Samsonov - Koivu - Kovalev
 

The end of our problems, i've been saying this since freaking December. Dany Dubé & Ron Fournier agree 110% on that aswell, why the hell won't Carbo try it one day ? I'm not bashing the coach but god damnit put the three players who are paid to setup and score goals and GO, try it for at least 4 straight games. We don't have much to lose since we'r scoring 1 goal per game at the moment.

Bench Koivu and Kovalev and play Sammy, that is a better wake up call isn't it?

I wouldn't play Kovalev with Samsonov, even if Koivu is the centerman.

Bring back Kostitsyn or let Samsonov play on the Johnson-Bonk line!

I wouldn't play Kovalev with Samsonov, even if Crosby was the centerman.

heh, well said!

I say give it a try.



Sammy-Koivu-Kovalev
Ryder-Pleks-Higgins
Johnson-Bonk-Lats
Streit-Lapierre-Perez

http://hfboards.com/showthread.php?t=342531

I obvioulsy agree that Carbo should try every possible combination however I don't think that Kovalev and Samsonov will produce together as shown by the 1st two months of the season,, Two emotionless europeans just don't go well together

are you crazy? these lazy russians doesnt deserve a place on the first line! Yeah, even if Samsonov was playing well with Bonk and Jonhson on hes last 2-3 games and Kovalev is playing better than Koivu but still, Streit and Johnson deserve their spot way more than these two overpaid russians.

To me, Samso and Kovalev on the same line is a non-starter. I say put one of them with Koivu and let's start from there.

Higgins/Perezhogin/Lats/Ryder - Koivu - Kovalev
OR
Samso - Koivu - Ryder/Lats/Johnson

One of the Russians MUST be moved to the top line ; but not both. wouldn't work.

It might the only combo we haven't tried yet. It does strike me as somewhat bizarre that it hasn't been tried at least once this year. Arguably our three most potent offensive threats. Koivu and Kovalev have shown they can produce and be dangerous together. I hate to start to read into things that aren't there, but maybe there is some kind of ego thing with Carbo, or that he doesn't think they'd be good enough defensively, who knows. It just seems odd that these three weren't tried out at least a few times.

At this point it's a line like that that would make the sense to me. We need offense, and 5 on 5 these guys could and should be dangerous. Higgins-Plekanec-Ryder might not be most appealing 2nd line, but Pleks and Higgins have enough speed and skill to make it work.

Maybe Carbo is worried that putting all his eggs in one basket would make it easier to shut us down, but at this point with so little going at even strength, and the powerplay being as average as it is, I think this is the kind of line we should be looking at. Worse comes to worse, you break it up after one period, but I wouldn't mind seeing these guys together. At least have a line dedicated solely to producing offensively.

Okay, a sneak preview of this line..

"Kovalev with the puck, nice move to get around a couple of defenders.. Oh he fans on the shot, it goes to the corner. It's picked up by Samsonov. Here's some fancy stickhandling, round the net.. up across the blue lines down by the face-off circle, he gets approached and hands the puck back to Koivu. Koivu makes a weak back hand pass into the corner where Kovalev gets it. Kovalev looks, moves up along the side wall.. turns, he's into a shooting position.. He passes it back to the point, intercepted by the defender.. Koivu jumps on his back.. penalty Montreal."

Re: Samsonov - Koivu - Kovalev

Carbonneau does not have enough intelligence to do this, and I'd guess Gainey is too busy sitting up in the booth, stunned; wondering why the h*ll he ever hired Carbonneau in the first place.

Somewhere within the interstices of their collective ineptitude the clock goes tick, tock, tick, tock, and the Habs place in the standings goes down, down, down....

.....Gainey is questioned after tonight's game, and says, "I'm waiting for Godot."

Its a good idea , but they talk about it in 110% , not a good idea anymore :sarcasm:

It would be a bad idea to try it, I would love to see it, personnaly I would play
Kovalev-Koivu-Samsonov
Higgins-Pleks=Perezhogin (has been working well)
Streit-Bonk-Jonhson
Latendresse-Lapierre-Begin

Markov-Komi
Souray-Dandenault(one of our best D lately)
Bouillon-Rivet (these guys deceive me)

Start Aebisher next game and alternate, our goalies have to be in good shape for each game they are playing, they are all going to be important.

I think every hockey fan in montreal has been screaming this tune out the rafters. Pretty soon the traffic lights are going to blink "Koivu-kovalev-samsonov" instead of "green-yellow-red". Carbo's thought about it. There's a reason he isn't doing it. Given that none of Carbo's adjustments have really WORKED lately, I think he should pull a George and go into opposite mode.

If Carbo's first instinct is always wrong, the opposite must by definition be right.

Chicken salad's not the opposite of tuna. Salmon is the opposite of tuna, because salmon swim against the current, while the tuna swim with it.

"Hi, I'm Sergei, I'm unemployed and I live with my parents".

If only.

sending Montreal into a panic, bringing traffic to a standstill and costing tax payers 3 million trying to diffuse the Samsonov bombs.

Carbo should be fired, and Gainey with him.

Wow, you are the first person to come up with this. Certainly the first person to make a thread about it. I am in awe of your brilliance.

The best thing I have red tonight. :biglaugh: I don't understand why they won't try that line at least one game. Carbo is so hard headed.:amazed:

well good for the tuna !!

Although I know Higgins and Samsonov both play LW, if it were up to me, Koivu would center Samsonov and Higgins, and Kovalev would play with Plekanec and Ryder for now.

A struggling center paired with an underachieving LW and a useless RW on a team fighting for a playoff spot. Remind me again why Carbonneau got his job over thousands of fans?

While I don't think the line will work (though I like the idea of Sammy with Koivu), it's kind of hard to find any forwards on this team lately that aren't underachieving, useless, or struggling. ;)