Tag Archives: 2010-2011 Canadiens


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Habs Don’t Need A Rebuild

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Let’s all take a deep breath, or twenty.

Do the the Habs stink? You bet they do. Tough to admit, especially when they are “only 3 points out of a playoff spot” but you are what your record says you are, so yes – right now, the Habs stink. How did they get to this damp and sullen place so quickly? In this blogger’s view, two solid years of poor strategic coaching, coupled with non-existent tactical coaching, questionable development of youth and inept managerial moves have crippled this team. Ownership has a good amount of stink on it as well for placing blind faith in a team that was hired to keep corrupted and brainwashed masses content.

The team was never retooled properly following the collapse and subsequent mass exodus of 2009. Jacques Martin was brought in to breathe new life in to the team, as well as to bring a level of professionalism behind the bench that had been missing for years. Surely he had a hand in selecting the players that they eventually traded for, and signed during that summer’s free agency period. Why on God’s green earth they opted for small, offensive-minded players, we will never know. Sure, they’re loveable, respectable, classy guys, which makes trying to be objective about them much more difficult, but their contributions – or lack thereof speak for themselves. The style of play that was promised by Jacques Martin was never delivered – not even close. Instead, he enforced the exact opposite style of play that would have maxed out the players’ talents.  What’s the French translation for ‘appeasement’? The ruse worked for a while…or did it? I think we can all agree that goaltending saved not just the team’s bacon, but the entire barn. Whether Carey Price since the start of last year, or Halak two seasons ago, the trip to the Conference Finals was enchanting, but it was a fairy tale. An anomaly. The road taken was unsustainable. When a game plan calls for a goaltender to stop 40-50 shots per night, and asks defensemen to block almost as many, with the desired end result being a 2-1 victory, it’s only a matter of time before the trap door that you voluntarily stood on top of opens wide. Sidney Crosby’s bewilderment at the conclusion of game 7 spoke for nearly everyone, much of Habsland included.

Last year the team had its ups and downs, eventually bowing out in the first round to the Bruins in seven games. Many saw that as some sort of accomplishment, considering the “injuries”. Yawn. News flash! there are no moral victories in the playoffs. None. There never were, and there never will be. Talk of “tomorrow’s another day” is for the regular season. The playoffs, on the other hand are merciless and not for the faint of heart. Any talk otherwise stems from apologists, exonerators and excuse makers. Pass me the barf bag. The cracks in the foundation were deep and visible, but covered up with Carey Price’s excellence. That Carey Price is even in a Habs sweater is a stroke of luck.

Fast forward to this season, and the slow slide to oblivion accelerated to avalanche speed, and not even Price’s continued fine play could stop it. Jacques Martin quickly lost the pulse of his team, which is not surprising given how he stamped out any semblance of energy and passion – what was left to measure when you don’t communicate with your players? He soon ran out of places to hide, kids to throw under the bus and people to blame other than himself by the time the axe fell. Last Saturday ended what was an infernally long tenure that really wasn’t that long at all; it just felt that way, which is a damning testament to the type of stodgy, stale, flaccid hockey that Jacques Martin had installed. It was, and still is boring, which speaks to the damage that he has done, and that Randy Cunneyworth has been tasked with fixing. Nothing is worse than failing, sleep-inducing hockey, especially when you’re one of the priciest tickets in the league. Nothing. Near the end, Jacques Martin said that it was less about entertaining the fans. Way to keep up with the times, Coach.

Now, as Randy Cunneyworth struggles to pump out the water, he seems as powerless as a nine volt battery trying to power a nuclear submarine. It isn’t his fault; he’s been set up for failure by ownership and management, and the jackals in the French media have already begun gnawing at the carcass before it has even flatlined. Dead man walking.

The result is a team in disarray, or at least the semblance of disarray. There are still some good players on this team: Cole, Pacioretty, Gionta, Plekanec, Cammalleri and Kostitsyn are all eminently capable of 25 goals each, but only one or two of those guys will hit that number…three would be stretching it. As the team spirals to 12th place and poised to sink even lower, fans are predictably calling for a tank & rebuild in the same vein as Pittsburgh, Chicago, Washington, and other teams that reaped all-star talent at the draft table by being appallingly bad for many years.

As tempting as it may be to dream of a lottery draft pick, it’s not needed for this iteration of the team. Serious tweaking? Absolutely. Blowing it up? Stop it. While this season is on the verge of being lost, (if it wasn’t lost in October) there is plenty of hope for 2012-13, provided Geoff Molson gets his priorities straight and stares down those that insist that they have a say in running the team.

Re-signing Price, Subban and Gorges are no-brainer decisions. Bringing back Andrei Kostitsyn isn’t quite a no-brainer, but it’s damn close. Unless he can fetch a king’s ransom in return, he should be retained, and quite frankly, I wouldn’t trust Gauthier to fetch that kingly ransom. Thanks to Gauthier’s panic moves designed to save his, and Jacques Martin’s job (bonjour to those who said that a healthy Campoli and Kaberle would fix all that ails the team), he has saddled the team with some contracts that are suffocating the Habs, and will continue to do so until they’re off the books. That being the case, whoever has the title of General Manager in the summer – because it won’t be Pierre Gauthier – should focus on moving Scott Gomez, Mike Cammalleri and Tomas Kaberle at all costs. Freeing up that kind of scratch and replacing it with the right pieces and coupled with the proper Coaching, will set it back on course in a hurry.

There’s no need to flush out everyone over the age of 27. No need to be voluntary doormats for years to come. No need to waste some of Carey Price’s best years. As long as pillars like Price, Subban, Pacioretty, Plekanec, Cole, Eller, Gorges and Gionta are around, there is plenty to play for, and it’s all the more reason to get things right without waving the white flag of failure.The only capitulations that should be made, if the team can’t pull out of this tailspin absolutely and immediately (meaning tonight vs Winnipeg, and no more consolation loser points), is to trade pending UFAs (except Gorges and Kostitsyn) for assets. That’s it.

The recipe, as challenging as it may be to implement, is really quite simple:

1- Get the organizational priorities straight. Winning? Or pandering & political appeasement?
2- Hire the best General Manager money can buy, language be damned.
3- Let him get the best Coach, and ask him to pretty please with a cherry on top become competent in French as quickly as possible.
4- Sign or trade for players that match the new Coach’s style and fill the team’s gaps.
5- Enjoy hockey again.

Now, if only Geoff Molson can summon the courage to stomp out the filthy agenda-driven rats in the Francophone media and political arena who have infested and warped the views of Habs fans all over Quebec, things might get moving in the right direction. These clowns have once again made the Canadiens a laughing stock, not only in hockey circles, but in global news. It’s not because “outsiders don’t understand”. It’s because it’s farcical that a segment of Quebecers carry the sense of entitlement that allows them to believe that they control the team. The legacy of the Canadiens hangs from the rafters of the Bell Center, and it was built by French AND English. The legacy doesn’t exist anywhere else. It’s a sport. You want to make a statement about your culture and language? Do it through other channels and stay out of the hockey rink. People and organizations trying to shape the Canadiens to reflect their narrow-minded, pig-headed views have no place in the business of sport.

The ball is in your court, Mr. Molson.

The Sun Comes Up Instead

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The headline is a snippet from Vancouver based rocker Matthew Good’s song “Alert Status Red“. Perhaps it’s a song that should have been blaring through the streets last night as angry hockey fans and cement-headed opportunists trashed Vancouver’s downtown.

The Boston Bruins have finally won a Stanley Cup. I never thought I’d have to come to grips with this reality, but alas here it is. It’s pretty bad…but I gotta say, it’s not as bad as I thought it would be. I’m back at work today, and I assume you are doing whatever it is you do on a daily basis. It’s going to be a sunny, beautiful 28°C here in Montreal today. I don’t know what the forecast is where you are, but it has to be somewhere in that neighborhood.

