Game 71: Canadiens 3, Sabres 2 (OT)

A funny thing happened on the way to watch the game.  I had the full game broadcast on my PVR, since Sportsnet had deemed this a national game, not subject to rapacious and arbitrary blackouts (thank you, Gary Bettman), but I also noticed that the RDS 'Canadiens Express' version was already under way, mostly complete, all warm and fresh from the oven, also ready for consumption.

So I chose to subject myself to the condensed, one-hour RDS offering rather than the full offering of bland, ultimately pointless hockey.  There's too much cognitive dissonance associated with goals where you think "Ah, man, someone should have covered Trochek there but at least it means we're one step closer to Auston Matthews".  Morosely rejoicing at the opponents' successes is driving me to drink.

First period:

20:00  The Pacioretty-Galchenyuk-Andrighetto line, while exciting and shiny new, isn't an optimal combo in my opinion.  It's fine for now as we play out the string and experiment, but in the long-term, Max is wasted on that line.

Both he and Chucky are snipers, guys who shoot first, and with Sven completing that line, Max finds himself often mucking in front of the net.  And despite his size and strength, he's miscast wrestling in the slot with Roman Polak, he's better when he lurks around like a shark, looking for a pass or loose puck he can fire at the net.

As we continue the experiment, I'd like to see a Charles Hudon be recalled and tried on the left wing with Alex and Mike McCarron on the right to battle in front of the net, or a big body like Lukas Lessio on the left if we keep Sven Andrighetto on the right.

But resorting to Max as the netfront presence is not using him to play to his strengths, it's like asking a power hitter to bat leadoff, and to not take big swings, just try to make contact  and get on base.  It's like using your screwdriver as a chisel: it'll do in a pinch, but you'll probably mess up the job, and ruin your tool.  Take the time to get the proper tool for the job.

08:38  The Canadiens cleanly win a puck battle along the boards.  Lukas Lessio, aided by Mike McCarron, scoots off with the puck and dishes to Mark Barberio, who has a lot of time to operate at the blue line with the Sabres having collapsed around their net.  Andrei Markov ends up taking a good low wrist shot at the net, with Mike McCarron blocking the goalie's view.

And, this is the big one, after Mike McCarron takes an exploratory poke at the goalie to see if he can find the puck and pry it loose, the whistle blows, and the Sabres act all cool about it.  They stop playing, we stop playing, no Canadiens forward loses the top layer of his facial epidermis to a Sabres' glove.

No one gets crosschecked back to the Stone Age.  We knew this was the case, but it's being demonstrated again, the benefit of having players with big bodies and a temperament, what with the officiating being what it is in the NHL.

00:00  Gosh NHL refereeing sucks.

--They'll install cameras at the blue lines to agonize over trivial offsides, to the millimetre, but they can't figure out a better way to determine if a puck was struck above the crossbar?  Wimbledon uses cameras to deal with 140 mph serves, but the NHL has linesmen shrugging at refs who shrug back?  They've never heard of IR lasers?  Because Frankie Goes To Hollywood had those in the early Eighties.

--Alex Galchenyuk gets crosschecked by Rasmus Ristolainen into Robin Lehner, and then gets crosschecked a few more times by Rasmus Ristolainen for the crime of having been propelled into Robin Lehner.  Referees call offsetting minors, shrug again.

--Evander Kane loses his excrement and tries to go Tomas Plekanec, and both get offsetting penalties?  Because it's impossible to determine who was the culprit between the 5'11' 175 lbs guy and the 6'3" 215 lbs guy?  Who started it, who caused it?  More shrugging.

--Max Pacioretty is standing in the high slot without the puck, and gets crosschecked and then tripped with an obvious stick between the legs right in front of the ref, in full view?  Oh, the Sabre was just playing defence, he 'had his man'.  Play on.  Don Cherry would approve.

Meanwhile NHL GM's agonize over how to increase league-wide scoring in Del Boca Vista...

