Please don't do this
Signed
Flames fans

Drouin set up Anderson for a crossbar shot early, he set up Weber for a clean look to walk in but he didn't score, and he set up Kulak for a breakaway and their only goal of the game.

How can anyone say he had a horrible game?

Edmundson has been MTL's best D all year and arguably the most consistent D in the NHL. You want to put him on the 3rd line after one game he wasn't at his best. Let's pump the brakes a bit.

Guhle and Fluery what? Even if they were healthy and available that is ridiculous.

Did you not see the play that got Romanov and Ouellet stuck on the ice for almost 2 minutes in the 1st period? KK was battling for the puck at the left of the net with a flames player Drouin was standing at the boards not 10 feet away. KK pokes the puck to the corner 5 feet from Drouin who just continues to stand there watching the flames player escape from KK and get the puck back to the point. IF Drouin had moved even 2 steps he would have beat the flame to the puck and gotten out of the zone a lot quicker but instead it took another 30-40 seconds of the 4 other Habs battling hard to get the puck out of the zone. When the puck did finally squirt out to center ice Drouin rushes off the ice like he was exhausted from battling. The flames then immediately turned the puck back up ice and once again Romanov and Ouellet were stuck on the ice. Finally Ouellet got the puck to Allen who froze it and they got a change. That 10-15 seconds of Drouin standing in the corner watching the puck battle 10 feet away without helping then not moving to pick up the puck 5 feet away is what earns him the benching IMO.

EDIT*** BTW I don't care what else he did in the game stranding 2 young D men on the ice for almost 2 minutes is unacceptable. IF I was the coach at that point in the game Drouin is benched!

I forgot Guhle was injured and didn't know that Fleury was injured. Even still we need to send a message so if they are not available then move Edmundson up as 2 RD and swap Romanov and Kulak. Then play something like Leskinen-Brook on the third pairing.

Ylönen, Fluery, Guhle all injured. Guhle is also not with Laval anymore.
They won't bring caufield up to play him on his off wing.
If you're a habs fan you know very well they won't bench Weber or Dru

Drouin has his warts, I won't deny it and I will take your word for it that he was that bad in that play. I know the shift you were talking about and I actual believe KK was more of an issue, Oullet won several battles in the corner throughout that shift freeing the puck up for the supporting center to collect... however KK was not there for any of them, a flame was the first on the free puck each time. The C needs to be supporting the defense in the corners. KK did a fine job of collapsing in the middle but that's what leads to a long shift in your own end.

I'm not disputing what you say happened with Drouin - it probably did happen, but there are other issues as well Drouin can't be conveniently scapegoated for everything. If you are blaming the LW for defensive zone issues well then you're probably missing something else.

I agree and I like Drouin when he plays with physicality and pace to his game. Drouin is probably our most skilled forward right now and I usually don't mind his "soft defense" and you are also right that KK lost a lot of the puck battles on that shift. I was not meaning to sound like it was ALL on Drouin but the fact that he couldn't take 2 steps to his right to get the puck really annoyed me. Hockey is a team sport and you don't lose on one single play, however the momentum of the game changes often throughout a game and this was one instance where it swung in the wrong direction for a very long time. Also proof that I was not picking on just Drouin is the fact that I sat out Weber, Perry, Staal and Byron as well. Byron was not horrible but he was not engaged either. I also demoted Edmundson (who I think had a bad game last night and really a bad week with the exception of the Leafs game). I also moved Suzuki to the wing cause he has been dying at center. I really did not like any of the forwards games last night, The D was just as bad only Kulak and Romanov seemed to be on their game really. Allen was also solid once again, but as usual we did not give him any goal support.

I see your point, but I don't think the best way to go about this is to scratch or demote 5 or 6 vets - you would likely just lose the room because the effort and plays are their right now for at least half of those guys.

I think its a coaches job to get individuals going, and also their job to optimize their lineup so those individuals strengths are maximized and their weaknesses minimized. That is where Ducharme is failing IMO.

Yes I agree but I was annoyed that we lost a critical game and played such a lackluster game when I created the thread LOL. Serious lineup changes for me are as Follows

Tatar-Danault-Armia
Caufield-Kotkaniemi-Anderson
Drouin-Poehling-Suzuki
Byron-Evans-Perry

Kulak\Edmundson-Petry
Chiarot (If back)Edmundson-Weber (limit Weber to no more than 18 minutes of TOI)
Edmundson\Chiarot (just to manage minutes if he is not 100%)\Kulak-Romanov