Alexandre Picard - How about a little love for this guy!!!
 

Alexandre Picard, how about a little love for this guy. After all, coming to the Habs this guy was a turnover machine, made bad decisions, was soft for a big guy (6’3’’ 215), was indecisive, made bad reads. He would be awful in Montreal, right??? NOT.
All right, my expectations for Picard were way low but he has far and away exceeded them and it is not because he is playing with Subban. He makes crisp passes, has a nice breakout, a better than decent shot, gets involved in the offense and while he has not been a major hitter he has not looked soft either. In short, this guy looks like a “for real” major league puck-moving defenseman with decent size.
Currently, he is playing on the 2nd power play. I think he would be a fitter fit with his defense partner (Subban) on the 1st.
Am I being too kind to him now after being too harsh on him at the beginning, your comments!!!

I liked him from the first time I saw him in a Habs uniform. He plays a very good brand of hockey.

having Picard means not having MAB. Sounds good in my book

He's been pretty solid. Martin isn't overusing him like the Sens did so that helps. He's a pretty good bottom pairing puck moving D. What amazes me is the occasional big hit he throws.

I liked Picard in Ottawa, I know he got a bad rep there, but the coaching staff didn't use him in the right situations IMO. He often played in excess of 20 mins a game...

As a bottom pairing dman, Picard is fine...

That being said, he is soft and plays a bit stiff...but there are worse depth dmen in the NHL IMO.

Two things: He's one of the only d-men on the team that actually likes to hit, and he consistently gets the puck on the net. Everyone thinks that Subban already does everything right, but one thing he can learn from Picard is shots on net. Think about it: how many times have you seen Subban take a quick wrister on net? Like never. Now think about the number of times he's lifted his stick as high as possible and held it there before taking a wicked slapshot. Too often. I love a big shot as much as the next guy but the longer you take to shoot, the faster the D has to adjust to block. Subban has to start realizing that you can't shoot through a person no matter how hard you shoot it. Picard seems to have an impressive understanding of when to shoot and what kind of shot to take--i hope this rubs off on PK.

p.s. I love Subban obviously, and i'd be hard pressed to find much more wrong with his game...

I've been really happy with Picard, and it's great to see him get to play again. I was very much against him being scratched as long as he was before.

Picard is a great bottom pairing D for us. That might be all he can handle, but in that role, he's above average.

GREAT depth move made by PG.

Now that he seems to have learned to play more sound defense I wonder if he won't begin to show us a bit more upside offensively than many of us thought he was capable of?

Yeah, I think he gets exposed a bit if he has to play top 4 minutes.

I loved against Nashville I believe, where Subban threw one, then Picard did.

He's playing solid and he's creating offensive chances and throwing hits. He continues this, I hope we bring him back.

He`s been a huge surprise this year. A very solid and steady player for us. I liked him right from the first preseason game in camp.

Picard is not bad. He's still young, can be better.

He's been a real steal for us. Great job by our ex-Ottawa crew for snagging this guy. Great body, great hands, great vision, solid on D. What's not to like?

He threw Handzus around like a ragdoll last night. That was a real eye-opener.

Singning Picard has been a good move.
In some way, he brought us a 2nd round pick. (in bournival for obyrne.)

Definitely exceeding expectations. He fits in well in the bottom pairing, he brings a well rounded game. As long as he doesn't face top lines he's been very effective. Good to know he's a RFA we can keep.

http://www.teesforall.com/images/HIM...Gray_Shirt.jpg




Someone photoshop Subban's face on that.

I used to make fun of him but he's getting better and better. He rarely has a bad game, does a few mistakes here and there but he's mobile, big and far from being as much as a wuss as expected.

I really don't see him as being soft. He's not an agressor or anything like that, but he can take the hits and give some back while making good decision to launch back the attack.

Definitely someone I wouldn't mind resigning. Guy is only 25 and seems to be coming into his own as a bottom pairing guy for us. Can't and shouldn't be relied on as a top pairing guy, good for 5-6 or 4 in a (injury related) pinch

Having watch him as a Junior in Halifax i knew how good he can be.. In my opinion he will continue to improve and show much offensive flair.

Ha! good one!

Picard's been everything we could've hoped for and more. He's young enough that he could improve significantly too. He's certainly got reason to feel confident he can be an effective NHL d right now. He's playing fairly big minutes on one of the leagues best d's so far this year.

I have to say, there has been a MAJOR improvement in the Habs' pro scouting since the days of Ribiero for Niniimaa. Dustin Boyd notwitstanding, they've brought in Halperin and Picard this year, Gill, Gionta, Moen, Gomez (I know he's been awful, but his playoffs were excellent and he's not dragging down the team in his slump, to his credit.) Eller's starting to show how valuable an asset he might turn out to be. The hit ratio is pretty darn good.

I've been surprised (a bit) by Picard... I think the one thing he has done so far is take some of that softness rep out of his game. He has thrown some hits and snarled occasionally in the scrums, and I think that has been a good addition to his game. Really, that's the critical addition for him, as a bottom-pairing D.

What I don't like about Picard: well, I don't really like him paired with Subban. Picard is going to get like 16 minutes a night, and that is appropriate, but it can drag Subban's minutes down to some extent too, which I *don't* think is appropriate. I would still prefer to see Hamrlik-Subban as the top pair with top minutes in all situations. Then Picard-Spacek limits both of them, but still provides an effective 2-way bottom pairing.

I know they aren't prospects but you mentioned Halpern. I also mention Metropolit, Moore. They might not be on our team and one of them isn't even in the NHL, but when they played for us they played well.

Is it the scouting? Is it the General manager? Or is it that finally we have a coaching staff that knows how to bring the best out of players, or at least certain types of players. (The talented kind)