Pierre Gauthier didn't make a big splash at the NHL trade deadline, and many Canadiens fans felt that was okay. Nobody wanted him to move important pieces of the Habs' own future for rentals, and the price for more long-term solutions was too high. It turns out, however, that Gauthier was wrong. He should have done whatever it would have taken to acquire Gregory Campbell. The player's not worth much, of course, but the "get out of jail free" card that comes with him is worth its weight in gold. It doesn't matter that his dad, NHL discipline guru Colin Campbell, doesn't pass judgement on infractions committed by Greg's teammates. Campbell's friend and hand-picked assistant, Mike Murphy does. The optics are bush-league and the potential for conflict of interest would be intolerable in any real professional league.
There's something wrong with the NHL. There's something deeply, seriously wrong with the culture and the flawed subjectivity that passes for discipline. Murphy stunned no one in the hockey world when he decided Zdeno Chara's breaking Max Pacioretty's neck and injuring his brain did not deserve a suspension. The only question is why he even bothered to have the hearing at all.
This is Murphy's statement:
"I conducted a hearing with Boston Bruins' defenseman Zdeno Chara with respect to the major penalty for interference and game misconduct that he was assessed at 19:44 of the second period for a hit on Max Pacioretty of the Montreal Canadiens.
"After a thorough review of the video I can find no basis to impose supplemental discipline. This hit resulted from a play that evolved and then happened very quickly -- with both players skating in the same direction and with Chara attempting to angle his opponent into the boards. I could not find any evidence to suggest that, beyond this being a correct call for interference, that Chara targeted the head of his opponent, left his feet or delivered the check in any other manner that could be deemed to be dangerous.
"This was a hockey play that resulted in an injury because of the player colliding with the stanchion and then the ice surface. In reviewing this play, I also took into consideration that Chara has not been involved in a supplemental discipline incident during his 13-year NHL career."
Interesting. Murphy sees no basis for supplemental discipline. Nothing about Chara getting his forearm up around Pacioretty's head and neck bothered the powers that be. It didn't raise any concern that Chara could clearly see the stanchion in front of him, yet continued to follow through on the hit. The consequences; a 22-year-old former first-round draft pick with his whole career in front of him now dealing with a broken neck and bruised brain, didn't count in the league's assessment.
The problem with league "discipline" is Murphy and Campbell look at the mechanics of the hit and then try to wedge it into the rules. If it doesn't fit, they'll suspend the offender. If, however, they can say "Okay, that was from the side, not behind," they'll conclude it doesn't break the rules and therefore isn't suspension-worthy. The league tries to make a one-size-fits-all policy, which doesn't work. The same thing happened with the Matt Cooke hit on Marc Savard. All right-thinking people saw that hit and recognized the devastation visited on Savard. Yet, even though it was obviously wrong, it didn't fit within the league's antiquated rules about hits to the head, so Campbell did nothing. The public raised a cry of outrage and the rules changed, but Campbell himself did nothing.
Saying Chara did nothing wrong because he has a clean record is laughable. That's like saying you had a pit bull who was always well-behaved, until a kid taunted him and your dog ripped the kid's arm off. It was in the heat of the moment and the dog didn't mean it, but the cops don't care if it's his first offence. He still gets put down.
It's even more ridiculous to laud Chara for not leaving his feet. Seriously? Who on earth would a man nearly seven feet tall have to jump up to hurt?
What's wrong in the NHL is that it doesn't follow the same logic as the rest of the world. If you drive a car on the highway and cut off another vehicle because you're trying to pass it, and if that move causes an accident, you will be charged with reckless driving. If the accident you caused hurts or kills another person, the severity of the charges goes up. Of course, you didn't mean to hurt someone; you only wanted to pass that car. The law doesn't care. If you are reckless and hurt someone, you will pay the price. The outcome might not have been your intention, but you must still be accountable for the consequences of your actions.
The excuse that hockey is a physical game and players sign up for the risk doesn't hold much water either. The hit on Pacioretty called to mind the horrifying luge accident at the Vancouver Olympics, which cost the life of Nodar Kumaritashvili. Luge is obviously a risky sport and the athletes go into it knowing they might be hurt. They don't, however, expect a track that officials know is much too fast. In the same way, Pacioretty didn't expect his acceptable risk to include having his head slammed into an immovable object and his neck broken.
That the NHL has chosen to ignore right and reason in this case and let Chara walk free is a blight on the league and a shame to the game. Chara may not have meant to break Pacioretty's neck (and we can hope that's the case), but he did it. That he faces no reprimand for the consequences of his actions, intended or not, is disgraceful.
