End the Plekanec Experiment Now

Hkydude_77 · Member

End the Plekanec Experiment Now

Muller93 · Guru

Hkydude_77 wrote:

I like Tomas Plekanec, and I think the can be a 15-20 goal centremen, who kills penalties and plays a solid all around game (ala Carbonneau). That being said, he's not a #2 centre in the NHL.

I really, really, really hope Montreal signs Jason Allison. He got 60 points in 66 games last year, playing for the Leafs - and for those who worry about his skating, Kovalev should be the guy carrying the puck up ice anyway, and once the puck is in the offensive zone Allison is a bull along the boards, and there is no questioning his passing skills.

Why is he not signed? Actually may not be a bad idea.

But I am going to suggest that Gainey will await the end of the season aquisition of a top notch center as a free agent.

PS: Can you imagine if Jason Arnott could have been gotten? Place him centering Kovalev and samsonov...

Darn Montreal Media...

Traveling Hab · Veteran Member

Hkydude_77 wrote:

I like Tomas Plekanec, and I think the can be a 15-20 goal centremen, who kills penalties and plays a solid all around game (ala Carbonneau). That being said, he's not a #2 centre in the NHL.

I really, really, really hope Montreal signs Jason Allison. He got 60 points in 66 games last year, playing for the Leafs - and for those who worry about his skating, Kovalev should be the guy carrying the puck up ice anyway, and once the puck is in the offensive zone Allison is a bull along the boards, and there is no questioning his passing skills.

I have said this before and I will say it again, we do not need a puck controlling playmaking centre for the second line! We have two of them already! What we need is someone to put the puck in the net. We need aomsone to go to the net and get the passes.

Allison would be a worse fit than either Ribs or Pleks. I am not saying he is a bad player, but he does not fit that line!

Don't just look at stats and assume he is a good fit for us.

Habtastic · Guru

I am not a fan of Perrault, but back when he was cut loose I was hoping they would have chosen him over Ribs. Perrault can win the face-offs for those two and he is more of shooter than passer, or at least equal, as far as I remember... I think he would be a better fit than Alison.
I though, am still holding out for Conroy or Madano. :)

Habtastic

Traveling Hab · Veteran Member

Absolutely. I think Perrault, though maybe not as talented as Allison, is a better fit on our team. I still don't think we should go out and sign anyone at least until Locke and Grabovsky get auditions. We are playing well, and thus we can wait until someone who really fits our needs for trhe right price becomes available.

One reason I would like to see Plekanec dropped to the 3rd line though is his confidence. He is self admittedly not the most confident guy, and he was doing really well on the third line, so if he is better there, let's not ruin him or keep him on an unproductive line where he will just become a whipping boy even though he puts in effort every game and every practice.

This might just be a situation where we promoted him to his level of incompetence, though it is still kind of early to tell, and he is still very young.

AB Habman · Guru

Wow, I still think plecs has been the most consistantly hard working energy guy on that line! He goes to the net with and without the puck. Are we watching the same game?

MC Girl · Guru

AB Habman wrote:

Wow, I still think plecs has been the most consistantly hard working energy guy on that line! He goes to the net with and without the puck. Are we watching the same game?

Not to be rude... BUT ARE YOU KIDDIN' ME? ... from what I've seen of him thus far you couldn't be further from the truth.

Plecs is just not the one for that line.... period.

heet_150 · Guru

AB Habman wrote:

Wow, I still think plecs has been the most consistantly hard working energy guy on that line! He goes to the net with and without the puck. Are we watching the same game?

AB, I'm with you on this one (I just didn't want to be the only one

). He's generating chances, he's having problems converting. He's been on for 5 on 3 pk's. He's with two players that create chances by holding on to the puck which can create havoc as the other team starts to follow them. You have to be an opportunist to play with them. He's not the problem, defense, or lack thereof, is.

MC Girl · Guru

heet_150 wrote:

AB, I'm with you on this one (I just didn't want to be the only one). He's generating chances, he's having problems converting. He's been on for 5 on 3 pk's. He's with two players that create chances by holding on to the puck which can create havoc as the other team starts to follow them. You have to be an opportunist to play with them. He's not the problem, defense, or lack thereof, is.

