Around The Habs

I Got An E-mail From Jim Ballsillie

2009-05-28T16:17:00.000-07:00

Dear Gillis,

I am writing to thank you again for your support and update you on the latest in our "full speed ahead" drive to bring a seventh NHL franchise to Canada. Yesterday, Coyotes owner Jerry Moyes filed documents in court confirming his receipt of our offer to purchase the team for US$212.5 million, that the offer expires June 30, 2009 and that it is conditional upon moving the team to southern Ontario. We learned that the court has moved up its date to hear arguments on the question of relocation to June 9th and Judge Baum has said he will rule on this issue shortly after. If he rules the team can be relocated, the Judge has also indicated he will move the date of the auction we have asked for up to June 22nd. We have maintained from the beginning that we need to be in control of the team by then to know if we can move it this year, or if we have to keep it in Glendale for another year and then move it to its new home, Copps Coliseum, where we have secured the rights to a long-term lease. We are moving ahead. In the days ahead, I will have more exciting details to share with you about bringing this team to Canada.

Jim

Jim Balsillie

Seems Like it Has Always Been a Problem...

2009-05-25T14:08:00.001-07:00

Reffing that is.

Here's a couple of french newspaper clips from 1960:

Page 1

Page 2

Remember When...

2009-05-09T11:58:00.000-07:00

The Restricted Zone

2009-05-01T14:53:00.000-07:00

This good post by Robert L. over at Eye's on the Prize explains not the Habs' RFA situation but other team's RFA's (particularly Boston's) combined with Montreal's UFA situation.

Also, here's another post (in french) from the Journal de Montréal by Yvon Pedneault on the same subject.

Montreal Canadiens of 2008/2009 Analysis Part II

2009-04-22T11:52:00.000-07:00

Well, the pain and suffering of watching the Habs lose game after game is gone, now it is just time accept the fact that the Habs will not win the cup this year (well we already knew that), and that I won't be able to sit down and watch a Habs game till October.

I had thought of simply looking forward, and looking at the future and sharing my opinion on it without having to look back at the 2008/2009 season. I then realized that to back every one of my opinions on this post, I will need to flashback to the 2008/2009 season, and evaluate the suck. I hope that management reviews this season over and over again so that history doesn't repeat itself.

Anyways, as most people already know, Bob Gainey placed himself (or Montreal's next GM) in a very strange position. He will be dealing with 10 unrestricted free agents and 3 restricted free agents. Here's what I think will happen this summer:

1. Alex Kovalev: Kovy is not made to play in Montreal. Everybody in Montreal has witnessed his skill at a consistent rate last season, and this season, he did the complete opposite. In a very high pressure and critical hockey city like Montreal, it becomes pretty difficult to let things like that slide. As most people know, Montreal isn't a very forgiving hockey city. I'd like to see Kovy come back for 3.5 million or less (which is unlikely to happen). The GM will know how much the media's focus on Kovy will become a distraction to the team and will most likely low-ball Kovy. I highly doubt that Kovalev wants to play in Montreal after this years terrible season

2. Saku Koivu: I really like Koivu as a player and as a captain. I know many people may object to both things that I just wrote. Koivu is the type of player that works hard every night. He rarely has off nights, but honestly, who doesn't. I like what he does on the ice and in my opinion he is valuable to the team. Koivu has been the captain for ten years. He was originally voted by his fellow teammates as captain. Since becoming captain, he has played for five different coaches. None of those coaches have taken the "C" off of his chest since he first got it. I don't know exactly what goes on in the locker room or who exactly takes leadership role on the team but I am convinced that Koivu must be doing both of the above very well to be the captain pf one of the most high pressure hockey franchise to ever exist. I think Koivu wants to stay in Montreal till the end so I'd like to see him in a Habs uniform next season and many seasons after that for no more than 4 million.

3. Alex Tanguay: It's tough to judge Tanguay on this subject since we only saw him in 50 games this season (which is the least amount of GP in an NHL season for him). In those 50 games he had 41 points. He is obviously a very skilled player and seems to put in a good effort every night. So I think it's just up to how much he is asking. I would offer him a three-year 15 million dollar contract.

4. Mathieu Dandenault: I expect Dandenault to announce his retirement in the next few weeks. I watched him skate of the ice last night and it was obvious he was trying to take in the atmosphere from ice-level while he can. He was definitely trying to get the most out of that moment and was the last one off the ice, skating as slowly as he could. I'm speculating that he has already made his decision.

5. Patrice Brisebois: Dear Breezer, you may think that you still have another few years in you, but you are no Chelios. Please retire. Thank you.

6. Mike Komisarek: If Komisarek is exposed to the free-agent market, I have the feeling some big offers will be sent his way. Gainey should have locked him at the beginning of the season. The Habs can't afford to lose him, especially since one of the Habs' top defensive prospects, Alexei Emelin is thinking of signing another contract overseas. Maybe his RFA friend Chris Higgins could talk him into staying for cheap. I believe that the Habs actually really need him and he is still pretty young and has mostly likely not yet reached his prime. I'd give him 3.75 million.

7. Robert Lang: He was the leading scorer for the Habs until he got injured. He played well almost every game but sometimes had some defensive struggles. It was too bad he didn't have the chance to show Habs fans all he's got. He was a key part to the Habs' success at the beginning of the season and I think he is worth the money. The habs are running short on solid centres with the recent struggles of Tomas Plekanec (RFA). Then again, John Madden of the NJ Devils will become a free agent this off-season and would look great in a Habs uniform.

8. Mathieu Schneider: I think he's going to attempt to pull a Chelios. This off-season, I think it's either he retires or he signs a small contract with the Canadiens. I definitely wouldn't mind to see him playing for the Habs next season, and he proved to be the key to the Habs powerplay success near the end of the year along with Markov at the blueline. I think he wants to end his season in Montreal and won't need big bucks to want to pull it off.

9. Tom Kostopoulos: I must admit he put a lot of effort into this season along with Maxim Lapierre but I think he would be very easily to replace if he were to leave. I wouldn't mind if he stayed but it's no biggie if he leaves, as long as he gets replaced.

10. Francis Bouillon: You can see it in the way that he plays that he is proud of being a Montreal Canadien. He has a lot of heart, but in his case, his size is a matter of concern. He shouldn't be asking for over 2 million and I think he is well worth the investment although his recent injuries are a bit concerning.

Other UFA's include Marc Denis, Shawn Belle, Alex Henry, Doug Janik, Ryan Flinn, Mike Glumac, T.J. Kemp and Yanick Lehoux.

I don't know about a lot of those guys except Marc Denis, who came to good use this season while one of the other goalies were injured.

RFA's include Kyle Chipchura, Matt D'Agostini, Chris Higgins, Guillaume Latendresse, Tomas Plekanec and Gregory Stewart. I won't get into this topic today.

As for the coaching position to be filled, as explain in "Part I"'s comment section, I'd like to see Don Lever take the job as head coach. I don't know a lot about him but he did great work back in Hamilton and players come out of Hamilton looking better then ever (Sergei Kostitsyn not included).

UPDATE: Bob Gainey announced today that he intends on being the GM throughout next season.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Kovalev announced that he would like to stay in Montreal, so whatever I said about him not wanting to play in Montreal anymore is bullshit.

Montreal Canadiens of 2008/2009 Analysis Part I

2009-04-20T11:53:00.000-07:00

The first time I ever doubted Bob was after the Huet trade. I assumed it was going to lead up to something bigger (as in, Hossa). Anyway, people started hassling him for not landing Hossa. After looking at what the Pens gave away for him, I knew it was good of him not to. Take a look at the Pens now, they lost Armstrong, Christensen and Esposito and a draft pick for Hossa and Dupuis. Good thing Bob didn't pull the trigger on a deal like that or this team would be destroyed (not that they aren't already). The Pens were screwed. Once the season went to waste after they got eliminated, they had basically traded away three solid, young players, for Pascal Dupuis. Once I found out that Huet was gone for sure and the Habs weren't getting Hossa, I had confidence in Price to play well and get far in the playoffs. He led the Habs to first place in the conference but the playoffs proved to all of us that Price still needs a lot of experience and more support from a veteran goalie, like Huet. Bob definetly should have worked on that during the summer, maybe signing a goalie like Olaf Kolzig or even signing Curtis Joseph would have done the trick in my opinion.

Bob's work to land Lang was great. I was so happy when he pulled it off. Imagine how much better this team would be with a solid centre.