As a Habs fan, the thought of guys like Chara, Marchand, Ference, Lucic and Campbell hoisiting the cup is repulsive, and revolting. It’s hard to reconcile douchebaggery, outright barbarism, and classless behavior with “Stanley Cup Champs”, but that’s the reality today. Whatever we think of the Bruins, and what they were allowed to get away with this season, there’s no doubt that they were the better team in the Cup finals. We Habs fans can take a small measure of comfort knowing that the Canadiens pushed the Bruins harder than any other team, even though they also went to seven games against the Lightning and Canucks. We also can be fairly certain that if Max Pacioretty had been around, the outcome of that opening series would have been different…and no…that’s not to say that the Canadiens would have went on to win the Cup because that’s nothing but a BIG fat reach based in nothing but homerism. Arpon Basu had a great piece on this flawed line of thought.

Still, we have to give the Bruins credit no matter how much we believe they were aided by Campbell, Bettman, the refs or Hockey Gods Gone Mad. It’s clear that karma is a dead concept, but nevertheless, the Bruins accomplished some amazing things since the playoffs began. They were the first team to win a playoff series without scoring a single power play goal (vs Montreal). They’re the first team to ever win a Cup by winning three seven-game series (Montreal, Tampa and Vancouver). They were (I think) the first team to win the Cup when falling behind 0-2 in two separate series (they also had to come from behind against Tampa). Their even strength supremacy should be an indication to all teams relying on “special teams and goaltending” (coughHabscough) where their priorities should be.

The Bruins netminder also deserves credit. Let’s put aside his comment “Subban is a travesty to the game” comment for just a moment. Yes, it was dumb, especially when you consider that the Bruins had just knocked off the Habs. It’s called being a gracious winner, and the Bruins are woefully unfamiliar with the concept. It’s hardwired in to Bruin DNA (one needs to look at what happened to guys like Nathan Horton and Mark Recchi when they became Bruins). Still, we have to face facts. Thomas fought back from a mediocre 09-10 season where he pretty much lost his job to Tuukka Rask. He ripped the starting job back, and then faced down Carey Price (3 times in overtime, to boot), whatever the Flyers could muster in goal, Dwayne Roloson and Roberto Luongo to win the Conn Smythe and the Stanley Cup. Oh, and he’s also going to win the Vezina trophy, too. His numbers are astounding; .938 save percentage in the regular season, and a 35-11 record. Sure he only started 57 games, but if he had started 67, would his number have been any worse? There’s nothing to suggest that. Why? Because in the playoffs, he got even better at stopping the puck against superior teams. He posted a .940 save percentage over 25 playoff games, and was at his best in the Finals. When the pressure was at its highest, he gave up 8 goals in 7 games in the final series including a shutout in enemy territory. Against the league’s top team. Ladies and gents, that’s called dominance. We can sit back and hurl whatever names we want to in his direction, but they’re born of bitterness. Tim Thomas has just completed a season for the ages and there’s nothing anybody can say to refute that. He may be a tad overweight, but he’s not overrated. At least not in 2010-2011. We can twist stats to suit our agendas, but hockey is a result-oriented business, and who delivered better results than Thomas this year? The answer is nobody. For that, he has my admiration and respect.

Credit also has to go to Claude Julien for keeping the ship on course when it could have easily sunk after the first two home games vs Montreal. Some Bruins fans don’t like the conservative coach, but I wonder what they have to say today? Again, results matter. It’s all that matters in hockey, which at least partially explains why the Bruins choose to be the barbarians that they are.

Continuing along the getting results path, big kudos this morning for Bruins General Manager Peter Chiarelli. The work he has done to build up the Bruins has to be met with nothing but laurels. Confession: when he acquired Rich Peverley from Atlanta, I had a sinking feeling. Not because Peverley is a world-beater, but because when a guy of that quality is brought in to center the fourth line, you’re sitting pretty. His prime acquisition of Kaberle nearly cost him dearly…but there’s that word again: results. Chiarelli is getting a Cup ring for his troubles while every other GM is figuring out what to do next. Delivering the goods with Cam Neely breathing down his neck couldn’t have been much fun, but he pulled the right strings and put the puzzle together. Props.

So as the sun finally sets on what was an ugly NHL season, marred by horrific officiating, horrific injuries, and a nightmare ending for Habs fans (and I guess you, too Canucks fans), I offer my congrats to the Bruin players and management that I don’t want to skewer with a sharpened telephone pole: Patrice Bergeron, Tim Thomas, Chris Kelly, Claude Julien, Doug Jarvis and Peter Chiarelli. Oh, and I can’t forget the few Bruins fans that I truly am happy for today: Doug, CJ, and a handful of others who deserve to know what being a champ feels like. Enjoy it! May you never feel like this again! ; )

2010-2011 Habs: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

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It’s always a difficult task to try and segment a 7-month long season in to 3 distinct buckets, as the memories all tend to fade and fall victim to what romanticism and to what feels most comfortable. The Habs have been a veritable roller coaster for two full seasons now…and what a roller coaster it is. Dizzying heights and stomach-churning drops galore. As strange as it is, would the highs feel as good as they do if not for the abyssmal depths that this team sunk to at times? Probably not.

Let’s start from the bottom of the barrel and finish on a high, shall we?

The Ugly

The Pacioretty/Chara incident. This will certainly be one of the infamous moments in Habs history, for all the wrong reasons. Everyone has their own personal opinion on whether or not Chara intended to severely injure Pacioretty, but the fact will always be that Pacioretty came within fractions of an inch from losing his career, his ability to walk, or perhaps even worse. That he luckily escaped severe handicap is a blessing, but it also fuels the knuckle-draggers who think the whole thing was overblown. Pacioretty was out cold on the ice – that by definition is a severe concussion. That he seemed to avoid post-concussion symptoms is what has Dr. Recchi, Boston media, and Bruins fans in such a confused tizzy. Any way you slice it, this was a horrific incident that touched off a frenzy in Montreal unseen in decades. Predictably, the rest of the hockey world points and laughs. Thankfully Pacioretty will be back next year and looking to pick up where he left off.

Injuries to Markov and Gorges. Why, oh why can’t the Habs stay in one piece for one year? If you spend any time reading here, you know me as somebody that doesn’t buy the injuries as an excuse for underachieving, or failure. Everyone suffers from injuries, and the Habs were somewhere in the middle of the pack in terms of man-games lost to injury. Yeah, yeah, the whole quality vs quantity argument. Given the importance of Markov and Gorges to the team, it seems grossly unfair that both would be shelved for many months. Will either be back next season? Time will tell, but I would like to see them both return, for the right price of course.

Scott Gomez. No breakdown of the Habs season would be complete without looking at Gomez’ horrific season. After his putrid start, his supporters said that he’s a second half player. When he didn’t get going after the all star break, his supporters entrenched themselves deeper and said he was a playoff performer and we should be patient. When all is said and done, he never really got going at all. 38 points, -15. Underwhelming playoff performance aside from a strong first game. His last goal would come in early February, while all other facets of his game tumbled to appaling levels. The Canadiens can’t afford another season like that from a guy who eats such a large chunk of cap space. It will be tough to move him in any scenario, but its safe to say that his nightmarish season could have single-handedly cost the Habs a playoff spot if not for Carey Price’s brilliance.

Booing Carey Price. What’s the matter with the people who booed Carey Price – in the preseason no less? The real work hadn’t yet begun and those who sleep in Halak jammies were already out with their pitchforks. Needless to say, within weeks they no longer had any credibility, as Price forcibly duct taped every single one of the haters mouths shut. Booing the home team is never smart. Singling out a young player who needed support more than scorn was borderline criminal. In the end, all Price needed was confidence and he’d take care of the rest. On many nights, he was left on his own and snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. It’s what the greats do, and Carey Price is already great. When it’s all said and done, his name will not look out of place with the likes of Plante, Vezina, Roy, and Dryden.

The rivalry with Boston. For the better part of a century, the Habs and Bruins built one of the greatest rivalries in sports. In 2011, however, it went from an on-ice rivalry, to outright vitriolic hate in all directions. The players don’t like one another, but the fans and media have helped propel this rivalry to very nasty, unfriendly places. There’s no need to rehash it all, as it all cuts so close to the bone but it’s safe to say that this rivalry, which had cooled slightly in recent years, even with several playoff matchups has been renewed. We hope that it stays on the ice and produces exciting hockey, but I somehow doubt that. Winning with grace has eluded certain fanbases and the teams they follow.