I whole heartingly disagree, but will leave it at that. (I don't want to get into another heated tiff over opinions, so I'll button my lip

)

heet_150 · Guru

MC Girl wrote:

I whole heartingly disagree, but will leave it at that. (I don't want to get into another heated tiff over opinions, so I'll button my lip )

While you have said that you don't want to get into a tiff, I don't either. I am not taking shots at either of the wingers. I'm just saying that Plekanec is not the reason the Habs lost tonight.

Traveling Hab · Veteran Member

Guys, I agree that Pleks is a hard worker, full of skill, and I think he is doing everything he can, but I don't think he is quite the right fit for those two guys. I also doubt that any centre can truly be the right fit since the centre can't go to the net as much as one would have to with the Russian twins.

My way of seeing it is that for whatever the reason, Pleks confidence will get worse on that line, and that Allison certainly won't be any better. That's all I was saying.

Whether he is the problem or not, I don't think he should be there. I was hoping they would get it together, but other than moments of absolute brilliance, I don't think they are getting it.

Caper_hab_fan · Veteran Member

In my opinion....Pleks seems to want to play every night, unlike other guys...like say kovy and sammy, so far anyways....Kovalev was taking stupid penalties tonight, Sammy looks like he is 3 foot nothing out there, Pleks is the hardest working player on that line on a consistant basis...i agree with you on that one.

barry33 · Guru

AB Habman wrote:

Wow, I still think plecs has been the most consistantly hard working energy guy on that line! He goes to the net with and without the puck. Are we watching the same game?

Ab- I do not think anyone is knocking his effort. But I said it when they traded Ribs and it is shwoing up BIG time now. Pleks is so not ready to be a second line center on this, or any other team. I hate to say it but I think Ribs would have been a better fit on that line.

30_NILAN · Member

Please refrain from using #71's name. It can cause such things as instant vomit or chairs being thrown through office walls.

As for Pleks, he's got work to do on his game, but who else do we have? You can't touch lines 1,3,4 they are clicking well and that is good to see. What the 2nd line needs is just a good hard nosed centre. Pleks is great, but dont forget he is still in transition from last season. He was mainly used as a checking forward. And he has only had since the start of the season to attempt to adapt his game, and become a guy that can guide the 2 russian offensive weapons. He is still a 2nd year player in the league so he just needs some time. We are still looking sharp and working like a finely tuned athletic machines. GO HABS GO!

MC Girl · Guru

barry33 wrote:

Ab- I do not think anyone is knocking his effort. But I said it when they traded Ribs and it is shwoing up BIG time now. Pleks is so not ready to be a second line center on this, or any other team. I hate to say it but I think Ribs would have been a better fit on that line.

I agree.

barry33 · Guru

MC Girl wrote:

barry33 wrote:

Ab- I do not think anyone is knocking his effort. But I said it when they traded Ribs and it is shwoing up BIG time now. Pleks is so not ready to be a second line center on this, or any other team. I hate to say it but I think Ribs would have been a better fit on that line.

I agree.

'Lissa- I think the guy is great and works hard. But like you said, sometimes it is just a matter of "fit". The problem is that really at this time I do not see an option. We have 3 centers in Begin, Bonk and Pleks who are better suited in a 3rd/4th line checking role. I say, for now, give him a chance. If I felt there was a better option I would say go for it but I just do not see it right now.,

MC Girl · Guru

barry33 wrote:

'Lissa- I think the guy is great and works hard. But like you said, sometimes it is just a matter of "fit". The problem is that really at this time I do not see an option. We have 3 centers in Begin, Bonk and Pleks who are better suited in a 3rd/4th line checking role. I say, for now, give him a chance. If I felt there was a better option I would say go for it but I just do not see it right now.,

Huh! We agree yet again....

It's gotta be a full moon or somethin' tonight. LMAO

(Just kiddin' Barry

)

plouf · Guru

Maybe Bonk's the guy for the second line? He does like to go to the net. And he will play defense (but can he do both with his lack of speed?). Maybe not.

Ribeiro may well have been a better fit than Plekanec on that second line, but let's just remember who would be lining up on defense right now if we hadn't dumped Ribeiro.
PATRICK TRAVERSE - now that should get you throwing chairs across the room.

Bottom line? We have plenty of depth on the farm, so...
Bob, go out and get us a @#$% centre!

