Scott Merryfield
Senior HTF Member
Last season's thread did not get a lot of traffic, but I thought I would give it another try this season.
My Habs are off to a decent start, earning 7 out of 8 possible points in their first four games. Carey Price was finally back between the pipes last night after missing almost all of last season with a knee injury and the first three games of this season with the flu. The team's new additions have looked very good so far -- Shea Weber as the #1 defenseman (received in the trade for P.K. Subban), Alexander Radulov as 2nd line winger, Andrew Shaw as third line winger, rookie Artturi Lehkonen as a 2nd line winger, and backup goalie Al Montoya. Even 18 year old defenseman Mikhail Sergachev (the 9th overall pick in the 2016 draft) has looked promising at times, although I expect he will be sent back to Windsor of the OHL after his nine game stint for further development and to avoid burning a year of his entry level contract. Radulov, especially, as been a pleasant surprise, showing a lot of puck skills, giving 100% effort on every shift, and even showing some leadership in the locker room.
It looks like Brad Marchand has taken his game to another level with the Bruins after having a fine World Cup for Canada. Boston and Montreal renew their rivalry on Saturday. It should be a fun game.
I think this is the season where the Red Wings streak of qualifying for the playoffs comes to an end. Their defensive group is terrible, and GM Ken Holland failed to address it at all in the off season. They barely squeaked into the post season last year, and are without long time top player Pavel Datsyuk this year. It's time for a rebuild in Detroit, but the team may be unwilling to go through those growing pains while moving into a new arena next season. It will be interesting to see what happens here.
My Habs are off to a decent start, earning 7 out of 8 possible points in their first four games. Carey Price was finally back between the pipes last night after missing almost all of last season with a knee injury and the first three games of this season with the flu. The team's new additions have looked very good so far -- Shea Weber as the #1 defenseman (received in the trade for P.K. Subban), Alexander Radulov as 2nd line winger, Andrew Shaw as third line winger, rookie Artturi Lehkonen as a 2nd line winger, and backup goalie Al Montoya. Even 18 year old defenseman Mikhail Sergachev (the 9th overall pick in the 2016 draft) has looked promising at times, although I expect he will be sent back to Windsor of the OHL after his nine game stint for further development and to avoid burning a year of his entry level contract. Radulov, especially, as been a pleasant surprise, showing a lot of puck skills, giving 100% effort on every shift, and even showing some leadership in the locker room.
It looks like Brad Marchand has taken his game to another level with the Bruins after having a fine World Cup for Canada. Boston and Montreal renew their rivalry on Saturday. It should be a fun game.
I think this is the season where the Red Wings streak of qualifying for the playoffs comes to an end. Their defensive group is terrible, and GM Ken Holland failed to address it at all in the off season. They barely squeaked into the post season last year, and are without long time top player Pavel Datsyuk this year. It's time for a rebuild in Detroit, but the team may be unwilling to go through those growing pains while moving into a new arena next season. It will be interesting to see what happens here.