Cole 8 powerplay points in 221 minutes. Darche 7 powerplay points in 79 minutes.
I would have still give Cole a chance before Darche. I don't really care how many goals they scored last season on the PP but we sign Cole big money to score goal for us. Even though he is struggling but as a coach, I would give him every opportunity to make him happy and be productive.
I'm not sure Cole is happy with the way JM is using him so far. I like Darche too but Cole is still a better scorer that hasn't got many chances to play on the PP. Why not try him? And its not like our PP without Cole has been much more productive.
The problem with the PP is Plekanec on the point. It didn't work last year or in the preseason so I don't get why Martin thinks it will work this year. He is clearly much better down low or on the boards. Losing Cammy obviously doesn't help either.
So pretty much we've lost 2 of our best PP guys, well 3, if we include Markov, because Pleks is not being used correctly. I'd prefer Weber or Diaz to get a shot on the first wave with Subban. With Plekanec, the opposition doesn't care about his shot so they cheat to Subban's side. At least with Diaz or Weber (if he can play opposite PK) we have two shooting threats...like we did with the Wiz.
Our games this year have been boring as hell. Just atrocious hockey and really not seeing any skill plays by our core guys. 2 goals in 8 periods if we take out the 3rd vs the Jets....thats not very impressive considering how our opponents have fared vs other teams this year.
As bad as we played we still had no puck luck..hit a post, several shots or deflections just trickled past an open net...if we got one, who knows we couldve come back.
In all due fairness, the PP is a 5 men unit. Darche can be used 50% of the time on the PP for the rest of the year, if we keep Plekanec on the point and PK doesn't settle down, Darche won't even get 5 PP points.
Every player of your unit is important for the PP, same thing for the PK.
However, you are right about Cole. He has always gotten most of his points at ES.
Martin needs to make him play with AK and Plek.
Here are a few different lines I wouldn't mind seeing:
Plek-Cammy-MaxPac
Eller-AK-Cole
Gomez-Gionta-DD
White-Darche-Moen (Engqvist until White comes back, or a new signing/trade is done)
This third line showed some good things last POs. Maybe they can develop into something good. Any line can be considered the #1 on any given night. Whoever is hotter gets more ice time, as simple as that.
I could get behind those lines, with Engqvist as a spare for White if he can't handle centre.
Until then, something similar may be good as well;
meh, with a similar lineup, the spare would be Darche IMO, not Engqvist.
Paxx, Plek, Cole, Eller, AK, DD, Gomez, Gionta (+ Cammy when he comes back)... there should be enough firepower with these not to miss Darche 5on5 or PP production.
meh, with a similar lineup, the spare would be Darche IMO, not Engqvist.
Paxx, Plek, Cole, Eller, AK, DD, Gomez, Gionta (+ Cammy when he comes back)... there should be enough firepower with these not to miss Darche 5on5 or PP production.
Bahaha.. Martin sit Darche for more than a game? Are you mad?
Martin just wouldn't use good lines. He'll make DD, Gomez, Eller, and Pleks centre those lines. Which hurts our offense, our defense, and our team.
Bahaha.. Martin sit Darche for more than a game? Are you mad?
Martin just wouldn't use good lines. He'll make DD, Gomez, Eller, and Pleks centre those lines. Which hurts our offense, our defense, and our team.
meh, I dont believe these "preferences" things when it comes from coaches... unless you're a great player that is... I mean, JM didnt fight much to keep Pyatt, who everyone here thought JM was a fan of...
With Plekanec on the point the other team just shoots the puck back toward the point, or waits for the habs to pass it back a little quick. Out of the zone every time. Plekanec is not a defenceman and he cannot keep the puck in. At all.
Plekanec looked amazing at times when he was not on the point.
JM is just a complete moron. Simple as that. Plekanec on the point on the power play is the dumbest thing I have ever seen. Even with Markov out you still have Subban Weber Diaz and Emelin to play the point on the powerplay. He was even doing this when Spacek was in the line up. He is quite capable of playing the point on the pp. I've hated him ever since they hired him as coach. He makes way to many stupid decisions and when they don't work he doesn't change anything.
For sure the pressure is on the Habs to play Cole more than Boston to play Pouliot because of the money spent. But Cole is old and oft-injured. He even had a broken neck once. And Pouliot is young and improving and hitting his peak years, plus he's as much of a badass with a mean streak as Cole. I think they made a mistake switching those guys.
OMG there are so many wrongs in this post, i have not a clue where to start !
