Evening Habs Links
by Kevin van Steendelaar on Feb 22, 2012 6:42 PM EST
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So what are all you Habs fans doing, come April 8th? Who's your "B team" in the NHL playoffs?
Last night's 3-0 to the Dallas Stars was too depressing to write about, so I just walked away from it. Didn't help that my NHLGamecenter feed was acting rather enigmatically, much like Andrei Kostitsyn has over the last 2-3 years.
The Canadiens playoff chances were already toast anyways. No team had come from six points back of 8th place this late in the season. It's now at seven points with the Leafs squeaking out a single in an overtime loss to the Devils last night.
No trade talk yet out of Montreal, but it's only matter of time. That whole rumor chatter of Antoine Vermette coming to Montreal can now end, with the Blue Jackets forward on his way to the Phoenix Coyotes.
Habsworld looks at trade value in Montreal. Andrei Kostitsyn may be worth a bit more, with Tuomo Ruutu getting an extension with the Hurricanes. Let's see how PG handles this one.
Sheldon Kennedy goes to Parliament Hill.
Not sure he deserves the attention, but on a related note.
Chris Boucher looks at Max Pacioretty
Leigh Anne Power on the next generation of Geoffrions
The Pkists suggest the Habs take advice from George Costanza
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I lost my mind for a second and thought April was a week or so away thanks to the “B team” thing.
I was reading draft prospect stuff today. Going back to the summer that would have seemed ridiculous to me with the trade deadline approaching. Amazing how one can go from so optimistic and bullish to complete and utter pessimism with basically one or two management moves and a tonne of bad luck.
Was just looking at the new Score adjusted Fenwick numbers at BSH and honestly the more I look at that data the more it seems to fit with reality.
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by Andrew Berkshire on Feb 22, 2012 8:18 PM EST reply actions
Montreal’s metrics started taking a nosedive when Gomez was hurt (along with Gionta, which didn’t help) — and then there was the coaching change, so that when the team got healthy it didn’t get any better.
Their overall PDO is probably about right, but their score-tied and score-close performance has been atrocious, especially lately.
No doubt, but the score-adjusted Fenwick is likely more representative of the talent available on the team.
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by Andrew Berkshire on Feb 22, 2012 8:38 PM EST up reply actions
With a competent coach for sure.
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by Andrew Berkshire on Feb 23, 2012 10:40 PM EST up reply actions
One thing I noticed about the Habsworld writeup, Weber is worth a late round pick? What? A 23 year old offensive defenseman with 16 points in 46 games, most of the time playing a position that isn’t natural to him, is only worth a late round pick? That’s absolute madness.
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by Andrew Berkshire on Feb 22, 2012 8:41 PM EST reply actions
I can see him only being worth that at the deadline.
Which is why you don’t trade players yet to establish themselves in the NHL at the deadline. For buyers its all about the here and now at this time of year.
Writer for http://www.habseyesontheprize.com/
by Stephan Cooper on Feb 22, 2012 8:44 PM EST up reply actions
A 23 year old who’s already made the NHL and is already pretty good on the PP in a poor system only worth a 5th rounder?
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by Andrew Berkshire on Feb 23, 2012 10:41 PM EST up reply actions
At .25 less a season for essentially the same term you have to ask Rutherford if he’d have been better off keeping Cole rather than Ruutu.
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Guys the age of Eric Cole sometime fall off a cliff pretty quickly, or, if you prefer, step into the elevator shaft.
That being said, Cole is head, shoudlers and then some above Jokinen right now. Too bad we blew that excellent season on a whole lot of nothing.
From how most talk about Ruutu, he’s older than his age due to many cumulative injuries, so he could possibly fall off that cliff just as early.
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by Andrew Berkshire on Feb 23, 2012 10:42 PM EST up reply actions
Interesting… La Presse asked three analysts about the Habs, what went wrong and what they need to do. Here is my summary of what they said.
What went wrong?
Aaron Ward: Accountability and lack of effort (specifically naming Kostitsyn and Gomez)
Kelly Hurdey: Injuries, young players overwhelmed, Subban didn’t progress; only 6-7 players played to potential.
