Thoughts and opinions please…

Ando · Guru

Thoughts and opinions please…

sarge · Member

Agreed, however, home ice? Not sure not securing home ice would be a total failure. Losing first round or worse missing the playoffs? Absolutely!

Just hoping for continued good health and player development.

I know it's easy to believe everything is wonderfull with 5/6 points earned and all, but this is how last year started too.

salted_one · Veteran Member

Ando wrote:

This is the best roster by far that the Montreal Canadiens have had since the ’93 Cup team was dismantled…even without another change!

…and anything less than at least earning home-ice for the first-round of the playoffs would represent a total failure!

i think whats gonna help the habs get into the playoffs this year is some consistansy and sofar we have been seein it from all around. but home ice might be a little more than they can handle... maybe, cuz when you look at the east there are some teams that look dissapointing. the canes are a prime example of that they look horrible in the standings and on the ice. they really miss gerber. although don't tell the sens that cuz im sure they wouldn't mind giving him back. but you can't blame gerber the sens look awful infront of him i guess they miss chara that much cuz they need that extra physical presence. boston looks like they are back where they started last season... their off-season pickups will never heal the thorton trade. one of the worst trades in a long time. and the flyers once again look like they'll be the underachievers like last year. and i swear the leafs are cursed no matter whos there the injury problems will keep coming back. if all those teams keep on the same track they are on now home ice advantage may not be so far fetched

barry33 · Guru

Ando wrote:

This is the best roster by far that the Montreal Canadiens have had since the ’93 Cup team was dismantled…even without another change!

…and anything less than at least earning home-ice for the first-round of the playoffs would represent a total failure!

And-O- Although they have improved, I still see deficiencies in key areas that need to be addressed. Alot of questions remain to be answered. Can Koivu hold up with all teh ice time he will get (with the absence of depth at center)? Is Huet the real deal? Will they get scoring from another line on a regular basis because as it stands now the opposition will just start stacking against the Koivu line. What about D? Will Souray be around come playoff time? Even Markov?

Certainly another first round exit will be a step back not ahead. But look at the parity in the east division this year. It is going to be touch.

NEWFIEHABSFAN · Senior Member

crawl, then learn to walk, i believe that with this team , we will make the play-offs easily(crawling) and eventually have home-ice adv (walking) in a year or two!

Nil d · Guru

NEWFIEHABSFAN wrote:

crawl, then learn to walk, i believe that with this team , we will make the play-offs easily(crawling) and eventually have home-ice adv (walking) in a year or two!

....... and maybe a Stanley Cup run after that?

Johab · Guru

NEWFIEHABSFAN wrote:

crawl, then learn to walk, i believe that with this team , we will make the play-offs easily(crawling) and eventually have home-ice adv (walking) in a year or two!

quess i missed that one when i was younger. I went from scooting backwards on my belly to walking ( no lie ) My mom said 1 day i must have gotten tired of getting stuck against the wall after pushing myself backwards until i couldnt go anymore...got tired and just decided 1 day to get up and walk...

plouf · Guru

This is pretty ironic And-o, but I disagree with you because of the Koivu factor. Just as barry mentioned, we are in danger of free fall if Koivu is hurt, which given the load he is taking on, his size, and his history, is quite possible. I really think we need to shore up at centre before we can expect to be top 4 in the east.

That said, I can't complain about the nice cushion we're creating.

I LOVE what I'm seeing so far.

How about Higgins?! Komisarek?! Ryder?! Bonk?! Great improvement from all four from this time last year.

Habtastic · Guru

The team does look good, but I agree that the center position worries me and something similar to Kovalev for Modano, etc... sounds really good. I don't hate Kovalev, but we have enough wingers and he has the talent and the contract to get what we need.

Ummm... did I just re-open a can of worms?

Habtastic

habgirl · Guru

CENTRE CENTRE CENTRE CENTRE CENTRE CENTRE...

Ok, I'm sticking my neck out at the risk of getting a puck thrown at me...but we need more depth here. If Saks gets hurt (believe me, I love him to pieces but with the icetime he's gonna see, it's more than conceivable) we may not be in quite the same spirits.

I love what I've seen so far, and I agree with And-O (GASP!)

This team is clicking. However, I still smell another move.

Maybe it's wishful thinking - but remember, we started last season on a tear too...

habgirl · Guru

Nil d wrote:

NEWFIEHABSFAN wrote:

crawl, then learn to walk, i believe that with this team , we will make the play-offs easily(crawling) and eventually have home-ice adv (walking) in a year or two!

....... and maybe a Stanley Cup run after that?

Nil, you kill me! I missed that giggle on the first take!

plouf · Guru

I know Gainey hasn't blown us away with the big moves, but he's constructed something solid to build on here, often by just being methodical and letting pieces fall into place.

Let's look at the roster before he arrived:

G-Theodore, Hackett, Garon

It's hard to argue that we haven't improved with Huet, Aebischer, Danis at this point, since the first three are pretty much has-beens. Garon and Theodore are both a lot lesser players than they looked like they would be five years ago.

D-Souray (badly injured at that point), Markov, Rivet, Bouillon and Komisarek were kept.
Brisebois, Traverse, Quintal, Hainsey and Dykhuis are gone.
We now have Streit, Niinimaa and Dandenault in their place.
It's a bit of a wash there, although Niiniimaa remains an open question, and I'm not sad to see any of those 5 gone, even Quintal, who was past it.

C-Koivu is the only remaining centre
Instead of Perreault, Ribeiro and Juneau, we have Begin, Bonk and Plekanec.
I'm happy with that, big time, although we are still thin at the position.

W-This is where we've improved most.
Instead of Zednik, Bulis, Sundstrom, Dackell, Audette, McKay, Kilger, Czerkawski, Hossa
We have Kovalev, Samsonov, Johnson, Perezhogin, Ryder, Higgins, Downey, Murray, Latendresse.
BIG improvement there.

And our farm system looks fairly solid at every position, although the defensemen are probably a couple of years away.

So far so good. I still have faith in Bob. We're better at every position.

habgirl · Guru

Plouf, totally agreed. I too have faith in Bob and yikes, so far so good.

I was just trying to point out what IMHO could be our downfall this year and that I think the shark is still sniffing for prey.

Habtastic · Guru

I too am quite happy with Gainey's work, but I defintely feel something else is coming. There are a few teams reeling out there and we do need to bolster our centers and sort out our D. I have complete faith that Bob and his crew will do what they need to do!

Habtastic

barry33 · Guru

Sarge made a great point..as you recall, last year we started out with 3 wins on the road and everyone was talking Stanley Cup. Lets keep things in perspective here. What scares me most about this team is depth. So far what I see is the Koivu line being counted on for scoring, the Plekanecs line being put out there hoping they score, and the other 2 lines being put out there hoping the other team does not score when they are. I just worry that if the status quo remains, they will wear down as the season goes on.