(January 15, 2016)
Denis Potvin, after calling Daniel Sedin a "lowlife", and trying to defend this a day later, now has backed down, or appears to have done so, with a statement issued by the Panthers two days later.
These faux-apologies really get my goat. Written by a PR-flack from the team’s Communications staff, offered through your own team’s system.
For it to be meaningful, it should be offered in person or at least on the phone to the person who was offended. Then, in the particular world of the NHL, Mr. Potvin should reach out to the people of Vancouver/Canucks fans by speaking to Jason Botchford or Matt Sekeres, someone like that, and retracting the statements and apologizing for the remarks.
And making sure that it’s not phrased as “…if I offended anybody…”, which is a copout. Accept that you did offend, and don’t put the onus on the people who were offended for their interpretation of your remarks.
Mr. Potvin, as great a player as he was in the 70's and 80's, does not cover himself in glory with this episode.
Monday, 25 January 2016
Like Guy Carbonneau before his dismissal as Head Coach of the Canadiens, I'm out of ideas
(January 12, 2016)
I’m a pompom-waving positroll, that’s been established, but I’m kind of out of ideas. I know seasons have their ups and downs, and have posted recently that each of the last 4 seasons the team would hit a skid, the howls on here would get more strident, posters we never see would come out of the reeds and join the chorus to fire the coach, but Michel Therrien would stay calm, say that quote of his about adversity, and when things seemed most dire, we’d blow out the Bruins and get cruising again.
During the streak, I wrote a couple of posts which, without actually blaming the goalies, tried to explain that there was no real mystery to the downturn. My point was that sure we miss Carey Price, but if we even got adequate goaltending, instead of the .880 Mike Condon and Dustin Tokarski were pitching, the team would be playing .500 hockey.
Well now, Mike Condon and Ben Scrivens are giving us that adequate netminding, if not better. Mike Condon is performing as he did early on, during Carey’s First Absence. He gave the Canadiens a chance to win, putting up a .935 on Saturday. He’s stopping the pucks.
Things are cyclical, there’s an ebb and flow. Remember a couple of years back how the comparisons between Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin went? Sidney was the champ, who won at every level, was a leader of men and Good Canadian Kid, while Ovie was a moody enigmatic Russian, the selfish buffoon who frittered away his career and immense talent. Now we’re getting the opposite, how the Caps forward is a force of nature who scored 500 in the Dead Puck II Era, and we scratch our head at what’s wrong with Sid. And we’ll ask him why he’s not scoring, put the microphone in his face, as soon as that space is vacated by Brandon Dubinsky’s stick and Zdeno Chara’s Fist of the Common Boston Man.
But now, I don’t know. I’m partially grateful that Sportsnet screwed up, mixed in with my paroxysmal outrage, that they changed their schedule at the last minute and made me record the Leafs-Sharks game instead of the Canadiens on Saturday night. It seems it wasn’t pretty. I didn’t get to watch the game, and won’t go back and put myself through the ordeal either.
And I find myself thinking how Tomas Plekanec would be eminently more tradeable with an expiring contract, instead of with the two-year extension that just got tacked on, and how the rules have been changed for the draft lottery, how every team that misses the playoffs now has a chance at a Top 3 pick.
I’m a pompom-waving positroll, that’s been established, but I’m kind of out of ideas. I know seasons have their ups and downs, and have posted recently that each of the last 4 seasons the team would hit a skid, the howls on here would get more strident, posters we never see would come out of the reeds and join the chorus to fire the coach, but Michel Therrien would stay calm, say that quote of his about adversity, and when things seemed most dire, we’d blow out the Bruins and get cruising again.
During the streak, I wrote a couple of posts which, without actually blaming the goalies, tried to explain that there was no real mystery to the downturn. My point was that sure we miss Carey Price, but if we even got adequate goaltending, instead of the .880 Mike Condon and Dustin Tokarski were pitching, the team would be playing .500 hockey.
Well now, Mike Condon and Ben Scrivens are giving us that adequate netminding, if not better. Mike Condon is performing as he did early on, during Carey’s First Absence. He gave the Canadiens a chance to win, putting up a .935 on Saturday. He’s stopping the pucks.
Things are cyclical, there’s an ebb and flow. Remember a couple of years back how the comparisons between Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin went? Sidney was the champ, who won at every level, was a leader of men and Good Canadian Kid, while Ovie was a moody enigmatic Russian, the selfish buffoon who frittered away his career and immense talent. Now we’re getting the opposite, how the Caps forward is a force of nature who scored 500 in the Dead Puck II Era, and we scratch our head at what’s wrong with Sid. And we’ll ask him why he’s not scoring, put the microphone in his face, as soon as that space is vacated by Brandon Dubinsky’s stick and Zdeno Chara’s Fist of the Common Boston Man.
