2 days ago in l'antichambre, they talked about the line changes, and the brought up the point that Guillaume was always getting owned when people came back from injuries. When Higgins came back, Lats ice time got almost split in two while his presence on the powerplay became inexistent. They also say... And I agree on this, that if Sergei was french and quebecer, he would already be in the pressbox and in the fans' doghouse
This lead to my main question:
Is Gui mishandling Gui?
I think the guys from l'antichambre are dumb.
Higgins was suppose to start the season with Koivu/Tanguay. He came back from injury played with Lang until Lats had a couple average games and then Carbs made the switch.
I defended the Lats vs Higgins on Koivu line a lot, because I felt it balanced our top9 in the best way possible, not because Lats was getting unfair treatment. That's just what dumb french journalists say.
What if Kovalev had been injured, and to replace him they made a Kost broz/Plek line. Now that line starts great, Kovalev returns, plays on another line, after 2-3Games, S.Kost stops producing pts, dont you think Kovalev would be brought back up???..Especially if the line Kovalev was now playing with wasn't working either.
Latendresse's PP time got cut because Higgins is better, and on the PP you want your best 8 offensive players + 2 Ds. So, it makes sense.
Now that Higgins is back, they put Lats back on his usual spot and that makes them say Gui is always getting mistreated??..
And again, with the french vs english/europe thing, that will just never die.
S.Kost hasn't been scratched because he's an important part of our top9 and mostly because we're 8-1-1. If we were losing, there would be a good chance that he'd been scratched by now.
HLK hasn't done much in the limited amount of time they've been together. Why are you so sure that LLK won't be able to produce anything?
Believe me, I had high hopes for Lats on the Koivu line and definitely believed he could make it work (if you look at the top scorer prediction poll at the start of the year, I picked Lats...I know it was a long shot, but I thought he might have it in him if he played with K and T).
He has not done anything to merit staying there. He's not quick enough and is dragging the other two down. Why not try Higgins who has always shown chemistry with Koivu?
I don't get why people are so shocked that Latendresse got a demotion at Higgins' expense. How can anyone think that Lats is getting 'mishandled' because he is getting put back to the 3rd line to allow a better, more proven player to take his spot on the second?
If anything, we could argue that had SKost been French, he may have had the opportunity to play on the 2nd line instead of Lats.
(I honestly don't believe this and think that the choice was made based on both players' style of play, but it's not anymore ridiculous than saying SKost would be in the pressbox if he was french).
I had seen Iwishihadacup posts before. I never paid that close attention to them, but I thought you were a better poster than that.
Since when playing with Lang and Sergei is a huge demotion?
+1,000,000 =)
I think it's perfect that they get to play with a vet as well as are on a team where the top 2 lines just have so much talent, these three guys who are all tremendously talented simply cant even crack the top 6. Heck or 3rd line looks like what other teams 2nd looks like, our 2nd like some teams 1st, our 1st is a 1st as well.
I think higgins has the potential this year to put up career numbers and show us what he is all about. If he doesn't however, I don't see him staying a hab beyond this season. Hopefully he does though, he could even be the future captain once Koivu is gone, who knows.
But yeah, our top 9 in general looks good, and our bottom 3 are decent just because 5 players can alternate and depending on what team it is, they can find a team that they can play best against. So say its a physical team, laraque, a slow team, begin/kostop/lapierre, etc.
HLK hasn't done much in the limited amount of time they've been together. Why are you so sure that LLK won't be able to produce anything?
Believe me, I had high hopes for Lats on the Koivu line and definitely believed he could make it work (if you look at the top scorer prediction poll at the start of the year, I picked Lats...I know it was a long shot, but I thought he might have it in him if he played with K and T).
He has not done anything to merit staying there. He's not quick enough and is dragging the other two down. Why not try Higgins who has always shown chemistry with Koivu?
I don't get why people are so shocked that Latendresse got a demotion at Higgins' expense. How can anyone think that Lats is getting 'mishandled' because he is getting put back to the 3rd line to allow a better, more proven player to take his spot on the second?
If anything, we could argue that had SKost been French, he may have had the opportunity to play on the 2nd line instead of Lats.
(I honestly don't believe this and think that the choice was made based on both players' style of play, but it's not anymore ridiculous than saying SKost would be in the pressbox if he was french).
I had seen Iwishihadacup posts before. I never paid that close attention to them, but I thought you were a better poster than that.
If S.Kost were French, so would be A.Kost., has anyone thought about that ? Huh ? Huh ?
I love the direction of absurdity we're taking. Welcome to my world.
