Logical Progression wrote:
It's weird that they lost to Ottawa who might be getting better but are still terrible. Isn't Gudbranson a top 4 guy? What a strange season this is.
Uh, no, NotGoodbranson is not a top-four defender. He's barely a bottom pairing guy. But so long as guys like Bob Murray, Dale Tallon, and Pierre Dorion exist and believe that big, slow defenders who hit everything in sight and treat the puck like a grenade still have a place in the NHL, he'll have a home. Them trading for both that guy and Austin Watson were a couple of the dumbest moves that were made by any team this offseason.
Ottawa has a nice young core in place, and Stutzle should be a superstar in due time. Dorion just needs to do a better job surrounding it (and also maybe get a better goalie). He's generally been a man with a good eye for young talent so, unless Melnyk pulls the rug out from under him (again) they'll be a very good team in a couple years. It's unfortunate the Habs never decided to tank and try and get a gamebreaker themselves. Suzuki is about the only guy who comes close to that mark IMO. Bergevin has done a much better job than I initially gave him credit for, but this remains a good, but not great team, and Carey Price is starting to look like a shell of the elite netminder he once was.