yave1964 Posted April 25, 2016 Share Posted April 25, 2016 PRESEASON OUTLOOK: Rosy. The year before the Habs had the leagues second best record with 110 points and lost in the second round. They retained Jeff Petry on defense and added Dale Weise and Alex Semin to the forwards and the hope was it would be enough to take them deeper. The Canadiens were determined to prove once and for all that they were not a one trick pony in Carey Price. FINAL RECORD: 38-38-6 82 points 13th in the Eastern Conference. STRANGE STAT OF THE YEAR: Markov could do nothing much right at home (0-16-16 minus 7) but away he was a stud, (5-23-28 plus 1) not shabby at all for an old blueliner. Plekanec had more than double the faceoff wins over his next two closest mates combined. HIGH POINT OF THE YEAR: It seems like a million years ago now but the Canadiens came out of the gate like Gods, winning their first nine in a row and when they defeated the Rangers on November 27th they climbed to 17-4-2. They anounced after the game that Carey Price would be out for awhile but backup Condon started hot, reassuring nervous fans, going 2-0-1 the next three games. On December first after besting the Jackets they sat at 19-4-3. LOW POINT OF THE YEAR: Everything that followed. They fell off the face of the Earth losing 10 of their next 11 all in regulation. For some reason that 11 game stretch after losing Price the offense went with him, they were outscored 35-16. Their psyche was destroyed, the season was lost and the tailspin continued til the season was over. After starting 19-4-3 from then on they went 19-34-3. The Michel Therrien death march went on all season. WHAT WENT RIGHT: Well Price, pre injury looked like a lock for the Vezina. Alex Galchenyuk looks to be fulfilling his enormous potential and scored 30 goals. So did Max Pacioretty. Markov scored 44 points from the back end, his point total coming close to his age. P.K. Subban took a small step back but was still damn near great. Plekanec was solid if miscast as a 1C. Brendan Gallagher had 40 points in only 53 games. Weise was solid to say the least. They did have the All Star game MVP in John Scott. WHAT WENT WRONG: Pacioretty had 13 goals in 26 games when Price went out and slipped badly thereafter. Price was lost for two thirds of the year and proved everyones worst nightmares to be true, they are a one trick pony. Semin was a joke, scoring 0 goals and 2 assists before being banished to Siberia or somewhere. Petry didnt show anything to justify his 5 million plus per year. Desharnais was brittle and innefective. Condon and Scrivens could not stop the bleeding. FREE AGENTS: Not much, some crusty unwanted vets such as Mike Brown and Tom Gilbert, Paul Byron, a 12th/13th forward being the best of a bad lot. TOP PROSPECTS: Nikita Scherbak for some reason is highly thought of and may crack the team because their centers are so bad, but dont expect much.In his first NA season he couldnst score and was a minus 26 in 48 games. This is the organizations top prospect. Really. Daniel Carr scored 6 late season goals but is already 24 and isnt a great prospect. Mike McCarron could be a 20ish goal scorer on the wing soon. A very unimpressive bunch as befitting a team that usually drafts late in the day. OFFSEASON QUESTIONS: Will price still be the best goalie in the world next year? How much damage did this year do the the team collectively? WHY are they retaining Michel Therrien as head coach? Marc Bergevin has a rep as a smart young GM he needs to figure out what he has and quick or it could be ugly. The team scored 110 points just a season ago so the talent is there it is a matter of picking up the pieces. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yave1964 Posted April 25, 2016 Author Share Posted April 25, 2016 The 28 points drop from 110 points to 82 points was the biggest non strike year drop in club history and among the worst of all time for any team. Forgot to mention that. Did I mention that Michel Therrien is being retained? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluPuk Posted April 25, 2016 Share Posted April 25, 2016 2 hours ago, yave1964 said: The 28 points drop from 110 points to 82 points was the biggest non strike year drop in club history and among the worst of all time for any team. Forgot to mention that. Did I mention that Michel Therrien is being retained? And here's hoping that they set another new record next season. I like Therrien.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
notfondajane Posted April 25, 2016 Share Posted April 25, 2016 @BluPuk, there's a good reason the Maple Leafs should put a decent team together. THUMPING THE CANADIANS! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
