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Originally Posted by Guy!
(RANT)
Why was Hossa yanked from the lineup? Okay, he isn't scoring, but games are won and lost in battles on the boards for the puck. If you're second to the puck, if you're soft, and if you lose battles, you cost your team. Inserting Perreault over Hossa is extremely frustrating for me. It seems to me that this coach is bowing to pressures from the media and playing the 'French' guy - who scores goals (they seem to disregard the fact that he's one of the largest defensive liabilities in hockey) over the guy who deserves to be there.
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There is a reason Montreal is known as the hardest lineup in hockey to crack, and I think you're seeing it here - a lack of coaching spine. For far too long has the media's power extended into the dressing room. For far too long has Montreal had a coach who cannot make decisions based on talent and instead makes them based on politics. For far too long have we seen youngster after youngster ruined because of improper use and development.
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Higgins is a better player than Ward, yet Ward gets a spot. Higgins is a better player than Audette or Perreault, yet we still persist in playing these big salary players in hopes that one day they might break out of their terminal slumps. It seems to me that Plekanec would have been a better choice than some of the useless buffoons we have here, hello Sundstrom and Dackell?
(/RANT)
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hello,
sorry, but i have to strongly disagree with all three of these comments. i went to see both saturday's game and tonight's (have been going to many habs games) and i was happy to see perreault back in the lineup. our power play was brutal against the sabres saturday night and hossa did not look good out there. i like hossa very much, but he is young and he has a lot of pressure put on him (quite unfairly, i think) by being asked to be a top line player right away. he doesn't skate enough out there and seems to lack confidence, which is fair enough seeing as how he is really young.
perreault is a proven veteran and a winner (sort of) and a goal scorer (something we lack). i think we are rushing hossa into the lineup and we need to be patient with him, and why not use perreault?
secondly, to say julien has bowed to media pressure is ridiculous. he is putting out the lineup he thinks will win games, and perreault and audette are guys who have played a lot of nhl minutes and scored a lot of nhl goals. they're professional nhlers, and sad as it is to say, i can't really see any players who have as much chance of scoring as these two guys in our system right now.
as for higgins being better than ward, all i can say is that i am very impressed by how solid ward's play is in all areas. he is ready to play nhl minutes. i like higgins very much, and i look forward to him playing with the habs - maybe he is a better player than ward, but ward looks darn good, and as a coach i would have more confidence in him than in higgins (though i think both will be up before too long).
anyway, those are my two cents.