But now, I don’t know. I’m partially grateful that Sportsnet screwed up, mixed in with my paroxysmal outrage, that they changed their schedule at the last minute and made me record the Leafs-Sharks game instead of the Canadiens on Saturday night. It seems it wasn’t pretty. I didn’t get to watch the game, and won’t go back and put myself through the ordeal either.
And I find myself thinking how Tomas Plekanec would be eminently more tradeable with an expiring contract, instead of with the two-year extension that just got tacked on, and how the rules have been changed for the draft lottery, how every team that misses the playoffs now has a chance at a Top 3 pick.
Daniel Carr and the fake powerclean.
How much ya bench? That’s a fundamental question in some circles. Crucial stuff.
The answer often comes in terms of ‘plates’, as in, “If I keep this up, this program, I should be benching three plates by the spring.” Or, “That guy’s big, but he’s not even benching his bodyweight, not even benching two plates.”
A plate is a big ‘Olympic’ weight which weighs 20 kg, = 45 lbs. The bar itself also weighs the same 45 lbs, so ‘cleaning or squatting or benching “one plate” means a plate on each side, plus the bar itself, so 45 + 45 + 45 = 135 lbs. Two plates means an additional plate on each side, so add 90 pounds, 225 lbs. Three plates is 315, four is 405, and you go from there, if you’re ever that strong, five plates is 495 lbs, etc.
Sure, it seems unnecessarily awkward, when we could use kilos, 20 is a lot neater, and it confuses the hell out of the Aussies and Brits, who struggle enough as it is with dimensional lumber, our 2 X 4’s that are 8 ft long, and aren’t truly 2 inches by 4 inches to begin with. But I didn’t invent this system. President Carter gave it his best shot.
Nowadays though, you can’t just with a glance tell how much some dude is benching or squatting. Impressive amounts of weight, by appearance, don’t always add up to what they seem.
That’s because of the new training systems, approaches, exemplified by CrossFit. They developed plates made out of plastic/rubber that are the size of a full plate, but weigh 5 or 10 kg, for a specific purpose. They allow someone to do powercleans and deadlifts from the ground, from a consistent height off the floor, whatever total weight is being used. As opposed to previously, when if you used a bar and 10 or 5 kg a side, the size of those discs was smaller, so the bar was much lower, closer to the ground. This affects the athlete’s form, coaching is different, bad habits can develop.
So fair game, I thought when these newfangled hideous things started infesting my gym, this will allow members to deadlift in safety, and when they reach the point when they can deadlift 135 lbs, they can stop using those atrocities and start using grownup weights.
Except that’s not what’s happening. People stack two or three of the lighter weights a side. They even, for some strange reason, use them on the leg press machine, they get all mixed up in there amongst the true, real, pure weight plates. Other beginners look for them to do their program, but some doofus is monopolizing them all, squatting four false plates a side.
Now, I’m all about embracing and thriving on change, I love change, as long as it doesn’t interfere with my routine in any way. And I hate these new plates, and the way newbies aren’t lifting weights the right way, the way God intended.
And when I see Daniel Carr powercleaning two plates as the image from that video seems to show at first glance, I get all excited at how strong the kid is. Until a second later when I take a closer look, and feel cheated.
Things were different back in my day…
The answer often comes in terms of ‘plates’, as in, “If I keep this up, this program, I should be benching three plates by the spring.” Or, “That guy’s big, but he’s not even benching his bodyweight, not even benching two plates.”
A plate is a big ‘Olympic’ weight which weighs 20 kg, = 45 lbs. The bar itself also weighs the same 45 lbs, so ‘cleaning or squatting or benching “one plate” means a plate on each side, plus the bar itself, so 45 + 45 + 45 = 135 lbs. Two plates means an additional plate on each side, so add 90 pounds, 225 lbs. Three plates is 315, four is 405, and you go from there, if you’re ever that strong, five plates is 495 lbs, etc.
Sure, it seems unnecessarily awkward, when we could use kilos, 20 is a lot neater, and it confuses the hell out of the Aussies and Brits, who struggle enough as it is with dimensional lumber, our 2 X 4’s that are 8 ft long, and aren’t truly 2 inches by 4 inches to begin with. But I didn’t invent this system. President Carter gave it his best shot.
Nowadays though, you can’t just with a glance tell how much some dude is benching or squatting. Impressive amounts of weight, by appearance, don’t always add up to what they seem.
That’s because of the new training systems, approaches, exemplified by CrossFit. They developed plates made out of plastic/rubber that are the size of a full plate, but weigh 5 or 10 kg, for a specific purpose. They allow someone to do powercleans and deadlifts from the ground, from a consistent height off the floor, whatever total weight is being used. As opposed to previously, when if you used a bar and 10 or 5 kg a side, the size of those discs was smaller, so the bar was much lower, closer to the ground. This affects the athlete’s form, coaching is different, bad habits can develop.
