I was thinking about this today, and came up with a list. Here are my top ten reasons you know you're a Habs' fan:
10. When you blow out the candles on your birthday cake, your wish is for a big, right-handed centre.
9. When the clue in crossword puzzles is "A city in Finland," your first response is always "Turku."
8. You actually have an opinion about the summer workout regimen of a 21-year-old fat goalie.
7. When playing pickup, you will not wear the numbers 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10, 12, 16, 18, 19, 23, 29 or 33 because they're retired.
6. The number 21, 273 means something to you.
5. Bob Cole's call of the final minute of the 1993 Stanley Cup Final can still make you choke up a little. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcGsHvjMS00
4. March 17 is the anniversary of the Richard Riot. St.Patrick is a Conn Smythe-winning goalie.
3. A Habs' loss has been known to put you out of "the mood." A win, on the other hand...
2. You refuse to write "leaf" with a capital "L."
And, the number one reason you know you're a Habs' fan:
1. You do not actually speak good French, but you watch eighty-two games a year, plus playoffs, on RDS and completely understand what Houde, Demers et al. are talking about. And you wouldn't trade it for anything.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
R-E-L-A-X
I hate preseason hockey. It's the first taste of the sport we get after the loooonnnggg off-season, so the excitement around such a meaningless event is way out of proportion. Then, when the team gets pasted, as it did last night in Halifax, we see the first chunks of airy blue hit the ground around the sky-is-falling crowd.
Sure, it's not fun to see the team come out on the wrong end of an 8-3 score, to the Bruins of all teams, (okay, maybe the Leafs would have been worse) even if it is only preseason. But to let the result colour expectations of the coming season is a bit silly. Yet, some fans are already saying Jaro Halak isn't as good as we all thought he was, that Sergei Kostitsyn's poor game means he's set for a sophomore slump and Alex Tanguay disappeared after the team got down by a couple. Of course we know those things are probably not true in the big picture, but the fear is there that a loss like that might sow even the tiniest seeds of doubt in the minds of the players that they might not be as good as they think they are. And in a season when the team needs every single ounce of confidence and energy it can muster if it hopes to live up to its own and its fans' expectations, even the tiniest doubt is too big.
The truth is, the Habs played a Boston team much more pumped to prove something than they were. And many of the Canadiens' players, particularly defencemen, will not be on the Centennial opening-night roster. It was a lousy effort by half a team playing its first game in four months after just two days of "training camp" and a same-day arrival in Halifax. Big deal. It doesn't mean the Habs will be disfunctional this year. It doesn't mean Halak is weak or Tanguay heartless. It does mean...exactly nothing. Which is another big reason why I hate preseason hockey.
I don't like sending out players on whom the team depends to contest these pointless battles. Last night, Roman Hamrlik left the ice with a groin injury as a "precaution" according to Coach Carbo. He's a player the Canadiens can ill afford to lose for an extended period of time regardless, but his loss would certainly hurt more if the injury happened in a preseason game. The Penguins are feeling the truth of that with the loss of PP quarterback and general pack animal on defence, Sergei Gonchar, for an undetermined part of the coming season...all due to a shoulder injury sustained in a meaningless game.
I understand the players need game time to build line chemistry and to get up to speed for the coming season, and the preseason is a good chance for prospects to get a taste of the big leagues and show what they can do. But so many games pressed into such a short period of time, especially after only two days of on-ice work, seems to me to be a little irresponsible on the part of the teams who arrange these things. The games are an additional source of league revenue of course, which makes the case in favour of them a strong one in the eyes of NHL management and owners. However, there should be a more responsible way of scheduling them.
In the end, for reasons of tradition or economics, preseason games will go ahead as they always do. I'm not hoping for a great record or for the Habs to prove to the league that they're Cup contenders. I just want them to find their feet for the start of the real season. And I hope they come out of the preseason healthy and mentally ready to make a splash when it really counts.
Sure, it's not fun to see the team come out on the wrong end of an 8-3 score, to the Bruins of all teams, (okay, maybe the Leafs would have been worse) even if it is only preseason. But to let the result colour expectations of the coming season is a bit silly. Yet, some fans are already saying Jaro Halak isn't as good as we all thought he was, that Sergei Kostitsyn's poor game means he's set for a sophomore slump and Alex Tanguay disappeared after the team got down by a couple. Of course we know those things are probably not true in the big picture, but the fear is there that a loss like that might sow even the tiniest seeds of doubt in the minds of the players that they might not be as good as they think they are. And in a season when the team needs every single ounce of confidence and energy it can muster if it hopes to live up to its own and its fans' expectations, even the tiniest doubt is too big.
The truth is, the Habs played a Boston team much more pumped to prove something than they were. And many of the Canadiens' players, particularly defencemen, will not be on the Centennial opening-night roster. It was a lousy effort by half a team playing its first game in four months after just two days of "training camp" and a same-day arrival in Halifax. Big deal. It doesn't mean the Habs will be disfunctional this year. It doesn't mean Halak is weak or Tanguay heartless. It does mean...exactly nothing. Which is another big reason why I hate preseason hockey.
