Getting some flak from my fellow Habs fans this morning for posting that I want the team to lose. The number one reason I am frustrated with this team is the secondary scoring is not there at all from the bottom 6.

Evans
Armia
Pitlick
Dadonov
Drouin
Monahan (since moving to center)

These are not your usual bunch of bottom 6 checkers. These guys SHOULD be able to DOMINATE the competition they are playing against by scoring more than them but not necessarily playing a great defensive game.

You can't win in the Playoffs with 1.5 lines working. All 4 lines need to show up each and every night.

Until I see combined totals per game at a minimum of 1 point from the 6 players on this list, I just won't believe that this team can do any damage in the playoffs.

I know Dvorak, Gallagher, Hoffman/Anderson are doing ok
I know Slafkovsky has been a stand out in the bottom 6.

The rest of these guys are under-acheiving.

I mean - Evans and Armia both have basically peaked as 30 point guys - not to say they're useless, but they've always stuck as more defensively minded forwards in my mind who should be preventing goals, not so much scoring a ton.

Pitlick had a ton of puck luck last year. 15 goals on 65(!) shots is insane - and incredibly unsustainable. He had 3 shots in 7 games this year - probably a big part of the reason he's in Laval now.

As far as Drouin & Dadonov, I dunno - maybe they forgot how to play hockey? For Drouin, it's now only 115 games played since the beginning of the 2019 season - he's obviously got some rust he's got to kick off, and it's no like scoring goals was a huge part of his game to begin with. For Dadonov, I have less of an idea - the guy has been awful in Ottawa & Montreal but pretty good to almost great in Miami & Vegas. Maybe he just likes the heat?

I agree with your evaluation of Evans & Armia, but they are currently playing like 5-10 point bubble players. No chance they come close to sniffing 30 points. 30 points with 10+ goals for your 4th line IS my definition of dominant.

Dadonov is probably motivation, guy doesn't want to be on a bottom feeder or out of the playoffs.

Plus he's not exactly getting prime minutes in Montreal, it's with the lesser forwards.

Evans is fine, he's never really been expected to chip in the offense.

Armia has dropped off a cliff, but 2 straight seasons of injuries and he's not exactly played a lot either, he's basically going to the be the next Byron on this team.



Expecting Montreal to 1) make the playoffs, and 2) do any damage in there, is extremely unlikely.

They don't need to lose, they will lose, St-Louis is taking the right approach in encouraging young guys to make mistakes, and learn the NHL game, they are on the right path, and probably have the deepest prospect pool of any NHL team.

DO NOT TRADE ALLEN, he is needed to weather the storm for the next couple of years, Primeau looks awful and likely won't pan out, Allen is a big piece to prevent the young guys from getting discouraged and preventing the young guys from having to go out and win games 6-5.

Evans had 13 goals and 16 assists last season. So this season is a let down, because we were hoping he could repeat or come close to repeating.

Armia had been scoring at a 25-30 point pace (over an 82 game season) for years up until last year. I was hoping, especially after his world championship appearance, to see him get back there.

Too many guys in the bottom 6 are underperforming to call this "normal". These guys are not buying into MSL's concepts or MSL's concepts are not working for them.

This team should sell any players they can between now and the deadline who are over age 24.

Last year there was some puck luck, plus Evans played up in the lineup during Dvorak's time away given the lack of C's after losing KK.

St-louis' style works with talented players, some guys like the ones mentioned, may need more structured plays to get them into position for opportunities.

I think developing Suzuki, Caufield, Dach, Slaf, Guhle, Harris and Xhekaj is the most important thing for this team this season, set a foundation of top end talent for the next decade with all the other prospects filling in.

I don't think St-louis' style will work long term, because eventually, the lower level guys need a certain level of structure to make up for the lack of natural raw talent.

The Habs biggest issue is Burrows being the powerplay coach which has been atrocious.

Hopefully MSL adds a 2nd tier to his concepts then. Concepts for talented kids and offensive dynamos and "the remedial class"

That would be hard, given line shuffling, injuries and so on.

But good coaches who last evolve as the game evolves, so, hope for that.

Evans - 4th line defensive center. Definitely not producing as much as he should be, but that's not why he's here.
Armia - We shouldn't expect much, massively overpaid by Bergevin when in reality he's a very streaky bottom 6 forward
Pitlick - Snakebitten, but he's down in the AHL now anyways
Dadonov - Pure trash, lazy, can't expect much when he's not even trying.
Drouin - Seems to be trying, but he's trying too much (Reminds me of Galchenyuk). He should start producing soon
Monahan - Can't produce when he's stuck with two plugs. Sorry, Drouin is streaky and Gallagher just isn't good anymore

i think both evans and armia are in montreal

i think that was pretty obvious