So fair game, I thought when these newfangled hideous things started infesting my gym, this will allow members to deadlift in safety, and when they reach the point when they can deadlift 135 lbs, they can stop using those atrocities and start using grownup weights.
Except that’s not what’s happening. People stack two or three of the lighter weights a side. They even, for some strange reason, use them on the leg press machine, they get all mixed up in there amongst the true, real, pure weight plates. Other beginners look for them to do their program, but some doofus is monopolizing them all, squatting four false plates a side.
Now, I’m all about embracing and thriving on change, I love change, as long as it doesn’t interfere with my routine in any way. And I hate these new plates, and the way newbies aren’t lifting weights the right way, the way God intended.
And when I see Daniel Carr powercleaning two plates as the image from that video seems to show at first glance, I get all excited at how strong the kid is. Until a second later when I take a closer look, and feel cheated.
Things were different back in my day…
Friday, 15 January 2016
Zack Kassian looks great, trained intensively while in rehab.
When Zack Kassian was in rehab, we wondered what his conditioning might be like, how game-ready he’d be once cleared to rejoin the team. We batted around the fact that he had to come back from a broken foot and broken nose, that that would set him back. I wondered if he was in lockup like in the movies for the guys who need to clean up from heroin, or whether he was in outpatient counselling, or somewhere in between these two poles, etc.
Anyway, it appears he trained for six weeks near the end of his rehab with a former LHJMQ player, Luc Beausoleil who was with les Voisins de Laval. The latter describes it as an “intense” six weeks session, and he says he’s optimistic that things will work out for Zack.
So yeah, it’s not as I feared somewhat, that Zack had barely any opportunity to work out while he was recovering, maybe pumping away on a rusty exercise cycle for twenty minutes a day, and had a long road to get back into shape. Most of the work was done when he was cleared.
Which makes sense. Zack’s needs as a patient are different than for your average bond trader or truck driver. NHL players or other athletes have facilities with programs tailored specifically for them, to get them to deal with their addiction, but also maintain their ability to earn a living in their field. He wasn’t eating bonbons and crying on Sandra Bullock’s shoulder for 28 days, he got in a lot of skating and training.
Which is demonstrated by his callup by the Oilers yesterday.
Anyway, it appears he trained for six weeks near the end of his rehab with a former LHJMQ player, Luc Beausoleil who was with les Voisins de Laval. The latter describes it as an “intense” six weeks session, and he says he’s optimistic that things will work out for Zack.
So yeah, it’s not as I feared somewhat, that Zack had barely any opportunity to work out while he was recovering, maybe pumping away on a rusty exercise cycle for twenty minutes a day, and had a long road to get back into shape. Most of the work was done when he was cleared.
Which makes sense. Zack’s needs as a patient are different than for your average bond trader or truck driver. NHL players or other athletes have facilities with programs tailored specifically for them, to get them to deal with their addiction, but also maintain their ability to earn a living in their field. He wasn’t eating bonbons and crying on Sandra Bullock’s shoulder for 28 days, he got in a lot of skating and training.
Which is demonstrated by his callup by the Oilers yesterday.
Friday, 8 January 2016
Icecaps 1, Pirates 5
I was looking forward to the IceCaps game against the Portland Pirates tonight on RDS. I’ve been heartened by the improved play of Jacob de la Rose lately, he’s been very noticeable in the last few games, after being basically invisible early on, due to injuries in part. He now looks like he's eminently recallable, he’s all over the ice and taking charge. His size would be welcome on the Canadiens. I was fully on board that he be sent down to the AHL before training camp, what with the numbers game and waivers situation and all, along with the fact that he didn’t impress me last spring. Now, I see him up with le Grand Club after the trade deadline if he keeps this up.
Michaël Bournival is another player who’s a pleasant surprise. And surprise may be the wrong word, he has the talent such he should be a premier player in the AHL, and he’s playing like it now, flying up and down the ice, playing penalty kill and powerplay, doing very well. It’s just that all the injuries, the concussions make you start to doubt. If he keeps playing like this, he won’t sneak through waivers again next year if they try to send him down after training camp, we’ll have to make room for him, or make a decision.
Lucas Lessio I’ll watch for as well, he’s taken to his new team like a duck to water, with 5 points in 6 games. He stands out if only by contrast, mixed in with our mostly smallish forwards, with his big frame. Great to see him contribute, and make us start to think in terms of maybe more than just the AHL. We can dream, can’t we?
On defence, with Mark Barberio called up, there’s a lot of minutes and powerplay time available to be claimed, and since he’s a leftie, I’m looking squarely at Mac Bennett. He’s not been impressive so far in his AHL career, and we’ve waited so long for the kid to turn pro, I’m getting a little impatient. The time is now Mac, your contract is up at the end of the season. Don’t make the brain trust look past you when they're thinking of the future.