Postscript: That Pierre Gauthier has decided to zip his lip about the lack of NHL action against Chara is equally disgraceful. This kind of behaviour continues because nobody says anything that forces the NHL to at least gear up the PR machine and pay lip service to fixing the problem. Gauthier had a great camping spot on the moral high ground and could have used it to defend his player and make a statement that might, with the assistance of public pressure, have helped change the game. He chose to shut up and let the league deliver its "justice," and that's a disappointing shame.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Aftermath: Fear
Watching Max Pacioretty lying motionless on the ice after being crushed into the glass by Zdeno Chara, I remembered him just before the outdoor game against Calgary. Reporters were asking several of the players how they intended to stay warm in the sub-zero temperatures. Most talked about layering or adrenaline or just toughing it out. Pacioretty sheepishly announced that his mom had sent him finger and toe warmers, to make sure he wouldn't suffer from the cold. With that in mind, I thought of Mrs.Pacioretty, and what she must have felt, seeing her son lying there motionless in the hush of a shocked arena. If the collective horror of the 21273 in the crowd was palpable, it was but a drop in the ocean to the fear and panic that mother experienced as doctors and trainers manouvered her son onto the stretcher. Worse for her, it was the second time she had to witness that this season.
The question everyone will be asking today is whether Chara caused all that fear and horror on purpose. NHL veterans know it's easy to get into Chara's head. While he may not be naturally inclined to violence, he can be goaded and frustrated into making stupid decisions. Brian Gionta knows this. There's no way a guy his size should get the best of a guy as big as Chara, but he does it because he knows Chara will react if harrassed. It's worse when the Bruins are getting trounced.
Last night was the perfect storm of factors for getting the biggest man in the NHL riled up. His team was getting absolutely dominated on the ice by its most hated rival, after a build-up completely out of whack for a regular-season game. The Bruins were being embarrassed 4-0 on the scoreboard, including two goals by relative nobody Lars Eller. On special teams, the Habs were 2-for-3 on the PP and sported a perfect PK, and the Canadiens' speed on transition was forcing Chara and his fellow defencemen into mistakes. That alone was frustrating for the Bruins. Then you factor in Pacioretty.
Chara was unreasonably angry at the kid for pushing him away from the Habs' victory scrum after an earlier Canadiens win in Boston. He went after Pacioretty then. And Pax likes to go plant himself in the area from which Chara's dedicated to moving people away. So, by the end of the second period, when the Bruins were getting Ole'd off the ice, Chara saw Pacioretty coming along the boards by the benches.
At that moment, the guy everyone claims is a lovable, gentle giant off the ice, made an impulsive decision driven by the frustration he so easily experiences on it. Instead of simply interfering with him and stopping him, Chara chose to erase Pacioretty altogether, driving his head into the stanchion. He said after the game he didn't mean to hurt Pacioretty, and the hit was "unfortunate."
Today, the league must decide what to do with Chara. He claims innocence and says Pacioretty exacerbated the damage by jumping into the glass himself as Chara laid the hit. Carey Price says anyone throwing a hit should know his surroundings and the risk involved, and he's right. Suspensions are often determined more by the injury to the victim rather than the intent of the offender, and we have to hope justice is served in that way for Pacioretty.
In the end, the Canadiens proved they are not too small or frail to beat the souped-up Bruins. Both teams came in with the rosters they'll be icing during the playoffs, with huge hype and a deep desire to win. Lack of motivation could not possibly have been a factor, yet the Habs handily won the only fight, then completely owned their rivals for the rest of the game. Milan Lucic's asshole gesturing to the crowd after his futile goal in the third notwithstanding, the Bruins had nothing. When push came to shove, the Canadiens pulled together and played their game, which beats the Bruins game almost every time.
It's just terribly sad that the joy we should be feeling after such a statement game by our team is absent today. There's satisfaction, to a degree, but the horrible vision of Max Pacioretty lying there before his mother's eyes overwhelms the urge to gloat. No matter the outcome for either team, the outcome for that young man is still uncertain. Sometimes, mom's toe warmers aren't enough to fix what's wrong, and we can only hope the brain injury Pacioretty suffered last night will heal quickly and well.
The question everyone will be asking today is whether Chara caused all that fear and horror on purpose. NHL veterans know it's easy to get into Chara's head. While he may not be naturally inclined to violence, he can be goaded and frustrated into making stupid decisions. Brian Gionta knows this. There's no way a guy his size should get the best of a guy as big as Chara, but he does it because he knows Chara will react if harrassed. It's worse when the Bruins are getting trounced.