As for Laraque, the thing about BGL is that he can do some damage, but nobody knows how to use him, and let me tell you, putting him on the first line is not the way to use him, especially when you split up the best trio of the season to do so. In my opinion, BGL should be getting 15 minutes a game but with players like Kostopolous and Stewart, not Kovalev and Koivu.

Losing Streit must be Bob's second biggest mistake, after the Huet trade. Too bad he only realized that Streit was the key to the Habs' powerplay after half the season was done. He and I included beleived that it was a team effort on the powerplay, and not simply because of one player, just like what we saw when Souray left. Now we have Schneider who is doing a decent job, but it seems that it was too little too late.

Metropolit is great. He must have the best hands on the team (after kovy, obviously, but kovy only likes to use his skills half of the time). Every time Subway gets the puck around the boards, I feel very comfortable that he will come out with the puck. I'm very gald Bob claimed him off waivers, the Habs needed him desperately.

Now for the Kostitsyn brothers, I blame the media. From the get-go they did not like them because they are Russian brothers and the media assumes that they plot against the team (because thats what Russians do in there spare time, apparently). Then there is the gangster friend incident, involving booze, women and cars. The incident basically gave permission to the media to personally attack the two young brothers.

As for Plekanec, I have nothign to say about him. I'm confused. I have the feeling that Carbo didn't like him but I have nothing to back up my opinion so I'll just leave it at that.

Koivu on the other hand, I have something to say about. How can people not love this guy? He has been one of the most consistent players this year. His injury slowed him down quite a bit but he got back up and it seemed that every line he played on always had good chemistry. I love Saku. The french media keeps creating issues that have never existed about Koivu's captaincy, and his leadership in the locker room. And about the whole booing saku thing, I beleive the booing wasnt because he cant speak french, obviously. I think the only people that cares about the french thing, is the media because they think that people care. Sure it would be nice to see a quebecois comme capitaine but no one in their right mind would take it off Koivu's chest to put it on a french 23 year old, third liner, except for the french media of course (most notably Rejean Tremblay) . They were booing because they dont beleive that there was enough leadership from him in the dressing room and that it is because of him that Carbo got fired. I've never understood how people know what happens in the dressing room. How do they know who's taking a leadership role? Someone please explain that to me.

As for Carbo, I'm glad he got fired, in fact, I believe it should have happened much earlier. Carbonneau did not like the most skilled player on the team and evidently, that creates a problem. I can somewhat prove that theory:

-Carbo hates Kovy
-Carbo ask Bob to bench Kovy because he thinks that its his fault that the team isnt playing well.
-Bob benches Kovy
-Team continues to play badly
-Carbo gets fired because it's obviously not Kovy's fault that the team is performing poorly

And I'm guessing I'm not the only one that noticed that Kovy started playing ridiculously well a few games after Carbo was fired.

And Carbo also got fired for chasing away players like Perezhogin, Grabovski, Rivet and eventually the Kostitsyn brothers and Plekanec. In Perezhogin and Grabovski's case, he took these young talented players and brought them into a line-up that was already filled with good players. Carbo figures that since they're so good he'll squish them onto the fourth line. Now Perezhogin is playing on the fourth line with some no name guy that can't receive a pass and whose main objective is to hit. He gets 7 minutes a game playing along players that can't play at his level. Since he doesn't produce, Carbo benches him. Those players should have stayed in Hamilton longer instead of being squished into the line-up. Now Perezhogin is a top 3 scorer in the KHL and Grabovki is playing fairly well on Toronto's top two lines. Carbo did the same with Plekanec this season. He had a couple of bad games so he puts him on a line with greek lightning who can't get his passes and BGL or Dandy. How is he supposed to get out of his slump while playing with those players? Its ridiculous! The only reason Tom plays well with Mad Max and Gui the Tender Bear is because they dont pass, they cycle along the boards then crash the net. I've never seen Kostopolous receive a pass cleanly.

And as for Carbo spreading fourth liners through out the line-up, he must have lost his mind. Its the most ridiculous strategy I have ever heard of. The worst was when the habs were playing poorly defensively and werent winning games, so he took Gorges and put him on the fourth line. Now someone please explain to me how taking a solid third defenseman and putting him on a foward line to have 7 minutes of playing time help your defense. How idiotic.

Anyway, back to Bob, this season was filled with injuries, way more then last year, and that was the biggest problem. I dont expect Bob to be able to predict injuries.

Thats all for now.

Please comment.

Habs Lose Game Two

2009-04-19T09:39:00.000-07:00

So their now done 2-0 in the series. They had a pretty strong start until Sergei Kostitsyn took A DUMB PENALTY. The bruins scored to burst the habs' bubble. Price should made the saved that one. The bruins scored another goal but I honestly think that there should have been an goalie interference call on the play. A Boston player skated through prices crease and hooked the butt-end of Price's stick. Price didnt let go of the stick so it dropped his shoulder. Price only let go once another Boston player shot and he didnt have enough time to get back into his regular position. Early in the game, Francis Bouillon reinjured himself and had to leave. Thankfully, Gainey had Weber in the line-up and used him as a seventh defenceman. Late in the first period, three habs collapsed around the Bruins net, which they should do all the time. The bruins have been doing it all series and the Habs do it once, and the Bruins started throwing punches. Phil Kessel randomly punched Kostopolous in the face then runs and hides. Tim Thomas tried to protect poor Kessel with his ass, seriously. According to Thomas, Kostopolous fights like a cat. I suppose that's how Thomas scares away his cats. A bit later that period Bergeron did a nice little dive to give Schneider an interference penalty. Thankfully the refs were smart enough to realize that and gave Bergeron a penalty as well. Early in the first Kovy scored to give the habs somee hope, but then the habs kept getting penalties and the bruins scored again, and again, and again. Halak replaced Price for the third period. With around five minutes left in the game, Lucic crosschecked Lapierre right in the jaw. He got two minutes for crosschecking and a match penalty (5 & game).

The habs don't even get a moral victory out of this one. They're back in Montreal this morning, getting ready for tomorrow nights game. Markov is skating and shooting and Lang is just skating.

Bob's got to go back to the Big KAK line. I can't stand watching BGL attempt to skate around on the first line, then attempt to pick a fight, then smile, then attempt to skate away. This what the lines should look like:

13-11-27

84-40-6

21-15-36

67-14-25

44-24

26-8

71-70

and the D with Markov and Bouillon should be:

26-79

44-8

24-51

I miss Lang

But there is still hope. In 2004 they pulled of the impossible against the Bruins. In 2006 the Canes did it to the Habs. Its the habs' turn again, I hope.

Habs Lose Game One

2009-04-18T14:21:00.000-07:00

So the habs lost game one. That didn't surprise many people. The upside is that they played a strong game and all the players have come to realize that it is possible to beat the Bruins, they just need to play smart, very physically and not take stupid penalties. The downside is that they now are behind in the series 1-0. The habs ended the game with a bit of rough stuff after Kessel apparently taunted Lapierre after he scored on the open net. In that scrum, some idiotic Bruins fan decided that it would be a good idea to grab Kovalev's stick through the camera hole along the boards. During one of the scraps, Komisarek was giving Hunwick a face wash and Hunwick started bleeding around the eye. The media and idiotic Bruins fans like to call an attempted eye gouge, which is completly ridiculous. Thankfully, Hunwick understands that it's hockey and that it was no big deal, it was simply a facewash. Meanwhile, Thomas has plenty to say which he should just keep his mouth shut about, for example: "I don't understand why Lapierre went after a guy who just scored into an empty net. He did nothing to deserve getting elbowed in the head like that." Time Thomas was watching this from around 180 feet away, how would he know what happened at the other end of the ice. Shutup Timmy.

This morning, Hunwick, the only Bruins player I don't hate, was taken to the hospital after apparently experiencing problems with his spleen. Hopefully he'll be okay as soon as the habs kick them out of the playoffs.

Same lines as the other night.

Its Almost Time

2009-04-16T15:32:00.000-07:00

Only half an hour until puck drop.

No point in making a "Habstars" and "Habnots" because this is the playoffs and it's a whole new season.

The habs just have to pull the trigger

2009-04-15T13:11:00.001-07:00

Habs barely in playoffs

2009-04-14T09:33:00.000-07:00

Long time no post. Anyways, a lot of things have changed since my last post. Carbo finally got fired, Begin got traded for Doug Janik, Metropolit was claimed off waivers and the habs officially sucked, then won a few games, then sucked some more. Oh yeah, and Kovalev, Koivu and Markov (A.K.A. the Big KAK line) apparently create a great first line.

