Poehling
2018-Jesperi Kotkaniemi
2019-Cole Caufield

Of that group only Juulsen, Poehling, Kotkaniemi & Caufield remain. If you want to take things further in 2008 they didn't have a pick having traded that pick away previously. In 2007 they did make a great pick by picking Ryan McDonagh but they ended up trading him to the NY Rangers in that awful Scott Gomez trade. And in 2006 they chose David Fischer (who???), a player that never had an NHL career. And in 2005 they chose Carey Price with the 5th overall selection, who it turns out has been the organizations most successful draft pick in recent times.

Among those 5 players on the current roster are Ryan Poehling & Jesperi Kotkaniemi and the consensus now is that they should be playing in Laval were it not for the team's numerous injuries at the present time. Cole Caufield is still playing NCAA hockey. Cale Fleury was chosen in the 3rd round in the 2017 draft. He also should be playing in Laval having only played 60 games there last season. The 4th is Victor Mete who was chosen in the 4th round of the 2016 draft. It's already his 3rd season with the habs and only played a total of 7 games in the minors. He was rushed into the NHL (just like Galchenyuk and others) and this has slowed his progress. The habs have a knack of doing this and it's a big reason they're in the situation they are now. And the 5th player is the disappointing Arturi Lehkonen, who was picked in the 2nd round of the 2013 draft. He hasn't progressed as much as expected. The team has been expecting much more from him at this point in his career.

But let's not put the blame solely on Trevor Timmins & his lieutenants. GM Marc Bergevin shares a large part of the blame since players being put on the NHL team's roster are his responsibility. He also has the final say in the players getting picked at the draft. I've seen many cases in other organizations where when it comes draft day the GM selects someone that his scouting staff was totally against him selecting. The GM has the final say. Period.

And as i've been saying for months: Geoff Molson being in the team president's chair is a problem. The chair once belonged to the great Serge Savard, hockey hall of famer. This position would be much better served by someone who has a hockey background. Molson's only credentials in that department is that he's a millionaire and part of a well-known family which made its fortune in the beer business.

As things have been standing since Molson bought the team Marc Bergevin has no knowledgeable hockey person above him on the organizational chart. If the team president tries to tell him something all Bergevin has to do (and may have) is "hey, what do you know about hockey? Did you ever play in the NHL?"

That's where the problems begin: owner, president, GM, scouting, development, coaching. Coaching shares the least of the blame in my opinion. But the coach will likely be the first one to go. Mark my words.

 

[EagerBeaver]

2009-Louis Leblanc
2010-Jared Tinordi
2011-Nathan Beaulieu
2012-Alex Galchenyuk
2013-Michael McCarron
2014-Nikita Scherbak
2015-Noah Juulsen
2016-Mikhail Sergachev
2017-Ryan Poehling
2018-Jesperi Kotkaniemi
2019-Cole Caufield

Who are these guys? Sergachev is now with TB, was traded for Drouin. How many of the guys before him are still in NHL other than Galchenyuk?

 

[Doc Holliday]

Who are these guys? Sergachev is now with TB, was traded for Drouin. How many of the guys before him are still in NHL other than Galchenyuk?

Ever hear of David Fischer?? Me neither. They chose him in the first round of the 2006 draft. He never played a single game in the NHL. They could have picked either Claude Giroux or Nick Foligno ahead of him.

So when Carey Price is your most successful draft selection in 14 years it explains a lot of what's wrong with this organization, which hasn't won a Stanley Cup in 25 years and which will miss the playoffs in 5 of their past 6 seasons. And counting.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Fascinating statistic:

The last time the Habs had two 8-game losing streaks within the same season: 1940.

Conclusion: This is one of the worse teams in franchise history.

 

[sharkman]

.....I COULD HAVE WON A GOLD MEDAL HAD I BEEN IN THE NETS ON THOSE TEAMS!.....

...lol!...no offense Doc, but I could have won 5 medals (the Gold, the Silver, the Bronze, the Platinum and the Palladium) had I been in the nets on those teams!...lol!

***RULE OF THUMB***...and all the GMs in the NHL know it today...YOU DON'T DRAFT A GOALIE IN THE FIRST ROUND...NEVER!!!
...and even back then in 2005 the HABS should not have drafted Price in the first round...goalies are a dime a dozen and they can be easily trained to be very good goalies. Especially with all the beefed up equipment goalies wear and the small ice rink surface!

Any goalie today - in this playing environment - who has an GAA of 3.00+ even with a bad team should be canned ASAP!

 

[gaby]

C'est pas commenr MAIS c'est combien...lol.....beau but de KOVI en OT et PRICE enfin en vole une......que demander de plus.....maintenant????

 

[jalimon]

.que demander de plus.....maintenant????

to win 3 out of 4 of every other game so we make the playoffs?