NHL Thread Because There Isn't An NHL Thread

Had a feeling something was coming because something had to give. I'm surprised nonetheless given the circumstances.

Adding Muller makes sense because special teams have been a problem for years, despite the talent.
 
Turbo said:
Had a feeling something was coming because something had to give. I'm surprised nonetheless given the circumstances.

Adding Muller makes sense because special teams have been a problem for years, despite the talent.
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I kind of wondered if there wasn’t a bigger picture. Admittedly I haven’t followed them much, but a lot of articles framed is as based on this last skid and dropping two to the Sens as being last the straw, but since when does anything in the NHL move that fast?
 
Corycm said:
I kind of wondered if there wasn’t a bigger picture. Admittedly I haven’t followed them much, but a lot of articles framed is as based on this last skid and dropping two to the Sens as being last the straw, but since when does anything in the NHL move that fast?
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Special teams have been sinking them for a while, including this year. They're pretty solid 5-on-5.
 
Excited to see what Ducharme can bring. He has a pretty solid track record but now it's the big show. And we were just talking about fresh faces yesterday...
 
Not sure what it's like in Montreal, but is the pressure not way more on Bergevin? He gave a massive contract to a once-elite goalie with bad recent numbers and has seemingly been in the job for ages with little else to show for it.

Also, very interesting timing after a controversial loss.
 
BjorgenFjorgen said:
Not sure what it's like in Montreal, but is the pressure not way more on Bergevin? He gave a massive contract to a once-elite goalie with bad recent numbers and has seemingly been in the job for ages with little else to show for it.

Also, very interesting timing after a controversial loss.
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The pressure is sort of on and off on Bergevin... at this point, I think people are happy with the moves but feel the team is underperforming.

Goaltending is just the easy target. Though he does need to be more consistent (like yesterday), the on-ice issues go well beyond that - starting with the fact that opponents shouldn't get so many good looks on net from the slot.
 
Turbo said:
The pressure is sort of on and off on Bergevin... at this point, I think people are happy with the moves but feel the team is underperforming.

Goaltending is just the easy target. Though he does need to be more consistent (like yesterday), the on-ice issues go well beyond that - starting with the fact that opponents shouldn't get so many good looks on net from the slot.
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Interesting. My perspective is that they've been really good at 5 on 5 and have had some bad special teams and goaltending. If anything it seemed like they were overperforming early but I still think they're a top 3 team in Canada. The hype train to start the season didn't make much sense to me given their record against non-Vancouver teams and I hope they're not overreacting to the comedown of that. (Well, as a Leafs fan, I guess I am.)
 
It's interesting that if that refused goal call goes the other way, we are probably not talking about this. I think that call goes the other way more often than not... that contact was incidental, helped by the defender, Gallagher then got hit by another player, fell, got up, 7 seconds passed since the initial contact, then he deflected the puck in as Murray had a chance to reset himself... I understand the call, but damn, it's a surprise every time the NHL is involved in a review. Not blaming the loss directly on this though, so many other things happened during the game too so there's no excuse it even got to that.
 
Yeah, I thought it was the wrong call. The goalie clearly had time to get set again, and I don't think any contact was blatant, on purpose, or even significant.
 
BjorgenFjorgen said:
Interesting. My perspective is that they've been really good at 5 on 5 and have had some bad special teams and goaltending. If anything it seemed like they were overperforming early but I still think they're a top 3 team in Canada. The hype train to start the season didn't make much sense to me given their record against non-Vancouver teams and I hope they're not overreacting to the comedown of that. (Well, as a Leafs fan, I guess I am.)
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It's a bit more than that though... they also played well vs Toronto, Edmonton and Calgary before the skid. It's like something broke during the last few minutes of the 4-2 win against Calgary (Calgary score 2 in the last minutes of the game). They haven't looked the same since, except for a few periods here and there. Young team though, so some inconsistency is to be expected.
 
I had this whole paragraph that flashed in my head while I was trying to get to sleep last night and I was kicking myself for not having thought of it sooner. It went after introducing the vegan protestors.

"It's one thing that this Fiello [SIC] guy indulges in this barbaric practice, but must he always sing that stupid song" stated Maria Bambino, a protestor from the University of Minnesota. Bambino is referring to Fiala chanting "Babyback Babyback Babyback riiiiibs" when he scores a goal. "It's just taunting at this point", added Bambino.
 
Turbo said:
The pressure is sort of on and off on Bergevin... at this point, I think people are happy with the moves but feel the team is underperforming.

Goaltending is just the easy target. Though he does need to be more consistent (like yesterday), the on-ice issues go well beyond that - starting with the fact that opponents shouldn't get so many good looks on net from the slot.
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This is Bergevin's last bullet.
 
Interesting thing I hadn't realized until the presser just now, is that Ducharme's role as assistant was scouting the opponent and preparing the 5-on-5 game plan. Basically, the thing that's been working pretty well overall.
 
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