Last night was the perfect storm of factors for getting the biggest man in the NHL riled up. His team was getting absolutely dominated on the ice by its most hated rival, after a build-up completely out of whack for a regular-season game. The Bruins were being embarrassed 4-0 on the scoreboard, including two goals by relative nobody Lars Eller. On special teams, the Habs were 2-for-3 on the PP and sported a perfect PK, and the Canadiens' speed on transition was forcing Chara and his fellow defencemen into mistakes. That alone was frustrating for the Bruins. Then you factor in Pacioretty.
Chara was unreasonably angry at the kid for pushing him away from the Habs' victory scrum after an earlier Canadiens win in Boston. He went after Pacioretty then. And Pax likes to go plant himself in the area from which Chara's dedicated to moving people away. So, by the end of the second period, when the Bruins were getting Ole'd off the ice, Chara saw Pacioretty coming along the boards by the benches.
At that moment, the guy everyone claims is a lovable, gentle giant off the ice, made an impulsive decision driven by the frustration he so easily experiences on it. Instead of simply interfering with him and stopping him, Chara chose to erase Pacioretty altogether, driving his head into the stanchion. He said after the game he didn't mean to hurt Pacioretty, and the hit was "unfortunate."
Today, the league must decide what to do with Chara. He claims innocence and says Pacioretty exacerbated the damage by jumping into the glass himself as Chara laid the hit. Carey Price says anyone throwing a hit should know his surroundings and the risk involved, and he's right. Suspensions are often determined more by the injury to the victim rather than the intent of the offender, and we have to hope justice is served in that way for Pacioretty.
In the end, the Canadiens proved they are not too small or frail to beat the souped-up Bruins. Both teams came in with the rosters they'll be icing during the playoffs, with huge hype and a deep desire to win. Lack of motivation could not possibly have been a factor, yet the Habs handily won the only fight, then completely owned their rivals for the rest of the game. Milan Lucic's asshole gesturing to the crowd after his futile goal in the third notwithstanding, the Bruins had nothing. When push came to shove, the Canadiens pulled together and played their game, which beats the Bruins game almost every time.
It's just terribly sad that the joy we should be feeling after such a statement game by our team is absent today. There's satisfaction, to a degree, but the horrible vision of Max Pacioretty lying there before his mother's eyes overwhelms the urge to gloat. No matter the outcome for either team, the outcome for that young man is still uncertain. Sometimes, mom's toe warmers aren't enough to fix what's wrong, and we can only hope the brain injury Pacioretty suffered last night will heal quickly and well.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Bruins vs. Habs - There Will Be Blood Edition
Notes on the third:
-A major penalty does nothing to make up for that destruction.
-It does make up for it a tiny bit to see Price stone that pissant Marchand on a PS.
-White shoots on the 2-on-1 with Pleks? Um, maybe a pass next time, okay kid?
-Whoopee. The Missing Link gets one to break the shutout. It's hard to care when you're wondering how Pacioretty is.
-When's the last time P.K. Subban made a really crappy play? I don't remember either.
-Excellent shut-down hockey with their hearts not really into it.
-The best part of a Habs/Bs game: Julien walking across the ice with a face like heartburn.
Notes on the second:
-Plekanec's penalty illustrates the new NHL rule that you cannot check the man carrying the puck. What? There's no such rule?
-Don't look now, but Gomez is hustling.
-The Gomez line must have cycled that puck for a whole minute in the Bs' end.
-Gionta's 24th sneaked over the line like a trench spy in WWI, but it counts.
-Anybody notice Desharnais is a beast on faceoffs? Obviously not Martin, who continues to use Gomez on o-zone draws to start the PP.
-The Canadiens, in fear of losing their league-leading standard in too-many-men penalties, quickly added to their lead with a particularly dumbass example.
-Amazing shot by Wisniewski. It went under the shot blocker, BEFORE he could even fall down. Wiz' shot is faster than gravity.
-Uh oh. We should fear Ryder. He was the one who started The Comeback against the Rags with two quick goals.
-Chara always looks like his nose is running.
-Oh God. Pacioretty's head hit that stanchion so much like Nodar Kumaritashvili did in Vancouver, it's terrifying.
-The Canadiens looked ill-prepared for a serious injury. They had to have the Bs' trainer out there helping, and Dr.Mulder, at age 176 was trying to help haul the stretcher.
-That hit...my friend Jay says Chara knew exactly where the stanchion was and tried to hurt Pax on purpose...takes all the joy out of a 4-0 Bs beatdown.
Notes on the first:
-The Bell Centre crowd's biggest challenge tonight is to decide who to boo.
-How sweet would it be for Skillsie to score in his third straight?
-Oh, Boychuk's brave. Fighting with a visor on. Imagine if a Hab did that? White pounded him anyway.
-Halpern saved a goal as surely as spring follows winter.
