GAME DAY #73: Canadiens @ Senators - 7:00 pm - Saturday, March 19 2016

wprager wrote:Veterans?

Anderson, Phaneuf, Methot, Karlsson, Neil, Ryan, MacArthur, Smith.  Plus Alfie is still around.

Gomez was signed the day after MacArthur failed his baseline.  I get it, they were still a 4-5 game winning streak from being in a playoff spot, so they got a veteran to play center.  Except at that point in time Pageau was already centering the new first line and Zibanejad has been the 2C for a while.  Do you really think the difference between Lazar/Paul as your 3C/4C versus Gomez/Lazar is the difference between winning 5-6 more games in the last 20?  IMO Gomez is not an upgrade even over Lazar as 3C (I thought that before the trade and I still think so now; at the time I honestly though they brought him in to play on the wing).

Anyhow, fast forward a few games and the Sens are out of it.  Puempel was brought up,, presumably, to show them what he's got down the stretch, and he is scratched 7 out of 9 games.  And can anyone explain why Kostka is here instead of Claesson?  Claesson wasn't great when he came up but he was ok, he just shouldn't have been playing on the top pairing.  Kostka was actually pretty good against the Habs but overall I think he has been bad, much worse than Claesson was in his earlier callup.

wprager wrote:Watched the whole thing live (although I was in the kitchen for the Methot and Chiasson goals so saw those in replays only).  

That was not an NHL-level lineup.  Emelin is a 3rd pairing D-man to begin with, and he was promoted to the top pairing (not sure of ice time, but he was playing with Markov) and on his wrong side, to boot.  

Eller, on the Pageau goal, was watching Stone carrying the puck; as were Plekanec and Markov.  By the time he realized the Sens had more than one forward on the ice Pageau was too far ahead of him to catch up.  

Lazar's goal was a beauty, top shelf blocker side (guess that's the book on Scrivens).  

Methot's goal, still not sure how it went it.  It's not like he banked it in the conventional way off the goalie's butt, skate or back.  He wasn't quite at the post and the puck went between the post and his skate, through his legs, then hit something (his left pad? his stick?) and back into the goal.  Watch a replay because I'm sure by description doesn't give it justice.  It was an awful goal to give up.

Chiasson's was not pretty but it was a breakaway, I guess, after Markov fluffed it at the blueline.  Still, that was a stoppable shot.  

Zibanejad's was a bad giveaway and good hand-eye coordination on Mika's part to tip it with the shaft of his stick mid-air.  Not much Scrivens could do on that one.

So two stoppable pucks, two or three bad defensive plays.  You'd think the Sens were just opportunistic but they did manage 44 shots on goal.  

The Habs have *never* given up 3 shorties in the same game.  Ever!

SeawaySensFan wrote:Kostka's been solid overall through some ups and downs like most. Based strictly on stats he was by far the best D in Bingo.

How does the discussion go from Gomez has helped Lazar to Gomez isn't an upgrade over Lazar? Two entirely different discussions.

wprager wrote:Smith is for sure, though he was playing wing.  Pageau's been playing like a vet.  And Zibanejad has been in and around the league for 4 years.  

spader wrote:

SeawaySensFan wrote:Kostka's been solid overall through some ups and downs like most. Based strictly on stats he was by far the best D in Bingo.

How does the discussion go from Gomez has helped Lazar to Gomez isn't an upgrade over Lazar? Two entirely different discussions.

I agree that he's been up and down. One problem that he has is that his valleys have been more visable than his peaks. That's one problem with D call-ups. The microscope is focused on them and it's harder to recognize a quality D play than it is to recognize a lapse.

spader wrote:
What are you trying to say in this post? It kind of sounds like you're suggesting that it was just a bad game for the Habs. I really don't understand the negative lens after such a dominant win. You're a head scratcher, Wprager.

SpezDispensed wrote:

wprager wrote:Smith is for sure, though he was playing wing.  Pageau's been playing like a vet.  And Zibanejad has been in and around the league for 4 years.  

Those are not veterans.   A veteran is someone who's had success in the league for a while.  27+ who's seen more than pageau and zibanejad have and comes to the rink prepared for games.

We now need a forward version of Phaneuf, preferably a C

Flo The Action wrote:

SpezDispensed wrote:

wprager wrote:Smith is for sure, though he was playing wing.  Pageau's been playing like a vet.  And Zibanejad has been in and around the league for 4 years.  

