McKenzie's Take On The Habs
 

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=413274

Doesn't think they'll be as bad as last year but also doesn't say how good he thinks they'll be this year.

Figured people would care because it's McKenzie.

Discuss.

disappointed to say the least....

it's more like an explanation of the lineup. yeah, we know who plays for our team bob, some insight would be nice.

and what the **** is up with:

did we trade eller? oh no, looks like we didn't

workload where? you already slotted gomez in his place

ah bob... you disappoint me today...

Eller has played plenty of time on Wing, probably the majority. It's hard to fault bob for that.

He did the same for every Canadian teams. Of course we know all about our team but people watching TSN across the country try don't. I watched every capsules and I thought it was well made.

It wasn't an essay but a synopsis.
Gomez continued to get starting minutes last season despite being horrendous, partly because the coaches didn't have enough confidence in Eller. Hopefully that changes this "season". Don't shoot the messenger, just hope faith is shown in Eller.

if you're disappointed with his summary, then you better be sitting down when bob makes his playoff picks.

What I don't understand is how short sighted most people are being about the Habs. First of all where did the experts predict they would finish last year? The year before? My point is that the experts are nearly always wrong. Most of them just reslot teams basically where they finished the previous year. I can forgive the experts because they are covering 30 teams but followers of the Habs should know better.

Let's start with a guy few mention and most have written off: Andrei Markov. He is back. He was playing fantastic in the KHL and was to play in the all star game. Could he get injured again? Of course. Is it likely? No. Remember koivu`s knee troubles? They felt like they'd never end but they did. Have most of you forgotten what a difference maker he is? If you have go back and check our record when he was in the line up and when he wasn't.

Secondly do you remember that despite the circus and the injuries last year and no Markov we were still in almost every game? Do you remember our goals for vs goals against?

Thirdly how is this team worse on paper than last year? There is no reason to believe Bourque won't bounce back since he was playing injured all last season and now the injury has been surgically repaired. A healthy Bourque will be very helpful. Not as pure a scorer as Cammalleri but more useful in every other way.

AK is gone and I miss him but adding Prust and Armstrong is pretty interesting up front if you ask me. We're also getting Gionta back, and unlike Gomez when Gionta is healthy he gets his points and is a real spark plug. A healthy Gionta and a healthy Bourque on either side of Pleks is a pretty good 2nd line if you ask me.

Most of the experts and many of you seem so jaded by last year that you can't see the forest for the trees.

There, I had to sign up and get an account here just so I could get that off my chest. As you were... :)

it's late and im getting a bit tipsy, but im pretty sure he spent most, not all, of his time at center. and sucks on wings so... :dunno:

i know it's a synopsis, i just... like bob and expected some deep meaning-of-life type ****... :(

Saw that yesterday and thought it was nothing special...he gets paid good money to put stuff like this out? Easy money if you can get it I guess.

McKenzie's final statement sums it up. He makes no prediction other than to say He expects a much better result this year. Frankly I'd love for us to get Drouin or Jones or MacKinnon in the draft but unless Price gets injured it's not going to happen.

Welcome onboard.

You may call it short sighted, others may say it has perspective. Most fans watch only their team, and totally over rate, or under rate their team. Guys who get paid to watch 10 games a day see players and teams through a less emotion lense.

You have to be realistic, and Mckenzie just lays it out there, and then always seems to leave a door open, unlike alot of the analysts who do their so called predictions....

If the Habs stay healthy they will challenge for the playoff spots at the bottom 3 spots 6-7-8 if they get injuries, like last year, to key people, they are toast....

They do need alot of stuff to go absolutely right to have a good season, hopefully Price plays well and give us chance to win most games...

Markov is a piece of glass, they just barely touch him and he is injured. Body is brittle ie Brunet. I wouldn't expect much from him this year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0VYCjQtYHs

If Subban doesn't get signed or has another off year, I would consider dealing a couple of vets at the deadline for draft picks, guys like Gionta, Kaberle or Bourque. Go for a high pick. Either Mackinnon, Drouin or Jones. If Subban or Markov are not great, be very surprised if Habs are a cup contender anyway. If there is ever any draft to go for the high pick this is the draft. Like the '71 or ' 79 draft. With Lafleurs, Robinsons, Bourques, Messiers types available in 2013 draft.

