Great feature and article on Benoit Pouliot. In it he says that he was injured for most of the playoffs which could explain his play (even if it is a bad excuse to use). I really hope like this article says that he does work hard this offseason and that he rebounds next year (assuming we are going to sign him as he is a RFA).
I expect him to bounce back, just hope he's not going to be another playoff no show in the future, we have enough passengers as it is. Having him, AK and Pleks all unable to score in the playoffs killed us.
Even though I hated the trade at the time (had heard BP was a real cream puff, never saw much of before we got him) I do like his skill set, good wheels and frame. Hopefully he can start to put it all together, we will sorely need him to be a 25+ goal scorer for us in the future.
About the injury. I said it many times on these boards and no one would ever take it into account. I saw the entire habs team 3 days after their elimination and Pouliot had is hand all taped up and bruised, which I'm sure affected his stick handling and shooting as well as overall confidence in his capabilities.
Hopefully he lives up to his words and gets bigger/stronger over the offseason. Hope to see a big year from him next season. Would love to see the guy finally get past his injury problems too.
Great feature and article on Benoit Pouliot. In it he says that he was injured for most of the playoffs which could explain his play (even if it is a bad excuse to use). I really hope like this article says that he does work hard this offseason and that he rebounds next year (assuming we are going to sign him as he is a RFA).
Man... I hope he bounces back. We really need him on our top6.
Could you imagine a top6 composed of: Gionta, Gomez, Cammalleri, AK46, ???? ('cause I don't think Plek will be back) and ????.....? I can't.
We would be on the run for a lottery pick.
Sorry guys, I'm everything but optimist for the next(s) year(s), and this is why I didn't really want us to reach the ECF...
if he puts in the work this offseason, improving both physical and mental skills, there's every reason to believe he could have a great season next year.
he obviously had some nice chemistry with Gomez-Gionta, and barring some surprise moves in the offseason, the spot next to them on the 1b line should be his to lose.
with a full training camp to prepare with them, and the extra confidence that would come with having put in the work in the offseason, he'll be in a great position to succeed.
don't want to get to ahead of things, but a 25-30g/ 55-65pt season wouldn't be hard to imagine (he was on pace for 31g, 50pts with his regular season production with the habs last season).
we'll need that kind of production from him if we want to challenge for anything more than a 7-8 seed in the conference.
I expect him to bounce back, just hope he's not going to be another playoff no show in the future, we have enough passengers as it is. Having him, AK and Pleks all unable to score in the playoffs killed us.
Even though I hated the trade at the time (had heard BP was a real cream puff, never saw much of before we got him) I do like his skill set, good wheels and frame. Hopefully he can start to put it all together, we will sorely need him to be a 25+ goal scorer for us in the future.
Contrary to many, I guess, I didn't see Pouliot being soft in the playoffs. He tried to hit as much as possible. His positioning and stick handling (and balance, of course) were pretty bad. He didn't give me the impression of being the type who doesn't show up in the playoffs.
Great feature and article on Benoit Pouliot. In it he says that he was injured for most of the playoffs which could explain his play (even if it is a bad excuse to use). I really hope like this article says that he does work hard this offseason and that he rebounds next year (assuming we are going to sign him as he is a RFA).
This is idiotic. How can we expect a player to play well when he's injured? We don't know the extent of the injury. Heck, I'm not wasting my time explaining why tihs old cliché that playing with an injury is no excuse is absolutely deprived of common sense.
Contrary to many, I guess, I didn't see Pouliot being soft in the playoffs. He tried to hit as much as possible. His positioning and stick handling (and balance, of course) were pretty bad. He didn't give me the impression of being the type who doesn't show up in the playoffs.
Yup, the effort from Pouliot was clearly there, he just had no confidence as well as an injury as I saw this injury for myself when I met him just three days after they were eliminated. It was the same wrist injury that he suffered earlier in the season that caused him to miss about 15 games in december and another three games before the olympic break.
The Habs need to keep this guy!!! He's going to be wayyyy more valuable than Senor Poutine would have ever been. Pouliot has great skills and has good size, just needs to beef up a bit and get healed up from his injuries.
Contrary to many, I guess, I didn't see Pouliot being soft in the playoffs. He tried to hit as much as possible. His positioning and stick handling (and balance, of course) were pretty bad. He didn't give me the impression of being the type who doesn't show up in the playoffs.
