well another season with the Habs, firstly I'd like to open with this, I love the direction this team is going, love it.
The team played so well and made me so proud to be a Habs fan, they fought threw everything, and made life difficult for a completely healthy bruins roster. Meanwhile playing without three of our best players they took a team who many considered "cup contenders" to start this series and made them "cup pretenders" by the end. That makes me proud, as well the Bruins wont win a damn thing this year, the Hockey gods will punish them for their dirtiness in this series.
Anyway, I honestly have never been more excited as a Habs fan for next season, (fyi i wasn't around pre 89 so cut me some slack). MaxPac and a Healthy gorges make this an instant series loss for the Bruins IMO.
To finish
if this is the lineup for next year
Maxpac-Gomez-Gionta
Cam-Plek-Kostitsyn
Moen-Eller-XXXXX(halpern hopefully or white)
Pouliot-Desharnais-Darche
Markov-Subban
Wiz-Gorges
Gill-Weber
Spacek
Price
Whomever
I will be the first to say Montreal wins the division and if they go into the playoffs with that roster they'll win the cup. To many winners to quit IMO.
From A proud Habs fan
P.s. we finally have a couple gamebreakers in subban and price and the future looks so bright for this franchise once again
With Price, Subban, Plekanec, Gionta, Cammalleri, Markov, Gorges, Pacioretty, Eller, Wisniewski, etc I really like our future. I think that's by far the best core we have had in a very long time.
Now we just somehow have to get rid of Gomez and Spacek.
Habs forward corps is all locked up, only Halpern and Darche are UFA, so it's the time to make changes on D.
Spacek and Subban are the only 2 NHLers signed for next year. Time to let Hamrlik and Gill walk, 7 games series show that these guys are just too old now. Gorges will re-sign for sure, Weber will definitely be up as 6/7th defenseman. The question mark is Markov and Wiz, I have a feeling Wiz will sign for some asinine amount somewhere else, so we gotta re-sign Markov for sure. That leaves room for a 5 and a 6. Guess you can pick anyone, but please find someone who can PK and clear the front of the ****ing net.
Well, I have a few ideas in mind, but I'll think them through before putting down what I really want.
With these playoffs I think we need to work on our D. We're playing a defensive system, but:
- We're causing too many bad passes in our own zone when trying to get out.
- Too many turnovers
- Being behind the play too much.
We also had a very hard time entering the Bruins zone. Most of the dump and chase amounted to nothing. Either that or we would try to get quick shots off. It seemed like we were trying to zerg the zone more. I think we should have at least tried to settle into the zone a few times and create some circulation.
Very pleased with some of our players, mostly Subban and Price. I could make a list of other players I'm very pleased with.
Love Cammalleri: hope he keeps up the PO performances
Love Gionta: great leadership and PO performance
Love PK Subban: just so damn disrespectful
Love Hal Gill: hope he can stay and mentor Subban some more
Love Markov, Gorges and Patches: hope they come back better next season
Love Ryan White: giving us a physical presence
Love The Wiz: Hope there's a way to keep him with us
Obviously there's more on the team I did like and I'm willing to give some others another chance. Hoping we have a great season next year.
Hats off to our team that showed a lot of guts and fought hard through adversity, injury and bad luck all year.
However, a lot of lessons were learned about this team this year both positive and negative of course.
Might as well start with the negatives, since I’m not in the best of moods to have no more Habs games for some 5 long months.
The D needs to get younger and more mobile. Hammer has battled hard but his age and mobility work against him and it’s time to move on. Sopel has been good as a rental for the PK, but I can’t imagine him being kept around past this year. Same goes for Mara. I’d like to see Gill kept around with less of a burden being placed on him for his leadership and PK. But he needs far less ice time at this point of his career. Spacek is the major issue that needs dealing with. His game is inconsistent and he has no desire to get dirty in front of the net or in the corners anymore. He’s slow to move the puck and his clearings are often timid and weak. He’s just not getting it done with anymore. But at 3+ mill on a deal you can’t buyout and probably can’t trade… what to do?
Up front Pouliot might as well pack his bags right now. He’s done. I’m also tempted to say the same about the maddening Andrei Kostitsyn. I can’t take his nonchalance and inconsistency anymore. I can’t imagine committing to him long term.