Michaël Bournival is another player who’s a pleasant surprise. And surprise may be the wrong word, he has the talent such he should be a premier player in the AHL, and he’s playing like it now, flying up and down the ice, playing penalty kill and powerplay, doing very well. It’s just that all the injuries, the concussions make you start to doubt. If he keeps playing like this, he won’t sneak through waivers again next year if they try to send him down after training camp, we’ll have to make room for him, or make a decision.
Lucas Lessio I’ll watch for as well, he’s taken to his new team like a duck to water, with 5 points in 6 games. He stands out if only by contrast, mixed in with our mostly smallish forwards, with his big frame. Great to see him contribute, and make us start to think in terms of maybe more than just the AHL. We can dream, can’t we?
On defence, with Mark Barberio called up, there’s a lot of minutes and powerplay time available to be claimed, and since he’s a leftie, I’m looking squarely at Mac Bennett. He’s not been impressive so far in his AHL career, and we’ve waited so long for the kid to turn pro, I’m getting a little impatient. The time is now Mac, your contract is up at the end of the season. Don’t make the brain trust look past you when they're thinking of the future.
*****
Not too much to report in the first period, at least anything positive when it comes to our young heroes. The IceCaps gave up a goal early in the first on a defensive breakdown that Stéphane Leroux and Norman Flynn attributed mainly to Jacob de la Rose, who seemed to wander aimlessly and get burned.
Then, on a five-on-three penalty kill, they allowed another goal to fall behind 2-0. Joel Hanley had been sent off for a five-minute major for boarding, when he checked a Pirate from behind, propelling him head-first into the boards, and then Morgan Ellis joined him in the box for a tripping call, on a scrambling effort to cover a rush on Zachary Fucale's net.
The IceCaps are reasonably proficient on the penalty kill, but being two players down for the full two minutes was too much for the boys. Zack Fucale got beaten on a one-timer from the faceoff circle.
Meanwhile, the IceCaps weren't exactly pressuring Mike McKenna, the Portland goalie. Just as the RDS team was remarking that he hadn't had much to do in the game so far, play was going the other way. Zachary Fucale made a save on a dangerous shot, but gave up a fat rebound in the slot that was cashed in for a 3-0 lead for the baddies.
Bud Holloway closed the gap a few minutes later on a powerplay, on which Mike McCarron did everything right, by giving the Pirates goalie an IMAX screen. The goal helped morale a little, at least mine in any case, but the shot totals told the story, with Portland leading 32-16 after two periods.
Mike wasn't finished trying to spark something though, he got involved into a brief scuffle in front of the Pirates net, which quickly devolved into a fight against Sena Acolatse, a tough kid who didn't hesitate to tango although he was a full head shorter than his partner. The linesmen stepped in to put a stop to it before he got mauled by Big Mac.
So the table was set for the a comeback, to continue the strong showing at home for the IceCaps, who have lost only once at home in regulation in front of their fans.
Except our boys didn't look that threatening. They had trouble controlling the puck and sustaining any kind of pressure. It got me thinking of Guy Carbonneau's maxim that coaching in the AHL is the toughest job there is in hockey, since when things are rolling and you have a good team with good players, the parent club will raid you for your best elements and upset your team chemistry and line combos and defence pairings.
And if you're barely holding it together, having a difficult year, you'll still get raided and lose your best players, which will make it even harder to stay afloat and actually compete.
I thought of this as I wondered why the 'Caps weren't more in sync, why they couldn't mount any kind of attack, and realized that they were missing three big pieces in Mark Barberio, Sven Andrighetto and Daniel Carr. Try as he might, work as hard as he does, Gabriel Dumont was having a hard time palliating for their loss on the Top 6.
What didn't help was Jacob de la Rose taking a hooking penalty in the offensive zone. The Pirates' Connor Brickley scored a beautiful goal shortly into the ensuing powerplay, with a between-the-legs move in front of Zach's net, and a bank of the puck off Zach, off Josiah Didier's left shin to see it roll into the cage.
Sylvain Lefebvre shortened his bench and stacked two lines with eight minutes to go, trying to get back in the game, and even pulled his goalie with three minutes to go, but all that got was an empty-netter scored against to make the final score 5-1.
So an unfortunate lackluster effort for the televisions audience from the IceCaps, and an overall poor showing by the three players I was expecting good things from.
And not to go too far off on a tangent, a game that starkly reinforces the fact that drafting and developing prospects is a hit-and-miss endeavour, when I compare our IceCaps to the fantastic farm team lineups I was conjuring a couple years back with Magnus Nygren, Daniel Prybil, Sebastian Collberg and Tim Bozon, who were going to bring us to the Promised Land.
Zack Kassian appears hale and hearty in Bakersfield.
A noticeably clear-eyed, less jowly Zack Kassian exits the media blackout today, and we find out a little more about what he's facing and how he's doing.
I’m not second-guessing Marc Bergevin and his brain trust on this one, they know this player and the situation first-hand, their team dynamics, so they made the best decision they could by sending Zack away.