I don't like sending out players on whom the team depends to contest these pointless battles. Last night, Roman Hamrlik left the ice with a groin injury as a "precaution" according to Coach Carbo. He's a player the Canadiens can ill afford to lose for an extended period of time regardless, but his loss would certainly hurt more if the injury happened in a preseason game. The Penguins are feeling the truth of that with the loss of PP quarterback and general pack animal on defence, Sergei Gonchar, for an undetermined part of the coming season...all due to a shoulder injury sustained in a meaningless game.
I understand the players need game time to build line chemistry and to get up to speed for the coming season, and the preseason is a good chance for prospects to get a taste of the big leagues and show what they can do. But so many games pressed into such a short period of time, especially after only two days of on-ice work, seems to me to be a little irresponsible on the part of the teams who arrange these things. The games are an additional source of league revenue of course, which makes the case in favour of them a strong one in the eyes of NHL management and owners. However, there should be a more responsible way of scheduling them.
In the end, for reasons of tradition or economics, preseason games will go ahead as they always do. I'm not hoping for a great record or for the Habs to prove to the league that they're Cup contenders. I just want them to find their feet for the start of the real season. And I hope they come out of the preseason healthy and mentally ready to make a splash when it really counts.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Chippin' away
As a Montreal Canadiens' fan, I'm delighted to see so many prospects almost ready for prime time that the team has to bring fifty-two guys to training camp. And I'm thrilled that so many of the regular roster spots on the big team are filled by players who are young enough to hold those spots for many years to come. The abundance of talent is balm to the afflicted soul of a fan who's lived through the last sixteen years of post-season futility. Those who clearly remember the great seventies teams say today's squad is the closest thing the Habs have had to that slick, savvy, fast style that was their trademark thirty years ago in...well...thirty years.
But if Isaac Newton is to be believed, for every action, there's an equal and opposite reaction. In this case, if the action is filling the big team with young talent, the reaction is the creation of a backlog that leaves good young players stagnating in the minors. And there we have another similarity to the last Habs' dynasty. Just as it was true that the seventies teams were ripe with youth and talent, and were great at drafting and holding onto their prospects, it was also true that those teams were the Waterloo of many a young player's career. Back then, if players had the skill and didn't want to sweat it out for years in the minors, they could go to the WHA. Now, it's Europe or the KHL, or a move to some bottom-feeding NHL team with few prospects competing for big-league roster spots.
We've seen some of that effect in the Habs' current system already. Corey Locke and Mikhail Grabovsky were high on the Canadiens' prospect lists for years, and do, in fact, have skills. Whether those skills will translate to NHL careers of any note is still to be determined. But there's Grabovsky, not strong enough to crack the Habs' roster last year, now pencilled in as the Leafs' number-one centre. All of which brings me around to Kyle Chipchura.
Chipchura was drafted in the first round for the express purpose of developing into a big, strong, smart, shutdown centre. He's got a lot of the natural tools, as well as being known as a good leader on every team on which he's played. He was good enough to make the Canadiens last year out of camp because he busted his butt to do so. But then, a mid-season drop in energy and the need to work on his faceoffs resulted in his demotion to Hamilton and replacement on the big club by Maxim Lapierre. The demotion, coupled with the acquisition of Robert Lang as a third-line centre, not to mention the plethora of players fighting for fourth-line spots in Montreal, seems to have sucked the hope out of Chipchura.
No one is saying he's injured, so when every report out of camp from reporters and from fans, reveals a disheartened, apparently disinterested player, it's more than a little surprising. For someone like me, who was there in Montreal to see Chipchura score his first NHL goal, it's a big disappointment. Just when the guy needs to work even harder to prove he's progressed and deserves a spot over a guy like Dandenault, he seems to be dogging it a bit. Meanwhile, Dandenault is skating his feet down to the ankle bones in an effort to hold onto his spot.
Now, I don't know if Chipchura isn't making a great impression so far because he's just better in games than in drills...maybe that's the case. But by all reports, he's not even hustling in the drills. I mean, you can make mistakes at this point in practice, but you have to at least look like you're trying hard while you're making them. He'll get a shot to show some enthusiasm in game situations in the next few days, and hopefully he'll step it up and fight for his place.
If he doesn't; if he allows the packed roster in Montreal and the younger Trotter and Maxwell breathing down his neck in Hamilton to get him down, he'll go the way of Grabovsky and Locke. And that would be too bad, because I think Chipchura will eventually fulfill the promise the Habs saw when they drafted him in the first round. I just hope he has the mental fortitude to chip away at the stone into which the Canadiens' lineup is set, and wedge himself in there. And, if he can't; if it's Hamilton for another year for him, I hope the demotion doesn't break his spirit.
While it's true he'd probably already be in the NHL if he was a Leaf or a Thrashers' prospect, being a Hab will be worth the wait. He just can't quit in the meantime. Because, make no mistake, Kyle Chipchura is a test case for what we're going to see in the next few seasons. With Andrei Markov, Roman Hamrlik, Josh Gorges, Ryan O'Byrne and (presumably) Mike Komisarek holding down blueline spots for the next few years, young D-men like Pavel Valentenko, Mathieu Carle, Yannick Weber and Alexei Yemelin, who are all almost ready for the show, are going to be spinning their wheels while they wait for a chance in Montreal. There's going to be a need for patience on the part of the players, and the big team's management is going to have to handle them with care, making sure there's enough hope to go around.
