Lacks intensity? What a ******** excuse. Half the team would be benched if that was the case, starting with Cole.
Therrien didn't like Eller the moment he came in. It was clear from his words before the season started. I guess he found his scapegoat and I guess he'll be the next victim of the Montreal trading youth train.
Maybe, just maybe, expectations are much higher from Eller than those players, and he is still young and learning and this is for his benefit long-term? Or maybe us posters know how to develop stars better than an NHL coach who helped develop Crosby and Malkin.
Crosby and Malkin are generational talents, it'd be pretty hard to **** those two guys up.
The team played like crap last game and Therrien wants to jump start this lackluster team. He wants to bring in Gallagher because he's a high energy player and because he has been playing in the A and is in good game shape and also because he wants to see what Gally can do.
So who does Therrien take out?
Prust, White or Armstrong? Everyone and his spanked monkey agreed that was the best line Saturday night.
Bourque? Therrien said on a number of occasions Bourque brought what Therrien asked for.
Patches, DD & Cole? They stunk out the joint but I think because of their season last year he's giving them a pass.
Pleks or Gionta? Get real. That will never happen.
Galchenyuk? Chuckie gave no one any reason to take him out tonight's game.
So it's between Moen & Eller.
Although Moen was not impressive, he wasn't useless and Eller was terrible on Saturday and he doesn't even have the layoff as an excuse. He was playing during the lock out.
I'm not a fan of Therrien but I give him a pass on this decision. It makes sense.
A quick comment regarding: "... Patches, DD & Cole? They stunk out the joint but I think because of their season last year he's giving them a pass..."
He is giving them a pass but he did single them out big time on numerous occasions since their bad performance against the Leafs. They are on a short leash; they need to lead the way.
One thing is sure: we won’t see a guy like Gomez yawning during practices, while the coach is speaking, with Therrien onboard!
PS I am a fan of Leblanc and Eller and I can’t wait to see how they react.
Gallagher should be in Hamilton. If you want to try Galchenyuk at centre, then put Eller on his wing...
Well, after watching dozen games of Bulldogs, although I like his amazing hard work, I think that Gallagher is not NHL ready. I hope he gets better when playing with better players.
I hope he scores a goal tonight.
The team played like crap last game and Therrien wants to jump start this lackluster team. He wants to bring in Gallagher because he's a high energy player and because he has been playing in the A and is in good game shape and also because he wants to see what Gally can do.
So who does Therrien take out?
Prust, White or Armstrong? Everyone and his spanked monkey agreed that was the best line Saturday night.
Bourque? Therrien said on a number of occasions Bourque brought what Therrien asked for.
Patches, DD & Cole? They stunk out the joint but I think because of their season last year he's giving them a pass.
Pleks or Gionta? Get real. That will never happen.
Galchenyuk? Chuckie gave no one any reason to take him out tonight's game.
So it's between Moen & Eller.
Although Moen was not impressive, he wasn't useless and Eller was terrible on Saturday and he doesn't even have the layoff as an excuse. He was playing during the lock out.
I'm not a fan of Therrien but I give him a pass on this decision. It makes sense.
I agree with this 100%.
People need to chill, players will get benched from time to time and in this case Eller was the logical choice.
Maybe, just maybe, expectations are much higher from Eller than those players, and he is still young and learning and this is for his benefit long-term? Or maybe us posters know how to develop stars better than an NHL coach who helped develop Crosby and Malkin.
How to develop Crosby and Malkin:
Hey guys, go play hockey!
That's about it. Natural superstars... it would have been impressive had he somehow ****ed them up.
So Therrien's reasoning why he was scratched only after one game is "there is no time for fooling around"...
Meanwhile our GM lets our best skater sit at home without a contract while we play Bouillon and Kaberle 20 minutes a game.
Seriously...it's ridiculous.
I don't see why you single out Eller when he was no less intense or less visible than Desharnais, Pacioretty, Cole or Bourque. Guess he's an easy target.
Ok this is ridiculous... Why is he the only one being singled out for lacking intensity? He wasn't even close to being the worst player on Saturday. If "lack of intensity" is the real reason for Eller's benching, then we can apply that to a number of players. Pacioretty, Desharnais, Cole, Bouillon, and Kaberle were AWFUL yet Eller is the one who gets scratched. And Subban is still sitting at home. Great team.
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"Ah ha Lucic a employé le genou cassant la technique, 911 ! ! !" -A Bruins fan
I don't see why you single out Eller when he was no less intense or less visible than Desharnais, Pacioretty, Cole or Bourque. Guess he's an easy target.
Bench all the $%^& then. He needed to bench someone because he wanted to make room for Gallagher. Eller takes the hit.
the more things change, the more they stay the same... how eller could ever get scratched out of a lineup featuring white, gallagher, and armstrong is beyond me.
Ok this is ridiculous... Why is he the only one being singled out for lacking intensity? He wasn't even close to being the worst player on Saturday. If "lack of intensity" is the real reason for Eller's benching, then we can apply that to a number of players. Pacioretty, Desharnais, Cole, Bouillon, and Kaberle were AWFUL yet Eller is the one who gets scratched. And Subban is still sitting at home. Great team.
Eller was pretty much as bad as them, but I agree 100%. Makes no sense.
Maybe if we all pretend to love Bouillon, Therrien will bench him.
They have an excuse they were at home during the lock out, Eller played in Europe.
NO EXCUSES !
Seriously though, their line had a decent game and brought a lot of energy and intensity. MT is just doing things like he said he would: reward players with ice time when they work for it, end of story.
While I don't exactly agree with scratching Eller, it makes more sense to scratch a young player who doesn't have a big impact on the team than a top-six forward, even if he did play a little bit better than some. In order to give young kids like Galchenyuk and Gallagher a chance to play, I would much rather scratch Eller than DD or Plek.
Yes, DD and Plek didn't play well, but scratching an established top-six player would be huge news, and not in a good way. It is much more common to scratch young players for lack of intensity than veterans for the same reason; you just don't see teams scratching a top-six forward to make room for a player on a short stint with the club.
