The other day I was watching the game and RDS posed a question that to be quite honest I think is ridiculous. The question was in French but I'll paraphrase to the best of my abilities. Basically they were asking if Darche makes the team better or not. To me after 20+ games it's a ridiculous question, in my mind the response is "of course he does".
I'll be the first to admit I had my doubts about the Darche signing, thought maybe it could have been a waste of salary cap space due to it being a depth signing. I don't think I'm too worried about it anymore as Darche is a very hard working player who makes things happen. As a thirteenth forward I don't think it gets much better than Mathieu Darche. I'm not sure if this was a question posed by a fan or RDS but the fact that RDS chose this question above others to me is just crazy.
Darche fills the role he's given by our management on any given night. He has never hurt the team but on many occasions has in fact helped the team a lot. What more could you want from a "thirteenth" forward and I'm beginning to use that word pretty loosely already. The team simply has looked better when he's in the line up then with out. So to the question "Does Darche make the team better" I boldly answer "of course he does!"
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
The Habs - A Last Ten Story Pt. 2
After the first 10 games of the season I posted a blog about how the Habs were doing as a team and as individuals on the team. We were 7-1-2 in those games and now we're 6-4-0. Funny thing is I think aside from last nights game against Philly I think we've been playing some good hockey in that 10 game span. Still posting an above .500 record and with Markov out once again. We'll find out later this week just how serious the injury is, hopefully it isn't too bad but I have my doubts to say the least. Now being 13-7-1 I can't say I'm complaining and yes I know I'm late in posting this. A slight miscalculation on my part ;)
Again I think the coaching has been good and a big part of the reason we're doing so well on the PK and improving on the PP, though I must admit the PP leaves much to be desired it still isn't in 29th place so that's a huge improvement over the first ten games of the season. Either way talk regarding the team as a whole, we're 3rd in the eastern conference and winning games, enough said on that.
Carey Price A+ - I think it's pretty obvious why he gets the A+. First of all 30% of his wins are shutouts, second of all he's only ever allowed 3 goals in regulation. Third of all he's played 20 games already this season which is a ton of games. He's been solid, he's been making big saves, keeping us in the game and much more. He's been confident in net, probably the most confident we've ever bared witness to. I'm in awe even as a big time Price supporter that he's doing this well. I expected him to be a good goalie this year I really did. I did not expect him to be one of the three best. This year I'd say he's definitely a top 3 goalie so far and I'm not going to be knocking on wood anytime soon. The way Price is playing I don't think voodoo or knocking on wood has anything to do with it, he's proving why he has such a great history of winning.
Tomas Plekanec A+ - Again this is a guy playing above expectations and going into this season they've been the highest of all time for him. People expect no less than a 70pt season out of Tomas, I think Tomas is more interested in 80 to 90 points and I don't doubt he could achieve either. He's been our best forward and often times he's even played like a third defenceman for us. Hard to fault a guy who works so hard and gets results, when you look back to his rookie season and now it's crazy how much this guy has grown as a player and continues to. Now my expectations for he and Price are super high, these two guys are players Stanley Cups are won with.
Andrei Kostitsyn B+ - Last time I gave him an A- and my reasoning was that I wanted to see him produce for a more extended period of time. It isn't that I feel Andrei has become worse it's just that he hasn't produced at the same pace so this time I'm knocking him down a notch. That isn't to say I don't acknowledge his solid play regardless. He's been playing his game still just hasn't been as good in the first 10 games as he has been in the last 10. I attribute this partly to being moved around the line up and don't fault him for that but at the same time I call it how I see it. I don't doubt that in the next 10 games he could go back to being an A- or even become an A. Remember this is based on their last 10 or so games, in this case 11 because of my mistake. While he's still been great out there he's not producing at the level that he was early on. Still 3 points in his last 5 games isn't too bad considering we got shutout by Nashville.
Mike Cammalleri B+ - I haven't seen enough improvement in his game statistically to merit increasing his rating yet. He certainly hasn't been terrible like people are mentioning either. He too has been moved around a bit and has had some close chances but like Andrei simply hasn't been putting up the numbers. In Mike and Tomas' cases reason I keep them the same is because they've proven their consistency at the NHL level already. We all know how Mike is, he'll score 15 goals in 12 games and then he'll score 3 goals in 15 games. Other than that he's been playing the way he normally does which is good, when he's on the ice he creates space for his line mates as they try to cover Mike pretty tightly.