But if Isaac Newton is to be believed, for every action, there's an equal and opposite reaction. In this case, if the action is filling the big team with young talent, the reaction is the creation of a backlog that leaves good young players stagnating in the minors. And there we have another similarity to the last Habs' dynasty. Just as it was true that the seventies teams were ripe with youth and talent, and were great at drafting and holding onto their prospects, it was also true that those teams were the Waterloo of many a young player's career. Back then, if players had the skill and didn't want to sweat it out for years in the minors, they could go to the WHA. Now, it's Europe or the KHL, or a move to some bottom-feeding NHL team with few prospects competing for big-league roster spots.
We've seen some of that effect in the Habs' current system already. Corey Locke and Mikhail Grabovsky were high on the Canadiens' prospect lists for years, and do, in fact, have skills. Whether those skills will translate to NHL careers of any note is still to be determined. But there's Grabovsky, not strong enough to crack the Habs' roster last year, now pencilled in as the Leafs' number-one centre. All of which brings me around to Kyle Chipchura.
Chipchura was drafted in the first round for the express purpose of developing into a big, strong, smart, shutdown centre. He's got a lot of the natural tools, as well as being known as a good leader on every team on which he's played. He was good enough to make the Canadiens last year out of camp because he busted his butt to do so. But then, a mid-season drop in energy and the need to work on his faceoffs resulted in his demotion to Hamilton and replacement on the big club by Maxim Lapierre. The demotion, coupled with the acquisition of Robert Lang as a third-line centre, not to mention the plethora of players fighting for fourth-line spots in Montreal, seems to have sucked the hope out of Chipchura.
No one is saying he's injured, so when every report out of camp from reporters and from fans, reveals a disheartened, apparently disinterested player, it's more than a little surprising. For someone like me, who was there in Montreal to see Chipchura score his first NHL goal, it's a big disappointment. Just when the guy needs to work even harder to prove he's progressed and deserves a spot over a guy like Dandenault, he seems to be dogging it a bit. Meanwhile, Dandenault is skating his feet down to the ankle bones in an effort to hold onto his spot.
Now, I don't know if Chipchura isn't making a great impression so far because he's just better in games than in drills...maybe that's the case. But by all reports, he's not even hustling in the drills. I mean, you can make mistakes at this point in practice, but you have to at least look like you're trying hard while you're making them. He'll get a shot to show some enthusiasm in game situations in the next few days, and hopefully he'll step it up and fight for his place.
If he doesn't; if he allows the packed roster in Montreal and the younger Trotter and Maxwell breathing down his neck in Hamilton to get him down, he'll go the way of Grabovsky and Locke. And that would be too bad, because I think Chipchura will eventually fulfill the promise the Habs saw when they drafted him in the first round. I just hope he has the mental fortitude to chip away at the stone into which the Canadiens' lineup is set, and wedge himself in there. And, if he can't; if it's Hamilton for another year for him, I hope the demotion doesn't break his spirit.
While it's true he'd probably already be in the NHL if he was a Leaf or a Thrashers' prospect, being a Hab will be worth the wait. He just can't quit in the meantime. Because, make no mistake, Kyle Chipchura is a test case for what we're going to see in the next few seasons. With Andrei Markov, Roman Hamrlik, Josh Gorges, Ryan O'Byrne and (presumably) Mike Komisarek holding down blueline spots for the next few years, young D-men like Pavel Valentenko, Mathieu Carle, Yannick Weber and Alexei Yemelin, who are all almost ready for the show, are going to be spinning their wheels while they wait for a chance in Montreal. There's going to be a need for patience on the part of the players, and the big team's management is going to have to handle them with care, making sure there's enough hope to go around.
Friday, September 19, 2008
Talkin' the talk
Well, I have to say, I like what I'm hearing. The boys are back and they're saying all the right things. More than right. They sound quietly confident and excited about the year to come. This is the first time I can remember the team talking Stanley Cup on the first day of training camp, as in, they have a real chance to win it. It's just like Steve Shutt said to me, "The Canadiens were successful because we looked to the Stanley Cup on the first day of camp, and never took our eyes off it until the last day of the playoffs." It's been a long time since a Canadiens' team opened the year with the philosophy of those dynasty teams. And it's not just talk, either. These players are sounding like a group with something to prove.
The risk this year is that the team is rushing ahead in its development because of the Centennial. Imagine the season to come, without the pressure of having to win to mark the big anniversary. We'd be looking forward to a great season, just because the team is young and exciting. But throw the hundredth birthday in there, and the idea that anything less than a Cup would be a disappointment is born...fair expectation or not. Fortunately, the moves Bob Gainey made this off-season will certainly help the team in that direction. With any luck, the great expectations of the players this year will serve to spur them on rather than intimidate them. But a Cup requires more than just a good young team. It needs blood, dedication, superior goaltending, lucky breaks and healthy bodies to go along with the skills. We understand that, but at the same time, it's hard not to think big when the players are doing their best to answer every question that's in their power to resolve.
