šŸ”„ Habs vs Avalanche: Did Montreal RISE to the Challenge? | LIVE Reaction 10AM

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From structured cabling and phone systems to Wi-Fi, cameras, and alarms, Cable keeps you connected, secure, and performing at your best. Your partner for the future. It’s Cable. Happy Sunday, y’all. Welcome to the Sunday Extravaganza. That is the Star and Demo Show. There’s Marco Demo. I am Sean Star. Pleasure to be with you as we always are. Sunday mornings at 10:00 a.m. in the aftermath of a pretty busy weekend for the Montreal Canadians. Um, and as you heard in the intro there, uh, we love our local sponsors. We know that you love them, too. And as we round the corner into the month of December, I remind you to support Little Bear at little bearonline.com. Everything you’re going to need to stuff that stocking for your furry family member at uh, you can shop online, little bearonline.com. Great in-house expertise from Chuck and Evie and their wonderful staff at Little Bear on St. Katherine Across from West Mount Square. Marco, good morning. Good morning everybody. I mean, listen, I know it’s a little bit of a downer because the Canadians did lose in a big way against the Colorado Avalanche 7-2, but to come out four points out of six considering where the Canadians were prior to this road trip. Yeah, honestly, I expected worse to be completely honest. So to see them come out with four to six points, uh it’s actually quite positive. The next week and a half is going to be insane. In fact, the entire month of December is going to be insane. Uh so the Canadians, you know, they won’t have a lot of time to dwell on this. Uh they’re going to need to uh they’re going to need to go. They’re going to need to move very quickly and and you know, forget this right off the bat. And I’m already being told that uh they’re raring to go uh you know, against the Ottawa Centers. It’s a big standup game. That’s a four-point game already early in this season. So, I think right off the bat, you know that they’re going to be ready to stand up for that kind of a game. And, uh, yeah, after getting thumped 7-2, there’s a little bit of rage. There’s a little bit of rage. Yeah. Good. But, you know, I think they’re coming home with their heads held high. Um, four points out of six that were on the table, you know, uh, putting up their second three-game winning streak of the season. And it ends with a thud, the 7-2 score line. And man oh man, you know, ifs and buts were candy and nuts, we’d all have a very merry Christmas. And if the Montreal Canadians were able to convert early on those chances, boy, I mean, they were swarming and um Colorado’s defense got, you know, burned a little bit by that have speed, but the final answer in goal was a little bit of a differencemaker in order to stop the momentum because had the Canadians been able uh to score early in that hockey game, I I’m not saying they win, but maybe it would have been a little tightly contested than how it turned out. I mean, you crash the goalender. Um, not only does the goal stand, but you you’re down a man. You you got to kill the penalty, right? But yeah, I’d like to start I’d like to start on Sunday. Yeah. On Saturday, I think we can we we can honestly say that they did Yakab Doves no favors at the beginning of the game and then the just took off from there, right? Like again, you know, Arbor Jakkey getting tripped right in front of the net. Yeah. Yeah. You know, uh the Josh Anderson crashing the net at full speed. that I swear that man only has one speed and it’s full speed. Yeah. Uh and so crashing the net that way, you know, there there is there’s a better way to defend in my honest opinion. And I I really did not like Josh Anderson’s game. We we’ll get into that overall, but I felt like that and the frustration that ensued after that, the lack of discipline that some of the veterans showed, like it’s just those are things that really stuck out to me as kind of being like, “Oh, okay.” Um, you know, for a team that won two games on the road back toback to see them kind of, you know, show that frustration, I was a little surprised. But I think to me, I don’t think I can blame this game on Jakob Doves. I think any goalender that would have been behind that Canadians team would have lost that game. Montbo Dobes, Prime Carry Price, anybody would have lost that game. where I where I really kind of hone in on and point the finger when it comes to a team like Colorado. You see where they were able to take advantage of the Canadians and it was down the middle. It was center ice. Center ice was exposed. The top of the slot was easy to work around. There were crisscrossing in in in the the offensive zone. the Canadians system. They do play a man-to-man system, but when your guys aren’t back quick enough, like for example, Brock Nelson’s second goal, Nick Suzuki was still in the neutral zone and they were already in correct circling the Canadians offensive zone for 5 seconds. Like that’s that’s kind of where I’m getting at where there isn’t uh a structural uh system in place for them to be able to handle being overloaded by the top team in the NHL. And so I again stress this. I expected this to be a loss, but I think it’s what you took from this game that’s more important. What are the Canadians missing to be as good as the Colorado Avalanche? And I know we’re about to get like a million smartass answers, but constructively, what are they missing? And I think I think the biggest difference is the strength down the middle, the secondary scoring from the Colorado Avalanche that really started the party. I I think you nail it. It to me it begins with the center ice position and you already highlighted that as an area of difference in the 7-2 loss at Colorado on Saturday afternoon. Um Josh Anderson the depth the secondary third level scoring like there was a sequence there on where Alex Carrier trips up Jack eyee. Jack eyes down in the middle of the ice and the Canadians are so out of position in their own end there. There was Brendan Gallagher um just like kind of leaning on his on his thigh pads watching the play unravel before his very eyes. And listen I don’t know what Martine St. he’s going to do um in terms of addressing the issue of veterans and the lack of engagement. And listen, I mean, he Gallagher finally got his first goal of the season last week or a week and a half ago now. But um it’s tough watching it’s tough for me watch to watch Brendan Gallagher out there on a young team that moves that moves and he’s still getting second wave power play time. Um so you talk about the veteran the veteran presence on this team. I’m all for good veterans, but um not so sure. I’m not so sure, you know, for Brendan Gallagher’s future role on this team and and what’s going to happen there because that it falls into that category. You need depth. You need depth a lot of the time and it’s uh it’s it’s been tough watching Gallagher out there lately. That’s just my point of view. Yeah, it’s tough to be able to speak about Gallagher because he is such a good human being and he’s such a nice person to talk to and and a great leader. great leader, great teammate, really fun person to to be around and has given everything to this organization, but unfortunately, yeah, you watch him play sometimes. I appreciate him. Like sometimes he’ll put out these herculan efforts in the first period, but then every single shift after that, he’s completely gassed. And I think unfortunately, like that’s just he was never a good skater to begin with. And as you get into the later stages of your career, you kind of slow down in that regard. And I think it’s very easy to see that with him. It’s unfortunate and I think, you know, I think he is at best a fourthline player at this stage of his career. I think that last year was an outlier where he scored those go those 20 goals. And I commend him because of his story and and obviously what what would happen with his mom. There’s a lot of of motivation there too. And I, you know, I I I tip my hat to him because I don’t know if I would have been able to play through something like that uh as a as a son. But I think where he’s at in his career right now and unfortunately I it is what it is. He’s on a fourth line and I think he needs to be sheltered on that fourth line and I don’t think that Joe Valeno is the guy to shelter him in that situation. So I I think I would follow up with this. I think the Canadians problems are bigger than Brendan Gallagher. I think so. I don’t think that I liked Josh Anderson last night at all. I haven’t I haven’t appreciated Josh Anderson in a couple games, but I thought Josh Anderson was all over the place last night. His emotions again took over. Like, he really does not like playing against a certain referee. Uh because he’s always he’s always getting called. He’s always pissed off. He’s It’s almost It’s always the same guy. And I’m just like, you need your veterans to show some discipline in a game like this or else the game flies off the handle. And I think that’s what they got away from is that the game kind of flew off the handle. you you’re giving the best team in the NHL countless power play opportunities one after the other after the other. Like the game’s momentum is lost after that. And again, I go back to it, but the Canadians lack of depth