Recrutes: Hockey scouting from a professional perspective from Grant McCagg and Habs coverage from a 33 year veteran covering the NHL from Brian Wilde.
January 2, 2018
By Brian Wilde
After a seven game road trip where the Habs went two and five, the club was hoping for some home sweet home against the San Jose Sharks. Goals have been hard to come by and that would be a place to start the Wilde Horses.
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Well said. I have a trip planned for Feb, with tickets for 2 Habs games. At the start of the year, I didn’t really expect this team to be a contender, but I did expect a product that wouldn’t put me to sleep.
I got tickets to see them in Vegas and they’re gonna get rocked by that team. The plus side is that Montréal and Vegas both have plenty to offer outside of hockey to make the trip worth it!
Drouin was supposed to be exciting. Maybe as a LW with a good C he could be.
Subban was exciting. The guy we traded him for is only exciting when shooting howitzers on the PP
Price is exciting – but like an AL pitcher, he needs run support for anything he does to matter.
Radulov was exciting, like Kovalev before him.
Markov was exciting.
Byron was exciting – before opposing teams figured out how to neutralize him.
Galchenyuk was exciting at C two years ago, and tries to be now – but usually only once a game, as if on purpose.
Emelin was also exciting, because of his ability to really shellac opposing players.
I think even Jacques Martin’s shut-down Habs were more fun to watch than this season’s batch.
It stunk to high heaven how Bergevin started the season with a sub-par squad and money and cap-space to spare with no plan to use it to give his squad a chance to compete. There are more than enough 2nd line wingers who can reliable pot 15 to 25 goals. But no serious #1 or #2 C – unless Drouin could be confrted on a hope and a prayer.
Its so super obvious now that they are in full blown all out who gives a puck TANK MODE, lahdeedahh ,no effort by the main vets,kids still going to get a fulltime job,but the vets know the deal,quarter ass it,public skate it out there,flub ur chances if u get any and oopsie lost again,gee howd that happen.obviously the whole team other then the kids on the fourth line are doggin it to lose.patch doesnt want to produce here,he knows hes trade bait soon to move,so why bother.if we were actually in it,a real coach wouldve put 67 in the pressbox by now,but no.
Its disgusting.the DRAFT system needs an OVER HAUL
The way it is now teams PURPOSELY TANK, like habs are now,like edm,buff,tor have done . This is a shit draft lotto system that leads to teams purposely losing to improve thier team.putting a useless quarter ass effort,then bullshitting the media and fans theyre trying,then media and radio ppl say wtf whats wrong with the habs,just to keep ratings up,were NOT dumb,we know what the f is going on,its unexceptable.fans should boycott going to games,stop buying molson products,throw shit on the ice,boo so fn loud til the mssg gets thru. Or just change the fn draft lottery system,eliminate this shitshow loophole tanking buissness once and for all, day after ssn ends,draw teams one by one out of a hat,first team drawn gets the 1st draft pick ,2nd picked gets the 2nd overall draft pick and so on. A FAIR system where all 31 teams have a shot at good draft picks.this eliminates tanking.then ull see an honest effort out there.
Whatever,im so fed up and sick of this shit team,being lied to by them.oh were trying no,no,no youre not,your fn purposely losing for a higher pick.arghhhhh.
I meant “converted” in regards to Drouin. Red Fisher always used to say, “show me the players.” That falls on the GM. I do hope he (or his replacement) manages to retool and get some players for next season and keep them. Price’s best years are being wasted. Hope he is rested and only starts 30 or less for the rest of the season. But do trade Shaw, Pacioretti, Plekanec, and even Hudon or Carr if you must. We need a full-scale rebuild. You’ve said it many times Bryan: great centres and D are crucial elements. Decent wingers are needed too, but cannot be expected to be building blocks of a championship team.
Yep, Scott unless they put the net in the corners… win the middle win the game.
Truth.
You’re right Brian. The hockey is not entertaining in any way. But the writing is. The selling better start soon however as the list of players who don’t play winning hockey on the Habs is growing longer every game.
For a team that is supposedly built on guys that hate to lose, they’re awfully adept at losing. This is obviously a lost season—they’re not showing any reason at all to believe they can make up the ground between them and the Bruins/Leafs. This is a dangerous time for the team—it would be one thing if they were competitive most nights, winning occasionally, losing some heartbreakers. That’s not happening. Not even close. This boring AF Hockey is an abomination to watch. And it will not take long for people to tire of it. I can go watch ice thicken or Trump do something stupid on Twitter. At least that draws a reaction. The stat sheet says the Habs had 31 shots on goal tonight; were any of the other 30 that didn’t go in remotely threatening? I don’t honestly remember a single point in the game where they had my full attention, nor a sequence of sustained pressure where either a goal or penalty seemed inevitable. Not a good omen for the next three months.
You nailed it Brian. I watch all games and try to understand what is going on, how a team can deflate so badly after only one goal against. All experts agree to say Habs are much better than what they show, and yet, their fragility seems to be the only consistent attribute we can say about them.
They are boring to watch, it is painful.