Questions about whether Carey Price is ready to be the number one goalie, and whether last year's playoff meltdown was the real guy or not will be answered on the ice soon. But you have to like what he's saying...and doing. He was told he was out of shape last season, so he went home and trimmed the fat and learned how to eat properly. Now he says he feels quicker and hopes his endurance will be better if he follows his nutritionist's instruction. He worked hard to get better, and that's got to inspire his teammates' confidence.
The Russian national team criticised Alex Kovalev's speed, or lack thereof, last year. So he buckled down to work and cut some weight in an effort to get quicker. He's a guy who had a near-career year last year, but still cares enough to want to prove those guys wrong. That's the "I'll show 'em" attitude that wins Cups.
Guillaume Latendresse has been called fat and slow in his first two years in the NHL. Now, at 21, he's spent a summer working hard and re-learning how to skate, to the point at which conditioning coach Scott Livingston says he's gone from being one of the slowest on the team last camp to one of the five quickest this year. That's a man who really wants to show the world he's got what it takes to be a good NHL player.
Saku Koivu isn't saying the team is definitely going to win the Cup, but he talks about telling reporters how it will feel "after we win it." Victory is on his mind, and you can tell he senses something big building when he talks about the team being the best Habs squad he ever played on.
Mike Komisarek is talking about building on last year and taking it a step further this season. He wants to be where Detroit was last year, and he's not shy about saying he thinks the team can do it. Chris Higgins isn't talking about scoring forty goals, a prediction which put heavy pressure on him to perform last year...pressure he ultimately couldn't withstand. So, this year, he's quietly saying he wants to be more consistent and a better leader; goals he can fulfill, and outcomes that help a team win when it counts.
The words are certainly the right ones. But the words pronounced on the first day of training camp are often very different from those spoken by Christmas. In the case of this team, though, the actions backing up the bold words are more convincing. It feels different this year, because the players are different. They're excited, but they're confident in their added maturity and they're determined. And this year, they've got the talent...and hard work...to put their money where their mouths are.
The risk this year is that the team is rushing ahead in its development because of the Centennial. Imagine the season to come, without the pressure of having to win to mark the big anniversary. We'd be looking forward to a great season, just because the team is young and exciting. But throw the hundredth birthday in there, and the idea that anything less than a Cup would be a disappointment is born...fair expectation or not. Fortunately, the moves Bob Gainey made this off-season will certainly help the team in that direction. With any luck, the great expectations of the players this year will serve to spur them on rather than intimidate them. But a Cup requires more than just a good young team. It needs blood, dedication, superior goaltending, lucky breaks and healthy bodies to go along with the skills. We understand that, but at the same time, it's hard not to think big when the players are doing their best to answer every question that's in their power to resolve.
Questions about whether Carey Price is ready to be the number one goalie, and whether last year's playoff meltdown was the real guy or not will be answered on the ice soon. But you have to like what he's saying...and doing. He was told he was out of shape last season, so he went home and trimmed the fat and learned how to eat properly. Now he says he feels quicker and hopes his endurance will be better if he follows his nutritionist's instruction. He worked hard to get better, and that's got to inspire his teammates' confidence.
The Russian national team criticised Alex Kovalev's speed, or lack thereof, last year. So he buckled down to work and cut some weight in an effort to get quicker. He's a guy who had a near-career year last year, but still cares enough to want to prove those guys wrong. That's the "I'll show 'em" attitude that wins Cups.
Guillaume Latendresse has been called fat and slow in his first two years in the NHL. Now, at 21, he's spent a summer working hard and re-learning how to skate, to the point at which conditioning coach Scott Livingston says he's gone from being one of the slowest on the team last camp to one of the five quickest this year. That's a man who really wants to show the world he's got what it takes to be a good NHL player.
Saku Koivu isn't saying the team is definitely going to win the Cup, but he talks about telling reporters how it will feel "after we win it." Victory is on his mind, and you can tell he senses something big building when he talks about the team being the best Habs squad he ever played on.
Mike Komisarek is talking about building on last year and taking it a step further this season. He wants to be where Detroit was last year, and he's not shy about saying he thinks the team can do it. Chris Higgins isn't talking about scoring forty goals, a prediction which put heavy pressure on him to perform last year...pressure he ultimately couldn't withstand. So, this year, he's quietly saying he wants to be more consistent and a better leader; goals he can fulfill, and outcomes that help a team win when it counts.
The words are certainly the right ones. But the words pronounced on the first day of training camp are often very different from those spoken by Christmas. In the case of this team, though, the actions backing up the bold words are more convincing. It feels different this year, because the players are different. They're excited, but they're confident in their added maturity and they're determined. And this year, they've got the talent...and hard work...to put their money where their mouths are.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
The window is open...drive through
Well, the general consensus among the preseason pundits is that the Habs are in line to repeat as Eastern Conference champions, or at least finish in the top three. The mystique of the Centennial also has some experts calling the Canadiens legitimate Cup contenders for the first time in sixteen years. Of course, they're not pulling that assessment out of their butts entirely. The Habs are going to be a strong, well-balanced team. With the additions of Robert Lang and Alex Tanguay, they'll have the ability to roll three strong offensive-minded forward lines...all with the ability to play a little D as well. And the gritty, abrasive and energetic fourth line, with the addition of Georges Laraque's toughness will do some damage in its own way.