notfondajane Posted April 25, 2016 Share Posted April 25, 2016 After Price went down, I am wondering if There own lost the team? Or did they tune him out? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluPuk Posted April 26, 2016 Share Posted April 26, 2016 Those could be, but I believe the Habs' problem was that they simply were never as good as they thought they were without Price. Simple as that. For the Habs, Price was like the bottom ace in a house of cards - pull that one and the rest all come tumbling down. It's kind of like like lowering the water level in a lake - a lot of rocks suddenly appear that were never there before. To be honest I'm glad it's not my problem.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yave1964 Posted April 26, 2016 Author Share Posted April 26, 2016 1 hour ago, BluPuk said: Those could be, but I believe the Habs' problem was that they simply were never as good as they thought they were without Price. Simple as that. For the Habs, Price was like the bottom ace in a house of cards - pull that one and the rest all come tumbling down. It's kind of like like lowering the water level in a lake - a lot of rocks suddenly appear that were never there before. To be honest I'm glad it's not my problem.... They started red hot and everyone was writing that the team was out to prove they were not a one trick pony. Price missed a half a dozen games and Conden won I believe all of them, the Habs fans were like, see we told you. Then he came back, but was gone for the year after three or four starts and took the season with him. Plekanec and Markov are getting up there, Pacioretty and Gallagher are not as good as everyone thought they would be, Subban is brilliant at times but a caricature of himself at others. The team simply looked bad the second half, like really bad from top to bottom. Have I mentioned that they retained Therrien? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blocker Posted April 26, 2016 Share Posted April 26, 2016 Does anyone, (other than a select few in Montreal) know what Price's injury is? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yave1964 Posted April 27, 2016 Author Share Posted April 27, 2016 2 hours ago, blocker said: Does anyone, (other than a select few in Montreal) know what Price's injury is? http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/carey-price-reveals-the-nature-of-his-injury-and-rules-out-a-return-to-the-ice-this-season-1.3524425 Straight from the mouth of Carey Price himself, he finally revealed that it was indeed a knee injury. I know I kept hearing knee with whisper about potentially being his hip, but it was a knee. Hopefully he gets it taken care of and resumes his career next year at the level he was at previously. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blocker Posted April 27, 2016 Share Posted April 27, 2016 Wonder if it will be healed by next year. Canadiens are hampered by having that dope Therrien as their "coach". If Price comes back or not, they won't do well with that fool behind the bench. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WordsOfWisdom Posted April 30, 2016 Share Posted April 30, 2016 On 26/04/2016 at 5:50 PM, blocker said: Does anyone, (other than a select few in Montreal) know what Price's injury is? Broken back (from having to carry the weight of his team). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WordsOfWisdom Posted April 30, 2016 Share Posted April 30, 2016 On 25/04/2016 at 3:23 AM, yave1964 said: The 28 points drop from 110 points to 82 points was the biggest non strike year drop in club history and among the worst of all time for any team. Forgot to mention that. Did I mention that Michel Therrien is being retained? He speaks French. Perfect time to give him a 10-year contract and make him the highest paid coach in the NHL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blocker Posted May 2, 2016 Share Posted May 2, 2016 My French is limited. But, I know that the French word for sh## is merde. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WordsOfWisdom Posted May 2, 2016 Share Posted May 2, 2016 1 hour ago, blocker said: My French is limited. But, I know that the French word for sh## is merde. The Habs are one of those teams that I consider a "murky middle" or 7-to-11 franchise (7-11 for short). I've described them as generally being a 7 out of 10 team (when everything goes right for them) but they're usually found somewhere in the middle of the Eastern Conference standings. To me, it's neither surprising when they make the playoffs nor when they miss. They are a cut above the bottom feeders of the NHL, but they're never considered to be a serious/legitimate Stanley Cup contender. You know you're a "murky middle" team when analysts have at least 5-6 teams that they would pick ahead of you to win the Cup. In this case, Washington, Chicago, Los Angeles, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay, New York (Rangers), etc. The main problem the Habs have is that they rely too heavily on one player (Price). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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