But I’m not as comfortable with this one as I was with the Dustin Tokarski or the Alex Semin moves, for example. Short of a miracle turnaround, both of those guys had proven that they couldn’t help the team, practically. It was time to move on.
For Zack though, possibly, finally focused after a second stint in rehab, healthy, dedicated to his career, I’m not certain at all. He’s still a tantalizing player, a rare combination of size, talent and aggressiveness. If only because of how healthy he looked.
I’m not an expert on the subject, but Zack’s lack of pride in his appearance, with the crazy unkempt hair, and the missing teeth, the way he carried himself and the outfits he wore compared to his teammates, that spoke to me of a guy who wasn’t very confident in himself. It's like he was taking a pre-emptive strike against anyone who’d dis him for his appearance, he was stating that he didn’t care himself.
I hope to see him make a change in that area, that he projects the appearance of a pro hockey player, and that it might have a spillover in other areas, psychologically.
Zack would have been a puzzle piece that would fit in so darn well for a playoff run. A right winger with talent, playmaking ability who can play on the Top 6, with huge size, who can, when the Adam McQuaids and the Marc Méthots start crosschecking, can crosscheck back. He’d fill so many roster needs for us, so much more than Alex Semin or Jonathan Drouin. We just spent a few days pining for Wayne Simmonds. Zack is as close as you can come to that type of player, potentially.
I’m not second-guessing Marc Bergevin and his brain trust on this one, they know this player and the situation first-hand, their team dynamics, so they made the best decision they could by sending Zack away.
But I’m not as comfortable with this one as I was with the Dustin Tokarski or the Alex Semin moves, for example. Short of a miracle turnaround, both of those guys had proven that they couldn’t help the team, practically. It was time to move on.
For Zack though, possibly, finally focused after a second stint in rehab, healthy, dedicated to his career, I’m not certain at all. He’s still a tantalizing player, a rare combination of size, talent and aggressiveness. If only because of how healthy he looked.
I’m not an expert on the subject, but Zack’s lack of pride in his appearance, with the crazy unkempt hair, and the missing teeth, the way he carried himself and the outfits he wore compared to his teammates, that spoke to me of a guy who wasn’t very confident in himself. It's like he was taking a pre-emptive strike against anyone who’d dis him for his appearance, he was stating that he didn’t care himself.
I hope to see him make a change in that area, that he projects the appearance of a pro hockey player, and that it might have a spillover in other areas, psychologically.
Zack would have been a puzzle piece that would fit in so darn well for a playoff run. A right winger with talent, playmaking ability who can play on the Top 6, with huge size, who can, when the Adam McQuaids and the Marc Méthots start crosschecking, can crosscheck back. He’d fill so many roster needs for us, so much more than Alex Semin or Jonathan Drouin. We just spent a few days pining for Wayne Simmonds. Zack is as close as you can come to that type of player, potentially.
Thursday, 7 January 2016
Brandon Gormley is waived by the Avalanche, would look great in bleu-blanc-rouge.
I'm kind of surprised that the Avalanche waived Brandon Gormley. Not that I was keeping up with his exploits as a Coyote/Avalanche and thought he was doing great, just that I was confident he'd be a productive NHL defenceman in due time. Good size, great mobility, he was a joy to watch in the LHJMQ, especially when he won the Memorial Cup as a Cataractes with Morgan Ellis and Michaël Bournival. Only a matter of time now, I thought, and rubber-stamped posts on here that called for a trade with the Coyotes to acquire him.
I knew he wasn't killing it when he was swapped to Colorado for Duncan Siemens, that he must be developing slowly, since I was never impressed by Duncan Siemens. I only knew the latter as a name at the draft, he was one of those Western League guys whose name gets thrown around, but you never really pin down who he is, kind of like I can't quite tell you the difference between Derek Pouliot and Shea Theodore.
A lot of my reservations about Duncan Siemens stemmed from his poor numbers, his low production after his draft, and also from his tepid showing as a teammate of Darren Dietz and Dalton Thrower as a Saskatoon Blade. As the first-round pick, he should have been the leader of the blueliners, but Darren assumed that role. And Mr. Siemens appeared disengaged, kind of listless, during the "Road to the Memorial Cup" documentaries. It didn't help that he doesn't look like a star player, he's a bit goofy-looking, awkward in his presentation. It brought to mind the way that scouts are said to focus overly on bodies in "Moneyball", how they obsess over how a guy looks instead of how he hits and fields, how he actually performs. It was hard to fight that instinct in his case. At any rate, he failed on either count. He's currently languishing in the AHL, and has passed through waivers once this year after training camp.
