Some late evening Habs reading
by Kevin van Steendelaar on Jan 3, 2012 10:40 PM EST
in Opinions and other Habs links
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Print"I'm working hard to pick up the language as much as I can and as quickly as I can. Hopefully that will be the case by the time some of the decisions are made" - Randy Cunneyworth 01-03-2012
Well if you want a few words for your boss, say around mid-late April, perhaps, "Va te faire......" are the first ones to learn. Tip of the hat though to the Habs interim bench boss, who scrubbed off the tire tracks from Monday and regained some dignity, 1-6 record aside.
Quick flashback to 2009. Don Lever,called up to assist Bob Gainey after Guy Carbonneayu was backdoored, was relieved of his duties as Hamilton Bulldogs coach in June of that year. I recall the first thing asked of Lever, on his appearance in Montreal, was his ability to speak French. He couldn't. The reasoning for Lever's dismissal was the team was "taking a different direction". Hmmm, maybe Gainey knew the repercussions, if he chose Lever to be the next Habs coach, and found a way out of it.
Michael Farber, the King of all hockey writing, throws in his worthy two cents on the current situation in Montreal..
Dave Stubbs on Cunneyworth intending to learn French.
Jack Todd thinks Geoff Molson needs to step up re: the Canadiens GM. And on that note..
Ted Bird does not want Pierre McGuire as the next Habs GM. Get in line, Ted.
Interesting observation on Twitter from Arpon Basu, "On Dec. 9, day of the Tomas Kaberle trade, #Habs were 7th in NHL in 5-on-5 goals for/against ratio. Three weeks later, they are 16th." Please note that Basu followed up that he was not knocking Kaberle. and it was merely a point of reference.
Do the Habs stand nose-to-nose with the Leafs, in terms of futility, as of late?
J.T. weighs in on Patrick Roy
Chris Boucher looks at Brendan Gallagher, Nathan Beaulieu and Michael Bournival, in the 5-0 win over the Czech Republic.
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Gallagher had a monster 3rd period when his team needed him most, too bad it was a losing effort.
Drew the penalty that lead to the first comeback goal,
His play behind the net leads to the second were he assisted.
Scored the 3rd with a beauty deflection
Set up the one timer play for the 4th.
In general a pain in the ass to play against
And maybe most importantly, was the only guy on the team looking like he was getting things done when they looked dead to start the period.
Writer for http://www.habseyesontheprize.com/
6 goals on 24 shots?
56-24 shots on goals?
I missed it, what happened in that game? Bad goaltending, or did some of the Habs’ luck rub off the junior team?
Bad puck luck was the biggest factor, Murray was the poster boy there. Guy was involved in 4 goals against, 3 of which went off of his body. And through 40 minutes the Russian goaltender was putting on a show plus misfires from excellent Canadian chances.
Canada had the zone time and possession, Russia was exploiting that they were over committing to the offensive zone and scoring off the rush. Luck and momentum shifted drastically mid-way through the 3rd period as Canada piled on.
Some people are going to be all over Nathen Beaulieu for the 6th goal against (although at the time it was a big deal because it just made it 6-1). He stopped skateing on a play which resulted in a goal against, I think it was because he thought there was a whistle. Wasn’t the worst mistake on the night for a Canadian defenseman.
Knowing the Habs fans he’s going to have a reputation of giving up on plays for the foreseeable future.
Writer for http://www.habseyesontheprize.com/
by Stephan Cooper on Jan 4, 2012 12:57 AM EST up reply actions
Beaulieu didn’t think there was a whistle. That’s a common error amongst junior aged players, especially when frustrated. He made it back, but chose the wrong guy to pick up on the backcheck.
Puck Worlds: Chasing Pucks from here to Turku.
For Twitter Updates on Puck Worlds, follow @puckworlds. For updates plus additional witty banter from yours truly, follow @saskhab.
You have to remember that this is junior hockey… shots and opportunities aren’t quite as linear as pro. Errors dictate opportunity, as kids make a ton of them.
Russia was always there to defend, and yes had really strong goaltending. Canada didn’t have bad goaltending, they made poor decisions that led to prime opportunities, but yeah, Russia’s goaltending was way better (their backup is equal to Canada’s starter, their starter is scary good). Boone Jenner spearing Kuznetsov after a whistle and getting tossed was but an example.
Russia should have had a late penalty shot as Kuznetsov was hauled down on a clear break when the score was 6-4. The refs were calling a ton of infractions, most of which were 100% right (though hilariously embellished), but they somehow missed this one.
You should also be reading my international hockey blog!
Puck Worlds: Chasing Pucks from here to Turku.
For Twitter Updates on Puck Worlds, follow @puckworlds. For updates plus additional witty banter from yours truly, follow @saskhab.
Good info from several sources
Kevin, nice set up on the background info…..I was online yesterday in the Toronto Sun and I saw Gautier’s picture and I thought one of 2 things: 1) he’s been fired or 2) he’s made another half assed move. Guess # 2 won out…..issuing that dumb ass apology should be grounds for dismissal. I think it was Ted Bird who nailed it with satisfying political ideals instead of hockey ones regarding the running of the Montreal Canadiens.
We are now offically the New York Islanders of Canada in the NHL. Charles Wang meet Geoff Molson and Mike Milbury meet “les Goat”
"It's only through change we learn to grow".