Alexandre Picard - Will give him the pass this time around as he didn't get to play much. Glad he's back in the line up and he hasn't looked too bad yet. He might have been slightly better before he got benched for a bit but I think that's the way the cookie crumbles. He'll be much more solid in the next few games I think once he gets back into his groove. He still wasn't bad even despite that though.
PK Subban A - I can't give him the A+ just yet but I think he's been solid still none the less. He got under a vets skin (Richards) and he's been known to get under peoples skin throughout the league. I love this about PK and I wouldn't ask him to change his game in the slightest. Once he starts banging them in and getting more points and consistently maintains good numbers the A+ won't be too far away. The guy is a superstar, he's magical with and without the puck. He's still maintained a good defensive game while playing well offensively. For me right now the only thing holding me back from A+ is consistency, not saying he isn't consistent but he's a rookie, I'd like to see how he does for most of or an entire season first before deciding but if he manages to find magic on our PP I wouldn't rule out giving him an A+ sooner than later. He brings a lot to the table and if he can manage to quarterback our power play eventually then surely he'll bring enough elements to the table to merit being called an A+. He is our defensive version of Plekanec, he's a star and he plays the game well in many different areas and has only improved since becoming a hab. I know he hasn't even come close to reaching his full potential yet so calling him an A+ now would be detrimental to my rating system :) I know the logic behind it is less than logical but remember I just do this for fun and give my opinion on the matter, I'm no Eklund (lol)
Eller B - Reason I give him a B instead of B- this time is because I find in the last 5 or 6 games especially he's simply been more noticeable on the ice, doing more things and he seems to be gaining the coaches trust. It's tough to rate the guy because he isn't being used in an offensive role in most cases. Considering that I think he's developing fine. I don't think he's being ruined I just think he's being taught the defensive side of the game and the system prior to being put in a position where he can cost us a game. Give the kid some time, he's got a tremendous amount of talent and could be our Subban 2.0 come playoff time this year. He will surprise us all I think but we'll have to wait and see, he might possibly become our secret weapon. The Dane is being developed properly we just need to be a little bit more patient.
Halpern A+ - What can you really say about this guy? He works hard, he produces and he wins games for you. Hardly the Halpern I thought we had acquired in the post season but it just goes to show how looks can sometimes be deceiving. I feel our organization has done a tremendous job over the past couple seasons of finding guys that work well within our team. Metropolit, Moore and now Halpern. All seemed to play a really good game for us when compared with other teams. This guy really is a perfect fit for us though, I just pray he can stay healthy because looking at his stats it seems he does get injured often enough. For a player that I had pegged as a B- to a C+ at most going into the season Halpern has exceeded expectations. He gets the A+ for now but we'll see if he can maintain it.
Moen B - He hasn't been bad but kind of like Halpern this player imo has to produce in order for me to consider him a B+ etc. I wouldn't say Moen is playing beyond his level, he's just playing his typical game which is what we need. However I also wouldn't say he's dominating the physical game/presence entirely. Other guys have really seemed to step up this year even the smaller guys, seems our team is a bit more feisty then in past seasons. A solid B for Moen and deservedly so.
Gomez C- - I'm starting to agree with people that a larger part of the problem might be Gomez. While I still stand by my point that Gomez never really got a true 2nd line to play on he still certainly has to be producing more than he has even despite that. There comes a time where there just aren't any excuses to be used anymore. If he had maybe 1g 4a more I probably wouldn't complain and would have even given him a B- but really he's just been terrible out there. Now I know Scott Gomez isn't the kind of player to carry a line but it would be nice if he could at least get some points now and then. That aside I still think once he's paired up with a true pair of wingers rather than one 4th liner all the time his stats will improve. I just don't think his stats are justified by this reasoning anymore. Like I said if he had 4-5 more points fair enough but he's just been terrible out there. Now he even appears to have lost all confidence where as before he still was and just wasn't getting lucky. We need this guy to wake up and soon but I really do think a trade is in the works for deadline latest, if we start losing even sooner. We need to get this guy a winger to play with and then people are going to see he and Gio will find their magic once again.