at center, I think, was made ever so obvious in this game. I’m sorry, Oliver Capan, you know, is a good 200 foot player. He is a rookie. He’s only going to get better. But man was it rough at certain times watching that center matchup, you know, and and I again like I he got an assist and he got like that I’m not going to call it a phantom assist there, but he got an assist on the Demidov goal. Um but that play was all yours. Voila. Voila. I appreciate his ability to be able to get the offensive rub from those two players and I like the fact that he does to a degree cover for them, but the situation is is if the Canadians want to be a competitive Stanley Cup team, Oliver Capan ideally is your third line center. Even as he continues to get better, ideally your third line center. And then you bring in a guy that is a legitimate 2C and now everybody’s in their chair. And I think then you can go, you know, shift by shift against a team that rolls four lines consistently and has elite talent on their top line. You know, as we um titled this live stream on this Sunday morning, um that the Montreal Canadians rise to the challenge, right? uh they tried to they tried to and I think the takeaway for me right and going to get into some of the comments because there’s a consistent theme here that I want to touch on and it’s one of the key points the silver linings when you lose 7-2 right you’re trying to find some silver linings um and it began with you know the road trip being successful winning the first two games and you know getting schooled a little bit but I think that the strongest takeaway from losing to a team like Colorado who is very much lined up to win the Stanley Cup this year this is a true Stanley Cup contending team. This is the arguably the creme de la creme of the National Hockey League. And you saw the disparity between the youngest team in the NHL in the Montreal Canadians and a team that is ready to win the Stanley Cup. And you know we Marco there filled in some of the holes, what was exposed, how much room the Canadians have left to grow to hopefully one day this fan base can cheer on their team the way Colorado fans are cheering on the on the Avalanche. But with that being said, the silver lining is watching Yuri Leakovski, I think, turn into a more mature player. Marco and I are gonna have a I think what what was a great conversation about your iceky has he arrived in the National Hockey League. We’re watching this 21 year old 21-year-old young man, you know, be retasked with a different line to take on an air quote leadership role as the the guy with the more game experience at the National Hockey League level. And man, he was all over the ice yesterday and there weren’t a lot of his teammates as the game progressed, Marco, beyond the 20-minute marker. But man, his game really stood out in a in a positive way. And I’m glad to see a lot of the people in the comments this morning are talking about um your Slukovsky’s game. Uh the fans recognized a strong performance from this young guy. What do you think of Slowsky’s game yesterday? Well, uh I could tell you one thing. I don’t think he’s a plug as we see in the comments, but uh incredible. Um it’s just he hits every five on five calculable metric that you would want out of a player and out of on a line with Ivan Deidovv he has been the most visually impressive of the duo. Yeah. And obviously the following subsequent comment is well Demidov is a rookie. Yes I understand that but when you’re looking at who is driving that line it’s Slav. And I think that’s the best news you could possibly have right now in terms of watching how he’s developed, watching how, you know, and I’d like to address this point. Great second line with Slaf, Demi, and Capan. I disagree entirely with that. I think that it’s a really good duo between Demid and and Slowski. I agree. Yeah. I wish I disagreed with you. Yeah. And you can plug in a legitimate Tuci and it would be just as effective, if not potentially more. But in what they have, in what they have, what I like is that Capan can hang in the face of injury. Yeah. And I think that’s the key. Capan is showing that you can be an absolute wagon with him as your 3C. Yeah. As long as you bring in a guy that’s closer to Nick Suzuki as the 2C. So what does that do? It means that the wingers have to take on more of the offensive uh I would say weight. And that’s exactly what Uricovsky’s done. He’s taken the responsibility of being the play driver, of helping in transition, of making space for his teammates, of pulling out rando spinas at the moment that he receives a pass so that he can evade coverage and make a play. He is moving with assurance. He’s moving with confidence. This is the Yuri Lekovski that we saw at the Olympics in his draft here. This exact type of player. He’s back to his strong side on the left. He’s playing strong. He’s going to the net. He’s, you know, he’s screening goalenders for go for for goals. The only uh the only issue with Slowski is he’s often the fourth man on a play. Obviously, the last two games, he’s gotten his fair share of points, and deservedly so. But I always felt like in the month of November, he was playing well. It just wouldn’t show up on the stat sheet. He’d always be the fourth man on the play. He’d always be the guy screening the goalie. He’d always just miss the the tip in. But he has just been so strong and being able to watch the play develop and then develop it for him. You know, uh the game slows down. I think that’s a really good comment. The game has slowed down. Yeah. Everything that he does now seems more calculated. You know, there’s less of these random giveaways. He looks less so much like Bambi in defensive coverage. He’s challenging guys defensively. He’s boxing guys out. He’s using his stick. That’s what you want to see. And I think he does that with such regularity now that Martinez St. Louis has no choice but to put him back on the top line when they’re trying to defend a lead because as we’ve discussed that top line is the best five on five line, one of the best five on five lines in hockey. So, you know, I think you could see the impact that he has as an individual on this team right now. And I think he’s a major reason why that second line is going at the rate that it is. What are they going to do though? like when Kirby Doc is back after the holidays, you know, um Capan Kirby Doc’s contract, you know, ultimately finding a decision with Kirby Do like who is this player? Who is this player? And where does he does he even fit in with the Montreal Canadians? Because like you see it, you talk about it, I see it, I talk about it. like it’s it’s all about um maximizing this potential, right? And and building off Demidov, Slowsky’s development, Lane Hudson’s development. Uh the Canadians top four on their defense is more or less set. Uh waiting for Jake, maybe Jacob Fowler to establish himself. Like everything lining up, syncing up, right? Like I wonder where Kirby Doc’s role is in the vision of Ken Hughes and Jeff Gordon, you know? I think if he comes back exactly. Yeah, if he comes back they’ll put him I think they’ll put him back at center. I don’t think he’ll bump Capan out because Kapan’s developed such good chemistry with Ivan Deidov and I think Kapan I think we can all agree Kapan is a better defensive player than Doc. So who better in this situation and I’d say that Kapan is a better faceoff guy than Doc. So why change that situation at any in any way? Put yourself put Doc on another line as a center. bump Jake Evans down, move, you know, uh, a Valeno to the wing and then finish off that finish off the the the third line with the player the wingers you have left. But I think when Kirby Doc comes back, everybody just gets bumped down as of the third line. That’s that’s what it is. Um, I don’t think that you can remove any of those three youngsters from the second line right now outside of the acquisition of a bonafideed number two center. So, I wouldn’t I wouldn’t touch it. I agree with everybody that line works right now. Don’t play with it. Don’t mess with it. Just give it advice. I mean, is there anything have you heard anything at all about, you know, we’re getting into hearing voices into Well, listen, that’s a topic for another day. But in the here and now, as far as like what the Canadians are up to, if anything, we’re getting into December tomorrow. It’s the last day of November today. Um, is there anything on the periphery around the Canadians looking for help up front? If we’re talking about, and you asked the question, right, what are the Canadians missing? How can they build and keep the momentum going, be a top three team in the Atlantic? How can they do that just internally or are they going to go get external help? Is there anything on the periphery around um any smoke around the Canadians exploring any of those options today? Well, I see comments, you know, there’s a comment made that the Canadians should wiggle Doc and Ghouie uh and eventually replace a Ghoulie with Rybacker. I’m a I’m a probably higher on Rybacker than most people are and I would say that he is not ready for the NHL. Leave that man alone. Let him play in Laval. Let him cook. Let him stay there all season for the love of God so that he can actually have, you know, I don’t know, maybe like 50 games of AHL experience by the end of