Fans and reporters alike are already making up their preferred line combinations, even though it looks, on paper, as though there really isn't a bad combo to be had. Lang with Kovalev and Higgins? Sure...that'd work. What about with Higgins and Latendresse? No problem. Plekanec centering Kovalev and Andrei Kostitsyn? Yup, that's good. Or between the two Kostitsyn brothers? No harm trying that one either. One thing we can be certain of...Guy Carbonneau will try every one we can think of, and some we can't, before the season winds down to playoff time.
That balance, then, is one of the signs that the Habs are ready to make a run at the Cup, and that their time...that precious window of opportunity...is now. The big push has perhaps been accelerated a little because of the Centennial, but there's no question Bob Gainey is going for it. While the offence seems to be improved since last year; Lang's and Tanguay's expected totals being likely to top Bryan Smolinski's, Michael Ryder's and Mark Streit's combined, there are still a couple of questions outstanding. Can Ryan O'Byrne or Josh Gorges be the fourth defenceman the team needs to put up big minutes and shut down the threats on the other side? Can Carey Price and Jaro Halak be good enough to bring home a Cup? Gainey's tried to address those as best he can with the signings of Patrice Brisebois as veteran insurance on D, and Marc Denis to perform the same role in the net.
What's scary for fans...and maybe for the players as well...is that the window is such a narrow one. In the last several years, we've seen Buffalo rise and fall, Ottawa contend, then slump and Pittsburgh surge, then lose a good chunk of their depth this off-season. Pre-lockout, a team could be strong for five or six years before beginning its inevitable decline. Now, with free agency beginning so much earlier and the salaries players fetch on the open market being what they are, teams' cores are disintegrating more quickly than they ever have. The window of opportunity can open more quickly than a team had planned with a couple of quick free agent additions, but it also closes after only a brief season or two.
The Detroit Red Wings seem to be the only exception to that rule. They quietly build their team in their proven style every year, draft well and wait for their opportunity to strike. Last year, a season in which no surging Anaheim or Cinderella Carolina or Tampa pushed to the fore, Detroit grabbed that opportunity to add another Cup to its legacy. Their window is always open, even if circumstances don't allow them a Cup every year. I'm glad Bob Gainey is trying to build the Canadiens in that mold.
The Centennial window, with so many Habs free agents pending at the end of the year, could be very brief. But Gainey has seen to it that another window will open within a year or two. The Canadiens aren't likely to be crippled by free agent departures like Buffalo, or handcuffed by inequitable division of the team's allotted salary between a few stars and the rest of the team. It's a good pattern to settle into...a couple of years of serious contention, rebuild quickly from a strong farm and then contend again. Or, at least as good a pattern as any GM could hope to follow in this salary-cap era.
So, Gainey has done his part to open the window this year. And, if there's a need at trade deadline time, he'll do his best to address it and push the embrasure a little wider. After that, it's up to the team he's assembled to decide if it's ready to walk through. The Canadiens' squad we're looking at now may not be the most ideal at every position to have the very best chance of winning this year...but it's good enough to take a real stab at it if luck, health and desire lend wings to their skills. In a time when a team's window of opportunity slams shut pretty quickly, maybe no one can wait for perfection to make a run anymore. In about six months from now, we'll know whether our guys are made of more opportunistic stuff than their opponents who've failed to grab their own chances in recent years. Those of us who want to add a hundredth-birthday present to the team's great legacy hope they are.
Fans and reporters alike are already making up their preferred line combinations, even though it looks, on paper, as though there really isn't a bad combo to be had. Lang with Kovalev and Higgins? Sure...that'd work. What about with Higgins and Latendresse? No problem. Plekanec centering Kovalev and Andrei Kostitsyn? Yup, that's good. Or between the two Kostitsyn brothers? No harm trying that one either. One thing we can be certain of...Guy Carbonneau will try every one we can think of, and some we can't, before the season winds down to playoff time.
That balance, then, is one of the signs that the Habs are ready to make a run at the Cup, and that their time...that precious window of opportunity...is now. The big push has perhaps been accelerated a little because of the Centennial, but there's no question Bob Gainey is going for it. While the offence seems to be improved since last year; Lang's and Tanguay's expected totals being likely to top Bryan Smolinski's, Michael Ryder's and Mark Streit's combined, there are still a couple of questions outstanding. Can Ryan O'Byrne or Josh Gorges be the fourth defenceman the team needs to put up big minutes and shut down the threats on the other side? Can Carey Price and Jaro Halak be good enough to bring home a Cup? Gainey's tried to address those as best he can with the signings of Patrice Brisebois as veteran insurance on D, and Marc Denis to perform the same role in the net.
What's scary for fans...and maybe for the players as well...is that the window is such a narrow one. In the last several years, we've seen Buffalo rise and fall, Ottawa contend, then slump and Pittsburgh surge, then lose a good chunk of their depth this off-season. Pre-lockout, a team could be strong for five or six years before beginning its inevitable decline. Now, with free agency beginning so much earlier and the salaries players fetch on the open market being what they are, teams' cores are disintegrating more quickly than they ever have. The window of opportunity can open more quickly than a team had planned with a couple of quick free agent additions, but it also closes after only a brief season or two.