Gionta B- - I consider him to be the most improved hab in the last 10 games. Switching him onto the Plekanec line really did help. It's too bad we can't put Gomez on a line with Plekanec as he really seems to make even the coldest or worst players around him look amazing. Gionta started producing which was what we needed him to do and to continue doing. Now all he has to do is take that confidence to the Gomez line and hope it translates into production. He's definitely been burying chances when before he missed many open nets and screwed up several good feeds from Gomez. Not trying to detract from how badly Scott has been don't get me wrong, but if Gionta had put away a few of those feeds I think I'd be telling you all a much different tale right now. I don't know if it's my Koivu fanboyism but I still don't think he's anywhere close to as good a captain as Koivu was but then again Koivu had a lot of time to learn.
Pouliot B- - Still think he's a B-, he's been playing great but needs to produce a little more consistently. This is a guy that at one point people thought was capable of putting up 30-40 goals and in my opinion with good reason. He has size, speed and a good shot, what more could you want? I'm putting him on hold for now though because like Andrei I think over the next 10 games he might impress me. Both these players have grown tremendously as hockey players this year in my opinion. Something caused by Jacques Martins coaching and coaching staff? I really hope so because if it's the case we'll pretty soon be putting the habs development issues to rest.
Lapierre B - Even though it was a fluke pair of goals that got him some points I still think he's been playing with a bit more kick in the last few games. Maybe he had a wakeup call who knows but one things for sure he shoots the puck and sometimes that's all you need to do and fluke goals can happen. Also you can't really pretend to forget that amazing goal he had against Cam Ward, for that alone I'll give him the bump up to B from B-, he's still capable of much more in my opinion but it remains to be seen. I think he needs to be a bit more feisty out there and a bit more physical but I get the feeling the coach has told him to tone it down, possibly because he's known for getting called on a lot of stupid penalties both legit and BS.
Spacek C- - Most inconsistent habs player bar none. Sure he's improved but he's still not consistent in the slightest. One game he'll look like the Spacek we knew from Buffalo. The next game he looks like crap. One game he's producing offensively and playing defensively sound, the next game he's blowing clear cut opportunities and getting burned. I think if we give him more time he'll work out his game and be a surprise benefit to us this year maybe even in the playoffs. Either way he's a signing I was excited about and I want to like the guy, he just makes it very difficult with his blunders.
So that's my 2nd novel on the habs players this year. Also honorable mentions go to Tom Pyatt (very underrated and solid on the PK) and of course Darche who looked great along side Pouliot and Halpern, though I'm starting to suspect a lot of players would.
Again I think the coaching has been good and a big part of the reason we're doing so well on the PK and improving on the PP, though I must admit the PP leaves much to be desired it still isn't in 29th place so that's a huge improvement over the first ten games of the season. Either way talk regarding the team as a whole, we're 3rd in the eastern conference and winning games, enough said on that.
Carey Price A+ - I think it's pretty obvious why he gets the A+. First of all 30% of his wins are shutouts, second of all he's only ever allowed 3 goals in regulation. Third of all he's played 20 games already this season which is a ton of games. He's been solid, he's been making big saves, keeping us in the game and much more. He's been confident in net, probably the most confident we've ever bared witness to. I'm in awe even as a big time Price supporter that he's doing this well. I expected him to be a good goalie this year I really did. I did not expect him to be one of the three best. This year I'd say he's definitely a top 3 goalie so far and I'm not going to be knocking on wood anytime soon. The way Price is playing I don't think voodoo or knocking on wood has anything to do with it, he's proving why he has such a great history of winning.
Tomas Plekanec A+ - Again this is a guy playing above expectations and going into this season they've been the highest of all time for him. People expect no less than a 70pt season out of Tomas, I think Tomas is more interested in 80 to 90 points and I don't doubt he could achieve either. He's been our best forward and often times he's even played like a third defenceman for us. Hard to fault a guy who works so hard and gets results, when you look back to his rookie season and now it's crazy how much this guy has grown as a player and continues to. Now my expectations for he and Price are super high, these two guys are players Stanley Cups are won with.
Andrei Kostitsyn B+ - Last time I gave him an A- and my reasoning was that I wanted to see him produce for a more extended period of time. It isn't that I feel Andrei has become worse it's just that he hasn't produced at the same pace so this time I'm knocking him down a notch. That isn't to say I don't acknowledge his solid play regardless. He's been playing his game still just hasn't been as good in the first 10 games as he has been in the last 10. I attribute this partly to being moved around the line up and don't fault him for that but at the same time I call it how I see it. I don't doubt that in the next 10 games he could go back to being an A- or even become an A. Remember this is based on their last 10 or so games, in this case 11 because of my mistake. While he's still been great out there he's not producing at the level that he was early on. Still 3 points in his last 5 games isn't too bad considering we got shutout by Nashville.