the year. Like, come on, man. Leave him alone. Don’t rush guys up. You already have Adam Angstrom there. And I could we will address Kaden Gouy’s trade status in a future episode this week. Exactly. But I could I could definitely tell you that uh wiggling Doc and Ghoulie while they’re injured is not going to get you anywhere at all. So, what do they need to do? You absolutely need a two seed. Absolutely. I think we’ve been saying this for year for a year now. Everybody knows it. Mart San Louie knows it. Ken Hughes, Jeff Gordon knows. Everybody knows it. Yeah. Now, I think the where you have to take this is is it an immediate need? Is it something that you absolutely need to address this second? I don’t think so. I think that this offers them an opportunity to to to get more information on what Capan ceiling is. I think I’ I I think you know we’ve addressed this already but I think you know the more games you get the larger the sample size is the more you get to see you get to see what kind of a play driver Slowski can be in his own right uh you get to bring along Ivan Deidovv who what is it now five game six game point streak um so like it’s still it it continues to he continues to add points and still look good without necessarily hurting his team defensively too much um some some you know unfortunate turnovers at times Other than that, you know, he seems to be showing consistency in the offensive production. Um, you know, and then the defense, I think the defense is going to work itself out. I see a lot of people talking about the defensive structure with the Montreal Canadians. I% agree. Yes, I 100% agree. You know, and I used to say that outside of the top pair, the defensive structure was all over the place. Well, last night, the top pair joined that conversation. I did not like what I saw from Noah Dobson in that game uh at all. And so I think it’s a back to basics situation. I think it’s a wakeup call when you play a team like that. I think that Adam Angstrom I I I honestly believe that Adam Angstrom, all things being equal, I thought that I think Adam Angstrom is a better overall defenseman than Arbor Jackie right now. Oh yeah, right now. I don’t think I don’t think that those two are the two that you need to point the finger at for last night’s breakdown of defensive structure. No. Listen, Alex Kier’s on the struggle bus and has been on the struggle bus for a for a minute. Um, there’s no denying that. There’s no denying that. But, you know, Alex Cier stays in the lineup, you know, because of how he plays short-handed, right? I mean, they they need they need that defensive defenseman. And right there with Mike Mat, I mean, these are the go-to guys essentially, right? I mean, nice to see they’re giving Arboraka a few seconds in short-handed situations to see if they can trust his decision-m a little bit more. But there were two sequences against Colorado yesterday where I was like, “Wow, look at you, Adam Angstrom. The game has already slowed down for you where he was hemmed in hemmed in into his own end. He took his time to go back to the net, kind of reset, authored a breakout, and the Canadians were able to move the puck out of out of out of trouble, right?” I was like, “Nice, nice, calm, poised play for a guy who played what is his second game because Jaden Shrew was out with an upper body injury yesterday.” I really likes the poise that Angstrom displayed yesterday. Yeah. I mean, one of the things that I appreciate from a guy like Angstrom is that when you come into the NHL, usually the speed of the game takes players by surprise. Yeah. But he’s already a player that thinks the game at such a fast level that it I didn’t find the transition to be that bad. It was more the chemistry. It was more the timing with his his defensive pair that I found needed work. But I mean, again, he’s had one practice with the Canadians since being recalled. So, it’s it’s not like really Exactly. Like, tomorrow they’re going to be able to practice and I think it’ll things will calm down a little bit and he’ll be able to kind of get his mojo going with his defensive partner, assuming, of course, that he plays against the Ottawa Senators. What I would add is what makes Adam Angstrom look better visually, the poise that he has with the puck. He’s the kind of player that is able to move the puck up the ice with possession of the puck without breaking stride. A lot of people when the puck is on their sticks, it’s like a a grenade. They overthink it. They slow down because they’re trying to think of what the next move is. Adam Angstrom is able to both skate up the puck with with speed and make decisions quickly so that he’s able to continue the offensive uh the offensive pressure. And there was a specific shift against the Avalanche where the Canadians spent a good like minute in the offensive zone and it was Angstrom and Hudson at the point and that is a pairing that I would very much like to see a little bit more of moving forward depending on the the severity of Jaden Strubal’s injury. Yeah, I really especially with Enstrom’s ability to play the right and then pushing Hudson back to his natural left D position. I would be very interested to see that pairing for a couple of games because I would love to see Angstrom challenged to play a more defensive side of the puck kind of role and allow Hudson to roam. I want to see how he’d respond to that because I think he has the potential to do that. And what will make or break him being a top four defenseman in the NHL is being able to execute that kind of deployment where he would be, yes, we know he’s going to be able to move the puck up quickly. He’s going to be able to move the puck up the ice and and and join the rush. We all know he could do that. Yeah. But I think in the same lens as a Mike Mat a couple of years ago, being able to round out the defensive side of the game and show a willingness to be able to sacrifice a little bit of your offensive instinct for the right play, that’s what I want to see. because if he could really add that element to his game at the NHL level, he’s going to stick around for a long time. Boy, the that Avalanche offense and the depth. I mean, Brock Nelson obviously had himself a day, but uh Nathan McKinnon’s speed burst. I mean, we’re talking about another cheat code player. Uh Kale Mar moving things around from the blue line. I mean, it jumbled up the Canadians defensively. Admit it, it created for a very ugly painting in Colorado yesterday. I mean, some of the defensive miscues again. We even saw it, I think, on the one goal Vegas scored um Friday afternoon where everybody was like glued to one side. I mean, Colorado has this tendency like they don’t lose, you know, they don’t they don’t lose at home. They they they’ve rarely lost at all this season. Uh even though they lost in a out to Minnesota on Friday, they come back and exercise those wrongs in a dominant performance. But they make a lot of teams look silly, you know. So, I don’t want to overreact or overread on a bad day at the office for the Canadians where they look, they got embarrassed on the scoreboard. There’s no sugar coating it here. They they got they got outclassed, but Colorado has a tendency to do that to a lot of teams, right? They were on a 10-ame winning streak and had three shutouts in a row before Minnesota. Yeah, it was I think one of the jokes that was uh someone mentioned to me was uh you know, I’m glad Montreal scored a goal. Yeah. But um again, I I I don’t think any goalie was stopping that setup from your Levoski to Ivan Deidov, so I’ll give him that. And one thing I do want to point out because I know that there’s going to be a lot of negatives about this uh game, but one thing that’s really stood out to me, I think Ela Hudson got the message that he needs to shoot more. Correct. Correct. Yes. Cuz he’s at four goals already. Yeah. and he’s taken like I think his shot attempt total if you look at it in like 10 game increments I think his shot attempt total has tripled because I would say since about the November 12th mark it’s just been him taking shots him being fearless with it you know not necessarily trying to blow the goalie’s water bottle out off the netting but just carefully placed strong low shots are starting to beat goalenders and not just any goalender like one of the best goalenders in the NHL yesterday was in Nets and uh you know I I that was a that was a really smart shot that I like from him and the fact that he was able to walk in to the high slot to be able to take that shot shows how little respect the opposition has for his shot. But I think the more he starts to do that, the higher guys are going to start playing, the more it’s going to open up the ice in the bumper, and that’s I think where the Canadians will be able to strike more regularly on the power play. Well, he’s got I think 13 shots in his last six games, and he had a five shot he had a five shot gamer in mid November if I recall. Right. I think Vegas was the one game in this stretch where he didn’t finish with a shot on goal on the box sheet where and and coincidentally in a game where the Canadians dominated, right? Um, and there he was held shotless. But, you know, I’m always amazed and I think Marco, like great players have this tendency to do this. Um, and I remember Sydney Crosby talking about says, “Oh, you don’t think I