There is countless miles of distance between the GMing of Gauthier and Milbury. That shouldn’t even be up for debate.
That’s not an endorsement of Gauthier mind you, just anything wrong with him is in the normal range for NHL GMs, while Milbury is off on an island of his own.
Was I the only one that got a sarcastic subtext out of that apology? I’m sorry that people were offended sounded like, I’m sorry that you people are so ridiculous for caring so much about this stuff.
Writer for http://www.habseyesontheprize.com/
by Stephan Cooper on Jan 4, 2012 4:10 AM EST up reply actions
He definitely wants to just coach hockey. If it was sarcasm it was rooted in frustration and helplessness.
Puck Worlds: Chasing Pucks from here to Turku.
For Twitter Updates on Puck Worlds, follow @puckworlds. For updates plus additional witty banter from yours truly, follow @saskhab.
Has anybody written anything definitive defending Martin and questioning his firing?
Twitter Bitch! @ChrisBoyle33
New CHIP figures
http://springingmalik.blogspot.com/2012/01/pain-game-201112-part-three.html
Pittsburgh doing so well in the league is still incredible.
They keep creeping up in possession, minus Crosby and Letang. It’s nuts. I have no idea how they do it, but the Habs need to find out and steal it.
Well, looks like the Habs are no longer tops in man-games and minute-games lost.
Of course that gives the injuries-are-for-losers crowd an excuse to dismiss them — “look at Pittsburgh!”. Especially since the Pens lost Crosby (which is a massive negative) and the Habs lost Gomez (which apparently is supposed to help the club).
Otherwise, no one else is in the same league as those two.
The problem becomes when the Habs get healthy and screw up the high draft pick scenario.
My interest mainly lies in seeing how much of an effect Gomez and Markov can make on the team and individual play. If they can get within 3-4 points when the reinforcements return, then they have a chance, but until then it is getting harder and harder to make a case for them making the playoffs.
Twitter Bitch! @ChrisBoyle33
Well, there’s also the “PP luck” factor that’s an issue. As well as continually losing games by one goal or less. The Habs have been bad lately, but still not as bad as their recent record.
But right now the playoff threshold looks to be 93 points (and that’s unusually low) and the Habs need 58 points in 43 games to get there. This is a 110-point pace, and it will only get steeper with every game they lose.
Their level of play back at the start of the season suggests that a 110-point pace is remotely possible if they get back there, but that was with Martin coaching (although it was also without Markov). But that assumes they start on it tonight, and it’s still a tall order that would hardly guarantee them a playoff spot. They basically need a stretch of really good luck (maybe not Boston lucky, but a significant win streak) to climb back to a point where the playoffs are plausible. And call me superstitious, but I doubt we’ll see the Habs get any stretches of continuous good fortune anytime soon. And even if we did — a 5-game winning streak, right now, doesn’t even put them in a position where a 100-point pace the rest of the way would see them in the playoffs. They need to go on an insane tear, right now, despite the lack of Gomez and Markov.
Can Cunneyworth coach even a healthy Habs roster to a 58-point half-season? I doubt that very much.
As it is, this is essentially a lost cause already. A few more losses, and the Habs just need to get real, and fold. It’s just not been their year.
Unfortunately, the bottom two spots also seem to be pretty much sewn up. So unless they were to win the lottery (ha!), the Habs aren’t getting Yakupov or Grigorenko. The question then becomes whether the 4th overall pick is that much better than, say, the 10th overall to matter. I’m not familiar enough with the draft to give a cogent answer to that.
My understanding that the habs used, this season at least, the bottom of the roster as a training ground for younger players with the big salaried players acting as tough minutes men. Pittsburgh’s overall depth seems more build around experienced nhlers. Seems. Not sure.
Also, Gauthier’s two moves, Kaberle and Nokelainen, have both been spectacularly ineffective (as noted elsewhere, the Power Play was already generating chances; not sure TK helped up the ratio).
Also, Gionta’s return will be interesting in itself.
Really, you compare the first Gomez absence and the second, and the big difference seems to be that Spacek and Gionta were there during the first stint, while in the second one Gill is the one who took Spacek’s rare defensive assignations and Gionta was replaced by either AKost or Moen on Plek’s wing.
What a mess.
Given that I’ve pretty much given up on the season (though I’ll be the first back on the bandwagon if things quickly and suddenly turn around) the “suck until end of April” thing would be very appealing if I wasn’t terrified of moves being made that will be crippling in the medium/long-term.
Replacing Gauthier with a terrible GM, dealing good young, guys like Subban or Pacioretty, or pulling an Edmonton and trading every decent veteran forward just for the sake of getting younger are moves that could be crippling. If the team is closer to a playoff spot at least the latter two scenarios are less likely.
Looking at the other end of the injury spectrum Carolina have been largely unscathed this season yet they’re a bottom-5 Fenwick tied and bottom-10 Fenwick close team. That’s a pretty bad team there.
The last couple of years that team has been fortunate with both injuries and penalty diffferential and still hasn’t made the playoffs. They really aren’t any good.
Writer for http://www.habseyesontheprize.com/
by Stephan Cooper on Jan 4, 2012 7:06 PM EST up reply actions
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