-Price took at least ten minutes off my life with that crease giveaway on the PP.
-Eller's tip was as beautiful as a sunrise over water.
-Hard work by all the boys. They're like a bunch of hard rock miners out there.
-Eller again! The hands on that boy are smoother than David Copperfield's patter.
-What a shame Kostitsyn didn't get any points on those goals. He was instrumental in both of them.
-Great period. Hopefully, the Habs will come out just as strong in the second, because two goals don't last long in this league if you're not careful.
-A major penalty does nothing to make up for that destruction.
-It does make up for it a tiny bit to see Price stone that pissant Marchand on a PS.
-White shoots on the 2-on-1 with Pleks? Um, maybe a pass next time, okay kid?
-Whoopee. The Missing Link gets one to break the shutout. It's hard to care when you're wondering how Pacioretty is.
-When's the last time P.K. Subban made a really crappy play? I don't remember either.
-Excellent shut-down hockey with their hearts not really into it.
-The best part of a Habs/Bs game: Julien walking across the ice with a face like heartburn.
Notes on the second:
-Plekanec's penalty illustrates the new NHL rule that you cannot check the man carrying the puck. What? There's no such rule?
-Don't look now, but Gomez is hustling.
-The Gomez line must have cycled that puck for a whole minute in the Bs' end.
-Gionta's 24th sneaked over the line like a trench spy in WWI, but it counts.
-Anybody notice Desharnais is a beast on faceoffs? Obviously not Martin, who continues to use Gomez on o-zone draws to start the PP.
-The Canadiens, in fear of losing their league-leading standard in too-many-men penalties, quickly added to their lead with a particularly dumbass example.
-Amazing shot by Wisniewski. It went under the shot blocker, BEFORE he could even fall down. Wiz' shot is faster than gravity.
-Uh oh. We should fear Ryder. He was the one who started The Comeback against the Rags with two quick goals.
-Chara always looks like his nose is running.
-Oh God. Pacioretty's head hit that stanchion so much like Nodar Kumaritashvili did in Vancouver, it's terrifying.
-The Canadiens looked ill-prepared for a serious injury. They had to have the Bs' trainer out there helping, and Dr.Mulder, at age 176 was trying to help haul the stretcher.
-That hit...my friend Jay says Chara knew exactly where the stanchion was and tried to hurt Pax on purpose...takes all the joy out of a 4-0 Bs beatdown.
Notes on the first:
-The Bell Centre crowd's biggest challenge tonight is to decide who to boo.
-How sweet would it be for Skillsie to score in his third straight?
-Oh, Boychuk's brave. Fighting with a visor on. Imagine if a Hab did that? White pounded him anyway.
-Halpern saved a goal as surely as spring follows winter.
-Price took at least ten minutes off my life with that crease giveaway on the PP.
-Eller's tip was as beautiful as a sunrise over water.
-Hard work by all the boys. They're like a bunch of hard rock miners out there.
-Eller again! The hands on that boy are smoother than David Copperfield's patter.
-What a shame Kostitsyn didn't get any points on those goals. He was instrumental in both of them.
-Great period. Hopefully, the Habs will come out just as strong in the second, because two goals don't last long in this league if you're not careful.
Monday, March 7, 2011
Showdown
Yesterday evening, I was a guest on CJAD's The Habs Show. It's always a fun gig because, hey, who doesn't like to talk about the Canadiens for twenty minutes with other people who like talking about them just as much as you do? One topic surprised me a bit, though. The host asked whether I thought the Canadiens should call up Alex Henry from Hamilton to toughen up the Habs' lineup for tomorrow's game against the Bruins.
I answered honestly: of course they shouldn't. I watched Henry yesterday, playing for the Hamilton Bulldogs versus the Toronto Marlies in an AHL game. He's a heart-and-soul kind of player; one who gives it his all in every game. He's tough as nails. He's not, however, better than any of the defencemen the Canadiens can ice instead. He's not better than Subban, Hamrlik or Wisniewski on offence. He's not as good a shotblocker or PKer as Gill or Sopel. And, while he's certainly willing to fight, so is Paul Mara, who'll probably draw in in Yannick Weber's place.
So, for the sake of the two minutes when Henry would fight a Bruin, you'd have to trade off ten or twelve minutes of very iffy defence against a Boston team that scored eight goals on Carey Price last time they met. A lot of those goals were scored off odd-man rushes and very suspect defensive coverage, so it doesn't make a lot of sense to make the D worse than it is now. Really, if the score is close toward the end of the game, who's Jacques the Knife going to have on the ice? Alex Henry or an over-worked Roman Hamrlik? He'll go with Hamrlik, who would have had to play more minutes as Henry got two shifts in the third. That's not a recipe for lead protection.