The Bad

Opening round loss to the Bruins. After the tumultuous season that the Habs suffered at the hands of the Bruins (despite winning 4 of 6 games), roaring out to a 2-0 series lead had everyone thinking about the 2010 playoffs and another Cinderella run. Surely, with a 0-26 record when falling behind by two games, the Bruins were toast, right? Sadly for Habs fans, the Bruins fought back, broke through the barrier that was so successful last year for Montreal and eventually won the series. In seven games. In overtime. It doesn’t get worse than that for Habs fans who were around when the Canadiens hadn’t lost to the Bruins in the playoffs for 40 years. Yes, 40 years.

Inability to score at even strength – ‘The System’. Listening to the season ending post-mortem press conference, Jacques Martin would have you believe that his puck possession system in fully in place, and that the Habs do not struggle to score goals. Those paying attention know that he is simply deflecting, avoiding and outright lying about the type of hockey he has his team playing. It was tough to argue with him as the Habs hobbled through the season and still hung on to 6th place in the East. But again, when looking at all of the stats and evidence, the real system is Carey Price. Without 70+ games of terrific hockey from the Habs netminder, it would have been lights out after the regular season. It’s dangerous to rely solely on special teams and goaltending, and hopefully everyone now realizes that.

Underachieving forwards. All 6 of the top forwards had sub-par years. Starting with the aforementioned Gomez, but filtering down to each and every one of Plekanec, Gionta, Kostitsyn, Cammalleri and whoever the 6th forward was on any given day. None had what I’d call a strong year. Aside from Gomez’ putrid performance, the others all had decent, but underwhelming performances. We’ll never know how Pacioretty would have affected things if not for his head-first dive in to a stanchion, but it’s clear – the system prevents the Habs best offensive talents from reaching their potential. We’ve long forgotten what it’s like to have a forward finish among the league leaders in terms of production, and as long as the defense-first system lives, the Habs will struggle to score – regardless of the PR spin the coach and management decides to sell us, and regardless of what talent may be lured to town.

Moving Ryan O’Byrne, then trading to acquire more defense. This is a sticky one. The coach didn’t trust O’Byrne, which is his prerogative. I have to admit that I didn’t have much faith in O’Byrne, either, but I did want him in the lineup on a more consistent basis so that he could develop the confidence that fans would then absorb by osmosis. The organization didn’t see it that way, and shipped him to Colorado – where he played quite well – for another small prospect forward in Michael Bournival. We can only ponder how management reacted once O’Byrne was no longer available once their defensemen started to drop like flies. Would O’Byrne have drawn back in to the lineup, or would coach Martin continue to select others like Alexandre Picard over him? We’ll never know, but what is certain is that there was no rush to move him as quickly as they did.

Scattered, disorganized, immobile defense. Valiant warriors one and all: Hal Gill, Roman Hamrlik, Jaroslav Spacek, Brent Sopel, Paul Mara. All are guys with guts, and all performed as well as they could. In the end, it was clear that they were asked to do more than they were capable of – whether through lack of skill, or the slow erosion of age, these guys simply couldn’t do the things necessary to win for long enough. Opponents know that if they press on their older, slower bodies, they’ll end up with the puck in the Canadiens zone, and they’ll force these older players to take penalties. And take penalties they did; the Habs were near the summit of the league in terms of minor penalties taken; another blight on ’the system’. It’s tough to score goals when the puck is always in your own end. Individually they all seem like terrific teammates, but in order to get better, some changes will need to be made, and hard decisions taken. It’s hard to do, but teams don’t get better by “being nice”.

Picking on PK. I would have put this in the “ugly” section if PK showed any signs of caring what other think of him outside of his locker room. Instead, Pernell Karl turned the corner at midseason and, given the ice time he received because of injuries to Markov and Gorges, he opened eyes across the league. However, not all eyes are as tolerant as we would like them to be in 2011. Racial slurs became common, and the league feigned horror at the “disrespect” the Habs young rearguard displayed on the ice. What a load of trash. Brad Marchand and Cam Fowler pulled similar stunts to what Subban did this year, and yet received no criticism. Racial undertones aside, PK gets a lot of flack simply because he’s GREAT and still a long way from his full potential. This scares other teams and their fans. Almost all non-Habs fans would admit to wanting him on their team, and this is a testament to PK’s resolve, evolving maturity, and lastly, to Trevor Timmins, who has hit a grand slam by drafting this kid in the second round. For once, it’s awfully nice having a player that everyone else says “how did we miss this guy” about.

The Failure of Pouliot. Benny, Benny, Benny. Last year I referred to you as Jimmy Olsen on a team of superheroes. You did nothing to change that this year, even though I thought you may be turning a corner at a few points. Have a nice career in some other jersey. I can’t devote any more space to you and your underachieving ways.

The Heritage Classic. Everyone loves an outdoor game, right? The mystique, the roots of the game, the fresh air. Yeah, sure they do. On this cold February evening, the Habs, decided that being in front of a gigantic, captive North-American audience was the right time to play one of the worst games of the season, being blanked 4-0 to the Calgary Flames at McMahon Stadium. It was a flaccid performance, coming off the heels of an equally putrid loss to the bottom-feeding Oilers.

Departures we hate to see. It hasn’t happened yet, but it certainly appears that Kirk Muller is on his way out of Montreal. What a shame that the Canadiens organization should lose two young coaching talents in Guy Boucher and Kirk Muller in consecutive years. If there’s one argument for Habs brass in keeping Jacques Martin around it’s that if they cut him loose any time soon after losing Boucher and Muller, they’ll be roasted. Other players potentially on their way out include Andrei Markov, Hal Gill, Roman Hamrlik and a few others. Some are near and dear to Habs fans, and we’d hate to see them go. In some cases, it’s necessary, but in the case of Kirk Muller you’d hope the Canadiens would do whatever it takes to keep a guy that the players reportedly adore. The fans seem to like him, too.

The Good

A new captain for a new era. After going through an entire season with no captain, the Canadiens decided it was time to name a new one to replace Saku Koivu. Raise your hand if you don’t like Brian Gionta as Captain. Nobody? I thought so. Stoic, heart of a lion, non-stop motor…what’s not to like about Brian Gionta? Nothing, that’s what.

Price’s rebirth. Carey Price had been, until this season started, a very controversial figure. How refreshing it is then, that under more pressure than ANY player in the league, Price responds with the type of season he had. There’s a case to be made that he should have been nominated for the Hart Trophy as the league’s MVP. Certainly there is no post-season in Montreal without his consistently solid play. Each and every single Habs fan should be in awe of how he played and conducted himself this year. And General Manager Gauthier should lock him up for a very, very long time as soon as possible. Don’t wait until Price increases his value even higher.

Subban’s emergence. He’s already been mentioned, but how amazing was PK Subban this season? He’s clearly the best rookie defenseman the Habs have had since the mid-80′s, and there are whispers that he’s gone and made Andrei Markov expendable. I don’t necessarily believe that, as the sophomore jinx has bitten the best of them, including Tyler Myers and Drew Doughty. Subban could easily have a setback next year, but what is clear is that at 21 years old, Subban is going to be the Canadiens top defenseman in a couple years from now, and will be for a long, long time. As with Price, Gauthier should lock up Subban immediately, before his price tag is elevated with Norris credentials.

Weber shines. Below the radar, and in Subban’s immense shadow lies the solid, versatile Yannick Weber. He may never be a top pairing defenseman, but he can be an effective power play specialist, while not embarassing himself on defense. He also proved that he could play a fourth line role, bringing back images of another Swiss-born, under-the-radar, jack-of-all-trades former Hab in Mark Streit. I believe he’s been underrated all season long and has earned a permanent spot on the blueline.

Pacioretty’s promise. Where’s our power forward? How many times had you heard that over the past decade? Safe to say that if you had a dime for every time you heard that from a fan, or member of the media, you’d be living the sweet life out in California’s beatiful San Fernando Valley (hat tip to Dr. Venkman for that beauty). Before being savagely injured, Pacioretty was just entering his own. He was the Habs best forward at the time of his injury, and seemed to be the answer to the gaping hole among the top 6 forwards. When Pacioretty revealed that he would have been ready to face the Capitals should the Habs have beaten Boston, fans sighed in disappointment. So close. On the other hand, he gets a full off-season to stregthen his neck and be absolutely certain that he wasn’t rushing back. Then again, it took a wicked slap shot to the ribs and a trip to the hospital before Pacioretty really heated up in the first place, so who knows, maybe he would have been even better after recovering from his neck problems.

