Comments on: Shoddy Defence?

By: habsoverserver

habsoverserver — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 08:46:19 +0000

there are not enough d-men to go around the league. the salary cap is too low to allow teams to get all the players they need. if a team gives up on young cheap players then they are cap constrained to replace them with veterans.

By: leafmeister

leafmeister — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 17:42:04 +0000

As a Leafs fan I personally offer you pavel kubina and all you have to give us is Higgins

By: saku_rulz

saku_rulz — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 17:25:46 +0000

its nice finding excuses and blaming the SH situations and all but the truth is MOST OF OUR KEY D-MEN SUCK! rivet and souray keep on making mistakes in their zone, markov decides to take off one out of every 3-4 shifts…these are our 1-3-4 guys!rivet isn't the shadow of the guy who had a career season last year!he came back to what he is….a slow guy who makes an amazing number of mistakes …basic mistakes every game!yes he hits but also takes a lot of stupid penalties….as for souray… i'm starting to think he should be converted to a forward…i've actually seen him get lost behind the other team's net when action is getting into our zone….and i really don't have to explain his poor defensive play….as for markov, one shift he looks like niedermayer,the next he looks like niinima!or sometimes he decides to take the shift off and doesn't feel like skating….or will take some stupid risk offensively and gets caught which creates 2-1 or 3-2….my pt is if mtl wants to contend to anything, they have to improve the d.squad!there isn't anyone in the UFA market to replace markov but it woud be nice to replace souray-rivet by actual solid d-men….

By: habsoverserver

habsoverserver — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 17:05:10 +0000

i wrote this a couple weeks ago on a thread discussing trading Souray:

I think the reasons why Montreal has so many shots against are (1) they are in the top third of the league in times shorthanded (2) their defensemen contribute a big portion of the offense and so they can't be back at home to block shots (3) their third line thinks offense first and defense second.

By: Gainey_Carbo_Cup

Gainey_Carbo_Cup — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 13:53:14 +0000

I think the real problem here is the number of penalties the Canadiens are taking. They are usually penalized more often than their opponents during the course of a game. Obviously, when you're on the pk you can expect to give up more shots. If Montreal can start to play with more discipline I'm certain we'll see the number of shots go down significantly. We're just lucky that our pk has been having such an outstanding season. If not for that, we'd be in serious trouble.

By: Garny

Garny — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 10:02:42 +0000

my guess would be that they have confidence in their goaltending but if you look at it their aren't lots of scoring chances so the shots that are going off Huet and Abby are handleing….don't worry about it i don't think ur going to see huet and abby let in soft goals from shots from the boards

By: passionch

passionch — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 20:59:48 +0000

It's funny you mention this when the Habs have an abondance of defencemen. I haven't watched their recent games but it might be because of Bouillon's transition from rehab. Although, that isn't enough to explain why the shots against are so high lately.

I say just wait a bit more before we start looking for solutions although, I wouldn't be surprised if a move including a defenceman will be made in the next few weeks. The Canadiens needs to sign their core D-men and solidify the team's morale overall.