If our main pieces are heathy all year, and if our bottom 9 can produce constantly through 82 games, we will make the POs. Consider the odds of that are fairly low and parity within the league is like never before, I doubt it. Would love to eat crow.
Is MT going to be meritocratic, which includes giving hungry young players a chance if established players are dogging it?
Is he just going to be a motivator, or does he have it in him to put together strategies, and not allow himself to be out-coached?
And depends on the health of the likes of Markov and other players like Subban how are difficult to replace.
If both of the above conditions are fulfilled, there is a reasonable chance. Edit: what I mean by meritocratic... Imagine this line-up with both Gallys, and one of Tinordi or Beaulieu cracking the lineup because they are outperforming established players...
Is MT going to be meritocratic, which includes giving hungry young players a chance if established players are dogging it?
Is he just going to be a motivator, or does he have it in him to put together strategies, and not allow himself to be out-coached?
And depends on the health of the likes of Markov and other players like Subban how are difficult to replace.
If both of the above conditions are fulfilled, there is a reasonable chance. Edit: what I mean by meritocratic... Imagine this line-up with both Gallys, and one of Tinordi or Beaulieu cracking the lineup because they are outperforming established players...
That would be beautiful. I can't remember the last coach to do that for us.
Martin was okay in his own right, we saw PK and lots of youngsters emerge but Timmins had a say in that as well.
If there is a lockout til january I predict the team will not have time to mesh under Therrian and miss the playoffs. If it is a full season I think we will make it.
The team is somehow even worse than last year on paper, but hey, anything is possible.
Just curious, what makes you say that? Personally I think it looks better on paper given that we aren't starting the season with two rookies on D and we've added sandpaper and we have healthy Markovs, Gios, White etc.
I think we look better on paper, the biggest piece we lost is Cammy, yet we replaced him by Bourque, a step back, but nothing big. (Considering Bourque play's like Bourque..)
And our D should be much more stable! Emelin, look's ready for top 4 duty.
Quote:
Originally Posted by OneSharpMarble
If there is a lockout til january I predict the team will not have time to mesh under Therrian and miss the playoffs. If it is a full season I think we will make it.
Put it this way. If we have 36 (or whatever it was) 1-goals games again and we only win 12 of them -- we aren't going to make the playoffs. And we can come out on top in those games, we stand a much better chance.
If I recall correctly, we had the worst record in the league for 1-goal games. I blame a lot of that on the system since our guys would play so tight and then once we got scored on, we were pretty much screwed because we didn't have a system that allowed to us to score easily.
In other words, we were ****. That's what **** teams do. Do you think we lost in a special better way than **** teams way? No, we lost many games. 1 goal, 2 goals, whatever, we lost games. This whole story of how we lost close games is meaningless. We lost the games. I don't agree with this argument in any way.
In other words, we were ****. That's what **** teams do. Do you think we lost in a special better way than **** teams way? No, we lost many games. 1 goal, 2 goals, whatever, we lost games. This whole story of how we lost close games is meaningless. We lost the games. I don't agree with this argument in any way.
The argument that could be made is that they were winnable games. So a goal or two more here and there could have drastically altered our position the standings.
The argument that could be made is that they were winnable games. So a goal or two more here and there could have drastically altered our position the standings.
If our main pieces are heathy all year, and if our bottom 9 can produce constantly through 82 games, we will make the POs. Consider the odds of that are fairly low and parity within the league is like never before, I doubt it. Would love to eat crow.
Parity is a cliche and it's not true. There are good teams and bad teams in the NHL. The good teams make the playoffs and go more than one round, the bad teams do not.
I understand, I guess you're one of those "win by an inch or by a mile a win is a win" kind of guys. However, our goal differential was better than a couple of playoff teams until the last stretch I believe and some argue that it's a better indication than a wins/loss record.
Defense is balanced, but too small. Tinordi needs to make some giant steps, which I don't see happening. That is our achilles heel imo, even if all our offensive guys are healthy. Also, no way are we gonna beat Boston without at least one guy with size back there.
Our offense should return though, and that will get us in to play against NY, Pitt, Boston or Washington first round on the road. Hence, the need for a big Dman for mismatches.
EDIT: Actually, maybe not... Lucic is the only guy I worry about with size up front, and PK did a great job on him in the playoffs.... maybe Bergevin is crazy like a fox.
Last edited by tinyzombies: 08-22-2012 at 11:22 AM.
Defense is balanced, but too small. Tinordi needs to make some giant steps, which I don't see happening. That is our achilles heel imo, even if all our offensive guys are healthy. Also, no way are we gonna beat Boston without at least one guy with size back there.
I wouldn't say small as much as I would call them "soft". Emelin and Subban are the only two that have a defined physical game, and n'either of them can remove guys like Penner from screening the goalie. Price is going to have to battle for every cm of space and hack some legs.
I wouldn't say small as much as I would call them "soft". Emelin and Subban are the only two that have a defined physical game, and n'either of them can remove guys like Penner from screening the goalie. Price is going to have to battle for every cm of space and hack some legs.
