Class is in session…

Even if you’re not a Canadiens fan, you should absolutely read this if you want to have any understanding at all about how much you can actually blame goaltenders for goals conceded. I have at times been especially harsh on both Price and Halak in this space – if you take away Halak’s brain-dead giveaway behind the net against the Islanders, the upshot of this piece is “Sean is going to shut the fuck up about our goalies for a while”.

Seriously, it’s an amazing read.

 

http://www.habseyesontheprize.com/2009/11/9/1120413/price-halak-the-stats-october-2009

You have to be kidding me…

I have nothing further to add on the Machida-Rua debacle, other than that was the worst decision I’ve ever seen in my life (having far less experience in boxing and MMA than Brendan does). Steve Cofield’s snarky post at Cagewriter had some merit to it (it’s really not the end of the world, and I did roll my eyes when my co-worker said he’s not watching UFC again for a long time), but erred too far I think on the side of shrugging your shoulders and assuming that the fight was really that close. I was one of the ones who had it 4-1 for Shogun, and I only just barely gave that one round to the Dragon…5-0 Shogun is a much more defensible card than 3-2 Lyoto is in my opinion. While Lyoto intermittently tagged Shogun with some decent shots, I felt that Shogun a) connected more often and b) connected more often on power shots and in general controlled the bout as far as cage generalship goes. While it doesn’t necessarily automatically cost him rounds when Machida spends them backpedalling, he has tended to win in the past because his counter-striking was brutally effective. Saturday night, not so much.

But, anyway, the title of my post is because Jaroslav Halak is getting the start AGAIN in goal tonight against the Islanders. This would have been the perfect game to put Carey back in because a) JM could have cited the congested schedule as an excuse for giving Halak a rest and b) it would have been the perfect opponent to see if our recent improved play could jumpstart the goaltender that has a much higher talent ceiling. Look, JM has done a lot with a very little so far this season, and I’m beginning to kinda sorta maybe perhaps come around on these guys (they really are so much better than last season, and the effort levels are much higher from people not named Kostitsyn). But, I would be lying if I said I understood this insistence on playing Halak this often…not when he can’t make a single save without booming a rebound out back into the slot.

Papering over the Grand Canyon

Please note that I am about to bitch about a 5-1 win – if this makes me the world’s most miserable prick, then so be it.

Here’s the thing – when it comes to Arsenal and NY Giants, I am an absolute fountain of positivity. Whatever problems those sides have (goalkeeping/Abou Diaby on one hand, a decimated secondary on the other), they have an identity. In those cases, it’s easy to latch onto that identity and enjoy them for the moments of individual brilliance that they provide. When Andrey Arshavin makes a bottom-corner finish look as effortless as waking up in the morning, or when Brandon Jacobs smashes through the line as three or four dudes cling to him in a futile effort at tackling, it (at least for me) more than makes up for Diaby headed own-goals or dying-quail throws from Eli Manning.

The Canadiens, however, have no identity…at least not yet. It remains to be seen if Jacques Martin can reshape this collection of riffraff into his image, but in the meantime this team is horrifyingly frustrating to watch. Are we supposed to win games 1-0? Are we supposed to be a counter-attacking team? Are we supposed to be a lunchpail collection of grinders? There’s nothing to capture the imagination to make up for the times where, say, Jaro Halak decides to gift-wrap the opposition a goal to let them back into a game they should be completely out of. You know, theoretically speaking.

I was waiting for Mike Boone to post his About Last Night regarding this game, hoping it would express many of my current misgivings with this team (and with last night’s performance). Unfortunately, it seems to largely consist of “whew, glad we finally got a blowout” relief. On one hand, yes, it’s nice to finally see the Habs rack up a few goals on the scoreboard. However, that relief quickly turns into something more sinister when you stop looking at the single-game perspective and start thinking about what this relates to the overall narrative of the season.

Let’s not mince words – the Isles are a better hockey team than they were last season…they have some exciting talent, they’ve upgraded the goaltending position and they’ve given one or two teams a tough game this year. But, they were spectacularly dreadful on the night last night, and the fact is that the Canadiens should have laid a much larger beating on them.