Now Markov, Schneider and Lang are injured, although Schneider is playing despite his shoulder injury. I expect Markov to return to the line-up (playing injured), but wont play as well as he usually could.

It's now time for round thrity two between the Broons and the habs. It's the complete opposite from last year. Last year, the habs played CONSISTENTLY and calmly claimed first place in the eastern conference while Boston barely made it into the playoffs. This year, the Bruins played CONSISTENTLY all year and claimed first place in the eastern conference, while the habs barely made it into the playoffs. The habs are obviously the underdogs this year.

The last game of the season against Boston was probably one of the weirdest games I had seen all year. The habs were playing so desperatly and playing with alot of heart. Meanwhile, Boston was playing as if it were a life or death situation. They really didn't want the habs to make the playoffs. Milan Lucic (A.K.A. douchebag) took a few cheap shots on Komisarek while Komi was simply throwing clean, hard checks at him. Same goes for Chara who went crazy and started flailing his arms at Komi. Anyway, thats over now. For whatever reason, BG didnt dress BGL that game, which he should have, since the chances were that the habs were facing the Bruins in the playoffs. IMO, having BGL in the line-up for that game would have calmed everybody on the habs line-up down and hopefully he would have been able to shut a few of Bostons players up *cough*LUCIC*cough*. I think it could have made a difference in setting the tone for this series. Anyway, we'll see what difference it will make (actually, more like didn't make). BGL should be in the line-up for game 1 and hopefully i won't be following "The Code". He has already started talking about the Boston players douchebaggery.

Thats all I have to say for now.

Habs vs. Caps

2009-02-18T15:42:00.000-08:00

So Gainey has definetly done his best to wake-up the Canadiens, now it is just time to see the Habs will respond. The last few days have probably in the most intense Habs coverage days in a very long time. First of all, Gainey traded a couple of draft picks for Mathieu Schneider (ATL). He should help the habs with their defensive struggles but probably won't change the team immensly. But what Schneider will do is shut all the people that were complaining about the lack of leadership in the locker room up. Secondly, Gainey sent Sergei Kostitsyn to Hamilton as requested by Carbonneau. Gainey also called up Gregory Stewart. Last but definitly not least, Gainey has grounded Kovalev two games for sucking. Gainey honestly told him that he will not join the team to Washinton or to Pittsburgh since the way he is playing, he is no help to the team. Trade on the way? To add to that, RDS reports that Kovalev revealed to a Russian reporter that he is positive he does not want to return to Montreal next season and he expects to be traded. Not only that, he also puts the blame on the younger players' off ice behaviour. Okay? But now that I imagine Kovalev leaving Montreal I came to realize that I will miss him. I'll miss his little dingles and dangles. I'll miss his ability to skate around the other teams zone 20 000 times without losing the puck. I'll miss his perfect wristshots from the faceoff circle. I'll miss his way of making defencemen look like a bunch of idiots. But sadly, that all only happens half of the time. The other half of the time he's passing the puck to the other team, taking weakshots, making weak passes, not fighting for the puck, holds onto the puck until he has no one to pass to, thinks he can deke out the whole other team. But all this half good half bad stuff is part of Kovalev and part of the entertainment package. You never know what to expect, and I find that it makes it pretty fun to watch (but sometimes frustrating).

I just really hope that Kovalev does not leave Montreal like this. And for the whole Kovy vs. Carbonneau thing, I'm on Kovy's side.

Anyway, Price has finally ditched those cursed red pads and has gotten some new white ones. I guess he read the thing I posted.

Back to the game:

Habstars:

Koivu put a lot of effort into the last game and I think he is the onyl one that deserves to be on this list.

Habsnots:

Everybody minus Koivu

The Caps are owning right now. Ovechkin has 41 goals and Green has recently broken the record the longest goal streak for a defencemen. Habs are screwed

The Red Pads

2009-02-15T11:16:00.000-08:00

I found this online somewhere. I'm not sure who wrote it. If you know, please tell me.

A Canadian optometrist has unwittingly given the Pittsburgh Penguins an advantage going into their opening National Hockey League playoff game Wednesday against her darling Ottawa Senators.

Optometrist Janet Leduc wrote in a letter to the Penguins' coaching staff some months ago that their goaltender, Marc-Andre Fleury, could improve his game if he ditched his trademark yellow pads.
Accompanying her letter was a graph describing how quickly human eyes identify various colors, she told AFP.
Leduc explained that the human eye spots yellow more easily than any other color and that is why ambulances, fire hydrants and school buses are often painted yellow.
"This means that of everything on the ice, the most visible object is Marc-Andre's goalie pads," she wrote.
"When the play is so fast, this is an advantage to your opponents," she said. "They can easily pick out your goalie, net and where to aim the puck in a split second."
"At your level of competition, a small thing like this can make the difference between a successful or unsuccessful shot on net."
Leduc suggested that Fleury switch to white goalie leg pads to blend in with his background of ice, goal netting and boards.
Recently, he apparently took that advice and with a new white blocker, trapper and pads improved his statistics to a personal record 0.921 save percentage and 2.33 goals against average.
Now the Penguins will open the Stanley Cup playoffs against Leduc's favorite team.
With Ottawa's captain Daniel Alfredson sidelined by injury, the Penguins are heavily favored to defeat the Senators in the NHL Eastern Conference best-of-seven first-round series.
"Isn't that awful?" Leduc said. "But the Senators were way ahead of Pittsburgh in December when I wrote the letter."
Leduc said she is "horrified" by the thought that the Senators could be defeated by the Penguins in the first round of the NHL playoffs because of her meddling, but said she was only looking to help out a young goalie from Quebec.
"I'm a huge Senators fan, but Fleury is a good kid and I just thought he needed someone to tip him off about the yellow pads," she said.
"My advice hasn't made him a better goalie," she added. "But it has made it a bit harder for his opponents to score on him."

Plekanec suspended for two games

2009-02-12T14:08:00.000-08:00

Plekanec has been suspended two games for his slewfoot on Grebeshkov

Dual Report: Habs lose, Habs to lose again

2009-02-12T13:10:00.000-08:00

Sooo, the Habs faced yet another embarassing loss last night in Edmonton. Seems that the pressure of being in Montreal isn't the only problem the players aer having right now. Price started the game with some spectacular saves, but then, five minutes into the game, he started handing out rebounds to every Oiler he saw. Carbo put Josh Gorges on the fourth line for the game. Nearly every habs fan in the city was hoping that it was a joke. It wasn't. I don't understand how taking one of your top three defensemen and putting him on the fourth line would help the teams poor defensive play, or their poor offense. It was a bad game, a bad, bad game.

I have recently shanged my point of view on Carbo's way of coaching. He seems to be trying to squeeze a square peg into a round hole (analogy courtesy of Mr. Nield). More to come on that.

Habs vs. Avs

I expect the Habs to lose again tomorrow night in Colorado. I just beleive that Carbo will never change. He'll always follow his "system". His "system" is not working, but I believe that he is too self-confident to give up on it. It's time for Gainey to step in.

Habstars:

Dandenault: Breaks his arm, finishes his shift, come back, scores in his first few minutes back in the line-up. Beast.

Habnots:

Price, I think everybody knows why
Komisarek is playing like Brisebois
Brisebois is playing like Brisebois.
Carbo
Gainey for not getting rid of Carbo yet.
Everybody minus Dandenault

Habs vs. Oilers

2009-02-11T15:30:00.000-08:00

Carbo decided to do a little bit of "eeny meeny miny moe" for the line-ups tonight. This excellent strategy has put Dandenault on the second line with Kovy and Plekanec, and Gorges on the fourth line instead of Sergei. Oh ya, and Laraque is playing. But it's not like it really matters what the lines are, they're going to be changed at least twenty times tonight anyway. Oh well, I guess it's more of a treat to Sergei, Begin and Halak to not have to play and be part of the 10 pm. suckfest.

Habstars:

(cricket, cricket)

Habnots:

Carbo is losing his mind

Price is not very right at this point in time.

Basically everyone.

To look out for, ummm, not too sure, Souray I guess.

Habs 2 : 6 Flames

2009-02-10T12:53:00.000-08:00

Soooo, the Habs lost, again. Pretty miserable time of the year for habs fans. But a good night for my homeboy Matt Lombardi.

I'm speechless.

