People always say that the Montreal Canadiens have the smallest forwards in the business of hockey, you could arguably say that's our problem too. I would have been in favour of getting a big tough guy like Jody Shelley or someone like that (since our last tough guy didn't turn out so well).

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Revenge is sweet... Revenge is best served cold... Revenge is ice cream.

Interesting thought. But consider the Canadiens also made it to the ECF. They had big guys or guys that played big on the back end (Hal Gil, Josh Gorges, and Halak) that helped a lot. When you look at our forwards, it would be great if he we had a big guy to play on RW(think a Guerin type of player). However, at this point, I believe we're not acquiring anyone until the trade deadline. Still, let's not forget this group won the division last season. I think Morrisonn and Leopold are improvements on the back end, and we can ice some solid lines. Do I know that this team will repeat as Division champs? No, I don't. But, I think we'll see this team make the playoffs, and be more prepared to play in the post season.

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Rest in Peace Nani. 10/3/10

Gerbacity



"Grier coming in over the line. He leaves it to Gaustad. The shot. THEY SCOOOREE!! RING UP ANOTHER ONE FOR THE GOOSE!!! HONK IF YA HEAR THE GOOSE!! 3-0 BUFFALO!"

Seriously, we're bring "size" into this now? What does a guy's size have to do with hockey?



Ooooh, wait, that size... Riiiight.

(lol off-color joke)

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Girgensons for captain. Team Keep Nick DesLauriers forever.

@TJLuckman550

In all seriousness, I mentioned today to somebody that a lot of the players on our team haven't even hit their prime yet, and most have them have shown a little promise in their careers. Vanek can get goals, Pominville seems to be clutch at the end of the season (except for this year), Ennis will be a rookie and shows promise.

I say that when you have guys like that, you have to let them grow. They need time. I know that we've had 40 years time to do this, but I still see something good out of our guys.

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Girgensons for captain. Team Keep Nick DesLauriers forever.

@TJLuckman550

DEGENERATE SCUM!!!

/HockeyTruth

In all seriousness, I'd like to hear other weigh in on this.

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Rest in Peace Nani. 10/3/10

Gerbacity



"Grier coming in over the line. He leaves it to Gaustad. The shot. THEY SCOOOREE!! RING UP ANOTHER ONE FOR THE GOOSE!!! HONK IF YA HEAR THE GOOSE!! 3-0 BUFFALO!"

Yes, but look at the teams that Canadiens played against; Washington is skilled but no grit (I mean at all). Pittsburgh, just didn't try hard enough in their play off series. Montreal did lose to a real playoff team (the Flyers) because of the size and depth that the Flyers had.

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Revenge is sweet... Revenge is best served cold... Revenge is ice cream.

I think we're fine. I consider the current incarnation of the Habs to be a shitty, second-rate version of us. If they can make it to the ECF, I don't see why we can't make it to the cup...

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"Let's just trap Sekera in the caverns underneath HSBC arena." -BlueandYellow

Reporter: "Steve, you guys now lead the league in defensive scoring."
Montador: "It's probably because of how good-looking we are."

Size isn't our biggest problem, I still think our biggest problem is a lack of a true 1st line RW. Makes it too easy to shut down two guys (Roy and Vanek) when the third forward couldn't hit water if he was on a dock.

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"She's like plan C after an 18 pack"

Squanto 7/27/2010

I think once the Flyers overcame the Bruins, it was going to be tough to beat them. They were absolutely in overdrive after that series, and I think they would have destroyed anyone in the same fashion. I know it seems strange, but their mentality had a lot to do with the run they made. Unfortunately, they just used up their overdrive on the Canadiens, and weren't ready for an even deeper, tougher Chicago team. But I digress. My point is, had the Bruins won, the Canadiens probably would have taken them by surprise as well.

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Rest in Peace Nani. 10/3/10

Gerbacity



"Grier coming in over the line. He leaves it to Gaustad. The shot. THEY SCOOOREE!! RING UP ANOTHER ONE FOR THE GOOSE!!! HONK IF YA HEAR THE GOOSE!! 3-0 BUFFALO!"

