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oldnews

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Everything posted by oldnews

  1. Habs need to stay relentless on the body. Leafs don't handle that kind of game very well.
  2. that was inevitable. all over the Leafs....outskating them... getting to the loose pucks.
  3. the Habs aren't leaving those second chances there long enough for the Leafs to capitalize.
  4. that anecdotal - a storyline - that I don't buy. If you can get some statistics on the team's zone entries - percentages of variants and success/failure rates of each, then I think there'd be some grounding for discussion there - eye-test stories I don't care to argue.
  5. I don't mind Foligno in general - but I hope he gets goose egged this playoffs and then walks.
  6. You're whiffing on the point. Of course the team dump and chases - every team in the NHL does - it's a situational thing/context with a lot of variables, and therefore variation on a constant basis in terms of what the particular players on the ice do - and a whole range of reasons why/when you attempt a controlled entry, a whole range of reasons why/.when you dump and chase. No one said the team "doesn't employ dump and chase". The point is that a simplistic, reductive one-liner....'er, our system of dump and chase suckz' - is the "absurd thing to say".
  7. I don't know if my opinion would be wisdom - but I'd probably try to bring him back (particularly if Beagle is as rumoured / unlikely to return next year). A few of my favorite alternative options have re-signed (ie Lowry).....there will be the Richies and Thompson types on the market, but their appeal relative to Sutter has always been cap hit - at a reduced cap hit, Sutter becomes that much more valuable imo. I'd hope we could bring him back around 2 million over a few years - may be a lowball but simply due to his injury history here that has limited his relative value imo.... If he's interested in talking in that range or slightly countered, I'd take him again.
  8. How can you not love the Habs core? Price, Weber, Gallagher, Petry - some of my favorite players/people in the NHL. Toffoli, Suzuki, Danault, Anderson, Edmundson, Tatar.... And some good young and depth players there as well. One of my favorite builds in the league as well - from the net out.... (If they had a LHD like Sergachev in that mix as well...yikes) Go Habs.
  9. we can get a TJ comparable - for much, much less - (league minimum to 3 million, short term, depending on the quality of the player) - in the present market - and find a better fit in the process - ie a guy that can kill penalties and eat hard minutes.... I don't see the team wanting to eat cap for assets at this stage - I think they've always been averse to that approach (we can debate that they stuck themselves with bad contracts anyway and 'could have' got assets instead - some valid cases in point of that) - but regardless, I don't think they're looking to / intending to 'weaponize' cap at this point - I think they're looking to take the youth on an upward trajectory. I don't think Johnson type acquisitions will accomplish that. But I agree with GarthButcher in the sense that the team 'should' be looking to these 'kinds of deals' - with the critical difference being that they target players who are in fact deflated in present circumstances (as Miller arguably was) - as opposed to appearances / a general view that players are necessarily deflated because of playing on a deep team (which isn't always the case - sometime they're actually inflated in a limited role..). I'd prefer we target a Nick Paul type player instead...who I think is 'deflated' by context - and likely to (continue to) uptick... 'Only' 20 pts this year - but 25 years old... 38.8% offensive zone starts, 50% corsi 52.1% in the faceoff circle (420 faceoffs - over 50% last year as well as a young center...) 40 takeaways, 17 giveaways, +23 differential 2:07 / game of penalty killing ice time - 1 goal, 3 assists shorthanded. 2.5 on ice goals against per 60 5on5 - lowest of all Senators regulars....+5. 6'4, 230lbs, 74 hits... 1.35 million cap hit (one year of term remaining). This is the player - the type of young forward/center option - I want to see them target.