Here's a link to J.T. who clarified what's wrong with the habs very well, over at the Other Wing (Habs I/O).

We're screwed.

Habs 2 : 5 Leafs

2009-02-08T11:05:00.000-08:00

Possibly one of the most depressing games I have ever seen. Here is a list of people I blame the most for the loss:

- Kovalev: 90% of his passes last night where sloppy. He couldn't get anything done at even strength and and his play overall was horrible.

- Price: It seems that Price is back to his old habits. No I don't mean his smoking habit (it is still considered a current habit). I'm speaking of his habit of going down onto his knees while a player is about to pick a shot. He goes down to early, giving the player the whole top of the net. A couple of the goals last night were inexcusable. If Price can't stop a slapshot from the blueline, then it will take a lot better defence to prevent the puck from going in at least four times a game.

- Andrei Kostitsyn: GET A NEW STICK!!!! I'm fed up of watching the puck glide towards him on a golden oppurtunity just to watch him break his stick a fraction of a second before he hits the puck.

- Komisarek: My theory is that Komisarek is injured, but Carbo and Gainey don't want the fans to be worried so they paid Brisebois to get a complete makeover, with loads of plastic surgery to make him look exactly like Komisarek, to take his place. That is why Komisarek, errr, Brisebois is playing so badly. Well I mean, Brisebois is playing well as Brisebois but not at Komisarek. You can't fool me Mr. Gainey.

- and Bouillon, for being so small and missing a wide open net in the first period to take the lead. Even Lang couldn't have missed out on that chance.

So that is who I despise right now for their current play. The only player I was satisfied with was Koivu. He was playing at his best for the whole first preiod. He was always the first to the puck. He always won the battles along the boards, and he was getting very physical, which I am happy to see.

I admit, I gave the Habs some well deserved boo's at the end of the night, but not as many as I gave Grabovski.

PS. The leafs still suck

Habs vs. Leafs

2009-02-07T11:04:00.001-08:00

Going to the game... more tomorrow

Habs vs. Sabres

2009-02-06T12:05:00.000-08:00

It's the beginning of a long week-end for the Habs. As I said in my last post, BGL is back after a lengthy back injury. Brisebois will remain in the pressbox with an undisclosed injury.

Hopefully Coach Carbo has motivated the team enough to play another full 60 minutes of solid hockey. And I feel that I can't stress it enough that all the centres should go straight to the net when they don't have the puck. If the centres have the puck, the wingers should jump in front of the net. The majority of recent goals scored against the Habs have been tip ins, mostly by a Canadiens. Why not do that at the other end. It's not a proven fact but I beleive that at least 50% of goals scored are influenced by a guy standing in front of the net. Hopefully Carbo is think wwhat I'm thinking and will relay our thoughts to the players.

Habstars:

Higgins has been playing fairly well since his return, despite having the "A" removed from his jersey and handed to his best friend, Mike Komisarek
Hamrlik showed that he can be an offensive force on the team in the game against the Pens.
Brisebois hasn't made any stupid rookie mistakes in two games. Hopefully he can keep up the good work.
46-14-27: The line is reunited and produced a goal in the last game. Lets hope its the beginning of something bigger.

Habnots:

Carey Price: Despite only giving up two goals in the last game, he seems to be struggling ever since the all-star game. He'll play tonight but expect to see Halak in nets tomorrow night against the Leafs.
Plekanec as an individual has been playing with as much intensity as he could but still nothing seems to be going his way. Maybe Kovy and Kostitsyn will help him out.

Ryan Miller hasn't allowed a goal in his last two games so the Habs will have to get in his face a lot, make him uncomfortable, if they expect to score goals. Vanek and Connoly are both on fire and need to be closely watched by Markov & Co.

PS. I forgot to put this point under reasons why Gainey is doing a fine job (see "Habs ship half righted"). Last year at the trade deadline, there was loads of talk of Marian Hossa coming to Montreal. Some people were even certain that he was headed to the MTL. Seconds after the deadline passed, people immediately started critisizing Gainey for not being able to pick up Hossa. So if you would please look back now to the trade between the Atlanta Thrashers and the Pittsburgh Penguins. The trade was Colby Armstrong, Erik Christensen, prospect Angelo Esposito, and a first-round draft pick in 2008 for Hossa and Pascal Dupuis, two unrestricted free agents come July 1st 2008. The penguins did not win the cup, and now it is as if they threw away at least three decent NHL players. Now the Penguins are in 10th place in the Eastern Conference. Now noboddy tell me that he made a big mistake for not signing Hossa.

Habs ship half righted

2009-02-04T14:00:00.000-08:00

Getting injured seems to be the latest trend. I don't want to brag but I definetly guessed that Lang's Achilles tendon was torn because he got clipped by a skate, before any reports were made. Anyway, the Canadiens' leading score is now out for the rest of the season due to the injury while Latendresse is going to be out for 4-6 weeks with an upper-body injury. Patrice Brisebois will also be missing up a couple of games with an undisclosed upper-body injury.

But it's not all bad news for the Canadiens. Georges Laraque will be back in the line-up tomorrow night. Dandenault is also hoping to make his return within the next few days. I have no update on Tanguay's status though.

----Habs 4 : 2 Pens----

The Habs finally played 60 minutes of hockey on Tuesday. It seems that Carbonneau did a good job of waking up the team, especially Kovalev. Kovalev apparently laughed about the subject of him not playing well because he wasn't wearing the "C". Everybody stepped up in that last game, hopefully they can keep up the intensity through out the next few weeks.

I've been hearing a lot of talk about Carbonneau and Gainey and their job security. I see no reason that any of them should be fired. With fans like this, the team will quickly turn into the Ottawa Senators. The Senators community is constantly putting the blame on the coaches. It has always been the coaches fault when the Senators do poorly, never the players. Now look at the team. They just fired a very good coach that had to deal with a team of five, maybe six decent NHL players. It seems that Montreal is under that same, coach bashing spell right now.

And there's the Gainey bashers. People are saying that he is slow to react to situations, he hasn't done anything for the good of the team and that he doesn't look ahead. One guy said I need to get over my bromance over BG because I was supporting him, but here's what I got:

- Two years ago, he traded Craig Rivet for Josh Gorges and a first round draft choice who turned out to be Max Pacioretty. Now nobody tell me that he isn't looking ahead. Gorges is now a very key component to the Habs' defense while Pacioretty is doing a good job of squeezing his way into the Habs line-up, showing the potential to become a very good two-way player.

- Just prior to the start of the 2007-2008 season, many experts predicted that the Habs would not make the playoffs, some even ranked them as low as 13th in the conference. There was only a few people that recognized what great talent the team had, and one of those few people was the man that built it, Bob Gainey. The last few years, him and Trevor Timmins have been bringing loads of young talent like: Higgins, Komisarek, Kostitsyn bros, Plekanec, Latendresse, Lapierre. The team ended up finishing at the top of the conference. Now who can say that they predicted that?

- At the trade deadline last year, there were so many rumours of Marian Hossa coming to Montreal. Gainey traded away Cristobal Huet for a draft choice. Many people just thought that it was just the beginning of a bigger deal, but it wasn't. I think Bob Gainey made the right choice of trading Huet and putting his confidence in Price. Sure Price didn't do so well in the playoffs last year, but I beleive that all the playing time and experience he gained last year will come to good use come crunch time.

- During the summer of 2007, Kovalev was considered a very skilled Russian that didn't put effort into his game at all. Kovalev ended up having one of the best seasons of his career. Kovalev was motivated to play a great season in Montreal, partly because he was insulted at the fact that his agent tried to make him consider retiring, but also because of a meeting he had with Bob Gainey. I have no idea what Gainey said in that meeting but it sure got Kovalev's feet moving on the way to grabbing the conference title.

- Last summer, everybody talked of bringing another dimension to the Habs' physical play. I think Gainey did an excellent job of acquiring Georges Laraque and Alex Henry. Laraque showed the first day with a groin injury but it ended up recovering within a couple of weeks. Suddenly, Laraque gets a back injury and everybody starts blaming Bob Gainey for not seeing this coming. I'm completely serious when I say that I've heard some people blaming Gainey for not predicting that Laraque was going to get injured. Hopefully they only say that because they don't understand that it isn't the same injury that he had at the beginning of the season. In the last couple of games, Alex Henry has proved to be a very good physical player that brings toughness to the line-up. Sadly for him, he has already returned to Hamilton due to the return of a couple of injured players. Tom Kostopoulos seems to have also stepped up his physical play and showing more signs of toughness by dropping the gloves more than a few times this season.