Discovery of Desharnais. Talk about found money! Everyone knew about his skill, and his pal Pacioretty said he was the best center he had ever played with. It didn’t take long for Habs fans to see what he was talking about. Though he’s another small forward on a team of small forwards, I think Claude Julien got it right on when he said that Desharnais looks like he could be another Martin St-Louis. Let’s hope the Canadiens are able to find a permanent and fitting role for this pint-sized dynamo. It will be tough, as the Habs have Gomez, Plekanec and Eller at center already. Eller is ill-suited to play wing, and it would be a shame for Desharnais to toil on the fourth line with all that skill being devoted to a checking role. The answer, as hard as it may be to accomplish, is to somehow move Gomez. As much as I’d like to give him the chance to redeem himself (and this likely will be the path we go down), I’d spit nails if young talent was sacrificed for overpaid underachievers. Young homegrown talent is raring to go, and shouldn’t be stifled or discarded. If Habs management is intent on letting fresh coaching talent walk away, as well as prime prospects in low salary brackets in favour of bloated, stale contracts in Jacques Martin and Scott Gomez, then they should be immediately fired.

BAMF Ryan White. Finally, a player with wheels, and a willingness to get his nose dirty. Every team needs players like Ryan White. When members of the team come out and publicly state that White should have been on the team since the start of the season, that’s a criticism on the coaches and management, who were either asleep at the switch, or ignorant of their team’s needs. Either way, it’s a huge compliment to Ryan White, who, despite not being a heavy weight, finally brings accountability for other teams who feel like they can take liberties on the Habs without having to answer for it.

Koivu 2.0: Enter Lars Eller. Somebody said it on Twitter, and I think it’s totally appropriate (if you know who said it, please let me know). Eller is Koivu in a bigger body. What a dream come true for Habs fans! For a decade we wished that Saku could have been a little bigger and a little more durable. As big as his heart was and still is, he always wore down as the seasons took their inevitable toll. Lars Eller may not have had the numbers to prove it, but he has playmaking skills, skating ability, defensive awareness and size down the middle – one of the Habs missing key ingredients. We would love to see him develop his finish around the net in coming years, but it’s clear to me that the Habs have won the Halak trade hands-down. With Eller in the fold, and a reborn Carey Price, it’s in fact a steal and Gauthier deserves credit, despite what Pierre McGuire’s bitterness will tell you.

Mike Cammalleri - playoff wizard. Two seasons. 26 playoff games. 16 goals. 13 assists. 29 points. Any questions? Many thought that they could throw Cammalleri under the same bus that Gomez found himself under all season. While Gomez apologists tried to tell us that he would produce in the playoffs, and that Cammalleri hadn’t proven anything, we now know better. Cammalleri is a gamer, and brings his best to the post season. While he’s merely average defensively, he’s the Habs go-to guy on offense in the playoffs. He simply gets it done unlike any Hab player in recent years in the post season.

Small package, huge heart. The small forwards may get beaten up, but they simply don’t go away. Time and time again they fought back this season, led by guys who punch much higher than their weight. Captain Gionta certainly leads the way with his fearlessness, and never say die work ethic, but others like Plekanec, Cammalleri and Desharnais showed no fear when it comes to facing adversity. Young players like Eller, Desharnais, Subban, Weber, Pacioretty are soaking in some extremely vital lessons. They see smaller guys working their tails off, and the attitude is infectious. This bodes very well for chemistry and identity of the Habs’ future.

Departures we like to see. Pierre Boivin. Thanks for making the Habs more relevant than they’ve ever been, during their longest Stanley Cup drought in history. Your business acumen and marketing prowess (along with Ray Lalonde) is to be commended. You guys made the Habs a glossy, flashy, only-show-in-town behemoth. Your work has enlivened the Habs for a new generation and has somehow made the Canadiens even more of a religion than they already were. However, your sociological policies have held the Canadiens back where it counts most – on the ice. You honoured the past glory of the franchise to the point of distracting fans to the mediocrity of recent teams. We’re all grateful for what you did in honouring greats like Geoffrion, Robinson, Cournoyer, Savard, Gainey, Roy and others, and we thank you for that. Really, we do. The ceremonies were touching, classy and the gold standard by which all sports teams should aspire to. Good luck in your future endeavors, but I can’t say that I’m sad to see you go.

Mathieu Darche. What more can be said about this guy? Bemoaned by nearly all Habs fans for signing a one-way deal, I was in the minority who thought this was a wise, value-packed signing, and I’m glad that I was proven right. He filled in admirably on the second line when Pacioretty went down, scoring several big goals in areas on the ice where Habs have feared to tread for years. He has to be a tremendous influence on young players who have more skill and upside than Darche, but may lack the work ethic required at the NHL level. Darche spent time all over the lineup, and even spent time in the press box. Without having access to the locker room, I’d bet my last penny that he did everything with a smile on his face.

Triple low-fives. How much fun is the post-victory ritual between Subban and Price?

This post is brought to you by Quality Plus Tickets. If you’re in need of Habs tickets next season, be sure to check them out!

Swan Song

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At the end of the day, the Habs just didn’t have enough left to “fight the good fight”. If we’re looking for reasons as to why the Habs fell after owning a 2-0 series lead, certainly the injuries will rise to the top of the list. And not just the injuries to Markov, Gorges and Pacioretty. Desharnais left the series, Kostitsyn was skating on a bad paw, Halpern wasn’t ready to return from injury, Gill and Hamrlik were reportedly playing with injuries…incredibly the list goes on, yet the Habs pushed this to 7 games and gave the heavily favoured Bruins more than they could handle. We can only wonder how things would have been different if the Habs would have been closer to their real identity.

This series was an epic battle to be sure, and each team had to dig deep for results; Boston salvaged their playoff lives just in time after falling behind two games (a shame that now is the time they get their first series win after dropping the first two games), while the Habs fought back to force a deciding seventh game; and fought back even harder to push that game in to sudden death. When a series goes to overtime in a seventh game, it’s obviously anybody’s to win, and sadly for Habs fans, there was only so much blood to be squeezed from the stone.

Prior to the start of the series, if I had told you that David Krejci, Milan Lucic, Zdeno Chara and Tomas Kaberle would combine for a total of 2 goals and 4 assists in 27 games played, and that the Bruins would score exactly zero power play goals in the series, you would have thought that the Habs were certainly going to take it. Strangely and cruelly enough, you’d be wrong.

Today isn’t the day to point fingers, but here’s a stat that reveals a fatal flaw in “The System”.

The Canadiens and Bruins both scored 17 goals in the series, for an average of 2.43 goals per game. It doesn’t get tighter than that. The issue is this: While the aforementioned invisible Bruins combined for a paltry 6 points, they were also a combined +1. How does that happen? Looking at the teams a little more closely, we see that only 5 Bruins players were on the wrong side of the +/- stat: Krejci (-1), Thornton, Seidenberg, Paille, and Campbell were all -2. Needless to say, three of those guys are not what I’d call crucial to the Bruins success and as such don’t receive a heck of a lot of ice time. Contrast that with the Habs, who had 13 players on the wrong side of the ledger: Gionta and Gomez at -6. Cammalleri at -5. Wizniewski at -3, Spacek at -3, Subban at -2, Sopel at -2, and half a dozen others at -1. Only Weber and Eller were +1. Again, I’m not pointing fingers at individual players, but rather at a system that forces the Habs to win the special teams battle by such a wide margin that it essentially negates what happens at even strength, where the vast majority of a hockey game is played. The power play was terrific, and the penalty kill was better than perfect when you factor in Plekanec’s short handed goal. But without even strength production, you can’t win in the long run.

There are other factors contributing to the series loss, and I’m sure you’ll read about them. While losing to the head-hunting, bird-flipping, lie-telling Bruins stings in the worst way imagineable, there’s never been more reason to be optimistic. The Habs core is in place, and youngsters like Price, Subban, Eller, Desharnais, Pacioretty all revealed themselves to be superb NHL players over the course of the season – and they’re all going to make huge strides in development in the coming years (Dear Salary Cap: Please keep rising!). Gauthier has a lot of work in filling out and improving the roster, but this is clearly the best team we’ve seen in a very long time, and I’m already looking forward to October.