The Detroit Red Wings seem to be the only exception to that rule. They quietly build their team in their proven style every year, draft well and wait for their opportunity to strike. Last year, a season in which no surging Anaheim or Cinderella Carolina or Tampa pushed to the fore, Detroit grabbed that opportunity to add another Cup to its legacy. Their window is always open, even if circumstances don't allow them a Cup every year. I'm glad Bob Gainey is trying to build the Canadiens in that mold.
The Centennial window, with so many Habs free agents pending at the end of the year, could be very brief. But Gainey has seen to it that another window will open within a year or two. The Canadiens aren't likely to be crippled by free agent departures like Buffalo, or handcuffed by inequitable division of the team's allotted salary between a few stars and the rest of the team. It's a good pattern to settle into...a couple of years of serious contention, rebuild quickly from a strong farm and then contend again. Or, at least as good a pattern as any GM could hope to follow in this salary-cap era.
So, Gainey has done his part to open the window this year. And, if there's a need at trade deadline time, he'll do his best to address it and push the embrasure a little wider. After that, it's up to the team he's assembled to decide if it's ready to walk through. The Canadiens' squad we're looking at now may not be the most ideal at every position to have the very best chance of winning this year...but it's good enough to take a real stab at it if luck, health and desire lend wings to their skills. In a time when a team's window of opportunity slams shut pretty quickly, maybe no one can wait for perfection to make a run anymore. In about six months from now, we'll know whether our guys are made of more opportunistic stuff than their opponents who've failed to grab their own chances in recent years. Those of us who want to add a hundredth-birthday present to the team's great legacy hope they are.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Odd man out?
With less than a week to go before training camp opens, the Canadiens have 24 men on their NHL roster. Since the official roster maximum is 23, that means someone's got to go. The question is, who bites the bullet to whittle the number down?
The smart money says it will be either Mathieu Dandenault or Kyle Chipchura. Dandenault seems to have finished his run in Montreal. His so-called versatility should be a selling point. But considering that he didn't play a single game on defence, even when there were injuries, in favour of 37-year-old Patrice Brisebois, that "versatility" is more than a little overrated. The sixty-one games he played were on the third or fourth-line wing, from which he racked up only fourteen points and was a team-worst (by a fair margin too) minus eleven. He also let it be known he didn't appreciate being benched when he had to sit out a few games. That's not the attitude you want from a borderline veteran who's supposed to be filling holes and setting an example for the young guys.
Then, on the other hand, you have Chipchura. He was drafted for his hockey sense, nice hands and leadership, and targeted to be a third-line shut-down specialist. That job requires a degree of learning on the job at the NHL level, which is fine for a building team. But the Canadiens aren't a building team anymore. They're a "win-it-now" team. That means there's not a lot of room for trial and error with rookies, which could mean Chipchura has to ride the buses until there's an injury at forward on the big team. After all, Dandenault might be considered by some to be better insurance on a game-to-game basis than a kid who has yet to hold an NHL job for a full season. And we know Gainey tends to be extremely considerate of the veterans who've served the team well. If there's no trade possibility for Dandenault, the GM would be reluctant to waive or demote him, which would be bad news for Chipchura.
That said, Bob Gainey did specify this summer that Chipchura *would* have a spot on the team that would be his to lose. If that was true, and the acquisition of Robert Lang hasn't changed the situation, then we have to expect the four centres (written in pencil at the start of camp) will be Koivu, Plekanec, Lang and Chipchura. That means Maxim Lapierre would join the crowd fighting for fourth-line icetime on the wings, and Dandenault defaults back to odd man out.
It's an interesting dilemma. On the one hand, you have a kid who's probably ready to earn an NHL spot and learn the ropes of the job he'll hold in the future. On the other, you have a proven veteran who came to the team as a free agent when few others would, and to whom Bob Gainey feels some degree of loyalty. Gainey will now face a tough choice...to demote the promising kid or to cut loose the diminishing vet. It's the kind choice we'll see more of as the team improves and competition for spots heats up.
For Gainey it means there'll be a few more uncomfortable days in the near future. For us, it means he's doing his job right, and our team is on the upswing. I'm just glad he's the one who's making the decisions.
The smart money says it will be either Mathieu Dandenault or Kyle Chipchura. Dandenault seems to have finished his run in Montreal. His so-called versatility should be a selling point. But considering that he didn't play a single game on defence, even when there were injuries, in favour of 37-year-old Patrice Brisebois, that "versatility" is more than a little overrated. The sixty-one games he played were on the third or fourth-line wing, from which he racked up only fourteen points and was a team-worst (by a fair margin too) minus eleven. He also let it be known he didn't appreciate being benched when he had to sit out a few games. That's not the attitude you want from a borderline veteran who's supposed to be filling holes and setting an example for the young guys.