- He has turned this team from a bottom feeder into a Cup contender.

Therefore, Bob Gainey is doing an excellent job as general manager.

Habs vs. Bruins

2009-02-01T08:39:00.000-08:00

So the Habs won a crazy one yesterday against the Kings. In my opinion they didn't deserve to win it. In the first few minutes the Habs were applying a lot of pressure but LA still ended up getting the first goal, after a refused goal due to a high-stick. Plekanec scored midway through the first because he WENT TO THE NET. While on the powerplay, Josh Gorges became the victim of a nasty hit by Denis Gauthier who ended up getting kicked out of the game. Gorges apparently had a minor concussion and returned to the bench. Three seconds into the 5 on 3, Andrei Kostitsyn scored straight from the face-off. Even though they were winning, the Habs defence was all over the place. There were numerous turnovers and tons of miscommunication between players. Dustin Brown scored for the Kings to tie it. Gorges returned to the ice but ended up giving away the puck while Price was out of his net, which resulted in a goal. The Habs were down through out most of the third. They got a powerplay with five minutes left in the game and didn't manage to get anything done. At that point, I was sure the game was over. Then Higgins scored with two minutes left after shrugging a Kings player off of his shoulder. Already I thought it was a steal that the Habs were most likely going to get a point even though they didn't play well. Then, with twenty seconds left, Captain Koivu scored because he WENT TO THE NET. Habs get two points for the strange win.

The Canadiens have called up Alex Henry from Hamilton to replace Gorges as he recovers from the vicious hit he took.

I beleive that it is time to admit that the Habs will not be able to catch up to the Bruins in the standings but if they win this one it shold be a huge confidence booster.

The habs will be wearing the old Barber shop jersey today.

Afternoon Delight

2009-01-31T07:30:00.000-08:00

So the Habs have lost four in a row. It seems like its been forever since I've seen them all celebrate after the final buzzer. Anyway, they play the LA Kings at the Bell Centre for an afternoon game. It is the first time these two teams will play since 2005.

Carbo is letting Price start again, who has let in 14 goals in his last three games. Price hasn't won since coming back from his ankle injury. But you can't put all the pressure on Price because as a whole, the team seems to be collapsing a la Senators. Price showed is frustration the other day in Tampa and hopefully he comes back into this one with a big win. They haven't been playing well defensively or offensively. since the all-star game.

Habstars:

Uhh, Markov? I guess he's been doing well. He was riding a long point streak the only ended on Thursday.
...
...
Dandenault

Habnots:

Plekanec
Latendresse
Komisarek
Gorges
Koivu
Kovalev
The Kostitsyn's
Lang
Lapierre
Kostopoulos
Higgins
D'Agostini
Begin
Pacioretty
Hamrlik
Bouillon
And Brisebois, obviously

The habs will have to look out for Dustin Brown, Jack Johnson, Anze Kopitar, Jarret Stoll and Kyle Quincy. The Kings are relying on some goalie called Jonathan Quick. Pretty sweet name for a goalie.

Coach's Corner

2009-01-10T17:01:00.000-08:00

I decided to do my own intermission report for the Habs vs. Caps game tonight.

So the Habs are tied 1-1 after the first period. They came out flying through the first 3 minutes. The caps ended up scoring first. Tomas Plekanec has been dishing out perfect passes with Pacioretty and Kovalev. Sadly, Kovalev has learnt the ways of the Lang by missing to open nets. Plekanec got fed and decided to do it all himself by scoring shorthanded on a breakaway. It seems that Ovechkin has been covered somewhat casually so far this game. He's been paired up with the Lapierre-Gui! the Tender Bear*-Kostopoulos. Carbo has also been trying to always match him up with Komisarek and Markov. So far so good. Halak has been playing well so far this game, making a few clutch saves. But am I the only one that has noticed that he's been falling on his ass a lot recently.

Lots more action to come.

Devils 4 : 1 Habs

2009-01-03T14:53:00.001-08:00

So the Habs can't handle perfection so they had to settle for on their four game road trip.

The habs were out-shooting NJ throughout the first period. The only thing is that Halak was having his worst game of the season at the other end. Max Pacioretty started off well with a goal in his first NHL game, to make the game tied at one. The Habs were trailing 2-1 in the second when BREEZEBY decided to pinch at the blueline. Bad decision on his part because he thought Andrei Kostitsyn was going to help him, when he was actually just going to the bench. John Madden scored to make it 3-1. Carbonneau made a good decision by putting Marc Denis in nets instead of Halak for the third period. Denis only let in one goal but the habs weren't managing to create enough scoring chances, especially on the powerplay, to give them any chance of winning the game.

They face-off tomorrow in Montreal at 2pm. for some afternoon delight. More to come.

Habs vs. Devils

2009-01-02T11:33:00.000-08:00

Once again, the players decided to all get hurt at the same time. Tanguay is out for a while as is BGL, while Price is listed as day-to-day. The Canadiens called up Max Pacioretty, Kyle Chipchura, Yannick Weber and Marc Denis. The Canadiens sent Ryan O'Byrne and Ben Maxwell back to Hamilton. I think that it was a really good decision to make all these changes. Maxwell isn't NHL ready yet and O'Byrne, well, you know the story. Chipchura already has a bit of experience in the NHL and Yannick Weber is the next Mark Streit. Hopefully Max Pacioretty won't have to stay in Montreal to long, hoping for a speedy recovery for Saku Koivu, and all the others. Marc Denis is litteraly going to be a bench warmer tonight, unless Halak plays like crap.

Habstars:

46-14-27: The line is still working hard and playing well.
Lapierre: He has recently transformed into Alexander Ovechkin.
Latendresse: I don't like him very much but I guess he's been playing pretty well.

Habnots:

Lang: for missing tons of open nets and scoring chances.
Brisebois: Because he's Brisebois.
Laraque: for being injury prone.

The habs won't have to worry about not being able to beat Martin Brodeur because he's still out with n elbow injury. Zach Parise has been playing very well. And it seems that the devils have transformed into a very offensive team this season so I'm going to say that there's going to be lots of goals tonight for both teams. Never thought I'd ever say that about a Devils game.

Habs vs. Bolts

2008-12-30T16:01:00.001-08:00

So the Habs won last night on a weird one. Maxim Lapierre got a hat trick. That makes two games in a row with a hat trick by a Canadien. Tonight it's Prices turn to score three.

Plekanec and Kovalev scored also. The 46-14-27 line is one fire. They've been producing alot lately. Lets hope it keeps rolling. Same goes for Lapierre and his line with Begin and Kostopoulos. Price is still playing well, as usual.

Habstars:

Plekanec: 1 goal, 2 assist in two games. Not bad for a player when pointless for a dozen games.

46-14-27 line is finally working. If only they started the season playing like this.

Maxim Lapierre: I guess i sort of have to put him up here for his efforts last night.

Begin for dropping the gloves a la Laraque. They don't need BGL anyway.

Habnots:

Laraque, once again for his returning groin problems.

Ben Maxwell: He's been pretty much invisible the last couple of games. Chipchura should be in Montreal instead of Maxwell. He needs more practice in the lower ranks.

Brisebois: Because he's Brisebois. And for his numerous giveaways last night.

Habs will have to watch out for three guys: Lecavalier, St-Louis and Malone. Thats pretty much it.

Habs vs. Panthers

2008-12-29T08:49:00.000-08:00

The pens game was probably one of the most exciting games if the season so far. The Habs won 3-2. It was a really close game. Contrary to Joel Bouchards guess, the Habs came out flying, scoring 1:15 into the game. The habs regained the lead three times lsat night. Both of the Penguins goals were not very pretty. Andrei Kositsyn got a hat trick and the 46-14-27 line waaws on fire. Price played great, especially in the last few minutes of the game, when he made loads of amazing saves to keep the Canadiens ahead by one. Plekanec has finally woken up and had two assist last night. The habs only had one powerplay the whole game so nobody could really critisize their powerplay. The canadiens only had 19 shots on goal and still managed to win.

Anyway, the habs face-off tonight against the Panthers tonight in Florida, and basically have home-ice advantage. There more fans from quebec then from florida at this time of the year.

Habstars:

Plekanec: Quickly switched from hot to cold, skipping the middle man.
Andrei Kostitsyn: Hat trick on Saturday, another tonight please.
Kovalev: Being Kovalev
Gorges has a +/- of plus 17!!!
Price stopped 32 shots the other night and only let in 2 lucky goals.

