tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-47838772692946677012024-02-28T15:42:40.969-08:00Relentless IneptitudeMy soapbox to proclaim on hockey, football, politics, life. Spotlighted will be the Montreal Canadiens, and the San Diego Chargers, at least until the Vancouver GlassSmashers' inaugural NFL season.whistlerfanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09842349873700367143noreply@blogger.comBlogger1429125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4783877269294667701.post-86476881933462892442023-07-02T10:59:00.002-07:002023-07-02T10:59:17.036-07:002023-24 Canadiens Offseason Roster Construction: UFA (Unexciting Free Agency)<p> So the Steady Eddie trade is defensible if a little disappointing. My uninformed fan's solution was to hold on to him until the trade deadline, when he could reap a second and in the best of a Chiarot world, a first-rounder. You'd have Matheson, Guhle and Edmundsson on the left, which again in my plan you dealt with by unloading Victor Mete 2.0, namely Jordan Harris, on some other gullible GM (Pierre Dorion), and sending Wifi to Laval at least to start the year.</p><div>But Gorton and Hughes keep talking about culture, and it might have harmed the culture and the dressing room to send down a popular teammate like Arber, and maybe they think he's essential in the lineup as currently constituted. And Joel lost half a season due to back problems last year, and the analytics aren't kind to him, so Kent Hughes took 80 cents on the dollar by flipping him to the Caps for a third-rounder, and a seventh we can use in the future to honour David Poile and his remarkably lifelike mop of thick full brown hair. </div><div><br /></div><div>I can go along with this move, a bird in hand and all that stuff, and maybe it does help to develop our young guys on D by giving them more ice and responsibility, so ultimately beneficial in the long term. But the flipside of this wager is if injury-prone Mike Matheson and/or David Savard miss weeks of action, watch out, we'll have a fragile D-corps, which may experience growing pains and the sophomore jinx, especially without the trusty vets around.</div><div><br /></div><div>UFA July 1 was as boring as the draft was, with no trades, certainly none of the blockbusters the experts and insiders portended. I'm glad the Canadiens stayed clear of the first day of overspending, but now I'm thinking of finding bargains, even if we really don't have any room on the roster. Maybe a cheap veteran goalie for depth insurance? We're going to have to white-knuckle the start of the season with Caden Primeau, whether we keep three goalies on the roster or try to sneak him to Laval. Better have a Plan D.</div><div><br /></div><div>I see Jonathan Bernier is available, but I don't think he'd be ready to accept a grand-frère role in Laval at this stage of his career. Keith Kincaid, maybe his lively social media presence can counter any burned bridges (no, I'm not serious)? Le retour de Zach Fucale? Does anyone know anything about Jean-François Bérubé?</div><div><br /></div><div>At other positions, the UFA status of Maxime Comtois is certainly intriguing, a big winger with talent who should be able to score, but who's had two very disappointing seasons in Anaheim, which I can attest to, having taken flyers at times on him on my fantasy team, when I was desperate for help and he'd be given first line and powerplay duties by the Ducks. We find out though that he is one of the subjects of the sexual assault investigation on the Canadian World Junior team, and would that explain his drop in performance, like seemingly Carter Hart's? I'll bet we steer clear of him.</div><div><br /></div><div>At defence, we need to replenish the ranks in Laval for callups and just to have enough bodies. Maybe Frédéric Allard can re-sign if the grass isn't greener elsewhere. Nicolas Meloche is out there available. Bode Wilde is a name...</div><div><br /></div><div>At forward, I guess we made our lowball offer to Dennis Gurianov already, when we held his rights and chose not to make him a qualifying offer, so he's almost certainly not returning. Adam Erne is a name on the list that flashes, would he be okay with a 14th forward role, a big winger who's called up situationally, when injuries strike? Kieffer Bellows' name pops also, although not his stats in the NHL. Pierre-Edouard Bellemare can Frenchify us, and bring some Bottom 6 grit and championship experience, a leftie centre for added depth, and for when Jake Evans gets conkied again.</div><div><br /></div><div>We could take a chance on Julien Gauthier, in the faint hope clause, at minimum wage. If we ever unload Joel Armia, we could plug and play Julien in his role of the disengaged 6'4" fourth-liner, and reap the savings.</div><div><br /></div><div>Any other ideas out there?</div>whistlerfanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09842349873700367143noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4783877269294667701.post-41533831737587575152023-04-30T09:33:00.318-07:002023-05-02T09:00:33.760-07:002023-24 Canadiens Offseason Roster Construction: Which UFAs and RFAs should be retained?<p>The 2022-23 season is thankfully over for les Canadiens de Montréal, but it doesn't really feel like we can now sit back and take a break. As supporters of the team, all season long we kept an eye on the current, sure, at the daily games and practice reports, but really our hearts and minds were on the future. We saw everything that happened this year through the prism of The Rebuild, and at this point on the calendar, we're ankle-deep in it.</p><p>We have a lot of wheeling and dealing to look forward to as we prepare for the next season. We will work through some decisions the team's brass will have to make as some important dates near (May 8, June 15, June 28-29, July 1, August 15). While our educated guesses won't be binding on Jeff Gorton and Kent Hughes, they will be a starting point for discussions, and will firm up in our own minds what the issues are, where the biggest struggles will be.</p><p>What we'll look at in the first instalment is relatively straightforward. We'll gaze into the crystal ball and try to predict which and/or how many impending Canadiens free agents will be re-signed for next year. <a href="https://puckpedia.com/salary-cap/restricted-free-agents-rfa-qualifying-offers" target="_blank">Restricted free agents (RFA) are under team control, and can be retained if the team submits a qualifying offer (QO</a>) by June 15. Players with expiring contracts who are set to become unrestricted free agents (UFA) can re-sign with their teams at any time, or can wait until their contract expires on July 1 and then offer their services to the highest/best bidder.</p><p>One important factor to consider in our decision-making is <a href="https://hockeyanswered.com/nhl-roster-size-an-easy-to-follow-guide/" target="_blank">the 50-contract limit</a>. In the olden days, the Canadiens' Frank Selke and later Sam Pollock could and would sign an apparently inexhaustible parade of prospects to 'C forms', which bound players to an NHL team in perpetuity, but this is no longer allowable. Now teams have to stay under this limit, and usually don't go above 47 or 48 at the outset of the season, so as to leave some flexibility to acquire players in trade, in case of injuries, etc.</p><p>The Canadiens organization currently has 48 players under contract. This number will decrease as players whose contracts are set to expire and and who can become unrestricted free agents are cut loose or choose to play elsewhere. These candidates are Jonathan Drouin, Paul Byron, Sean Monahan, Alex Belzile and Chris Tierney on the NHL roster, and Anthony Richard, Otto Leskinen, Frédéric Allard, Corey Schueneman, and Madison Bowey on the AHL farm team roster.</p><p><b>Jonathan Drouin</b> and <b>Paul Byron</b> will not be back with the Canadiens. Jonathan Drouin's travails and unproductivity have been thoroughly discussed, there is no need to beat this dead horse. If Jonathan can find an NHL home in a market with a much smaller media and fan-obsession profile, good for him, but we're almost wishing in his case that he finds a sinecure in the Swiss league, apparently conditions there are great, he can play pro hockey with no pressure and no facial cross-checking. We wish him good luck. </p><p>Paul Byron is medically unable to play NHL hockey, he's recovering from hip surgery and cannot even go for an easy skate without experiencing great pain. His future health and mobility are in question, so he'll probably retire to rehab and launch an NHL front-office career, he's already being eased into the role by Jeff Gorton and Kent Hughes, having occasionally this season donned a suit and watched games with them in the exec suite.</p><p><b>Sean Monahan</b>'s ability to play and avoid injuries is a giant question mark. He proclaimed himself healthy at training camp, as feeling the best he had in a long time, but suffered injuries and couldn't play for a majority of the season. As such, he's a big risk for any team to take on, he'll take up a roster spot and cap space but very well could end up on IR, which isn't a get-out-of-jail-free card, it's just another roster headache teams would rather avoid if they can. At locker cleanout day, he expressed to the assembled media a desire to return to the Canadiens next season, but if he does return it will most probably be on a one-year prove-it deal at a low cap hit, possibly with incentives. </p><p><b>Chris Tierney</b> did the job he was expected to when he was claimed on waivers, which was to fill out a jersey while the Canadiens muddled through their rash of injuries, but he had little impact, no Torrey Mitchell was he, so he'll most likely not be back. </p><p><b>Alex Belzile</b> we can foresee being signed for one or two years, with a substantial AHL salary or even on a one-way deal, with a view to serving as a captain in Laval and a ready callup candidate.</p><p><b>Anthony Richard</b> appeared to love playing in Laval in front of hometown crowds, and to love even more getting to play some games with the Canadiens, but he's not a slam-dunk to return. He is at an age where the most important deciding factor is an opportunity to play some NHL games and establish his career. For him, signing with Phoenix would be a windfall, not a nightmare. Let's put him at a 50% chance of returning, at best.</p><p><b>Corey Schueneman</b> is in kind of the same situation at this stage of his career, and he can probably read the handwriting on the wall, with so many young left-shot defencemen having vaulted past him on the organization's depth chart. He will likely be in search of greener pastures.</p><p><b>Frédéric Allard</b>, acquired mid-season in a trade, is a hometown boy who played a few NHL games almost by default; he also was made a healthy scratch repeatedly by Laval Rocket head coach Jean-François Houle. <b>Madison Bowey</b> is a former blue-chip NHL prospect and World Junior star who has failed to establish himself as anything but a farmhand. If he returns to the Rocket it will be on an AHL contract. <b>Otto Leskinen</b> made a surprise return to Laval this season, and did not really improve or materialize as an NHL prospect. I expect he will play in Europe next season.</p><p>So of the ten UFAs, let's pencil in three as returning. This whittles down the contracts number to around 41. </p><p>Next, we get to prognosticate about the restricted free agents. In the past, I've tended to be overly optimistic about the number of returnees. You grow attached to your own prospects, and you tend to think there's no harm in being patient, but Marc Bergevin for example demonstrated he could be remarkably unemotional about cutting ties with unproductive or stalled or low-hope prospects, and there is an opportunity cost to having such players gumming up the works in your organization, they can prevent you from signing the next Great White Hope, from jumping on the right gravy train.</p><p>So we'll try but probably fail to be ruthless, or at least objective. On the NHL team, the RFAs are Cole Caufield, Denis Gurianov and Michael Pezzetta. On the AHL roster, we find RFAs-to-be Jesse Ylonen, Lucas Condotta, Rafaël Harvey-Pinard, Joël Teasdale, Mitchell Stephens and Nicolas Beaudin.</p><p>The <b>Cole Caufield</b> matter is easy: he should/will be signed to a long-term contract comparable to Nick Suzuki's.</p><p><b>Denis Gurianov</b> is less straightforward. His <a href="https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=176278" target="_blank">pedigree</a> and <a href="https://sportsforecaster.com/nhl/p/25775/Denis_Gurianov" target="_blank">scouting report</a> are compelling, but his tenure in Dallas and his cameo in bleu-blanc-rouge much less so. Maybe the GM will trust Martin St. Louis to be the Enigmatic Russian Whisperer, but he hasn't had much success with the Enigmatic Armia so far, nor with the Infuriating Hoffman, so it's doubtful that the roster can contain three such shiftless loafers. The latter two hold contracts that are nigh impossible to trade away, so we're stuck with them next year, whereas Mr. Gurianov we can walk away from, cut ties and be free and clear, cap-unencumbered, and I predict that's what we'll do. </p><p><a href="https://www.capfriendly.com/players/denis-gurianov" target="_blank">His qualifying offer would be $2.9M</a>, so it wouldn't be a low risk gamble to make and hope for him to blossom next season. If we offer him a lesser amount, he can refuse to sign that offer and become UFA, and play for that lesser amount anywhere he pleases, say a warm-weather tax-free locale. He's as good as gone.</p><p><b>Michael Pezzetta</b>, while clearly no better than a 13th forward-level player, probably has earned himself a small raise this season. The 2016 6th-round draftee toiled for years in the Canadiens system and made his callups count by showing grit, determination, and courage. While <a href="https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=170399" target="_blank">his counting stats</a> are nothing to write home about, his fearlessness and take-on-all-comers snarl probably make him a popular teammate. With the team not expected to really compete for a playoff spot next season, with many youngsters and small or smallish players in the lineup, Michael Pezzetta has a place and usefulness on the roster. If he has a dip in his performance or gets squeezed out by lineup shuffles, he can get sent down to Laval, even at the risk of his being lost on waivers, it wouldn't be the end of the world. This however can be warded off somewhat with a one-way $1M contract, I would think. Other teams might balk at the bill, but in our situation we can afford it.</p><p>For the Laval contingent, again it's easy to read the tea leaves in some cases, namely for <b>Jesse Ylonen</b> and <b>Rafaël Harvey-Pinard</b>, who will receive qualifying offers, and may be signed to longer term deals. Both showed in NHL callups that they could keep up and contribute. </p><p>Jesse Ylonen would require to go through waivers if the Canadiens wanted to send him to Laval, and they won't risk losing him thus, so he's pretty much guaranteed to start the season in Montréal or be used as a trade asset and sent elsewhere. Rafaël Harvey-Pinard could be sent to the AHL without waivers, and in his case the complicating factor would be basic decency, since his impact on the roster, however he was used, was remarkable, both in the stats he amassed, but also in his intangibles, and how quickly he became a fan favourite. It would be hard to preach a culture of accountability and merit if you sent down Monsieur Harvey-Pinard.</p><p><b>Nicolas Beaudin</b> has a lot of runway as a 23-year-old defenceman, we often state that defencemen take longer to develop, to 'get it', and he has an enticing background as a point-producer and powerplay quarterback, so he'll most likely be qualified. He'll have to work very hard to distinguish himself among all the other young promising defencemen, but that's the career he's chosen, a very competitive, results-based one.</p><p>Contrarily, <b>Lucas Condotta</b>, <b>Joël Teasdale</b>, and <b>Mitchell Stephens</b> are all forwards in their mid-twenties whose ceiling is quite low, and while they are useful farmhands and played varying important roles in Laval and as callups, they'll be pushed by the arrival of a number of young forwards like Joshua Roy, Sean Farrell, Riley Kidney, Emil Heineman, and Jared Davidson. While you can't have an AHL roster with nothing but rookies, while you need veterans and experience and leadership, I'm struggling to see how many of the three RFAs we can keep. </p><p>This is where the 50-contract limit has its effect. You can't keep everybody. And the kids are going to need icetime if we send them to Laval, there's only so many spots in the lineup. So let's be ruthless and guess that one is re-signed, or at most two.</p><p>So if we keep score, let's say six RFAs are retained and three are cut loose, which would bring our total existing contracts to 38. While that seems like a healthy cushion, let's bear in mind that all those kids we bring into the fold, they're going to need contracts, or the contracts they have already signed but 'slid' for a year or two, they will kick in next season. Sean Farrell and Emil Heineman are already counted in the existing contracts, but Joshua Roy, Riley Kidney, Jared Davidson, Jayden Struble and Logan Mailloux will add five more, so our total would go back up to 43. </p><p>That is not a lot of room to manoeuvre. If the Canadiens sign one or three free agents, make a trade for a couple of warm bodies to get us through the season and prepare for injuries, we'd be right up to the limit of 50 again. So does Kent Hughes feel comfortable with this, or does he wave a magic wand and maybe clear out contracts like Carey Price's? Maybe the Coyotes would love to add his cap hit, with the understanding that the insurance company will pay out the actual dollars? Or does the Canadiens GM trade away a superfluous Chris Wideman, or buy him out? </p><p>Most of these questions will be answered during the spring and summer, and we'll revisit these matters before training camp, and see how the Canadiens dealt with their free agents-to-be, and with this vexing 50-contract limit. </p><p>In our next étude, we'll look at which draftees whose rights are set to expire, either on June 15 or August 15, the Canadiens might/will/must sign to a contract.</p>whistlerfanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09842349873700367143noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4783877269294667701.post-28428660771593084112020-03-27T23:03:00.001-07:002021-11-21T12:13:40.212-08:001976 Stanley Cup Final Game 4: Canadiens 5, Flyers 3With the NHL offering some classic games on its site, I decide to take a stroll down memory lane and <a href="https://www.nhl.com/video/1976-cup-final-gm4-mon-vs-phi/t-277774732/c-40610103">watch the Canadiens play the Flyers</a> in what I guess will be the last game of this series. I think the Canadiens swept the Flyers and won the Cup on Philly ice to end that series, if I recall, but let's see how this plays out.<br />