So if Brandon Gormley is waived, by a team not replete with quality defenceman to begin with, the Avalanche not being the Predators, he must have stalled badly, have some significant holes or flaws in his game that can't be hammered out, but I can't quite shake my man-crush, and I wonder if a trade can be worked out if he passes through waivers. We can't claim him outright, because then we'd have to keep him on our overstocked NHL roster, but maybe we can work out a deal with the Avs. I hate to say it, but maybe there's an opportunity to deal Jarred Tinordi out of conference, with a team he might have a better fit with, and we in return get a Nathan Beaulieu clone who just needed a change of scenery to blossom.
Of course they'd have to throw in some sweeteners, like a fifth-rounder, and Nikita Zadorov...
I knew he wasn't killing it when he was swapped to Colorado for Duncan Siemens, that he must be developing slowly, since I was never impressed by Duncan Siemens. I only knew the latter as a name at the draft, he was one of those Western League guys whose name gets thrown around, but you never really pin down who he is, kind of like I can't quite tell you the difference between Derek Pouliot and Shea Theodore.
A lot of my reservations about Duncan Siemens stemmed from his poor numbers, his low production after his draft, and also from his tepid showing as a teammate of Darren Dietz and Dalton Thrower as a Saskatoon Blade. As the first-round pick, he should have been the leader of the blueliners, but Darren assumed that role. And Mr. Siemens appeared disengaged, kind of listless, during the "Road to the Memorial Cup" documentaries. It didn't help that he doesn't look like a star player, he's a bit goofy-looking, awkward in his presentation. It brought to mind the way that scouts are said to focus overly on bodies in "Moneyball", how they obsess over how a guy looks instead of how he hits and fields, how he actually performs. It was hard to fight that instinct in his case. At any rate, he failed on either count. He's currently languishing in the AHL, and has passed through waivers once this year after training camp.
So if Brandon Gormley is waived, by a team not replete with quality defenceman to begin with, the Avalanche not being the Predators, he must have stalled badly, have some significant holes or flaws in his game that can't be hammered out, but I can't quite shake my man-crush, and I wonder if a trade can be worked out if he passes through waivers. We can't claim him outright, because then we'd have to keep him on our overstocked NHL roster, but maybe we can work out a deal with the Avs. I hate to say it, but maybe there's an opportunity to deal Jarred Tinordi out of conference, with a team he might have a better fit with, and we in return get a Nathan Beaulieu clone who just needed a change of scenery to blossom.
Of course they'd have to throw in some sweeteners, like a fifth-rounder, and Nikita Zadorov...
Wednesday, 6 January 2016
Johnny Manziel sports a wig, and a desire to get out of Cleveland.
We had a brief discussion recently on Zack Kassian, whether he was an alcoholic or had substance abuse issues, or whether he was just a guy who liked to party, nothing more, like so many young men in their twenties. The response to the latter assertion, as it pertains to Zack, is that a symptom of substance abuse is when it interferes with your ability to fulfill your obligations at work, with your family, etc.
And now there’s the story of Johnny Manziel.
If there was a Venn diagram or spectrum and we had to decide where he resides on that continuum, between really, really, really liking Vegas and partying, or having a problem, it might lead to some healthy debate. The creativity, the deception, the Clouseau-ness, how does all that enter the equation? And is he just a guy who never wanted to go to Cleveland in the first place, was not really pleased to be drafted by the Browns of all teams, and is now using this method as his personal escape pod.
Another factor to consider is that Johnny Manziel is already wealthy, his family has made a fortune through a series of shady deals over the years, with some prison time included for some, so he doesn’t ‘need’ to play for the Browns, or to cling to his first-rounder contract. He could be cut by the Browns and sign elsewhere to a lower contract amount, and be much happier, possibly. No one disputes his love for the game of football, it’s all that pesky practice and film study and being in bed at a reasonable hour and showing up to the team facility sober he struggles with.
And now there’s the story of Johnny Manziel.
If there was a Venn diagram or spectrum and we had to decide where he resides on that continuum, between really, really, really liking Vegas and partying, or having a problem, it might lead to some healthy debate. The creativity, the deception, the Clouseau-ness, how does all that enter the equation? And is he just a guy who never wanted to go to Cleveland in the first place, was not really pleased to be drafted by the Browns of all teams, and is now using this method as his personal escape pod.
Another factor to consider is that Johnny Manziel is already wealthy, his family has made a fortune through a series of shady deals over the years, with some prison time included for some, so he doesn’t ‘need’ to play for the Browns, or to cling to his first-rounder contract. He could be cut by the Browns and sign elsewhere to a lower contract amount, and be much happier, possibly. No one disputes his love for the game of football, it’s all that pesky practice and film study and being in bed at a reasonable hour and showing up to the team facility sober he struggles with.
Tuesday, 5 January 2016
Game 40: Canadiens 5, Bruins 1
Has the sky unfallen yet? The Canadiens put an end to the brutal losing streak with a 5-1 win over the Bruins in the Winter Classic.
I’m rewatching the game, the Sportsnet Jim Hughson version, after catching the NBC’s Doc Emrick this morning. I’ll subject myself to that, love watching the Bruins be embarrassed, then double down and disgrace themselves with Zac Rinaldo on the ice for the final minute.