Habnots:

I guess their all doing pretty good.
Laraque for being injury prone.

The habs will have to look out for Stephen Weiss i guess. Not much else to look out for. Richard Zednik?

Habs vs. Penguins

2008-12-27T14:03:00.000-08:00

Finally a game after five long hockey less nights. The habs are facing of against the Pens tonight in the melon. It's their first of four consecutive road games. The habs lost last Sunday in overtime against Carolina. It was a weird game with disallowed goals, and loads of frustration. Hopefully that won't be the case tonight.

Price is starting tonight. Andrei Kostitsyn is back. BGL is out. Big Georges is been on and off all season with his recurring groin problems. The Canadiens recalled Chipchura and Max Pacioretty from Hamilton but Carbo says its unlikely they'll have a spot on the line-up tonight.

Habstars:

Kovalev: He has three goals in his last four games, lets hope he can keep it up.
Sergei Kostitsyn: Has three goals in three nights but was pointless against Carolina.
D'Agostini: As usual
Begin-Lapierre: These guys have been basically keeping this team together.

Habnots:

Plekanec, enough said

The habs will obviously have to keep an eye on Crosby and Malkin.

Crosby & Malkin + Markov & Komisarek = 0 goals

Habs 5 : 2 Flyers

2008-12-18T19:05:00.000-08:00

Habs win. Keys to succes?

Powerplay is alive. They were 2 for 5 tonight after going 0 for 11 Tuesday night.

Their forechecking was amazing tonight, especially in the second period. They all played well and did well to force turnovers.

Tang-Lang-Dagger line was playing well. Dagger scored another goal, his 5th in 9 (on pace for 28 goals). Tanguays passing tonight was perfect.

46-14-27 line was also playing well. Kovy scores his second goal in two nights. Andrei got hurt in the second. Not sure whats going on with that. Sergei replaced him and played well. I think Plekanec is starting to wake up.

Pretty much every single player played amazing last night. Latendresse scored another, that made Benoit Brunet happy.

The only thing that bothered me tonight was Halak's juicy rebounds. He seemed to have trouble controlling the puck in the first period and it was really stressing me out. Other than that, I'm happy.

Habs are Sucking... Again

2008-12-13T19:53:00.000-08:00

The Habs have just lost their second game in a row tonight.

First they got beat by one of the worst teams in the league, Tampa Bay:

So after all my Brisebois hating, he decided to score in the first period. I guess thats a good thing. I guess none of the Canadiens read my pre-game post because they forgot to watch the only two Bolts players I mentioned. St-Louis scored 2 and Lecavalier scored one to lead the Bolts to a 3-1 victory. Koivu got hurt. It was an extremely bad game all around. Halak played okay but not great.

Then they got beat by Washington:

Halak gets the start because Price has a "Lower body injury". Oh shit. Anyway, the Caps start some goalie called Varlamov, who was playing in his first NHL game. The habs called-up Ben Maxwell and Marc Denis to replace Koivu and Price. Washington takes control of the game early and Backstrom scores on the PP. The Habs weren't able to get anything done on the powerplay. They actually got a powerplay, blew it by getting a penalty, then scoring 4 0n 4. And it was BREEZEBYE. Amazing what hate can do to a person. So the game is tied and the habs are playing well near the end of the third period, then Nylander decides to score from the ground by hitting it off Halaks skate. Habs lost.

So what they should do is stop sucking. So far this season they:

haven't been able to play for a full 60 minutes.I've only seen one game this season where the habs played a full 60 minutes (ottawa). Even against Atlanta they had to stop playing for one minute which could've ruined their whole game. The wins have coming, but they haven't been coming easy.

aren't consistent. What happened to "three solid lines this season"? 8 of the players on the Habs roster, in my opinion, couldn't be playing any worse. Kovalev: can't score. Markov: has shared his defensive knowledge with Gorges, but he forgot to keep some for himself. Plekanec: I don't know whats wrong with him anymore. He just sucks. Higgins: (same as Plekanec) Sergei: (same as Plekanec) Latendresse: Can't skate. MUST GO TO THE NET!! Tom K: Paying to much attention to the man and not the puck. O'Byrne: do I really have to explain myself

like to get injured in bunches.

are relying on their goalies. If the habs are to lose Carey Price long term, they would probably drop down the rankings

PP sucks: I miss you Streit. Please come play in Montreal. Good thing the habs have a new Swiss embassador on the way. Hopefully he can produce as much as Streit did, but that will have to wait for next season.

Habs vs. Bolts

2008-12-11T13:54:00.001-08:00

The Canadiens are welcoming the Lightning to Montreal tonight to play their sixth straight home game. The Habs are 5-0-1 so far on the homestand. Mathieu Dandenault is out with a broken arm along with Chris Higgins who has a shoulder problem. That means Latendresse, O'Byrne in. Halak gets the start tonight because Price has the sniffles.

Habstars:

Kovalev had a good game against Calgary picking up 2 assists but still no goals

D'Agostini scored another goal. The makes fourth straight, the longest goal streak of the season for the Habs so far.

Halak had a great game on Tuesday, making a couple of spectacular saves. Should have a good game unless O'Byrne tries to score on him.

Lang is another Hab that had a good game on Tuesday picking two goals and an assist.

Habnots:

Plekanec is playing like a sissy girl. He's also stuck with a linemate that can't receive his passes and can't shoot.

Kostopoulos can't receive Plekanec's passes, can't shoot, can't make passes.

Kovalev, I know he's in the Habstars but he's in the Habnots for not being able to score for 17 straight games.

Brisebois, because he can't shoot on target yet he's still on the powerplay. Another thing I noticed is that not once was he able to stop the puck at the blueline on the PP. Sad.

Not too much to look out for on the Tampa side. I guess everybody should keep an eye on Lecavalier and St-Louis but thats about it. The Bolts have lost 9 straight. Kolzig is starting, I'm hoping he won't be finishing.

Robert L has the latest on trade rumours on www.habseyesontheprize.com

Flashback: Rivet Trade

2008-12-09T12:14:00.000-08:00

The first thing I thought when the Habs traded away Craig Rivet for Josh Gorges and a first round draft pick was, “What kind of stupid name is Gorges?”

Josh Gorges at first sight seemed like a young player, a very young player. He had trouble breaking the Habs line-up at first. I remember going to this one game against Atlanta early last season. The Habs we’re having a really bad game but they still managed to keep the score close. Then suddenly, Gorges made the perfect pass. Tape to tape to Slava Kozlov, who set off onto a breakaway and scored on Price, who was playing is first ever home game. All 21, 000 fans at the Bell Centre stood up from their seats and started chanting his name, accompanied with boo’s, much worse than Ryan O’Byrne’s treatment. Carbonneau benched him for the rest of the game, which the Habs lost in a shootout.

From that night on I despised Gorges, until I discovered a new hatred towards Brisebois and Benoit Brunet.

Ever since, he’s been playing as hard as he could every night so now I have to like him. What’s weird about Gorges is that, no matter how much he ggets tossed along the boards, he usually manages to get the job done.

Carbonneau started giving him more and more ice time and started trusting him in key situations.

With Komisarek now injured, he has the chance to prove himself, while playing with Andrei Markov. So far, he has lived to his expectations.

Since he got his first goal in a Habs uniform, he’s been my favourite player in the Habs line-up.

I’m happy to say he hasn’t had a “bad” game in a very long time, and I am also glad that he hasn’t been victim of any trade rumours.

I believe that he is not only a very good defencemen, but a very good guy to have on the team and in the locker room. I want him to stay in a Canadiens uniform for a very long time.

The first round draft pick that the habs received from San Jose turned out to be Max Pacioretty, one of the Habs’ top prospects.

Max Pacioretty is a 19 year old from Conneticut. Last year, he was playing university hockey at Michigan University, along side Kevin Porter and Chad Kolarik (both PHX prospects) who led the league in points. Pacioretty finished with 28 points in 25 games, along with Rookie of the Year honours.

He had a very good training camp with the Canadiens this summer, after deciding not to continue university hockey. He joined the camp, fighting to get a spot on the Habs’ very full roster. After a lot of thought, Carbo and Gainey decided to send him to Hamilton to develop his skills. Pacioretty only played 25 games last season and improved immensely. He’ll now play three times as many games in a league that he said he “underestimated”.