Vincent Damphousse: injuries to key players, and players not playing up to expectations (Gomez, Gionta, Plekanec, Subban, ‘and I could include Carey Price’).
A mistake that could have been avoided
Aaron Ward: It’s clear the team has lost confidence. The Jan. 2 press conference where Gauthier insisted on the interim tag on Cunneyworth. He didn’t think on the message that this would send to the players.
Kelly Hurdey: Can’t name anything in particular. Maybe a lack of urgency, especially early on when the club lost all the time.
Vincent Damphousse: Thinks the Gomez thing lasted too long. The Habs should have bought him out last year or sent him to Hamilton so that he wouldn’t count on the salary cap.
Solutions to get the Habs going again
Aaron Ward: The team shouldn’t panic. I wouldn’t empty the club before the trade dealine. They aren’t at a rebuild stage, but they need to add some elements, that will bring leadership. They need to add talent and character players.
Kelly Hrudey: It’ll take a full autopsy. Evaluate everyone, who can help, who isn’t helping, and get rid of the latter if possible. Play the kids and find out what they can offer.
Vincent Damphousse: Rebuild. Pick the right kids, get good draft picks, and restart. Especially don’t try to patch up. The Habs must rebuild with kids and be patient, it could take a couple of years.
My thoughts:
- Interesting that injuries was brought up in 2/3 of the cases. I didn’t think it would filter into the prevailing narrative.
- No one mentions coaching in any way, either for or against the coaching change.
- Aaron Ward looks like he’s good at spouting narratives but analysis is not his forte. Of course he’d view the game from the perspective of a stay-at-home “character” D-man, because that’s what he was.
- The really, really, really scary part: Damphouse is out to lunch. Carey Price is not playing well? Dump Gomez and use his cap space on… who? Rebuild from scratch really?
Why is this so scary? Because Damphousse is seen as a potential candidate for the next GM. And with some work in administration, he wouldn’t seem unqualified. But if what he said is actually the way he is thinking, he’s obviously Very Wrong™ for the job, and if he’s hired, the team is fscked for the foreseeable future.
If one of them had mentioned the coaching change you could pretty much piece together what I thought by picking and choosing.
Subban under-performing, Accountability/lack of effort, lack of urgency,, buying out Gomez, rebuilding, Price not playing well (I don’t think he’s been great but he’s done just fine) Rebuild.. BAM STANLEY CUP! are all awful.
I agree that Damphouse’ perspective is especially scary given that he’s been offered by some as a potential GM candidate. The Rebuilding thing is bad enough on its own but he doesn’t seem to understand that the first couple years of a conventional Gomez buyout are very punitive given his contract. At the least a GM should understand the CBA better than I do.
Especially a guy who was actually on the negotiating team for said CBA.
In his defense, I’m not sure he actually gave it a lot of thought. He may just be spouting narrative. But it’s scary regardless.
He did offer sending him to Hamilton as a solution. Which most definitely is a more viable one than an outright buyout. But the full rebuild thing is ridiculously ignorant.
Funny, Ward’s ‘moving forward’ bit is really the best solution of the 3 ex-players, IMO. Adding talent and character/leadership (i.e. veteran players that are good) is exactly what I’d do this offseason. I also wouldn’t put a massive ‘for sale’ sign on the team at the deadline. I’d try and re-sign a bunch of players, too…
He may not like Kostitsyn, and that’s fine, I guess, if you can replace him with a good player somehow. Either by trading him by Tuesday and using the assets you acquire to address another area (like an offseason trade for a veteran forward/D), or hitting the UFA market searching for good players.
Not one person mentioned Markov explicitly, no one had it as a mistake to re-sign him, which is interesting from a player’s perspective, IMO.
Hrudey is essentially telling the team to continue going about business as usual… a full autopsy should take place after every year, although this year might be more challenging than most in that regard.
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by Bruce Peter on Feb 23, 2012 11:47 AM EST up reply actions
It was interesting to me that Ward had the most insipid platitude-laden narrative to offer to the first two questions and yet came up with the most sensible solution. Although I’m not sure “leadership” and “character players” are really what’s needed here.