<br />
-The image quality is frightful, in its little square box, all fuzzy and all. Some brilliant minds should be put to work on this, the NHL should spend its untold billions on restoring these videos of classic games. I'm guessing all it would take is a software program that sharpifies the image, determines that this pixel should be the place on the sweater where the white of the number borders on the glorious red of the Canadiens' sweater, and makes it so. I assume after a lot of image rendering, bingo bango, you have HD quality images. <br />
<br />
Make it happen, Bettman. Earn your keep, if that's at all possible by now. Realistically, this is how you can start to earn back your soul and give yourself a fighting chance to not roast in hell for eternity.<br />
<br />
-Lots of fan banners to be seen, with messages such as "WHATEVER HAPPENS YOUR STILL #1" and "WE KNOW THAT FOUR IN A A ROW IS HARD, BUT YOU'LL ALWAYS BE CHAMPIONS." Flyers fans, their shameful hockey team down 3-0 in the series, know what time it is, despite being ignorant brutes.<br />
<br />
-Reggie Leach opens the scoring. 1-0 Flyers. Flyers players I can tolerate: Reggie Leach, Bill Barber, Rick MacLeish. <a href="https://youtu.be/68t74jofBD0?t=10">That is all</a>.<br />
<br />
-The pace of play is torpid, disjointed. There isn't really much passing, just a succession of zone clears, broken plays, errant dishes, hopeful whacks at the puck. Where is the tic-tac-toe precision passing of the 70s Canadiens that I clearly recall with my infallible memory?<br />
<br />
This year's Detroit Red Wings, if you teleported them back to 1976, would wipe the floor with the Canadiens. It would be no contest. <br />
<br />
-Ken Dryden looks like a stork with swollen legs, all gangly and ungainly. It's striking how small he looks in the net compared to the modern goalies all sumo-suited up. His mask is a classic, and that lean-on-the-stick pose, how I've missed that.<br />
<img alt="Happy 72nd Birthday Ken Dryden! : hockey" height="640" src="https://i.redd.it/55cwsm9269f31.jpg" width="457" /><br />
<br />
-Canadiens play as if they're just trying to not get assassinated in this game, and then win it in Game 5 on Forum ice. I say this with respect, that's the sensible thing to do. I'm not saying I would have been braver. It's just that they're on the lookout for goonery and lunacy. At one point, Peter Mahovlich is tangled up with a Flyer, the whistle goes, yet Gary Dornhoefer skates in with intent, seemingly. Peter assumes an offensive lineman position, arms raised, ready to pass block, to fend off a defensive lineman's helmet slap, seemingly.<br />
<br />
Not a bad idea. Every contact along the boards, the Flyers unleash a jab to the back of the head, a high stick in the face, it's definitely their, um, culture? <br />
<br />
So it looks, for long periods of the game, as if the Canadiens know they're up 3-0 in the series, that they can return to the Forum up three games to one if need be and clinch it then, no need to suffer a broken jaw now.<br />
<br />
-The refs actually make a couple of calls early in the game to cool things down, to send a message. Dave Schultz, that scum, actually is caught punching Serge Savard in the kidneys who is otherwise engaged along the boards, and after everyone is separated, they give le Sénateur two minutes, but the Flyer goon gets four. Almost a Solomonic decision.<br />
<br />
-I keep seeing this defenceman wearing #6 always out of position, and I can't tell who it is. Is it Don Awrey? It's not Chartraw is it? It wasn't Chuck Lefley, he was gone by then, I know that much. It's not John Van Boxmeer, one of my childhood favourites, I'd have heard his name called. Bill Nyrop maybe? It takes me most of the first period to see that it's Jimmy Roberts. I'd pretty much forgotten about him.<br />
<br />
-The first period ends 2-2. The Canadiens had scored twice (Steve Shutt and Pierre Bouchard) to quiet down the crowd, before Bill Barber tied it up again with a couple of minutes left.<br />
<br />
-That Steve Shutt helmet though... Not sure what's worse, the lack of protection it offers, or how unflattering it is. I never liked the Jofa unit he wore the rest of his career, but that was definitely an upgrade on that Cooper jobbie from the 60s.<br />
<br />
-The second period ends at 3-3. Bill Barber had scored early in the period on the powerplay to revive the crowd, but Yvan Cournoyer inherits a loose puck in front of the net and backhands it home, with eight seconds left. <br />
<br />
-Larry Robinson is as magnificent as I remember. Long, lanky, with that shock of curly brown hair and that mustache, he's large and in charge and you can't miss him when he's on the ice, he's charging with the puck, directing traffic in his zone, pacifying Flyers. Man he was great.<br />
<br />
-I formulate the thought that Guy Lafleur is pretty much invisible in this game. One shift later, he takes a pass from Peter Mahovlich and drives it home, midway through the third. Big, big goal. <br />
<br />
And a minute later, Guy returns the favour, and sets up Mahovlich for the insurance goal. Bonsoir la visite, Merci-Thank you, à la prochaine, c'est fini.<br />
<br />
How could I ever doubt Guy in the playoffs?<br />
<br />
-A new fan banner is unfurled: "WE LOVE YOU ANYWAY".<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.nhl.com/gamecenter/mtl-vs-phi/1976/05/16/1975030414#game=1975030414,game_state=final">Final score is Canadiens 5, Flyers 3</a>, the Canadiens sweep the hateful Flyers, and end their reign of terror.whistlerfanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09842349873700367143noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4783877269294667701.post-17898491389172701672020-01-04T21:36:00.000-08:002020-01-19T21:02:12.896-08:00Marc Bergevin wheels and deals Reilly, Scandella and KovalchukThe Canadiens did very well here.<br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<div dir="ltr" lang="en">
The Canadiens have acquired a fifth-round pick in 2021 from the Ottawa Senators, and forward Andrew Sturtz, in return for defenseman Mike Reilly. Details to come.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GoHabsGo?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#GoHabsGo</a></div>
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) <a href="https://twitter.com/CanadiensMTL/status/1212870903299821573?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 2, 2020</a></blockquote>
<br />
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><br />
<div>
So the Canadiens, who'd acquired Mike Reilly at a cost of a fifth-rounder, one they'd obtained from unloading Jakob Jerubek, now flip him to Ottawa for a fifth-rounder even-steven. Good attempt, good gamble on the promising athletic kid, he had some flashes where he made us hope, and we wrunged all the juice from that lemon. Now we trade him for what exactly what we paid. Good job.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And then, we get not quite the leftie we need in Marco Scandella, but dirt-cheap also, for a fourth-rounder, one of many we have.</div>
<div>
<div>
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<div dir="ltr" lang="en">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The Canadiens have acquired defenseman Marco Scandella from the Buffalo Sabres, in return for a fourth-round pick in 2020 (acquired from the San Jose Sharks on June 22, 2019).<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GoHabsGo?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#GoHabsGo</a> <a href="https://t.co/uJEKDoyayl">https://t.co/uJEKDoyayl</a></span></div>
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) <a href="https://twitter.com/CanadiensMTL/status/1212877981473026049?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 2, 2020</a></span></blockquote>
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">
</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script></span></div>
</div>
<div>
<div>
UFA in July, with a current $4M cap hit. 29 years old local boy. No offence to speak of, but maybe he plays with Jeff Petry and Victor Mete drops down to the third pair? And does Brett Kulak's three-year contract end up on the pressbox? Is that "depth"?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And the shocker is that, as these deals cascade on our head, Ilya Kovalchuk signs a contract with our team, for a minimum salary two-way contract.</div>
</div>
<div>
<div>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<div dir="ltr" lang="en">
The Canadiens have agreed to terms on a one-year, two-way contract with free agent forward Ilya Kovalchuk. The deal will pay Kovalchuk $700,000 at the NHL level and $70,000 in the AHL.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GoHabsGo?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#GoHabsGo</a> <a href="https://t.co/VdpyijRjNh">https://t.co/VdpyijRjNh</a></div>
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) <a href="https://twitter.com/CanadiensMTL/status/1213136700064571392?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 3, 2020</a></blockquote>
</div>
<div>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script></div>
</div>
<div>
<div>
So Marc Bergevin hasn't given up on the season like we have, evidently. Those who want us to counter-intuitively lose to win will be disappointed, with the addition of two veteran patches on this leaky ship. We're not on the "Rien faire pour Lafrenière" train. MB is always wheeling and dealing, but he doesn't pay a lot for those mufflers.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And we were complaining of muffins and lack of finish recently, well, short of DeBrincat, Kovy is a good attempt to address that. If he/it doesn't work out, no problem, he's gone this spring.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I'll be the only one to say it, while Twitter and HFBoards and the remnants of HIO melt down, but good job, MB.</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<div>
And I don't understand why anyone frets about this. He's on a minimum salary, two-way contract, they can eject him any time they choose. There is no obligation or repercussion. None.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
It's not like he's blocking the kids. Charles Hudon had his opportunity, proved what he is. I don't necessarily want to get rid of Charles, if we can keep signing him to play in Laval, good. But he and all the other callups haven't shown they're ready, that they can do the job. Ryan Poehling would benefit from more AHL seasoning. So Ilya isn't harming our prospects, he's actually protecting them, in a way, by drawing away the spotlight and the Twitter fury. Good for Vejdemo and Barber for getting a couple games in, but they're out of their depth, not NHL-worthy/ready yet.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
We've been talking about the lack of finish, about our powerplay with Nick Cousins and Jordan Weal on the first wave due to a lack of options. This gives the coaches another option, and a guy who can actually pot a goal here and there at 5-on-5 instead of padding our lead on the shot counter and giving us another moral victory. Maybe he can help in OT and SO.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
He's a right-shot pure sniper, something we have a need for, it's not like we have Ovie and Laine onboard already. Gally isn't a sniper. Joel Armia was showing signs, Nick Suzuki is more of a dangler/playmaker. So he fills a need. Again, at absolutely no cost or tradeoff to us. Alex Belzile's and Kovy's career don't intersect in any way. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
This isn't one of those 'right now' deals that will hurt us in the future, like bringing in Loui Eriksson to play on a line with the Sedins' last couple of seasons, and we'll worry about the other three-four years down the road. There's no down-the-road here.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
When the Canadiens are (if ever) healthy again, let's say this is the lineup:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Tatar-Danault-Gallagher</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Drouin-Domi-Armia</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Lehkonen-Kotkaniemi-Suzuki</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Byron-Thompson-Kovalchuk</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Chiairioit-Weber</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Scandella-Petry</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Mete-Fleury</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
This is better. This is more depth, for free. There are more options for coaches, to shake up the roster by shuffling in a Kulak once in a while, a Jordan Weal against faster teams to 'rest' Kovy. 'Tout le monde est dans la bonne chaise,' or at least a seat at the table a little more suited to their ability.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
If he does right his game, maybe we can flip him back to St. Louis or Winnipeg or another contender at the trade deadline, possibly, if we won't need him. Maybe he can be seen as a final piece, and term and salary cap won't be an issue, like it was for L.A. If not, he finishes the season, cleans out his locker and goes on his merry way.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Or maybe he brings us the 4 or 5 points that we were missing last season to slip in the playoffs? One SO goal that he scores instead of sending Gally or Danault out there, an extra PP goal or two he scores or creates because he can spread out/mess up the box, standing in the left faceoff circle for a one-timer, and we're there.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
If he's completely out of gas and truly finished as an NHL player, which I don't think so, since he was at .5 pts/game this season, but if he is, then waive him and he retires rather than play in Laval at $70 000. No muss, no fuss.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
This isn't Kaberle or Gomez all over again. This is swinging at the golf ball with a mulligan already attached to it if needed.</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
But I'll countenance dissenting views...</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
(<a href="https://ici.radio-canada.ca/sports/1457245/hockey-ilya-kovalchuk-canadien-montreal-contrat-lnh"><i>Martin Leclerc</i>: <span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">Kovalchuk : la cavalerie est trop vieille et arrive trop tard</span></a>)<br />
<br />
(<a href="https://www.rds.ca/hockey/canadiens/kovalchuk-le-pari-de-la-derniere-chance-1.7172549"><i>François Gagnon</i>: <span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">Ilya Kovalchuk : le pari de la dernière chance</span></a>)<br />
<br />
(<a href="https://thehockeynews.com/news/article/getting-marco-scandella-and-ilya-kovalchuk-might-hurt-the-canadiens-more-than-help-them"><i>Ken Campbell</i>: GETTING MARCO SCANDELLA AND ILYA KOVALCHUK MIGHT HURT THE CANADIENS MORE THAN HELP THEM</a>)<br />