could be a dominant guy in a faceoff circle?” Works on that. Doesn’t think, oh, you tell me I can’t score 50 goals. Spends the summer working on the shot. Like Lane Hudson has been a man possessed talking to everybody about, you know, shoot the puck more. I need to work on my shot. Work on my shot. So, I’m I’m glad to see that. I think he’s a great player and that’s what great players do. They they fine-tune and hone in on those skills. Sydney Crosby is on pace for 55 goals this season as a 38. This guy’s what a what a just what a cyborg. What a this guy was built in a factory in Nova Scotia somewhere like they they brought brought all the best engineers in the world and said make me a hockey player and Sydney Crosby in 1987 was born. Yeah. and and then you know shortly after they made Nate McKinnon, right? Both from Cole Harbor. Nate McKinnon on pace for 143 points, ladies and gentlemen. I mean, what a what a super absolute cheat code. Yes, absolute cheat code. And it’s again, it’s impossible for anybody in the NHL to defend him the way that he’s playing right now. Yeah. Um, so I I do want to get into the defensive structure because it is something that I wanted to address, but I do want to start by saying good luck defending Nate McKinnon and Martin Niches playing together. It’s it’s it’s incredible to watch. Like it’s it’s really it’s almost funny to see how well the Colorado Avalanche salvaged the Miko Rantin situation. Yeah. because it initially looked like disaster and then Nas fits in so easily. He’s still I still think Rantin is a better player but to get the picks that they got plus Drury who’s another center that plays on their bottom six plus Nichas that they signed long term you know I don’t think they made out in this situation as bad as many other teams that have traded quality players. I’m talking about the Leafs for example. Uh usually when you trade an 100point player you take a step back. the Colorado Avalanche have taken two steps up. So, it’s been really good to watch them. And I think one of the things that makes them so dangerous is in the offensive zone, you’re playing, you know, this is this is the offensive zone. They’re basically moving like this. They’re constantly in a cycle and it forces the Canadians to run after them. And I see this in the comments. The Canadians are running after them. Yeah. Because you have no choice. They’re always moving. They’re all There’s no way to defend them. If you’re playing man-to-man, you’d have to play zone defense, which the Canadians don’t, and I don’t suggest you do that uh on a regular basis. But against teams like uh you know, like the uh Colorado Avalanche, you may have to tweak a little bit of the strategy, right? And so that’s why teams have had such difficulty against them because they overload the defensive structure. And the key point with them is if you don’t have a strong presence in the center of the ice, which means between the goal mouth and the end of the circles, then you’re going to get exposed because the puck is going to be going laterally left and right. No problem. No one blocking those passing lanes. And that’s exactly what happened against uh Montreal yesterday is that cross-seam passes were just easy to make. They weren’t cutting passing lanes. They weren’t concentrated on the play that was coming. they were catching up to the play that was in front of them. Uh, excuse me. Uh, what about this from our from our friend uh member to the show uh thanks for being part of the community. Peace country equipment 623. Uh, this man man is rough most games. Forget about when you play three and four and show up against the wagon of a team in Colorado. And then follows it up by talking about much easier to defend this avalanche team if you play zone. Not saying we’d win, just saying it wouldn’t be a blowout like it was yesterday. That’s from Peace Country. Yeah, I I tend to agree. Um I think that there were at least three goals yesterday that a calmer defensive group would have been able to uh stop from happening. Uh I think of the for example the Brock Nelson’s second goal where no adoption literally right next to him and it’s like well tie him up buddy like you’re right there you know there and then you know Alex Carrie overcommitting um on a couple of those goals again getting caught chasing um tripping uh Arborji you know like it’s situations like that where you just like what a cluster bleep. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. So to me, yes, the defensive structure is suspect 100%. But it’s also because A, they’re not playing with confidence, and B, that bottom pair got exposed so thoroughly. Yeah. Measure. Measure. Yeah. And so I took advantage of that. And that’s what happens when you play Colorado and you don’t have the last change. You were basically exposing yourself to the lack of depth in your lineup. Like it doesn’t make sense, ladies and gentlemen. putting out the Valeno line against the Brock Nelson line is one of the biggest mismatches I’ve seen this season on the ice. And the Canadians because of their injuries, they’re exposed to this, right? Ideally, your fourth line is the Jake Evans, Josh Anderson, fill in the blank line, right? But now they’re forced to be your third line and the way they play them at five on five almost your second line. I don’t think that’s going to work on the road. And so this is why I say the Canadians, ironically, are actually better on the road than they are at the Bell Center. But these kinds of matchups are easier at home than they are in the Bell Center. On the road than they are center on the road, you’re consistently getting exposed. You’re always getting top lines against your second line. Um the Canadian second line was getting matched up against the McKinnon line so often that they had to basically cut their shifts to 40 seconds. I don’t know if you noticed this. they were cutting their shifts early, forcing them back to the bench early so that they could swap them out faster before they got exposed. Um, you know, there were little instances, little details of last night’s game. So, part of it is coaching, 100%. Part of it is coaching. Uh, I feel like the Canadians, I wouldn’t say are not prepared enough for games like this, but haven’t been exposed to this level of play on a consistent basis for them to be able to play against these top dogs. Like, we have to understand Colorado is in a is on a mountain by itself right now. Exactly. Right. Who’s the best team that the Canadians have played other than that? The Devils. They haven’t played Tampa yet. No. Right. So, what is it? the Devils. That’s it. You know, like just just a quick look at the NHL standings, ladies and gentlemen. I mean, it’s they haven’t played top end teams. They haven’t had to deal with this. Like Boston’s ahead of them just gracefully. They haven’t played Carolina yet. Um, and you look at the Western Conference, maybe Dallas, the Dallas, don’t bring up the Dallas game. Don’t bring up the Dallas. And then you saw how that came out. You know, LA, we saw how that worked out. It’s those older more experienced teams that know how to take advantage of system issues. Like at one point I remember it stuck out to me this play like Jake Evans tried to make a backward pass. It got stuck on the boards and no one went to get it. And I remember looking like at Nate McKinnon’s body language like a like okay and then he just goes and grabs the puck where like these are like defensive mistakes that shouldn’t be made on a regular basis and you’re doing it against arguably one of the top three players right now the best player in the league. They’re going to get they’re going to c they’re going to catch you on that. So some of these unforced errors is one thing. some of these four stars because of their insane for check is another but it’s a good barometer game for a team that’s still in the rebuilding phase. I don’t care what hottake merchants say. This is still a team that’s rebuilding. When you don’t have an legitimate 2C, you’re rebuilding. Um you’re taking this team and you’re seeing, okay, they’re good here. There’s some work to be done there. Uh I like what we see here. I didn’t like what we see there. Like the positives that you can take out of yesterday was the Canadians have the blueprint for secondary consistent secondary scoring in my opinion, right? Having Slipovski and Demidov as as your anchors on the on the second line is probably going to allow them to count on more than one line to create offense on a regular basis. That’s a positive, right? The Canadians power play has improved in my honest opinion uh from the structure and the way that they go about creating their offense during this road trip. That’s definitely a positive. Uh Ivan Deidovv is taking more shots, more regularity in his shooting potential. It’s almost like he took Alex Koval’s comments uh to heart. Uh so, you know, shooting with more regularity, and I like that. And then, you know, it brings us back to some of the transition elements that I think the Canadians can improve. The Canadians down the middle get exposed by other teams because their centers aren’t meant to carry the pucks up the ice. Capan is not a transition player. Jake Evans, he’s not really. He brings the puck to the blue line and then they dump it in and then Joe Valeno again, same concept, dump in. So the Canadians