The Islanders were disjointed and played like crap right from the opening faceoff – and while it was great that a lucky deflection (combined with a horrific attempt at batting down a puck in the air from the NY defenseman) gifted Scott Gomez with the easiest goal he’ll score this season 7:55 in, the truth is that it could and probably should have been 1-0 or 2-0 by then. The Isles continually gave the puck away, and both their forwards and their d-men couldn’t get their skates moving. Mike Cammellari had a wide-open shot in the slot, but panicked and hurried a slapper when he had time to move in alone on Martin Biron.

To be fair, the Habs picked it up from there, and from that point until the final buzzer of the second period, they jumped all over their opponents and barely let them into the game. Even when Hal Gill took a silly holding penalty, Brian Gionta was one heroic defensive catch-up moment away from firing home a short-handed goal. It was almost inevitable given the steady stream of Isles going to the sin bin that we’d finally see light on the PP. A pretty series of passes led to Marc-Andre Bergeron having a free look from the point. His slapper was on target, and Biron had no hope, what with his own defender screening him and all.

Have I mentioned that the Isles SUCKED last night?

Through two periods, the Canadiens outshot the Isles 30-12. If you factor in shots off the net or blocked, the domination was in even sharper relief. But, I remarked to Brendan as we watched the game that we never seem to score on any half-chances. Gomez got a gift, Bergeron’s shot is probably saved against better opponents, and as I said to Brendan, even Max Pacioretty on current form isn’t going to miss if he’s all alone in the slot. That was a defensive breakdown by NY of a magnitude that even our lot couldn’t manage in the worst of times last season.

So, 3-0 after two, but it probably should have been 5-0 or 6-0. Against a better team, the shot advantage would probably still be there, but the chances of us being tied or behind would be better than you’d think. Besides our inability to finish any chance that doesn’t come with a bow attached, our goalies either a) let in soft goals (cough cough CAREY cough cough) or b) are unable to make a save without kicking out a huge rebound.

But, the good does come with the bad – the defense seems to have been largely sorted out from last season. Despite the presence of some passengers (Gill has his own personal seating car), you’re not seeing other teams get 30 and 40 shots a game with regularity like they were last season. Yeah, the Canucks pretty much skull-raped us a while back, but that’ll happen to every team once or twice during the span of 82 games. It’s much more damaging in the long term to give up tons of shots a night, and that’s not happening. And, as Boone pointed out in ALN, the defense largely did a good job of clearing out the rebounds.

But, at 3-0 and completely in control, Halak fails at basic stickhandling and all of a sudden it’s 3-1 with 19 minutes left to play. Really? FUCKING REALLY? Not only did this present include a goal, but it came with the game’s momentum at no added charge. All of a sudden, the Isles were buzzing around our net and the defense corps seemed to become just a little demoralized as well. Where the first two periods saw a white shirt unable to move without a Praetorian Guard in red shadowing his every move, the third saw gaps open up…even worse, it saw several occasions where a Isles attacker simply danced around a pylon garbed in red. Against a better team, I am absolutely convinced that 3-0 would have become a 4-3 OT loss.

However, the last two goals were absolutely a product of our opponents. Biron didn’t have his best game, and his inability to stop a soft shot from the sideboards ended the Islanders’ resistance. The fifth goal was largely ceremonial, but also a delicious indictment of the Isles’ play on the night – a bad giveaway led to a delayed penalty, where the defender didn’t even get his money’s worth and actually stop Tomas Plekanec’s progress. Biron made the save, but couldn’t deal with the rebound and allowed Maxim Lapierre to sweep it home. Just clown shoes all around.

In the end, I am probably overreacting somewhat, especially since the Habs dropped an unacceptable number of points against these idiots last season. But, please don’t fall into the trap of beliving that this game tells us fuck all about where the Habs are as a team. The slightly-faltering Rangers come to town tomorrow night on the back of two straight bad losses, so how we deal with them will go much further in our attempt to assign some kind of identity to this lot.

Haven’t had a chance to see much of the Habs this season…

…and this is a bit outdated, but Mike Boone’s “About Last Night” piece after the Ottawa loss is fairly spectacular and worth a read.

http://habsinsideout.com/boone/22689

When you’re done with that, check out his About Last Night after the win against Atlanta. 75 chances at goal, scored once and then won in a shootout. If that isn’t papering over large cracks, who the hell knows what it is?

Anyway, the Islanders are in town twice over the next little while, and the Rangers invade the Centre Bell on Saturday night. I plan on DVRing all three, and at that point I hope to have something cogent to write about this team.