Hrudey may be right on one point: this isn’t the time to panic and do anything hasty. Look at what you’ve got calmly, deal with it. There probably isn’t a need for anything radical (well, besides finding a coach, which will be tricky).
Markov was actually mentionned as “injuries” in the full text of Hrudey’s blurb. I only wrote a summary — remiss of me not to provide a link to the full thing en francais: http://www.cyberpresse.ca/sports/hockey/201202/23/01-4498886-que-doit-faire-le-canadien.php
To me, the ‘leadership/character’ values when applied to finding ‘talent’ generally means veterans who are good. I guess he doesn’t like Kostitsyn. That’s unfortunate, but if you can replace AK46 with a good veteran player I don’t really care. I don’t think he’s saying they need to sign Ethan Moreau here. If he’s saying they should keep Travis Moen, I generally agree, too.
I can live with replacing AK46 with Jarrett Stoll, for example. Or trading for an Antoine Vermette from another team.
Or rolling all the qualities Ward desires into one massive Parise offer.
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by Bruce Peter on Feb 23, 2012 12:31 PM EST up reply actions
I think you’re on to something there. I wonder how Shanny would deal with that one today….both incidents????
"It's only through change we learn to grow".
by Canadian Jet on Feb 24, 2012 3:09 AM EST up reply actions
I think Ward is more talking from the perspective of a player and what they would be saying to eachother in the room rather than the more macro-perspective of a GM or coach.
Damphosse apparently follows the HFBoards style of GMing, Lafleur’s Guy would love him in the big chair.
I find the idea that character was at all an issue this year to be pretty funny.
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by Stephan Cooper on Feb 23, 2012 12:28 PM EST up reply actions
Why is it so funny? All those one-goal losses are clearly the sign of a team that lacks character, clutchness, and grit when it matters most.
If funny or not, it´s bs as we all know but I´m also often amused with these sometimes ridiculous explanations these “experts” find. What about luck? Yes of course you can´t name luck as it´s very unpopular to blame anything on luck. On the other hand it´s always popular to question the character of a team when it´s underachieving. So you do it because it is accepted but you don´t talk about luck because it is not.
When you lose that often after being in the lead something does go wrong but at the same time luck is a big factor too. I am thinking about the first home game against the Sabres. 24-8 shots after 30 minutes, complete domination and still a regulation loss at the end.
Well, without that unlucky start and with a healthy Andrei Markov (forget about all the other injuries) this team would be very likely (in my point of view) where the Sens are now, maybe even in a better postion.
I am not sure if anyone really wants to question that but please keep in mind, that we´re “only” talking about 12-15 points over 60 games here and I haven´t mentioned the poor PP that was always one of the better in the league with Markov.
So why Vinny´s rebuild crap? Let´s say we keep either AK46 or Moen and trade the other one along with Campoli, Darche and Kaberle (not sure if anyone wants Kaberle though). We would collect a couple of more picks and probably a prospect. Not a bad thing and that would leave us with
Bourque – Plekanec – Cole
Pacioretty – Eller – Gionta
Moen/AK 46 – DD – Leblanc
Even before any trades, UFA signings and rookies this wouldn´t look so bad. So why the rebuild crap and what players would Vinny give up on if he really wants to rebuild, Plekanec, Cole, Gionta?
The elephant in the room is Markov. Emelin/Diaz are an awesome 3rd pairing and already looking good as a 2nd pairing. That tells me a healthy Markov could carry Diaz without too much problems and we’ve seen Emelin and Kaberle mesh very well indeed.
But Kaberle/Weber, right now, looks downright scary. So, to me, how the defense fills out in the summer is the first big question after Coach/GM.
We already have enough bodies at F that things will sort themselves out, and Akost leaving would sadden me but there are options out there, so…
Still, interesting to see those perspectives.
Lines in practice this morning:
Max/DD/Cole
Eller/Pleks/Akost
Bourque/Gomez/White
Palu/Leblanc/Nokia
My wish:
Max/DD/AKost
Eller/Pleks/Cole (they played briefely together, for maybe 3-4 games between Eller’s return and Gomez’s injury and were flat out dominant)
Bourque/Gomez/Leblanc
Darche/Nokia/White
Alas, we all know Darche will once again play 20 minutes. Sigh.