<br />
<br />
ADDENDUM:<br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<div dir="ltr" lang="fr">
Bergevin sur Kovalchuk:<br />
- ne devrait pas jouer demain vs PIT<br />
- risque minime à court/long terme<br />
- Nate Thompson (LA) et Scott Mellanby (ATL) sont d’anciens coéquipiers et l’ont recommandé<br />
- le CH pas vendeur + vise les séries... le DG voulait du renfort en attendant les blessés</div>
— Raphaël Doucet (@raphdoucet) <a href="https://twitter.com/raphdoucet/status/1213159232197079040?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 3, 2020</a></blockquote>
<br />
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><br />
<div>
<div>
Marc Bergevin on the Ilya Kovalchuk acquisition</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
--he shouldn't play Saturday night against the Penguins (visa issues)</div>
<div>
--is a minimal risk, short or long term</div>
<div>
--Nate Thompson and Scott Mellanby played with him and recommended him (good in the room I guess)</div>
<div>
--the Canadiens aren't 'sellers', still gunning for the playoffs. The GM wanted reinforcements while the injured players recover.</div>
</div>
whistlerfanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09842349873700367143noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4783877269294667701.post-86698067295817089672020-01-04T20:48:00.003-08:002020-01-04T20:48:53.496-08:00Game 41: Canadiens 2, Penguins 3 (OT)The Canadiens take on the Penguins tonight in a good HNIC Saturday night game... relegated to the City broadcast, because our national broadcaster CBC is reserved for the Toronto Leafs of Toronto.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ENeZTZCWoAItG2C.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ENeZTZCWoAItG2C.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
This is the 41st game, the midway point of the season. Canadiens are 13th in the East, but a healthy 19 points up on last place Detroit. Tanking won't work this season. Les boys are on pace for an 84-point season though...<br />
<br />
First game of the Ilya Kovalchuk era, except he hasn't sorted out his visa yet, so he won't play. <br />
<br />
(<a href="https://www.rds.ca/hockey/canadiens/kovalchuk-le-pari-de-la-derniere-chance-1.7172549"><i>Francois Gagnon</i>: Ilya Kovalchuk : le pari de la dernière chance</a>)<br />
<br />
Marco Scandella will play his first game for the bleu-blanc-rouge, wearing number 28. <br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<div dir="ltr" lang="en">
Le bleu-blanc-rouge te va bien, Marco!<br /><br />🔵⚪🔴 looks great on you, Marco!<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GoHabsGo?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#GoHabsGo</a> <a href="https://t.co/XcIdQrBxBh">pic.twitter.com/XcIdQrBxBh</a></div>
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) <a href="https://twitter.com/CanadiensMTL/status/1213612992677498880?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 5, 2020</a></blockquote>
<br />
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><br />
<div>
28 is the wrong number for Marco Scandella, that's the Pierre Larouche number. Éric Desjardins, sure, I'd guessed you might bring him up, that Johnny-come-lately...</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/eric-desjardins-of-the-montreal-canadiens-skates-against-the-toronto-picture-id1131043367" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="650" height="640" src="https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/eric-desjardins-of-the-montreal-canadiens-skates-against-the-toronto-picture-id1131043367" width="520" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
Kind of cool that Weise-y got his number 22 back though. <a href="https://www.hockey-reference.com/teams/MTL/numbers.html">It went from him to Alzner to Vejdemo before he got it back</a>. I guess Lukas Vejdemo didn't insist too hard on keeping it, he has #42 now.<br />
<br />
The Canadiens start off well and earn a powerplay early, but can't get much of a threat generated. Ilya Kovalchuk, sitting in the pressbox watching this, must be itching to get on there and show them how it's done.<br />
<br />
Artturi Lehkonen gets the first goal, and is starting to look more like the 20-ish goal-scorer we thought he was going to be, instead of the snakebitten frustrating enigma he's been for a couple of seasons.<br />
<br />
The Penguins get one right back though and tie it up 1-1. Canadiens are notorious this season for allowing goals a minute or two after they score one. <br />
<br />
The first period was marked by another ugly incident that is so routine in the NHL that it will be ignored by the powers-that-be, but should have landed Max Domi in the hockey slammer. On a fairly innocuous play, Domi carried the puck and tried to deke around Marcus Pettersson of the Penguins, who made a fine defensive play and stripped him of the puck. Subsequently, their skates touched and hips collided and both went down, but this was after the puck was gone, and not a result of an illegal or dirty play.<br />
<br />
What does <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUV7qkiBrXI">Max Domi do but get up and attack Marcus Pettersson</a>, first crosschecking him then dropping his gloves and starting to punch him before the defenceman knew he was in a fight, let alone why. Somehow, Max Domi only got an extra minor for crosschecking, and both got five minutes for fighting. No instigator penalty, which was clearly called for, and no expulsion from the game.<br />
<br />
This should be a textbook sequence to coach up new referees on how to award instigator penalties. I mean, Max should be the poster boy for the instigator, with Chris Neil and Brad Marchand and Nazem Kadri.<br />
<br />
Hockey is a great sport, but the NHL is a garbage league.<br />
<br />
Change coming at a glacial pace. This year, we've removed Nick Kypreos and Don Cherry from their pulpits. Maybe 50 years from now, that type of play will be met with an appropriate response. Meaning, jail time.<br />
<br />
In any case, now is the time to trade Domi to Calgary for TJ Brodie and a first. It can't be soon enough.<br />
<br />
Brian Burke in the first intermission opines on the Canadiens, and says that a GM should/would like to see his team getting better fast or worse fast, but not treading water, as the Canadiens are, with Shea Weber and Carey Price in their thirties, and most of the kids we're waiting on a ways away. Hmmm....<br />
<br />
Is that Mike Bossy wearing #62? Early in the second, <a href="https://www.rds.ca/videos/hockey/canadiens-artturi-lehkonen-profite-d-une-erreur-mentale-hockey-3.1355813">Artturi strips the puck off Erik Johnson, stuffs it in past Murray</a>, 2-1 Canadiens.<br />
<br />
Again though the Penguins respond, a minute or two later, with a goal by Bryan Rust, and it's tied 2-2.<br />
<br />
Try as they might the Canadiens can't get that killer goal, the one that makes a difference in the game. Instead, we get a Scandella crossbar, Artturi with a chance at the hat trick and go-ahead goal... "We came so close!..."<br />
<br />
And in OT, Brandon Tanev, of all people, puts it away, and ends the game, despite a blatant interference on Carey Price in full view of the impotent officials.<br />
<br />
A loser point against a conference opponent. Straddling the growing gap between the dock and the boat. A moral victory.<br />
<br />
So it goes...<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.nhl.com/gamecenter/pit-vs-mtl/2020/01/04/2019020647#game=2019020647,game_state=final">Penguins 3-2 (NHL Game recap, stats)</a><br />
<br />
(<a href="https://ici.radio-canada.ca/sports/1457919/canadien-montreal-penguins-pittsburgh-scandella-malkin-price"><i>Radio-Canada</i>: Le Canadien s’enfonce avec une cinquième défaite d’affilée</a>)<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/EbwL_mleMqg/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/EbwL_mleMqg?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<br />whistlerfanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09842349873700367143noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4783877269294667701.post-24814831562043345052019-12-28T19:19:00.000-08:002019-12-28T20:06:35.713-08:00Game 38: Canadiens 4, Lightning 5First 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.<br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<div dir="ltr" lang="en">
La formation projetée du match de ce soir face au Lightning. 📝<br />
<br />
The projected lines for tonight's game against the Lightning.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GoHabsGo?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#GoHabsGo</a> <a href="https://t.co/1QeUiwaZJj">pic.twitter.com/1QeUiwaZJj</a></div>
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) <a href="https://twitter.com/CanadiensMTL/status/1211070450027106304?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 28, 2019</a></blockquote>
<br />
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><br />
<div>
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.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
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.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
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.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://images.psacard.com/s3/cu-psa/cardfacts/1969-o-pee-chee-155-jean-pronovost-45592.jpg?h=1000&format=png&s.roundcorners=10" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="483" height="400" src="https://images.psacard.com/s3/cu-psa/cardfacts/1969-o-pee-chee-155-jean-pronovost-45592.jpg?h=1000&format=png&s.roundcorners=10" width="241" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div>
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.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
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.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
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. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
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.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
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?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
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.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Like we said, hard to identify what this team is all about. Montréal down 4-3 at the second period break.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
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.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
À propos of nothing, I perused my first 2020 mock draft of the year today. I haven't spun the lottery wheel yet...</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Jordan Weal scores one late on a 6-on4 powerplay, with Carey Price pulled, but that's as close as we get, <a href="https://www.nhl.com/gamecenter/mtl-vs-tbl/2019/12/28/2019020594">5-4 is the final score</a>. A scrum after the final horn does nothing to change that.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/EBDE1LRvukc/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/EBDE1LRvukc?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<br /></div>
whistlerfanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09842349873700367143noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4783877269294667701.post-67054162086154403002019-12-17T22:12:00.001-08:002019-12-17T22:33:28.295-08:00Game 34: Canadiens 3, Canucks 1The Canadiens now do the ritual Western Canadian road trip, a time of the season when they finally play at a reasonable hour.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<div dir="ltr" lang="en">
La formation projetée du match de ce soir face aux Canucks. 📝<br />
<br />
The projected lines for tonight's game against the Canucks.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GoHabsGo?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#GoHabsGo</a> <a href="https://t.co/LU4Qrt7U5V">pic.twitter.com/LU4Qrt7U5V</a></div>
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) <a href="https://twitter.com/CanadiensMTL/status/1207129990095134720?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 18, 2019</a></blockquote>
<br />
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><br />
<div>
The Canucks are wearing their cool <strike>thirty-third</strike> 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.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://imagesvc.timeincapp.com/v3/fan/image?url=https://thecanuckway.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2017/07/1175564545.jpeg&" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="562" data-original-width="800" height="224" src="https://imagesvc.timeincapp.com/v3/fan/image?url=https://thecanuckway.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2017/07/1175564545.jpeg&" width="320" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
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...</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Canadiens 0, Canucks 1 at the first intermission.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
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.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
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.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
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.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
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. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
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.<br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<div dir="ltr" lang="fr">
Les règlements de la LNH prévoient que si une punition est décernée entre le moment où un hors-jeu aurait dû être appelée et le but qui a mené à une contestation, la punition demeure en vigueur et doit être écoulée. <br />Règlement 38.7. <a href="https://t.co/kJpJgugsvD">pic.twitter.com/kJpJgugsvD</a></div>
— Marc Antoine Godin (@MAGodin) <a href="https://twitter.com/MAGodin/status/1207155854744674310?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 18, 2019</a></blockquote>
<br />
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script></div>
<div>
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. </div>
<div>
<div>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<div dir="ltr" lang="en">
Joel Armia cleans up a rebound in front of the Canucks net.<br />
<br />
2-1 Habs. <a href="https://t.co/5cAunk5ENG">pic.twitter.com/5cAunk5ENG</a></div>
— Scott Matla (@scottmatla) <a href="https://twitter.com/scottmatla/status/1207157090835410950?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 18, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
<div>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script></div>
</div>
<div>
<div>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<div dir="ltr" lang="en">
No goal. Goaltender Interference called. Hmm...<br />
Still 1-1 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MTLvsVAN?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MTLvsVAN</a> <a href="https://t.co/TjGgd8ZP9Q">pic.twitter.com/TjGgd8ZP9Q</a></div>
— Here's Your Replay ⬇️ (@HeresYourReplay) <a href="https://twitter.com/HeresYourReplay/status/1207157434592174082?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 18, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
<div>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script></div>
</div>
<div>
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.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
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.<br />
<div>
<div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature" dir="ltr">
<div dir="ltr">
<div dir="ltr">
<div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Canadiens 1, Canucks 1 after two periods.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
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.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
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.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
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.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<a href="https://www.nhl.com/gamecenter/mtl-vs-van/2019/12/17/2019020532#game=2019020532,game_state=final">Canadiens 3, Canucks 1</a>, goodnight my friends.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Les faits saillants de RDS:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/8nHAKKhkuT4/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8nHAKKhkuT4?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
For local colour, let's also see what John Shorthouse and John Garrett had to say about this game.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/NLaIje4NCzI/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/NLaIje4NCzI?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
whistlerfanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09842349873700367143noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4783877269294667701.post-69245349139543153952019-12-13T20:53:00.000-08:002019-12-16T11:17:22.586-08:00New Colisée in Trois-Rivières won't host Canadiens farm team<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<div dir="ltr" lang="en">
Sounds like the chances of an ECHL club in Trois-Rivières are dead.<br />
Radio Canada reports that the mayor unilaterally rejected the application. His preference for a QMJHL team is known.<a href="https://t.co/bWBb7NkwBZ">https://t.co/bWBb7NkwBZ</a></div>
— Andrew Zadarnowski (@AZadarski) <a href="https://twitter.com/AZadarski/status/1205567915405324290?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 13, 2019</a></blockquote>
<br />
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><br />
<div>
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. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
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 <a href="https://www.lenouvelliste.ca/sports/echl-a-trois-rivieres-un-silence-radio-inquietant-601d28f07d46dcce22bfa35b05676149">the reports by Steve Turcotte of Le Nouvelliste</a>. They play in the <a href="https://usports.ca/en/sports/hockey/m">U Sports OUA East Division</a>, 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.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The mayor and council are also trying to pitch the venue as an arts and culture destination, with <a href="https://www.lenouvelliste.ca/actualites/le-cirque-du-soleil-a-trois-rivieres-le-pari-reussi-de-daniel-lamarre-500bfe83454a5aa998f5e3a0866f42b2">Trois-Rivières having a good track record over the last few years as a Cirque du Soleil summer destination.</a></div>
<br />
<div>
<div>
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. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
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 <a href="https://www.rocketlaval.com/communique/une-grosse-machine-debarque-en-ville/">putting players on PTOs in the lineup</a>, 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.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
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.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
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.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
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.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
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.</div>
</div>
whistlerfanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09842349873700367143noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4783877269294667701.post-25140900137628924052019-12-10T19:03:00.000-08:002019-12-11T00:33:32.242-08:00Game 31: Canadiens 4, Penguins 1The 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.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.nhl.com/gamecenter/mtl-vs-pit/2019/12/10/2019020474#game=2019020474,game_state=final">The Canadiens won this one 4-1</a>, although the score doesn't quite reflect a closely-contested game.<br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<div dir="ltr" lang="fr">
La formation projetée du match de ce soir face aux Penguins.<br />
<br />
The projected lines for tonight's game against the Penguins.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GoHabsGo?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#GoHabsGo</a> <a href="https://t.co/kEsF3BhJga">pic.twitter.com/kEsF3BhJga</a></div>
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) <a href="https://twitter.com/CanadiensMTL/status/1204546319160877056?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 10, 2019</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<div dir="ltr" lang="fi">
Les <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Penguins?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Penguins</a> ce soir:<br /><br />Guentzel-Malkin-Rust;<br />Kahun-McCann-Simon;<br />Galchenyuk-Lafferty-Noesen;<br />Aston Reese-Blueger-Tanev.<br /><br />Letang-Marino;<br />Johnson-Schultz;<br />Pettersson-Ruhwedel.<br /><br />Jarry<br />Murray.</div>
— Chantal Machabee (@ChantalMachabee) <a href="https://twitter.com/ChantalMachabee/status/1204554059740528642?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 11, 2019</a></blockquote>
<br />
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><br />
<div>
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.</div>
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
And how about that Shea Weber wraparound goal, à la Larry Robinson, 'à l'emporte pièce'?<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/CM2QSBJPJAI/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CM2QSBJPJAI?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
<br />
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.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
Okay, now let's dispose of those dirty, risible Senators tomorrow night, and get solidly back on our feet.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/o5JbZwZ-wto/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/o5JbZwZ-wto?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
<br />whistlerfanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09842349873700367143noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4783877269294667701.post-23088410914766554902019-11-23T18:58:00.000-08:002019-11-25T19:47:59.626-08:00Game 23: Canadiens 5, Rangers 6<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<div dir="ltr" lang="fr">
La formation projetée du match de ce soir face aux Rangers.<br />
<br />
The projected lines for tonight's game against the Rangers.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GoHabsGo?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#GoHabsGo</a> <a href="https://t.co/lQyZtwatz5">pic.twitter.com/lQyZtwatz5</a></div>
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) <a href="https://twitter.com/CanadiensMTL/status/1198386846545395712?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 23, 2019</a></blockquote>
<br />
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><br />
<div>
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...</div>
<br />
(<i>Francois Gagnon</i>: <span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.rds.ca/hockey/canadiens/un-autre-petit-match-facile-1.7023568">Un autre petit match facile…</a></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">)</span><br />
<br />
Carey Price is starting, will be starting the rest of the way the whole season no doubt. <a href="https://www.nhl.com/canadiens/news/keith-kinkaid---twitter---october-7/c-309848462">Keith Kincaid's relegated to puerile tweet duty</a>.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
<b><u>1st PERIOD:</u></b><br />
<b><u><br /></u></b>
--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.<br />
<br />
Canadiens 1, Rangers 0<br />
<br />
--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?<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
--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.<br />
<br />
Canadiens 2, Rangers 0<br />
<br />
--Tomas Tatar is back on the ice later in the 1st period, so no major damage after the Kreider hit I guess.<br />
<br />
--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.<br />
<br />
--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.<br />
<br />
Canadiens 3, Rangers 0<br />
<br />
<b><u>2nd PERIOD</u></b><br />
<br />
--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.<br />
<br />
Canadiens 4, Rangers 0<br />
<br />
--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?<br />
<br />
Canadiens 4, Rangers 2<br />
<br />
Gary Galley is already openly-cheering for the comeback. Once a dirty Bruin, always a dirty Bruin.<br />
<br />
--Brendan Lemieux, that turd, scores on the powerplay. Gary Galley can hardly contain himself.<br />
<br />
Canadiens 4, Rangers 3<br />
<br />
--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.<br />
<br />
<b><u>3rd PERIOD</u></b><br />
<br />
--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.<br />
<br />
Canadiens 5, Rangers 5<br />
<br />
--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.<br />
<br />
Time to think some dark thoughts...<br />
<br />
Canadiens 5, Rangers 6<br />
<br />
--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.<br />
<br />
--Canadiens fail to convert on a powerplay, a too-many-men penalty against the Rangers. 4 minutes to go.<br />
<br />
--Turns out, this one isn't "facile", even against the lowly Rangers. Claude Ruel was a sage.<br />
<br />
--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.<br />
<br />
--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...<br />
<br />
--No dice. Petry shot stopped by Georgiev. 27 seconds left.<br />
<br />
--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.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.nhl.com/gamecenter/nyr-vs-mtl/2019/11/23/2019020352#game=2019020352,game_state=final,game_tab=stats">The Rangers close it out, 6-5 final.</a> The tattered scattered remnants of HIO will hang Marc Bergevin in effigy. I might brandish a desultory pitchfork in the background.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/z-eT7A_lPbw/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/z-eT7A_lPbw?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
<br />
(Eric Engels: <a href="https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/canadiens-defensive-issues-root-unacceptable-loss-rangers/">Canadiens’ defensive issues the root of ‘unacceptable’ loss to Rangers</a><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: -1.9px;">)</span>whistlerfanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09842349873700367143noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4783877269294667701.post-9486457808849889592019-10-12T17:09:00.002-07:002019-10-13T13:02:08.538-07:00Game 5: Canadiens 6, Blues 3<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/-Zb03sj_fLk/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-Zb03sj_fLk?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
<br />
<a href="https://www.tsn.ca/ice-chips-brett-kulak-returns-to-montreal-canadiens-lineup-1.1380241">Tweaked lineup</a> tonight against the Blues, with Brett Kulak rejoining the action<span id="goog_1640682839"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a><span id="goog_1640682840"></span> 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.)<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<div dir="ltr" lang="fr">
La formation projetée du match de ce soir.<br />
<br />
The projected lines for tonight's game.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GoHabsGo?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#GoHabsGo</a> <a href="https://t.co/O7pnLmtMSB">pic.twitter.com/O7pnLmtMSB</a></div>
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) <a href="https://twitter.com/CanadiensMTL/status/1183151223949668354?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 12, 2019</a></blockquote>
<br />
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><br />
<div>
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 <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10nr_ddRrQk">René Lecavalier.</a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
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.</div>
<br />
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, <a href="https://twitter.com/CanadiensMTL/status/1183174464449712128">Jonathan Drouin scored right back on a similar kind of play</a>, 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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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, <a href="https://twitter.com/CanadiensMTL/status/1183183045379137537">answered by Phillip Danault, on a great hustle play from Gally.</a><br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
After the game, <a href="https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/drouin-shows-player-game-sword-beating-blues/">Jonathan was awarded the player-of-the-game sword by captain Shea Weber</a>, 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?<br />
<br />
[EDIT: Further reading: <a href="https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/strong-start-season-canadiens-drouin-brimming-confidence/">Strong start to season has Canadiens’ Drouin brimming with confidence</a> ]<br />
<br />
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 <a href="https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/ben-chiarot-plans-quickly-adjust-canadiens-style-play/">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</a>. 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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.nhl.com/gamecenter/stl-vs-mtl/2019/10/12/2019020065#game=2019020065,game_state=final">So a big 6-3 win</a> that should calm the waters a little, until the next tempest in the fandom.whistlerfanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09842349873700367143noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4783877269294667701.post-16803146802772719662019-10-10T20:25:00.000-07:002019-10-11T10:30:03.317-07:00Game 4: Canadiens 2, Red Wings 4The 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 <a href="https://www.nhl.com/gamecenter/det-vs-mtl/2019/10/10/2019020048#game=2019020048,game_state=final">fell to the rebuilding Wings 4-2</a>.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/xR5QAM-IF7E/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xR5QAM-IF7E?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
<br />
<a href="https://www.rds.ca/videos/hockey/lnh-red-wings-4-canadiens-2-hockey-3.1341400">Vidéo RDS en français ici.</a><br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<div dir="ltr" lang="fr">
La formation projetée du match de ce soir.<br />
<br />
The projected lines for tonight's game.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GoHabsGo?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#GoHabsGo</a> <a href="https://t.co/MaqCV0CWII">pic.twitter.com/MaqCV0CWII</a></div>
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) <a href="https://twitter.com/CanadiensMTL/status/1182424643745042432?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 10, 2019</a></blockquote>
<br />
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><br />
Canadiens head coach <a href="https://www.rds.ca/videos/hockey/lnh/canadiens/canadiens-nous-n-etions-pas-sharp-lnh-3.1341402">Claude Julien said his team wasn't sharp</a>, but didn't want to say it was due to fatigue.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.rds.ca/videos/hockey/lnh/canadiens/antichambre-la-chance-a-rattrapee-le-ch-canadiens-3.1341405">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.</a><br />
<br />
Same with Pierre Houde and Marc Denis in their post-game analysis, their thesis was that <a href="https://www.rds.ca/videos/hockey/canadiens-en-jouant-avec-le-feu-le-ch-s-est-brule-lnh-3.1341396">the Canadiens were playing with fire again tonight, and this time got burned.</a><br />
<br />
<a href="https://t.co/lFPU8dohzt">Anthony Mantha continued his hot streak</a>, 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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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 <strike>Michael Chaput and Ken Agostino</strike> Riley Barber and Phil Varone coming soon to a rink near you.<br />
<br />
ADDENDUM: Opening ceremony <a href="https://www.rds.ca/videos/hockey/lnh-le-canadien-rend-hommage-a-sa-grande-histoire-hockey-3.1341301">here</a> and <a href="https://www.rds.ca/videos/hockey/lnh-mesdames-et-messieurs-accueillons-nos-canadiens-hockey-3.1341312">here</a>.whistlerfanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09842349873700367143noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4783877269294667701.post-47408064403700439962019-10-05T22:22:00.000-07:002019-10-05T22:22:11.060-07:00Game 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 href="https://www.nhl.com/gamecenter/mtl-vs-tor/2019/10/05/2019020019#game=2019020019,game_state=final">a 6-5 win</a>.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/B2vnhax1eQE/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/B2vnhax1eQE?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<div dir="ltr" lang="und">
Aucun changement à la formation ce soir. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/CH?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#CH</a> <br /><br />Tatar-Danault-Gallagher;<br />Lehkonen-Domi-Suzuki;<br />Drouin-Kotkaniemi-Armia;<br />Byron-Thompson-Weal.<br /><br />Mete-Weber;<br />Chiarot-Petry;<br />Kulak-Fleury;<br /><br />Price.</div>
— Chantal Machabee (@ChantalMachabee) <a href="https://twitter.com/ChantalMachabee/status/1180508428256579584?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 5, 2019</a></blockquote>
<br />
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><br />
<div>
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?</div>
<br />
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 <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/author/stuartcowan">simpletons</a> 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.<br />
