Saturday 28 December 2019

Game 38: Canadiens 4, Lightning 5

First game back after the Western Canadian trip and the Christmas break.  Now it's the 'traditional' Florida swing for the Canadiens during the holidays.  Joel Armia is out with a wrist injury after a Nathan Beaulieu crosscheck in Winnipeg, and Jesperi Kotkaniemi returns to third-line centre duty after a stint in concussion protocol.  Nick Suzuki bumps up to second-line right wing.


It's a big one tonight, the continuation of a big road trip, to help define if we're a contender or pretender, a buyer or seller at the trade deadline.  The Canadiens have shone against strong adversaries, and coughed it up against the weaklings.  They've had an eight-game winless streak this season, and now are 7-3-0 in the midst of a tough road stretch.  They're kind of hard to figure.

The Lightning are wearing their black uniforms.  They look like dark masses out there, amorphous blobs, it's impossible to decypher which player is which, the numbers don't pop, they're darkish against a dark background.

I'll say it again: when you install me as your NHL Commissioner/Hockey Czar, I'll immediately decree that black unis are not permissible.  I'll generously allow the Bruins to keep their ugly black and yellow jobbies, but everyone else has to choose a colour.  The Kings go back to their glorious purple and yellow.  The Penguins return to their fetching powder blues.

And no cheating either.  No black, but also no anthracite, no dark grey, no gun-metal grey, no charcoal, no almost-black-with-a-couple-gold-accents-because-we're-the-Golden-Knights-but-our-owner-really-wanted-to-call-us-the-Black-Knights-and-couldn't-obtain-the-rights-in-between-playing-games-of-"shiny"-hockey-in-his-youth.  Pick a colour scheme.  Embrace it.  You go to the bar you can wear black then.

It's a good start for the Canadiens.  The Canadiens had two goals up on the board before the Lightning got a shot on net of their own, 13 minutes in, at which point they got a sarcastic cheer from the crowd, probably split evenly between Tampa and Montréal fans.

Except the Canadiens, who cannot let us have nice things, refuse to go into the first intermission with a 2-0 lead, and let Tampa score late in the first, at 19:01, and a big deal is made of Steven Stamkos assist as it brings him to 799 points in his career, and third in Lightning history behind Martin St-Louis and Vincent Lecavalier.  

Still Jekyll and Hyde-ing us, the Canadiens let Stamkos score in the second minute of the second period to let him get to an even 800 points, and then allowed a third goal on a weird bounce off Artturi Lehkonen after Carey Price bobbled a shot.

So, as Dave Randorf almost strangles himself by exclaiming, the team that was down 17-0 in shots in the first period is now up up 3-2.  And Gary Galley incisively opines: "Tampa have found their legs."  No, really?

Sure enough, Killorn adds another to make it 4-2 at the twelve minute mark, at which point Claude Julien calls a timeout and reams out the team.  Which seems to work, as Ben Chiarot immediately cashes in a rebound from Brendan Gallagher.

Like we said, hard to identify what this team is all about.  Montréal down 4-3 at the second period break.

And the wheel keeps on turning, with Anthony Cirelli cashing in a rebound less than a minute into the third.  5-3 Tampa.  We cannot have nice things.  Especially when Carey Price is a mere mortal.

À propos of nothing, I perused my first 2020 mock draft of the year today.  I haven't spun the lottery wheel yet...

Jordan Weal scores one late on a 6-on4 powerplay, with Carey Price pulled, but that's as close as we get, 5-4 is the final score.  A scrum after the final horn does nothing to change that.

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Tuesday 17 December 2019

Game 34: Canadiens 3, Canucks 1

The Canadiens now do the ritual Western Canadian road trip, a time of the season when they finally play at a reasonable hour.



The Canucks are wearing their cool thirty-third third jersey.  They should stick with this one, or their original uni, all the others really blow.  Get rid of that cartoon whale/product placement.


The Canucks opened the scoring on a powerplay, a wicked shot from Adam Gaudette.  Tomas Tatar again was the culprit in the offensive zone, tripping Jake Virtanen, but it's debatable how merited that penalty was.  Tomas had poke-checked away the puck from the clumsy Canuck, and when on his follow-through his stick ended up near his shinpads, the big galoot went down pretty easily.  Hmmf...

Canadiens 0, Canucks 1 at the first intermission.

The Canadiens are buzzing around the Canucks' zone in the second, but it's reminiscent of the Tomas Plekanec and David Desharnais years, when the top centres/lines were not really offensive threats, too small and not talented enough to be difference makers.  So like the Detroit game, we see a lot of shots from outside, attempted deflections, lots of heat but very little light.

I remember when I thought that Alex Galchenyuk and Sebastian Collberg and Tim Bozon were going to fix all that, give us a lethal powerplay.  Now I'm reduce to fantasizing about Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Cole Caulfield.

For now, we'll have to rely on an ice-cold Max Domi feeding a cement-handed Nick Cousins for our offence, which he does, a nifty little pass to tie up the game.

Halfway through the period, a strange sequence, where Carey Price makes a great save but gives up a big fat popup of a rebound, on which Tanner Pearson capitalizes.  Carey had no idea where the puck was, and it could have deflated the team, save for the fact that the play was reversed on an offside review, on which said reviews the Canadiens video coaches are killing it this year.  

All that remained was killing off another penalty for a slash by Nick Cousins on Josh Leivo, which had occasioned a delayed penalty call on the eventually disallowed goal, and Marc Denis posed the reasonable question, if the goal was annulled by the offside, shouldn't the slash be as well?  Since the whistle should have blown well before it happened?  Pierre LeBrun of TSN later explained that this is the rule, that penalties aren't expunged by a call that winds back the clock.

Ryan Poehling drew some praise from Pierre Houde for a sequence with Nate Thompson, good board work and puck protection by him, which led to a scoring chance in close.  It also led to the Canucks scrambling, and the next shift with Danault, Armia and Lehkonen playing keepaway with the puck, and Armia eventually potting the goal.  The Canucks challenged the goal because of goalie interference, and the refs, impenetrably, bought it and overturned the goal, even though Oscar Fantenberg clearly crosschecked Artturi into his own goalie.  
Up is down and black is white and impeaching Donald Trump is an attack on democracy and Artturi Lehkonen interfered with Jakob Markstrom on that disallowed goal.  We live in a post-truth world.

I switched over to TSN for the intermission, because Mario Tremblay on RDS, I'm sorry I can't.  Pierre LeBrun was as flabbergasted with the decision as literally everyone else on Earth is.

Canadiens 1, Canucks 1 after two periods.

But maybe the refs have some modesty.  They had to call two penalties against the Canucks, early in the third, couldn't very well let them go, and Tomas Tatar and Shea Weber cashed them in.

At this point we see lots of empty seats on our TV picture, that burgundy lower bowl upholstery they use at that barn, but many more are occupied by fans in bleu-blanc-rouge.  I texted and asked my friend in attendance at the rink how quiet it got, but he didn't reply, meaning he's drunk, obviously.  Drunk, and happy.