Then, on the other hand, you have Chipchura. He was drafted for his hockey sense, nice hands and leadership, and targeted to be a third-line shut-down specialist. That job requires a degree of learning on the job at the NHL level, which is fine for a building team. But the Canadiens aren't a building team anymore. They're a "win-it-now" team. That means there's not a lot of room for trial and error with rookies, which could mean Chipchura has to ride the buses until there's an injury at forward on the big team. After all, Dandenault might be considered by some to be better insurance on a game-to-game basis than a kid who has yet to hold an NHL job for a full season. And we know Gainey tends to be extremely considerate of the veterans who've served the team well. If there's no trade possibility for Dandenault, the GM would be reluctant to waive or demote him, which would be bad news for Chipchura.
That said, Bob Gainey did specify this summer that Chipchura *would* have a spot on the team that would be his to lose. If that was true, and the acquisition of Robert Lang hasn't changed the situation, then we have to expect the four centres (written in pencil at the start of camp) will be Koivu, Plekanec, Lang and Chipchura. That means Maxim Lapierre would join the crowd fighting for fourth-line icetime on the wings, and Dandenault defaults back to odd man out.
It's an interesting dilemma. On the one hand, you have a kid who's probably ready to earn an NHL spot and learn the ropes of the job he'll hold in the future. On the other, you have a proven veteran who came to the team as a free agent when few others would, and to whom Bob Gainey feels some degree of loyalty. Gainey will now face a tough choice...to demote the promising kid or to cut loose the diminishing vet. It's the kind choice we'll see more of as the team improves and competition for spots heats up.
For Gainey it means there'll be a few more uncomfortable days in the near future. For us, it means he's doing his job right, and our team is on the upswing. I'm just glad he's the one who's making the decisions.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Auld Lang Syne
Well, after a night to digest the acquisition of Robert Lang and another revival of Patrice Brisebois: The Return, I'm going to put myself in the "mildly excited" category. That's the class of emotion into which fall events like finding out you're having your favourite chicken for supper or knowing you've got a three-day weekend coming up.
The trade for Lang on its own isn't that bad. But it's inevitably tinged with the "what if" of Mats Sundin's phantom presence. Of course Lang doesn't compare to Sundin, but then again, Sundin was never a Canadien in the first place. And if Bob Gainey decided to move on plan B, we have to assume he was fairly certain the big bald Swede has decided red's not his colour. Still, after a summer of anticipation and dreaming of that gorgeous Tanguay/Sundin/Kovalev powerplay line, it's tough to let go just like that. So once we get past the wistfulness of what it would have been like with Sundin, we have to look at Lang as a separate issue.
The Canadiens had a third-line centre spot open. Sundin would have become the first-line centre, so the empty third spot would have belonged to Saku Koivu. Without a new first-liner, the third-line job was still open. So you have to look at the requirements of the position. The Habs were desperately short on right-handed shooters. They were also lacking a really top-notch faceoff man, and they were small down the middle. The guy they needed would be a big, gritty centre; a decent skater with a right-handed shot, great on the draw and able to put up enough points to make the third line a serious scoring threat, as well as defensively responsible enough to kill penalties and protect the puck late in tense games after it wins the draw.
Lang fits many of those requirements. At six-foot-three, he's undeniably big. He's over fifty-three percent on the draw, which is really great. He's not the fastest guy in the league, but his skating isn't a handicap, especially if he ends up playing with Kovalev or Latendresse. He's also put up more than fifty points every year in the last eight, and he's a good penalty killer. The big thing he's missing is the grit factor. He's known to be shy in the corners and he's not the first guy to show up at the party in the crease. He's also got a reputation for coasting when he should probably be pushing harder. His age and potential to go down with nagging injuries are concerns as well.
But, if you're Bob Gainey you have to consider who's out there to fill your requirements who won't cost you much. If a team's under the cap, the guy you want is going to be expensive, likely costing a roster player or at least a fine prospect. So you look at teams over the cap and see what's out there. Of that group, Lang is the best of the possibilities. He's honestly the guy with the most ticks in his favour on the score sheet of what you need, without costing you Maxim Lapierre in return.
Now, I think Gainey could have gotten Lang for less than a second-round pick if he'd waited Tallon out. Chicago would likely have been forced to waive him in order to get under the cap. But I guess from Gainey's point of view, other teams would have been prepared to offer a pick so if the Habs were to land him, he had to ante up.
Of course, there was also the possiblity of starting the year with Kyle Chipchura or Lapierre as the third-line centre. I would have been in favour of that idea as well, but if Gainey has chosen to bring in a veteran, we have to figure he thinks those players aren't yet ready for the role.
So, here we are, feeling like we're settling again. (Damn you, Sundin, for teasing us like that!) I'm consoling myself with the thought that Tanguay is better than Ryder. Lang is better than Smolinski, with the jury out on that being true in the playoffs just yet. And Laraque definitely offers a different element than Grabovski did. The team finished first last year, and now it's better. Here's hoping a walk by the river with Gainey and a reunion with Alex Kovalev on his wing will draw a great season out of Robert Lang. Because when it comes right down to it, that's all the Habs need from him. One stellar year and a strong playoffs. If he has that much in the tank, the deal will have been worth it. Because even though Sundin would have done the job spectacularly, Lang can still do it competently. And really, as long as the job gets done, does it matter who does it?