have difficulty moving the puck up the middle with possession and that’s the main thing that hurt them in my opinion against the Avalanche because then the plays got cut, went back the other way and they’d spend, you know, 60 to 90 seconds in their own zone getting circled around. So the the takeaway is there for me in this game. There’s so many comments uh so many comments um around Martine St. Louis and and honestly you guys like I’m really surprised. I’m really surprised some of y’all are carving up Martine St. Louis. Like um maybe I’m just maybe I’m watching a different team, you know? Um I don’t know what you want this Canadians team to look like. They’re the youngest team in the National Hockey League and as you know it’s been pointed out a few times on today’s episode like yes they got cracked uh humbled by the best team in hockey and it’s not even close and as we as we know like the Montreal Canadians are decimated with injuries. We know they still don’t have a 2C. I don’t know in what world this falls on the lap of Martine St. Louis. And look I have I I have never once talked about they’re missing an entire top nine line. Well exactly and Listen here. Look, MSL played Dito. Look at Dito’s five on five ice time. If if the Canadians weren’t short-handed as often, he would not be up. He would not be close to Joe Valeno wouldn’t have more time. He plays more five on five. But again, the youngest team in hockey. Look at the individual development of some players. Look at look at Cole Coughfield. Look at Dito. Look how Mike Mat is playing in this system. Look how Lane Hudson is playing in this system. Right? Like I don’t know what what else. And there are some issues. There are some issues. I take with Martine St. like the selfshort-handedness I find cutting guys ice time down in the third period taking a freaking timeout when you need to time out timeout that’s one of the most overrated that’s almost like blaming the referees in my opinion um a timeout a timeout when you’re a young team like this taking timeouts to me again you know what when I watch how this team plays and he I find him very honest I find MSL very honest he’ll tell you he’ll tell the media that he’s far from perfect. He’ll talk about how on the road he gets into these situations where he looks at um he looks at matchups way too often. He gets caught in that trap. Like he’s learning. He’s learning like this team is learning. And no one’s saying he’s perfect, but if we’re seriously going to sit here and and point the blame at at Martine St. Louis and uh let’s go, let’s talk about coaching, coaching, coaching, there are far more issues that need to be addressed in my opinion than talking about the job MSL does behind the bench. practice. I’m just kind of surprised to see it. No, I think I think there is definitely some I wouldn’t say blame, but definitely some discussion that could be had when it comes to Martine St. Louis and and the way that he’s utilizing his team right now. The over reliance on veterans, for example, is is one thing. It’s the youngest team in the league. You have no choice but to lean on some of your young players at times. I understand the the Ditov reference, though. think that’s that’s spot on in the sense that he would have had more minutes had there been power play uh more power play time, but his five on five minutes have actually increased. If you noticed, yeah, he was playing 10 minutes five on five. That’s right. And last night he was at 12:22 at five on five. Yeah. The issue was he play there was so little power play time that he played 1412. But 1412, you know, he played more than Brennan Gallagher. He played more than Florian Jakkey. He played more than two two defenseman. Three defense uh yeah, no two defenseman played more than Tessier. Um Capan played more because he was on the penalty penalty kill and the team was on the penalty kill for so long. Heck, he played more than Zachary Bzuk. Yeah. Yeah. So like the problem was the Canadians on the power play because at five on five the it’s actually quite even. The problem is, and I, this is my question to fans, and tell me in the comments. How do you get him more minutes without putting him on the top line? Mhm. How? There are two answers. Yeah. You start using him on the PK or you put him on the first wave of the power play. And I know everyone’s answer is going to be first wave of the power play. And so, yeah, that’s basically it because right now, Right. Yeah. Well, right. It’s wild. Everyone has their opinion, but Yeah. No, but this is my fa these are my favorite kind of comments because when the Canadians hired Pascal the literate of comments of he’s never developed anything. Yeah. And he’s never like who has he helped who did he develop in Winnipeg? Look at how terrible of a job he did in Columbus. And he has been fantastic for the Lava Rocket. And Martine St. himself has tipped his cap to how prepared the player has come out of Lava to play in the NHL. Correct. He’s been fantastic, but it’s just like, but then you win, right? And so this is where I’m at with this team. The Canadians did not add substantial enough experience to their roster during the off season, ran into three major injuries at forward, and are now paying the price for it. The fact that they’ve been able to stay above water this long for that period of time is a borderline miracle. And that miracle is brought to you by Sir Nick Suzuki half the time. Mhm. When you when you when if if you are a team that the Canadians are like if you are the Ottawa Senators right now and you lose Klojiru, Ridley Grig and uh Shane Pinto, good luck bud. Yeah. Like that’s that’s a massive amount of loss and the way that Alex Newuk was playing to lose him there. It’s a huge loss. There’s nobody in the system that’s going to be able to replace the way that he was playing unless you got a guy like Zachary Bz going. So they did. The biggest loss to the Montreal Canadians to start this season is never more evident when they play teams like uh like Colorado. It’s Kaden Gouie because Kaden Gouly’s best feature is rush defense. being able to keep up skating backwards with players skating at him forward. That is one of his best qualities. And then obviously physicality, active stick, he would have been the focal point player in a game like yesterday. Mhm. Instead of playing Alex Kerier 22 minutes, they would have been playing they would have been playing Kaden Gouly 22, 23, 24 minutes against a team like uh like the like the Avalanche against a player like Nate McKinnon. And so that’s kind of where I always when I look at the defensive structure of this team, I always keep that in mind. You had Arbor Jack, you had Adam Angstrom who are two younger players getting their feet wet. Alex Kerry is not having his best hockey as of late. They were going to get rattled by this team. So I’m not necessarily worried about that. I’m not going to put that on MSL. What I would the what my main critique with MSL is the over reliance on veterans even when they’re not playing well. Yeah, it doesn’t. But again, but they’re the youngest team in hockey. They had five rookies on the ice yesterday. Tell me, name me a coach that wouldn’t do that on a competitive Canadians are very competitive. What coach wouldn’t do that though? Like what coach seriously would not lean on in a tight tight contested game? Why would you be able to play Oliver Kapan in 16 minutes, four and a half of which came on the penalty kill, but not play him top six minutes on his second line as is written on the stat sheet at five on five? Like it’s it’s it’s what you call idiosyncrasy. You’re not following the logic. If you trust him enough to be on the PK, why don’t you trust him enough to be on the ice uh for 15 minutes, 16 minutes in a game? Right. If you’re a top six center or let’s just say second line center, third line center, you’re playing at five on five, you’re playing anywhere between 13 to 15 minutes. Yes. At even strength, assuming, you know, a fluctuation of of penalty of special teams. Why is he not able to do that on a regular basis? And so that’s where the Demidov ice time conversation comes into it because his ice time would be higher if they trusted that line on a more general basis, but you trust the center on that line to be on your on your penalty kill. Correct. Like that’s where I don’t follow. That’s why he’s been very consistent. He’s talked about how smart he believes Capan’s game to be, right? but doesn’t talk about an NHL coach. An NHL doesn’t talk about the skill set like he he’s not heapan’s not a number two center like he’s he’s Jake Evans with better scoring to me by youngest team by many months I would add. Um but yes no the the the the Canadians I think one of the biggest the biggest differentiating elements I think is you had five rookies in the lineup last night right? Correct. Let us look at the overall ice time count and see where those rookies are. Lowest ice time, Florian Jackey. 