JM is just a complete moron. Simple as that. Plekanec on the point on the power play is the dumbest thing I have ever seen. Even with Markov out you still have Subban Weber Diaz and Emelin to play the point on the powerplay. He was even doing this when Spacek was in the line up. He is quite capable of playing the point on the pp. I've hated him ever since they hired him as coach. He makes way to many stupid decisions and when they don't work he doesn't change anything.
Agreed, Pleks on the point is a mistake...if we can see it, surely the coaches can?
They did not play well last night in their own end, way too soft on the puck at times...easy on the drama guys, it;s only game 3, this board is brutal after a loss ... remember, it's a long season.
The 19 men who played tonight were mostly an embarrassment. Price didn't have a good game but he wasn't as bad as most of the Dmen in front of him. Gorges isn't back in form after his long absence and when he killed penalties with Weber or Gill, the Flames had an easy time. Gill shouldn't have been re-signed and Weber looks like a hybrid of a defensively weak Dman and a mediocre RW. Subban has regressed to the days when Martin benched him. Only Emelin and Diaz played decently. Cole, Gionta, and Gomez have been total disappointments. A few weeks ago I predicted that Kostitsyn would pot more goals than Cole. So far, Andrei leads. Also, he didn't botch the clearing attempt that led to the 4th goal; Cole Slaw did. The brave talk about a comeback by Gomez amounts to a gust of cold Alaskan wind (I almost said hot air but that would have been meteorologically incorrect). And Gionta? Are the Bruins paying him to stink out the joint? Eller played better than I thought he would and I expect further improvement. Plekanec played hard but didn't get much support. I still wish Desharnais were a more robust specimen. Pacioretty played much better than his usual linemates. Moen and Darche were their usual selves. AK showed why it would be ill advised to trade him.
I agree with most of what you posted except I thought Weber played decently and Gionta well that's Gionta. A hard worker who will score on maybe 3, 4% of his chances. He's been like that the whole time he was here.
As for the Gomez apologists - jeeze - I bet he can go through the whole season playing the way he did tonight with the same results and you guys will still claim he had a bounce back season. He wasn't the worst player on the ice but he wasn't in the top third of Hab players either. And for someone who promised to do better this year, sorry that's not cutting it.
Yeah I know he won 65% of his faceoffs - whoop di do.
Agreed, Pleks on the point is a mistake...if we can see it, surely the coaches can?
They did not play well last night in their own end, way too soft on the puck at times...easy on the drama guys, it;s only game 3, this board is brutal after a loss ... remember, it's a long season.
How is it a mistake, he gets to run the PP and we can put more skill on the #1 PP. Once Markov is back that won't be needed.
All I can say is thank God the tickets were free!! Holly smoke what a terrible game
All I have a feeling it won't be long for Gomez and Cole to get booed. I was sitting in the reds with plenty of season ticket holders and they started booing Cole like crazy after the 4th goal, people yelling wow 4 years of this ........ Anyways hopefully he just had a bad night but honestly he looks dam out of shape. They cheered on Gomez but started booing in the 2nd when he turn it over a couple of times
I would have still give Cole a chance before Darche. I don't really care how many goals they scored last season on the PP but we sign Cole big money to score goal for us. Even though he is struggling but as a coach, I would give him every opportunity to make him happy and be productive.
I'm not sure Cole is happy with the way JM is using him so far. I like Darche too but Cole is still a better scorer that hasn't got many chances to play on the PP. Why not try him? And its not like our PP without Cole has been much more productive.
The primary reason for signing Cole was to skate, hit and forecheck to create space and turnovers for linemates on the top 6. I'm sure they expect him to score 20. But there are 4-5 guys ahead of him expected to score more.
All I can say is thank God the tickets were free!! Holly smoke what a terrible game
All I have a feeling it won't be long for Gomez and Cole to get booed. I was sitting in the reds with plenty of season ticket holders and they started booing Cole like crazy after the 4th goal, people yelling wow 4 years of this ........ Anyways hopefully he just had a bad night but honestly he looks dam out of shape. They cheered on Gomez but started booing in the 2nd when he turn it over a couple of times
Hopefully Colorado has nothing left in the tank
From what I saw, you are correct, looks out of shape. Looks like Darch at time he's so slow.
With Plekanec on the point the other team just shoots the puck back toward the point, or waits for the habs to pass it back a little quick. Out of the zone every time. Plekanec is not a defenceman and he cannot keep the puck in. At all.
How about Subban for the whole 2 mins and alternate Diaz and Weber on the other side. I know he's already logging a lot of ice time, but PP minutes are supposed to be easy minutes.
Plek on the point is just so he can put DD and Gomez out there, seems like a silly reason to me.
Even when Markov was at his peak, we never played him 2 minutes on the PP, I just don't get it.
