Habs Breakfast: Did This Habs Prospect Just Get SNUBBED?!

0:00Hey, have a breakfast time on the morning show. Connor, we're kind of with Sean star. Nice to be with you guys. So I hope you all are having a pleasant Thursday morning. We're seeing some snow falling right now. And it looks like they're saying we're not going to get a ton of snow today. But it's it's going to snow. Lights know they say and flurries ending late this evening. And then it's going to clear up. But then tomorrow it's going to snow like for real. Five centimeters is what they're calling for. So I get ready for that. The Canadians, of course, are in Detroit where they will face the red wings tonight. We will go there to talk with Mark Deny in just a few minutes. Marta Saint-Louis after Canadians practice yesterday. What impressed me was I think it was just our mindset. I think we were very disappointed in the weekend, you know. And we were more disappointed about not getting points. We were more disappointed about the way we played.

1:00Because we actually like, I think we're more disappointed the way we played. And even though like we came close to getting points in those games, we just didn't. And to me, like I felt like there was a great response from our group, knowing that the losing streak had to stop now. And it wasn't necessarily X's and O's. It was just an attitude in the mindset. That's part of what Marta Saint-Louis had to say about the Canadians response after the weekend on Tuesday. Yeah, you know, I'm an MSL guy. I really am. And I like how he adapts. I like how he tinkers, but not too much. And a couple of examples that we saw. And I hope he kind of sticks with it. In the game against Boston, the second line was barely used, right? I mean, Josh Anderson got banged up and practiced yesterday. They had a therapy day. Alex knew who got just over nine minutes. Oliver Kappen didn't have the best night. Manage those minutes. Second line didn't see a lot of time. Again, they leaned on the number one line because they had it going.

2:02And then on the back end, the new defensive pairings. And you know, like based on our conversation yesterday, this deep into the season, I'm not a fan of the rotation. And what Gouli and Carrier managed to do, they played at an elite level in one game. It's one game granted, right? But Carrier, no doubt, it's been well documented. How much he struggled? You know, as Arpen Basu pointed out, he's not a primary defenseman. He's a complimentary defenseman. So you need to put him with someone that's a little bit more reliable and puck management in decisions that can take charge of that tandem. And I think Gouli can be that guy. So you saw Strubel and Hudson, they played a better game. I'd like to see a little consistent pattern because that's the one thing I'm not a fan of is when they talked about, ah, don't make a big deal because we change, we change all the time. Well, maybe is that part of the reason why they've struggled defensively is because there's sometimes counter two situational, depending on where the faceoff is or what the game's doing,

3:03how they constantly mix and match. I'd like to see a more steady pattern of their blue line, um, pairings. Well, maybe we'll find out more tonight, the Canadians and the Red Wings tonight at seven o'clock on TSN 690. I thought that the Strubel, um, partnership was actually pretty good. Like I noticed, I'll be trying to figure out you can either get, you can either be constructive or destructive as that guy, right? You're supposed to be complimentary piece. Don't get in his way, figure out quickly where he wants the puck, versus where he doesn't want the puck, come to his way, aid when he needs both from a, from a support standpoint, but also, I mean, if, if he's ever in a situation where someone tries to, you know, physically dominate them, get in there. I thought Strubel was fine. Strubel is fine, as says Aaron Ward. You know, the fact that Arbor Jack, I was not in uniform for a game, not only of that magnitude, but against the Boston Bruins. Yeah. And, you know, the Bruins are trying to do Bruiny stuff there in that game.

4:03And ultimately, the Martin Sandler, we said, you know what? This is going to be a Strubel game might have been a telling moment. And I think if you're calling it down the middle, Strubel can play with Hudson. More than Arbor Jack, I can play with Hudson, which takes you big, big sample size. It is, but, and it takes you back to gooli playing on a strong side and helping Alex Carrier, I think, look better and, and play a more confident game. And then you have obviously the offensive dynamo that are, um, Hudson, um, Mathis and Adops and that can be out there and, and play shut down block shots and put up points. All right, let's move on. Hobie Baker finalists were announced and bad news. Michael Hage was not one of the 10 finalists. I mean, this is like the Oscars, 10 finalists. That's a lot of finalists. How is it possible that guy who is what top five in scoring in the NCAA? Yeah. And then one of the guys he's tired with is his teammate who was a finalist.

5:05TJ Hughes is the name of that guy. He's a senior, whereas Hage is a sophomore. Yeah. For those of you who don't know the terminology, senior means season. His third season, sophomore means second season and obviously freshman is a rookie. So a lot of guys were named, including Gavin McKenna. He, he gets a nod, uh, Ethan Wittenbach, who is the highest scoring player in the country, uh, for Quinnipak, which is in Maine, I believe, uh, we're, we're both named as we said to TJ Hughes, his teammate, uh, named as well, um, Felix Trudeau, a Quebec kid who plays for Sacred Heart. He got a nomination, but all of this to say Michael Hage, your boy, Sean, um, tray Augustine, James Hagen's Eric Polkamp, Hayes, Abroff, Charlie Strammell, uh, Max Plott to the other players. What are we, if anything, to make up the fact that Michael Hage was not one of the 10, 10 guys named a finalist for the Holy Baker. So I thought this guy was supposed to be the next big thing. I mean, it's, uh, it's, it's a difficult one.

