What did the '08 Canadiens have that the '12 Canadiens don't
 

Tell me

A healthy Markov

Markov
#1 Powerplay
Solid Defence
Solid and clicking Top 6
etc.

I think in 08 they still had koivu and Kovaleav

Kovalev is the missing key :scared:

I miss Koivu. A lot.

Komisarek

Kovalev

He could change the course of a game with one move.

And of course, a healthy Markov, and Hamrlik.

Sir Saku The Great.

- freakishly good "health" (no real injuries until end of the season)
- veteran players playing up to expectations (Kovalev, Markov, Huet, Koivu, Hamrlik...)
- next generation leaders stepping up (Komi, higgins, A.kost)
- young players playing above expectations (Lats, Lapierre, Streit*, S.Kost)


* not young age-wise, but NHL-wise he was "young" and unknown despite putting up 62pts for us, which certainly defied even most optimistic expectations)


things went very well for us, but honestly, as a lineup, we weren't much better put together than we are this year.

if we got:
- health from Markov, Gio, *gomez..
- "playing to expectations" from Cammy, Gomez, Gill, Markov, Kaberle...

knowing that:
- we are getting solid play from "next gen" (gorges, dd, price)
- we are getting solid contributions from young players (Subban, MaxPac, Diaz)


i think we'd be competing for a top-4 spot.

unfortunately, both the health and the "vets playing to expectations" criterias are failing miserably AND were predictably vulnerable situations for us going into the season (all the evidence needed, imo, that Gauthier is no better playing GM than many fans would be).

ideally though, we need to build a team very different from both the '08 AND the '12 teams... we need a contender that can keep that level of play even when injury or slumps inevitably strike.

Carbo!!!!

No but really we were really healthy....Had a handful of players overachieve and a PP that made you pay if you made mistakes against us.

Even I ragged on Kovalev but we don't have a player that can control the game like him. Sure Cammy has led the playoffs in scoring twice before we got eliminated but he never dominated like Kovalev with the puck. It's the main reason we don't come back in the third. It has to be a team effort nowdays rather than relying on a superstar to just carry us on their back.

A hugely underrated coach who sucked out as much as he could out of a talentless, undevoted and/or marginal players.

This year is almost the reverse, we had a terrible coach who destroyed the lockerroom and confidence.

A healthy dose of luck.

Luck

This picture explains it; the missing key is Guillaume Latendresse.

Health, Luck, and Confidence

AK-TP-AK Magic.

Koivus heart and soul. We got rid of them all for a bunch of mercenaries who don't give a ****, thanks bob.

1) Kovalev had one of his best seasons and had the city in the palm of his hands. A motivated kovalev was as dangerous as anyone else in the league.

2)The PP was lethal. Markov and Streit were very diverse pointmen and kept the PKers on their toes. Markov's cross ice pass to kovalev was patented. Those two were magical with that play. Kovalev was also unpredictable from the right half boards and could beat you so many ways. These three guys gave so many different looks that the PKers would get dizzy.

3) Health. The habs lost koivu down the stretch but other than that, there really weren't any key injuries during the season.

Powerplay and PK were great.

Group stayed healthy.

We had lots of size and grit.

Markov at the time was not an on going soap opera, though we still had our shares through the years with other situations.

Defense had much more experience leadership, this is before they all started aging.

As much as I hate this, Kovalev was actually on his game, he could change it the game in an instant.

We had a good forecheck as well, I found back then. We had more size and grit to complement the skill and insulate the skilled players.

We had guys who fought and stepped up for teammates. Not just 1 guy, we had a few. Kostopolus, Komisarek, Begin, O'Byrne, Stewart. Out of that list you have to realize as well that we had some actual tough shutdown dmen who actually cleared the net with ease making it easier for the goalies.

We overall worked as a team and were on the same page mostly night in night out. Not the same this year around. You watch the team, it just seems unorganized, missing players, alot of players trying to do it themselves trying to get the team going. Just alot of overall failure I have seen. Is it trying to get used to Cunneyworth I don't know, its just my opinion when watching the team.

How about...

HEART

:cry:

the goaltender GAA probably wasnt #20 in the league

That team just had better luck with injuries ect. Both teams are pretty similar in talent, when the moves were made to move from koivu era to the gomez era, it was a sideway step at best, which didn't improve the club while giving up a solid prospect in order to remain relatively the same, they were sideways moves as everybody in the media had stated. All the fans here were dissing Mcguire ect for bashing these moves, looks like anyone who had a clue was right.

Stable lines clicking (Higgins-Koivu-Ryder, AK-Plekanec-AK), health, number 1 powerplay and just everyone playing to expectations.