<br />
So while I was cheering for a moral victory, the Canadiens had other ideas. They don't quit as easy as I do.<br />
<br />
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 <a href="https://twitter.com/HeresYourReplay/status/1180664843692630016">Max Domi, with a shot that hit Michael Hutchison in the mask</a> before striking the crossbar flush. <br />
<br />
I think I'll get my wish. This will be an exciting team to watch this season.whistlerfanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09842349873700367143noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4783877269294667701.post-64508584144917071222019-10-04T17:45:00.003-07:002019-10-04T19:17:07.778-07:00Game 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 <a href="https://www.nhl.com/gamecenter/mtl-vs-car/2019/10/03/2019020008#game=2019020008,game_state=final">an overtime loss of 4-3</a>, in the shootout portion.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/tEBc1SgKyT4/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tEBc1SgKyT4?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
<br />
Some disjointed thoughts occurred to me as the game unfolded and I corresponded with brave-hearted like-minded supporters of the Good Guys.<br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<div dir="ltr" lang="fr">
La formation projetée du match de ce soir.<br />
<br />
The projected lines for tonight's game.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GoHabsGo?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#GoHabsGo</a> <a href="https://t.co/wEPLi8MxnB">pic.twitter.com/wEPLi8MxnB</a></div>
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) <a href="https://twitter.com/CanadiensMTL/status/1179891820995731458?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 3, 2019</a></blockquote>
<br />
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
Like on the Kotkaniemi goal, just skate hard and take the puck in the opponents' zone and then take it to the net.<br />
<br />
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?<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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?<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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 href="https://youtu.be/iSmSNAInjkk?t=20">a flub/brain cramp by Brandon Sutter who tried to weakly bank the puck ahead to a teammate, but it was easily intercepted</a> 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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
(<a href="https://www.rds.ca/videos/hockey/lnh-canadiens-3-hurricanes-4-tirs-de-barrage-3.1339578">Faits saillants RDS</a>)whistlerfanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09842349873700367143noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4783877269294667701.post-47371441259107723022019-09-28T21:37:00.000-07:002019-09-29T10:12:36.427-07:00Pre-season Game 7: Canadiens 4, Senators 3 (OT)We were all prepared to be gloomy and pessimistic, but an <a href="https://www.nhl.com/gamecenter/ott-vs-mtl/2019/09/28/2019010099#game=2019010099,game_state=final">in extremis win by les Glorieux</a>, 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 href="https://www.nhl.com/video/suzukis-overtime-winner/t-309544346/c-69218603"> a beauty effort and an unassisted overtime goal</a>.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/uHrsV7DKYZE/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uHrsV7DKYZE?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
<br />
<br />
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 <a href="https://www.rds.ca/videos/hockey/canadiens-ben-chiarot-se-porte-a-la-defense-de-carey-price-lnh-3.1337725">Ben Chiarot take issue with Bobby Ryan's tap/slash on Carey</a> and discuss the matter thoroughly with him.<br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<div dir="ltr" lang="fr">
La formation projetée du match de ce soir.<br />
<br />
The projected lines for tonight's game.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GoHabsGo?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#GoHabsGo</a> <a href="https://t.co/SpJbx61myY">pic.twitter.com/SpJbx61myY</a></div>
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) <a href="https://twitter.com/CanadiensMTL/status/1178076736090714115?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 28, 2019</a></blockquote>
<br />
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><br />
<div>
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.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
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 <a href="https://www.google.ca/maps/dir/Centre+Bell,+1909+Avenue+des+Canadiens-de-Montr%C3%A9al,+Montreal,+Quebec+H4B+5G0/Place+Bell,+1950+Rue+Claude-Gagn%C3%A9,+Laval,+Quebec+H7N+5H9/@45.5201655,-73.7176801,12z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m14!4m13!1m5!1m1!1s0x4cc91a6802ef36ff:0x112f006b9aeff7ae!2m2!1d-73.5693153!2d45.4960667!1m5!1m1!1s0x4cc922480ee19bb1:0xac16472eb746ef4f!2m2!1d-73.7215888!2d45.5559041!3e0">closer to the Nouveau Forum than to Laval.</a></div>
<br />
<a href="https://www.rds.ca/videos/hockey/canadiens-la-sortie-de-carey-price-tourne-au-cauchemar-lnh-3.1337778">Carey Price had a doozy of a mishandle on the Sens' third goal by Filip Chlapik</a>. 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.whistlerfanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09842349873700367143noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4783877269294667701.post-12867710844187976662019-09-27T23:25:00.001-07:002021-06-19T19:18:01.688-07:00The Canadiens' lineup, as the season nearsThis is the Canadiens' practice lineup, with the Ottawa Senators looming as our Saturday night opposition for the last pre-season game.<br />
<br />
<div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 14.7px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Tatar – Danault – Gallagher<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Lehkonen – Domi – Suzuki<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Drouin – Kotkaniemi – Weal<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Byron – Thompson – Armia</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Cousins – Poehling – Hudon</em></div>
<div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 14.7px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Mete – Weber<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Chiarot – Petry<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Kulak – Fleury</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Reilly – Folin</em></div>
<div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 14.7px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Kinkaid</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Lindgren</em></div>
<br />
Some notes:<br />
<br />
--I guess <a href="https://www.tsn.ca/montreal-canadiens-carey-price-dealing-with-trapper-hand-bruise-1.1370611">Carey will be ready to play the final tuneup game</a>? 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.<br />
<br />
--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!!!" <br />
<br />
--Apparently <a href="https://www.nhl.com/canadiens/news/training-camp-notebook-september-27-ryan-poehling-carey-price-shea-weber/c-309526784">Ryan Poehling is ready to go</a>, 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, ...<br />
<br />
--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. <br />
<br />
Put him down in Laval, for another season of marinating, and hoard another asset. That's my final decision.<br />
<br />
--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.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<div dir="ltr" lang="en">
The Canadiens announced that Matthew Peca, Philip Varone, Karl Alzner, Xavier Ouellet and Dale Weise will be placed on NHL waivers today at noon (12 p.m.).<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GoHabsGo?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#GoHabsGo</a></div>
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) <a href="https://twitter.com/CanadiensMTL/status/1177246125730009090?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 26, 2019</a></blockquote>
<br />
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><br />
<div>
(<b>Update</b>)</div>
<br />
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...<br />
<br />
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, <a href="https://www.capfriendly.com/buyout-calculator/karl-alzner/2020-06-15">even next season, he's not an easy buyout decision, he'd cost us approx. $4M in 2020</a>, then three more seasons at roughly one million cap hit.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
--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. <br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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. <br />
<br />
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 <strike>away from the frozen North</strike>, the Steven Stamkoses re-signing long-term at a discount.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
--My 80-point prediction hope dream for Jonathan was hopelessly optimistic. <a href="https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/31-thoughts-brayden-points-contract-impacts-rfa-market/">He's been mentioned by Elliott Friedman as being floated on the trade market</a>, 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. <br />
<br />
Out here in Vancouver, at least their local-born whipping-boy, Jake Virtanen, he had the decency to <a href="https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/virtanen-absent-grown-ups-table-open-canucks-camp/">show up to camp fat</a> and overweight, <a href="https://www.owensoundsuntimes.com/sports/hockey/nhl/vancouver-canucks/canucks-camp-notes-virtanen-in-doghouse-after-flunking-physical-juolevis-knee-a-concern/wcm/27ee64c5-96ea-4e16-9335-20344d51a99f">to provide grist for the mill</a>.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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. <br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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.whistlerfanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09842349873700367143noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4783877269294667701.post-81354094631529824122019-09-23T19:40:00.000-07:002019-09-23T19:59:43.312-07:00Pre-season Game 5: Canadiens 0, Tier III Leafs 3The Canadiens bored us and bored themselves to sleep with <a href="https://www.nhl.com/gamecenter/tor-vs-mtl/2019/09/23/2019010063#game=2019010063,game_state=final">a 3-0 loss to the Tier III Leafs</a>.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<div dir="ltr" lang="en">
Voici les alignements pour le match de ce soir au Centre Bell. <br />
<br />
Here are the lineups for tonight’s game at the Bell Centre.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GoHabsGo?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#GoHabsGo</a> <a href="https://t.co/bs8Z1Kt9bf">pic.twitter.com/bs8Z1Kt9bf</a></div>
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) <a href="https://twitter.com/CanadiensMTL/status/1176134550826684418?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 23, 2019</a></blockquote>
<br />
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><br />
<br />
<h3 style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 30px; margin: 27px 0px 17px; text-align: center;">
Toronto Maple Leafs Projected Lines*</h3>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div>
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>(*Source: <a href="https://mapleleafshotstove.com/2019/09/23/toronto-maple-leafs-at-montreal-canadiens-preseason-game-5-preview-projected-lines/">Maple Leaf Hot Stove</a>)</i></span></div>
<div>
<br style="text-align: start;" /></div>
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #383838; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 26px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: center;">
<strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Forwards</strong><br />
Agostino (20) – Shore (26) – Petan (61)<br />
Archibald (49) – Brooks (77) – Bracco (29)<br />
Korshkov (96) – Gaudet (32) – Read (12)<br />
Engvall (47) – Elynuik (76) – Conrad (72)</div>
<div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #383838; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 26px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: center;">
<strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Defensemen</strong><br />
Gravel (25) – Schmaltz (2)<br />
Harpur (22) – Holl (3)<br />
Rubins (56) – Liljegren (37)</div>
<div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #383838; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 26px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: center;">
<strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Goaltenders</strong><br />
Hutchinson (30)</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Well, the Marlies Lite still beat our half roster full of Barbers and Belziles. Comfortably.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<div>
After 14 fringe players were cut from camp on Sunday, La Presse ran <a href="https://www.lapresse.ca/sports/hockey/201909/22/01-5242301-canadien-lheure-des-grandes-decisions.php">this article</a> saying it was time for the harder choices.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
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.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<a href="https://montrealgazette.com/sports/hockey/nhl/hockey-inside-out/canadiens-charles-hudon-is-a-lot-lighter-on-his-skates-now">Charles Hudon came into camp leaner, determined to make an impression</a>, 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.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
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. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<a href="https://montrealgazette.com/sports/hockey/nhl/hockey-inside-out/canadiens-karl-alzner-keeping-positive-attitude-after-groin-injury">Same with Karl Alzner</a>. 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 <a href="https://www.nhl.com/mapleleafs/video/korshkovs-second-of-the-game/t-277437436/c-69085503">that Kalashnikov guy</a> into the boards a couple times and slowed him down some, I might have sat up and taken notice, but he blew his chance.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
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.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
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.</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>EDIT</b>: Well that didn't take long...</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<div>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<div dir="ltr" lang="fr">
Nous avons assigné les attaquants Riley Barber, Alex Belzile et Jake Evans, de même que le défenseur Josh Brook au Rocket de Laval.<br />
<br />
We've reassigned forwards Riley Barber, Alex Belzile and Jake Evans, along with defenseman Josh Brook, to the Laval Rocket.</div>
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) <a href="https://twitter.com/CanadiensMTL/status/1176318140701126656?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 24, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
<div>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script></div>
</div>
<div>
<b><br /></b>
<b><br /></b>
<b>Related</b> (<i>Sean Farrell</i>): <b><a href="https://www.nhl.com/news/montreal-canadiens-2019-20-season-preview/c-309348674">Canadiens season preview: Healthy Weber could spark return to playoffs</a></b><br />
<br /></div>
whistlerfanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09842349873700367143noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4783877269294667701.post-74514410753766780532019-09-22T09:38:00.000-07:002019-09-23T18:04:26.312-07:00Pre-Season Game 4: Canadiens 4, Senators 0The <a href="https://www.nhl.com/gamecenter/mtl-vs-ott/2019/09/21/2019010047#game=2019010047,game_state=final">Laval Canadiens spanked the Junior B Sénateurs de Belleville 4-0 last night</a>. (<a href="https://www.lapresse.ca/sports/hockey/201909/22/01-5242301-canadien-lheure-des-grandes-decisions.php">La Presse</a>)<br />
<br />
You know last year when <a href="https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/canadiens-acquire-centre-jordan-weal-coyotes-michael-chaput/">the Canadiens traded for Jordan Weal at the deadline</a>, 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.<br />
<br />
Sure, the end of the season was especially encouraging for Jordan Weal, how he might provide an option as <a href="https://www.nhl.com/canadiens/video/weal-taps-in-power-play-goal/t-277437414/c-67538003">a shifty right-shot on the powerplay</a> 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? <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/nhl/nhl-roundup-1.5290674">So far in camp though</a>, 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?<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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 <a href="https://www.capfriendly.com/players/jordan-weal">his 'onerous' $1.75M contract</a> to the Canadiens for a <a href="https://www.capfriendly.com/players/michael-chaput">Michael Chaput with a $675 000 two-way contract that they can stash in the minors for $275 000</a>. 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.<br />