Speaking of long term… How much longer will we have to deal with Gomez? I know he’s got 3 years left… but seriously… What do you do with the guy if he plays another year like this one? The Habs biggest issue is an inability to handle physical teams. Eller and Patches are a start to fixing that, But with Plek as you #1 C, can you live with someone as small and soft as Gomez as the #2? The guy isn’t good defensively anymore, and his bad penalties and blind passes to no one are killing the team. I can’t see the Habs burying him in Hamilton, but I just hope to god they find someone to take his and his last 2 seasons at lower money by the trade deadline next year.
Also as a negative-positive, I am sure Kirk Muller will be moving on to become a HC somewhere. My hat is off to him and he deserves it, but he will be sorely missed.
So many pluses this year though,
First and foremost: CAREY PRICE. Every night this guy plays you have a chance to win. He was fantastic and made PG look brilliant in keeping the faith.
Subban has progressed into an elite Dman. He still has things to learn, but his future is every bit as bright as Carey’s. Greatly exciting to think of PK and Carey being the anchor of this team for a long time.
Eller, Desharnais, White, Weber, Pacioretty… a lot of the young guys got a lot of experience and sure do look to be like winners. There’s a lot of guys with a good future to build around that were given a lot of great NHL experience for various reasons.
Wiz looks like a find as well. He might be the best in season acquisition the Habs have pulled off in recent memory. Hopefully they will find a way to keep him on a long term basis.
Cammy, Gionta, Pleks…. All played well despite injuries too.
Hats off to the grinders too like Moen, Pyatt, Halpern, and especially Darche who gave 110% and contributed in their own ways.
A healthy team next year and maybe a new face on D and things are looking good. The Habs will need to find a top 6 Forward though. Kostityn and Pouliot aren’t it. Eller might be in time but isn’t there yet.
our d corp will be revamped. younger, stronger, faster. hopefully discussions with emelin will come to fruition. up front, we need to address the size issue. we need to add some bodies that can go deep and take the punishment.
some rumors @ deadline of interest in gomez. we should seriously consider them. great character but better soon, than later, to unload him. with how it played out, i think pouliot is gone. i was disappointed with kosty this series, especially as it progressed. he didn't seem like he all there.
bittersweet ending. loved we fought to the end. until next year!
Get rid of Gomez. -6 in the playoffs is 2nd worst to Vanek. Vanek scored 5 goals though! Gio was also -6 but he scores and does more than carry into the offensive zone and pass it to the goalie or turn it over.
Say what you want about Price but his effort was better. Going into tonight he was 2nd in GAA and SV%. Right now he sits 4th. Top 5 goalie in the playoffs hopefully becomes top 3 at least with all the D-men back. Bringing in Wiz helped but the D corps was too banged up. I'd like to see Weber come up next year and play.
Another positive...Eller, I thought he played well in the playoffs and you can see the effort and willingness to win.
Cammy - clutch. As of now he's 1st in playoff scoring.
Liked Subban, sometimes his emotions get the best of him and he tries to do too much. When he learns to control that he'll be great.
Anyway, I'm running on...In closing I hate Gomez and Habs management should put a hit out on this guy.
1. Benoit Pouliot, Andrei Kostitsyn are not playoff players.
2. We need to work on faceoffs.
3. We need to rebuild the defense. Hamrlik, Sopel, Spacek, Gill, are too slow. I would not resign any of them.
4. We have no true #1 center.
5. We lack the depth we had last year with Moore, Lapierre on the 3-4th line.
6. We are the better team if we had a healthy lineup (Markov, Gorges, Pacorietty)
Things I like to see this summer from Management
1. Resign Markov, Gorges and maybe Wisniewski.
2. Trade Pouliot and Kostitsyn for players with grit. (David Clarkson and Cal Clutterbuck)
3. Sign Brad Richards and trade Gomez and Spacek.
4. Sign Eric Brewer, Christian Ehrhoff.
5. Sign some quality 3-4th liners. (Kopecky, Talbot, Torres)
Get rid of Gomez. -6 in the playoffs is 2nd worst to Vanek. Vanek scored 5 goals though! Gio was also -6 but he scores and does more than carry into the offensive zone and pass it to the goalie or turn it over.
-3 in a game 7, that's just awful.
Isnt his +/- stat in the regular season also one of the worst in the league?