The Canucks mounted a furious comeback attempt, pulling their goalie with three minutes to go and setting up for long stretches in the Canadiens' end, but Carey stayed strong.

Canadiens 3, Canucks 1, goodnight my friends.

Les faits saillants de RDS:



For local colour, let's also see what John Shorthouse and John Garrett had to say about this game.

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Friday 13 December 2019

New Colisée in Trois-Rivières won't host Canadiens farm team



The long-rumoured establishment of an ECHL franchise in Trois-Rivières, which was supposed to act as the Canadiens', and more directly, the Laval Rocket's farm team, looks like it won't happen after all.  

This arena, which was built at great taxpayer expense, now seems destined to host les Patriotes de l'Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, according to the reports by Steve Turcotte of Le Nouvelliste.  They play in the U Sports OUA East Division, and if this stumps you, well that's your first indication of the potential draw this team will have on fans.  In a 5 000-seat arena.  Mr. Turcotte suggests the long game might be to wait for a LHJMQ team, either through expansion or another franchise's move.

The mayor and council are also trying to pitch the venue as an arts and culture destination, with Trois-Rivières having a good track record over the last few years as a Cirque du Soleil summer destination.

Which is all fine and good, but this is kind of a bummer for me.  The establishment of an ECHL team was in the long run, I thought, going to be another major asset for the Canadiens, a way to flex its financial might and gain an advantage over more penurious NHL franchises.  Having a wealth of players and prospects under team control in the immediate vicinity of Montréal was going to provide at least a marginal benefit in my opinion.  

Just seeing the way a few injuries on the Canadiens and the Rocket have plucked the latter's roster to the bone, and seeing it have to resort to putting players on PTOs in the lineup, is all the demonstration I need that the Canadiens need to shore up this area of their system.  If this was a one-time thing, you could shrug it off as bad luck, but going back to the Hamilton Bulldogs days, it seems that every season a 'promising' roster in the AHL is proven to be too threadbare, perennially in crisis in the event of a few sprains or callups.

I try not to get too upset over specific games, the wins and losses, even my beloved team missing the playoffs.  As long as there is progress, even the 'one step back' kind, when a Max Pacioretty is sent packing, or when we agonize and cross our fingers until the day of the Draft Lottery.

So when the Canadiens' affiliation with the ECHL Brampton Beast was discontinued a couple seasons back and not replaced with another ECHL team affiliation, but seeing instead the Canadiens placing/loaning surplus AHL'ers to various ECHL franchises, I took it in stride, believing a long-term solution was afoot.  I figured these last couple of years without a dedicated ECHL team were one of these 'one-step-back' moments, that would pay off in the long run.  So I'd grit my teeth at the fact that Michael McNiven is banished to one rival's ECHL team after another, with no control on coaching and minutes on our part.  These stumbles will pay off in the long run, I thought.

But now that this purported plan is not going to come to fruition, I'm going to grouse about this.  This situation cannot endure.  Either Geoff Molson enters the dance and sweetens the offer so that Trois-Rivières does an about-face, or the Canadiens next season have to sew up an American ECHL franchise's affiliation.  They need to stack it with Québec coaching and organizational talent to stock the pond further, give our prospects, even the longshots, the best environment possible to progress and maybe even succeed.

And long-term, they have to get an ECHL franchise set up nearby, possibly on the South Shore, and provide deep organizational support to the Canadiens and Rocket and its players.
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Tuesday 10 December 2019

Game 31: Canadiens 4, Penguins 1

The Canadiens made a quick hop to Pittsburgh tonight, a one-game road quickie before returning to Montréal for a game against the Senators tomorrow.  Quick trip, quick two points, no biggie.

The Canadiens won this one 4-1, although the score doesn't quite reflect a closely-contested game.


It seems like the ship is righted, is no longer foundering.  The Canadiens weren't on their horse and buzzing around the opponents' zone like earlier this season, but that may have been due to the Pittsburgh Tupperware defence, whereby they hermetically sealed off their blue line.  Mario Tremblay brought some insight in the first period break (for once), showing the Penguins all arrayed between the red line and their blue line, facing the onrushing Canadiens, skating backwards like five Rod Langways.  The Penguins are very aware they're missing Sidney.

And the Canadiens responded in kind, they'd collapse around their net, I saw a few defenders sprawled on the ice à la Hal Gill, the whole thing had a faint whiff of Jacques Martin.

Carey is out of his November funk, seemingly at the top of his game.  He's flashing the leather, he's skating around his net handling the puck and dishing it off, he's making things look easy.  He's worth every penny.

And how about that Shea Weber wraparound goal, à la Larry Robinson, 'à l'emporte pièce'?


I don't think I've ever seen that kind of mobility from the Man Mountain.  Maybe he's thinking that he has to take matters in his own hands these days, that the team is a little fragile, that Max Domi and Jonathan Drouin are MIA and the offence has to come from somewhere other than Gally's stick.

Okay, now let's dispose of those dirty, risible Senators tomorrow night, and get solidly back on our feet.

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Saturday 23 November 2019

Game 23: Canadiens 5, Rangers 6



Okay guys, even if, as Claude Ruel used to say "Y'en aura pas d'facile", this is a chicken ready to be plucked, fried and consumed.  The Rangers are disheartened after a bad loss in Ottawa last night.  Easy two points here, just gotta pick 'em up...

(Francois Gagnon: Un autre petit match facile…)

Carey Price is starting, will be starting the rest of the way the whole season no doubt.  Keith Kincaid's relegated to puerile tweet duty.

The big news today was that Max Domi's pout about being shunted to the wing was rewarded by the Canadiens' head coach.  He's back at centre on the second line, and Nick Suzuki gets pushed to the right wing.

1st PERIOD:

 --Sure enough, Max Domi, who I was going to enjoin to put out, to turn it up a notch, well, he scores in the first couple of minutes, assisted by Nick Suzuki and lightweight (on the scoresheet) Artturi Lehkonen.

Canadiens 1, Rangers 0

--Gary Galley says, commenting on the absence of Tomas Tatar after a percussive bodycheck by Chris Kreider (him again...), "the Canadiens have more depth than ever".  Really Gary?  More depth than in the 70s with the stacked Junior de Montréal and Nova Scotia Voyageurs teams?  More depth than the 80s when guys like Sergio Momesso, Claude Lemieux, Stéphane Richer, Brian Skrudland and Mike Keane among others would arrive from the LHJMQ or the Sherbrooke Canadiens and step right into the lineup?

It really should be a requirement to have basic critical thinking and language skills to be allowed to hold a microphone on air.  The housecleaning at Sportsnet, while mostly being about their bottom line with the disastrous NHL broadcast rights contract they (and we the public) are stuck with, is not over, not by a longshot.  Nick Kypreos, Doug MacLean and Don Cherry, goodbye good riddance, but there's a lot of deadwood there still.

