Curtains for Claude...STEEEERIKE THREE!

Ando · Guru

Curtains for Claude...STEEEERIKE THREE!

NorthwindNS · Veteran Member

I was very surprised with the 2-man advantage. I did like the emotion I saw from CJ when the Habs were called for delay of game when the puck deflected over the glass. I wouldn't give up on CJ... we played a fairly strong game, a main weakness right now is not only defense but goaltending.

Jay1982 · Guru

How bout we send you in as coach since you have the all knowing knoweldge of hockey

Habhead · Veteran Member

Real frustrating game to basically give away . . . this team is in BIG trouble.

As was noted in the game thread by someone, this team is slowly turning into the one from a couple of years ago that let leads/games slip away in the dying minutes of the third only to lose late in the third or overtime!

Mtl has now lost 7 of the past 9 . . .

davidb · Guru

I do not know AndO if its the best thing right now to fire a coach when the team is in turmoil. Then again, look at Boston tonight. They shocked everyone getting rid of Thornton. They did strengthen the D and that guy got a goal and assist tonight. They played the best 60 minutes of the season. Maybe getting rid of a coach can stir things up too. getting rid of a coach does not put more talent on the ice

-- Edited by davidb at 22:27, 2005-12-01

NorthwindNS · Veteran Member

We should surprise the NHL and get ride of Theo. Then he can go to a new team, and play fantastic, just like Breezy and Ward, ect, ect,ect. We could get a solid d-man and a goalie for Theo.

Jedah · Guru

I think it's time for our GM to shake things up. I don't feel it's time for the coach to get the boot, because he's doing a fairly good job, I would say. I would just like to see Gainey pull the trigger on a trade that could land us someone beneficial both short term and long term.

Ando · Guru

This guy should be fired tonight!

This team...despite having some earlier success...is barely hanging onto a playoff position! They WILL NOT play a complete game. They rarely seem to have a game plan!

NOT EVERYONE CAN BE IN A SLUMP AT THE SAME TIME!

Cut-bait and move on!

HAVE THE HABS WON BY MORE THAN ONE GOAL???

....really....I think that the guy has been given ample time to pull this team together!

brooklynhabfan · Guru

You can't blame CJ for this, it's all lack of balls and heart.

Name me one great team that didn't have a great on ice leader, one filled with grit and determination.

I can name you some great teams that had mediocre or barely decent coaches, though

NorthwindNS · Veteran Member

Jedah wrote:

I think it's time for our GM to shake things up. I don't feel it's time for the coach to get the boot, because he's doing a fairly good job, I would say. I would just like to see Gainey pull the trigger on a trade that could land us someone beneficial both short term and long term.

I feel like we've been waiting on Gainey to make a move for..... idk... 7 consecutive losses now?

plouf · Guru

Um...hello? We didn't have Markov, Koivu or Kovalev, our three best players, (plus no Komisarek) and we just pulled off a point against the hottest team in the NHL and everyone's calling for the coach's head again?

Oh wait, we are only 14-7-5. That's not acceptable in these circumstances. With all these rookies and injuries the coach should be doing better.

Wait, I know, it must be the general manager's fault!

We lost. We are in a bad slump. These things happen. Should Calgary have fired Sutter after their pathetic start? I bet they're glad they didn't.

We always hear on this board how awful our power play is. Our power play is 11th in the league.

Our goaltending sucks. But we have the 7th highest save percentage in the league.

This is worrisome yes. The end of the world, not so fast. One more time...anybody remember the last ten or so games of last season? When "other teams figured us out", when all was truly over, when it was time to fire Julien, when it was time to trade Koivu, etc...? All we did was beat heavily-favoured Boston and lose to the team that won the cup.

NorthwindNS · Veteran Member

Well said.

Habhead · Veteran Member

plouf wrote:

. . . Our goaltending sucks. But we have the 7th highest save percentage in the league . . .

Hmmmmm, that's an interesting stat you pulled out considering "The God" Theodore is ranked 31st in the league with a .888 save percentage.