I wouldn´t play Markov with Diaz. Markov-Gorges, Subban-Emelin, Diaz-? would look pretty good, especially if that ? becomes a big physical dman with experience. You´re right about Kaberle and Weber but Campoli isn´t better in my point of view.
I´d love to see Eller between Pacioretty and Kostitsyn but at least Eller and Kostitsyn are not wasted anymore with crap players when looking at the combinations in practice. It would also time to see what DD could do with lesser wingers.
..and Coaching Smarts....
….there been way too many goals scored against us late in the game that either tied it or put the other team ahead due to the HC putting wrong line-up out for D-Zone face-off, not having a back-up centre to take a draw. Of course the imfamous JM – 2 mins for " Too Many Men on the freakin Ice" calls to wear out the PK team for no reason. I realize the players have to perform here but at this level the Coaching staff has to be able to put them in the best position to win. This year just showed how badly we missed Kirk Muller’s influence on the bench.
"It's only through change we learn to grow".
by Canadian Jet on Feb 24, 2012 3:15 AM EST up reply actions
I think Kelly is good at breaking down plays in the intermission. I also like how he never assumes he knows it all, and seems to have no grudges against any players whatsoever (he’s often nice to an unheard of level).
And I find Ward to at least be funny if he isn’t always insightful (but sometimes he is, just not in cold analysis situations).
If the duos were Ward/Hrudey vs. Crawford/Stock I know which one I’d choose. The good thing about Crow/Ward is that they are usually flanked by Bobby Mac.
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I don’t mind Stock as much as most people around here seem to. Sure for the most part he sees the game from a grinder point of view, but he does seem to have decent knowledge of the game at times and he isn’t as willing to jump into the prevailing media narratives as many other analysts are. I remember him strongly defending Gomez on l’Antichambre once, but we all know how that would go over with Michel Bergeron, a.k.a. the place where reason goes to die.
I see your Bob Mackenzie
And raise you one Elliott Friedman. Maybe it’s just bias due to nostalgia, but I like CBC better than TSN. I can’t handle the cable news “urgency” that TSN brings to it’s broadcasts. I’ll take 3-5 minutes of nonsense from Grapes once a week over Gino Reda standing outside Brad Richards’ agent office for 6-8 hours on Canada Day.
I know this statement is kinda unrelated to my original question
But TSN irks me. They do have some great talent, but the hype generation that they engage in, coupled with their poopy contributors (looking at you Steve Simmons), completely turns me off.
Hrudey doesn’t have grudges anymore, but look at when he began his career whenever they covered a game that involved Patrick Roy. Brutal axe to grind.
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by Andrew Berkshire on Feb 23, 2012 10:51 PM EST up reply actions
That's easy!!
Stock/CRAWFORD…….They’ve already signed up for Battle of the Network Idiots.
"It's only through change we learn to grow".
by Canadian Jet on Feb 24, 2012 3:17 AM EST up reply actions
BTW
To answer Kevin’s question from the article, my B team is always the Blackhawks. They’ve always been my very, very distant 2nd team.
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For me it's the Nucks and Sens.
I want every Canadian team to win a cup before Toronto wins another.
So Columbus got fleeced in that Carter trade. It’s like Scott Howson is just a clone of Doug Maclean or something.
We all know his value went down over the year, but man… taking on the Johnson deal was just terrible.
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He’s basically turned Voracek and a high first into Jack Johnson and a lower first.
You have to give him some slack because Couturier should have been picked earlier, but darn.
I am a little surprised that they couldn’t get more for Carter — assuming, of course, that Howson isn’t simply overvaluing Jack Johnson.
Howson is overvaluing Jack Johnson.
Everybody assumes GMs know what they are doing and exhaust all avenues of information. They don’t. Holland is not a genuis, he is just taking advantage of morons like Howson who play eenie meenie miney mo.
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by Chris Boyle on Feb 24, 2012 10:31 AM EST up reply actions
I’m quite amazed by how many commentators, both media and fan, are viewing this trade as an outright steal… in favor of the jackets.