--I cracked wise about Artturi, right?  Well, he just scored too, on a decent line-rush snipe.  Not sure the Rangers goalie is long for this game?  Two goals he didn't look great on already, halfway through the first.

Canadiens 2, Rangers 0

--Tomas Tatar is back on the ice later in the 1st period, so no major damage after the Kreider hit I guess.

--Joel Armia and Nick Suzuki both tried a wrist shot on Alexandar Georgiev, when the latter was set and unscreened.  He plucked both muffins out of the air with his catcher, with ease.  We need guys who can rifle the puck.

--Max Domi racks up another goal, a nice screened shot, well-timed from the high slot.  Right at the end of the period too, with thirty seconds left.

Canadiens 3, Rangers 0

2nd PERIOD

--The Canadiens, buzzing around the Rangers zone as if they were on the powerplay, make it 4-0, on a big slap shot by Shea Weber.  Again, though screened, Georgiev didn't look great, letting a puck dribble through him.

Canadiens 4, Rangers 0

--The shutout is dead.  The Rangers get two quick goals back, on line rushes.  Maybe the Canadiens eased off a tad, thinking this one was in the bag?

Canadiens 4, Rangers 2

Gary Galley is already openly-cheering for the comeback.  Once a dirty Bruin, always a dirty Bruin.

--Brendan Lemieux, that turd, scores on the powerplay.  Gary Galley can hardly contain himself.

Canadiens 4, Rangers 3

--The Canadiens, not quite done shooting themselves in the foot, go on the penalty kill, and then Ben Chiarot accidentally clears the puck over the glass and they go 3-on-5.  They do manage to kill it off.

3rd PERIOD

--The sloppy game continues in the third.  Snipey Lehkonen put in another nice shot to put the Canadiens up by two goals and maybe settle this game down five minutes in, but no, the Rangers score another thirty seconds later, and then tie the game up on a shorthanded two-on-one rush.  Brendan Lemieux again.

Canadiens 5, Rangers 5

--And sure, why not, Jacob Trouba floats in a wrister from the blue line, and it gets through Carey Price, screened as he was by Kreider and Jeff Petry.

Time to think some dark thoughts...

Canadiens 5, Rangers 6

--I guess that's what life is like, when you cheer on a team with an erratic goalie?  6 goals on 32 shots against usually rock-solid Carey.  His counterpart, who we sniffed at earlier, has let in 5 on 40.  So far.  The way this is going, these teams could pump in another four or five, easy.

--Canadiens fail to convert on a powerplay, a too-many-men penalty against the Rangers.  4 minutes to go.

--Turns out, this one isn't "facile", even against the lowly Rangers.  Claude Ruel was a sage.

--Canadiens pull Carey with two minutes to go and a won faceoff in the offensive zone.  They get a few shots off, Georgiev smothers the puck for a whistle.  Timeout Canadiens, with slightly less than a minute to go.

--The Domi line, which has been hot tonight, gets the last shift, wins the faceoff.  Brendan Lemieux takes a shot at the empty net, trying to finish the hat trick, misses.  Icing.  Please please please make him pay...

--No dice.  Petry shot stopped by Georgiev.  27 seconds left.

--The boys are going to be skating at practice tomorrow.  Or Monday, most probably, Sunday is usually their CBA-mandated scheduled day off.  Claude Julien must love that.

The Rangers close it out, 6-5 final.  The tattered scattered remnants of HIO will hang Marc Bergevin in effigy.  I might brandish a desultory pitchfork in the background.


(Eric Engels: Canadiens’ defensive issues the root of ‘unacceptable’ loss to Rangers)
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Saturday 12 October 2019

Game 5: Canadiens 6, Blues 3


Tweaked lineup tonight against the Blues, with Brett Kulak rejoining the action and landing with Jeff Petry on the second pairing, Ben Chiarot dropping down to the third, and Mike Reilly back in the pressbox with Cale Fleury.  (Let's send the kid to Laval for a few games, instead of sitting games.)

Also, Paul Byron vaults to the second line with Max Domi, while Nick Suzuki takes his place on the fourth line.  Claude Julien, knowing a good thing when he sees it, leaves the Drouin-Kotkaniemi-Armia line alone.


The Sportsnet stooges start the game by mentioning it's the 67th anniversary of Hockey Night in Canada, or more precisely, 'La Soirée du Hockey' on Radio-Canada, with NHL hockey shown for the first time on TV, described on-air by the venerable René Lecavalier.

The Canadiens open the scoring with Tomas Tatar getting the goal off the draw, and it's all kinds of malarkey that Phillip Danault, who won the faceoff, and Brendan Gallagher, who shoveled the puck to the front of the net and to Tomas, don't get credited with assists on the goal, at least initially.  I expect this to be corrected, it makes no sense, that two players who happen to be in my hockey pool get stiffed like that.

After another early-season coverage breakdown in the Canadiens' zone allowed Brayden Schenn to waltz into the slot on a rush and wire a wrist shot past Carey Price to tie the game, Jonathan Drouin scored right back on a similar kind of play, taking a long lead pass from Ben Chiarot and lasering the puck past Binnington off the post and in.  It kind of took the sting out of the Schenn goal, just as Gary Galley was nattering on about late-period goals being the bane of the Canadiens so far in October.

Good start to the season from Jonathan, and really, that's the kind of play we should expect from him, the level of intensity and production, from a third-overall draft pick who's the highest-paid forward on the team.  A point a game from him all season long would be very welcome.

The see-saw battle continued to the end of the second period, with Vince Dunn notching an easy goal for the Blues on the powerplay, strolling in unmolested to receive a pass and wrist it into the open net, answered by Phillip Danault, on a great hustle play from Gally.

Some of the negative nellies in the media who've been pointing out the confusion in the defensive zone, all the shots against, and good scoring chances allowed, they're kind of getting to me, because I had a feeling of dread rather than optimism as the third period started, but I shouldn't have worried.  Artturi Lehkonen gave the Canadiens the lead with a wraparound, followed shortly thereafter by a Brendan Gallagher goal, on an assist by a furious Max Domi.  The latter closed out the game with a diving swat at a puck to score the empty-net insurance goal, a play on which Jonathan Drouin earned an assist.

After the game, Jonathan was awarded the player-of-the-game sword by captain Shea Weber, which I guess replaces the sweaty Game of Thrones cape the unlucky recipient had to put on last year.  I admit I'm getting old, but the first thing that leaped to mind was the hope that the thing is quite dull, because how much would it suck for someone to get maimed because of highjinks?

[EDIT: Further reading: Strong start to season has Canadiens’ Drouin brimming with confidence ]

And the Brett Kulak-Jeff Petry duo just works.  As much as on paper, in theory, according to hockey wisdom, it made sense to put Ben Chiarot, a New Age no-nonsense tough physical defensive defenceman, with offensive-minded Jeff Petry, it just didn't quite get airborne, they were still searching for that elusive chemistry.  There was much tangential talk in the media this week about systems, about breakouts, with Ben talking about how the Canadiens want to pass/rush the puck up the middle quickly, while in Winnipeg they were playing more of an old-school puck control slower-pace system.  He said how his first instinct is still to look to pass the puck across to his defence partner, or up the boards, where with the Jets his winger would be waiting.  Now on the Canadiens, he said it takes him a second longer to remember to look up the middle and find his outlet there.