6:07You don't, uh, I mean, you don't know exactly the reasons why 50, 50 points at 50 points, as you pointed out, I mean, one of the highest scoring collegiate players plays on a big program. It's not, he's not like he's playing in some backwoods collegiate program. And D one that few people know about, you know, this is, they're off to the championship game. They're going to play Ohio State this weekend in the big 10, you know, so he's, he's, obviously had a shining performance. I thought for Canada, the world juniors carried that throughout a strong, uh, sophomore season for the Wolverines and, uh, and listen, at the end of the day, he plays on a stack team. That's, you know, he's not just the guy there as you've highlighted with TJ Hughes and, and what he's been able to accomplish. But to me, it's pretty suspect when you have a finalist list that runs 10 deep, that one of the premier scores producers throughout the course of the 36 games or whatever was that he played didn't make the grade. It's not easy to understand. It seems, I think only two guys in D one had more points than Michael Hage did.

7:12And that's Gavin McKenna and leading score. He's in Wittenbach. Yeah. Uh, and nice to see. I mean, Detroit's got a couple of players, uh, that belong to them that they were drafted by the Red Wings that are inside the top 10. I always like to look at to see, you know, as they were patting theirs, who is their one club team in the NHL that, you know, is looking pretty good. But Detroit stands out as having a couple of Hobie Baker finalists. Um, I got to tell you, man, I'm, I am, I'm Luke Wilson. Join me each week for Film Never Lies. Since retiring from the NFL, I've had a lot of my mind now, got my own show. So if you're tired of lazy takes, if you want honest conversations, join us each week, Film Never Lies available on all TSN platforms in the I heart radio app. I'm not all in on the Michael Hage hype train. Yeah. Um, and this is not me trying to be like, this is nothing, nothing personal against the player. I, I just, the guy's got 13 goals. Like, and that really does, it's a lower number than most of the other guys involved.

8:14You know, Hughes, the teammate who did get nominated had 19, but 13 goals in 36 games. Um, not a number that jumps off the page at you. No, 37 assists though. I think that's more than any player in the country. Uh, but I just, we hype these guys up, you know, I watched Michael Hage play at the World Junior some, even then, I'm not super into the World Juniors. I'm not super into watching prospects play. And so I haven't watched a, a Michigan game this year. I'm not watching the guy. Okay. So take my analysis for, for, with that grain of salt. But these guys become these, and I think most fans are in the same boat. They're not watching. They're maybe watching some highlights, you know, maybe highlights, some stuff that pops up on on their Twitter feed or, or wherever else. But he becomes this like magical mystery box. And they're with that comes this expectation from fans. And we always do is overhyped prospects, overhyped, overhyped, overhyped.

9:15I just, I want to have like a realistic level of expectation here for Michael Hage. Do you think it's political that he was left off the homey Baker? I know there's some kind of a there. I believe, and I'll, I, you know, I'll stay on this hill that we go back to the juniors where he performed well for Canada, that he wasn't an all star there, despite being the leading point getter. To me, there was politics there personally, right? NCAA collegiate guy, not a CHL guy. Well, he was left off the team here before. So I think there was something there more than there is to this in my opinion. Okay. But I think, you know, just a, I guess, react to, to your comment, right? There are a few things that I think have amplified the hype train around this player. One was the Canadians moved up in the draft to get him to, I think, you know, you know, the emotional part of the fan base in this market. And you know, they latch on to certain players and they get excited for certain players and it works. It doesn't work.

10:15But when it's been reported as soon as they got him that this kid grew up as a Habs fan, it just, it works so much in his favor in terms of generating hype and enthusiasm and excitement about what's to come with this guy. And then he goes and plays for Canada and has a good tournament. That adds to it. No doubt. So I think that's, you know, part of the reasons why some people get to a point where they're excited to see it. Personally, I think when we look at Michael Hage, there are some, the one major concern for me is, I'm not here putting my hand up saying 2C of the future, right? Not the 2C of the future. At least I don't think so today. You know, the fact that even at Michigan, you know, he doesn't, he sometimes doesn't take the majority of the face offs on that stack team. He did not do well in the draw at the World Junior. So a couple of like spotlight performances where he hasn't been the go to guy. You know, the assist total is nice, but I wonder if is it more likely or not

11:16that we're talking about a future top six winger around the Montreal Canadians, you know, even that though. Like it's really hard to be a top six winner. 100% there are those that want to kind of annoy this guy that when he comes here at the end of the season, which is what's presumably going to happen that he is going to enter the top six for the Canadians at that point. And it's just like, okay, but, you know, I think if there's one thing we've learned here, at least I've learned in the last 20 or so years of doing some version of this job. That is covering the Canadians in the media and kind of talking about the amount of daily basis is you can do a tremendous amount of harm by expecting too much, doing too much, giving too much too soon. Very little harm can be done by the slow, great slow steady approach to these sort of things. Expecting Michael Hage to come in and be an impact player for the Canadians this season is not I think a healthy level of expectation to saddle a teenager