10 minutes 34 seconds. Yeah. Next rookie, Adam Angstrom, 13 minutes 28 seconds. Kind of understandable. Yep. Um, let’s see here. Um, we have Ivan Deidov, 14 minutes 12 seconds. Um, you have Oliver Capan, 16 minutes 31. Yeah. Yep. Yeah. So, Capan being the rookie that you trust the most in this case, this is total minutes. But let’s flip this conversation of five on five. Florian Jack eye 1034 same amount because he doesn’t play special teams. Y um Oliver Capan 1124. He had almost 5 minutes of penalty kill time. Yep. But and so that’s the offset. So, Deidov getting 14 minutes is because that line only got 11 12 minutes at even strength because Kapannan was killing penalties for so long that that line was skipping shifts. Well, if that’s the case, then usually what happens at the end of a PK is you bring in another line to come in and really kind of get their mojo going and exert um pressure against the opposition. The problem is the four centers on on the Canadians. So Suzuki, Kapannan, Evans, and now Valeno all play penalty kill. Yep. All of them. So that hurts you in the next shift. So generally speaking, Suzuki goes out first on the penalty kill. So he could his line can come out right after a power like the the opposition’s power play to play against them and to to to get the momentum back in the Canadians favor. The issue is the following line that comes out is more often than not Jake Evans’s line, not Oliver Capan’s. That’s where they lose minutes. But that’s my critique. Like unless I’m wrong here, like you know when I see this comment like trusted on the PK, not five on five, right? And and Matty doesn’t make much sense what Marco’s kind of talking about there. It is, you know, it is, but like five in my mind, right? Like if you’re out there five on five as a top two center in the National Hockey League on any team, right, you’re supposed to be driving the offense. You’re supposed to be making your wingers better. Whereas Oliver Capan, in my mind, is a is a smart defensive forward who can play his position well. And I think there in lies the difference. Capan’s skill set isn’t good enough to consistently be out there to drive second line scoring to make the meat off better, but that’s where the difference is. That’s where the lopsidedness comes into me. Like Marte said, I trust him to go out there and drive it. He doesn’t have to. That’s the thing. That’s the thing about Oliver Capan. I don’t really mind that. He doesn’t need to be there to drive the offense. That’s not what his role is going to be when he reaches top level. He’s going to be a great strong two-way, you know, third like elite, I believe, third line center. a guy like he’s doing right now that could come in in the place of injury if there’s a there’s an issue. The line drivers are on the wings and he finds a way to get your iceky minutes, right? How often do you see because I just mentioned Zakah Bzer had this less minutes. Well, what happened? He was flipping Slowski onto the top line to get him extra minutes because of the way he was playing. But that doesn’t happen with Didov on a regular basis. No, that’s what I’d like to see. And he’s done it before. Don’t tell me that this is, bro. Like, Capri off is a superstar. Ivan Deitov is 19 years old. Urskovski just got on this line. Just got there. Like to me, it’s apples and oranges. It’s It’s not the same to bring up Capri off in Minnesota. Capri off is a superstar in the National Hockey League. But who does he play with? Yo Erikson. Correct. And Erikson EC to me is a level above what I believe Capan is going to be at his NHL peak, right? To me, Erikson Ek is like your Selki level, second line center all day, every day on a championship winning team, no questions asked. I think the Capan, if he really hits the highest of highest of highest potential, could potentially reach that. But I think more often than not, he’ll be one level below that. And that’s totally fine for a guy you picked at the end of the second round. Um, so when you look at that and you you you focus in on that and you’re like, okay, well, these are his limitations. Slipovski and Ditov are the play drivers. I think it’s very obvious to everybody here. So I don’t think that that impacts Capan being able to play. It’s the line itself that is being hampered because you’re using Slowski on the top line. Capan’s being used at even on the penalty kill. So, Deidov skips the shift at even strength. What I’d like to see in consequence to that is if Brendan Gallagher is not having a game, what’s go how is it going to hurt you to put on the following shift to put him with Evans and and and anderson or Evans and Texier because I think Anderson probably should have seen the bench for a good portion of that game. Um, you know, you have to find ways to get him in and not just skip him because you’re tunnelvisioned into a situation like that. That is my observation. I’m not an NHL coach. That’s my observation. Fair. That’s the way you get that’s the reason why Demidov is not getting 16 minutes a game. I will state and I will give credit. Deidov’s ice time has increased ever so slightly every single game. We were talking about this what, two weeks ago. He’s getting 10 12 minutes a game. Exactly. Now he’s getting 13 14 and depending on the game depend if the Canadians had more power plays it probably closer to 15. So I have no problem if Dito plays 14 to 15 minutes a game as a rookie to start I have no problem. But when the Canadians get eventually a legitimate second line center, those minutes are going to have to go up. They will have to go up. How can you not believe that? They I they absolutely will. Um because everything comes back to this player right now playing in a chair that rightfully I don’t think is his. Right. But I I like this comment. I want to change gears for we we spent a lot of time there on that topic which was fine. It was a good conversation I thought. Um what was that a Swedish croner? Thank you sir. Very generous. Thank you for Thank you for that. Um this is a good this is a good question in my mind. You know the physicality the play style of the younger players on this team trying to get a little beefier, right? We saw this and we talked about it already in this in this live stream today, right? Playing those experienced and heavier teams. I still think it’s a it’s an issue. It’s still an issue a little bit about, you know, how playoff hockey is played, especially the deeper you go. And right now, the Canadians are not built for for a deep playoff run. Skill aside, I don’t think they have the I don’t think they have the personnel to be able to pull that off. No. No. And they’re kind of hoping that eventually guys like Florian, Jackie, Tyler Thorp, uh, come in. uh uh Hayden Papanikas come in and kind of hold down those bottom six spots, those bigger guys that they drafted to be a little bit more imposing. Obviously, everyone loves Florian. You know, eventually that’s the kind of role they’re going to want to see from him. Call up Sammy Blade. Well, I was going to bring up Sammy Blake because he scored two goals plus got the shootout winner. What a game. What a game yesterday. tied the game with a minute left 44 and then scores the shootout winner to make it 5-4 and the Rocket win. Yeah, I would not be surprised. I said this the moment he was claimed. He was sent to Laval because they didn’t want him to come on the road trip. I would not be surprised if Sammy Bla called up to Montreal this week. You think so? Huh? And then and then they sent Jared Davidson down. Is he Is he not an is he’s a career a aer though? Like you talk about his Abbottzford run last year in the in the American Hockey League. like he’s like a almost like a loro don like a professional AHL player you know the the thing with Vancouver is they have like at the time they had a plethora of similar players Dakota Joshua was still playing for them they had Kefir Sherwood uh they were still trying to find minutes for some of their younger wingers like even uh Lera Maki couldn’t even get regular shifts with the Vancouver Conucks because on the wings they actually have a significant amount of depth it’s at center that’s it’s it’s problematic starting to sound familiar Um, but this is a guy that I think could add the physical element on the Canadians fourth line that, you know, maybe maybe a Jared Davidson at this stage of his career is not ready for. Yeah. And I also think that the way that he plays the game pulls you into the fight. Also takes a whole lot of pressure off of Arbor Jack guy because now he’s not the only one patrolling the ice that’s able to drop the gloves, right? This is a guy that’s able to dish him and hit at the same time. So I think he could be a guy that has the right momentum to come in that is welll liked amongst the the room as well. So I wouldn’t be surprised. But in terms of team toughness, I think all you know I think the fact that it was a three three games and four on the road with the way that the schedule has been for the Canadians of late, I think it’s kind of understandable for a young team. U couple that with a young team that in my opinion the best elements of that team are not at physical maturity yet. So, they may get pushed around by guys that are at the top of their uh their physical uh level. I I get that. I think that they’re missing elements for sure. I think missing a guy like Kaden Gulie on the back end kind of removes that physicality, especially rush defense physicality that you would you would hope for. Um so, that’s an element as well. Um but I definitely agree that, you know, Zachary Balug, for example, is a guy that was brought in to be more physical. I I want to see more of that from Me too. Yeah, me too. I want to see more like the offense