Stranglehold, ho!

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Raise your hand if you thought the Habs would come home from Boston with a 2-0 series lead.

HEY! YOU! Put your hand down. You’re LYING!

Thursday’s 2-0 win was heartwarming and spirit-lifting in the best of ways, but I have to admit that I got a little greedy in the moments prior to game two on Saturday when it became known that Bruins’ all-star defenseman Zdeno Chara would miss the game with dehydration. With him out of the lineup, I reverted from being satisfied with a “worst case scenario” 1-1 split in the series to calling game two a virtual must-win because opportunities like that don’t present themselves often. The Habs capitalized early and never looked back, fulfilling my greedy desires.

Needless to say, I think I speak for a lot of Habs fans in saying that being in this position feels a little surreal. Now with the series back in Montreal, where the Habs have dominated the Bruins this year, I can’t shake the feeling that the hockey gods have something nasty lined up for us. How to best represent how I feel? This clip says it all. Playing the role of the hockey gods is Lucy. The Habs and Habs fans are represented by Charlie Brown:

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I’m probably wrong. The Habs have shown more poise, guts and determination than even last year’s Cinderella team if you ask me. They’ve out hit, out skated, out worked, out coached, out smarted and out classed the Bruins in nearly every facet of the game. There’s no reason to think they’ll feel the nerves now after putting the 8-6 “Boston Beatdown” and 7-0 crushing way behind them. The Habs won’t deviate from their game plan, which is to score early, then apply the king of all sleeper holds. Even Jacques Lemaire has to be envious of how the Habs are able to smother opposition for such long stretches.

So as I sit here nervously working my way through a cold, cloudy Monday, tell me that the hockey gods are enjoying this as much as we are.

So for all those I called a liar at the start? Maybe you’re right and I’m wrong. After all, as George Costanza reminds us:

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Expectations

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It’s a word that we use often. Pierre McGuire constantly reminds us to “manage” them, but we often let them get away from us just the same. When we talk about individual players, coaches, teams and outcomes, we all have our own expectations for what the final analysis should read. Sometimes their fair, sometimes they’re more fantasy than reality-based.

I can’t recall a playoff series that has such a wide gamut of expectations on either side of the fence as this 33rd matchup between Montreal and Boston. Both sides expect (demand?) victory, and both sides have compelling cases as to why their side will come out on top.

No doubt Bruins fans, and indeed Bruins management expect their team to employ the ‘Big, Bad Bruins’ philosophy. It’s been their identity for decades, and it’s how they play the game. They’ll expect the belief of superior size, and skill, propelled by their two most recent home wins over Montreal, to grind the Habs in to a gooey tri-coloured paste. They’ll expect to break the Canadiens’ will through intimidation. The Bruins almost certainly expect to prove that their Northeast Division win wasn’t all for naught, and they want to do it with authority. Their Head Coach, Claude Julien expects that his team will carry their strong regular season in to the playoffs with their rough-and-tumble style, and escape the first round unscathed (no doubt he has to expect that, otherwise he can expect to be shown the door). General Manager Peter Chiarelli clearly expects big things, as he was the one pulling the trigger on significant trade deadline upgrades. He will have answering to do if the Bruins don’t go very deep in the playoffs.

The Bruins see this postseason as a prime chance to win it all for the first time since 1972. They’ve added Tomas Kaberle, Rich Peverley, and Chris Kelly for their playoff run…you don’t make those types of additions if you don’t think your window is wide open. These moves signaled the Bruins intentions and expectations, and they desperately want to capitalize before that window slams shut. The pressure is squarely and intensely on the Bruins to squash their pesky little foes and take another step in leveling the scales – which currently tip heavily in Montreal’s favour: 24 playoff series victories to the Bruins’ 8. Should the Bruins again fall to their bitter rivals (the Habs represent the ultimate bear trap) you can expect a lot of questions. You can expect a lot of anger. You can probably also expect some big changes.

The Bruins have elite goaltending, but I’m not sure what to expect of Tim Thomas, and I bet I’m not the only one. He’s a virtual lock for the Vézina trophy as the league’s best regular season goaltender, as he should be, but his numbers against the Habs are anything but impressive. Who will we see? The former and probable once-again Vézina winner, or the guy with bambi legs when facing the Habs?

Goaltending aside, there’s a lot of very good talent up front wearing black and gold. Bergeron, Horton, Krejci, Peverley, Ryder, Recchi, Marchand and Lucic are all terrific players in their own right. They’re a solid mix of power, skill, speed, and sharpshooting. Overall they lack playoff experience, but Dr. Recchi’s long career probably carries enough experience for everyone to share in. Defensively, however is where the Bruins are vulnerable. Outside of Chara, their defense is nothing to write home about. They’re not horrendous, but the quicker Habs forwards should be able to exploit that weakness – provided the Canadiens can get possession of the puck.

As for the Habs and their fans, last year’s improbable run deep in to the playoffs broke ground that nobody with the CH tatooed on their heart had seen since 1993 - a lifetime for fans spoiled by annual Cup parades. That run to the Eastern Conference Finals – for better or worse – sent the explicit message that simply making the playoffs is no longer enough. The happy news – if you can call it that – is that both the team and fanbase seem to be in lock-step with this belief. The team knows the bar has been raised, and the fans are all too happy to go along with that.

Recall that just one year ago, it was a pretty much a brand new Habs roster, with new coaching, new management and new ownership…how could they have done what they did considering all of the upheaval? It was mind-boggling to be sure, but fast forward to the present day, and the new car smell has worn off this Habs team. The Canadiens are now expected to replicate their results from last year – or at the very least not bow out in round one – not to the hated Bruins – and especially not after what Chara did to Max Pacioretty. It’s simply unacceptable to Montreal fans – no matter their conference rankings – that the Canadiens be eliminated by the Bruins. It’s the bitterest of pills. Fans of the Bruins will undoubtedly be upset should the Bruins fail, but most of them will quickly get behind the Celtics and Red Sox to soothe their pain (though the Sox may not be the ideal place to find solace right now). In Montreal, fans will gnash their teeth over a loss to the Bruins all summer long.

Getting a little more granular, Habs fans expect greatness from Carey Price, despite his less-than-stellar career playoff numbers. His playoff experience certainly is a mixed bag, but think back to Price’s rookie season and his performances in the first round against the Bruins – most notably his game seven performance. His 5-11 playoff record is underwhelming, but it overshadows some brilliant performances, and is skewed by the complete no-show the Habs put forth during the centennial collpase. After a terrific regular season, and with a solid record against Boston over the past 2 years there’s little reason to expect anything different from the Habs netminder. He will almost certainly be good, but he needs to be better than Tim Thomas if the Canadiens are to win this series. There will be defensive lapses all around him and he will have to continue to bail out his mates, as has done since October.

With the aforementioned centennial sweep at the hands of the Bruins a long faded (repressed?) memory, it should not factor in to anybody’s psyche in this series; the Habs roster reset of last season took care of that, even if the Bruins choose to use that sweep as a source of confidence. So what else do Habs fans expect? Certainly they expect the best players to perform like the best players, as they should. That means Plekanec, Gomez, Cammalleri and Gionta need to produce on the scoreboard, with no exceptions. If Plekanec can’t produce points on the road, if Gomez can’t salvage his disastrous season in the playoffs (where he usually excels), if Cammallieri goes stone cold again, and if Gionta is neutralized, the Habs are done like dinner. There cannot be any “yes, but X was good defensively” or “yeah but X played hurt” type of excuses if they fire blanks. Guys in their paygrade don’t earn several million dollars just to be defensively reliable; Jeff Halpern is. Mathieu Darche is. Tom Pyatt is. Also, at this stage, everyone has a nagging injury, so that excuse carries little water except for with apologists. This is the time of year when good players really earn the paychecks and make their names, so these four key cogs need to deliver on the scoreboard, end of story. It would be grossly unfair to the likes of Lars Eller, David Desharnais, Andrei Kostitsyn and Benoit Pouliot to expect them to carry the load offensively, and any production from Moen, Darche, Pyatt, Halpern, and White while certainly welcome, should be seen as found money. It can be argued that the Canadiens’ under-25 group is a prime reason why the Habs are in the playoffs, but it will have to be the highly paid veterans who lead the charge. Defensively, the group “is what it is”. They’re slow, old, not very tough and don’t move the puck particularly well. As they did in virtually each of the 82 games, the Canadiens will be caught running around their own zone in a frantic, disorganized mess from time to time. This is expected, and habitual with this team. Anyone surprised at that may need to be handed the smelling salts. While it’s unlikely for the defense to clean up its act now when they have even more miles on the tires, their veteran savvy may reveal a trick or two up their sleeve. Shot blocking is one thing; physicality, and quickly moving the puck with purpose are other animals entirely. By now you know which ones the Canadiens do well, and which ones they don’t. The questions is which of the things that they don’t do well can they mitigate the most?

