yave1964 Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 A look at the curious offseason of the Montreal Canadiens. Montreal had a hell of a year last year, Price won the Vezina and Hart, both deservedly so and they made short work of the rival Sens in the first round before bowing out to eventual conference champ Tampa. The problems with the team were glaring and obvious and easily rectified with a few good moves. IMHO the team simply sat on their laurels and have blown it. The first thing they did was sign Jeff Petry to a whopping contract which we have argued in here and elsewhere, i dont think a deal for any player save Kessel has brought out the emotion that this one did. IMHO it seems like a lot of money for a 3 or 4 on defense unless the plan is to move him up to a number two partnered with Subban and move Markov down to a 3 playing a few less minutes and giving him a chance to stay fresh longer. Still, a lot of money for a good but not great d-man. Especially looking at what the market was this offseason in which mostly the GM's stayed away from long term big money deals. Hab fans have stated the obvious going into the offseason, they needed more scoring from the Wing to help Pacioretty and have been screaming that little David Desharnais simply has to go. Neither has happened. They traded Prust for Kassian who has been founding in two organizations so far, they allowed Parenteau to leave ripping the organization for his handling on the way out the door. They have added Barberio to the blue line after his release by Tampa, a puck mover who cannot play defense. That is about it. They are clearly banking on Alex Galchenyuk and Gallagher to find another gear and step up to the plate. In Gallagher I think he is already maxed out, what you see is what you get a solid top six winger who is fearless and has a high motor but if they are envisioning him as more they are mistaken, he is a 20-25 goal guy, 50 points and there is nothing in the world wrong with that but there is no more. Galchenyuk has shown flashes of brilliance and the hope is that he is a 70 point guy as soon as this year and I tend to agree with the assessment that he could find himself very soon on the short list of wingers that other teams envy. He is negotiating a long term deal, the Canadiens seem to have decided to take care of their own this year rather than look elsewhere and signing Galchenyuk to a long term deal while a bit risky as you are doing so based off promise and not actual results does make a certain sense.As for Desharnais, he is a little guy with heart who is fearless for a guy his size, I dont know how many times i have seen him crash the net with a couple of six footers stationed out front and steal a puck and either score or retain possession for his team. He has holes in his game, he is better suited to be a C3 than the C2 that he is forced to play but he is an entertaining player. IMHO the Habs would ahve been better using the Petry money to go add a scoring winger or a C2 but in truth there werent a lot of centers out there this offseason. An early whisper about Staal from Carolina went nowhere and so they did the best they could in a week market by retaining what they had without overspending outside of the organization. i think their top six may end up again being a poison pill this year, Plekanec is better suited as a number 2 but does not embarrass himself as a number one. Petry for a full year does make the defense better as if they needed it to be better in front of Price. I dont see them quite as a Cup contender without adding a center to the mix. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jammer2 Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 If the Habs offense is improved next year, this highly thought of prospect may be part of the fix. http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=774809 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WordsOfWisdom Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 Nothing, as usual. I truly believe the Montreal Canadiens aren't trying to win a championship anymore. They haven't made a noteworthy trade, acquisition, or done anything in the past two decades to put their franchise over the top. The Canadiens are a 7 out of 10 team in a world where you have to be an 8, 9, or 10 to win a Stanley Cup. But hey, it sure beats being a league doormat like the Leafs always are, so that's something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yave1964 Posted July 17, 2015 Author Share Posted July 17, 2015 Nothing, as usual. I truly believe the Montreal Canadiens aren't trying to win a championship anymore. They haven't made a noteworthy trade, acquisition, or done anything in the past two decades to put their franchise over the top. The Canadiens are a 7 out of 10 team in a world where you have to be an 8, 9, or 10 to win a Stanley Cup. But hey, it sure beats being a league doormat like the Leafs always are, so that's something.THAT may have been the best way to put it about the Habs that I have ever seen. You would figure that a team with Price, Subban and MaxPax would be a contender but every year they add the 'missing piece' of a Prust or a Parenteau or a Kassian. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WordsOfWisdom Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 THAT may have been the best way to put it about the Habs that I have ever seen. You would figure that a team with Price, Subban and MaxPax would be a contender but every year they add the 'missing piece' of a Prust or a Parenteau or a Kassian. Exactly. That's why Montreal stays where they are and other teams (like Pittsburgh for example) go out and grab a Phil Kessel to add scoring. Or another example would be Dallas picking up Patrick Sharp. Montreal never acquires anyone that will "move the needle" as they say. It's just window dressing. Thus, every year the Habs ice a team that makes the playoffs and gets wiped out in the first or second round. They're satisfied with being "good" and have no aspirations of being "great". It's a shame. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jammer2 Posted July 18, 2015 Share Posted July 18, 2015 At least they have a great goalie and a respectable defense. All they really need is some goal scoring. It's easier to find goals than a decent defense and a star goalie. I agree they seem to be sitting on their hands, never pulling off a blockbuster that is needed to send them from middle of the pack to legit contender. Price will be in his prime for another 4-6 years, so that is their window to adding offense and having it matter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottM Posted July 18, 2015 Share Posted July 18, 2015 At least they have a great goalie and a respectable defense. All they really need is some goal scoring. It's easier to find goals than a decent defense and a star goalie. I agree they seem to be sitting on their hands, never pulling off a blockbuster that is needed to send them from middle of the pack to legit contender. Price will be in his prime for another 4-6 years, so that is their window to adding offense and having it matter. That's what makes so little sense to me. If you already have the tougher pieces to come by, why not make the relatively easy move to finish the puzzle? It's almost like they're not interested in winning. I thought this past season could've been their year, but their offense was obviously the problem. I have a feeling that unless they do something about their offense, they're going to regress. Carey Price is the best goalie in the world, but you can't reasonably expect him to do what he did this past season year in and year out. He was the no-brainer MVP as a goalie. Those kinds of seasons don't just fall out of trees for anyone. You can believe I won't be picking them this year (or any other year) unless I see some major moves to help the offense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OccamsRazor Posted July 24, 2015 Share Posted July 24, 2015 A look at the curious offseason of the Montreal Canadiens. Give them the Cup now...................................... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J0e Th0rnton Posted July 24, 2015 Share Posted July 24, 2015 Give them the Cup now...................................... Hammerfists! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OccamsRazor Posted July 24, 2015 Share Posted July 24, 2015 Hammerfists! Semin is a weapon of mass destruction look out lil children....hide while you can... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radoran Posted July 24, 2015 Share Posted July 24, 2015 At least they have a great goalie and a respectable defense. All they really need is some goal scoring. It's easier to find goals than a decent defense and a star goalie. I agree they seem to be sitting on their hands, never pulling off a blockbuster that is needed to send them from middle of the pack to legit contender. Price will be in his prime for another 4-6 years, so that is their window to adding offense and having it matter. It'll be interesting to see if the Semin signing gives them anything in the "goals" department. I'm not at all convinced that Carolina had any idea what to do (and get the feeling "management" who signed him and "coaching" who played him weren't on the same page), but if they put him into a scoring role and he finds the touch he had in Washington, he could provide the scoring the Habs need*. * in the regular season Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Bullet Posted July 24, 2015 Share Posted July 24, 2015 I actually think a quiet summer hasn't been the worst thing for Montreal. And the minor moves they've made aren't all that bad. Semin is certainly a crap-shoot but it's a low risk move that could pay off. I blogged about them about a week ago here >> http://bostonpucks.com/2015/07/16/its-been-quiet-in-montreal-this-summer/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jammer2 Posted July 25, 2015 Share Posted July 25, 2015 I don't think Montreal allocated their limited cap space very well. I would have let Petry walk, sign Belesky for half the money Petry got, then try and add some more goals with the other half of the Petry money. They have enough capable defensive prospects that it would not have been much of a reach to promote their best defensive prospect into a middle pairing guy. I think they could have packaged Tinordi and draft pick and or prospect to gain even more goals. They had options, just did not utilize them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyercanuck Posted July 25, 2015 Share Posted July 25, 2015 The Habs needed goals and grit. So they went out and signed a 6 g wuss who was let go by one team, bought out by another. Awesome move IMO, as a NON Hab fan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jammer2 Posted August 27, 2015 Share Posted August 27, 2015 Not sure where to throw this, picked this thread...nhl.com's Hab's top 5 prospects... http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=777529&navid=nhl:topheads Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluPuk Posted August 27, 2015 Share Posted August 27, 2015 I really, really like what the Habs have done in the off-season so far. Keep in mind that I hate the Habs.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.