Apparently, though, the majority of fans who answered the CJAD question are in favour of calling Henry up for the game. I think that's probably spawned by a thirst for revenge and willingness to settle for a moral victory. In other words, the Habs might lose by reducing the quality of their D, but as long as the guys in the lineup kick some Bruin ass to save face after last game, who cares?
I think that's a misguided notion, though. If the Bruins' "toughness" is really in the Habs' heads, bringing in a ringer to fight one of them tomorrow isn't going to really solve the problem. Even if he fought and won, Henry isn't going to be on the playoff roster. The Canadiens are what they are as far as post-season participation goes, so they have to find solutions within their own lineup. If their answer to aggression is going to be team toughness...whether they get beaten up or not...then, that's got to come from the team they have.
That said, whatever happens tomorrow isn't likely to be indicative of what the teams can expect in the playoffs, should they meet. You don't often see five fights in a playoff game, and because teams live and die on special teams, they're much more circumspect about taking pointless penalties. The Canadiens need to focus more on shutting down the Bruins' offence and worry less about calling up a fighter to send a rather empty message.
So, no, I wouldn't call up anybody to fight the Bruins, and I'm kind of surprised that 99% of the fans who answered CJAD's poll question on the issue would.
I answered honestly: of course they shouldn't. I watched Henry yesterday, playing for the Hamilton Bulldogs versus the Toronto Marlies in an AHL game. He's a heart-and-soul kind of player; one who gives it his all in every game. He's tough as nails. He's not, however, better than any of the defencemen the Canadiens can ice instead. He's not better than Subban, Hamrlik or Wisniewski on offence. He's not as good a shotblocker or PKer as Gill or Sopel. And, while he's certainly willing to fight, so is Paul Mara, who'll probably draw in in Yannick Weber's place.
So, for the sake of the two minutes when Henry would fight a Bruin, you'd have to trade off ten or twelve minutes of very iffy defence against a Boston team that scored eight goals on Carey Price last time they met. A lot of those goals were scored off odd-man rushes and very suspect defensive coverage, so it doesn't make a lot of sense to make the D worse than it is now. Really, if the score is close toward the end of the game, who's Jacques the Knife going to have on the ice? Alex Henry or an over-worked Roman Hamrlik? He'll go with Hamrlik, who would have had to play more minutes as Henry got two shifts in the third. That's not a recipe for lead protection.
Apparently, though, the majority of fans who answered the CJAD question are in favour of calling Henry up for the game. I think that's probably spawned by a thirst for revenge and willingness to settle for a moral victory. In other words, the Habs might lose by reducing the quality of their D, but as long as the guys in the lineup kick some Bruin ass to save face after last game, who cares?
I think that's a misguided notion, though. If the Bruins' "toughness" is really in the Habs' heads, bringing in a ringer to fight one of them tomorrow isn't going to really solve the problem. Even if he fought and won, Henry isn't going to be on the playoff roster. The Canadiens are what they are as far as post-season participation goes, so they have to find solutions within their own lineup. If their answer to aggression is going to be team toughness...whether they get beaten up or not...then, that's got to come from the team they have.
That said, whatever happens tomorrow isn't likely to be indicative of what the teams can expect in the playoffs, should they meet. You don't often see five fights in a playoff game, and because teams live and die on special teams, they're much more circumspect about taking pointless penalties. The Canadiens need to focus more on shutting down the Bruins' offence and worry less about calling up a fighter to send a rather empty message.
So, no, I wouldn't call up anybody to fight the Bruins, and I'm kind of surprised that 99% of the fans who answered CJAD's poll question on the issue would.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Aftermath: Credit
One of the easiest things for an armchair coach to do is criticize. We see the play unfold at TV speed, or from high up above if we're lucky enough to be in the rink. We can see the trailer sneaking in on the PK and the open man on the PP, and we scream at the player on the ice who doesn't see what we do. So, while criticism comes easy to us, it's sometimes a lot harder to give credit where it's due.
With that in mind, Scott Gomez played a helluva game last night. In a big game with deep psychological implications for his team, the guy who's looked like the inspiration for the Beatles "Nowhere Man" most of the year, shone. He used his speed effectively and went to the middle rather than peeling off to the left on his rushes. He worked hard on the boards, and made a great play to break up a Lightning chance on the PP. Most obviously different from his play in other games this season, he made some very quick decisions. The Pacioretty goal on the 2-on-1 was a perfect example. A month ago, Gomez would have waited, waited and then, out of time and options, let a shot go right at a goalie who was set for it. Last night, though, he fired a great pass to Pax at top speed and the kid buried it.