We can expect Jacques Martin and his staff to be steady in their demeanor, even if it isn’t always deemed the ideal approach. Don’t expect any surprises. Don’t expect much emotion, or much reaction to anything. There will be canned coach-speak, and the common clichés. In this respect, the Habs coaching staff is as easy to set expectations for as it gets. If there’s one unfortunate expectation it’s that the coaching staff has been unable to stop the Canadiens from taking minor penalties through 82 games, and there’s not much reason to think they’ll find a way to stop it now…but any more bench minors for Too Many Men should be viewed as unacceptable. The Canadiens already spend too much time on the penalty kill and in their own end at even strength. There’s no need to make that problem worse by taking entirely preventable penalties. While the Habs usually do a good job of killing penalties, any time spent on the penalty kill is time wasted in the Bruins zone, and precious energy spent by the likes of Tomas Plekanec and Roman Hamrlik. On the flip side of the special teams battle, the Habs do a terrible job of drawing penalties. They’re not big enough to force opponents to take interference penalties, and they don’t play a style that allows their speed to force opponents to hook, hold, grab and trip with much frequency. In order for the Habs to get on the power play, they need to be antagonistic thorns in the Bruins’ side, and they need to avoid retaliating when they do raise the Bruins ire. They need to be that team that the Bruins constantly whine about. Getting under the Bruins’ skin and getting them off their game is paramount.

If the Canadiens are planning on applying pieces of last year’s playoff game plan to this year’s, it would be at best a risky gambit. While the Canadiens allowed offensive-minded players like Ovechkin, Semin, Crosby and Malkin to fire at will, once they faced the Flyers, who are a deeper, more evenly distributed team they were stopped dead in their tracks. This Bruins team more closely mirrors that fatal Flyers bunch in that there isn’t one or two players to shut down in order to win. Stop Ovechkin and Backstrom – you win. Stop Crosby and Malkin – you win. Stop Richards and Carter? Oops - what about Brière and Giroux? It’s tough to identify just a couple of Bruins to stop, because others are eminently capable of seamlessly filling the void; they’re like the Hydra that way. No doubt they’re a formidable group, and they’ll seek to overwhelm the slow-moving Habs defense. The Canadiens would love to block as many shots as they did last year, but it would be dangerous indeed to allow the Bruins free passage in the Habs zone as they did with the Capitals and Penguins.

At the end of this long-winded post, I’m expecting a simlarly long series that will go at least 6 games. I believe that whoever takes the first game will eventually win in 6 games…and I think Carey Price will steal game 1 in Boston.

Don’t Lose Sleep

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The playoffs are upon us, and that can only mean one thing.

No, not burning police cars or other forms of mass hysteria.

Ok, those things, too. But what I’m referring to is the infernal NHL awards and the infinitely tiresome debates that come with that territory.

In the NHL, there’s only one award that really matters, and that’s the one that gets hoisted a couple weeks prior to the perennially cheesy awards ceremony – the Stanley Cup.

While the Art Ross, Maurice Richard, and Jennings trophies are decided by stats alone, the rest are subjective in nature, voted on by media, players and NHL General Managers.

Potential candidates for awards have been bounced around for weeks now, and those with the privilege to vote have to have their submissions completed by the time the sun sets on the regular season.

Here in Montreal, and even in some places outside of Montreal, the virtues of Canadiens Molson Cup winner Carey Price are being extolled, and for very good reason. He’s an MVP in every sense of the word, and a fitting candidate for both the Vezina and Hart trophies. But whether or not he wins them is not so much of a question as whether or not he’s even nominated. While it’s unthinkable to us Habs fans that Price won’t even be nominated for either award, we should at least get used to the idea of the possibility. The same goes for PK Subban and the Calder trophy. The fact is that there are many amazing candidates who have been just as stellar as Price and Subban have been this season. Without getting in to a debate about who’s better and who’s numbers are more noteworthy, who worked under more pressure and more difficult circumstances, the real issue at hand is who gives a shit about these awards?

No doubt there will be many, many Habs fans who cry foul or pop off about some anti-Habs conspiracy at the league level if Price or Subban don’t get nominated or win outright, and I can only pray for the health and well being of those people. The candidates aren’t even announced yet, and both Habs players very well may get a nod and may also win some hardware for their showcase. Time will tell. But if they aren’t, and if they don’t, I won’t miss a moment’s sleep except for the prayers I’ll say for those going grey and hoarse over it.

In the end, why should we care? I suppose it’s great to say that “our guy” got the recognition and the love from those with power, and we can wield that like a royal sceptre but would not winning change what they’ve meant to the Habs this year, and what they mean to the long-term future of the team?

Good lord, no.

In fact, in a city where players need to be paid a premium just to come and play (damn taxes!), an MVP, or any other award would perhaps only tack on another million or two to retain the services of that player. After all, when you accomplish something significant in your career, you’d add it to your c.v., would you not? And you’d expect to get recognition in the form of monetary compensation, either from your current employer, or another one, correct?

For what it’s worth, I’ll take the guy that plays like an MVP, but doesn’t necessarily get paid as one. Besides, José Theodore parlayed an MVP award in to a long, rich contract that turned out to be toxic. It’s still a miracle that Gainey was able to wash his hands of that mistake. Not to compare Price and Theo, because they are totally different in every respect except for the fact that they both have a ton of hair, but my point is that I don’t need a hockey card with Price holding a trophy in his hand to know his value to the Habs.

There’s little point in getting angry over what the media, players and General Managers decide with their votes…after all, these are the same people who (media notwithstanding) can’t get player safety right, oppose common sense when it comes to protecting brains, don’t respect each other on the ice, foolishly overspend, and generally bumble their way from one CBA to another. Why should something relatively meaningless like award ceremonies get fans in a lather?

In short: don’t get your knickers in a twist if your ego isn’t sufficiently stroked with Habs in the mix for hardware…whether it’s a snub altogether, or merely as a runner up, not being recognized for an award is not a big deal, and may even save the Habs a few bucks on the salary cap.

Three Thin Arguments

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I’ve managed to stop chuckling barely long enough to bang out another blog post. This time I’m taking aim at three arguments that are currently fan favorites when describing the present-day Habs woes:

  1. Injuries
  2. “They’re still ahead of last year’s pace”
  3. “Look at what happened last year”

Spare me. These are all weak arguments that do nothing more than slather plaster over gaping cracks.

Let’s dismantle the arguments one by one, shall we?