Penner rarely goes to the front of the net (he did it a bit in the playoffs), but we won't be playing them, so no worries.
I don't understand how the pairings will work either.
I guess Emelin moves to the right side? (scary to me) Kaberle MUST be on the third pairing if we're serious about winning, no? That leaves Bouillon in the pressbox or on the second pairing? (again, scary if he's in the top 4)
Markov-Emelin (everyone seems to say, tho I don't get it and don't like it)
Gorges-PK
Kaberle-Diaz??
Bouillon/Weber
Maybe:
Markov-Gorges (And caught Gorges vs Lucic in Boston on a change??)
Emelin-PK
Kaberle-Diaz??
Bouillon/Weber
I wouldn't say small as much as I would call them "soft". Emelin and Subban are the only two that have a defined physical game, and n'either of them can remove guys like Penner from screening the goalie. Price is going to have to battle for every cm of space and hack some legs.
Gorges and Bouillon, although they are smaller and not exactly dominating physical forces out there don't shy away from physical play and certainly are not soft.
Gorges and Bouillon, although they are smaller and not exactly dominating physical forces out there don't shy away from physical play and certainly are not soft.
I agree. I don't think we are soft back there. Emelin isn't soft either. Markov is strong on his stick and anticipates well too. They aren't "easy" to play against, but a team with some muscle will be tough to deal with even with a zone down low because of our small centers. And I can see them getting worn down in a long series. We've seen this problem before...
I think Bouillon was the wrong call. Should have tried to get Gill back maybe and keep him on the third pairing until we play Boston, then patch a shutdown line together like last time.
I guess that can only mean we are going to play strength against strength and rely on the DD line and a strong third line for scoring, hoping that Eller makes the next step.
I think this is definitely a playoff team though, probably middle of the pack if all are healthy.
Last edited by tinyzombies: 08-22-2012 at 12:07 PM.
damn bsl, least you can do is bring in some arguments if your going to shoot down everyone in the thread. because as of right now, you look like some hillbilly who's screaming "my way or the highway". Time to join us in the 21st century bud, and use some of you cervical attributes and post something of substance.
Also, being result oriented is not very smart, i doubt i need to explain myself on that one.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bsl
Parity is a cliche and it's not true. There are good teams and bad teams in the NHL. The good teams make the playoffs and go more than one round, the bad teams do not.
i think parity is self explanatory when you have teams like florida and ottawa that go from bottom feeders to PO contenders.
In other words, we were ****. That's what **** teams do. Do you think we lost in a special better way than **** teams way? No, we lost many games. 1 goal, 2 goals, whatever, we lost games. This whole story of how we lost close games is meaningless. We lost the games. I don't agree with this argument in any way.
I have to agree with Natey here, he has a valid argument. If we're gonna throw the term '****' around, I'd associate it more with our PP last year than the team as a whole. How many games did we lose by one goal while being 0/4 on the PP? Many I can tell you that! Hopefully Michel Therrien can restore our PP to what it was in the last couple of years but we are truly not a 27th place team no matter what people say. But the problem with our PP always seems to be that we lack that big shot option. Just think of how bad our PP was in 2008-2009 before we traded for Schneider, or in 2009-2010 before we signed Bergeron or even last year before we traded for Wisniewski. The problem seems to be that our past management keep letting those guys go because they think they are easy to find and that our players are always ready to step up in a such role but they never do and we end up giving away assets for nothing. It's funny how us as fans never give credit to those type of players and just have a mentality that they grow on trees and we're never disappointed when they're not resigned although they play a big role for our success.
Anyway on another note I agree with those that feel our team is inferior to what it was last year. Sure adding Prust was good for our team but our top 9 as whole got worst. We lost Kostitsyn who had great chemistry with Eller and Moen and they were able to control the tempo of a game with their cycle and they were good on the forecheck and we also lost Cammalleri who was a threat in the playoffs and would truly be the only real authentic sniper on this team. Now we have a huge hole to fill on Plekanec's wing because our GM panicked and decided to pull the trigger in an attempt to light a fire under the team's ass.
I'd rather have:
Pacioretty - Desharnais - Cole
Cammalleri - Plekanec - Gionta
Kostitsyn - Eller - Moen
Prust - White - Armstrong
Then our current line-up but that's just me obviously.
While our team may seem to be inferior to last year's edition, we simply got rid of a lot of bad apples. The players that were in place at the time were simply not getting the job done so while we might have only patched up the bleed with grinders at least it won't be a problem to get rid of those contracts and replace them once a better opportunity presents itself.
While our team may seem to be inferior to last year's edition, we simply got rid of a lot of bad apples. The players that were in place at the time were simply not getting the job done so while we might have only patched up the bleed with grinders at least it won't be a problem to get rid of those contracts and replace them once a better opportunity presents itself.
Armstrong had 22 one year, Eller is maturing, Gionta and Gomez and Markov will be healthy. That should pick up scoring from Andrei Mock-Hustle Kostitsyn.