Case in point: in his blog, Mathias Brunet, who I thought was the french MSM’s most sensible analyst (though less and less!) calls it an excellent trade for the Jackets… because he fixed his mistake of trading for Carter and got a #1 D-man out of it. Seriously? Jack Johnson as a #1 D-man???
I was talking with the guys at my hockey game and everybody is caught on the name value of Jack Johnson. Like he is a 20 year old rookie. The guy is 25!!
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by Chris Boyle on Feb 24, 2012 10:44 AM EST up reply actions
They were discussing the trade on RDS and someone, don’t know who, I just heard, said they would take Johnson over Subban… and these are the “experts” people have to turn to for analysis. I guess draft position is more important than actual play on the ice ?
by Statsfanatic81 on Feb 24, 2012 10:49 AM EST up reply actions
Expert should read blowhard.
Let’s rephrase with the proper substitution.
They were discussing the trade on RDS and someone, don’t know who, I just heard, said they would take Johnson over Subban… and these are the "blowhards" people have to turn to for analysis. I guess draft position is more important than actual play on the ice ?
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by Chris Boyle on Feb 24, 2012 10:54 AM EST up reply actions
See. More accurate.
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by Chris Boyle on Feb 24, 2012 10:55 AM EST up reply actions
Well technically if you wanted to be 100% accurate “blowhards” should then read blowhards.
They were discussing the trade on RDS and someone, don’t know who, I just heard, said they would take Johnson over Subban… and these are the blowhards people have to turn to for analysis. I guess draft position is more important than actual play on the ice ?
See. Perfect.
by Statsfanatic81 on Feb 24, 2012 11:03 AM EST up reply actions
Jack Johnson is Patrice Brisebois. At best.
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by Bruce Peter on Feb 24, 2012 11:13 AM EST up reply actions
It is amazing how much leeway “top 5 draft choice” affixed to your name provides.
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by Chris Boyle on Feb 24, 2012 11:15 AM EST up reply actions
Yep. Except I suspect the Johnson over Subban thing also has a lot to do with the Quebec sports media habit of hating on our own players (except if they are Quebecois or if it’s because he’s making a player they hate look bad). That’s where the “somophore slump” narrative about Subban’s season comes from. Also, I don’t remember Price getting that much leeway for being a 5th overall pick, they tried to run him out of town.
by Statsfanatic81 on Feb 24, 2012 11:39 AM EST up reply actions
I’m guessing the amount of games they’ve watched Subban is approaching 200, and the over/under on games they’ve watched Jack Johnson play is set at 10, and only that high because of the Olympics.
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by Bruce Peter on Feb 24, 2012 11:41 AM EST up reply actions
It is 100% acceptable when Joe Dumbass at the bar is clueless because he turns on the TV and checks out of reality. He doesn’t care how, why or what is responsible for the results on the screen. He just wants to escape.
It is 100% unacceptable when somebody who is paid to analyze for a living approaches the game in the same manner. Unfortunately that is what we are provided with for MSM coverage. When the paid media gets their ass handed to them by an “amateur” they respond with insults.
The Montreal media approach their job as fans and with that comes emotion and irrationality.
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by Chris Boyle on Feb 24, 2012 11:56 AM EST up reply actions
Which brings us back to blowhard.
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by Chris Boyle on Feb 24, 2012 11:46 AM EST up reply actions
But you forgot to look at the standings! The Blue Jackets are in last place, obviously it’s because Carter sucks! Getting rid of his bad aura certainly made the team much better. Plus, first round picks are the perfect children of god and are worth invaluablyinfinity more than a mere, flawed, 30 goals scorer.
Pretty much all talking heads greatly overvalue cap space, even when the player in question is paid at fair value. Seriously, since when are 5M$ contracts to top centers “dreadful” and too much? Or for that matter, Markov, a top defenseman, at under 6M$ ? Sure, it’s fun to talk about which player a team could have had for the same money, but that doesn’t mean the player was ever available. And prospects/picks fetishists like Brunet either don’t get that the great majority of draft picks never amount to anything or, worse, are under the delusion that the current failure rate is the result of a bad process and that a really good GM would almost always find diamonds in the rough.