Why doesn’t the NHL massively fine the Bruins and Claude Julien when they do that? Strip them of draft picks, of cap room, do something. But that would be ignoring the well-known indulgence the Bruins get in all aspects of their lawlessness.
NBC’s feed didn’t show clearly what caused the Jimmy Hayes-Lars Eller ‘fight’, the angles weren’t right to show what led up to it, or the edits anyway, but the Sportsnet images were conclusive: it was all bruindiocy. Jimmy Hayes hit, crosschecked, then started to fight with Lars, with no little shove or crosscheck or slash from the Canadiens forward as justification or even pretext for him dropping the gloves. None.
This was such a clear instance of instigating, it should be a textbook case for training referees. Same with Zack Rinaldo at the end of the game with a gratuitous, fragrant punch to Torrey Mitchell.
I think there’s a rule that when you instigate a fight near the end of a game, you get further discipline from the league, you get a suspension the next game along with your coach. But the NHL has no spine, no moral compass. They’ve crafted a rule that gives the appearance being tough on violence and mayhem, but the penalty is so steep that the league and its officials dare not apply it.
It’s like spearing, there are grave consequences for that, so the refs pretend that spears didn’t happen. Talking heads laugh them off as love taps. Even though the rule states that even the attempt to spear a player, even if no contact is made, is a double minor.
What’s even more galling is the way the talking heads keep goebbelsing it, soft-pedaling violence as passion or ‘edge’, like when they describe Brad Marchand’s crimes as “losing his composure”.
“Listen Brad, the last time you lowbridged Sami Salo, we suspended you five games. You did it again and again, and we tried to look the other way, but now we have no choice but to suspend you for two. And if you test our resolve again, we’ll suspend you for one. Got it, you scamp?”
On another note, I'm not crazy about the Canadiens new-retro uniforms, the numbers wash out, you can’t really tell who’s who on these new Canadiens jerseys. The blue stripe doesn’t provide the necessary contrast with the red numbers.
Small sample size so far, but did the arrival of Ben Scrivens settle down Mike Condon, let him feel like he’s not alone to shoulder the load anymore, him and another shaky rookie? Great game by him by the rookie. We don't expect miracles from him.
And how about that return to action by Brendan Gallagher? A goal, an assist, an old-timey electrical switch thrown to reanimate Frankenstein's monster, and the Canadiens looked transformed. It could be the Bruins-effect, we saw how improved Alexei Emelin was for one, but it's hard to look past Gally on this one.
During The Streak, I posted how at training camp, the putative right wingers on the team would be Gally, Alex Semin, Zack Kassian, Dale Weise and Devante Smith-Pelly, and four of those players were unavailable, having been released or being on the injured list.
He took a gamble with Alex Semin and Zack Kassian, and I was comfortable with that bet, banking on fourty goals from those two, easy, and crossing my fingers for ten more. When both flunked out, and two stalwarts fell on the battlefied, our GM was exposed a little.
He doubled down, promoting players from the AHL, which is what we squawk for usually, to allow the kids to play, even if they make mistake and cost us a few losses. “That’s the only way they’ll learn”, we all agree. Marc Bergevin went to talk to his group in the dressing room and exhorted them to work their way out of this hole, that they shouldn’t look elsewhere for help.
Mix in with the goalies who couldn’t maintain a .900 save percentage, game after game, and you had the big reasons behind this ugly losing streak.
And now we get to see if Marc Bergevin’s gambit will pay off. He reportedly worked the phones and tried to get a trade going, but found nothing to his liking. If the team pulls out of this swoon, he didn’t pull off a bad trade under duress.
Every season under his régime, the Canadiens have had a bad spell during which Michel Therrien would intone that it’s good to go through adversity, that it would make the team better. This is/was the worst such spell in four seasons. We’ll see if the patient is stronger after the illness, or permanently weakened.
I’m rewatching the game, the Sportsnet Jim Hughson version, after catching the NBC’s Doc Emrick this morning. I’ll subject myself to that, love watching the Bruins be embarrassed, then double down and disgrace themselves with Zac Rinaldo on the ice for the final minute.
Why doesn’t the NHL massively fine the Bruins and Claude Julien when they do that? Strip them of draft picks, of cap room, do something. But that would be ignoring the well-known indulgence the Bruins get in all aspects of their lawlessness.
NBC’s feed didn’t show clearly what caused the Jimmy Hayes-Lars Eller ‘fight’, the angles weren’t right to show what led up to it, or the edits anyway, but the Sportsnet images were conclusive: it was all bruindiocy. Jimmy Hayes hit, crosschecked, then started to fight with Lars, with no little shove or crosscheck or slash from the Canadiens forward as justification or even pretext for him dropping the gloves. None.