Well, there goes this season…

In the midst of hilariously stealing a game against Toronto that the Canadiens had no business winning, our only elite player is now on the shelf for 4 months.

Markov is the only thing that gives us even an average defense, and now that’s shot to hell. This season is fucked…proper fucked, Tommy.

2009-2010 Montreal Canadiens Season Preview

Tonight is opening night, and be it with a free preview of the NHL Center Ice package (a co-worker tells me this exists) or on the intarwebz from CJAD, I will somehow follow the Montreal Canadiens’ season opener against the hated Toronto Maple Leafs over there at the Air Canada Centre. In that spirit, I wanted to get my preseason thoughts on paper in the small window of time that I have before the puck drops.

KNEE-JERK REACTION:  We have an equal chance of being the 4-seed as we do of being Islanders-level bad. Time will tell, but I’m more afraid of the latter than I am confident of the former.

GOALTENDERS:

There is no change here from last season – Carey Price will ostensibly handle the bulk of the workload between the pipes, with Jaroslav Halak backing him up/firefighting when Price gets pulled. As we all know, the young Price failed to convince last season, and only an especially strong first third of the season allowed him to run out a final line of 23-16-10/2.83/.905. For whatever reason, the final third of the season especially was not kind to him, and we could only watch in horror as his confidence (and his glove hand) departed him. For his part, Jaro was pretty good in the backup role (18-14-1/2.86/.915)…and it’s telling for me that Jaro had the same number of shutouts (1) as Price managed in 18 more appearances. While I know that shutouts can depend on the defense in front of you – and trust me, THAT rant is coming in a second – for me Halak was more consistent last season despite his much lower overall talent ceiling.

That is why I’m absolutely mystified that Bob Gainey didn’t trade Jaro this off-season when his market value was probably the highest it’ll ever go. I don’t see how Price can bounce back from last season without a solid veteran backup/babysitter to guide Carey through the rough patches, as well as take about half the starts so that the entire hopes and dreams of the Montreal ishbowl didn’t rest on his shoulders alone. If there ends up being one crucial mistake of this offseason – besides the signing of one forward in particular, and trust me, that rant is coming soon – it’ll have been not giving Price that safety net. The nightmare scenario is that Price completely melts down, Jaro is exposed as the limited talent that I believe he is, and we’re left with two untradeable commodities and sub-replacement level performance from a position where no team can afford it.

Besides, the Islanders have some young talent now, and I’m sure we could have convinced them that 4 NHL-level goaltenders was just not enough. Why not, they took Yann Danis once!

Beyond that, Marc Denis was replaced with Curtis Sanford in the veteran starter role for the Hamilton Bulldogs. That’s a minor (albeit insignificant in the big picture) upgrade.

DEFENSEMEN:

If you need a solitary reason why the Canadiens experienced such a significant drop-off from 2007-08 (only losing in the second round because they underachieved) to 2008-09 (getting skull-raped in the first round by the Boston Bruins, and really having no business being in the playoffs at all…they were only there because Florida got hot just a little too late) is because the defense managed to play even worse than they had the season before. It’s funny how when you look at Brendan’s posts about the lack of defense coaching or even a recognizable defense system at Arsenal, you can say the EXACT SAME THING about the Canadiens over the last few seasons. Why is it that you have someone like Roman Hamrlik who, while never confused for a defensive d-man was at least competent in other places, became a gibbering fucking moron who continually blew coverages when he moved to Montreal? If anyone kept stats for “most opposing forwards left completely open in the slot”, “least rebounds cleared out by d-men” and/or “most times where the defense failed to rotate properly leading to an opposing scoring chance”, I’m sure our defensive corps would be among the worst offenders in each of those categories.

It will be interesting to see how the team responds with new personnel and (finally) a name-brand, recognizable coach who preaches a defensive system. Out the door are Mike Komisarek, an obviously talented guy with a lot of size…who didn’t use either one towards the end of his stay with us. if you look in the archives, I ranted at the end of last season as to why he barely ever hit anyone. Whatever it was, his positioning and physicality deteriorated sharply at the end of the campaign, and in the playoffs he was a glaring liability. The others who exited were Patrice Brisebois (retired), Mathieu Schenider (Vancouver), Francis Bouillon (unattached) and Mathieu Dandenault (unattached). You have to think it says it all that 5 of our top 7 d-men last season are gone…one plays for a non-playoff team, one is the bottom guy on the depth chart for an average team out west, and the other three are not on anyone’s roster (not even the Islanders!). I could post stats and such to explain why they were such a shit show, but that speaks for itself.