Scary thing is, Brunet is still by far one of the most reasonable guys in the MSM. He keeps pointing out that Timmins is very good by comparing him to single teams’ drafts rather than “the guys that got away”. But he is definitely an upside-fetishist.
As for cap space, the notion that free cap space is entirely useless on the ice really has to start sinking in at some point. Cap efficiency is important, but unspent cap provides no value.
The Carter contract does have a real issue though: length. He’s signed for what, 10 more years?
Indeed the Carter contact is longer than you’d like, but he’s under contract until he’s 37 and the real money dips bellow the cap figure after the age 34 season. There’s a few ways to get rid of a contract like that without much trouble, especially for a team with money. With salary inflation/cap rising, 5 millions could even be a bellow market value deal for a good veteran center in 5 years. Heck, 4 M$ doesn’t get you much today.
I agree Brunet is still among the best of the Montreal media, but he’s a tanker (tankist?) and as such a very frustrating writer to read. While his bits about Timmins and drafting are very good at injecting some rationality in the debate around the habs, almost everything else he’s written about the team is at best misguided and at worst insane (let’s trade Pleks for a late first rounder, really?). On balance he’s certainly a force of good in the Montreal hockey sphere and his blog is always a good place to get hilarious 100% pure weapons grade trolling from the guy who effectively runs his comments section. I mean, “Pacioretty is a 3rd liner because that’s where he would play on the ’87 Oilers” is the kind of stuff the Onion or the best hockey humor bloggers would come up with.
Brunet is a tankist and a draft-fetishist, but he’s advocating the New Jersey rebound model rather than the Edmonton suck-forever one, so he’s the good kind of tankist.
His trade-Plekanec idea is nuts though.
And simon_snake… well, I hope the QMJHL team that hired him as a scout on the basis of his postings there is only using his opinions on junior hockey. His pro scouting skills and his understanding of the pro game are utterly hilarious. Which is unfortunate because his status as a “star poster” because of actually working in the field means his words are given more weight than simple common sense tells us deserve.
“Pacioretty is a third liner” is particularly laughable, yes. But he’s also the worst kind of tank-and-draft fetishist. In a way it makes sense that a junior scout would be (professional deformation), but you’d expect for more insight than that from someone who’s supposed to be a (part-time) hockey man.
Weird how someone can be rational enough to point out that picks aren’t guaranteed to pan out and that a bounce back is possible, yet say that a team should trade its best center without noticing that it’s the kind of move that puts you on the path to Edmonton not Philly or NJD.
Wow, if I was a Columbus fan I’d be looking for torches and sharp farming implements right now.
Jack Johnson simply is a liability on 5 on 5 hockey. Season after season, huge minus in goals +/- and corsi in a 2nd pairing role.
And he’s been around long enough I doubt he gets any better either.
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by Stephan Cooper on Feb 24, 2012 4:35 PM EST up reply actions
Johnathan Willis posted this nice bit on Copper and Blue:
“Jack Johnson’s first full season was 2007-08.
Since then, he’s been minus-85 on the Kings – the worst/plus minus number in the NHL over that span.
The second worst player (Brendan Witt, minus-65) was demoted to the AHL and then bought out by the Islanders in 2010."
All this for a guy who’s definitely not getting #1 D-man minutes, what with this Drew Doughty guy on the same team.
Probably an object lesson about the paramount importance of positioning skills in defensemen and the overvaluing of athletic skills over actual hockey ability.
Along those lines 67sound had a tweet on Twitter that I saw at lunch time:
Over the last 4 years Jack Johnson ranks 498 of 504 in Goals% (GF/GA, I assume). of players with greater than 2,000 minutes. Dead last in FenwickTied%.
Last night I said it was a bad deal because Johnson’s an overpaid #4 defenseman. Smarter people have pointed out that he’s actually worse than that.
I look at that trade and think my Desharnais, draft pick, and other pieces daydreaming could have easily beat it but I bet Howson thinks he got a good deal because of the draft pedigree.