So now all we have to do is wait for him to develop more in Hamilton and soon enough, he’ll be playing in the big league.

So when we look back now, how good of a deal was the Rivet trade?

Superstar Wanted

2008-12-08T09:13:00.000-08:00

The habs haven't had a top ten scorer since Mats Naslund in 1989. That got me thinking of the difference between Montreal and a team like Pittsburgh.

Habs most skilled forwards: Kovalev, Tanguay, Koivu
Pens most skilled forwards: Crosby, Malkin, Satan, Syrkora

I'm comparing these guys to cars. Kovalev is a 1970's Cadillac. Tanguay is a 2001 Mustang. Koivu is a 2004 Pontiac Sunfire.

Crosby is a 2008 Mustang GT. Malkin is a 2007 Escalade. Satan is a 1981 Porsche.

The difference? The habs are loaded with decent used cars. The pens, their bringing in shiny new cars, straight from the shop. I have the feeling that Bob Gainey has been picking the best of the worst. In pittsburgh, everything is new. They don't have any hand-me-downs. It's all up to date. They don't have any 37 year old centres.

Why is Bob bringing in all these guys that we need to hope that they could play like they used to? Ex: Alex Kovalev. Why should we be hoping that he plays like how he used to? How come we need to worry? Why do we have to hope that he doesn't get arthritis?

My one exception to this is Carey Price. And look how good he is. Why not more of this instead of going to a scrap yard and picking out nice rims. For Carey, they went straight to the dealership. The habs need more players that they can depend on. We shouldn't have to hope the front bumper doesn't fall off. You don't need to worry about over in Pittsburgh.

Now I'm stuck wondering why the Habs and Pens are even close to each other in the standings. I guess we can thank our 2008 Reventon Lamborghini V12, Carey Price. The habs need more of that.

(Kovalchuk is a 2007 Porsche 9/11)

Matt "The Dagger" D'Agostini

2008-12-07T12:31:00.000-08:00

In the last few games, the Canadiens best player has been the 22 year-old, Matt D'Agostini. The Sault-Ste-Marie native was drafted by the habs, 190th pick overall in the 2005 draft.

Two years ago, I went to a Hamilton Bulldogs vs. Syracuse Crunch game at the Bell Centre. I was with a friend and the whole ride there he spoke of Kyle Chipchura and what a great player he was going to be. We get there and I immediately see this young guy called Matt D'Agostini. I recognized the name but had never seen him play before. He was flying all over the place. Everytime there was a chance to score, he was there. He was constantly forcing turnovers and making perfect passes, often resulting in goals. Ever since that day I had been wanting to see him play in the NHL. I later found out that he had 49 points that season, only five less then Mikhail Grabovski and that a couple of nights before, he had scored four goals, including the overtime winner against Syracuse.

I couldn't wait to see him break into the big league. He had a good training camp the next year but it seemed as though people thought it must have been beginners luck or something.

He got called up for a single, meanless game at the end of last season but that didn't mean much.

This years training camp was different. Everybody knew who was going to make the habs line-up before the camp even started (with the exception of Pacioretti and maybe Weber). D'Agostini had another good training camp but it seemed that Carbo just skimmed over his name once again.

Finally, 23 games into the season, SK74 and Latendresse collapse, and suddenly Carbo gives him a chance to prove himself. He now has 3 goals and an assist in 4 games and is saying "I told you I could do it." to Carbo and the rest of the coaching staff.

Meanwhile, Sergei Kostitsyn, Guillaume Latendresse and Ryan O'Byrne. are still sitting in the press box. Kostitsyn can be sent back to Hamilton without having to clear waivers but Latendresse will have to stick around. Ryan O'Byrne is still looking for an example of a great player that has scored on his own net before.

Can't wait till Kovalev wake upalong with Higgins. I'm also waiting for Komisarek to be standing behind the bench then suddenly rip off his shirt to reveil is habs jersey, then jump on the ice, maybe score a few goals and kick the shit out of Lucic.

Hopefully D'Agostini will have a good long career in a Habs uniform.

Devils 2 : 1 Habs OT

2008-12-07T11:45:00.000-08:00

So the Habs managed to steal another point last night despite only playing ten minutes of good hockey. Apparently the game plan was to stop skating and make bad passes. Meanwhile, the Devils' game plan was to make perfect tape to tape passes all night while skating circles around Montreal's defenders.

Carey Price had a weird game last night. It was the shakiest I has ever seen him. He was playing a bit more like Halak, flopping all over the crease, as opposed to the calm, conservative goalie that were used to seeing. The devils should have scored half a dozen goals last night. Price was caught out of his crease because of New Jersey's perfect passing but they only managed to hit the mesh twice.

D'Agostini got another goal by GOING TO THE NET!! Clemmmmmenson made an un-Brodeurish play by failing to hold onto a weak shot from the point. But Dagger was there to cash in the goalies mistake right away.

Price then let in a weak one. Langenbrunnner was on a two on one and took a slap shot that just trickled behind price who thought he had it covered.

The devils continued to pressure the canadiens for the rest of the game, making crisp passes. Players like Zach Parise were constantly flying up the wing, constantly forcing fast breaks.

The habs were outshot 11-4 in the third period.

Kovalev took a bad penalty at the end of the third period. He went to make a pass and player who was skating by tripped over his stick. That gave the Devils a powerplay going into overtime.

Just a little while into the overtime period, parise slaps the puck into the open net while Price was in the middle of the faceoff circle skating around in circles looking for the puck. Perfect play by the Devils.

Markov and Dandenault both got injured last night and Komisarek is still Coach K. Dandenault got a shot off the inside of the ankle but returned later in the game. Markov got a puck deflected right into his mouth. He went down in a flash, blood everywhere. Apparently he lost two teeth.

Next up: Flames come to town. (Matt Lombardi is from Hudson, like me)

Habs vs. Devils

2008-12-06T13:51:00.000-08:00

The Habs are taking on the Devils (minus Brodeur) tonight. Brodeur is still recovering from elbow surgery which will give all of us habs fans a break.

The habs have beat the Devils in their last three meetings against brodeur, imagine the damage they could do when the quebec native isn't in nets.

Chris Higgins calls games against the Devils "The four most boring games off the season". It will hopefully be a bit more exciting when Brodeur isn't blocking every shot.

The habs power play is still not producing. New Jersey's penalty kill is 28th in the league. Will the habs get their poewplay rolling tonight?

Kovalev and Higgins are the disappointments of the year so far. Kovalev hasn't scored in a month and Higgins hasn't done much since his hat trick on rememberance day against Ottawa. Kovalev and Higgins are both wearing the "A" as alternate captains. Kovalev's has got to get moving sooner or later. Apparently his "timing" is off.

D'agostini has been the star of the month so far. He has 2 goals and one assist in his first three games of the season. He's the canadiens' most dangerous player right now. He's constantly forcing turnovers which turn into scoring chances. He's also been making perfect passes. (ex: Kostitsyn goal)

A. Kostitsyn has been on fire too, with three goals and six points in three games. He's showed up every night since his brother got schratched.

SK74 and Obie are still watching the game from the press box.

Carbo would never mess with a winning streak.

4-1 habs

aaaannnnddd were back.

2008-11-12T12:27:00.000-08:00

The Habs proved that they are still the top team in the east after beating the Senators 4-0 at the Bell Centre last night. I know its early but i'd like to mention that the Habs are on pace for a little over 126 points.

The last couple of days, Carbo made the team practice intensly, not only physically but mentally also, using video replay of the game on Saturday against the Leafs.

I think that the key to the habs success was that they started thinking defence first. Last year, that was what they focused on at the beginning of the season, seeing the coaching staff includes many defensize minded coaches. Because of their great defence, it brought out the offence. Plays started developping on their own because of good defence. This season, it sees like all the focus is on scoring goals. After leading the league in goals last season and in acquiring Alex Tanguay, evrybody started thinking goals. Carbo noticed this and has spent the last couple of days reminding the players that defence was their key to success last year.

Another reason why they had a terrific game is Carey Price. While Price was stopping every puck he saw, everybody on the habs line-up spent time making sure no one got near him and if they did, they'd kick the shit out of them.

I also enjoyed Francis Bouillon taking on Jarkko Ruutu just after Ruutu elbowed Maxim Lapierre in the face. Bouillon won the fight by a hair but its not bad for a guy his size. Ruutu then skated over to the Habs bench during the commercial break to taunt Lapierre. The officials kicked him out of the game and Ruutu saluted the crowd on his way out. Ruutu has been suspended by the league for two games.