I didn't say he was soft in the playoffs, but not scoring a goal in 25 games (reg+playoffs) certainly hurt us since we so sorely lack in goal scoring. (he had a grand total of 3 points in his final 25 games)
Contrary to many, I guess, I didn't see Pouliot being soft in the playoffs. He tried to hit as much as possible. His positioning and stick handling (and balance, of course) were pretty bad. He didn't give me the impression of being the type who doesn't show up in the playoffs.
i'm inclined to avoid labeling guys with a small sample size, one way or the other... aside from the absolute rarities (a la claude lemieux) who always improve their play/production in the post season, most of the hype (good or bad) around players and their playoff performance tends to be overstated based on one good or bad year/series...
for Pouliot, he's way too young and inexperienced to start predicting his ability to perform in the post season, but one thing that is mildly troubling is that his production, as a pro, in the post season, has been abysmal...
44games, 1 g 10 pts -12... not very promising.
but as a junior, he was lights out in the post season (24games, 16g 28 pts)...
hopefully it's just a matter of time and adaptation to the pro game.
Yup, the effort from Pouliot was clearly there, he just had no confidence as well as an injury as I saw this injury for myself when I met him just three days after they were eliminated. It was the same wrist injury that he suffered earlier in the season that caused him to miss about 15 games in december and another three games before the olympic break.
Quote:
Originally Posted by montreal
I didn't say he was soft in the playoffs, but not scoring a goal in 25 games (reg+playoffs) certainly hurt us since we so sorely lack in goal scoring. (he had a grand total of 3 points in his final 25 games)
Good to hear he was injured; hopefully, he'll get back to form cause, as Montreal mentions, his scoring touch is a necessity on this team.
i'm inclined to avoid labeling guys with a small sample size, one way or the other... aside from the absolute rarities (a la claude lemieux) who always improve their play/production in the post season, most of the hype (good or bad) around players and their playoff performance tends to be overstated based on one good or bad year/series...
for Pouliot, he's way too young and inexperienced to start predicting his ability to perform in the post season, but one thing that is mildly troubling is that his production, as a pro, in the post season, has been abysmal...
44games, 1 g 10 pts -12... not very promising.
but as a junior, he was lights out in the post season (24games, 16g 28 pts)...
hopefully it's just a matter of time and adaptation to the pro game.
I identify a no-show in the playoffs as a player who plays soft, doesn't get the puck in the corners, avoids traffic, stays clear of any hits. In this case, production inevitably goes down.
As you said, he's still young. Too early to use his pro stats to make a judgment.
Just out of curiosity, why do you even bother watching hockey if you're going to be a downer about it?
Because I don't just like hockey, I love it. And the Habs is my team till I'm 5yo and it will be my team for my whole life.
But for me, this cinderella run was «de la poudre aux yeux». I was very happy about this run, trust me, but at the same time I was saying myself that they gotta reach the SCF... because if not, the team would «hypothéquer» their future by drafting 12spots later (and yeah , I'm a big young player/talent fan too).
Like I said, Habs will always be my team, but I wasn't so upset about this years' edition. And the fact that we could lose Plekanec this summer makes me much more sad about the situation, because there's not a lot of alternative for us.
I hope that PG surprises me!
Maybe there's some holes in my argumentation/explication, so I can give you more if you don't understand something.
Realistic fans would not make up their mind on next season without it having even begun because there can a lot player movement up till october 1st. Trades haven't even begun, niether has free agent signings. A realistic fan would take this into account, you haven't, therefore you are not realistic and he has a reason to be slightly annoyed with you.
Maybe my argumentation was weak, but if you read some of my post before this one you should know - at least - a bit the way I think.
There's no need to throw me insults because I say we are in trouble if Pouliot doesn't bouce back in addition of a gone Plekanec.
Man... I hope he bounces back. We really need him on our top6.
Could you imagine a top6 composed of: Gionta, Gomez, Cammalleri, AK46, ???? ('cause I don't think Plek will be back) and ????.....? I can't.
We would be on the run for a lottery pick.
Sorry guys, I'm everything but optimist for the next(s) year(s), and this is why I didn't really want us to reach the ECF...
Which team DIDN'T you want the Habs to defeat? Washington? Pittsburgh? I'm proud of the Habs' accomplishments in upsetting those powerhouses. You should be too. Getting the 15th or 16th (or 23rd) draft pick in the first round instead of the 27th would be unlikely to lead the Habs to a gold mine.
He probably was injured to the head 'cause doesn't Pouliot remembered that he sucked tremendously PRIOR to the playoffs as well? So he was injured at a hand. Not sure, we haven't even notice how weak his shot was because of that injury 'cause he never touched the puck to begin with.
Having said that.....he lacked confidence. Like a couple of our youngsters we had this year. Nobody helped him getting it back either. Seems that we need in our roster for kids to take matters in their own hands. Don't wait for anybody to do it for you....you'll wait a very long time.
“This offseason I want to gain some more weight to be more solid on my skates and I plan to get even more explosive by doing tons of sprints,” described the 6-foot-3 winger. “I know that if I bring that into camp next year and I make sure I’m in the best shape possible, I’m doing what’s best for me and for the team.”