If Kovalev makes 4.75 and Kost bros are French, how much Tanguay would worth if he were 1/2 Chinese ,1/2 Greek and not related in anyways to Kostopoulos?
If Kovalev makes 4.75 and Kost bros are French, how much Tanguay would worth if he were 1/2 Chinese ,1/2 Greek and not related in anyways to Kostopoulos?
I'm not sure but if he was, Michel Beaudry would eat at his restaurant and it would be in Brossard.
and his restaurant would serve authentic szechuan mediterranean cuisine!
Yummmmmmmmmmm
authentic being the key word. Do you think Carbo,Muller and Jarvis, having lunch after practice are laughing at all of us for dissecting in such minute detail, the natural process of line mixing and matching ?
Watch a tape of a 1977 game and tell me how Bowman kept his lines together.
Stop worrying so much, Guillaume is still a kid, Chris Higgins was still in the AHL at his age. Robert Lang is a full time veteran with alot of offense left in him, he'l be a great mentor for a player like Latendresse, with Lang's lack of speed, he'l need his players to play very physical and very intelligent with the re puck decisions, in 3 years, i have no doubt that Latendresse will be a better player then Higgins and he'l be back with the 1st line permanentely.
Stop worrying so much, Guillaume is still a kid, Chris Higgins was still in the AHL at his age. Robert Lang is a full time veteran with alot of offense left in him, he'l be a great mentor for a player like Latendresse, with Lang's lack of speed, he'l need his players to play very physical and very intelligent with the re puck decisions, in 3 years, i have no doubt that Latendresse will be a better player then Higgins and he'l be back with the 1st line permanentely.
God, am I sick of Latendresse being put up on a pedestal by certain fans and media types. He's an OK to average NHL player, nothing more. He has good hands, but is lacking in the speed department and defensive awareness. Also, he's selective in using his size.
I'm thrilled the guy did well at the beginning of his stint with Koivu and Tangay, but the reality is that if Carbonneau put, say Tom Kostopoulos, with #'s 11 and 13 chances are he would have had 6-7 points now too. The line was simply hot.
Latendresse earned his "demotion" - not that it really is one - by scoring only 1 point in 5 games. Higgins has skated well and created some chances since returning, not to mention he's a bona fide 30 goal scorer, so it's normal that he reclaims his spot.
People are going to have to get use to the idea that as the Habs develop more and more young kids, Lats may fall by the wayside - if Higgins sticks around a while, and Pacioretty and D'Agostini keep developing, and we manage to sign Kovalev and Tanguay, there ain't going to be much place for Gui, Gui, Gui to play.
I can see these lines next year or maybe in two years:
Stop worrying so much, Guillaume is still a kid, Chris Higgins was still in the AHL at his age. Robert Lang is a full time veteran with alot of offense left in him, he'l be a great mentor for a player like Latendresse, with Lang's lack of speed, he'l need his players to play very physical and very intelligent with the re puck decisions, in 3 years, i have no doubt that Latendresse will be a better player then Higgins and he'l be back with the 1st line permanentely.
I do not see Latendresse being a 30-30 guy, ever. Higgins will be a threat to be a 30-30 guy every year - not to mention he's much faster, is better defensively, and anticipates the play better.
Nope, Guillaume has much better finishing skills then Higgins
From what we've seen so far, I highly disagree. Both of them haven't been great finishers. The only difference is that Higgins at least creates more chances.
Guillaume has to cope because he's never putting a solid case to not be touched.
If he can play with the same fire he did to make the team, we wouldn't have this problem.
This. Time and time again he has been given opportunities, and time and time again he's blown them.
I still have high hopes for him, and I know he's still young, but he needs to play with more intensity and consistency. Not once has he ever demonstrated that he could play on our top 2 lines on a consistent basis, despite being given the chance numerous times.
What's more problematic for Guillaume right now is his pass receptions....We probably can all deal with the fact that he's not tough, he shouldn't bodyckeck everybody and realize that he's mostly a scorer.....but to be a scorer.....you need to receive the passes that are made to you in order to score....
2 days ago in l'antichambre, they talked about the line changes, and the brought up the point that Guillaume was always getting owned when people came back from injuries. When Higgins came back, Lats ice time got almost split in two while his presence on the powerplay became inexistent. They also say... And I agree on this, that if Sergei was french and quebecer, he would already be in the pressbox and in the fans' doghouse
This lead to my main question:
Is Gui mishandling Gui?
You're just heading into a dead end with your outlook on the matter.
I would love Lats to play well enough to rejoin Koivu and Tanguay. Face it, he's in a slump. As for Sergei, he's been even worse than Lats lately. Both of them need an energy boost.