Mike Cammalleri B+ - I haven't seen enough improvement in his game statistically to merit increasing his rating yet. He certainly hasn't been terrible like people are mentioning either. He too has been moved around a bit and has had some close chances but like Andrei simply hasn't been putting up the numbers. In Mike and Tomas' cases reason I keep them the same is because they've proven their consistency at the NHL level already. We all know how Mike is, he'll score 15 goals in 12 games and then he'll score 3 goals in 15 games. Other than that he's been playing the way he normally does which is good, when he's on the ice he creates space for his line mates as they try to cover Mike pretty tightly.
Alexandre Picard - Will give him the pass this time around as he didn't get to play much. Glad he's back in the line up and he hasn't looked too bad yet. He might have been slightly better before he got benched for a bit but I think that's the way the cookie crumbles. He'll be much more solid in the next few games I think once he gets back into his groove. He still wasn't bad even despite that though.
PK Subban A - I can't give him the A+ just yet but I think he's been solid still none the less. He got under a vets skin (Richards) and he's been known to get under peoples skin throughout the league. I love this about PK and I wouldn't ask him to change his game in the slightest. Once he starts banging them in and getting more points and consistently maintains good numbers the A+ won't be too far away. The guy is a superstar, he's magical with and without the puck. He's still maintained a good defensive game while playing well offensively. For me right now the only thing holding me back from A+ is consistency, not saying he isn't consistent but he's a rookie, I'd like to see how he does for most of or an entire season first before deciding but if he manages to find magic on our PP I wouldn't rule out giving him an A+ sooner than later. He brings a lot to the table and if he can manage to quarterback our power play eventually then surely he'll bring enough elements to the table to merit being called an A+. He is our defensive version of Plekanec, he's a star and he plays the game well in many different areas and has only improved since becoming a hab. I know he hasn't even come close to reaching his full potential yet so calling him an A+ now would be detrimental to my rating system :) I know the logic behind it is less than logical but remember I just do this for fun and give my opinion on the matter, I'm no Eklund (lol)
Eller B - Reason I give him a B instead of B- this time is because I find in the last 5 or 6 games especially he's simply been more noticeable on the ice, doing more things and he seems to be gaining the coaches trust. It's tough to rate the guy because he isn't being used in an offensive role in most cases. Considering that I think he's developing fine. I don't think he's being ruined I just think he's being taught the defensive side of the game and the system prior to being put in a position where he can cost us a game. Give the kid some time, he's got a tremendous amount of talent and could be our Subban 2.0 come playoff time this year. He will surprise us all I think but we'll have to wait and see, he might possibly become our secret weapon. The Dane is being developed properly we just need to be a little bit more patient.
Halpern A+ - What can you really say about this guy? He works hard, he produces and he wins games for you. Hardly the Halpern I thought we had acquired in the post season but it just goes to show how looks can sometimes be deceiving. I feel our organization has done a tremendous job over the past couple seasons of finding guys that work well within our team. Metropolit, Moore and now Halpern. All seemed to play a really good game for us when compared with other teams. This guy really is a perfect fit for us though, I just pray he can stay healthy because looking at his stats it seems he does get injured often enough. For a player that I had pegged as a B- to a C+ at most going into the season Halpern has exceeded expectations. He gets the A+ for now but we'll see if he can maintain it.
Moen B - He hasn't been bad but kind of like Halpern this player imo has to produce in order for me to consider him a B+ etc. I wouldn't say Moen is playing beyond his level, he's just playing his typical game which is what we need. However I also wouldn't say he's dominating the physical game/presence entirely. Other guys have really seemed to step up this year even the smaller guys, seems our team is a bit more feisty then in past seasons. A solid B for Moen and deservedly so.