12:19with. Yeah, I don't, I don't disagree one bit with that. And I think it's fair ground to, you know, not expect, but maybe hope is a fan that you get to see him like you saw lean Hudson when he came in and played those two games that maybe you get a look at him, but also understand the pattern that this team, you know, is very consistent at. I mean, think about the how upset some people were at the coach for not using 93 enough on a power play, you know, not getting how you should be on the first way, should be on the first wave. This is a steady eddy team and like they show you this pattern again of whether it's graduating players, taking their time integrating players into a system. So I, I am not of the mindset and I think you've communicated you aren't either when it comes to he's going to come in here and who he's going to take Alex new hook spot if that continues like who you taking out from the top six as it's currently constructed and what Kirby docks can come back, right? So there's probably a third line winger. Well, you know, probably won't be for long. There's, you know, he's going to be a third line winger.

13:21So what are we really talking about here? And the way Alex Texia has been playing, you know, you tell me where the room is. Well, I will tell you this, um, that I am all in on Alexander Syrovsky, being the next big thing for the Canadians, he also has had some notable achievements. They, his team just closed out the regular season. He, I believe, picked up an assist is 26th the system of the season, which is the most of any 20 under player in the KHL 41 points in 58 games. Oh, there's one game left, apparently, in the regular season. So he joins, I've getting his nets off in Matve Michkov with that number 41 points for the third most points ever picked up in a KHL season by a player under the age of 20, who's got the record, Ivan Demidov, 49 points last year in his final year in the KHL. But Zyrovsky, baby, speaking of mystery boxes, there's another one for you. Yeah, yeah, at least no expectation that he joins the Canadians between now and

14:25the end of the year. No, I like to meet off dramatic. Not even next year. Not even next year. Yeah, but yeah, because netsov, Michkov and Zyrovsky, because netsov had a very good NHL career, Michkov is had a very good rookie season and has had some growing pains in his second year there with Rick talking to the flyers, but still pretty good company. I'd say so for the kid to be in. Yeah. So what you want, right? You want to see these, these identifiable markers of a player's, you know, ultimate paths at the National Hockey League. Yeah. All right. Let's move on. Well, I want more thing, Josh Anderson and Kaden Gouli and the way that they played against the Bruins on Tuesday night, how important is it for the Canadians that we get that version of both of those players for the next 15 games and into whatever happens. Should they make the playoffs to me? I would say extremely important like there's just not a lot of what those guys can bring when they're bringing in the 18 skaters that are out there on

15:28any given night for the Canadians, especially with Arbor Jacki, being the question mark that he currently is, this to me feels important for the stretch run at Josh Anderson. You mentioned therapy day, which sounds familiar. I think there was a lot of that going on last year and even in years prior. Fine. Great. You know, we need Josh Anderson out there on game nights. And that's when it's going to matter. And Kaden Gouli, hopefully a little bit of stability there. If he is given an opportunity to play more with Carrier and to take the ball and run with it, because that version of Gouli and we were asking the question earlier this week, you know, what's going on with Gouli? Does he hurt? Is he playing through something? Yeah. He looked like himself there on Tuesday night. Josh Anderson was out there crashing bodies going to the net, making good things happen, being physically engaged. Those two guys feel like important players for the Canadians for the next month or so. I mean, it's been the one constant when we talk about the defense, right? And like what's going on and trying to problem solve in real time, getting that SOB, getting that nasty customer, getting mean defensively. And as skilled as the group currently is, the one guy that's mean and

16:34nasty and that can actually do that is Kaden Gouli. It's huge. And you know, he, you know, he had said in interviews this week about his mental mental side, he's fine. But in terms of confidence with this game, it's quite low. It's quite low. And, you know, he's trying to discover that and, you know, it goes back to what we spoke about when we opened up Has Breakfast this morning about trying to build off something as opposed to the constant revolving door or mixing and matching based on situations inside one game that allow, allow a player to, you know, kind of find his rhythm, find his flow. And if that means Gouli and Carrie just kind of stay together because Gouli feels better, I think the Canadians are going to be much better off. Anybody out there sending death threats to whoever it is that picks the Hobie Baker finalists? Do we know how that's how that's chosen? No, please don't do that. If you're on the fence and you're considering doing that because it's so upset that Michael Hage, you know, there's somebody out there who's really mad about this, right?

17:34Anyway, we'll be back in a moment when we return. Sounds like Jack Hughes isn't getting his golden goal puck back. The hockey Hall of Fame has responded to the devil superstar. And Sydney Crosby weighs in as well. Let's all come up here in the morning show. Preset the station so it's always one tab away.