To make a long story short: the Habs are back.

Must Win

2008-11-11T13:50:00.000-08:00

The habs are 8-2-2 yet i feel like they haven't won a game yet.

Tom Kostopoulos got a three game suspension handed to him for his hit on Mike Van Ryn during Saturday nights game in Toronto.

Carey Price gets the start tonight despite allowing ten goals in his last two games.

Hamrlik is back after sitting out Saturday night with a shoulder injury.

It is becoming impossible to predict how the Habs will play. So far they have been all over the place. We've seen them beat teams 6-1, we've seen a couple of games go to shootouts, we've seen them make an impossible comeback in the third period and we've seen them get owned.

Markov is leading all defencemen in pointswith 14.
Ottawa's Filip Kuba also has fourteen points and Alex Auld has the lowest GAA in the league. Somewhat surprising.

Tom K

2008-11-10T13:42:00.001-08:00

this is a shot of TK already commited to hit van ryn, while van ryn has his shoulders perpendicular to him.

Van Ryn's fault but still not a good sight.

end of story

Losing Focus

2008-11-09T12:04:00.000-08:00

The Habs are now 8-2-2. It's not bad but their last three games have been horrible. Here are some of the reasons why the Habs are lacking success.

1. Bad penalties: It all started in the game against Minnesota when the habs took a whole bunch of penalties and still one. Suddenly, everybody believed that penalties don't do much when your team is so good. that wasn't the case last night. Last night the leafs scored three of their six goals on the powerplay. Another thing is that Carbo and the Habs have created a bad reputation for the Habs.

2. Interference?: The other night in Columbus, the Habs had just started a powerplay and Saku Koivu got an interference penalty. He won the face-off then stood his ground while the other player taking the face-off tried to plow through him. How can this possibly be a penalty on Koivu? Is he supposed to move out of the way for him? It creates a lose-lose situation. Another play that annoyed me was when , i think it was Josh Gorges was about to skate in front of the Habs net before heading up the ice while the other Habs defender was skating behind the net with the puck. A Columbus player went to chase the puck but ran into Gorges who had never changed his path to block the Columbus player. Gorges got a penalty for interference, yet he did nothing wrong. To make matters worse, last night, i saw a dozen plays by the leafs that would have been called by the previous nights officials. The rule has to be clarified.

3. Alexei Kovalev: Kovalev should do the coaching at the next practice, it seems that no one has any idea what he is going to do with the puck. On many powerplay occasions I've seen him do the same play. He receives the puck from Markov, he skates around the right side of the offensive zone a few times, then slides it right in front of the goalie. I'm yet to see it succeed this season. Kovalev's got to talk much more to let people no what he is doing.

4. The perfect play: It seems that for the last three games, the Habs have been trying to only get highlight reel goals. They got to get closer to the other teams goalie, and deflect some pucks. They keep going for the low percentage passes. Just shoot. For example: Brisebois's goal the other night. He just shot. Meanwhile, Kovalev is in the corner trying to undress the defenders. Crash the net. Keep it simple. That's what the leafs did. If the leafs tried to do what the Habs did last night, they wouldn't have scored a single goal.

5. I don't have a fifth reason.

Also, my opinion on Kpstopoulos' hit on Van Ryn. Van Ryn is the only one to blame. When ever a defender picks up the puck behind their own net and start to skate around the net, they should expect to get hit. Replays even show Van Ryn peeking over his shoulder to see who was coming. He changed direction suddenly, put his head between himself and the boards. People say that Kostopoulos should have "pulled out" of the hit. How is it possible to pull out of a hit, once you have already somewhat commited yourself to doing it. Is he supposed to stop in his tracks. He had only a couple of feets warning. Is he supposed to fall on his ass? Make himself look like an idiot and run into the boards. Also, when I look at Tom K's reaction after the hit, you can tell that he didn't mean to do it. Watch it yourself.

Also, Markov's hit on Hagman. Hagman is a fool. I watched the replay. Hagman lies flat on the ground for a split second, looks up at the ref, then sticks his head back down on the ice. This isn't soccer.

and...

Whoever thinks that Kostitsyn meant to trip Luke Schenn into the boards is a fool. Schenn stepped on Kostitsyn stick. I'm not saying it didn't deserve a penalty, since kostitsyn did have his stick in a very bad position, but in know way did he try to injure Schenn.

Leafs think they are a better team then the Sens

2008-10-27T12:08:00.001-07:00

Sooooo, the Leafs make fun of the sens for choking in the playoffs yet the leafs haven't won the cup in 41 years, soon to be 42. So leaf fans, as soon as your team make the playoffs (that would be a start) then win the cup*, then you can make stupid jokes like these.

*against more than just 5 other teams

I like how they put "There are some teams that WON'T choke in the playoffs" Then they put the leafs logo. It shold be "that WON'T make the playoffs"

Haha. I'm funny

PS. LEAFS SUCK

Habs 4 : 6 Ducks

2008-10-26T09:49:00.000-07:00

The habs suffered a tough loss to the Anaheim ducks last night. It was Montreal's first loss in regulation and first loss at home. Halak started the game but was later replaced after allowing 4 goals. Price didn't play great, allowing two goals on 13 shots.

The Ducks took an early two goal lead in the first but the Tanguay managed to get one to the back of the net followed by Koivu on a nice one-timer. Montreal took the lead early in the second period when Kostopoulos scored. The Ducks then went on to score four straight goals. Cory Perrey had the chance to increase the ducks lead but missed a penalty shot. Tanguey scored a, what turned out to be useless, goal midway through the third period.

Montreal had a total of 51 shots, while Anaheim only managed to hit the net 25 times.

Next game: Carolina in Montreal on Tuesday

Good Start

2008-10-24T13:59:00.000-07:00

The habs are off to a good start, suffering only one loss in a shootout out in the first game of the season. Even though they won, the habs didn't play that well against Florida. The team could thank Mr. Halak for standing on his head while the rest of the team was busy giving away the puck.

Price is out with the flu. Hopefully he'll be back for tomorrow night's game. If he doesn't and Halak plays another solid game, he might start talk of a starting goaltender debate. I don't want this to happen. I'd rather everything just stays the way it is and that Price comes back and is able to play a solid season without being critisized. People may say that it's a good thing that one goalie is being pressured to do better then another goalie but in my opinion, at such a young age, they should let him have a long season, without many interruptions.

Replacing Price at practice was actually Kim St-Pierre.

Andrei Kostitsyn should return to the ice for saturdays game after being checked badly into the boards during last Saturday nights Bruins game. Chipchura has already been sent back to Hamilton even though he played an amazing game. I guess that's just the way it is, being a prospect for the habs of 2008. If he were to play in Toronto he'd probably be on the first or second line, just like Grabovski, who couldn't secure a spot in the habs line-up last year. Mikhail Grabovski isnow Toronto's top centre.

The habs will be facing the Ducks at the Bell Centre tomorrow night. The Ducks are playing in Ottawa tonight. The Ducks have just come off a shootout win against the Leafs.

Here's a good blog about the ducks http://battleofcalifornia.blogspot.com/

The Habs of 2008-2009

2008-10-24T13:38:00.001-07:00

The habs line-up went through a few changes over the off-season. The habs decided to release Mark Streit, Bryan Smolinski and Michael Ryder who had a terrible season last year. Mark Streit moved to Long Island to play in front of Rick DiPietro while Ryder moved to Boston to join Bergeron and Savard. The habs also traded away Mikhail Grabovski and one of the top rospects, Corey Locke. Grabovski moved to Toronto and is actually one of the top forwards on the team. In return for Locke, the Habs received defenceman Shawn Belle of the Minnesota Wild.
Some of the new players in the Montreal Canadiens organization Alex Tanguay, Robert Lang, Georges Laraque and Marc Denis. Alex Tanguay was acquired at the NHL entry draft in Ottawa. Robert Lang was a sort of surprise trade after alot of talk of the Habs signing Mats Sundin. Laraque will add some size, strength and toughness to the team. Marc Denis will most likely be playing in Hamilton as long as Price and Halak stay healthy.
There will probably be no rookies playing a full season with the Habs seeing there are no spaces on the habs line-up but we may see one or two prospects like Max Pacioretti or ben Maxwell play at least a couple of games this season due to player injury. We may even see one of them in the first couple of games because of the recent series of groin injuries.

Praying for a good season.