  10. worse teams that what though? what you project as a healthy lineup (ie what they started the season, for the most part, with?) horrible start - and yet they'd climbed back to .500 - and striking distance - pre-outbreak - without EP in the lineup... in the en, what 'we' managed - was while having an outbreak and handfuls of players injured... Michaelis Boyd Vesey Graovac Hawryluk Lind Lockwood Highmore Chatfield Rathbone while already having Hughes, Hoglander, Juolevi types - young guys and rookies that made the lineup under 'normal' circumstances. That's 10 of 20 skaters - who are either waiver/replacement claims, rookies, AHL depth, or youth callups. The last 17 games - anyone with high expectations - or demanding 'playoff results' - were either dishonest or deluding themselves. So - I'd agree with you in a sense - that the 'need' to go out and acquire more "talent" might be overstated - what the team needs is to be healthier - period - and when they are, they are probably better than some versions of the Canucks that have made the playoffs......I think the team needs to focus on one or two additions, specifically the right partner for Hughes moving forward (I like Hamonic's game as the season progressed - he was understandably awful at the outset of the season - and then injured - and the team was in a rough spot with both Hughes - and EP - from early on....Additionally, they need to focus on what they're going to do about Sutter expiring and Beagle on LTIR and a long term question mark - they will need at least another bottom six hard minutes shutdown center.... What I don't think they need - is to go out searching for top 6 winger talent....not a priority imo - unless they are trying to hasten things. They have Podkolzin on the way - and imo they have some promising young talent for their depth roles - all of Highmore, Rathbone, Lockwood imo looked solid - guys like Lind look promising, Graovac, Chatfield imo showed they are serviceable depth for the organization... Unless they are looking to move a Roussel and put Pearson on the 3rd line, I'm not sure where the top 6 upgrade would go/fit....I see no reason why all of EP, Boeser, Miller, Horvat and Hoglander shouldn't remain where they are....and I like our forward prospects (even a few of the young centers that look like potential future bottom 6Cs...) Focus on Hughes' partners - and 3/4 centers - and forget about spending cap on wingers - we could stand to expire a few of those - and if that were a priority, then doing what was necessary to retain Toffoli 'would have' made sense. The one thing I'd note there is that aside from the RHD and C already mentioned, the next 'need' is probably at LW - with Pearson, Roussel in the middle six - but I wouldn't consider that a priority at this stage (and we have plenty of good, young bottom six options at LW...) If an upgrade there were in the works, wouldn't we have let Pearson expire? That said - if they're targetting young forwards as upgrades - and looking to take advantage of an expansion protection spot - that makes sense to me - but shopping in the UFA market - I'm not so sure....It's hard to project demand/prices in the coming UFA markets though - so I suppose I shouldn't underplay those out of hand - it's possible there will be some real opportunities accross the board with the e.d. looming.
  11. It's funny - JT Miller was widely referred to as a cap dump in this market....still is by some people. had comparable terms to Johnson.... played in Tampa's bottom six - scored 65 pts in 94 games there. was 25 yrs old - just approaching his prime....much heavier game than Johnson... here, we're treating Johnson like he's not a cap dump.... Johnson 22 pts in 55 games....playing with Cirelli and Killorn this year. 35 pts last year while playing with Cirelli and Killorn - those guys had 49, 44 pts. When he wasn't playing with them, he was elevated in the lineup far moreso than playing with alternate bottom 6.... He, quite simply, plays with players that are better than he is, and gets outproduced consistently by both his linemates - so the storyline that his production is deflated because of a stacked team, only holds a very small amount of water, while leaking the bulk of the truth. In 18/19 he played with Kucherov and Point - they combined for 220 pts - while he scored 47. Johnson would not be in our top 6 - at least not a healthy top 6 - nor should he be - and he's also not going to be playing with Cirelli and Killorn on our 3rd line (nor with Tampa's SC quality blueline) - so if you're expecting an uptick on his production due to the 'buried on a deep team' storyline - I'd expect you to be disappointed. I think realistically - unless Johnson were to reverse-decline / incline! - you're looking at a best case scenario of Sam Gagner type production here - because Johnson might see a bit more ice time on our 3rd line...but Sam Gagner at $5 million x 3 years....so imo we better be compensated handsomely for eating that - and I don't think that's what the management group has in mind. If we'd be getting a RHD like Foote in the process, who likely improves our team in other areas in due course, and perhaps a partner for Johnson - maybe? My guess would be that the team would prefer to spend an asset/1st to acquire a Foote, than eat that much cap in an important emerging cap window for this team...