Tonight, Brett Kulak and Jeff Petry were engaged, working well with each other, skating freely.  Each finished +2 and garnered an assist, while Ben Chiarot formed a physical third pairing with Christian Folin, which isn't a bad idea when facing a big team like the Blues.

And Victor Mete looks like he's gunning for that first goal.  He's putting pucks on the net, jumping up on the play on line rushes, he came close (sigh...) again tonight.  I have to believe it'll come.  Soon.  Like, this season or something.

So a big 6-3 win that should calm the waters a little, until the next tempest in the fandom.
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Thursday 10 October 2019

Game 4: Canadiens 2, Red Wings 4

The Canadiens, playing a second game in two nights, and having flown back from Buffalo in the wee hours, lacked a bit of pep, of spring in their stride, of cohesion, and fell to the rebuilding Wings 4-2.


Vidéo RDS en français ici.


Canadiens head coach Claude Julien said his team wasn't sharp, but didn't want to say it was due to fatigue.

The boys on l'Antichambre said that luck, which had been on the Canadiens' side for the first three games, caught up with them tonight.

Same with Pierre Houde and Marc Denis in their post-game analysis, their thesis was that the Canadiens were playing with fire again tonight, and this time got burned.

Anthony Mantha continued his hot streak, scoring a beautiful goal on a great shot, and hitting a crossbar on another.  He's also very noticeable in other ways, something which maybe wasn't the case in seasons past.  We saw him tonight jostle with Ben Chiarot, and he wasn't the meek scorer being pushed around, he rather was the cocky big forward not taking any guff from anyone.  He seems to be that late-bloomer who took a while to grow into his large frame, the gangly Great Dane puppy who took an extra long while to become a dog.

Joel Armia, who I criticized in camp and in the first game of the season as a player who was invisible even with his being the biggest forward on the team, seems to have had things click overnight, and scored his third goal in two games, another beauty, and had other opportunities.  And it's not just bouncing pucks that skitter by him and he can't cash in, à la Artturi Lehkonen.  He's actually engaged, skating with the puck with authority, and taking it to the net, weaving around to find an angle.  Great stuff.

Jonathan Drouin had another quiet point, his fourth in four games, and we can almost expect more, like he'll have a big night one of these days.  If he can skate and work hard, and chip in offensively like this on his 'off' nights, we'll be en voiture.

And the honeymoon with Nick Suzuki seems to be over already.  As many said during his strong camp, let's see if he can keep up to the pace of the regular season against full NHL squads, and right now it's not conclusive.  Expect him to be sent down to Laval any day now, and expect a fourth line with Michael Chaput and Ken Agostino Riley Barber and Phil Varone coming soon to a rink near you.

ADDENDUM: Opening ceremony here and here.
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Saturday 5 October 2019

Game 2: Canadiens 6, Leafs 5 (SO)

The Canadiens took another game all the way to the shootout, after Thursday's loss against the Hurricanes, but this time, they came out with a 6-5 win.




When the Leafs tied the game then jumped out to a 4-1 lead, I reflected that this was the expected result, the Leafs being built to win now, while the Canadiens in my opinion need to onboard more talent for a couple seasons or so.  A team with Victor Mete on its first pairing on defence and with Phillip Danault as its first-line centre, no matter how valiantly they play above their station, isn't ready to compete with another turning in a lineup with John Tavares and Auston Matthews 1-2 at centre.  Or is that 1A-1B?

So yeah, I'd admitted defeat, was more concerned about how to keep the game respectable at this point, more concerned with how this would affect my fantasy team.  And I was okay with that, I'm not one of the simpletons who claim that the Canadiens MUST make the playoffs this season.  I'm going to be satisfied with a season where the team skates and plays hard, with intensity and drive, a team that shows spirit and courage, that supports each other and develops.  Give me a season where KK takes another step forward, where Nick Suzuki and Ryan Poehling become productive, promising members of the team, where we can see just around the corner Cole Caufield and Alex Romanov, and I'll be happy.

So while I was cheering for a moral victory, the Canadiens had other ideas.  They don't quit as easy as I do.

What a comeback, what a game.  Four unanswered goals by the Canadiens to respond to the Leafs' four, giving them a 5-4 lead, until Auston Matthews (him again) tied it on the powerplay with 90 seconds to go.  An exciting end-to-end overtime didn't decide it, although both teams came close, especially Max Domi, with a shot that hit Michael Hutchison in the mask before striking the crossbar flush. 

I think I'll get my wish.  This will be an exciting team to watch this season.
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Friday 4 October 2019

Game 1: Canadiens 3, Hurricanes 4 (SO)

The Canadiens played a game at breakneck speed against the equally swift Carolina Hurricanes, and had to settle for an overtime loss of 4-3, in the shootout portion.


Some disjointed thoughts occurred to me as the game unfolded and I corresponded with brave-hearted like-minded supporters of the Good Guys.



1)  Jonathan Drouin will at least start the season as the point man, the quarterback of the first-wave of the powerplay.  I'm going to be a broken record and repeat myself from last season, but Jo has to figure out how to just make a quick simple pass, not a highlight-reel wizardy pass on every play.  Keep the puck moving, and don't get your pocket picked at the blue line.  Don't try to pull a rabbit out of your hat every time you touch the puck.

Like on the Kotkaniemi goal, just skate hard and take the puck in the opponents' zone and then take it to the net.

2)  Why isn't it a penalty when a dumbass like Nino Niedereiter sits his dumb ass on the puck, behind his own net, as if he lost the ability to roll off or get up on his feet?  With a stupid stupid look on his face, completely gobsmacked by events, "Heavens to Betsy, what on Earth is going on, I must persist on lying down here for a spell..." Isn't that delay of game?  Shouldn't this be something the dumb dumb GM committee deals with, instead of futzing with faceoffs and the hand pass?

Keep the play moving, keep the puck moving.  Don't let an overmatched player lie down on the puck and freeze it.  Don't let a scrambling team kill the play and reset.  Give the attacking team the advantage.

You fall down and the puck is under you?  It's your frigging job, your responsibility to get off it, or your team gets two minutes for delay of game.  There.  How hard is that?

This crap doesn't fly in rugby, you can't bury the ball, lie on it and kill it like that.  That's an automatic penalty.

3)  It's a small sample size, but this game is the first time it truly sank in that the NHL game is different, that it is changed.  It's fast, blindingly fast, relentlessly so.  Finishing checks is going the way of the dodo.  Grinding in the corners used to be about thumping, now it's about clashing sticks and actually battling for the puck, not just crosschecking and wrestling with your opponent, not just trying to wear him down for the third period.  Now you skate your opponents into the ground.