Thankfully, the brilliant Andrei Markov is still around (any good that occurred last season was often through individual moments of brilliance and/or firefighting from him) to welcome the new arrivals – Hal Gill, Jaroslav Spacek and Paul Mara. None of them are Norris Trophy contenders by any stretch, but you know what you’re getting from them – Gill is remarkably slow but has size and clogs up passing lanes, Spacek is getting up there in years but he’s steady and did good work for Buffalo, and Mara is a character guy who is great for the locker room along with the fact that he’s a decent defender as well.

A lot will depend, of course, on whether they can develop an understanding quickly. Also, the back end of the rotation (Hamrlik, Josh Gorges and Ryan O’Byrne) will have to make significant steps forward from their performances last season in order for the Canadiens to accomplish anything. By all accounts, O’Byrne has put the nightmare of the own-goal behind him, and has been one of the better guys in camp during the preseason. I’ll never be sold on Hamrlik, though…I’ve never rated him since he’s come to Montreal, and I think he will only further regress as time goes by. However, if Gorges (a high-energy character guy who is somewhat limited in actual ability) can benefit from Martin’s system, then having a stable unit of 5 defensemen with one passenger should at least provide enough of a shield in front of Price to hopefully allow him to regain his confidence.

On the other hand, we’re still playing Hamrlik every night, Spacek is getting older, Gorges is limited, O’Byrne is still a kid and Gill often resembles a three-toed sloth on skates. This may work, but it really, really, really may not.  

FORWARDS:

Last season’s group of forwards were not only gutless and lacking in any kind of professional hockey character, they also couldn’t find the net with a map and three days’ headstart. The now-departed Alexei Kovalev led the Habs with 26 goals last season, and the only others with 20 were Andrei Kostitsyn (23) and Tomas Plekanec (20). Kovalev also led the team in scoring with just 65 points (26-39), followed by Markov with 12-52-64. Beyond that, no one had 60, and the now-departed Saku Koivu was in third place with just 50 (16-34).

Clearly, that was not good enough, and guys like Alex Tanguay (16-25-41, though in only 50 games), Chris Higgins (12-11-23), and Sergei Kostitsyn (8-15-23) did not provide anywhere near the level of support that you would expect from guys who spent a lot of time on the first two lines.

Unsurpisingly, this is where the most movement occurred during Gainey’s frantic off-season eviosceration of last season’s roster. As mentioned, Kovalev and Koivu have left us (and I’m not sure what to think about either development…there are arguments for having kept both). Also out the door were Tom “Stonehands” Kostopolous, Tanguay, and Robert Lang. Tanguay was an interesting talent but he probably is too injury-prone for us to depend on (besides, he’s not really a Jacques Martin kind of player anyway, now is he?).

Oh, and of course (as already ranted about here a few months), we traded Higgins’ useless ass to the Rangers for Scott Gomez. Long story short, we got rid of one useless guy, traded him for another slightly-less useless guy, and took a giant cap hit until the end of time for the privilege. Thanks, Bob.

For good or ill, a lot of these guys are still here otherwise – the ones like Guillaume Latendresse, Maxim Lapierre, Glen Metropolit, Max Pacioretty, Matt D’Agostini, etc. All of those guys are still young and have an unknown ceiling for all intents and purposes, so whether they can step it up (in some cases) or continue to improve with experience (for the younger pups) is a total crapshoot at the moment. We all know the deal with Sergei Kostitsyn, but we don’t know how that will affect his brother Andrei. Oh, and we also still have Tomas Plekanec, who is the Montreal version of everything Brendan and I have said about Abou Diaby in our Arsenal posts.

Coming in are some interesting players who, while all possessing some degree of individual talent, are a bit worrying when taken together. We already know about Gomez, and with him come Mike Cammalleri, Brian Gionta, and Travis Moen. Moen is just there to be a grit guy and play defense, so that’s cool. Cammalleri and Gionta both should be at least better offensively than the absolute shit-shower that we put out on the ice last season, but the worrying thing is that the team picture is going to look like the Lollipop Guild from the Wizard of Oz. How the fucking fuck are we going to try and hang with roving gangs of thugs like the Maple Leafs or Flyers? How are we going to hang with ANYONE from the Western Conference? It’s worrying, to say the least.