Gomez C- - I'm starting to agree with people that a larger part of the problem might be Gomez. While I still stand by my point that Gomez never really got a true 2nd line to play on he still certainly has to be producing more than he has even despite that. There comes a time where there just aren't any excuses to be used anymore. If he had maybe 1g 4a more I probably wouldn't complain and would have even given him a B- but really he's just been terrible out there. Now I know Scott Gomez isn't the kind of player to carry a line but it would be nice if he could at least get some points now and then. That aside I still think once he's paired up with a true pair of wingers rather than one 4th liner all the time his stats will improve. I just don't think his stats are justified by this reasoning anymore. Like I said if he had 4-5 more points fair enough but he's just been terrible out there. Now he even appears to have lost all confidence where as before he still was and just wasn't getting lucky. We need this guy to wake up and soon but I really do think a trade is in the works for deadline latest, if we start losing even sooner. We need to get this guy a winger to play with and then people are going to see he and Gio will find their magic once again.
Gionta B- - I consider him to be the most improved hab in the last 10 games. Switching him onto the Plekanec line really did help. It's too bad we can't put Gomez on a line with Plekanec as he really seems to make even the coldest or worst players around him look amazing. Gionta started producing which was what we needed him to do and to continue doing. Now all he has to do is take that confidence to the Gomez line and hope it translates into production. He's definitely been burying chances when before he missed many open nets and screwed up several good feeds from Gomez. Not trying to detract from how badly Scott has been don't get me wrong, but if Gionta had put away a few of those feeds I think I'd be telling you all a much different tale right now. I don't know if it's my Koivu fanboyism but I still don't think he's anywhere close to as good a captain as Koivu was but then again Koivu had a lot of time to learn.
Pouliot B- - Still think he's a B-, he's been playing great but needs to produce a little more consistently. This is a guy that at one point people thought was capable of putting up 30-40 goals and in my opinion with good reason. He has size, speed and a good shot, what more could you want? I'm putting him on hold for now though because like Andrei I think over the next 10 games he might impress me. Both these players have grown tremendously as hockey players this year in my opinion. Something caused by Jacques Martins coaching and coaching staff? I really hope so because if it's the case we'll pretty soon be putting the habs development issues to rest.
Lapierre B - Even though it was a fluke pair of goals that got him some points I still think he's been playing with a bit more kick in the last few games. Maybe he had a wakeup call who knows but one things for sure he shoots the puck and sometimes that's all you need to do and fluke goals can happen. Also you can't really pretend to forget that amazing goal he had against Cam Ward, for that alone I'll give him the bump up to B from B-, he's still capable of much more in my opinion but it remains to be seen. I think he needs to be a bit more feisty out there and a bit more physical but I get the feeling the coach has told him to tone it down, possibly because he's known for getting called on a lot of stupid penalties both legit and BS.
Spacek C- - Most inconsistent habs player bar none. Sure he's improved but he's still not consistent in the slightest. One game he'll look like the Spacek we knew from Buffalo. The next game he looks like crap. One game he's producing offensively and playing defensively sound, the next game he's blowing clear cut opportunities and getting burned. I think if we give him more time he'll work out his game and be a surprise benefit to us this year maybe even in the playoffs. Either way he's a signing I was excited about and I want to like the guy, he just makes it very difficult with his blunders.
So that's my 2nd novel on the habs players this year. Also honorable mentions go to Tom Pyatt (very underrated and solid on the PK) and of course Darche who looked great along side Pouliot and Halpern, though I'm starting to suspect a lot of players would.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Carey Price pt2
So at the start of the preseason I wrote about how Price will gain his confidence back and become the goalie we all know he can be if we're just patient and show him our support. When Price commented about how the preseason is irrelevant the media and fans had a field day saying that Price has everything to prove and should not take any games lightly. So far there has not been a single game this guy didn't keep us in. The only times he didn't were times the team couldn't put the puck in the net 3-0 losses where we just couldn't finish.
It's now 15 games in and Price is a top 10 goalie in the NHL. He has 8 wins and has posted two shutouts already. One against a team like Vancouver none the less. He's 10th in GAA but has played 3 more games than any of his competition. He's 13th in save percentage as well which is pretty impressive again as only Cam Ward has played a comparable number of games thus far. Obviously another shutout or a 5-0 loss would drastically change these numbers but it's always nice to see the guy so many doubted winning games for your team. Obviously it's still very early but if you've seen Price play you can tell not only is he on the ball this year but he's improving.