The surprising thing about his play last night wasn't that he actually had such a great game, but that fans seem so ready to dismiss it. Sometimes, we become so critical of a player (not that Gomez hasn't deserved it alot of the time) that we fail to see the good in him. What we forget is, even if the guy has sucked all year, is overpaid and deeply frustrating, he's still a member of the Canadiens. If Gomez starts playing up to his level of ability and producing, it might mean your pet theory about his level of suckitude is debunked, but it also means your team has a better chance to win. Gomez isn't my favourite player, but he's a Hab. And if he can help the team down the stretch and into the playoffs, I'm cheering for him.
The strong play of everyone else who contributed last night: Desharnais, Plekanec, Gill, Price, Gionta, Pacioretty, Subban, Hamrlik and the rest, we're beginning to expect. Those are guys who bring it every night and it's easy to root for them. It's the guys like Gomez and Kostitsyn who, because of their inconsistency, are tougher to love. That's why we have to remember to give them credit when they help our team...even if they drive you nuts the rest of the time.
With that in mind, Scott Gomez played a helluva game last night. In a big game with deep psychological implications for his team, the guy who's looked like the inspiration for the Beatles "Nowhere Man" most of the year, shone. He used his speed effectively and went to the middle rather than peeling off to the left on his rushes. He worked hard on the boards, and made a great play to break up a Lightning chance on the PP. Most obviously different from his play in other games this season, he made some very quick decisions. The Pacioretty goal on the 2-on-1 was a perfect example. A month ago, Gomez would have waited, waited and then, out of time and options, let a shot go right at a goalie who was set for it. Last night, though, he fired a great pass to Pax at top speed and the kid buried it.
The surprising thing about his play last night wasn't that he actually had such a great game, but that fans seem so ready to dismiss it. Sometimes, we become so critical of a player (not that Gomez hasn't deserved it alot of the time) that we fail to see the good in him. What we forget is, even if the guy has sucked all year, is overpaid and deeply frustrating, he's still a member of the Canadiens. If Gomez starts playing up to his level of ability and producing, it might mean your pet theory about his level of suckitude is debunked, but it also means your team has a better chance to win. Gomez isn't my favourite player, but he's a Hab. And if he can help the team down the stretch and into the playoffs, I'm cheering for him.
The strong play of everyone else who contributed last night: Desharnais, Plekanec, Gill, Price, Gionta, Pacioretty, Subban, Hamrlik and the rest, we're beginning to expect. Those are guys who bring it every night and it's easy to root for them. It's the guys like Gomez and Kostitsyn who, because of their inconsistency, are tougher to love. That's why we have to remember to give them credit when they help our team...even if they drive you nuts the rest of the time.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Habs vs.Lightning - Playoff Preview Edition
Notes on the third:
-Credit where it's due. Gomez is burning hotter than the space shuttle on re-entry tonight.
-Pacioretty's just so, so good. He's a power forward we didn't even know about in October.
-Stamkos' shot comes with GPS. There've been a couple of very close calls with him.
-Seems that, once again, Pouliot takes a dumbass penalty and DD pays the price and gets benched along with him.
-Cammalleri is probably the forward worst at defending in his own zone.
-WHAT a poke check! That should be in an instructional video.
-Of course. You KNEW one of the Quebecois would do something to hurt the Habs.
-Price is very solid again. The kid's the MVP of the team, by a mile.
-Great win. Now, beat the Bs on Tuesday and we might have something here.
Notes on the second:
-Someone tell Sopel Price can play goal by himself. The D would be better off moving freakin' Dominic Moore out of the crease.
-Pouliot's one of those players with tremendous skill and a little tiny brain.
-Gomez denuded MAB at the blueline for a nice shorthanded chance. Maybe he's finally starting to give a shit.
-Price was farther away from his net than Ross Perot from the White House.
-I'd love to see what's in Martin's brain sometimes. Why has P.K. been removed from the PP?
-I'm so hoping this game doesn't come down to a bunch of regret over those wide-open chances Gionta and AK blew in the first.
-Seriously. Pleks on the point instead of Subban? Why? Subban comes out for the last thirty seconds of the PP and suddenly a goal ensues. What a shock, Penguin.
-The plan to stay out of the box is rapidly deteriorating. It's got the half-life of a carton of milk in a sauna.
-Habs are getting killed on faceoffs. That's going to hurt.
-Nice period. One more, please.
Notes on the first:
-I'd love to know what Pleks says to Price before every game.
-The amount of Gallic envy on RDS is a bit sickening.
-It's vital to stay out of the box against these guys. They live and die by the PP.