NorthwindNS · Veteran Member

Must be because DANIS played some games!

plouf · Guru

Habhead wrote:

plouf wrote: . . . Our goaltending sucks. But we have the 7th highest save percentage in the league . . . Hmmmmm, that's an interesting stat you pulled out considering "The God" Theodore is ranked 31st in the league with a .888 save percentage.

Good point. I only looked at the team stats.

Anyway, he was a respectable .900 tonight (to the extent that save percentage means much, I admit...it's sort of meaningless, though more meaningful than +/-).

Habhead · Veteran Member

Danis's save percentage is .908 which would put him at 15th . . . if he was included in the list on NHL.com (must be some sort of minimum GP/min's or something required).

NorthwindNS · Veteran Member

Thanks! I talk a lot but I never get any stats to back it up... thanks for that! lol

plouf · Guru

Habhead wrote:

Danis's save percentage is .908 which would put him at 15th . . . if he was included in the list on NHL.com (must be some sort of minimum GP/min's or something required).

Important thing to keep in mind, just to balance that out a bit; Danis usually gets to play in the less important games. (This in no way excuses Theo for his crap save percentage.)

I'm not deluded about Theo, but I do think there's a tendency to blame him for games where the team is outplayed and he actually did ok...I realize he's got a big salary, but that's why he's not so easy to just trade or drop or whatever.

Habhead · Veteran Member

plouf - I understand fully where you're coming from, and it certainly would be a BOLD move on BG's part to trade Theo. But you know, sometimes those things need to be done.

And yes, his play and his salary would be two HUGE concerns for any trading partner of the Habs.

I personally would like to see a trade, but I highly doubt it will happen.

NorthwindNS · Veteran Member

plouf wrote:

Habhead wrote:
Danis's save percentage is .908 which would put him at 15th . . . if he was included in the list on NHL.com (must be some sort of minimum GP/min's or something required).

Important thing to keep in mind, just to balance that out a bit; Danis usually gets to play in the less important games. (This in no way excuses Theo for his crap save percentage.)
I'm not deluded about Theo, but I do think there's a tendency to blame him for games where the team is outplayed and he actually did ok...I realize he's got a big salary, but that's why he's not so easy to just trade or drop or whatever.

Agreed. I also think, I am included, tonites game was just the breaking point to this whole Theo situation. I say give Danis a chance in a important game, and then we can really talk about trading Theo.

plouf · Guru

Last time we played Danis in a game against a good team he got shelled.

NorthwindNS · Veteran Member

Buffalo right?

plouf · Guru

Actually thought it was the Rangers. But maybe I'm wrong about that.

Jedah · Guru

Danis was only bad against Washington, and they're hardly a good team. The best team he's faced is Buffalo, and he did well against them twice.

superhab · Guru

Jedah wrote:

Danis was only bad against Washington, and they're hardly a good team. The best team he's faced is Buffalo, and he did well against them twice.

He is in a funk right now hes last two games in the NHL (Washington and Buffalo) weren't that great. Washington for obvious reasons and he was really fighting the puck in Buffalo, he was just lucky some of those bounces didn't go in. He also has played two AHL games one of them he got pulled a 7-2 loss and the other the Bulldogs lost in a shootout. i would like to see him get some confidnence back before he is recalled. he is young and should be able to break out of his funk soon, hopefully tommorow.

Jay1982 · Guru

Ando wrote:

This guy should be fired tonight! This team...despite having some earlier success...is barely hanging onto a playoff position! They WILL NOT play a complete game. They rarely seem to have a game plan! NOT EVERYONE CAN BE IN A SLUMP AT THE SAME TIME! Cut-bait and move on! HAVE THE HABS WON BY MORE THAN ONE GOAL??? ....really....I think that the guy has been given ample time to pull this team together!

You can't be serious?

Barely hanging on to a playoff spot? You talk like we are in March or something and we're tied for 8th place in the east.