So, I just don’t know how this is going to go. Maybe we’ll end up being a better version of that fast, nippy team from two seasons ago that skated circles around most opponents and scored highlight-reel goals most nights. Or, maybe we’ll have our lunch money stolen on a nightly basis by every other team in the league. I hate to even hazard a prediction based on the sheer level of variance that this roster can produce over the course of a long season. However, I like to live on the edge, so I’ll posit that we finish in 9th place, a few points behind whoever beats us out for 8th.

Of course, I hope I’m wrong.

Kostitsyn = Belarussian for “Douche”

Oh, for fuck’s sake.

If you’re not up on your French, the basic gist is that Sergei Kostitsyn has refused to report to the Hamilton Bulldogs, and Bob Gainey has suspended him pending a trade.

First off, die in a fire and take your 8-15-23 / -3 line with you. Even better, see what you can do about having your brother Andrei and his 23-18-41 line as well.

Second off, you have contributed nothing but off-ice headaches to this hockey team, and really…die in a fire.

Hat tip: Four Habs Fans.

Oooooh, Shit

Adam Summers, on the Big Audio Nightmare Podcast- “I actually heard that the free agent signings had been voided because all the guys Montreal signed had actually been murdered by prostitutes in Mexico“

Wow. And I think I’m bitter about the Rangers? This dude’s a Habs fan!

(No link, it’ll be up free at wrestlingobserver.com soonish)

Yet Another Midget

The Canadiens traded Chris Higgins and some prospects to the Rangers for Scott Gomez. I really can’t put it any better than Four Habs Fans did…they stated: “Finally, the overpaid undersized center we’ve all been waiting for!”

And, he’s hideously-expensive on top of it, to the tune of 8M per until 2014. He’s 29 now, so he’ll be 35 when that deal expires. With the cap slowly inching downwards though, I can’t help but wonder if this is the guy we really needed. His last three seasons have seen these lines:

2006-07: 13-47-60   +7
2007-08:  16-54-70  +3
2008-09:  16-42-58   -2

Really? We’re paying 8 million per until the end of time for a guy who doesn’t get 20 goals a season, and has had some variation of the above-mentioned lines his whole career except for one fluke year in 2005-06 (33-51-84)? In contrast, the Canucks just re-signed BOTH Sedin twins for a total of 12.2M per year for the next 5 years, according to TSN. They both finished with 82 points last season, so that totals to 12.2M for 164 points. Using a points-per-dollar ratio (and assuming similar production – I’ll even be charitable and assume a slight increase to 65 points for Gomez), we’re paying 1M for every 8.125 points, while Vancouver is getting 13.443 points per 1M. Great work, Bob.

Of course, the Ranger offense last year was spectacularly punchless…so the possibility does exist that playing with someone like Alex Kovalev will increase Gomez’s scoring. But, that is building a foundation on a potential quagmire – it looks like Kovy is going to re-sign with us, but what about Alex Tanguay? Will Robert Lang still be able to produce after his season-ending injury last season? What if we don’t sign any decent UFAs and can’t swing any more deals? Seriously, is Gomez going to do any better with the likes of Tomas Plekanec than he did with what he had on Broadway?

Speaking of Plekanec, Gomez won 52.4% of his faceoffs…or, a whole 1.8% more than Pleks (though, in fairness, Pleks’ hideous 20-19-39 line isn’t anywhere near Gomez’s modest scoring levels).   

The point is, this seems remarkably like going all-in with a middle set when there’s four to a flush on the board. Maybe it’ll end up paying off, but it’s a risky gamble that can end up costing us huge in the end. For now, no buys.

Alien Autopsy

Never has the name of this site been more apropos than with regards to the Montreal Canadiens. After a strong start to the season, the bottom completely fell out in every possible area leading up to the inglorious sweep by Boston in the first round. By the way, the post subject relates to the fact that most male homo sapiens possess both guts and testicles, both of which are in short supply among the bleu, blanc et rouge.

So, let’s take stock of what we’ve got, shall we?

First off, I think a VERY telling stat is TOI/GA, or Time on Ice per Goal Against. This is how it breaks down…the numbers are Goals Against (when they were on the ice), total TOI for the series, and TOI/GA. By this metric,  Josh Gorges was our best defensive player.

