Why 8th, why not 7th???

Caper_hab_fan · Veteran Member

Why 8th, why not 7th???

Zulrath · Senior Member

If we're going to make noise, now is the time we have to do it. For our April schedule is just brutal.

JohnM · Guru

How bout 6th? Cause if we make it to 6th we could play the Rangers in the first round...

Dare to dream?

salted_one · Veteran Member

actually 6ths is very possible as well the devils are only a point ahead of tampa and both tampa and the devils aren't playin as well as they can lately and since the teams behind the habs keep beatin each other the habs have a shot at stayin with a playoff spot they just need to keep playing the way they have and by they i mean huet the rest of the team could use a little boost compaired to last night but at least they weren't completly out shot this time!!!!

Johab · Guru

The fact that Tampa and NEw Jersey arent playing as well as they can doesnt help us really. Because i think that of late, we are playing as well as we can. and yet we are still in 8th. However we are climbing out of a big hole we dug ourselves into, perhaps we only look bad because of the position we are in. Honestly guys, do you think we have a better team than say, Tampa? New Jersey? And to be honest, i think the team we best match up against for playoffs are the Senators. I think they or the Flyers are the team id like to face first round, if we make it. Call me crazy, but look at our record agaisnt the Sens, we are never really OUT of a game with them

Caper_hab_fan · Veteran Member

A healthy Sens, no thanks. Remember, this is a different sens team then the ones we've seen in the last few years getting put out by the leafs......Lalime = Hasek, Heatly = Hossa, Hasek 10 times better the Lalime, and a good canadian boy like Heatly will shine more so in the playoffs then a european like Hossa, just my opinon. To be perfectly honest, now you can call me crazy, but i'd like to face Carolina first round, i know we've played pretty bad against them this year, but when the playoffs come around with there leading scorers like Stall, who might just get the nervous jitters, and Gerber who (i'm not 100% of this) probably never seen a playoff game either......so wouldn't it make sense to take on a team like this....maybe...maybe not....if i knew this information, i probably wouldn't be a correctional officer...lol

Go habs Go

plouf · Guru

Hasek situation up in the air at the moment though.

ray · Senior Member

I say we can catch New Jersey, Tampa unless they get it together as they are struggling now. The team i think we can really catch is Philly, They are struggling really bad and with ongoing Injuries to Forsberg and Primeau out for the season, and now Gagne hurt this team is really vulnerable!

barry33 · Guru

JohnM wrote:

How bout 6th? Cause if we make it to 6th we could play the Rangers in the first round... Dare to dream?

Johnny- amazing what some sun, bikinis, and too much tequila will do torwards one's optomism lol. Never say never I guess. It will be dependant on if Gainey can pull the trigger on the right trade. I am afraid with our current cast of characters I just do not see it happening. I have not seen the consistent 60 minute effort from the whole team yet that is neccessary to get us over the hump. We are still managing an average of 6 quaility scoring chances a game and 22 shots on goal while the other teams are firing at least 30 at us. What happens if Huet comes back to earth and starts playing "normal"? Without him standing on his head after getting the call from Gainey, we are no where NEAR a playoff position. I would venture to say that had CJ received goaltending like that when he was there he would still be head coach in Montreal. Really, that is the only difference I see in the Habs now as opposed to 2 months ago. We are still getting poor efforts from guys like Zednick and Ribiero. We are still getting inconsistent efforts form Kovalev (sorry..15 goals from this guy does not cut it). And we are still having trouble moving the puck out of our own end. The only difference is that Huet bails them out.

wright · Veteran Member

barry33 wrote:

JohnM wrote: How bout 6th? Cause if we make it to 6th we could play the Rangers in the first round... Dare to dream? Johnny- amazing what some sun, bikinis, and too much tequila will do torwards one's optomism lol. Never say never I guess. It will be dependant on if Gainey can pull the trigger on the right trade. I am afraid with our current cast of characters I just do not see it happening. I have not seen the consistent 60 minute effort from the whole team yet that is neccessary to get us over the hump. We are still managing an average of 6 quaility scoring chances a game and 22 shots on goal while the other teams are firing at least 30 at us. What happens if Huet comes back to earth and starts playing "normal"? Without him standing on his head after getting the call from Gainey, we are no where NEAR a playoff position. I would venture to say that had CJ received goaltending like that when he was there he would still be head coach in Montreal. Really, that is the only difference I see in the Habs now as opposed to 2 months ago. We are still getting poor efforts from guys like Zednick and Ribiero. We are still getting inconsistent efforts form Kovalev (sorry..15 goals from this guy does not cut it). And we are still having trouble moving the puck out of our own end. The only difference is that Huet bails them out.

Could not agree more with your comments. Essentially the Canadiens, in my mind anyway are two to three star players away from being able to go deep into the playoffs. The team still needs another quality defenceman with good puck handling abilities to complement Markov, and get a consistent transition game going. Additionally the team desperately needs a pure goal scorer. When was the last time a team went deep into the playoffs without one forward in the top 25 in scoring? Kovalev was supposed to be the guy, but 15 goals is not going to get it done. The Canadiens can barely cobble together one line that can create consistent pressure and bury the chances with any degree of frequency. If Huet performance declines at all, then the probabilites of the Canadiens not even making the playoffs increase significantly, let alone making the playoffs and surprising people.