Yeah MB has given us the players needed to compete, on paper we are a good team, but for some reason we are struggling

it must be coaching then

There's only so much you can do via trade. You've got to have a good team basis. I see it as a blackjack game. You don't have much chance to succeed if you're only relying on the gains you make with your initial $5 bill. If you start playing with a $50 bill, it's another story.

Ben Chiarot has another appointment on Monday and if a surgery is necessary it could be done the same day. If surgery is confirmed, he should be out 4 to 6 weeks. @CanadiensMTL

— Renaud Lavoie (@renlavoietva) March 14, 2021

So if Chiarot does get surgery, he’ll return on the trade deadline (April 12th) at the earliest, and April 26th at the latest (with 7 games left in the season). That would also mean he’s eligible for LTIR (retroactive to Thursday).

I’m still not 100% sure, but after a long time reading and re-reading Section 50.10 D of the CBA and CapFriendly’s LTIR FAQ, I’m pretty sure that the only difference putting Chiarot on LTIR would make for Montréal is that the habs would accrue an extra $356 every game day. If he comes back on trade deadline day, Chiarot’s LTIR would give the habs an extra ~$26K in deadline cap space, and ~$6K in total cap space.

Victor Mete is coming out of the lineup for Xavier Ouellet.

— Eric Engels (@EricEngels) March 15, 2021

So Ouellet makes his season debut tonight. This means that Evans is definitely not playing tonight, since he’ll need to be on the taxi-squad to meet the 4 player requirement.

Also, it’s looking less and less likely that Byron will be placed on waivers again this year, now that Chiarot is out long-term.

Although apparently Danault might be a game time decision. So I guess they could call Verbeek up as a paper move to the taxi-squad, even though he’ll stay in Montréal. Or I guess Mete could play forward, but that’s not ideal when we only have 2 centres in the lineup.

Also it’ll be interesting to see who lines up with who. Ouellet has played the right side before, but never with Montréal. Or Romanov could move down to the 3rd pairing and Kulak moves up with Weber. Edmundson can also play the right side, but it would be weird to split him and Petry up.

Vraiment pas en ordre mais ça se passe vite pendant le warmup. Désolé!! 😂Drouin Kk AndersonToffoli suzuki Gallagher Armia danault tatar evans byron perryWeber EdmundsonPetry kulakOuellet romanov

— Marc-André Perreault (@MA_PerreaultTVA) March 15, 2021

Well it looks like Ducharme put the lines in the blender.

I’ll be interested to see how Edmundson & Weber play together. If they work well, it could be a good fix until we acquire another d-man and/or Chiarot gets back.

byron waived. again

#Habs Bergevin says he is not intending to shore up his defence despite Chiarot's injury. MB anticipates Chiarot's recovery to be closer to 6 weeks, and says he has to be careful spending money in order to preserve cap space. @TSN_Edge

— John Lu (@JohnLuTSNMtl) March 16, 2021

#Habs Bergevin on the prospect of Caufield or Harris joining the team: "There's a big difference between the NCAA and the NHL." It's stating the obvious but implying the reality of how tough the transition would be debuting in the intensity of the final 1/5 of the season.

— John Lu (@JohnLuTSNMtl) March 16, 2021

#Habs Bergevin says there's no dead money on the roster that he would like to move in a potential salary dump with an incentive (like a draft pick) thrown in.

— John Lu (@JohnLuTSNMtl) March 16, 2021

#Habs Bergevin says he has to have more cap space in order to make a move prior to the deadline. He would have to move a roster player he likes in order to create that space, which he is loathe to do. @TSN_Edge

— John Lu (@JohnLuTSNMtl) March 16, 2021

Raiders captain Kaiden Guhle will be out indefinitely after suffering a hand injury in Sunday's game against the Moose Jaw Warriors.

— Prince Albert Raiders (@PARaidersHockey) March 16, 2021

The Montreal prospect curse

So it’s looking like Montréal isn’t adding anything big at the deadline, and maybe won’t add anyone unless (like Bergevin said) we have more cap space because someone gets injured until after the regular season. The only thing I could see is swapping Mete for another equally cheap defenseman if that’s an option.

He also mentioned that he expects the habs to be around $850,000 in performance bonuses (which is what I expected, 1 for Romanov, 3 for Suzuki &/or KK) and that he’d ideally not like to have overages, but if they really need to they will. And looking at the bonuses, depending on whether or not Nick’s assists bonus is set at the lowest possible 24 assists or not, and KK continues to be top 3 on the forwards in +/-, that number could jump up to $1,062,500.

Well that’s an unfortunate loss, but at least the habs played well. The good news is that if this exact game happened in the playoffs we’d probably win. The good news is that the habs are one of the better teams in the division 5-on-5. If OT didn’t exist in the regular season Montréal would be 2nd in the division in points percentage.

Sources: Decision to sign with the Canadiens is now in Jordan Harris' hands. Informed he was also told he'll have an opp to burn the 1st year of his contract in the NHL this season. Nothing official until Sunday re: the Frozen Four, but Northeastern won't participate 1/2

— Eric Engels (@EricEngels) March 19, 2021

These OT losses are getting embarrassing....

I can't do this team anymore with their obsession with going BACKWARDS into their own zone to "restart" every 2 seconds in OT. Guys, you suck at restarting. JUST GO FORWARD FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!!!!! TRY TO WIN THE GAME FOR ONCE!!!!

Disclaimer: Cap locks intended.

At least there’s no 3 on 3 OT in the playoffs because we SUCK at 3 on 3

Lol they don't even try to win in overtime, they're just trying not to lose.

I took a quick look at the top OTG scorers over the last decade, looking for a cheap addition for fun. Toews, Marchand, Ovechkin, Pacioretty, Tavares... None of them can't be had for cheap. The closest may be half-retained Jeff Carter or Mike Hoffman.

Put Mete with Weber you cowards.

Alright its 4-4 with 1 min to go. Im stopping watching when it goes to overtime.

Let me know how many times the Habs go backwards in their own zone before Vancouver eventually scores.

And both curses are broken at the same time!

Also, Gallagher with his hand on KK’s head when Tatar was shooting was adorable.

Of course i finally dont watch the OT and shootout and they actually win..... Maybe im the charm??