The buzz at TSN 1040 Vancouver is that their opening game in Edmonton was lost due to a bad pass by Brandon Sutter at a critical juncture in the third, a flub/brain cramp by Brandon Sutter who tried to weakly bank the puck ahead to a teammate, but it was easily intercepted and it ended up on Connor McDavid's stick going the other way, and in the net.  And the radio jocks who watched the game both agreed that Brandon Sutter, who said in camp he did a lot of Pilates and core work over the summer to recover from groin injuries, looked gassed in the third period, and that's a big part of the reason he turned over the puck, his legs were burnt at the end of a shift and he was fried.

With all the speed though, while a lot of the strategic or functional 'toughness' and goonery that was endemic is being extirpated, sadly the artistry of a Gilbert Perreault or Alex Kovalev is also phased out.  Players have half a second when receiving a pass to make a decision and move it along, before two opponents converge on them.  Tic-tac-toe goals will still exist, and I hope that efforts will continue to reduce the importance of goalie gear in the equation so that snipers can still see some net, so that a Mike Bossy or Reggie Leach can still thrive, but we'll not see a Guy Lafleur in full flight ever again.

And the sport, to my eyes, risks becoming almost impenetrable, like fencing or Kendo, with the subtlest of moves having huge outcomes, and I being made aware that someone did well or won only because of the crowd cheering or the refs indicating.  The fact that a true slapshot from the point is becoming more and more rare, because defencemen simply don't have the time to unleash one, is not really a positive development in my book.

4)  I had the occasion during the game to form the opinion that Joel Armia wasn't really contributing, was a little slow, a little late on the play, a little invisible.

Until the overtime, when he had a couple of sequences where he took the puck to the net with strength, with drive, against an opponent draped all over him.  And I appreciated this effort, how close he came to getting our team the win, but it makes me pine for that quality, the codeword hockey men throw around, the fabled consistency.  He needs to 'be more consistent'.  As in, excellent all game long, every game, not just for a spectacular burst or two last night in OT.

(Faits saillants RDS)
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Saturday 28 September 2019

Pre-season Game 7: Canadiens 4, Senators 3 (OT)

We were all prepared to be gloomy and pessimistic, but an in extremis win by les Glorieux, literaguratively snatching victory from the jaws of defeat made this a happy ending to the pre-season and renders us entertained and merely fatalistic about the prognosis for our favourite team this season.  Nick Suzuki slam-dunked his inclusion on the opening night roster with a beauty effort and an unassisted overtime goal.



The Canadiens and the Sens played a chippy game, starring major intestinal pain Brady Tkachuk for one.  Now that the Leafs have dispatched Nazem Kadri, I thought the other Ontario team was just one Borowidjotectomy away from also icing a lineup constituted solely of talented players, but the second son of Keith will be another despondingating jerk on that roster, I'd forgotten.  Hopefully our couple of tough defencemen will be enough to counter them, because our only forward with size, Joel Armia, comes in Vanilla-Lite flavour only.  It was good to see Ben Chiarot take issue with Bobby Ryan's tap/slash on Carey and discuss the matter thoroughly with him.


The Canadiens aren't a finely-honed machine as of yet.  Max Domi isn't playing like the reformed ruffian and reigning #1 centre he incarnated last season, but rather like the distracted dissolute cheap-shotting despicable faux-tough guy he was in Phoenix.  Jesperi Kotkaniemi had the lowest icetime of all Canadiens forwards.  Jonathan Drouin was sequestered in the pressbox like a débutante with chicken pox.  It's doubtful this team is ready to charge out of the blocks as as we've grown accustomed to since 2013 and the Therrien administration.

Cale Fleury had another good solid outing, with 15 minutes of icetime, 3 shots on goal (and a near-miss on a goal when he rushed the net from the blue line) and 4 hits.  Marc Bergevin will probably have to tell the kid to get a place in TMR somewheres, kind of halfway, but closer to the Nouveau Forum than to Laval.

Carey Price had a doozy of a mishandle on the Sens' third goal by Filip Chlapik.  Let's hope that this is his lowlight in that department for the year.  Some fans will get on him about it, no doubt, but I grew up watching the escapades of Ken Dryden stiltwalking around his net, handling the puck with whimsical ineffectiveness that made us pine for Michel Laroque, ungrateful little shits that we were.  So I give Carey two or three mulligans a year on these, seeing as his puckhandling is usually flawless and assured and doesn't get noticed, like when a holder does his job on a placekick.
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Friday 27 September 2019

The Canadiens' lineup, as the season nears

This is the Canadiens' practice lineup, with the Ottawa Senators looming as our Saturday night opposition for the last pre-season game.

Tatar – Danault – Gallagher
Lehkonen – Domi – Suzuki
Drouin – Kotkaniemi – Weal
Byron – Thompson – Armia
Cousins – Poehling – Hudon
Mete – Weber
Chiarot – Petry
Kulak – Fleury
Reilly – Folin
Kinkaid
Lindgren

Some notes:

--I guess Carey will be ready to play the final tuneup game?  There have been mentions of a special padding inserted in his glove to protect his bruised hand.  He better be ready, or we'll need special padding in the cell we're headed for if he gets off to a poor start.

--For now, Nick Suzuki replaces the departed Andrew Shaw on right wing of the Domi line, and Lehky replaces Jonathan Drouin, who's reportedly being showcased "En Special!!!" 

--Apparently Ryan Poehling is ready to go, and if he has a good game on Saturday, does that mean both he and Nick make le Grand Club?  My wish that they get a half-season at least in the AHL is dashed on the rocks of pedestrian training camp performances by Charles Hudon, Matthew Peca, Dale Weise, ...

--I'm going to put my foot down on Cale Fleury though.  I get that Nick Suzuki and Ryan Poehling are winning their jobs fair and square, differentiated themselves from the Pecas and the Varones and the Hudons, but those young forwards will have opportunities, can be moved around the lineup.  Cale Fleury meanwhile, as a sixth defenceman, doesn't really do that much for us, provides us with another headache when Noah Juulsen is ready to return, and will mean we'll lose a Mike Reilly or Christian Folin on waivers. 

Put him down in Laval, for another season of marinating, and hoard another asset.  That's my final decision.

--Karl Alzner waived today, cross our fingers the Ducks Coyotes nab him.  A Canadiens 'analyst'-mouthpiece was holding out hope the Jets might claim Karl Alzner.  Which reminds me I haven't bought my Loterie Super-Max tickets yet this week.



(Update)

No luck with Karl, the Jets didn't bite.  Nobody bit.  He'd said before camp that if he was sent down to the AHL, he'd ask for a trade, but going unclaimed through waivers has to be an obvious demonstration of the level of demand for his services, right?  If he wants out, he can void the contract "à l'amiable", shake hands on it buddy, no hard feelings...

What other options exist?  Tell other teams we'll let him go and hold back a mill, a mill and a half, if they take on the contract?  That would be cheaper for us than buying him out next season.  As we discussed, even next season, he's not an easy buyout decision, he'd cost us approx. $4M in 2020, then three more seasons at roughly one million cap hit.