is starting to jive. That’s great. But I want him to go back to that style, that aggressive style, you know, the the excuse my language, but the disturber style that we saw him play in St. Louis. Yeah. Um well, I mean, with respect, Ble didn’t bring any pain while he played in Toronto. The Leafs in general just brought their fan base pain while he played in Toronto. So, yeah, we’ll just we’ll leave it at that. But I think Ble one of the main things Yeah. One of the main things with Ble was he was physical. Uh it was difficult to play against his line when he was on the ice. He didn’t hurt the opposition. And I think that’s what you’re kind of missing is that if you’re missing if you’re worried about the amount of rookies in the lineup, a guy like Ble who’s experienced, who’s good being around younger players as well as a good guy to have in the room. I think he’s a guy that can can help as a as a 13th 14th forward. A guy that you bring in against more physical teams. I’ll give you an example. Canadians play the Senators on Tuesday. Yeah. And then they play the Winnipeg Jets on Wednesday, right? You know, back to back. Those are two teams I think Sammy Blair would be a bit better to play against than maybe, you know, a Jared Davidson. Whereas then the Canadians play the Leafs and the St. Louis Blues. Yeah. Saturday, Sunday. Well, you know, I think maybe fresher legs are going to be better for those those games. Is is Bla faster than Florian and Jackie? Uh I have never seen them both skate next to each other. I think so. RIP to Fore and Jack stick on that breakaway yesterday. Boy oh boy, that sucked. That was bad. That was so bad. I felt so bad for the kid. That was that first NHL goal written all over it. Yeah, but I find Florian, listen, I’m no scout or anything, but I find uh Florian I thought he’d be a little little quicker. He looked he’s looked slower than I thought. I’ll put it that way. That’s why I wonder about Sammy Bla. Sammy Blair brings some robustness and everything else, but I wonder if he’s if he’s just quicker on his feet. He is quicker on his feet. I can confirm. Uh, you know, I’ve seen just from what I’ve seen from Blle over the years, he’s a faster skater and I think it also helps his hitting ability. Like he’s able to take like three powerful strides and then fold her in. So, you know, he’s a guy I really like. Um, another guy that I think will get there is Jackie, but his skating, you know, it’s already improved, but his skating is what I would consider league average. And against a team like Colorado, he does not look fast. Colorado is the definition of speed. So, and this is this is a team that includes Brock Nelson, who’s no speedster on a general basis, but made to look quicker because he covers so much ice so quickly and makes decisions very quickly. So, yeah, again, you have to find those right elements. You have to find those right pieces. And I think a lot of teams once they reach the point where they have their core and they have they’re set in their top six nine, they start to fill out the bottom part of the roster and that’s the most difficult part in my opinion. Uh let’s get to some quick questions here as um we’ll wrap up our live stream on this Sunday. Thank you so much for being with us. Don’t forget Marco and I will be live. Come watch the live pregame show on a game day where the Montreal Canadians take on the big bad Boston Bruins on December 23rd. We’re going to be at Amazon public mlanes. Of course, big shout out to all of our sponsors, the cheapest t-shirts.ca, Littlebear, littlebearonline.com. Cablatel for the best in home security at kablatel.com and Katherine Prince Remax Platin. Um, member of the show, Asmu says, uh, thoughts on Bulldock’s contract and what that potentially could look like. Marco? It’s tough, right? Like it depends on where he’s at. It’s difficult to talk about it right now because they have all season to negotiate it. Um, if you’re the Montreal Canadians, I don’t know that you can give them term without seeing what he can do for a longer sample size if it’s just 23 games, 24 games. Agreed. Agreed. So, I think that they re-evaluate probably around I’d say just before the trade deadline, just see what it looks like. I’m not saying he would be traded, obviously not. that he’s an RFA, but I think you have to see what what he can do on a larger sample size and then go. Um, but again, like this is a player that I don’t believe is in danger of an offer sheet or anything like that. So, they could take their time. Uh, Alex Car has been highlighted a few times in this episode. Um, definitely struggling. There’s no denying that. I don’t think anyone’s sugar coating that. But what’s he doing? Charlotte Town Spud asks, “What’s Kier doing differently that’s getting him in trouble recently?” Uh, I think he’s forcing the play too much. You know, I think there was a a specific play against uh I think it was Utah where Mike Mat was in the corner fighting for a puck and then Alex Kerier comes in to try and help him, leaving the uh the front of the net completely exposed and what happens? Puck squirts out from the corner, lands right in front of the player in the the Utah player in the slot. Goal. Yeah. you know, like or uh you know, getting overwhelmed like chasing his man. I feel like he’ll get pushed out of a situation and then won’t be able to kind of like put himself back in the proper position to be able to defend a situation and then he’s going to chase that play for the rest of the game. And he’s not big enough or fast enough to do that. as opposed to, you know, when a when a defenseman gets pulled out of a play, the key thing to do is to head back to the center of the ice. Cover the center of the ice, cover a passing lane, you know, make sure that you’re you’re you’re not out of position and that you’re assisting the goalie in some way. So, you all come back to the middle in that case. I feel like instead what he does is he just chases the puck. And what does it do? It leaves the ice that he’s left completely open. And a team like Colorado, for example, is not gonna ask questions. They’re going to come in right in that spot that he left open, hoping to get a pass the center of the ice completely open because he’s chasing the puck instead of coming back to the center. Open cross seam pass, one timer, goal. Um, this one from James Mont next game. I I think so. Even though Dobish got two of the three games on this trip, I’ i’d go back to Monty. Uh, well, I think it’s just it’s basically just going to be this and that. My only concern is Montbo against Toronto on Saturday. His record in uh in Toronto is absolutely horrendous. Interesting. So that’s going to be a decision that I think is going to be I think it’s Montbo Doves, you know, uh Ottawa then Winnipeg and then we see against uh a team like like uh Toronto. Uh, I can’t help but wonder if they would give Montimbo Toronto to really try to test him considering his record there is just abysmal and then you give Dobesh uh the St. Louis Blues at home the next day. I think that’s how it’s probably going to work out. Uh, it’s back to back this week home to Ottawa back to back to back to back. Yeah. Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday as we just finished highlighting there at Toronto and then back home Sunday night to play the St. Louis Blues. and we’ll be here to cover each and every single one of these games as um you’ve come expected to see and very much looking forward to it. Uh we’ve got some good stuff coming up starting tomorrow. Members are going to be able to watch our Monday video later this afternoon. We’re going to tip our cap to Slafzilla. Has he arrived? We’re going to go in depth on on your iceki and also I mean there’s a lot of Montreal Canadian defenseman in the NHL ready for the NHL but not enough chairs for everyone to occupy. We’re going to talk about the sacrificial D. Who is it? Who should it be? Who do we think it’s going to be? Uh that’s coming up on Tuesday, but as always, members of the channel get to watch those videos before anyone else. And then they’re going to be released the following day at 10 in the morning. And that’ll do it uh for Sunday. So, lots of stuff. Uh thank you so much for being great in the comments today. Uh fun to have a good back and forth, good discussion, respected discussion, differing points of views, and I hope everybody enjoyed it because I know I did. Uh Marco Demo, enjoy your happy birthday to uh to Marco’s mom and uh enjoy enjoy the festivities. Enjoy the family. Enjoy driving in the snow today. Be safe out there and have yourself a good Sunday, brother. Well, I think I think a lot of people are going to be driving in the snow. And I do I did want to add before we go that there is still a Black Friday sale going on at Canoe Jack crazy. Yeah. Yeah. I This would be the good time considering the weather is about to get very cold. Jackets up to 40% off. You can go and see them in the plateau. They’re on sale until December 1st. So I invite you all to go and take advantage because my wife and I love our jackets right now. Uh and I think we’re going to like them even more as it starts to get colder. So again, canoe jackets, go and check them out in Montreal until December 1st. Have some fun. Enjoy everybody. Marco, thanks. And we’ll see you this week. Always a pleasure, guys. Have a good one.