D-men:

Gorges – 2, 95:02, 47:31
Weber – 1, 40:48, 40:48
Brisebois – 1 (1 EN), 16:07, 16:07
Dandenault – 6 (2 SH, 1 EN), 84:18, 14:03
O’Byrne – 2, 26:08, 13:04
Hamrlik – 10 (2 SH, 1 EN), 101:14, 10:07
Komisarek – 8 (2 SH), 76:00, 9:30
Schneider – 4 (1 SH, 1 EN), 37:56, 9:24

Forwards:

Tanguay – 0, 30:57, 30:57
Kovalev – 3 (2 EN), 79:35, 26:31
Latendresse – 2, 46:57, 23:28
A. Kostitsyn – 3, 56:59, 18:59
Koivu – 4 (2 EN), 71:01, 17:45
Higgins – 4 (1 SH, 1 EN), 70:18, 17:35
Metropolit – 4, 64:16, 16:04
Laraque – 3, 43:50, 14:37
Dandenault 6 (2 SH, 1 EN) – 84:18, 14:03
S. Kostitsyn – 0, 12:10, 12:10
Kostopolous – 5 (3 SH), 56:05, 11:13
Lapierre – 6 (3 SH), 59:42, 9:57
Plekanec – 5 (1 EN), 40:47, 8:09
D’Agostini – 5, 35:28, 7:06
Stewart – 3, 17:01, 5:40

While it isn’t a perfect metric (it does penalize a forward for being on the ice when an empty net goal happens miles away from them, for example), it does roughly map out the general performance of the team during the Boston series. Gorges doesn’t stick out in the mind much because, well, he didn’t fuck up in egregious fashion. Meanwhile, the gruesome twosome of Komisarek and Hamrlik are down towards the bottom…and I can’t say I’m drastically stunned, I’ll put it that way. As for the forwards, Lapierre had a nightmare (especially on the PK), as did the two kids (Dagger and Stewart). Kostopolous was also dreadful on the PK, and Pleks should really be dragged out back and shot.

Oh, and while Price wasn’t as at-fault as some of the mouth-breathing loons at Habs I/O and some other places would have you believe, a line of 0-4, 4.11, .878 is just not fucking good enough. I know he’s still a kid, I know he’s going to get better, but the truth is that either he or Halak has to go this off-season. I still believe that Price has the higher ceiling (if we haven’t already ruined him for life), and that Halak’s trade value may never be higher. For me, the only sensible course is to trade Jaro for whatever we can get for him, and bring in a solid veteran backup to mentor Price through this awful time, and provide insurance in case he melts down again.

Maybe this is more my heart talking, but I think The Captain has to come back. There is NO REASON why he shouldn’t retire a Hab as long as his contract demands aren’t too ridiculous. At this point, he’s a third-line checking center, and if he’s willing to be paid as such, then by all means he should return. If he still harbors the notion of being the No. 1 somewhere…then happy trails and thanks for everything you’ve done for us. The man is a credit to the organization and to hockey in general, and I’ll miss him badly if he goes. If only some of these other guys had the heart that he does…shit, some of them could use even one ventricle.

Believe it or not, I think Kovalev should return as well. He still gives us a dangerous scoring weapon on a roster that is quite short on those, and he always steps it up in the playoffs. We shouldn’t pay him the moon and stars of course, but anything reasonable means he HAS to come back. Maybe next season we won’t play him with GEORGES FUCKING LARAQUE on the first line in the playoffs.  *sigh*

Komisarek, Hamrlik, Plekanec, both Kostitsyns and Kostopolous really need to go. Having watched some of the other teams in the playoffs (which is the first I’m seeing of some of them, in all honesty), I look at even the 8th-seeded Ducks and ask myself if any of these guys would crack their playoff roster based on current form. I’m coming up with a huge NO. If the 8-seed wouldn’t go to war with them, why would Detroit or Boston or San Jose?

Brisebois is probably going to retire anyway. Schneider I’m cool with as long as he is here as the 6th/7th defenseman.

As for the rest of it, we need one or two absolute top-end scoring types (cough cough Lecavalier cough cough) and some 3rd-line types that don’t have giant hands of stone like Tom the Bomb. The defense drastically needs shoring up as well. I hate to say it, but this lot is probably 2-3 years away from being a serious contender, barring some kind of crazy Gainey miracle.