-Weber made a couple of very solid plays in front of Price. The kid doesn't have the flash of P.K., but he's talented.
-I don't know what's funnier: Gill scoring two games in a row, or the look on his face on the bench afterwards, as he tries to pretend it's no big deal.
-Desharnais' hands are softer than bunnies. What a lovely move!
-Gionta's not going to see a better chance than that this side of heaven.
-Lightning looking pretty disorganized here. Good to see.
-Oh, Eller. They were doing so well with the discipline.
-Credit where it's due. Gomez is burning hotter than the space shuttle on re-entry tonight.
-Pacioretty's just so, so good. He's a power forward we didn't even know about in October.
-Stamkos' shot comes with GPS. There've been a couple of very close calls with him.
-Seems that, once again, Pouliot takes a dumbass penalty and DD pays the price and gets benched along with him.
-Cammalleri is probably the forward worst at defending in his own zone.
-WHAT a poke check! That should be in an instructional video.
-Of course. You KNEW one of the Quebecois would do something to hurt the Habs.
-Price is very solid again. The kid's the MVP of the team, by a mile.
-Great win. Now, beat the Bs on Tuesday and we might have something here.
Notes on the second:
-Someone tell Sopel Price can play goal by himself. The D would be better off moving freakin' Dominic Moore out of the crease.
-Pouliot's one of those players with tremendous skill and a little tiny brain.
-Gomez denuded MAB at the blueline for a nice shorthanded chance. Maybe he's finally starting to give a shit.
-Price was farther away from his net than Ross Perot from the White House.
-I'd love to see what's in Martin's brain sometimes. Why has P.K. been removed from the PP?
-I'm so hoping this game doesn't come down to a bunch of regret over those wide-open chances Gionta and AK blew in the first.
-Seriously. Pleks on the point instead of Subban? Why? Subban comes out for the last thirty seconds of the PP and suddenly a goal ensues. What a shock, Penguin.
-The plan to stay out of the box is rapidly deteriorating. It's got the half-life of a carton of milk in a sauna.
-Habs are getting killed on faceoffs. That's going to hurt.
-Nice period. One more, please.
Notes on the first:
-I'd love to know what Pleks says to Price before every game.
-The amount of Gallic envy on RDS is a bit sickening.
-It's vital to stay out of the box against these guys. They live and die by the PP.
-Weber made a couple of very solid plays in front of Price. The kid doesn't have the flash of P.K., but he's talented.
-I don't know what's funnier: Gill scoring two games in a row, or the look on his face on the bench afterwards, as he tries to pretend it's no big deal.
-Desharnais' hands are softer than bunnies. What a lovely move!
-Gionta's not going to see a better chance than that this side of heaven.
-Lightning looking pretty disorganized here. Good to see.
-Oh, Eller. They were doing so well with the discipline.
Friday, March 4, 2011
Aftermath: Regrets
The game last night was a hard hat, steel-toe-boot kind of game. The Canadiens came in with a job to do...beat the gutted Panthers...and they went out in a very businesslike fashion and did exactly what they were supposed to do. (Seriously, can you imagine how people would be freaking out if they'd lost last night? Or even made it close?) In the process of people doing their jobs properly, we saw a glimmer of what might have been this year.
Carey Price is having the breakout season we all hoped he would. There's maybe one game you can point to and say he didn't give his team a chance to win. He's relaxed in the net, and humble in the room. The team's MVP is a bargain too, at less than $3-million a season.
Max Pacioretty is vindicating Trevor Timmins' picking him over David Perron in the 2007 draft. The kid is a force since his Christmas call-up, and is giving us glimpses of the real power forward he's going to become.
David Desharnais is proving size issues can be overcome through determination and pure skill. He's done it at every level of hockey up until now, and now he's doing it at the NHL level too. At his current pace, he'd put up more than 20 goals in a full NHL season. Considering the fact that he was undrafted and only got signed by the Habs as a favour to Guy Carbonneau, that's a pretty impressive level of production. We're very fortunate he's grabbed his chance to shine with the Canadiens this year because if he walked this summer, someone else would take him and we'd be cursing management for fools when he scored 25 goals for another team.
Lars Eller's starting to come around too, now that he's got some NHL experience to draw on. And he's dragging Andrei Kostitsyn along with him. The pair are clicking like a Kodak and offering fans a tantalizing glimpse of what it looks like to have two big skilled players using their size to terrorize the opposition.
James Wisniewski is seventh in the league in scoring among defencemen. Tomas Plekanec is scoring and killing penalties like one of the best two-way players in the NHL. The team is 11 points better than it was this time last year, and sitting comfortably in sixth in the conference with a chance to move up. The Habs are also top-ten in the league in both penalty killing and power play, with a combined success rate of 103.1%. That's impressive, when you remember Scotty Bowman's rule of thumb that any combination over 100 on special teams is really good.