Join Shaun Starr and Marco D’Amico LIVE at 10AM (ET) as we break down the Montreal Canadiens’ matchup against the Colorado Avalanche!

We’ll cover:

āž”ļø What the Habs got right — and what cost them against a powerhouse Avs team

āž”ļø Standout performances and players who shifted the momentum

āž”ļø Line combinations, coaching decisions, and in-game adjustments

āž”ļø Key storylines emerging from the game

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30 comments
  1. Gallagher will always be a pillar for the Canadiens, but he's hurting this team, as he can't keep up. It's a sad thing to see, but I think he should be healthy scratched a few times to give him some rest, and to give some younger prospects opportunities.

  2. This new team, Nordiques de Quebec really dominated the Canadiens, and they didnt even give their 100%, they were just enjoying and having fun. Probably the team that is leading the NHL and deserve to win the cup as of right now.

    EDIT: One more thing that I liked about Habs is that they played their own game, they played open and competed. They were not scard to open up and play and give what they have. That to me is courageous even if they lost.

  3. If your 3rd and 4th lines aren't hard to play against, you will get exposed every time on the road against a high skilled team. The matchups will kill you. Don't need offense from them but they need to be hard to play against and right now they are not.

  4. Kapanen has 2C potential in a couple years. People forget that Suzuki and Plekanec both started out as a defensively sound 3rd center with some offensive upside. Kapanen fits that same pattern.

  5. Engstrom is great, don’t get me wrong. But I don’t understand the narrative that he should be the 6th defenceman on the team because he’s a better all around player than Xhekaj. Xhekaj was the only defenceman laying guys out and pinning them against the board last night. He’s a more physical and bigger player. He’s not playing the same way a Engstrom plays, but you still need that in your line up. I don’t care if it’s someone else than Xhekaj but you need someone like that in your lineup. I don’t understand the narrative that advocates for just puck moving defenceman that are 6 ft tall / 200 lbs in your lineup. Look at the Avs, they have Makar but also Burns. And it works.

  6. Looking at the NHL Edge data Florian is faster than Blais. In around 150 NHL games, Blais max speed is 20.93 MPH and have 20 burst of > 20 MPH. In 8 NHL games, Florian top speed is 21.30 MPH with 8 burst of > 20 MPH. Blais MIGHT be quicker to reach top speed but Florian has higher top speed and use that speed more often

  7. I agree 100% with the criticism of not taking the timeout. I have never understood why most coaches only wait til the end of the game when half the time you don't even get the chance to take the timeout at the end of the game due to either no whistle, or not wanting to give the other team a rest in certain situations. I'm not saying there are no reasons to wait, but sometimes it's not always about composing yourself, but cooling down the other team. I would be interested to know what % of timeouts are wasted per year if anyone has that info

  8. I read comments most days, and i realise we live in a time where it’s very reactive, practically bipolar. Its good to enjoy some real common sense with starr & damico šŸ¤ŒšŸ½ it hit me hard when i heard monty talking about him & his gf getting harassed directly online, same for matheson last year… If you wouldnt tell something to someones face, don’t fn write it ! What sad times we live in

  9. So true guys…..after his injury in 2011…." Gentlemen..we can rebuild him! We have the capabilities" THE 8.7. MILLION DOLLAR MAN! Sorry for shouting..I got excited. Love this show! See I can be calm. And patient, although it's extremely tough. We in good hands with KH and JG…also glad you got some stuff for your room. Beautiful volleyball Q and A. I appreciate you

  10. What people defending Kapanen don’t get, is that if he plays on the 3rd, it pushes down talent to the 3rd and 4th.

    Maybe he’ll develop to 2nd line center worthy eventually … on the 3rd line. Which would make the Canadiens one of the rare teams to roll 3-4 lines in any situation and when a 1C/2C is injured, we’re still in a good place.

    Adding a guy in between his skill set and Evans to the 3rd is barely upgrading the team, its signing a Dvorak 2.0 that will hopefully not be a ghost or hurt 3/4 of the season.

    Having center depth is the goal, a 1C, a real 2C, an eventual 2C/3C in Kapanen, and Evans that’s depth.

  11. You can make the best in the world look mediocre when they're tired. Fatigue is something that the average person won't understand. MSL didn't mention it in the post-game, but his body language indicated he wasn't concerned – and that's because he knows it was a back to back game and they were just too tired after burning Vegas.

  12. The most 'honest' comment Marco made today is that the Habs are still in a REBUILDING phase. Yes we made the playoffs last year and there's a 60/40 chance we will this year, but to truly contend the kids need to grow and we need some different players. But that's also a reason to play Demidov MORE, and yes maybe, just maybe even on the PK. He's a very talented player, that and some hard work can make a good PK. Maybe a 'hot take' but nothing wrong with trying to see how he can grow.

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