Good point. Do you think if Ennis becomes a high flying forward, Vanek is moved to RW, and Roy is kept as their center, that void would be filled?

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Rest in Peace Nani. 10/3/10

Gerbacity



"Grier coming in over the line. He leaves it to Gaustad. The shot. THEY SCOOOREE!! RING UP ANOTHER ONE FOR THE GOOSE!!! HONK IF YA HEAR THE GOOSE!! 3-0 BUFFALO!"

Two reasons why we couldn't make it to the cup final or ECF:
Grit-An examination of Chicago-they had Byfuglien, Versteeg, Eager, Burish, Ladd, Bolland
An examination of Philly-they had Pronger(!), Asham, Cote, Carcillo, Hartnell
That kind of gritty, annoying players are some of the reason that those teams did so well in the playoffs. We have... Kaleta, Grier, McCormick and Gaustad (sometimes).

Top four defence - Again look at Chicago-Keith & Seabrook (that's a definite top D-line) and Campbell & Hjalmarsson.
look at Philly-Pronger(!) & Carle and Coburn & Timonen
We definitely are missing half of a top D line (Myers and ?), and our second line of D could be promising with Morrisonn & Leopold.

And if our top forwards show up in the playoffs, that would help too...

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Revenge is sweet... Revenge is best served cold... Revenge is ice cream.

Size has nothing to do with anything.

Sidney Crosby is 5'11, he score 51 goals last year and had 109 points. Steven Stamkos is 6'1 190 and also scored 51 goals last year.

Gretzky was 6 foot and scorer 2800 points in his career. Henrik Sedin is only 6'2 183, small weight but s\won the scoring title last year. Daniel Sedin is 6'1 183 and score 85 points in 63 games also.

Mike Cammalleri is 5'9 but can score some decent goals and points. Martin St Louis score 94 points last year and is also a shorter smaller guy. Pat Kane is 5'10 and scored 88 points.

See what I mean, it's hockey smarts and not size that matter. If Ovechkin didn't have the hockey smarts that he does his 6'3 220 frame would be worthless.

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Have to agree size isn't the biggest need. Satfford has size, but that hasn't made a difference. Kassian was drafted almost definitely just to address this whole size issue, and I'm really not convinced that was worth the 12th or 13th pick or whatever he was. According to Jordano, who saw him play in the Canadian juniors camp last weekend, Kassian is slow as hell and looked outclassed. Mike Wilson had size. Kotalik has size. Size alone doesn't mean shit if the skill and attitude aren't there to go with it.

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"Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid." ~ Han Solo


We truly are not worthy of Miller!

Well, size I really don't think is what we need, but it would help. We really need a 1st line RW, as Jvaccaro said. We need a better scorer, but right now we have a pretty good team. The scorer should be traded for at the deadline so we can make a push for the cup. We would have decent D, amazing goaltending, and good enough offense.

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"Counting all the assholes in the room, I'm definitely not alone!" ~ Michael Poulsen, Volbeat, Still Standing.

I think Ray Whitney (gone to PHX) would have been perfect as a 1st line RW, sniper with leadership (which is something we need). B&Y, I don't think that 'decent D' would cut it in a cup run. If you look above at my analysis of the Chicago/Philly top two D-lines, you'll see why they got there, and what we are [somewhat] missing if we tried for the cup this year.

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Revenge is sweet... Revenge is best served cold... Revenge is ice cream.

Chicago has amazing D and decent goaltending, maybe a bit under decent. Offense makes the biggest factor, IMHO. Then goaltending. Then D. Teams have won cups with decent D. (Carolina is one. Pittsburgh's D was decent)

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"Counting all the assholes in the room, I'm definitely not alone!" ~ Michael Poulsen, Volbeat, Still Standing.

I know its not my biggest problem.

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Proud LGBTQQ Individual

Hey oh!

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"Counting all the assholes in the room, I'm definitely not alone!" ~ Michael Poulsen, Volbeat, Still Standing.

Oh my gosh, what liberal filth!

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Girgensons for captain. Team Keep Nick DesLauriers forever.

@TJLuckman550