This was such a clear instance of instigating, it should be a textbook case for training referees. Same with Zack Rinaldo at the end of the game with a gratuitous, fragrant punch to Torrey Mitchell.
I think there’s a rule that when you instigate a fight near the end of a game, you get further discipline from the league, you get a suspension the next game along with your coach. But the NHL has no spine, no moral compass. They’ve crafted a rule that gives the appearance being tough on violence and mayhem, but the penalty is so steep that the league and its officials dare not apply it.
It’s like spearing, there are grave consequences for that, so the refs pretend that spears didn’t happen. Talking heads laugh them off as love taps. Even though the rule states that even the attempt to spear a player, even if no contact is made, is a double minor.
What’s even more galling is the way the talking heads keep goebbelsing it, soft-pedaling violence as passion or ‘edge’, like when they describe Brad Marchand’s crimes as “losing his composure”.
“Listen Brad, the last time you lowbridged Sami Salo, we suspended you five games. You did it again and again, and we tried to look the other way, but now we have no choice but to suspend you for two. And if you test our resolve again, we’ll suspend you for one. Got it, you scamp?”
On another note, I'm not crazy about the Canadiens new-retro uniforms, the numbers wash out, you can’t really tell who’s who on these new Canadiens jerseys. The blue stripe doesn’t provide the necessary contrast with the red numbers.
Small sample size so far, but did the arrival of Ben Scrivens settle down Mike Condon, let him feel like he’s not alone to shoulder the load anymore, him and another shaky rookie? Great game by him by the rookie. We don't expect miracles from him.
And how about that return to action by Brendan Gallagher? A goal, an assist, an old-timey electrical switch thrown to reanimate Frankenstein's monster, and the Canadiens looked transformed. It could be the Bruins-effect, we saw how improved Alexei Emelin was for one, but it's hard to look past Gally on this one.
During The Streak, I posted how at training camp, the putative right wingers on the team would be Gally, Alex Semin, Zack Kassian, Dale Weise and Devante Smith-Pelly, and four of those players were unavailable, having been released or being on the injured list.
He took a gamble with Alex Semin and Zack Kassian, and I was comfortable with that bet, banking on fourty goals from those two, easy, and crossing my fingers for ten more. When both flunked out, and two stalwarts fell on the battlefied, our GM was exposed a little.
He doubled down, promoting players from the AHL, which is what we squawk for usually, to allow the kids to play, even if they make mistake and cost us a few losses. “That’s the only way they’ll learn”, we all agree. Marc Bergevin went to talk to his group in the dressing room and exhorted them to work their way out of this hole, that they shouldn’t look elsewhere for help.
Mix in with the goalies who couldn’t maintain a .900 save percentage, game after game, and you had the big reasons behind this ugly losing streak.
And now we get to see if Marc Bergevin’s gambit will pay off. He reportedly worked the phones and tried to get a trade going, but found nothing to his liking. If the team pulls out of this swoon, he didn’t pull off a bad trade under duress.
Every season under his régime, the Canadiens have had a bad spell during which Michel Therrien would intone that it’s good to go through adversity, that it would make the team better. This is/was the worst such spell in four seasons. We’ll see if the patient is stronger after the illness, or permanently weakened.
Friday, 1 January 2016
Brad Marchand lowbridges again, the NHL whistles and looks the other way.
“It should be at least five games, it should already have been announced. Except that Brad Marchand is a Boston Bruin. And it certainly seems that there are different rules for the Bruins or the L.A. Kings. They’ll at least try to find a loophole to delay the punishment so as to scheme a way for him to not miss the Winter Classic.”–Tony Gallagher on TSN 1040 Vancouver.
So Brad Marchand, among all his low-level dirtiness and cheatery so far this season, committed a glaring low-bridge last night that will be reviewed by the NHLOL Department of Player Safety.
He’d been getting the Don Cherry treatment lately, how despite all the little foibles, golly, he’s still a really important player, and sure sometimes he goes over the line, he’s no choirboy, but you don’t win with choirboys, so really is it that bad a spear when you think about it, did he really mean to slewfoot that guy, if he had he could really have hurt him, he kind of let up on him when you think about it, …
The thing is, Brad Marchand, after his suspension a couple of years ago for the lowbridge against Sami Salo, committed another lowbridge hit, and yet another, which should have brought an even harsher penalty. The NHL gulped down hard, steeled itself, … and decided to look the other way. As if it never really meant it, that the five-game suspension was already too much for its own liking. Like the parents of the terrible toddler who shrug, since they’ve already sent him to his room for his quiet time, and it didn’t work, so what are they to do?
The NHL frets about the lack of scoring, but it really is the author of its own misery. It creates an environment which forces Linus Omark to the KHL, and players like Sven Andrighetto and Jean-Gabriel Pageau are eyed with suspicion, but players like Zack Kassian and Raffi Torres are given chance after chance to keep their job, because toughness and playoffs and Don Cherry.
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