<br />
Marc Bergevin <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/sports/hockey/nhl/hockey-inside-out/canadiens-sign-centre-jordan-weal-to-two-year-contract">re-signed Jordan Weal this summer to a two-year deal at $1.4M</a>, 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 <a href="https://twitter.com/StuCowan1/status/1174823455314853888">professed his love</a> for him <a href="https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2019/09/16/je-serai-tres-decu-si-jordan-weal-na-pas-une-place-avec-nous---claude-julien">early in camp</a>, and right now the pre-season production and performance bear that out.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #14171a; font-family: "segoe ui" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #e6ecf0; font-size: 14px;"></span></span><br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<div dir="ltr" lang="en">
<span style="color: #14171a; font-family: "segoe ui" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #e6ecf0; font-size: 14px;">Jordan Weal is going to be a sneaky difference maker on the Habs top powerplay unit. Make him the main facilitator of the puck at the right boards and either low-to-bumper, direct to bumper or up to the point. He's going to do well in this role. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Habs?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Habs</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WealDeal?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WealDeal</a> <a href="https://t.co/6Gi7Cii3F0">https://t.co/6Gi7Cii3F0</a> <a href="https://t.co/Ofjl14Q6wN">pic.twitter.com/Ofjl14Q6wN</a></span></span></div>
<span style="color: #14171a; font-family: "segoe ui" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #e6ecf0; font-size: 14px;">— Mike Kelly (@MikeKellyNHL) <a href="https://twitter.com/MikeKellyNHL/status/1175799719827771392?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 22, 2019</a></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="color: #14171a; font-family: "segoe ui" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #e6ecf0; font-size: 14px;">
</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #14171a; font-family: "segoe ui" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #e6ecf0; font-size: 14px;"><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script></span></span><br />
<div>
<br /></div>
whistlerfanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09842349873700367143noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4783877269294667701.post-74928868925183822602019-07-04T09:11:00.002-07:002019-07-06T06:09:21.384-07:00How do you spell excitement? C-H-A-R-I-O-T<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">Brace yourselves: I'm not happy. I don't like it.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "stag medium" , "trebuchet";"><a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/ben-chiarot-defenceman-winnipeg-jets-montreal-1.5199752">Another Jet takes off: Ben Chiarot signs 3-year deal with Montreal Canadiens</a></span><br />
<div style="color: #222222;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">
<div style="font-size: small;">
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. </div>
<div style="font-size: small;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-size: small;">
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.<br />
<br />
2) The scouting report on Ben Chiarot:</div>
<div style="font-size: small;">
<br /></div>
<div>
<div class="gmail-fss_module_header" style="color: #333333; font-family: khand; font-weight: bold; text-transform: uppercase;">
SCOUTING REPORT</div>
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; color: black; font-family: "open sans", sans-serif; font-size: 12px; width: 474px;"><tbody>
<tr class="even" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border-top: 1px solid rgb(239, 239, 239);"><td colspan="2" style="font-family: Roboto, RobotoDraft, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; padding: 3px;">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.</td></tr>
<tr class="gmail-odd" style="border-top: 1px solid rgb(239, 239, 239);"><td class="gmail-scouting_subheader" nowrap="" style="color: #666666; font-family: Khand, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; padding: 3px; vertical-align: top; white-space: nowrap; width: 113px;">Long Range Potential:</td><td style="font-family: Roboto, RobotoDraft, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; padding: 3px;">Big, stay-at-home defenseman.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div style="font-size: small;">
<br />
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.</div>
<div style="font-size: small;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-size: small;">
Nope.</div>
<div style="font-size: small;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-size: small;">
<div>
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?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
<div style="font-size: small;">
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.</div>
<div style="font-size: small;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-size: small;">
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?<br />
<br />
Hmmmmfff...</div>
</div>
whistlerfanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09842349873700367143noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4783877269294667701.post-69162563072697824432019-07-01T19:11:00.000-07:002019-07-01T19:11:16.452-07:00The 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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
This is a five-year contract which carries a $8.4M AAV and is structured this way:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<div dir="ltr" lang="en">
Breakdown of Aho offer sheet: $11.3M SB plus 700k salary in Year 1; $9.87M SB plus 700k salary in Year 2; $6.95 SB plus 750k salary in Year 3; $5.25 SB plus $750k in each of Year 4 and Year 5</div>
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) <a href="https://twitter.com/PierreVLeBrun/status/1145766276905746433?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 1, 2019</a></blockquote>
<br />
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><br />
<div>
<br /></div>
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 href="https://www.capfriendly.com/offer-sheet-calculator">a higher offer would have meant a greater compensation owed Carolina</a>.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.nhl.com/fr/canadiens/video/conference-de-presse--bergevin/t-277616218/c-68608603">The Montréal press hounds asked Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin about this</a> (4:05 mark), why not push the AAV up to $9M or $10M, to really make the Hurricanes sweat, but he matter-of-factly explained that the salary and structure was acceptable to the player, to the team, as was the compensation he’d have to fork over. He didn’t believe that making the yearly salary higher would rebuff the ‘Canes from matching, so they obviously think the bonus structure is the poison pill.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<div dir="ltr" lang="ht">
Teravainen : 0$ en bonus<br />J. Staal : 0$ en bonus<br />Niederreiter : 0$ en bonus<br />Haula : 0$ en bonus<br />Martinook : 0$ en bonus<br />Hamilton : 0$ en bonus<br />Slavin : 0$ en bonus<br />Faulk : 0$ en bonus<br />Pesce : 0$ en bonus<br />TVR : 0$ en bonus<br />Reimer : 0$ en bonus<br />Mrazek : 0$ en bonus <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Habs?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Habs</a></div>
— Kevin Vallée (@KevinMVallee) <a href="https://twitter.com/KevinMVallee/status/1145827758943158273?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 1, 2019</a></blockquote>
<br />
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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”.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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.whistlerfanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09842349873700367143noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4783877269294667701.post-5698465101009817662019-06-30T20:20:00.000-07:002019-09-06T16:01:23.412-07:00Pre-UFA Frenzy thoughts on a busy June 30<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">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.</span><br />
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><a href="https://montrealgazette.com/sports/hockey/nhl/hockey-inside-out/canadiens-trade-andrew-shaw-back-to-chicago-blackhawks">Andrew Shaw</a></b>: 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.</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">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.</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">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.</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">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.</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">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.</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><a href="https://montrealgazette.com/sports/hockey/nhl/hockey-inside-out/canadiens-trade-nicolas-deslauriers-to-the-anaheim-ducks">Nicolas Deslauriers</a></b>: 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.</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">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.</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Matt Duchene</b>: 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. </span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">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.</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">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.</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Jake Gardiner</b>: We've said all we need to say, I'd be okay paying him $7M X 7 if that's what it takes. <a href="https://relentlessineptitude.blogspot.com/2019/06/canadiens-shouldnt-beat-around-bush.html">I prefer my two-year deal idea</a>, 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.</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">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!"</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>T.J. Brodie (and James Neal)</b>: 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.</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">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? </span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Ben Hutton</b>: 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.</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Andrej Sekera</b>: 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. </span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Jesse Puljujarvi</b>: 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? </span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Anders Lee</b>: No. Too much money.</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Mike Smith, Cam Talbot, Keith Kincaid</b>: 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. </span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Just make sure it's cheap. Nothing over $2M, preferably much less. Carey's still going to, um, carry the ball.</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I'd prefer not to lose Charlie Lindgren on waivers, but it looks like we might have to chance it in October.</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Alex Galchenyuk</b>: 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. </span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Anyway, talent was never the problem with our boy, it's between the ears, evidently.</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Corey Perry</b>: Non merci. Suivant, next!</span></div>
whistlerfanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09842349873700367143noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4783877269294667701.post-4608824842357724432019-06-23T22:35:00.002-07:002019-06-23T22:35:54.770-07:00Canadiens shouldn't beat around the bush with GardinerHere's a modest proposal for the Canadiens to significantly upgrade their defence corps yet not wreck their salary cap future: sign Unrestricted Free Agent Jake Gardiner to a two-year contract.<br />
<br />
The benefits to the Canadiens are evident. While they have $10M in cap space to play with at the moment, this bounty won't last forever. <br />
<br />
Next season, the Max Domi 'Prove It' contract comes to an end, and he'll have arbitration rights, he'll want to be paid. Victor Mete and Noah Juulsen will also need new deals after finishing their Entry-Level Contracts. Although they probably won't break the bank, they won't be as cheap as they are now.<br />
<br />
In 2021, the party's over: Brendan Gallagher, Tomas Tatar, Phillip Danault and Jeff Petry will all need new contracts or become UFAs. Similarly, Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Ryan Poehling will come off their ELCs and merit significant raises.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, no big contracts will really have come off the books. Carey Price and Shea Weber will still eating a big chunk of the cap, and Karl Alzner's anchor of a deal will still be around the Canadiens' neck, although they'll be over the hump with that one. With the 2020 season's bonus (which many players obtained to protect against a potential lockout) having been paid, the Alzner contract can feasibly be bought out in 2021.<br />
<br />
Still, this shows that the Canadiens can't enter into the massive six and seven year-contracts dance that the Sharks, Sabres and Flyers have kicked off. All this young talent in the ranks will need to be paid in two seasons' time. <br />
<br />
So Jake Gardiner could be the lucky recipient of a lavish contract offer from the Canadiens, but not one with term. At this point we may ask, "What's in it for him?" Why would he accept a two-year deal from the Canadiens when he's liable to get a seven-year offer elsewhere?<br />
<br />
The first reason would be an opportunity to win. The Canadiens are a young fast team on the rise, with excellent goaltending. It appears that the most glaring missing piece, a left-shot Top 4 defenceman who can provide offence, is something Jake Gardiner himself could provide. He'd be like a sack artist who looks over a team that has offence and a great quarterback and coaching and just needs to improve its pass defence, its pass rush to be a Super Bowl contender. He can be the final puzzle piece.<br />
<br />
The second reason is counter-intuitive but still valid. The NHL U.S. TV contract is coming due and will be renewed for the 2021 season. It's expected that the new contract will have a main portion, probably to NBC, and a secondary one allocated to ESPN or Fox, with Gary Bettman finally coming to his senses, and realizing that ghetto-izing the NHL onto one channel is counter-productive.<br />
<br />
So while currently the salary cap is going to be tight for the next two years, as the players tamp down on the 'escalator' to keep the escrow which comes off their paycheque in control somewhat, it should rebound nicely in two years time. Instead of locking himself in for 6 or 7 years at an inopportune time, with few teams in a position to really bid for his services, and at a relatively lower salary, he can just do a two-year stint for a really high salary with a team that has that cap room, and then go back to UFA when the cap ceiling rises again and more teams will be in the bidding.<br />
<br />
The fly in the ointment for him with this line of reasoning is that he's about to turn 29, so that's usually seen as a hockey player's 'last big chance'. The odds of him getting another massive deal of 5-6 years at 31 aren't great. But that's the situation he's in, he can't get the big seven-year offers from multiple teams, only a few have the room or the willingness to pay him that much. He can't refuse to accept his situation.<br />
<br />
If he did sign a two-year deal with the Canadiens, he'd be parked next to Shea Weber, and have Carey Price behind him to cover for his mistakes, not James Reimer or Jonathan Bernier. He'd get all corsied up, he'd PDOminate, so he'd look great sitting across from GMs trying to negotiate a new deal in two years time.<br />
<br />
Just to be very clear and to define the parametres we're batting around, Jake Gardiner is being touted as likely to receive 7 years at $6.8M by Evolving Hockey's free agent salary projection project, a document that has been wildly off in a few cases so far this summer but is a good starting point for discussion. Jake Gardiner is a good defenceman, but maybe not a Top 15 or Top 20 d-man in the league, but that's the level he'd be paid at with this salary projection.<br />
