Quote:
Originally Posted by Habs10Habs
Nothing...absolutely nothing since we didn't ice our full team.
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Even if we iced the whole team, who else could man the point effectively on the 2nd unit if Markov was out? Breezy? Don't think so. Hammer isn't a good mobile offensive D anymore and on top of that, his game suffers when the pace picks up and the hitting starts. (See this spring's playoffs).
Tanguay was tried there somewhat in this game but you can see that although okay, not a good option, esp. defensively and he doesn't have a cannon from the point to keep the defenders honest with his one timers.
Sergei K. definitely doesn't belong there and Koivu would be the other choice but he also have proven that his defensive play while manning the point is not strong.
In fact, none of our forwards, with the exception of Kovalev has a heavy shot that can be deflected...which by the way was one of the main downfalls of CH this past spring against both Boston and Philly, ie teams that suffocate you with defense.
But Kovy would be so much better served at his usual right slot instead of at the point...and he isn't the passer that the others are.
Because of the marathan that is the playoffs, team depth more than anything has been the most important factor in winning Stanley Cups.
The idea of using a forward on the point is a poor one and exposes a definite flaw in the team...an achilles heel that can be exploited by the other team during our Cup run.
Just as an illustration of my point, take the Boston Bruins of the 70's with the Great Bobby Orr.
Opposing team's strategy was to ALWAYS dump the puck into Orr's corner whenever they got the puck. You would think that you would do the opposite since Bobby was such a dominant player. But the beauty of this plan was that you let Bobby get the puck and just hit him and hit him and hit him. Soon, Bobby was not the old dominating Bobby any more.
If you can do that with the greatest defenseman of all time, you can surely do that with Markov...in fact that's how some of the teams have exploited CH in the recent years.
Montreal needs another offensive, puck carrying defenseman who can distribute the puck and fire one times from the point to off set the work load of Andre Markov.
Here's a list of Stanley Cup winners since our last Cup and the formula is there. We can only up the odds of winning it again for our 100th by adding a good offensive defenseman to the team...and sooner the better.
2008- Wings - Lidstrom/Ralfaski
2007 - Ducks - Niedermeyer/Pronger
2006 - Canes - Kaberle/Tverdovsky/Hedican - only team that used forward on PP regularly I believe and I still maintain that their Cup win was a fluke starting with them gouging Koivu's eyes out.
2005 - season cancelled (
)
2004 - Lightning - Boyle/Kubina
2003 - Jersey -Niedermeyer/Ralfalski
2002 - Wings - Lidstrom/Steve Duschene (remember him?)
2001 - Av's -Bourque/Blake
2000 -Jersey - Niedermeyer/Ralfaski
1999 - Dallas - Zubov/Sydor
1998 - Wings - Lidstrom/Murphy
1997 - Wings - Lidstrom/Murphy
1996 - Ave - Ozolinsch/Uwe Krupp
1995- Jersey - Nidermeyer/Stevens (yes, Stevens was a pretty good offensive D once...he actually outscored Nieds in 1995)
1994 - NYR - Leetch/Zubov
1993 - Montreal Canadiens - Desjardins/Schneider
As history shows, while it is not impossible,
it would be very, very difficult to go all the way to claim that ever elusive Cup without another offensive defenseman!
problem solved