There's a whole lot of good about this team, and when it goes out and executes efficiently to get the job done like it did last night, you remember that. It also makes you think about the what-ifs. It's impressive that the team is doing as well as it is with three of the defencemen who started the year in its top six out of the lineup. You can't help wondering, though, how good the team would be with those guys.
The PP is ranked 8th in the league without Andrei Markov. Imagine if The General were there on the blueline, putting up 60 points? And what if he were there, stabilizing the D in its own zone and mentoring P.K.Subban? When you think about it, Markov's loss hurts more when you see how well the team is doing without him and picture how much better it could be with him.
Same thing with Josh Gorges. The PK is tied for 7th in the league without him. Think about how much better it would be with his steady play and shot blocking in his own end. How much better would Hamrlik be with Gorges playing 20+ minutes a game, helping keep the veteran's minutes low? Perhaps, if Gorges hadn't been hurt, Pierre Gauthier would never have traded for Wisniewski. Then again, if both Gorges and Markov had stayed healthy, maybe Gauthier would have kept the picks he traded for Wiz, Sopel and Mara and made a bigger deal at the deadline.
We'll never know, of course, what might have been. Sometimes, though, you watch a game like last night's, when everyone's pulling together to get the job done, and you can't help wondering what if. What if the vagaries of Fate hadn't taken those key players out of a good lineup? Then you have to think, well, maybe next year we'll finally get to see what they can do when the whole crew can come to work.
Carey Price is having the breakout season we all hoped he would. There's maybe one game you can point to and say he didn't give his team a chance to win. He's relaxed in the net, and humble in the room. The team's MVP is a bargain too, at less than $3-million a season.
Max Pacioretty is vindicating Trevor Timmins' picking him over David Perron in the 2007 draft. The kid is a force since his Christmas call-up, and is giving us glimpses of the real power forward he's going to become.
David Desharnais is proving size issues can be overcome through determination and pure skill. He's done it at every level of hockey up until now, and now he's doing it at the NHL level too. At his current pace, he'd put up more than 20 goals in a full NHL season. Considering the fact that he was undrafted and only got signed by the Habs as a favour to Guy Carbonneau, that's a pretty impressive level of production. We're very fortunate he's grabbed his chance to shine with the Canadiens this year because if he walked this summer, someone else would take him and we'd be cursing management for fools when he scored 25 goals for another team.
Lars Eller's starting to come around too, now that he's got some NHL experience to draw on. And he's dragging Andrei Kostitsyn along with him. The pair are clicking like a Kodak and offering fans a tantalizing glimpse of what it looks like to have two big skilled players using their size to terrorize the opposition.
James Wisniewski is seventh in the league in scoring among defencemen. Tomas Plekanec is scoring and killing penalties like one of the best two-way players in the NHL. The team is 11 points better than it was this time last year, and sitting comfortably in sixth in the conference with a chance to move up. The Habs are also top-ten in the league in both penalty killing and power play, with a combined success rate of 103.1%. That's impressive, when you remember Scotty Bowman's rule of thumb that any combination over 100 on special teams is really good.
There's a whole lot of good about this team, and when it goes out and executes efficiently to get the job done like it did last night, you remember that. It also makes you think about the what-ifs. It's impressive that the team is doing as well as it is with three of the defencemen who started the year in its top six out of the lineup. You can't help wondering, though, how good the team would be with those guys.
The PP is ranked 8th in the league without Andrei Markov. Imagine if The General were there on the blueline, putting up 60 points? And what if he were there, stabilizing the D in its own zone and mentoring P.K.Subban? When you think about it, Markov's loss hurts more when you see how well the team is doing without him and picture how much better it could be with him.
Same thing with Josh Gorges. The PK is tied for 7th in the league without him. Think about how much better it would be with his steady play and shot blocking in his own end. How much better would Hamrlik be with Gorges playing 20+ minutes a game, helping keep the veteran's minutes low? Perhaps, if Gorges hadn't been hurt, Pierre Gauthier would never have traded for Wisniewski. Then again, if both Gorges and Markov had stayed healthy, maybe Gauthier would have kept the picks he traded for Wiz, Sopel and Mara and made a bigger deal at the deadline.
We'll never know, of course, what might have been. Sometimes, though, you watch a game like last night's, when everyone's pulling together to get the job done, and you can't help wondering what if. What if the vagaries of Fate hadn't taken those key players out of a good lineup? Then you have to think, well, maybe next year we'll finally get to see what they can do when the whole crew can come to work.
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