I’ve been browsing our brother site “the Cannon”
My feelings while watching them get excited about their current and future defense can be best described as;
You poor deluded fools. You really have no idea what’s coming do you.
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by Stephan Cooper on Feb 24, 2012 5:27 PM EST up reply actions
They know nothing but hopes and dreams. It’s all they’ve ever had as fans of that franchise.
The Blue Jackets’ official Twitter feed today has been hilarious if any of you haven’t checked it out. Answering absolutely every question thrown their way, from questions about who Jeff Carter is, if he’s playing tonight, to date requests and philsophical questions about love.
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It’s a shame Columbus has never had the chance to have an NHL team. First Doug Maclean built the team using a deck of cards and then Howson couldn’t even really improve on it.
This is the type of trade I’ve been worried about Gauthier making since the end of December.
It’s really a shame, Columbus is one of the few really good hockey markets of the recent expansion/relocation era and a lot of that interest has been wasted by this puddle of liquid stool they call a franchise. Nash may be on the way out and Howson is apparently in charge of the “rebuild”. That’s a fanbase that has absolutely nothing to look forward to.
If I’m Nail Yakopov I take one look at that organization and say “screw this, I’m going to Russia.”
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by Stephan Cooper on Feb 24, 2012 7:32 PM EST up reply actions
Markov in regular practice, in a no-contact jersey.
Lines:
MaxPac – DD – Cole
Eller – Plekanec – Kostitsyn
Bourque – Gomez – White
Leblanc – Nokelainen – Palushaj
So Darche is hurt I guess? I thought he just left the last game due to the flu, and surely that’s over by now…
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Renaud Lavoie noted he actually got kneed in the head by Gorges on the Stars second goal which Cunneyworth played as dizziness due to illness.
Ick.
Yikes. Not good. If there is one depth player I’ve liked more than any in recent years, it definitely is Darche.
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For Twitter Updates on Puck Worlds, follow @puckworlds. For updates plus additional witty banter from yours truly, follow @saskhab.
by Bruce Peter on Feb 24, 2012 11:43 AM EST up reply actions
Well, he’ll be back at some point.
Right now, it means it’s Nokia time! Oh yeah!
Also, is Randy going with 7 D again tonight? Oooh, such excitement, I can barely wait!
Also, Hunter is feuding with Hamrlik because Hamr is making mistakes and taking penalties or something like that. Why these clowns get those jobs is beyond me.
Hamrlik for Kaberle?
Puck Worlds: Chasing Pucks from here to Turku.
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by Bruce Peter on Feb 24, 2012 12:15 PM EST up reply actions
BTW, if Darche has a concussion, that would be the first Habs player with one this year… and we’re up at the top in terms of man-games lost. Bizarre.
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.
by Bruce Peter on Feb 24, 2012 12:17 PM EST up reply actions
I said on C&B that right now, it looks like Benoit Pouliot at 4th overall looks like a steal compared to Jack Johnson at 3rd overall in 2005 based on overall ability. I’m not postiive that is 100% accurate, but I think its in the ballpark of being there.
So I went back and looked at the 2005 Draft as a mental exercise… I actually find the 2nd round to be kind of interesting. This run of 40-45 is to me at least:
40. Mike Sauer (NYR)
41. Ondrej Pavelec (ATL)
42. Justin Abdelkader (DET)
43. Mike Blunden (CHI)
44. Paul Stastny (COL)
45. Guillaume Latendresse (MTL)
Poor Blunden looks bad next to his peers even in the 2nd round of his draft!
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.
The only trade I’m aware of them making is Downie for Quincey, which doesn’t seem too bad although I haven’t looked into it much. On a related note, I looked at some of the Colorado players’ stats on behindthenet and Landeskog and O’Reilly are really impressive, especially given how young they are. Funny, people laughed at my assertion that Landeskog was better than RNH.
That year is a pretty good demonstration of the randomness of the whole draft enterprise, lots of underwhelming guys at the top.
It sucks for Latendresse that he had to deal with those injuries, but him being off the ice is the only thing helping us to forget the pointless talent giveaway that was that trade.
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