How do I see Price improving? Well it's actually pretty obvious for me. He's much better on the glove, early on in the season this was a weakness in my opinion. Opponents would go for the glove side, he wouldn't get it up fast enough, sometimes he wasn't really positioned that well to make the save in the first place. I noticed as games went on slowly he started to get confidence in his glove hand. He would still get beat on the glove but he was improving. Now it seems you won't be getting too many shots past Carey's trapper anymore. He really seems to have improved that element of his game and what's crazy is just how drastically it's improved from game 1 until now. The second thing I noticed is that in the past Price wasn't a very good puck handler. When he would get the puck often times he wouldn't be patient enough or even sometimes too patient. He would pass it to a guy whose covered and it would create chances for the other team. He still does it sometimes but I mean, every goalie does now and then. The point is though he's improved this drastically this season. Positionally he's also better and seems to be going down less often or at least less quickly. He plays big in his crease and really makes it tough on the opposition to score. Another thing I found about Price in past years is that he would often times have a good game but then a bad ending. Would let in a goal with a few minutes left. Could have just been bad luck but he seems much more focused out there.
So now that the confidence is rolling in, he's gotten himself into a top 10 position in the league, is it any wonder Price had this tremendous talent and the confidence to back it all along? Sure he was down on himself after last season, any professional athlete in his position would be. The point is though he bounced back. He took his bumps along the way and he grew as a player but more importantly as a human being. Up until now we've seen Carey Price the boy but I think this year we're going to see Carey Price the man, and I think this is just Price playing like Price, if he goes on fire at some point I think we'll really frustrate some teams. Price has all the tools to be a top 10 goalie in the NHL for years to come. Right now he's showing that his first season wasn't a fluke and that the only fluke was last season. We are incredibly lucky as a team to have a guy as gifted as he is in between the pipes. I'm positive by game thirty I'll still be happy with his game, he's getting better and better as time goes on. Now the team has to feed off of his confidence and the fact that they have a guy like him in goal and start putting the puck in the net.
It's now 15 games in and Price is a top 10 goalie in the NHL. He has 8 wins and has posted two shutouts already. One against a team like Vancouver none the less. He's 10th in GAA but has played 3 more games than any of his competition. He's 13th in save percentage as well which is pretty impressive again as only Cam Ward has played a comparable number of games thus far. Obviously another shutout or a 5-0 loss would drastically change these numbers but it's always nice to see the guy so many doubted winning games for your team. Obviously it's still very early but if you've seen Price play you can tell not only is he on the ball this year but he's improving.
How do I see Price improving? Well it's actually pretty obvious for me. He's much better on the glove, early on in the season this was a weakness in my opinion. Opponents would go for the glove side, he wouldn't get it up fast enough, sometimes he wasn't really positioned that well to make the save in the first place. I noticed as games went on slowly he started to get confidence in his glove hand. He would still get beat on the glove but he was improving. Now it seems you won't be getting too many shots past Carey's trapper anymore. He really seems to have improved that element of his game and what's crazy is just how drastically it's improved from game 1 until now. The second thing I noticed is that in the past Price wasn't a very good puck handler. When he would get the puck often times he wouldn't be patient enough or even sometimes too patient. He would pass it to a guy whose covered and it would create chances for the other team. He still does it sometimes but I mean, every goalie does now and then. The point is though he's improved this drastically this season. Positionally he's also better and seems to be going down less often or at least less quickly. He plays big in his crease and really makes it tough on the opposition to score. Another thing I found about Price in past years is that he would often times have a good game but then a bad ending. Would let in a goal with a few minutes left. Could have just been bad luck but he seems much more focused out there.
So now that the confidence is rolling in, he's gotten himself into a top 10 position in the league, is it any wonder Price had this tremendous talent and the confidence to back it all along? Sure he was down on himself after last season, any professional athlete in his position would be. The point is though he bounced back. He took his bumps along the way and he grew as a player but more importantly as a human being. Up until now we've seen Carey Price the boy but I think this year we're going to see Carey Price the man, and I think this is just Price playing like Price, if he goes on fire at some point I think we'll really frustrate some teams. Price has all the tools to be a top 10 goalie in the NHL for years to come. Right now he's showing that his first season wasn't a fluke and that the only fluke was last season. We are incredibly lucky as a team to have a guy as gifted as he is in between the pipes. I'm positive by game thirty I'll still be happy with his game, he's getting better and better as time goes on. Now the team has to feed off of his confidence and the fact that they have a guy like him in goal and start putting the puck in the net.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Scott Gomez & Brian Gionta - I Believe in You!
