hockeyfan89

ON • Canada •

3 stars for the Habs/What's to be done about Pacioretty?

Well I had the rare treat of watching a Detroit -Montreal game last night . Each team didn't play their full rosters yet , but it was still a fantastic game.

Three players stood out for me last night who I think were the 3 stars for the Habs . Alexie Kovalev , Carey Price and Max Pacioretty.

First Alexie. Kovalev last night brought his full bag of tricks and was showing the legends to be true about that unbreakble focus of his when he has the puck. No one was able to knock him off the puck legally and his passes were incredible. Not only that ,but even more importantly Kovy was playing one of the grittiest games I have ever seen him play. I know it's pre-season , but that is sort of the point . If he plays like this now what will he do in the regular season?

Now for Carey Price . He is far faser this year (the 25 pound drop in weight probably helped ) and his glove is showing none of the strain from the playoffs. His play was confident and smooth . He made no unnecessary moves and always remained in the perfect spot to cut down angles . To top off a night of great play he made an amazing behind the back save with his stick , which is definitly going down as a save for the year for him. Now I'm not going to begin making ridiculous claims off a pre-season game but if Price continues the play of tonight through out the season , the Habs are one step closer to fulfilling their dream.

Now we come to the final star .Max Pacioretty. Patches came into camp no different from the other rookies. But as the short time has progressed, he has shown why exactly he is different. The word rookie can only apply to Max in terms of GP. Not in terms of skill . The way he has played no one would of been able to tell he was one. Pacioretty plays a gritty game , and keeps his head up. He showed good ability on the transition and break out of his own zone . Playing particularily well with Alexie Kovalev which resulted in his 1st goal. His shootout goal was the icing on the cake , with a fantastic deke to get by Howard. If Kostitsyn wasn't already playing LW on Kovalev's line , patches would have the spot hands down.

But that brings me to the final part of this blog. What are the Habs to do with Pacioretty? With out a doubt he has played fantastic , and if a spot was available he would have it . But the fact is , their is no spot available .Do the Canadiens make a minor trade and deal away someone? Have Pacioretty up in the NHL and play periodically? Or allow him to go down to the minors and play there.

In my opinion I would call for a trade if I was Bob , just because Pacioretty is already at the stage where he can play with the big league. Unfortunately my opinion doesn't matter and I don't see it happening .The best Max can hope for is to be called up in the event of an injury .

So what do you think?

On a side note , honorable mention to Howard for playing fantastic in net for Detroit. Played just as well for Detroit as Price did for the Canadiens.

Well that pretty much wraps it up for me .

Until next time.

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