If nobody wants to take him on, even with sweeteners/retained salary, it'll be up to him to play superb defence in Laval, be the stalwart defensive veteran we were hoping for, and then have teams suffer injuries and resort to him to shore up their defence.  As a very long shot.

--The first four exhibition games portended too well for some excited fans, and now two straight losses against the partial Leafs have crashed us back to Earth. 

Any hope I had that the team would be improved and would make the playoffs was based on Jonathan Drouin having an 80-90 point season (I know, I know, more on that later...) and KK taking the next Scheifele step and bagging 50 points and playing some Top 6 centre.  And Alzner getting some Norris Trophy votes, while I'm at it.

The Canadiens are making no bones that they're holding a competition, that they'll ice the best lineup they can, regardless of waiver and contract situations.  And if they start to falter early in the season, if by January the playoffs look unlikely, Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin can start to deal away non-core assets for draft picks.

There will be hell to pay, what with The Montreal Gazette's Stu Cowan guaranteeing in print repeatedly that Marc Bergevin had/must/would/shall be fired if the Canadiens missed the playoffs three seasons in a row, which hasn't happened since the '20s, he insists, and which is a neat stat, until you realize how many teams there were then in the League and how many there are now.  TVA's Michel Bergeron would have an aneurysm nightly if that came to pass.

But I guess Geoff Molson can see through the noise.  He's often said we're on the right track, that we're building for the future.  If we miss the playoffs, we just divest in the Paul Byrons and the Brett Kulaks, add more picks to the impressive slate we have for the June 2020 draft, coincidentally held in Montréal, fold Cole Caufield and Alex Romanov into the roster, and take another run at it next season. 

The GM evidently can't abduct the Sebastian Ahos, and he can't put a gun on the temple of the Jake Gardiners and 'convince' them to come play for the Canadiens.  We need to add players through the draft, we won't get the Jacob Troubas falling in our lap, wanting to play here to further their wife's career away from the frozen North, the Steven Stamkoses re-signing long-term at a discount.

We're in a better position than the Vancouver Canucks, for one.  They're locked in, they can't pull up on this season and make another run next year, they're committed, their first-round pick belongs to Tampa this year or next, so they're not getting the benefit if they suck.  The Canadiens can evaluate as the season goes on and freely pull the chute.

--My 80-point prediction hope dream for Jonathan was hopelessly optimistic.  He's been mentioned by Elliott Friedman as being floated on the trade market, with Marc Bergevin trying to unload a winger for help elsewhere.  The troubling thing about Jonathan is that he can do it, and he showed up to camp in shape, but he's already pouting and in a rut. 

Out here in Vancouver, at least their local-born whipping-boy, Jake Virtanen, he had the decency to show up to camp fat and overweight, to provide grist for the mill.

So yeah, I thought a summer hanging out with Max Domi and working out with renewed focus might make things click for him, that he'd look around and see his former peers thriving and he'd get into gear and get in that zone.

To think of the Canadiens improving and becoming a contender, they had to take a big step forward, to add an impact player over the summer, and since we whiffed on that, I thought that organic growth might (be the only way to) solve this, and Jonathan is eminently capable of taking the season, the team in his grasp and going at a point per game pace. 

Instead, he looks like he'll sulk his way to Edmonton.  Can you imagine him trying to keep up to Connor McDavid?  He'd probably have 80 points in a down year playing with that guy.

I wonder how the Oilers will feast on waivers, they'll probably claim three or four wingers in the next few days, I would think.
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Monday 23 September 2019

Pre-season Game 5: Canadiens 0, Tier III Leafs 3

The Canadiens bored us and bored themselves to sleep with a 3-0 loss to the Tier III Leafs.

As soon as the Leafs announced this pitiful lineup, we joked that MLSE should refund the cost of the tickets for spectators at the Nouveau Forum and that the point spread should be around a touchdown.




Toronto Maple Leafs Projected Lines*


Forwards
Agostino (20) – Shore (26) – Petan (61)
Archibald (49) – Brooks (77) – Bracco (29)
Korshkov (96) – Gaudet (32) – Read (12)
Engvall (47) – Elynuik (76) – Conrad (72)
Defensemen
Gravel (25) – Schmaltz (2)
Harpur (22) – Holl (3)
Rubins (56) – Liljegren (37)
Goaltenders
Hutchinson (30)

Well, the Marlies Lite still beat our half roster full of Barbers and Belziles.  Comfortably.

After 14 fringe players were cut from camp on Sunday, La Presse ran this article saying it was time for the harder choices.

Well, on RDS the superb team of Pierre Houde and Marc Denis discussed the same concept, the same thought I'd been formulating all game long, that when no players stand out, they're making your decisions easier for you.

Charles Hudon came into camp leaner, determined to make an impression, to return to the style of play he demonstrated his first season.  Well, the puck hasn't gone in for him, he hasn't gotten the bounces, he hasn't produced, he hasn't convinced anyone.  Not that I'm looking to get rid of him exactly, he's organizational depth, but we can't carry him on the roster all year long this year like we did last year, for fear of losing him on waivers.

If anything, this early in the season with all clubs healthy and junior players still sticking with their camps, now is the time to try to sneak him through.  I really don't think he'll be claimed, and if he is, well good luck to him, but he's in his mid-twenties now, there's not a lot of upside there, a lot of unfulfilled potential.  He is what he is, a player too good for the AHL maybe, but not really cut out to play on an NHL 4th line, which is an awkward position to be in.  So let's waive him, hope he lands in Laval and can provide veteranship there.  

Same with Karl Alzner.  Let's waive him, cross our fingers that he might get claimed, which he won't.  I mean, bad teams like the Canucks, the Sabres and the Rangers are right up against the cap ceiling.  No one is going to splurge on an over-30 defensive defenceman who's overpaid for three more seasons.  So hope for the best and prepare for the worst, which means he'll be in Laval taking up a developmental spot and crowding our cap space, but there's no way he's sticking in Montréal, not with the pedestrian effort tonight.  If he'd rammed that Kalashnikov guy into the boards a couple times and slowed him down some, I might have sat up and taken notice, but he blew his chance.

Charlie Lindgren, you didn't stand on your head, you're taking the orange line to Montmorency.  Keith Kincaid is having a cakewalk in camp, he's the designated backup.  Charlie's another guy who I don't think might get claimed when put on waivers, he was probably showcased tonight in hopes they could get a low draft pick for him in a trade, and that's not going to happen.  There's a surplus of goalies out there, Charlie's no solution for nobody.

Belzile shmellzile.  None of these guys grabbed the brass ring.  With a few injuries to Mike McCarron and Ryan Poehling and Noah Juulsen, these decisions are making themselves for us, we don't have to hem and haw.  Give Joël Bouchard some bodies to work with.

EDIT: Well that didn't take long...