1. Injuries

By now we can all agree that the Canadiens have been the walking wounded this year. Just about every defenseman has been on the shelf…even the guys brought in to replace injured regulars have found their way to the shelf. But we Habs fans tend to look at things with a very narrow lens. When one looks at the full picture, it shows that the Habs are actually in the bottom half of the league when it comes to man-games lost to injuries – that is to say that 16 teams (including 7 playoff teams as of last week) have suffered more man games lost to injuries than the Canadiens have. You can cite the quality over quantity argument if you’d like, but the fact is that Markov and Gorges have both been “replaced” with acquisitions (Wizniewski, Mara, Sopel) and while those 3 likely aren’t quite as good as the other two combined, the drop off isn’t so severe that it should affect the team’s fortunes to any significant degree. Up front, it’s pretty evident that Plekanec, and Cammalleri aren’t themselves, but as I mentioned here, when a player decides to play wounded, he is signing an implicit agreement that he’s good to go, with no excuses. If the player is hurt badly enough to prevent him from being a productive member of the team, stay home. Rest up, and come back when healthy. Having Pacioretty out of the lineup is also a big blow, no doubt. He was the Canadiens most productive forward at the time of his injury, and any time a guy like that is lost, there’s bound to be some pain. However, the loss of Pacioretty does not in any way explain why the Canadiens are 4-7 since losing him, while being badly outplayed in nearly every game over that stretch (the only games in which the Habs looked good, are games in which the opposition was dreadful – Pittsburgh and Minnesota). It also in no way begins to describe the lifeless, emotionless, complacent manner in which the Canadiens have taken to the ice in many games. Are they exhausted? Some guys probably are…in which case we need to ask the coaching staff why some guys were so foolishly overused. Nevertheless, who did the Penguins have to turn to in the absences of Crosby and Malkin?

No matter how you slice it, injuries are not the reason why they’re in such a funk. The Canucks have lost more than a hundred man games above and beyond the Canadiens. While they are certainly deeper offensively, their defensemen have been ravaged WORSE than the Habs all year. This has not prevented the Canucks from not only continuing to play well – but they are running away with the much tougher Western Conference, and will easily win the President’s Trophy as the top poing getting team in the league. They haven’t used injuries as a crutch. What’s that? They play in a weak division? Ok, ok, you got me. Sort of. It is a weak division, but the Canucks have beaten up on everyone all year, regardless where they play. Many teams have sacked up and played on to success - why can’t the Habs? Is it talent? Is it coaching? Uncontrollable circumstances? It’s certainly your right to decide. I simply choose to look at stats, and try to take a bigger look around before making blanket statements.

2. They’re Still Ahead of Last Year’s Pace

Today, the Canadiens sit 5 points ahead of their pace from last season. Is that really relevant? I’m not so sure. Last season, the Canadiens mark of 88 points in 82 games was enough to get them in to the playoffs, but it was the lowest point total for any playoff-bound team since the lockout ended. So if you want to measure this year’s team against a team that had set the bar so very low – more power to you. But let’s continue the charade.

The Habs are up 5 points over last year. Goodie! Again, using a wider lens, here’s how the other seven playoff-bound teams in the Eastern Conference (as of today) stack up in terms of points earned when compared to this point last year:

Philadelphia: +20
Capitals: -13
Bruins: +14
Penguins: +3
Lightning: +21
Canadiens: +5
Sabres: -19
Rangers: +7

Of those teams, only the Capitals and Sabres have had a big drop. Yet most would agree that this year’s Capitals team is much more balanced and well-rounded than last year’s juggernaut. As for the Sabres, well if you’re one of those that leans on injuries as the grand reason behind the struggles, the Sabres can also use that excuse – they sit in 18th in terms of man-games lost to injury, right behind the Canadiens.

Breaking down the numbers further, the average playoff team from this year is 4.75 points ahead of last year’s pace. Also of note is that 4 of them (Rangers, Penguins, Flyers, Capitals – 2 division leaders, don’t you know?) have had more injury troubles than Montreal. Can we round up 4.75 to 5? Presto!

So while the Canadiens remain ahead of their pace from last year, it doesn’t make them any better of a team relative to the other playoff teams in the conference.

3. Look at What Happened Last Year

There’s not much that can be said here. The Canadiens surprised everyone with their improbable 7-game upsets over Washington and Pittsburgh. The Canadiens discovered that a suicidal game plan can work – and it did - for a while. Offensively gifted (selfish?) players like Ovechkin, Semin, Backstrom, Green, Malkin, Crosby were totally befuddled by their inability to beat Jaroslav Halak. It wasn’t for a lack of trying, it was mostly panic that forced them to shoot from the outside, and they allowed Habs defenders like Hal Gill and Josh Gorges to block a large portion of their shots. Halak, for his part, was unbeatable when he was on, but was awful when he was off. I don’t care what era you’re playing hockey in, when you ask your goalie to stop 40 to 50 shots in the playoffs, against some top players in the world - you’re asking for trouble. When they hit a deep, skilled, big team like the Flyers, they were summarily trounced, being shut out in 3 games of the series.

There’s a well-known adage that lightning doesn’t strike twice in the same place. Hoping for the Habs to get hit again when they go up against the likes of Philly, Boston or Washington may be ok for some, but it doesn’t work for me. Yes, I will be there cheering for the team as hard as I can and willing them to whatever success I’m able to.

But I’m not going to blindly join those who ignore signs of concern, or choose to stay quiet about it since words (of any blogger/journalist/fan/twitterer) are for naught. It doesn’t make one a bandwagon jumper, nor does it make one a bad fan if they choose to shine a light on what they perceive to be some serious issues. Some would rather see nothing but unicorns and ice cream type posts. “Stay positive!” Sorry, that’s not for everyone. Some of us bring a critical eye to the web when it comes to the Habs, and that’s ok. The glass half-full crowd is fine, too. Where the whole house of cards falls apart is when both sides attack each other and resort to personal attacks. It isn’t a sin to expect better from the Habs, who had their eyes on 3rd place in the conference less than 2 weeks ago, only to drift lifelessly in to 8th place without a whimper. Some are satisfied with 8th, and more power to them for it. Others aren’t. We have to live with each other’s viewpoints, or employ the unfollow button (or any other form of avoidance that is available to everyone).

Solutions?

Today, there aren’t any outside of the Habs locker room. This is the team that will enter the playoffs (so indicates this site). The coach is the guy that will rubber stamp the game plan. The players will have to deliver, stifling system be damned, or hit the links early. The solutions lie in the room. That’s why I won’t hit the panic button.

Looking ahead to next season, it is in my view imperative that if he isn’t going to be replaced by a more progressive-thinking coach, somebody needs to convince Jacques Martin to loosen the reigns and allow his offensively-minded players to explore and maximize their talents. It’s been proven that his system sacrifices offense in the name of defense. With a goalie like Carey Price, you can afford to open things up. The Canadiens also desperately need more size up front. Even with a system that focuses on speed, the small forwards would skate themselves to death trying to go around much bigger defensemen before long. They also need size in order to penetrate opposing defenses to make life miserable for the other goalie. It goes without saying that they also need somebody with that nasty demeanor, too. This means that a player or two from the current top 6 is likely going to have to leave to make room. That’s a post for another day. Martin must also improve his in-game management skills. Put players in positions to succeed. Let Halpern, a league leader in faceoffs, take faceoffs whenever possible. Use Subban on the powerplay as often as possible. Use timeouts appropriately. Make discipline a priority. Show some emotion once in a blue moon!

Injuries will always be an issue. That’s not going to go away for anyone, so the Habs need more depth to replace battered bodies when they can’t play. With all due respect to guys like Halpern and Moen, they aren’t top-6 players any day of the week, on any team in the league. The Canadiens are certainly heading in the right direction in terms of depth, but they aren’t there yet.

Listening to call in shows, and reading fans on twitter, it’s as if the sky has already fallen for some. Others simply shrug and wait for mid-April. Again, it’s all good, but for everyone’s sake we all need a thicker skin at this time of year.

Smoke Them Out

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Ahh there’s nothing like a once-in-a-lifetime goal drought to isolate the two poles in Habs land.

On one side, there’s the rabble rousers who resort to the trade everyone, fire everyone rhetoric. On the other side, there are the kumbaya types that don’t see any reason to panic; being outscored 12-0 over 3 important games is no different than being outscored 12-9 in those 3 same games. A loss is a loss is a loss, after all.

The rioters are expecting hellfire and brimstone to fall at any moment now, while the calm, zen-like members of Habs Nations look back to last season as proof that anything can and will happen.

The crazies are willing to throw everyone under the tank treads for lack of results – blow the whole thing up (again!); the peace & love crowd cite injuries as the reason for poor performances and promise a better showing in the playoffs.

My take?