<br />
What I'm saying is, pay him more than that. Pay him $8M a season for two years, and let him skate after that, to even greener pastures. He wins, we win, everybody wins.<br />
<br />
As demonstrated by the preceding, the only sane thing for Jake Gardiner to do is to come play for the Montréal Canadiens for the next two seasons.whistlerfanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09842349873700367143noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4783877269294667701.post-6301037791029040852019-06-22T10:57:00.002-07:002019-09-29T17:49:51.448-07:002019 NHL Draft: Notes on Rounds 2-7So after a fallow first round in terms of trade, a spike of activity before the second round.<br />
<br />
--So the Devils grab P.K., for loose change really, two second-rounders +. I guess if Nashville didn't retain salary, their options were few, there was no bidding war, with most contenders out of the running when it comes to taking on $9M.<br />
<br />
The haterz, those who call him inferior to Shea Weber, those who called him "fat", might spin this as a come-down for P.K., might schadenfreude that P.K. goes to NYC, but not at all really, he's in Newark if anything. Shame, shame, shame, you negatrons...<br />
<br />
--The Hurricanes get a first-round pick + for taking on Patrick Marleau and buying him out. Elliotte Friedman thinks this is a prelude to an attempt at a return to San Jose.<br />
<br />
I thought there was a Marleau-Kapanen deal possible for the Canadiens, where you don't even buy out Patrick Marleau, you wring every last bit of juice out of him next season. He can still skate, he'd be a fit.<br />
<br />
But there's the slight matter of his NMC, and how the Leafs wouldn't risk trading Kasperi Kapanen in-Division.<br />
<br />
That's okay, there are still lots of opportunities to shark some team out of a prospect and picks in return for taking on a bad contract.<br />
<br />
--Last year, I crossed my fingers to the point of dislocation and was ecstatic, gratified that Jared McIsaac was available at our spot to pick in the second round, but they veered hard-left and picked up unknown nobodies Alex Romanov and Jesse Ylonen. So I'm ready to hear some obscure Euro names at #46 and 50. Heck, they might conjure up a goalie out of thin air.<br />
<br />
I decided I wouldn't mind Raphaël Lavoie at #46. We could rant and rave about how we got great value, he was a Top 10 pick, really, who 'fell' to us, for unfair reasons, discrimination by English scouts as always, did you know he was 6'4"?...<br />
<br />
If they picked Leason over Lavoie, TVA Sports would melt down. Réjean Tremblay would go Unabomber and publish a 300-page screed.<br />
<br />
--Do not trade up, especially for Lavoie. Only if he falls in our lap. All the players remaining are all on the same level, the same tier. We don't need to pick one shlub over another so much that we overpay. Take the shlubs as they come.<br />
<br />
The only player I'd be overjoyed with our seconds would be Brett Leason, 6'4" right-shot right winger, he's a 19-year-old who had a monster breakout season after being passed over in the draft twice. Had a great tourney at the World Juniors. There's a chance he could step right into the lineup, or after very little time in Laval.<br />
<br />
The other is Matthew Robertson, who we talked about earlier. He plays for the Oil Kings, 6'3" leftie blueliner, was talked about in the same breath as Broberg or Harley at mid-season, although it was acknowledged he was less skilled on offence, but really good at defending, and tough.<br />
<br />
Any two of those guys with our picks tomorrow would be great, but chances are these two will fly off the board early. Realistically, I'm hoping for Samuel Bolduc or Alex Beaucage in the third, one of Nathan Légaré or Alex Campbell in the second round. That'd make me happy, as a fanboy who wants local kids on my team and who's done zero scouting all year. I've never seen these kids play, but I have opinions.<br />
<br />
1) Ottawa picks first, doesn't seem like they auctioned off that singular pick overnight. Usually this pick is a prime opportunity to trade down with a desperate team, like the Sharks were to trade up and snag Jérémy Roy in 2015.<br />
<br />
They grab Shane Pinto, and my man-crushes are not affected. Let's see who slides down to #46.<br />
<br />
2) The Kings snap up 51-goal scorer Arthur Kaliyev at #33. Not surprising he didn't last long.<br />
<br />
3) A run on goaltenders early helps our cause by causing players we like to fall.<br />
<br />
4) The Lavoie Fall arrests at #38. He goes to exotic scenic Edmonton. He might have the last laugh, playing with either/both of their great centres in a couple years.<br />
<br />
5) The Canucks grab Nils Hoglander, a 5'10" workout warrior who slipped a little bit. Check out his workout videos on YouTube.<br />
<br />
6) Kaedan Korczak of the defenceman factory that is the Kelowna Rockets lands in Vegas in #41. Intriguing right-shot offensive defenceman is how he's described, but he fails the .6 pts/game test, so I didn't really care. Alex Vlasic taken at #43 by the Blackhawks, another defenceman I wasn't too keen on, not much offence demonstrated, but you have to be wowed by his size.<br />
<br />
7) Lots of trades, teams moving up or down, some of it caused by teams on the hunt for a goalie. The Canucks get J.T. Miller from Tampa, in return for a package that includes a conditional first-round pick in 2021 or 2022. Not sure what I think of this.<br />
<br />
8) Two picks away. Will we get Matthew Robertson or Brett Leason? At least one of them will be on the board.<br />
<br />
9) Both of them are available, and we're on the clock. Nashville gets Egor Afanasyev, a big scoring winger from the USHL.<br />
<br />
10) We get Jayden Struble at #46, a U.S. high school player. Apparently known for physical play. 6", 195 lbs. I'll let myself be swayed by the pundits, then develop a fiery take on this pick<br />
<br />
We're up again at #50.<br />
<br />
11) Leason? Robertson? Nathan Légaré?<br />
<br />
Rangers take Matthew Robertson at #49, and the Canadiens trade down from #50, with the Kings. According to Arpon Basu, they get a third-round and a fifth-round pick from the Kings.<br />
<br />
12) Vaguely familiar names being snapped up, no LHJMQ players being taken. Opportunity for the Canadiens?<br />
<br />
I guess Matthew Robertson's upside, his puck handling and mobility didn't measure up to the Canadiens' style. He did clear the .6 pts/game test, 7 goals and 33 points in 52 games.<br />
<br />
13) Samuel Bolduc gone to the Islanders at #57. Doesn't meet the .6 pts/game standard, but at this point in the draft, with the tremendous size and fitness, with the untapped potential that scouts swear is there, I was ready to take the plunge.<br />
<br />
Brett Leason, the big right-winger who was touted as a late-first rounder by a lot of draft watchers, goes 56th overall to the Capitals.<br />
<br />
14) The Canadiens are up at #64 and 77 in the third round. I wonder if Marc Bergevin will trade some picks for others next year, as he did last year, and especially since the Draft will be held in Montréal.<br />
<br />
15) Mattias Norlinder at #64, a 5'10" 180 lb overager. Passed over in the draft last year, 6 points in 14 games in the Swedish second-division, I don't know.<br />
<br />
Actually I do know, I'll call it: he's a bust. He's one of those picks that the Canadiens overthought, got too cute with.<br />
<br />
I'll say it again, if you're going to reach, going to bend over backwards in the third round, do that with LHJMQ prospects. Take a chance on a sneaky hunch on our boys. Not a guy who's playing 2nd Division at 19.<br />
<br />
This is Lukas Vejdemo picked late in the third round at 19 years old instead of 17 year old 6'4" right-shot centreman Nicolas Roy all over again.<br />
<br />
I'm not happy, this is bullshit. This is a seventh-round hunch pick.<br />
<br />
16) Pittsburgh grabs Nathan Légaré at #74. I say it again: bullshit.<br />
<br />
The Penguins got Samuel Poulin in the first round too.<br />
<br />
17) At #77, the Canadiens take Gianni Fairbrother, a defenceman out of the Everett Silvertips.<br />
<br />
Brace yourself: he's an overager. Passed over last year too.<br />
<br />
There's more. Not only did he not meet the .6 pts/game standard in his draft year, he didn't meet it THIS year, at 19! This is Jarret Tyszka and Scott Walford all over again.<br />
<br />
Another bust, I'm calling this one right now too, no waiting.<br />
<br />
18) Too many resources maybe? Paralysis by analysis? What are the Canadiens scouts looking at? What are they looking <i>for</i>?<br />
<br />
If there was a mondo productive kid who fell into their lap, I'd understand not looking at Québec kids, but they're picking through the dregs and the rejects, and taking kids who don't show the barest level of production. It's the triumph of the eye-test and 'horseflesh evaluation' as decried in "Moneyball".<br />
<br />
19) Meanwhile the Leafs draft Mikko Kokkonen at #84, who's been playing in the Liga for three seasons (!), and set a record for most points by a defenceman under 18. Which one of these latter two prospects would you rather have? Which seems, on the surface, more likely to pan out?<br />
<br />
20) The Canadiens pick again at #108, and four times in the fifth round. They're preparing their Samuel Houde media-soother pick for then, no doubt.<br />
<br />
21) Right after the Canadiens took Mattias Norlinder, the Preds took Alex Campbell, a local kid playing in the BCHL with Alex Newhook. Right after.<br />
<br />
And right after the Canadiens took Gianni Fairbrother, the Avalanche took Alexis Beaucage at #78. The very next pick.<br />
<br />
So it goes...<br />
<br />
22) The Kings nab Jordan Spence at #95. Would have been nice...<br />
<br />
23) The Canadiens traded #108 to the Sharks, waiting to find out what we got in return.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://twitter.com/CapFriendly/status/1142513904079245312">CapFriendly tweets that we get a 2020 4th-round pick</a>. Doesn't seem like that's a great trade. You postpone the pick one year, lose that value, and what are the chances that it'll be better than a mid-round fourth? The Sharks are stacked, it'll be a low fourth-rounder.<br />
<br />
I'm not negative, you're negative.<br />
<br />
24) Leafs on the clock at 124. Canadiens have numbers 126, 134, 136 and 138. But the LHJMQ cupboard is very bare. Nothing left of any note.<br />
<br />
25) At #126, Jacob Leguerrier of the Greyhounds in the OHL. Doesn't meet the .6 pts/game standard. 16 points in 68 games, he had 11 last season, in what should have been his draft year.<br />
<br />
Nope.<br />
<br />
26) At #131, Rhett Pitlick. 5'9", 160 lbs, 5 points in 7 USHL games.<br />
<br />
Nope.<br />
<br />
27) At #136, the Canadiens trade down/out. Same deal as with San Jose, they trade a fifth this year for a fifth next year.<br />
<br />
Mmmmff.<br />
<br />
28) At #138, the Canadiens draft 6'5" goalie Frederik Nissen Dichow from Denmark.<br />
<br />
Sure, that's a reasonable pick. I'll allow it.<br />
<br />
29) At #170, the Canadiens get Arsen Khisamutdinov, a 21-year-old 6'3" left-shot centre who had 5 points in 9 games in the KHL, 55 points in 41 games in the MHL.<br />
<br />
Sure. In the sixth round, why not.<br />
<br />
30) At #201, the Canadiens take Rouyn-Noranda Huskies captain Rafaël Harvey-Pinard, fresh off his Memorial Cup conquest.<br />
<br />
A sop to the baying hounds of the dastardly French media, so so so much worse than the equivocal even-handed English media? Maybe so, but I'll allow it.<br />
<br />
31) At 206, the Canadiens take Kieran Ruscheinski, a 6'5" 200 lbs left-shot defenceman out of the AJHL. A late-bloomer with very little offensive potential, based on his stats.<br />
<br />
In the seventh round, a perfectly adequate pick.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
* * * * *</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
I'm tired. I'm bummed. I'm out.</div>
whistlerfanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09842349873700367143noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4783877269294667701.post-63577372886525929752019-06-21T17:28:00.003-07:002019-06-21T21:32:12.592-07:002019 NHL Draft: Notes on the First Round.Finally, we're here! Second Christmas! Better than Halloween!<br />
<br />
The Vancouver fans do a great job of booing Gary Bettman into infantile frustration. Lord, the smarm...<br />
<br />
Wet shivering chicken move to use Henrik and Daniel Sedin as human shields, Gary. How many kids in wheelchairs do you have ready to be deployed, waiting backstage? Coward.<br />
<br />
1) Jack Hughes goes first. Look, I'm not saying the kid's going to flop, necessarily... I'm just saying, if it was my team's turn to pick first overall, I'd be bummed if on offer was a 5'10" shrimp. The 'New NHL' is still very much a figment. The league is a sham, the refs are eunuchs, the game is throttled by Gary Bettman's neglect.<br />
<br />
In all seriousness about the kid, having not really watched him play, I'm just leery of how he was surrounded by a super-talented team. I'd feel a lot better picking #1 if it was an Auston Matthews or Connor McDavid-no-brainer year.<br />
<br />
2) Kaapo Kakko goes #2 to the Rangers, setting up the comparisons with the Devils' Jack Hughes. Good for hockey in the States I guess, NBC will have more scheduling options than the Penguins.<br />
<br />
3) Kirby Dach goes 3rd, now more commonly known as the Kotkaniemi draft position. There's actually lots of similarity with last season, 1 and 2 were locked in pretty much all season long, and then an open field starting at 3. Although last season there was more agreement, at least initially, about #3, that Filip Zadina was most likely to go there. Then again, maybe not, seeing him fall to the sixth spot...<br />
<br />
Gotta love being able to draft a big huge right-shot centre in that spot. We need a right-shot at centre in our lineup. With Nick Suzuki not certain to play centre in the NHL, maybe it's something we can address tonight, with a precipitous fall by Dylan Cozens?<br />
<br />
4) Vancouver fans stealing the show, giving a warm ovation to 'Burnaby' Joe Sakic, which continues as they announce the Vancouver Giants' Bowen Byram. There was no way Byram was getting by the L.A. Kings if the Avs hadn't picked him.<br />
<br />
Do the Leafs regret the Muzzin trade right now? Gave up their first-round pick for a left-shot d-man who wasn't really what they needed, and it didn't get them out of the first round. Again. If they could rewind the tape, would they keep their powder dry, and take another shot at a right-shot d-man now? P.K. Subban in the Centre of the Universe?<br />
<br />
5) I don't want to visit the sins of the father on the son, but Alex Turcotte was a no-fly-zone for me. As I wrote before about the 1983 draft:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>(...) But no, we ended up with Alfie Turcotte. Alfie. Just the name sounded dumb, and his stats looked underwhelming in La Presse the next day. A small centre who scored 20 goals in the WHL, big whoop. I pronounced him a bust then and there, and wouldn’t you know I was right, like I so often am. Waste of a first-rounder.</i></blockquote>
Avast to Los Angeles ye be, poxy Turcotte!...<br />
<br />
6) The first surprise of the draft with Steve Yzerman, with no preamble and effusive thanks to the Canucks and city of Vancouver, just announces that Moritz Seider is the Red Wings' pick.<br />
<br />
I wrote this about him earlier, when we were punting around if he might be a target for the Canadiens at #15:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>The big German kid Moritz Seider screams to me of Luca Sbisa, a big plodder who could play with a shovel or pitchfork, it wouldn't affect his game when handling the puck. Stay clear.</i></blockquote>
And:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Moritz Seider is a righty, so not necessarily an area of need.</i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>I'd steer clear, he played in the German league and only managed 2 goals and 4 assists in 30 games. Would he have had even one point in Sweden or Finland? It's so hard to evaluate him since he didn't play against his peers really. Much easier to scout the CHL kids, compare them against each other. </i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>But he doesn't seem to have that offensive skill, his numbers don't wow me. He'll never be a first-pairing defenceman I'm pretty sure, but York, Harley or Broberg definitely have that potential. Seider is a big kid, but he screams third-pairing guy to me, reminds me of Luca Sbisa.</i></blockquote>
</blockquote>
7) The 'Dylan Cozens falling to 15' dream is dead. Buffalo snags him. Rats. I'm ascared he'll be another Ryan Kesler. We get to play him five times a season now, plus playoffs. If the Sabres ever make it back to the playoffs.<br />