AB Habman · Guru

That's the thing...we can argue back and fourth but the truth is Gainey has to find a centerman. Enough already of the patch work.

For now though, to those that couldn't wait to dump Ribs, have to tolerate what we have at center on every line.

For now, I'm happy that Plecs is working hard and may not have the play making ability of Ribs but brings more energy than Ribs did.

Bonk may be worth a look also.

Nazarreth · Newbie

Honestly, I think the 4th line has lost it's spark as well... So what I'm thinking is this change.

1st line stays
Higging-Koivu-Ryder

2nd Line - Johnson gets promoted (he does play center), Sammy Gets demoted and Letendresse gets his shot...
Letandresse - Johnson - Kovalev

3rd Line - Pleks takes back his 3rd line duties with the 2 speedsters.
Sammy-Pleks-Perezhogin

4th Line becomes valuable again reuniting Bonk and Begin.
Begin - Bonk - Murray

I always thought Pleks and Perez were a great duo as well as Begin and Bonk. Letandresse gets to play on a more offensive line... and now we have 4 solid lines instead of 3...
Letandresse on the 4th line made that line usueless. they have no identity, their not a scoring line but with letandresse there, I wouldn't put them up against the other teams second line... He would give Kovalev the sniper he needs and Johnson is so versatile, he would be able to be the go between for both and also be defensivly responsible

Just my thoughts

Naz

AB Habman · Guru

Nazarreth wrote:

Honestly, I think the 4th line has lost it's spark as well... So what I'm thinking is this change.

1st line stays
Higging-Koivu-Ryder

2nd Line - Johnson gets promoted (he does play center), Sammy Gets demoted and Letendresse gets his shot...
Letandresse - Johnson - Kovalev

3rd Line - Pleks takes back his 3rd line duties with the 2 speedsters.
Sammy-Pleks-Perezhogin

4th Line becomes valuable again reuniting Bonk and Begin.
Begin - Bonk - Murray

I always thought Pleks and Perez were a great duo as well as Begin and Bonk. Letandresse gets to play on a more offensive line... and now we have 4 solid lines instead of 3...
Letandresse on the 4th line made that line usueless. they have no identity, their not a scoring line but with letandresse there, I wouldn't put them up against the other teams second line... He would give Kovalev the sniper he needs and Johnson is so versatile, he would be able to be the go between for both and also be defensivly responsible

Just my thoughts

Naz

I wish I would of seen your post before starting a new one..."hey Carb".

Interesting. I say it's worth a look.

Traveling Hab · Veteran Member

Ok guys. Let's just look at fit. You cannot have 2 guys on the wing who love to carry the puck and make plays. The centre then has to play both defence and go hard to the net, which is impossible. I don't care how fast you are. Perezhogin and Samsonov on the same line is almost as bad a fit as Samsonov and Kovalev. Having a playmaking centre between 2 guys like that is absolute suicide, so no Barry, even though I normally agree with you, Ribs was not a better fit on that line. Three guys who want to hold on to the puck and dish it off last minute CANNOT play well together.

I think we should mix and match the lines, but please guys, keep in mind who is the puck carrier, who is going hard to the net, who is playing defence, and all the roles that lines, offensive, defensive, or energy, must fill, and remember that some roles can be filled by the same player (puck carrier, playmaker, defensive guy for example) and others cannot (defensive guy and guy who camps out in front of the net).

Caper_hab_fan · Veteran Member

Love your lines, but i'd leave the combo of kovy and sammy, with johnson, and lats with pleks and perez....a young line like that is what i'd love to see.....no pressure on them from a veteran point of play....they can go out there and have fun....and i think there is a great balace there....lats with energy, hitting and size....pleks with his defensive knowledge and playmaking abilities.....and perez with his soon to come scoring (here's to hoping)

Jonny G · Senior Member

Back to the Allison and Perrault thing -- there's a reason why no team in the NHL wants either of those guys. They're garbage.

adam13 · Member

Panic must really have set in with you guys if you think Perreault and Allison...aka the leadfooted pair are potential solutions...

Please just keep our smooth skating forwards where they are....and Pleks will learn give the kid time...but that second line does need a shooter (a Ryder type) to go along with the skater Pleks (like Higgins) and the playmaker Kovalev (Koivu)...will Lats be the solution...lets find out!