Let’s start with the coach and get him out of the way. Anyone who has spent any time here knows that I’m not a fan of Jacques Martin’s system, nor a fan of his monotone approach. Never have been, not since he took over as coach. I hear he’s been vocal, nasty and angry during some practices throughout the year, but it would be nice for some of that ire to be directed at the officials once in a while. I get the feeling that the Coach does not even care to give the perception that he is publicly willing to stand up for his team. Does he deserve to be fired? No, not today he doesn’t…or more aptly put, firing him today would be counterproductive, as a massive shitstorm of controversy would swarm and overwhelm the team. The Habs organization has made its bed with this staff, and we’ll have to live with it for now. No coach has made it through 4 full seasons as head coach in Montreal since the late Pat Burns about 20 years ago, so chances are that Martin is closer to the end of his tenure than to the beginning. Injuries aren’t the reason why his passive system has been in use for so long; he’s employed it since taking over the job (despite saying that he would install a speed game based on puck possession). I had gotten off of his case recently, as I had rationalized that as players drop, the system can make lesser replacement players productive in a very simple way. But once the real talent comes back in to the mix, the system stifles, as offensively minded players struggle to think defense first. I feel that a coach – one man plus his staff – ought to adjust to the strengths of his 20+ players rather than force those players to swallow a system that doesn’t suit them. Simply put – the coach does not adapt. It’s one size fits all, take it or leave it.

As for the players? I think it’s fair to say that they’ve under delivered, with the exception of Carey Price, PK Subban and perhaps Andrei Kostitsyn. Others like Mathieu Darche, Hal Gill, David Desharnais, Max Pacioretty and Alex Auld have all made valuable contributions to the team (and why some of those names creep up in discussions for the Jacques Beauchamp award for unsung hero), but either haven’t been around long enough to be part of the core or don’t have the responsibility to carry the heaviest of loads. Unfortunately the players that have had the worst seasons are the ones paid the most money to produce. Whehter they’re playing hurt, or been overused, you have no choice but to take them at their word: when they lace up their skates to hit the ice, they are doing so with an implicit agreement that they are healthy enough to play and produce. By suiting up, they themselves eliminate the injury excuse.

When you play in a system that emphasizes defense, any reduction in offense is going to have a major effect at some point. As fellow blogger HabsWatch points out, when it comes to playoff success it is indeed offense that wins, not defense, as is the popular belief (I highly recommend reading both part one and part two if you have not yet done so). While its easy to blame the lack of offense (Habs rank 24th in the league in goals per game) on the Coach, the truth is that not even Coach Martin wants this little offensive production to work with, and that’s where accountability to the players comes in. That the Canadiens are still in a tie for 6th place, and a few points ahead of last year’s pace can almost be entirely attributed to Carey Price, who has earned a star in 25 of his 34 wins (12 1st star selections, 8 2nd star selections, 5 3rd star selections). Just call him Mr. Spackle. What other conclusion can one arrive at? As Rick at All Habs points out, it is the responsibility of the Coach to create the conditions for success. No player among the top 6 is delivering a good return on their significant salary. Don’t look to injuries to try and deflect all criticism of Martin; the Canadiens are 17th in the league in man-games lost. Yes, yes quality over quantity…but again, as Rick points out:

Martin-apologists claim that coaches of teams who experience injuries, all revert to playing a more defensive game. Statistics don’t support this argument. Of the top five teams in the league in terms of goals scored, four of them have lost more man-games to injury than the Canadiens.

We can argue until we are blue in the face over relative terms of talent missing from rosters but there’s no question – based on statistics – that the Canadiens don’t have it as bad as we think when it comes to injuries, and that they must adopt a defensive system as losses pile up.

All told, responsibility is shared from the Coach, down through the players on the bench. Whenever the season ends, blame (isn’t that a nasty word?) will be shared throughout the team. The big question is what will happen in the off-season to rectify the issues?

Peering in to my sometimes right, often wrong crystal ball, there’s a couple ways this season plays out.

1- The Canadiens make the playoffs, but get trounced by a much stronger opponent somewhere along the way. The angry mob resumes their act on the call in shows and on twitter, while the other side divorces themselves from that segment, saying that the frustrated, emotionally compromised vocal ones are not “true” fans. They claim that the team that has too many bobos and too many tired bodies to make a dent in the playoff picture…they say that they are proud of their team just for getting there considering the injuries (again, never mind the fact that 16 other teams – more than half the league – have it worse than the Habs. It also can’t be ignored that 7 other playoff teams have had more injury trouble than the Canadiens). These arguments hold some validity and merit. In my humble view it also gives a free pass to a team that doesn’t quite have its act together.

2- The Canadiens make the playoffs, and lightning strikes in the same place again. Cinderella descends on Montreal again and douses the angry mob with cold water. They fall in line, sing ‘olé’, loot stores and burn police cars, while the do-gooders do the Balky dance of joy, thumbing their noses at those who were ever worried or angry in the first place. Staking out the high ground, so to speak.

Despite my opposition to the chosen style of play, and despite my reluctance to swallow the excuse of injuries, I am not hitting the panic button – nor will I hit the panic button, even if the Canadiens get shut out in each of their 6 final regular season games. The panic button is something to be pushed when desperate solutions are needed. The fact is that there is no trade, signing or firing that can be done at this point that will vault the Habs in to being a Cup contender. The key to the Canadiens success lies where it always has: in the dressing room. This group of players will need to figure out how to score and how to win again. With 6 games left, there’s still time for David to refocus and find the confidence necessary to stand up to Goliath. The Canadiens haven’t forgotten how to play hockey in the past week. They will win again, and they almost certainly will get on the board tonight vs the Thrashers.

The world is not coming to an end. As we should have learned last year, there is always a reason to have faith, but we should also recognize that lightning typically doesn’t strike in the same place twice. Despite how the two poles behave, the true believing eternal optimists are to be envied for the ability to roll with the punches and enjoy the ride wherever it goes. On the flip side, it is possible to have faith, while looking closely at the statistics with open mind and go against the grain of popular opinion. It doesn’t necessarily make one uneducated or a bandwagon jumper to voice concern or shine a light on some of the ugly truths.

Recchi Puts Lipstick on the Pig

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You’ve heard the comments by now. Mark Recchi was suckered in to saying that the Canadiens exaggerated Max Pacioretty’s injuries in order to get Chara suspended.

After enduring the wrath of pretty much everyone for calling Dr. Mulder’s integrity in to question, Recchi is now trotting out the most predictable of excuses:

“I wanted to take the heat off Z for a day”

So let’s get this right: in the split second that the chump on Boston radio opened the door with his dangerously loaded question: ”let me be more direct – does it bother you that they embellished it obviously?”, Recchi – in that ever so brief instant – decided that he would throw a medical staff that he apparently has the utmost respect for directly under the bus to save his Captain some harrassment? If you believe that, then that makes Recchi a classless dick with no moral compass to speak of. If you believe it was a scripted conversation with the intent of delivering that message, then that makes it even more heinous. Recchi would have then had the chance to find another way to deflect attention from his Captain.

“I think anybody that knows me knows that I have great respect for the Montreal organization. I played five years there. I have great respect for [team physician David] Mulder and the medical staff there”

And that’s how you show them respect? The staff that treated your friend Brian Savage’s broken neck? The staff that treated your friend Saku Koivu for cancer? The staff that treated you during your years as a member of the Canadiens? Sounds like Recchi was given some damage control advice, and it just so happens that it was the easiest excuse in the book.

Did Chara even need to have heat taken off him? It’s not like the big man’s play was circling the drain leading up to the game. In the seven games after the Pacioretty incident, Chara had racked up 2 goals and 5 assists and was a +4. Including last night’s game, he has 2 goals and 8 assists in 8 games, and is +7. Yes, clearly Chara was feeling the heat.

Mercifully the story will end here. But Recchi has left an indelible stain on his reputation. You don’t, for any reason question the integrity of a doctor and his staff that has been beyond reproach for decades, especially when you’ve take advantage of his expertise and care. My own take is that Recchi was fooled by a hack radio host doing what he does best – stir the pot and direct conversations exactly where he wants them to go. Recchi’s honest opinion slipped out in a moment of numbing stupidity and was served up a lob down the middle of the plate to backpedal away from what he said. Sorry Mark, your pathetic excuses ring as hollow as a chocolate easter bunny.

Mark Recchi is still a hall of fame player in my mind, but he’s now also a hall of fame jerk.


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