<br />
8) The stupid Oilers snag Philip Broberg right from under our nose. I was hoping he'd last to 15.<br />
<br />
Who's going to play wing next to Connor McDavid Ken Holland? Jujhar Khaira? Uh?...<br />
<br />
Pffft... I hear his hockey IQ isn't all that great, that he's all style and no substance, has all the tools and no toolbox.<br />
<br />
I'm not bitter, you're bitter...<br />
<br />
9) Trevor Zegras picked by the Anaheim Ducks' Bob Murray, who can't even pronounce the kid's name, called him "Zuh-Graaah". We're unaffected by this, he was never expected to be in range for les Canadiens.<br />
<br />
The Canucks are next, no trade announced yet. Come on Jim Benning, send the pick to Nashville for P.K.<br />
<br />
10) The Canucks just go to the podium and nab Vasily Podkolzin. Jim Benning tells Elliotte Friedman that the two-year contract in St. Petersburg of the KHL is not a worry for his team, that anyone they'd draft at this point would need two years of development. Makes sense. They get a big talented winger who some think would be a Top 5 pick without the contract considerations.<br />
<br />
11) The Coyotes take Victor Soderstrom, after trading a mid-second round pick to the Flyers to move up from #14. He's described a little bit as a contrast to Philip Broberg, high IQ, right shot, not as flashy but really smart and effective. Brian Burke says he's the best defensive defenceman in this draft.<br />
<br />
There was a notion supported by a few mock drafts that the Canadiens would get the 2nd-best defenceman of the draft, or at least their choice of defencemen once Bowen Byram was off the board, that there are so many talented forwards that no one would be picking defencemen in the Top 15. So there goes that notion.<br />
<br />
I wonder if the Canadiens might trade down and take Samuel Poulin? The only man-crush I have left is Thomas Harley.<br />
<br />
12) Matthew Boldy goes to the Minnesota Wild. Brian Burke likes the size and skating, says every player on the USNDTP were asking to play on the same line as him.<br />
<br />
13) As expected, the Florida Panthers nab Spencer Knight, who the talking heads talk about as a no-brainer athletic goalie à la Carey Price, who'll solve your team's net issues for ten years. He wowed the Combine with his athleticism. He mentions to Tara Sloane that he works out with Ben Prentiss, the man who worked with Martin St. Louis and Max Pacioretty among others.<br />
<br />
14) The Flyers take Cam York! I didn't want him as our pick, so they take him off our hands.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
<i>Sigh... I don't know what my aversion is, aside from his Lilliputian 5'11 1/4" frame. I never was a big fan of this type of American d-men, I always thought Phil Housley and Bryan Leetch stole the thunder from our defencemen, they got all the Sports Illustrated ink.</i></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
<i>I read <a href="https://www.rds.ca/hockey/lnh/cam-york-cible-realiste-pour-le-canadien-1.6822022">a good profile of Cam York on RDS</a>, it makes the good point that, as easy as his job might have been amassing points with that stacked roster, he's head and shoulders above the #2 guy. Even if the other d-men were coasting on Jack Hugues, Cam York was twice as effective at coasting.</i></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
<i>He also makes the point that he went head-to-head with all those forwards every day at practice, so he had to pick up his defensive game.</i></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
<i>Mmmmff....</i></div>
</blockquote>
Uh-oh, does this mean we get shrimpy shrimp Cole Caulfield? I never thought we'd have a shot at him, I never worried about this. Be afraid...<br />
<br />
And, what the hell happened with all the blockbuster trades?<br />
<br />
15) Cole Caufield. Five foot seven inch Cole Caufield.<br />
<br />
Okay okay okay, let's look at this logically. We strengthen our right side, we add offensive talent. Pure goal-scoring talent, that you can't teach, can never get enough of.<br />
<br />
Nope, can't do it. Doesn't fit. I don't fit in this deal. In the playoffs, he'll be crosschecked back to the Stone Age.<br />
<br />
The talking heads compare him to Alex DeBrincat, which is fine and good, if you get him with a 40th overall pick or thereabouts. But noooooo, we had to trade for Andrew Shaw, gift Chicago the 2nd-rounders we could have used to draft DeBrincat...<br />
<br />
Sportsnet is flashing a graphic onscreen showing he's one of three shortest players ever drafted in the first round.<br />
<br />
16) 'Burnaby' Joe Sakic grabs a player from his home province, the BCHL's Alex Newhook.<br />
<br />
I'm in my deflated "Who cares?" mode, as usual after a Canadiens (disappointing) pick.<br />
<br />
17) Peyton Krebs, partially-torn Achilles tendon and all, limps on stage to accept a Las Vegas Knights sweater from Kelly McCrimmon. I kinda thought the Canadiens would pick him when he fell out of the Top Ten, if they didn't grab Thomas Harley.<br />
<br />
18) The Dallas Stars get Thomas Harley. I hope they choke on him.<br />
<br />
19) The Senators take a player I might have liked, Lassi Thomson, a defenceman who can skate and score. Now we have to face him five times a season. I might be tempted to overtly hope the kid busts, but I prefer to reserve my hexes for future Bruins.<br />
<br />
20) It's a run on Finnish defencemen, with the Jets picking Ville Heinola. Sam Cosentino correctly points out he looks like he's 12 years old. Playing in the Finnish Liga against men, he had more points in his draft year than Miro Heiskanen.<br />
<br />
21) With their first pick in the first round in years, the Penguins grab Samuel Poulin, mildly higher than expected. I'm jealous, was hoping he might fall, that the run on Americans might push him down into range.<br />
<br />
22) The Kings select Tobias Bjornfot, and we verge into territory where I know nothing about the players.<br />
<br />
23) The Islanders take Simon Holmstrom, who Bob McKenzie had projected as a mid-second rounder. Craig Button calls him a goal-scorer.<br />
<br />
24) This is the range where the Canadiens 'normally' pick, where we land the Mike McCarrons and the Nikita Scherbaks, from where we trade up to snag a Jarred Tinordi. The players don't quicken the pulse so much when we get to this range.<br />
<br />
In this vein, let me introduce Philip Tomasino of the Nashville Predators. Point/game player in the OHL, 34 goals. They can have him. Leave me alone. Let me sulk in my corner.<br />
<br />
25) The Capitals draft Connor McMichael. Big whoop. Carbon-copy of the guy before, a 36-goal point/game centre from the OHL. Tainted by association with Dale Hunter.<br />
<br />
The guy hosting the show for the NHL Network cracks that some wanted the Oilers to draft him, so they'd have Connor McDavid and Connor McMichael. That would have broken Bob Cole's brain if he'd had to work that game, good thing he retired before that could happen.<br />
<br />
26) Calgary take Jakob Pelletier, the second LHJMQ player taken, and the Raphaël Lavoie Fall Watch has begun.<br />
<br />
At least the Canadiens won't get blasted by (<i>sigh...</i>) JiC Lauzon, by Twitterers, for 'ignoring' him, since plenty of other teams are doing that too.<br />
<br />
Oh, who am I kidding, the Canadiens are going to get blasted no matter what.<br />
<br />
27) The Lightning take Nolan Foote, he joins his older brother Cal in Tampa.<br />
<br />
28) Ryan Suzuki looks relieved to get picked in the first round, but I have to wonder how happy he is to go to a nickle-and-dime operation like Carolina.<br />
<br />
29) Brayden Tracey picked by the Ducks, don't know anything about him. Bob McKenzie says he rose from 73 to 21 in the North American skater rankings from mid-season to the end of the season. Bob says seeing him taken here is no great surprise, he had him at #36 in his scouts poll.<br />
<br />
30) While waiting for the Bruins' pick, Bob McKenzie runs down his best-availables, mentions Lavoie and the director puts up a shot of the kid on-screen, then Arthur Kaliyev, and they show him as well. Just as he is picking his nose. Oops...<br />
<br />
Bless the Canucks fans for showering the dirty Bruins on the stage with lusty boos. Cam Neely tries to shoutout Maple Ridge, but that doesn't help. Well done Vancouver.<br />
<br />
They get John Beecher, a USNTDP centre. May he stall in Providence.<br />
<br />
31) The Sabres close out the first-round with Ryan Johnson, a small skating defenceman. I hope he caseystaums on them.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
* * * * *</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
For tomorrow, I want oodles of picks, trade down when asked, at the drop of a hat.<br />
<br />
Do not trade up, especially for Lavoie. Only if he falls in our lap. All the players remaining are all on the same level, the same tier. We don't need to pick one shlub over another so much that we overpay. Take the shlubs as they come.<br />
<br />
The only player I'd be overjoyed with our seconds would be Brett Leason, 6'4" right-shot right winger, he's a 19-year-old who had a monster breakout season after being passed over in the draft twice. Had a great tourney at the World Juniors. There's a chance he could step right into the lineup, or after very little time in Laval.<br />
<br />
The other is Matthew Robertson, he plays for the WHL Oil Kings. 6'3" leftie blueliner, was talked about in the same breath as Broberg or Harley at mid-season, although it was acknowledged he was less skilled on offence, but really good at defending, and tough. <br />
<br />
Any two of those guys with our picks tomorrow would be great, but chances are these two will fly off the board early. Realistically, I'm hoping for Samuel Bolduc or Alex Beaucage in the third, one of Nathan Légaré or Alex Campbell in the second round. That'd make me happy, as a fanboy who wants local kids on my team and who's done zero scouting all year. I've never seen these kids play, but I have opinions.whistlerfanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09842349873700367143noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4783877269294667701.post-1878446297967916882019-05-26T08:46:00.001-07:002019-05-26T08:46:17.421-07:002019 Off-season musings<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">1) The Oilers are trying to rid themselves of Andrej Sekera. Not that he's bad, just very inconsistent due to injuries, and because of his $5.5M cap hit for two more seasons. He's actually, when healthy, a pretty good defenceman, like a leftie Jeff Petry.</span><br />
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
<a href="http://www.sportsforecaster.com/nhl/player/4791" style="color: #1155cc;">http://www.sportsforecaster.com/nhl/player/4791</a> </div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
<a href="https://www.capfriendly.com/players/andrej-sekera" style="color: #1155cc;">https://www.capfriendly.com/players/andrej-sekera</a><br /><div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Is this an opportunity to unload Karl Alzner on them? Smaller cap hit ($4.6M), but for three more seasons though. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
If we cobble together Milan Lucic in there, to really amp up their cap relief, maybe they throw in Jesse Puljujarvi? They add in a pick, of course, something to make it worth our while like a second-rounder, and a fifth, and we give them a contract, an RFA like Charles Hudon or Daniel Audette, and call it even?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Andrej Sekera has the Oilers a little sour, but if he had a healthy season, he'd be really useful. Not a #1 or even a first pairing defenceman, but a good complement to Shea Weber, someone who can play Top 4 in the league, while we wait for Alex Romanov and Phillip Broberg. If he's hurt, LTIR anyway, no worse than having Korl in Laval, really.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
2) Instead of getting into a bidding war for Matt Duchene, who I am leery of, and have to think that Marc Bergevin is in the 'No' camp on, with the Uber-fiasco, should we look at Derrick Brassard? Francophone, had a couple of tough seasons, the shine has worn off him with a couple poor seasons and the constant getting traded, so maybe he's now cost-effective?</div>
</div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
<a href="http://www.sportsforecaster.com/nhl/player/5025" style="color: #1155cc;">http://www.sportsforecaster.com/nhl/player/5025</a> </div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
Evolving Hockey has published a table of 'expected' free-agent contracts, they say it's based on past comparables, arbitration awards, etc., but a few contracts since then have shown them to be wildly off the mark, kind of like more a Craig Button draft ranking rather than a Bob McKenzie draft ranking. Anyway, they have Derrick down for $4M for three seasons.</div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
<a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15E1qqh3OfHvvhbv_pICfKT7VR1jJEVhWQOyKviWLN54/edit#gid=707766415" style="color: #1155cc;">https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15E1qqh3OfHvvhbv_pICfKT7VR1jJEVhWQOyKviWLN54/edit#gid=707766415</a></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
That's a lot more palatable than Matt Duchene, who they have at $7M for six seasons. We'd have Derrick as a stopgap, he can play Top 6 if Max Domi falters, to give time to Jesperi and Nick Suzuki to get there, to bump Phillip Danault down the roster. He gives the coaches another option, some flexibility, and time to insert the kids until they're truly ready. When they are, we'd have Derrick as a trade piece we can unload on another team starving for a centreman. He'd be a great trade deadline chip.</div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
And again, instead of the steep cost of acquisition of a Ryan O'Reilly, who apparently the Sabres wanted Poehling or Suzuki for plus a first, we'd get Derrick Brassard free and clear, without giving up anything for him except the contract. Nate Thompson starts the season in Laval and comes up when we get injuries.</div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
3) I want Phillip Broberg or Thomas Harley for our #15 pick. One of the two has to remain on the board by the time it's our turn to pick. Size and great skating ability, an offensive penchant, lots of talent there. The descriptions of Broberg remind me of Nathan Beaulieu a little bit, "lots of tools but no toolbox", a kid who has oodles of talent but who some question the hockey sense of, but I'm willing to take a chance, with Joël Bouchard and Luke Richardson there to impart some magic. At #15, we're not getting a flawless prospect, I'm willing to take a chance on him at that point.</div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
Another thing we're not getting at #15 is another frigging centreman Luke. We're taking a d-man, accept it.</div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
4) 'We' complained about coaching under Michel Therrien, about development under Sylvain Lefebvre, about Jean-Jacques Daigneault not being Larry Robinson, and I bristled at a lot of it, since it was wrapped up in a lot of 'french coaches' intolerance. I have to admit that, anecdotally, things have improved a lot, especially in the back end.</div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
Joël Bouchard apparently straightened out Victor Mete in the span of a dozen games, he came back playing better, and raving about how beneficial his time down in Laval was. Noah Juulsen also had a lot of complimentary quotes for the coaching he gets/got in Laval.</div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
Luke Richardson seems to be doing more with less, getting the most out of the talent on hand. The disaster that was the Joe Morrow-Jakub Jerabek clown-car defence two seasons ago settled down quite a bit under Luke Richardson. Jordie Benn had a good/great season for himself in a contract year, after a lost season. Mike Reilly had a decent half season before it fell apart. He got a steady game out of Christian Folin, and Brett Kulak got here after passing through waivers in Calgary, played ten games in Laval before getting Top 4 minutes here. Both of the latter have now re-signed with the Canadiens, at affordable sticker prices.</div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
I'll re-state that the single piece of evidence that makes me think J.J. wasn't cut out for this was the Jack Todd reference about how J.J. wasn't the most illuminating speaker, how when he acted as the player rep for the Canadiens he confused more than he informed the assembled media. Maybe he's adept at running a practice, but not suited for building up a kid's game, for communicating with them.</div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
Normand</div>
whistlerfanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09842349873700367143noreply@blogger.com0