Those are not veterans.   A veteran is someone who's had success in the league for a while.  27+ who's seen more than pageau and zibanejad have and comes to the rink prepared for games.

We now need a forward version of Phaneuf, preferably a C

I agree. But finding a C will be much harder then a LW. Ladd comes to mind about being able to bring that leadership.  After him there's a few LW but they don't have any cup rings on their fingers.

We'll see. The Hoffman situation is likely to create a move with this team.

Flo The Action wrote:

SpezDispensed wrote:

wprager wrote:Smith is for sure, though he was playing wing.  Pageau's been playing like a vet.  And Zibanejad has been in and around the league for 4 years.  

Those are not veterans.   A veteran is someone who's had success in the league for a while.  27+ who's seen more than pageau and zibanejad have and comes to the rink prepared for games.

We now need a forward version of Phaneuf, preferably a C

I agree. But finding a C will be much harder then a LW. Ladd comes to mind about being able to bring that leadership.  After him there's a few LW but they don't have any cup rings on their fingers.

We'll see. The Hoffman situation is likely to create a move with this team.

SpezDispensed wrote:

Flo The Action wrote:

SpezDispensed wrote:

wprager wrote:Smith is for sure, though he was playing wing.  Pageau's been playing like a vet.  And Zibanejad has been in and around the league for 4 years.  

Those are not veterans.   A veteran is someone who's had success in the league for a while.  27+ who's seen more than pageau and zibanejad have and comes to the rink prepared for games.

We now need a forward version of Phaneuf, preferably a C

I agree. But finding a C will be much harder then a LW. Ladd comes to mind about being able to bring that leadership.  After him there's a few LW but they don't have any cup rings on their fingers.

We'll see. The Hoffman situation is likely to create a move with this team.

I think you could get Stastny out of St Louis

Flo The Action wrote:

SpezDispensed wrote:

Flo The Action wrote:

SpezDispensed wrote:

wprager wrote:Smith is for sure, though he was playing wing.  Pageau's been playing like a vet.  And Zibanejad has been in and around the league for 4 years.  

Those are not veterans.   A veteran is someone who's had success in the league for a while.  27+ who's seen more than pageau and zibanejad have and comes to the rink prepared for games.

We now need a forward version of Phaneuf, preferably a C

I agree. But finding a C will be much harder then a LW. Ladd comes to mind about being able to bring that leadership.  After him there's a few LW but they don't have any cup rings on their fingers.

We'll see. The Hoffman situation is likely to create a move with this team.

I think you could get Stastny out of St Louis

That thought crossed my mind. But they don't look like they will be resigning Backes. Do they keep stastny? Is he even an upgrade from Zib?
Plus stastny doesn't exactly have a winning pedigree in the NHL. I'd like someone with a cup ring and not just above 27.

SpezDispensed wrote:

Flo The Action wrote:

SpezDispensed wrote:

Flo The Action wrote:

SpezDispensed wrote:

wprager wrote:Smith is for sure, though he was playing wing.  Pageau's been playing like a vet.  And Zibanejad has been in and around the league for 4 years.  

Those are not veterans.   A veteran is someone who's had success in the league for a while.  27+ who's seen more than pageau and zibanejad have and comes to the rink prepared for games.

We now need a forward version of Phaneuf, preferably a C

I agree. But finding a C will be much harder then a LW. Ladd comes to mind about being able to bring that leadership.  After him there's a few LW but they don't have any cup rings on their fingers.

We'll see. The Hoffman situation is likely to create a move with this team.

I think you could get Stastny out of St Louis

That thought crossed my mind. But they don't look like they will be resigning Backes. Do they keep stastny? Is he even an upgrade from Zib?
Plus stastny doesn't exactly have a winning pedigree in the NHL. I'd like someone with a cup ring and not just above 27.

He's a huge upgrade on zibanejad imo.  Nearly 700 games of experience,  550 points, premiere passer.  The only thing that would be a shame is acquiring him and trading Hoffman.  That's one guy Hoffman could excel with.  Ryan and Stastny?   Sounds good to me,  with Turris and stone as the 1b duo.  Hopefully mac in there  and a year more mature dzingel.   I think we'd be pleased, although he's expensive.

tim1_2 wrote:Pretty sure Stastny has a NTC, and he wouldn't waive to come here. He chose to sign there as a FA.