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Sunday 22 September 2019

Pre-Season Game 4: Canadiens 4, Senators 0

The Laval Canadiens spanked the Junior B Sénateurs de Belleville 4-0 last night.  (La Presse)

You know last year when the Canadiens traded for Jordan Weal at the deadline, there was immediate fan hype that he might be the next Dale Weise or Brett Kulak, the fringe roster player on another team that blossoms on the Canadiens, and I was thinking we should pump the brakes on this, not everyone is going to be a Paul Byron, most of the deadline deals and waiver claims are going to be of the Devante Smith-Pelly or Kerby Rychel variety, a flawed/failed prospect you obtained in exchange for your own flawed/failed prospect.

Sure, the end of the season was especially encouraging for Jordan Weal, how he might provide an option as a shifty right-shot on the powerplay and in the faceoff circle, a Bottom 6 player who can play a few shifts in the Top 6, but let's wait for a larger sample size maybe? So far in camp though, I have to admit I'm checking to see where the bandwagon is, and if one ever wanted to cartwheel his way onto it, how might one pick a route?

There have been some putrid pro-scouting decisions made in the Bergevin régime, Scrivens, Streit, Schlemko, Dwight King, etc., but lately that's turned around, and there are many more hits than there used to be.  I don't know if it's a change of personnel in those scouting roles, a different approach or plain dumb luck, but it's a refreshing change.

And this is where the Canadiens can flex their financial muscle.  The Coyotes couldn't make Jordan Weal work for them, so they flipped him and his 'onerous' $1.75M contract to the Canadiens for a Michael Chaput with a $675 000 two-way contract that they can stash in the minors for $275 000.  It was essentially picking up Joel Armia for Simon Bourque again, getting a player for a contract that was encumbering us on the 50-contract limit.  Michael Chaput has convincingly demonstrated during his time with the Canucks that he's a great AHL player.

Marc Bergevin re-signed Jordan Weal this summer to a two-year deal at $1.4M, which I thought would cost us a little bit should he be sent to Laval, but then again could/should act as waiver insurance for us, most teams would pass at picking up that contract.  Meanwhile, we numerous Canadiens fans give Geoff Molson enough money that he can reinvest it like this, we can afford him in the minors, on the bottom line.  Although now I don't think the minors will be an issue, Claude Julien professed his love for him early in camp, and right now the pre-season production and performance bear that out.





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Thursday 4 July 2019

How do you spell excitement? C-H-A-R-I-O-T

Brace yourselves: I'm not happy.  I don't like it.

 Another Jet takes off: Ben Chiarot signs 3-year deal with Montreal Canadiens

1)  It's days like these I start to rue Karl Alzner.  Mostly, I deal with it, every team has a shitty player on an unmovable contract.  The Canucks have Loui Eriksson.  The Oilers have Lucic, the Flames have James Neal.  The Rangers have Shattenkirk, Staal, although those guys are on the team playing, our boy is in Laval.  

It's hard to squawk about Korl when the Canucks are stuck with Loui and a Luongo cap recapture of $3M for three years, and I'm subjected to the uproar concerning that every day.  But now that we went back to the well and took another veteran UFA defensive type who hits and plays well in his zone, because we whiffed on Korl, it's harder to ignore him.

2)  The scouting report on Ben Chiarot:

SCOUTING REPORT
Has the requisite size all National Hockey League teams need along the blueline, and he displays the ability to use it as well. Was a good point producer in the junior ranks. Still a little raw in the defensive zone, he needs to tighten up and limit his mistakes with the puck in order to maximize his big-league potential as a defensive type.
Long Range Potential:Big, stay-at-home defenseman.

I was seeing Jordie Benn's departure as a positive, that we'd maybe be forced to live and die with Mete, Kulak and Reilly, fleet puck-movers, we'd see d-men pinching and rushing the puck.

Nope.

3)  Putting a positive spin on things, maybe Ben Chiarot can/will be an asset?  Maybe he plays decently next year, like Jordie Benn season this year +, and we can trade him in Year 2 or Year 3 of this deal?  Once Alex Romanov comes over and takes over in the Top 4?

4)  I'd mostly given up on Jake Gardiner, but was hopeful we could work something out with Calgary and T.J. Brodie.  They're desperate to sell, need to shed salary to re-up Matthew Tkachuk, I was thinking we take on James Neal too and he finds his game again.  So from dreaming of T.J. Brodie with Shea Weber, to contemplating Ben Chiarot on our Top 4, that's quite the letdown.

5)  We maybe can still offer-sheet Charlie McAvoy?  Or Xavier Ouellet takes a giant leap over the summer?  Jayden Struble is a huge surprise at training camp?  No?

Hmmmmfff...
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Monday 1 July 2019

The Canadiens extend an offer sheet to Sebastian Aho, who accepts it!

The Canadiens' Marc Bergevin seemed like he was up to something, trading away Andrew Shaw and Nicolas Deslauriers yesterday, clearing away more cap space for a big July 1 move, it figured.

Well, he took a big swing today, extending an offer-sheet to the Carolina Hurricanes' Sebastian Aho, which the latter accepted.  This gives the 'Canes seven days to decide to match the offer, or accept the pre-determined compensation package of a first, second and third-round pick in next year's draft.

This is a five-year contract which carries a $8.4M AAV and is structured this way:




The TSN panel boys were perplexed that the offer wasn’t for more money, as Hurricanes GM Don Waddell stated himself, even with the understanding that a higher offer would have meant a greater compensation owed Carolina.

The Montréal press hounds asked Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin about this (4:05 mark), why not push the AAV up to $9M or $10M, to really make the Hurricanes sweat, but he matter-of-factly explained that the salary and structure was acceptable to the player, to the team, as was the compensation he’d have to fork over. He didn’t believe that making the yearly salary higher would rebuff the ‘Canes from matching, so they obviously think the bonus structure is the poison pill.




So basically this is a deal that the Canadiens and the player can live with, and it illustrates the point that TSN’s Bob McKenzie made a few years ago: there is no gentleman’s agreement between GMs preventing offer sheets, just the practical consideration that, as one GM explained to him, for an offer sheet to work, you have to make it so outlandish that it wrecks the other team’s salary structure if they choose to match it. You have to vastly overpay a player so the opposing GM tosses in his cards and pushes away from the table. The GM continued that, if you manage that, great, you ‘win’ the player, but now you have on your hands a contract that will wreck your own team’s salary structure.

It looks like Marc Bergevin tried to straddle that line, offer a generous contract and structure that only locks up the player for five years, when he can re-up at an even higher number, while at the same time not have the player cause jealousy and resentment in the Canadiens locker room if it comes to that. He tried to offer an onerous to the cash-poor ‘Canes but overall reasonable contract that when he has to negotiate with his other players, they can’t point to that deal and say “I’d like something crazy like that”.

And he made it too easy probably for the Hurricanes to match it, but now every player on that team will point at Aho and say “I want my money in bonuses up front”, and Don Waddell can no longer hide behind a ‘team policy’ reason not to grant that. So yeah, all that may come of this is ruffled feathers.