Well we're just eleven games into the season and just like some players are on fire others aren't. It's all part of the game players have slumps, it only becomes so magnified when it happens early on in the season. The interesting thing about the situation though is that Gomez of all people is receiving the blunt of the blame for his lines lack of production. Some say it's because he's paid 7.5 million dollars and should be able to carry a line as a result. What I don't get is why salary has anything to do with the equation. We didn't sign Gomez at 7.5 million, Glen Sather did. It was a stupid signing not because I don't think Gomez is a good player but he's clearly a 4-5 million dollar player. A general manager overpaid him and we were willing to trade for a guy who is overpaid. What I don't get is how it's even an issue.
Scott is the same Gomer we all knew and loved last season. He's still making great passes even though he's covered twice as often now, he's still skating well, he's still putting forth the effort. On some nights he hasn't looked great at all but I find it tough to blame him when he's been playing with half a line. Playing with a forth liner just means he and Brian are covered twice as much. Neither of them are big players and while Gionta plays a big mans game with a ton of heart, he's still not a big guy. The truth is Scott isn't in a slump he's been doing the right things out there. He's never been known for his shot so expecting him to put up 5 goals while Gionta is in a scoring slump is just an unfair expectation. Truth is when you're a pure playmaker you rely on your line mates heavily in order to rack up points.
Gionta can't even get in good scoring position. He's small and doesn't have any back up. Normally he would be able to because the other teams defenders would have to cover he and his line mates about equally. Problem is nobody is really all too concerned with Tom Pyatt scoring goals against them. These two guys are being covered twice as much and being that it's tougher for Gionta to get into a good position as a result, Gomer has to hold onto the puck a lot longer and thus loses the puck. To me it's just common sense these two guys need another top six forward to play with. I can't put the blunt of the blame on Gomez though if he's making plays and guys like Gionta and Pyatt aren't burying their chances. Though it's equally unfair to put the blunt of the blame on Gionta either because how is a guy of his stature supposed to get in a good scoring area with one to two guys covering him at all times? People need to have fair and realistic expectations here, we're only eleven games in and these guys haven't had a line mate all year.
So now you might ask why haven't we seen Pouliot given more chances or Eller? For one Eller plays much better as a center and for the sake of our team going forward needs to be developed as one. He brings much needed size down the middle for us. For two Pouliot is a young player and Martin wants him to earn the spot. He has been earning the spot and he's been gaining a ton of confidence along the way. I think Martin is trying to develop him into a consistent forward, make him earn his spot and produce on lines with far less effective line mates. To me the production of our second line can be attributed to this because our team struggled to develop players for many years once at the NHL level, this is why Martin was brought in to make sure it gets done properly. Unfortunately our second line is suffering as a result but in the long term it's going to pay off. This is a guy who knows how to develop players, who knows how to coach young guys and get them to achieve what they're potentially capable of. In Montreal unfortunately you can't win though, because one year people are complaining we rush our prospects, then when we don't rush them and our top line forwards have nobody to play with, people still complain. Heck people are blaming Gomez for this debacle as we speak, how would you feel in his shoes if you had nobody realistic to play with. Tom Pyatt is great at what he does but he isn't a top 6 forward far from it. I wouldn't even consider him a realistic fill in for a top line. Moen in short spurts has been leaps and bounds better.
This all having been said I believe in Gionta and Gomez, they're doing all the right things they just need the support of a line mate who is close to them in skill level. After a few games of Benny blasting them past the opposition teams will start covering Benoit a lot more, once he gains more confidence and is a fit on that line. He's going to be on that line people just need to be patient and by being there within a week tops you will start to see Gomez and Gionta explode on the stats sheet. Truth is for a line to work you need two people who can put the puck in the net minimum. A bottom six forward can only work in a top 6 role for so long before it starts to fail. All these guys need is a consistent line mate and I believe the reason they are lacking Benoit currently is because Martin is trying to work on Benny's consistency and confidence level.
Our team is in the right hands after so many years, we need to trust how the management will develop our players and we need to be more trusting of the decisions our management makes. You think they don't realize that Gomer and Gio are under performing? They knew it would be that way all along given the situation at hand and are working hard to fix it. This isn't a Gauthier problem, it becomes one July 1st depending on how Pouliot plays, at the very earliest by deadline. Truth is though our team is doing very well despite that second lines production currently and we're getting the added benefit of developing our young players properly during this period. We should be losing games right now and be starting to win them towards the middle of the season, we're very lucky we're doing so well this early on. I knew we would have a hell of a team this year but I never expected us to do so well this early on. Our coaching staff knows what they're doing and we just need to be patient and believe in our players and all will be well.