If people were to get fired after losing a few games because our vets are out and the rookies are acting like...uh rookies (growing and having some incosistency) then there should be a major firing every single week in professional sports. Ride out the slump, make gameplay changes, and learn from the slump and get better from it.

NorthwindNS wrote:

Jedah wrote: I think it's time for our GM to shake things up. I don't feel it's time for the coach to get the boot, because he's doing a fairly good job, I would say. I would just like to see Gainey pull the trigger on a trade that could land us someone beneficial both short term and long term. I feel like we've been waiting on Gainey to make a move for..... idk... 7 consecutive losses now?

Just because we would lose 2 games in a row doesn't mean we need to trade off players. Nor would it change if we would lose 5, 7, 10 games in a row. Slumps happen, and if you want a good trade to happen, we have to be paitient, it's better waiting out a week or two to get the best possible deal than to just jump the gun and make some **** deal and have us screwed over with a player that under achieves.

Actually I can probably put my life's savings down on the table saying that the first trade Gainey makes will be scrutinized, then loved once we win a few games, then as soon as we lose 2 in a row. We'll be back at the same spot we are in now.

barry33 · Guru

Ando wrote:

This guy should be fired tonight! This team...despite having some earlier success...is barely hanging onto a playoff position! They WILL NOT play a complete game. They rarely seem to have a game plan! NOT EVERYONE CAN BE IN A SLUMP AT THE SAME TIME! Cut-bait and move on! HAVE THE HABS WON BY MORE THAN ONE GOAL??? ....really....I think that the guy has been given ample time to pull this team together!

Hopefully he takes your hero Bonk with him. I have to question your credibility And-O. All you dio dwas preach about Bonk being the saviour of this team and what has he done (kill a few penalties and we already had an abundance of players like that). So when you stand here and say fire the coach I take it with half a grain of salt (it does not warrant a full grain). I see you failed to mention that Bonk's 100'th dumb penalty cost us a goal again last night? When was the last time he scored And-O? Pee Wee AA?

By the way 2 thoughts on firing coaches. Sutter and Mctavish went through horrible slumps but were not fired. Look at their teams now? Olcyk? Boston's coach? Do you think Boston would like to have our record right now? And IMHO Boston has way more talent and edepth than we do

-- Edited by barry33 at 08:51, 2005-12-02

NorthwindNS · Veteran Member

CJ should not go at this point... I have never thought that CJ should go, despite any posts I have made hinting towards that. CJ is the strenghthing force for our team right now. I'm sure all the players like him and respect him.

Jedah · Guru

Exactly. Julien is NOT the problem.

But as for Gainey making a trade, obviously I do not want to see him pull off one out of desperation. I do however think he could find a way to strengthen our defence, or even our 2nd line. And even though we were winning games at the beginning of the season, there were gaping holes that needed to be filled. So I'm not just saying this because we've been losing.

NorthwindNS · Veteran Member

Agreed. Last night I was very aggressive about trading Theodore; mainly because my emotions of lossing were getting the best of me. As Barry said, it's better to post the day after... lol... anyways, as much as I would like to see Danis get more playing time, as many have said, he cannot be our #1 - he is a solid prospect and we should look forward to him playing more and more as the season continues. I have said before that I feel comfortable when Theo is in the net, I still do for the most part.

The problem with Theo is that we all know how he can play and he is not meeting our expectations right now. Before his performances in the last couple of games, I posted that we really can't trade Theo because the fans have faith in him and he takes pressure of the team... now I am not so sure.

I am very, very happy with Souray's performance last night. I checked the stats, and amazingly he only got 1 shot on net, even though he must have shot the puck 7 times in the second and third. It will only be a matter of time before players start jumping out of the way of his shot again.

I like what I have been seeing from Ryder and Plekantic, even Ribs (the assist) the past couple of games. I believe we need a trade, but it so easy (especially me) to post about trading when in reality it's a lot harder then just saying, Lets get rid of Theo. Also, as do all Habs players that are traded... however gets traded will become a star with their new team... Breezy, Ward, Hossa...