What happens if he does land in Montréal, if the Hurricanes refuse to match, which I would stake at a 25% chance?  Well, he immediately becomes the #1 centre on the team.  Max Domi can shift over to the wing.  Jesperi Kotkaniemi is the second-line centre, Phillip Danault is a more reasonably slotted deluxe third-line centre.  There is less haste in bringing up the kids Ryan Poehling and Nick Suzuki, to put them on the roster and hope they succeed, rather than letting them mature in Laval in due time.

It probably frees up a winger and/or centre prospect who can then be flipped for a left-shot defenceman who can play in the Top 4, since evidently Jake Gardiner is a no-go, for reasons.

But let's not get too far ahead of ourselves.  Let's see where this leads within the next week.  And props to Marc Bergevin for a shrewd move, an attempt at improving the club with little downside, whichever eventuality befalls us.
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Sunday 30 June 2019

Pre-UFA Frenzy thoughts on a busy June 30

Man, you turn around for half a day, and sports go crazy.  Lots of activity on this June 30, with Marc Bergevin making two trades to free up cap space and a couple of contract slots.

Andrew Shaw: So Shawzy goes back to the Blackhawks, as it was rumoured they wanted him back for a couple of seasons.  They're getting the band back together, Brandon Saad, standby for a Marian Hossa unretirement.

What a sideways move that turned out to be.  We got Andrew Shaw for $10000, used him for three years, and sold him back to the dealer for $7500 in today dollars.  We left the new rubber on the car, but they didn't make us fill up the tank.  They said if they find our Wilco CD in the trunk or between the cushions they'll mail it to us.

I've been fantasizing since he joined our team about how great it would look with Samuel Girard and Alex DeBrincat on the roster, and sans Andrew Shaw.  Last season, I came around to the fact that he could be a useful player, and now he's gone.

Good damage control by Bergie though.  After sloughing away assets for a while there, losing players on waivers, much to my strident, repetitive chagrin, he's been a step ahead mostly.  Like, trading away Hayden Hawkey for a 5th to Edmonton, I greedily groused that it could have been more, but now look at us.  He's going to go to August and go UFA on the Oilers.  Yay us.

And with Andrew Shaw, it's a 'sauver les meubles' trade.  We didn't save the house, but had the time to save/retrieve the contents from the fire.  The timeliness is admirable too.  That's another stack of poker chips for tomorrow.

Nicolas Deslauriers:  I would have preferred to keep him, I thought we could probably sneak him through waivers down to Laval in October, but this may be better.  A fourth-rounder for him?  We traded for him two seasons ago and only gave up Zach Redmond to Buffalo, an AHLer, and we end up with a mid-round pick?  Nice work again, Bergie.

The Ducks probably wanted to add a little size and orneriness, with the Blues showing that toughness is still needed.  Him and Maxime Comtois should be a Franco One-Two punch down there.

Matt Duchene:  I was trying to be open-minded in case we landed him, didn't want to begrudge a(nother) player on our roster, it makes it hard to cheer on the team with Max Domi and Andrew Shaw already in the lineup, but now that it's quasi-official, I'm glad we're not getting Matt Duchene.  I thought it would be an overpay, and he wouldn't hit the spot necessarily.  

Sure, he's a centre, but he's not big, not known as a hustler or forechecker or any of the things that Claude Julien likes, he's not a rightie.  I didn't like that Uber incident, that reflects really poorly on him.  I didn't like how the Avalanche didn't skip a beat when he left town, the team actually took off, played better without him.  I didn't like how he was called out by Patrick Roy for celebrating his 30th goal too enthusiastically.  I didn't like how RDS' Eric Bélanger, a former teammate, is very cool at the notion of adding him to any team, how he's an odd fellow, not a bad guy, but a little off.

If we're going to pay 8 or 9 million to anyone, let it be one of our young guys who's worth it, not Matt Duchene.

Jake Gardiner: We've said all we need to say, I'd be okay paying him $7M X 7 if that's what it takes.  I prefer my two-year deal idea, but I thought that was necessary back when I proposed it, before the creation of more capspace with the Andrew Shaw trade/salary dump.  I think a 28-year-old getting a seven-year deal is palatable, might turn out to be Jeff Petry-cheap in Year 3 or 4.

I don't know which other teams are in the running, but like I said, playing on the first pair with Shea Weber must be attractive for anybody?  And having been in Toronto, I assume he's not afraid of the Montréal market, although it could play the other way, he's seen Anaheim, the palm trees and anonymity.  He might be itching to leave Toronto/Canada, slamming the door behind him, vowing "Never again!"

T.J. Brodie (and James Neal): This is Plan B.  I'm calling it.  He'll be our very affordable (for one more season) leftie first-pairing guy, but in exchange we also have to take on James Neal's anchor of a contract, 4 more seasons at $5.75M.  Maybe the Flames can hold on to a mill of that.

So that's it that's all, the defence is fixed, we've added a big guy who can skate and produce on the wing for $10M total?  We hope that James Neal can return to form, that last year was a blip on the screen, and he's back to the 20-goal season we expect from him? 

Ben Hutton: Plan C.  He's really not that good, but better than Joe Morrow or Jakub Jerabek, he's Nathan Beaulieu all over again, a guy who moves the puck well but somehow doesn't pile up the points.  Can't break a pane of glass with his shot.  Doesn't spend enough time in the gym, he's described as doughy.  Travis Green tore a strip off him a few times in the media two seasons ago, he showed up in respectable shape this year.  His usage numbers are not reflective of his play: the reason he gets so much icetime is that Alex Edler and Chris Tanev are injured all the time.

Andrej Sekera:  Plan D.  Really cheap deal, for one year.  The Oilers are already paying him with his buyout, we won't need to blow the budget on this guy, but let's see if he has anything left.  

Jesse Puljujarvi:  Offer-sheet?  Somewhere above $2M the compensation goes from a third-round to a second-round pick.  The Oilers don't have any room, they're looking to add pieces, maybe they don't fight it, they take the pick and cut their losses?  Although, wouldn't Marc Bergevin have already called Ken Holland and asked for an outright trade if that's the piddling return needed?  

Anders Lee:  No.  Too much money.

Mike Smith, Cam Talbot, Keith Kincaid: I don't really care who.  Any decent veteran who comes here, we'll cross our fingers that the Stéphane Waite approach works its magic and he turns in a banner year.  Heck, he squeezed one more season out of Anti Niemi, when everyone thought he was through, after being waived twice in a season.  

Just make sure it's cheap.  Nothing over $2M, preferably much less.  Carey's still going to, um, carry the ball.

I'd prefer not to lose Charlie Lindgren on waivers, but it looks like we might have to chance it in October.

Alex Galchenyuk:  Third team for the kid.  I hope he didn't grow too attached to the flip-flops.  Pittsburgh could be great for him, he'll be lethal on the powerplay I would guess.  Although he'd be another left shot, not ideal.  

Anyway, talent was never the problem with our boy, it's between the ears, evidently.

Corey Perry:  Non merci.  Suivant, next!
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