That’s my biggest annoyance too, if you’re gonna lose at least be entertaining! That’s why I hope the trades start soon, maybe get some of the AHLers in to add some speed, excitement, and maybe even scoring. Right now habs games are just background noise while I get things done around the house :p
Hi Brian,
This is a question for both you and Grant. I always hear the cliche “That a team has to have a plan.” Pierre McGuire is very found of saying this. The trouble with most cliches is that there is a kernel of truth in each one except it is always left unsaid. I would like to defer to both you and Grant. One of the reasons for this website surely is to get as much sound advice from professional hockey people as we can as well as hearing the fine opinions of others. So, here it is : As far as you both are aware what can realistically be done to improve The Canadiens ? We all can wish for something, but because I am about to promote you I would like to know what your plan would be today. I think what really annoys the fans in Montreal is that they feel that Bergevin’s plan has been much like the little boy who keeps putting his fingers in the dike to stop the flooding only to see another leak appearing over his shoulder. Acquiring Ott & Streit seemed to be a scary example of this same little boy trying to stop the leak without acknowledging where the water is coming from. Sometimes Bergevin buys a few sandbags on the cheap like Benn & some expensive ones like Alzner, but the fans keep getting wet. It seems as long as Bergevin’s team can make it to the playoffs he can deny it is still raining. The fans are disappointed because hockey has been a working class Shakespearean drama staged on ice that helps them find their heroes & their memories during very cold Canadian nights. Most families cannot afford to bring a family of 4 to a game no matter how many outside games are played to promote nostalgia. These fans deserve a true plan for The Canadiens. It means so much to them while they try to squeeze a true game experience onto a large tv. Bergevin owes it to them — no more ” smoke & mirrors”. No more insulting talk about ” The answers lie in the room”. Both you and Grant are certainly not the second coming of Christ ,but you are very different–you seem to care for the truth. I can’t fire Bergevin. Maybe I should not, but on this website I can make both you & Grant mythical managers of The Canadiens for a day.
This is an easy one for me and anyone that knows me knows that I say this and I believe this. For 25 years, the champion has been strong down the middle. Unless they move the goal to the corners, the center is more valuable than the winger. The better teams are stronger there. My answer is flat out go get a center, above all make sure that you are strong at center. Give up what seems ridiculous to get the best one that you can get, then get a top flight pair on defence. Not just one, but a pair, as in two guys who play well together and both are top quality. With this as my bottom line building blocks I can get my coach to control the big shifts. The D play more the closer the game is and the later that it is in the game. The Top D play less when the game is out of reach as a win and or a loss. Three amazing players and you would be surprised how much a coach can control after that. You of course need support pieces, but if you have only one great D and no center, you’re not winning. You never have in the history of the game. As far as a goalie, you don’t need the best, but you need a good one who can get hot. Again, history shows that the best team doesn’t have the 10 million dollars goalie, but the goalie isn’t a hole in the line up either. So would I trade Pacioretty for RNH oh my god yes in a heartbeat. Would I like a better center than RNH, sure, but at least with him I upgrade my team significantly. In the summer, if Tavares is available, I overpay massively for him. so what is my plan in summary…make sure my best players are a one left side d and a one right side d and a center that is a one, then I keep going.
Thank you very much for a very solid and logical reply. Bergevin must know this. Even I know this after watching great hockey teams for quite awhile.The question is why would Bergevin take such a chance when he decimated the defense? I know that Emelin & Beauleiu were not the second coming of Bobby Orr ,but everybody knew that Streit was finished. The Markhov saga reminded me of trying to buy a car and suddenly the fragile male ego takes over and getting free winter tires become more important than the car. Markhov had a lot of miles on him but he certainly was the best available. Streit was not good enough to play in the playoffs for The Penguins even though they desperately needed defencemen at the time. We knew [ even here among the detours in St Henri] Karl Alzner was very slow and being played less and less on a man ton man defense structure. What you have said is the gold standard for a successful hockey team . Part of achieving this goal should not be acquiring players that make the team worse. This Frankensteinian defense structure created by Bergevin perhaps demoralized the team from the very beginning of the year. Streit could actually be seen swimming on the ice. Somehow ,I do not think you would have had Streit or Alzner on the team ,and maybe a couple others. Like a doctor the first tenet of a general manager should be ” Do no harm”. General managers can make mistakes but these mistakes should not be so blatant that the ordinary fan knows it from the the very outset of the year. Bergevin has taken us on too many of these detours. Thanks, Daniel
All I can say on that is read the article that I wrote recently. They all make a lot of big errors. Oh and read the comments section too. UFA are allowed to do what they want. 70 per year leave their teams, but Bergevin is the only one I ever heard deserved to be fired for it. That’s the media’s fault for the dissecting of it, because every negotiation fails when those 70 players move on. Dissect the other 68 and the other GMs have to provide answers too because they also lost players. You could flip the coin over and say he gave the same offer to Radulov and he gave the best offer to Markov who chose the KHL anyway. As far as Alzner, yep, that’s the first big mistake and if he doesn’t find a way out of it, and he does those more then you have the makings of why GMs get fired.
Hi Brian,
I read the very fine article . It certainly put almost all the losses into perspective.It helps place the passionate losses of UFA’s ” as a meal best eaten cold”. This why I did not mention the loss of Radulov. I thought although he was a player that was very important to the Canadiens it was just NHL business as usual. In fact, Radulov plays a very hard and physical game that might not hold up for the entire length of an expensive contract. The Markhov contract seemed to me to be quite different . Here was a man who played well for less money and showed great loyalty to The Canadiens. The Canadiens also should loyalty to him when he was injured. Maybe it was Markhov’s lack of an agent ,but I just felt something should have been done to keep this player. He never pushed before so why now. This is the first time I have ever written to a sports website. I think it has been 3 times now. I thank you for the opportunity. It is time for your other guests to have their say. Daniel
Thanks Brian. Boring AF. You’re right.
Pains me to say it, I have a trip to Montreal in March with tickets to a game, and I’m not the least bit excited to go. Not because they’re losing – you always take a chance for a W or a L at a game – but that the hockey is boring AF. And there’s not heart. I want to cheer my team on regardless, but there’s that desire to be entertained as well, even without a win.