As for Breezer, well, he's a footnote. A lot of Habs' fans are upset at his re-signing because they see it as stagnating. But if the rookie D aren't ready for full-time work, there's no point in sitting them in the pressbox half the year. O'Byrne will get his chance to be the number four guy this year, and Breezer will simply be cheap veteran insurance who warms the bench, loves the team, keeps a good attitude and can pinch in with a nice first pass and decent PP ability when called upon. Nothing more than that. And for those who think Gainey should have acquired a top-four defenceman instead...well, you have to give to get. And he's stingy with his assets, as a good GM should be. Anyway, a top-four man would have cost a lot more in salary, which would have interferred with the team's ability to pay that third centre. This is a decent compromise.
So, although it's disappointing to accept the end of the Sundin Saga, it's time to look ahead with the roster we now have. It is better than last year's team. And if we remember it at all, last year's team didn't exactly suck.
The trade for Lang on its own isn't that bad. But it's inevitably tinged with the "what if" of Mats Sundin's phantom presence. Of course Lang doesn't compare to Sundin, but then again, Sundin was never a Canadien in the first place. And if Bob Gainey decided to move on plan B, we have to assume he was fairly certain the big bald Swede has decided red's not his colour. Still, after a summer of anticipation and dreaming of that gorgeous Tanguay/Sundin/Kovalev powerplay line, it's tough to let go just like that. So once we get past the wistfulness of what it would have been like with Sundin, we have to look at Lang as a separate issue.
The Canadiens had a third-line centre spot open. Sundin would have become the first-line centre, so the empty third spot would have belonged to Saku Koivu. Without a new first-liner, the third-line job was still open. So you have to look at the requirements of the position. The Habs were desperately short on right-handed shooters. They were also lacking a really top-notch faceoff man, and they were small down the middle. The guy they needed would be a big, gritty centre; a decent skater with a right-handed shot, great on the draw and able to put up enough points to make the third line a serious scoring threat, as well as defensively responsible enough to kill penalties and protect the puck late in tense games after it wins the draw.
Lang fits many of those requirements. At six-foot-three, he's undeniably big. He's over fifty-three percent on the draw, which is really great. He's not the fastest guy in the league, but his skating isn't a handicap, especially if he ends up playing with Kovalev or Latendresse. He's also put up more than fifty points every year in the last eight, and he's a good penalty killer. The big thing he's missing is the grit factor. He's known to be shy in the corners and he's not the first guy to show up at the party in the crease. He's also got a reputation for coasting when he should probably be pushing harder. His age and potential to go down with nagging injuries are concerns as well.
But, if you're Bob Gainey you have to consider who's out there to fill your requirements who won't cost you much. If a team's under the cap, the guy you want is going to be expensive, likely costing a roster player or at least a fine prospect. So you look at teams over the cap and see what's out there. Of that group, Lang is the best of the possibilities. He's honestly the guy with the most ticks in his favour on the score sheet of what you need, without costing you Maxim Lapierre in return.
Now, I think Gainey could have gotten Lang for less than a second-round pick if he'd waited Tallon out. Chicago would likely have been forced to waive him in order to get under the cap. But I guess from Gainey's point of view, other teams would have been prepared to offer a pick so if the Habs were to land him, he had to ante up.
Of course, there was also the possiblity of starting the year with Kyle Chipchura or Lapierre as the third-line centre. I would have been in favour of that idea as well, but if Gainey has chosen to bring in a veteran, we have to figure he thinks those players aren't yet ready for the role.
So, here we are, feeling like we're settling again. (Damn you, Sundin, for teasing us like that!) I'm consoling myself with the thought that Tanguay is better than Ryder. Lang is better than Smolinski, with the jury out on that being true in the playoffs just yet. And Laraque definitely offers a different element than Grabovski did. The team finished first last year, and now it's better. Here's hoping a walk by the river with Gainey and a reunion with Alex Kovalev on his wing will draw a great season out of Robert Lang. Because when it comes right down to it, that's all the Habs need from him. One stellar year and a strong playoffs. If he has that much in the tank, the deal will have been worth it. Because even though Sundin would have done the job spectacularly, Lang can still do it competently. And really, as long as the job gets done, does it matter who does it?
As for Breezer, well, he's a footnote. A lot of Habs' fans are upset at his re-signing because they see it as stagnating. But if the rookie D aren't ready for full-time work, there's no point in sitting them in the pressbox half the year. O'Byrne will get his chance to be the number four guy this year, and Breezer will simply be cheap veteran insurance who warms the bench, loves the team, keeps a good attitude and can pinch in with a nice first pass and decent PP ability when called upon. Nothing more than that. And for those who think Gainey should have acquired a top-four defenceman instead...well, you have to give to get. And he's stingy with his assets, as a good GM should be. Anyway, a top-four man would have cost a lot more in salary, which would have interferred with the team's ability to pay that third centre. This is a decent compromise.
So, although it's disappointing to accept the end of the Sundin Saga, it's time to look ahead with the roster we now have. It is better than last year's team. And if we remember it at all, last year's team didn't exactly suck.
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