Varlamov arrested for domestic violence, kidnapping - Thursday Habs Links

Happy Halloween to all the ghouls and goblins within the EOTP community. If you’re looking for something to do tonight and want to get really spooked, may I suggest you re-watch Douglas Murray’s first two games as a Hab? For those in the audience with other plans, faint hearts, and/or weak stomachs, I’ll just present Murray’s stat line for you. In 26.4 minutes of total ice time, our very own Frankenstein’s Monster is rocking a 23.8% EV CF% (i.e. he’s getting out attempted by more than triple), a -4.6 penalty differential per 60 minutes, and a -7 EV scoring chance differential. If these numbers, coupled with Murray’s deployment, don’t scare you, I don’t know what will.

Apologies for the negativity on what is supposed to be a fun day. Be safe out there tonight and enjoy today’s links.

Montreal Canadiens News and Analysis

There’s no real roster news to report today, so I guess I’ll just speculate on random things. With Patrick Holland, who was skating as the fourth line right winger, getting sent back to Hamilton, and George Parros, who occupied that RW spot on opening night, traveling with the team, it seems likely that we’ll see Parros join the fourth line in Minnesota on Friday. If you thought Ryan White had it rough against Dallas, wait until Blunden-White-Parros are deployed on the road.

Christopher Boucher breaks down the passing tendencies and success rates of Montreal’s D-corps in the defensive zone. Andrei Markov looks fantastic in this analysis. The General has attempted the fewest D-to-D passes, which have the highest success rate, and the most stretch passes, which have the lowest success rate, and still ranks first among blueliners in D-zone passing percentage.

Philip Fleming, 72, has worked as a Bell Centre usher for 27 years and claims to have only missed three games in his career. He says that his job doesn’t feel like work, which means he’s living the dream. Keep on keeping on, Phil.

Erik Cole sat down with The Gazette’s Dave Stubbs to talk about his time as a Hab, particularly his relationship with ownership and management, and how he feels about his game after struggling through a lower body injury last season. It’s a good read, as per usual.

Alex Galchenyuk and Brendan Gallagher took part in a pumpkin carving contest this week and I was impressed by the output and verbal jabs of both young men. However, I feel B. Gally missed an opportunity to channel his namesake and smash the crap out of his pumpkin. Despite all my rage, it’s still a good watch.

General News and Analysis

Colorado Avalanche goalie Semyon Varlamov has run into some very serious legal trouble, getting arrested on charges of kidnapping and assault. Here’s reaction from Mile High Hockey.

Copper ‘n’ Blue commenter curcro has created a fantastic statistic called QUALGRIT. Within his analysis, curcro looks at the distribution of roughing penalties and fighting majors throughout each team’s lineup and compares them to the injuries and illegal hits that each team received during the 2012-2013 season. The idea is to see the impact toughness, as represented by rough play, has on team safety and performance. Not surprising (or possibly surprising depending on your disposition) QUALGRIT did not stop injuries, increase wins, or reduce the number of victims of illegal play.

As archived audio reveals, President John F. Kennedy was not impressed with Team USA’s performance at the 1963 world amateur hockey championships.

The despair stage in Edmonton’s yearly story arc, an arc which begins with off-season trepidation over the defense and ends with lottery pick analysis, has come early this year, but two fans are still trying to rally the troops. Tyler Dellow notes that 13 playoffs teams since 05-06 have gone on streaks where they’ve posted eight points in 14 games, rebutting the view that Edmonton’s playoff aspirations are completely hopeless. Meanwhile, Ryan Batty notes that this Oilers team’s potential shouldn’t be judged on a run that’s featured unsustainably awful goaltending and horrible injury luck.

EOTP’s own Arik Parnass was retweeted by Elliotte Friedman after the former exposed a terrible error made in the HNIC control room.

Steven Ellis of Olympic Hockey News gives his thoughts on the 2018 Olympics in light of the business difficulties that will inevitably surround games played in South Korea. Meanwhile, we’re officially 100 days away from the start of the Sochi Olympics, which is pretty sweet.

A Boston Bruins‘ fan produces his own suspension video for John Scott.