With the Habs terrible shootout record there has been tons of talk among our game threads about what Carey Price needs to do to improve the Canadiens chance of winning these glorified coin flips. There has been a consensus in that we believe that Price needs to be more aggressive with his depth and occasionally guess, creating a challenge for shooters who seem to have been able to exploit his predictability. We also have noticed that Price has been susceptible to opponents moving him to his left and placing a quick backhand through his legs while he is in transition.

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If you asked Canadiens fans and media who the most useless player on the team is, you would likely get the answer Scott Gomez. If you ask that question here you will get a different response.

Last weekend I posted about process versus result and introduced how Fenwick results correlate strongly to playoff participation. As the league moves towards fewer powerplays, even strength production and possession becomes a strong predictor of future success.

The first year after the lockout, the league awarded 23,679 penalty minutes. It resulted in plummeting save percentages (.901 league average, in 2012 it is .913) and 2545 powerplay goals.

That number has plummeted over the last 4 seasons and with it the success of teams who rely heavily on special teams to qualify for the playoffs

The 2008-2010 Canadiens managed to succeed with poor Fenwick numbers because of elite special teams. With the hiring of Martin the possession stats began to climb to the point where I believed with a healthy roster that they were legitimate Cup contenders.

Even with the loss of Markov the Canadiens managed to avoid disaster and although the results indicated a desperate/terrible team, the process indicated every thing was okay. They were controlling the play for the majority of time and their Fenwick numbers were strong.

I noticed in my graphic on the weekend that the Fenwick number had steadily declined over the last 2-3 weeks. After last night's uninspiring performance against the Blue Jackets I wondered where the slippage began.

I looked at both significant Fenwick declines and they measured up consistently with local millionaire and whipping boy Scott Gomez's absence. This could be a coincidence, but Gomez has a strong history of positive puck possession so it could be that he isn't as useless as the fans believe. I used a couple scripts and crunched some numbers and came up with the following visual to display team Fenwick with and without Gomez.

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Canada's greatest hockey secret is the high quality of the sport being played at the Canadian Interunveristy Sport level.  Every year, players who have spent their formative teenage years playing major junior hockey join the league on a full scholarship from the QMJHL, OHL, or WHL, and set themselves up for a career that may or may not include hockey.  NHL scouts forget about the players, and without media coverage beyond campus newspapers, a lot of good players get forgotten about.  Sure, a few fans of the players when they were playing major junior hockey are aware of where they are, but often they simply go about their business away from the spotlight and prepare for their post-hockey career. 

But a few beat the odds and make it as a pro hockey player.  And a few of them even make it to the show.  Steve Rucchin, Randy Gregg, Paul MacLean, Cory Cross, Stu Grimson, and even Montreal radio personality and CBC commentator P.J. Stock is amongst this group.  In the current NHL, three players with CIS backgrounds are currently playing:  Flyers goon Jody Shelley, $3m two-way Capitals winger Joel Ward, and the Canadiens own McGill alum Mathieu Darche.  Sometime Maple Leafs centre Darryl Boyce is also part of the current club, although he hasn't played a NHL game this season. 

Now Frederic St. Denis, who was named the Hamilton Bulldogs' top defenseman in 2010-11, seems set to join this group.  It took a lot of injuries/maladies for St. Denis to get the call, and there is the possibility that Hal Gill could still be well enough to play tonight and deny St. Denis his debut, but from the looks of things the Canadiens will be forced to play their #11 d-man on the depth chart tonight (assuming injured farmhand Brendon Nash is #10).  And if this list from the Copper And Blue's Derek Zona is complete, St. Denis will also be the first former player from the
Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières to make it to the NHL.  Go UQTR Patriotes!

After the jump are St. Denis' career numbers:

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A nice tribute to the Canadiens captain. Probably a bit of a copyright infringement with Marvel though.

Scott Gomez with a funny interview, with RDS' L'Antichambere in Sept 2010, talking about his fighting record , Maxim Lapierre and playing with Brian Gionta and Mike Cammalleri.

Some outtakes of Canadiens goalie Carey Price, pre-Triple-Low_Five days

For your Sunday viewing pleasure, a nice video tribute to P.K. Subban, with commentary from Donald S, Mike Richards and Joffrey Lupul.

"Sweet Jesus!," was Carey Price's reaction to the picture of him from off our Habs Top 25 Under 25. The 24-year-old  was a maybe a little stunned to see himself imaged in such as a way, as our Chris Boyle showed him the picture off his phone.

Chris and I both had the chance to catch up with the Habs netminder backstage at an autograph signing at AJSportsworld in Toronto Friday night. Despite running almost 20 minutes late, due to traffic in Toronto fueled by this week's TIFF event, Price was kind enough to answer a few questions from us, as well as the newest member of the EOTP team, Chris' son Patrick.

When asked' "Who's doing the interview?" I immediately volunteered Patrick to hop in the chair next to Price. I think he'll be talking about that at school and hockey practices for weeks to come.

As he worked his way through the table of photos and pucks to be signed, Price gave us a bit of insight into his summer. "I was doing rodeo every day, four hours a day, right up to the end of last week," he said with a grin, but don't think he was putting his off-season training regimen aside. "I trained in the morning and was roping at night."

"I was training with Josh," he said, acknowledging his close friend and fellow BC native, Josh Gorges and noting his friend's knee surgery is showing positive signs as training camp approaches, "He's doing really well, and he's looking good. My goalie coach came out and spent 10 days with me too"

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