Yeah I was gonna reply, I'm sure Eller saw 75-80% of his ice time at center.

Can't really blame the media guys, Habs were very unlucky last year and had many injury issues so to be honest I wouldn't know where to put them either. Fighting for a playoff spot for sure

How is his body brittle?

His first injury was a cut tendon in his foot by a skate. That is a freak accident that cost him 40 games. He blew out his ACL, it happens to a lot of athletes, he came back a bit too soon and re-injured it(possibly wasn't done right). He has had no problems with his ACL since surgery November 2011. Played half the year KHL with no knee issues. He may get reinjured(hopefully not) but sometimes bad luck DOES run out.

I hate the loser mentality "go for a high pick" it's wrong on so many levels it's not even funny.

Agreed, so negative for nothing.

The mentality is.. if we're going to miss the play-offs.. we might as well miss it horrendously. Were you around during the era that we missed the play-offs but always picked 10-12th? We couldn't get our hands on any superstars and thus continued to toil in mediocrity.

Well now with the draft lottery changes, we might get lucky from time to time when we do miss them in 9th or 10th place

I was wondering whether markov got chosen for the all star game because of his reputation or his actual play. Where did you hear he played great?

You also have to consider all our young players getting better. We're not a contender but we're sure not a shoo in for atop 5 pick.

We won't know for 10 weeks if we look like a playoff taem or not, you make decisions at that point.

Our division is not that strong this year, I expect a 3 way race with Boston and Buffalo so we could infact be 3rd...not "sneak into 8th".

If we are in fact 10th/11th by late March hopefully MB takes the opportunity to make the team younger by maybe moving Kaberle or another veteran. That's not something to look at now.

Being misinformed on HF is a norm. Sometimes it's better to just ignore and go forward.

I agree to Price and Beowulf. I'm getting really tired of the knocks on Markov. He is not glass. Prior to that cut tendon he was an ironman. He blew out a knee. It happens in this business all the time and the only thing he did wrong after that was come back too soon. Markov is one of the classiest, honest, hardworking guys to wear the CH in my lifetime. He isn't old, his knee seems to be good to go, why are we not looking forward to his coming back? I'll tell you why. Because the average fan is short sighted, ungrateful, and sometimes downright rude and ignorant. I'd like to see those who think he is glass go into a corner with him.

No one noticed or brought out what McKenzie said about our D corps.

I think so many of you are depressed about last year that you just can't pull yourselves together.

Subban - Gorges
Markov - Emelin
Diaz/Kaberle - Bouillon
Diaz Kaberle
Weber
St Denis

Put that up against all the defense corps in the eastern conference and tell me it's horrible. Do you remember that for the first two months last year we were rolling out

Subban - Gorges
Diaz(rookie) - Gill
Emelin (rookie)- Weber (basically rookie)

I think we quickly forget...

Emelin now is much better than Emelin then
Same for Diaz
Markov will be better than all of them even Subban imo and I concede I may be wrong on that one. Time will tell. Gorges is better if any change. Kaberle can't be worse, could be better and we have some rookies in the wings with big upside.

Price is Price - I expect a slow start due to lack of playing and no preseason games but he'll be fine.

Pac - DD - Cole
Bourque - Pleks - Gionta
Gomez/Armstrong - Eller - Moen
Gomez/Armstrong - White - Prust
Leblanc
Nokel.
Dumont
Blunden
Gallager
*Gally (who knows that the plans are there)

Success starts in goal - check
Success is built on the D corps after that - I say check
Then you need a balance of scoring, speed, defense, and toughness. We're only lean on scoring if Bourque and Gionta flop and Eller doesn't improve. The likelyhood of even two of those happening is slim imo.
Speed to burn
Best PK last year despite the circus. Depends how much Therrien changes the system
Toughness is improved, could still be better, especially on the backend.

If this team doesn't make the playoffs I'll be surprised.

You should post more often. I agree with much of what you are saying but the only thing that really worries me is Therrien........time will tell

I agree. At no point am I going into a fresh season hoping we blow ass and lose. I have my predictions based on how this team will perform but that has absolutely no bearing on how well they actually will do. If they go into the season and meet my expectations of not having enough offense to be a play-off team.. then yes, my mentality will change to hoping we sell some pieces that aren't a part of the team going forward and develop our youth + acquire more.