Scott is the same Gomer we all knew and loved last season. He's still making great passes even though he's covered twice as often now, he's still skating well, he's still putting forth the effort. On some nights he hasn't looked great at all but I find it tough to blame him when he's been playing with half a line. Playing with a forth liner just means he and Brian are covered twice as much. Neither of them are big players and while Gionta plays a big mans game with a ton of heart, he's still not a big guy. The truth is Scott isn't in a slump he's been doing the right things out there. He's never been known for his shot so expecting him to put up 5 goals while Gionta is in a scoring slump is just an unfair expectation. Truth is when you're a pure playmaker you rely on your line mates heavily in order to rack up points.
Gionta can't even get in good scoring position. He's small and doesn't have any back up. Normally he would be able to because the other teams defenders would have to cover he and his line mates about equally. Problem is nobody is really all too concerned with Tom Pyatt scoring goals against them. These two guys are being covered twice as much and being that it's tougher for Gionta to get into a good position as a result, Gomer has to hold onto the puck a lot longer and thus loses the puck. To me it's just common sense these two guys need another top six forward to play with. I can't put the blunt of the blame on Gomez though if he's making plays and guys like Gionta and Pyatt aren't burying their chances. Though it's equally unfair to put the blunt of the blame on Gionta either because how is a guy of his stature supposed to get in a good scoring area with one to two guys covering him at all times? People need to have fair and realistic expectations here, we're only eleven games in and these guys haven't had a line mate all year.
So now you might ask why haven't we seen Pouliot given more chances or Eller? For one Eller plays much better as a center and for the sake of our team going forward needs to be developed as one. He brings much needed size down the middle for us. For two Pouliot is a young player and Martin wants him to earn the spot. He has been earning the spot and he's been gaining a ton of confidence along the way. I think Martin is trying to develop him into a consistent forward, make him earn his spot and produce on lines with far less effective line mates. To me the production of our second line can be attributed to this because our team struggled to develop players for many years once at the NHL level, this is why Martin was brought in to make sure it gets done properly. Unfortunately our second line is suffering as a result but in the long term it's going to pay off. This is a guy who knows how to develop players, who knows how to coach young guys and get them to achieve what they're potentially capable of. In Montreal unfortunately you can't win though, because one year people are complaining we rush our prospects, then when we don't rush them and our top line forwards have nobody to play with, people still complain. Heck people are blaming Gomez for this debacle as we speak, how would you feel in his shoes if you had nobody realistic to play with. Tom Pyatt is great at what he does but he isn't a top 6 forward far from it. I wouldn't even consider him a realistic fill in for a top line. Moen in short spurts has been leaps and bounds better.
This all having been said I believe in Gionta and Gomez, they're doing all the right things they just need the support of a line mate who is close to them in skill level. After a few games of Benny blasting them past the opposition teams will start covering Benoit a lot more, once he gains more confidence and is a fit on that line. He's going to be on that line people just need to be patient and by being there within a week tops you will start to see Gomez and Gionta explode on the stats sheet. Truth is for a line to work you need two people who can put the puck in the net minimum. A bottom six forward can only work in a top 6 role for so long before it starts to fail. All these guys need is a consistent line mate and I believe the reason they are lacking Benoit currently is because Martin is trying to work on Benny's consistency and confidence level.
Our team is in the right hands after so many years, we need to trust how the management will develop our players and we need to be more trusting of the decisions our management makes. You think they don't realize that Gomer and Gio are under performing? They knew it would be that way all along given the situation at hand and are working hard to fix it. This isn't a Gauthier problem, it becomes one July 1st depending on how Pouliot plays, at the very earliest by deadline. Truth is though our team is doing very well despite that second lines production currently and we're getting the added benefit of developing our young players properly during this period. We should be losing games right now and be starting to win them towards the middle of the season, we're very lucky we're doing so well this early on. I knew we would have a hell of a team this year but I never expected us to do so well this early on. Our coaching staff knows what they're doing and we just need to be patient and believe in our players and all will be well.
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