  12. Hard pass. The OP isn't realizing the market value of $15 million worth of dumped cap imo. That is quite a price - particularly in recent times - have a look at the cost of dumping a single year of $5 million worth of cap,let alone 3 years. Johnson has repeatedly cleared waivers. If you get Cal Foote thrown into that deal - and perhaps another sweetener, then there's a starter there imo. I like TJ - he's serviceable - a decent defensive forward who can win faceoffs - but he's more suited to top 6 wing than he is bottom six hard minutes (which he doesn't really play, nor does he kill penalties). Not a good fit, at all, for what this team needs - and with $15 million of cap committed when this team needs to allocate that cap to young players, a partner for Hughes, and would still need legit bottom six centers. Now - if the team 'transitioned' it's 3rd line to secondary scoring - he could make a serviceable option, although with limited production....I'm not sure they're ready for that, and I'm not keen that that role be filled by a 5'8", 183lb 30+ yr old at $5 million. Tampa would really have to make that worth our while imo - otherwise the proposal here does them a massive favour. They don't need any favours - not from a team like ours that is looking to rise, not recommit to bad contracts.
  13. It's typical of CDC = ignorant one-liners that refer to a minor aspect of the game - as 'the system'. As you point out, it's one strategy of a zone entry - teams stand up at the blueline, you dump and chase, teams give some space, controlled entry - in general - with a mix so that you don't become too predictable. Dump and change has nothing to do with zone entry systems. Forechecking systems, neutral zone defensive systems, defending against zone entries, defensive zone systems, breakout/zone exits, and on and on -the game is far more complicated, far more systems than these one-liner champions realize. Reality is that year after year, some of them have literally no interest in learning a thing, teaching themselves a thing - they'd prefer to run pissy one-liners, ad infinitum, as if they know a whiff of what Green does, while not having a clue what they're watching. It was the same thing with one of the best coaches we ever had - AV - the one liner champions summed him up as "defend the 0-0 tie" - an utterly absurd reduction for a coach who's team was a top scoring club in the NHL, gave up the fewest goals in the NHL, and had top two special teams - both pp and pk....The game is a two way game, period - and he gamed it - but, but 'defend the 0-0 tie'. The takes on Green are equally mindless - one-liner noise - twitter-worthy.
  14. Entertaining stuff. Better than a few hours with Craig Simpson.... 2:40:20.... you're welcome. 2:56:08 lol "those are two mystifying dumpins from Austin Matthews"....
  15. Not sure I saw anyone say he's 'bad'. I think the point is that you can't depend on a couple shiny forwards to piggy back an average at best build to a Stanley Cup. This was a season that was tailor made for McMHD to run around and run up his scoring totals.... However, the playoffs aren't necessarily about scoring all the goals. The Oilers lost 2 of the last 3 to the Canucks - were outscored 13-8 - against M.A.S.H. lineups with two entire lines + of replacement forwards, two or three young D in the lineup....within the last few weeks, heading into the playoffs....not a good sign for a team that hopes to advance in multiple playoff rounds.
  16. McMilkhotdog and Draisaitl - 189 pts. No 3 and 4 forwards 35, and 25...... amazing that year after year Coiler management can't find forwards to piggy back points with those two... Dave Tippett is a hell of a coach, but 'rebuilding' that team 'culture' is obviously one heluva long term project.
  17. Cooonnnnorrrrr MccccccDaaaayyyyviddddddddzzzzzz!! another goose egg. another lottery champion playoff loss.....
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