Second period:

19:13  Greg Pateryn with his first career NHL goal, very happy for him.

When he was at Michigan, he was described as an exclusively defensive defenceman, his last two seasons were played with Mac Bennett taking care of the offensive rushes while Greg minded the store.  To me, that didn't bode well for his NHL prospects, with all the studies that show that successful NHL defencemen, even those who becomes defensive defencemen à la Rod Langway or Craig Ludwig usually put up points at the lower levels.

But when Greg got to the AHL, the coaches there encouraged him to shoot more, worked with him and told him to keep his windup small, his release quick, and he started to create goals, pick up assists with it.  He started trusting it more, seeing powerplay time, and racked up 15 goals in 2013-14.

It took him a while to get his first NHL goal, 47 games over three seasons, but it was textbook, a low hard shot from the far edge of the faceoff circle, on a perfect feed for a one-timer from Alex Galchenyuk.  Good for Greg that his first goal is indeed one to remember.

And we've been hard on the AHL coaching staff, Sylvain Lefebvre first and foremost, but maybe we could chalk up Greg as a win for him, a guy who developed his game and blossomed with the Bulldogs, and who has a shot at being a regular NHL defenceman now, no small feat for a fifth-round pick by the Leafs.

10:00  Mike Brown on a line with Alex Galchenyuk and Max Pacioretty?  Our worst fears are realized.  Michel Therrien is becoming the goon coach we all predicted he would be, circa Summer 2012.

2:29  "Nathan Beaulieu est venu à la défense de Lars Eller..."

Cautiously avoiding the third rail, but kind of tip-toeing around it, can I ask why Nathan needs to defend Lars?  Our great big Viking needs to assert himself a little more, no?

1:10  Can I laud Andrei Markov for how smart he is, the way he handles the puck, offers it to a penalty killer, draws him in, then passes to his open man?  He's a joy to watch, makes it look easy, almost routine.  "Why can't Nathan do that?", you wonder.  After his powerplay goal at the end of the period, I'm more inclined to begin the process of forgiving him for quitting on his team in January-February, when he stopped trying.

00:05  What does Robin Lehner need to do to earn a penalty?  I guess assault and battery isn't the threshold.  Is it aggravated assault?

00:00  Greg Millen must be doing very well for himself, being employed by Sportsnet as a hockey analyst, and evidently drawing a handsome wage from the Buffalo Sabres as their on-air apologist.  Sure Greg, Lars Eller started all that ruckus by facewashing Robin Lehner, that's what happened.

Third period:

18:53  Mike Brown again on the top line.  I guess the coaching staff can feel my vibe about Max being assigned netfront duty, crosschecking against other defencemen, and assent to the wisdom of my observations.  As they should.

10:57  Dan Bylsma can't control the tempestuous Evander Kane, who's about to lose the game for Buffalo all by himself.  I have to say, for a best-qualified English coach, I'm not impressed.

08:04  Still pussyfooting around third rails (they're everywhere), Ben Scrivens should have stopped that.  But I know, I know, it's the Canadiens' lack of scoring that let in that Markus Foligno softie.

01:57  The refs have seen enough.  Alex Galchenyuk gets popped in the chops by Josh Gorges in the first.  Mike Brown gets a bloody nose from a crosscheck in front of the Sabres net in the second.  When Andrei Markov elbows Markus Foligno late in the game though, that won't stand, that's the straw that breaks the North American woodland bison's back.

Overtime:

02:45  What's Tomas Plekanec doing on the ice in overtime?  He hasn't scored in fourty games, hasn't tried in fifty.

02:02  Uh, about Andrei's smarts and all that...

01:45  Big Game
Torrey MitchellPaul Byron with another game-winner.  The guy's money in the bank.

And we avoid the worst-possible outcome, the loss while being splattered with a loser point.

Jaromir Jagr wanted to play in Montréal? Really wanted?

This whole meme of Jaromir Jagr wanting to play in Montréal, but being thwarted by short-sighted GM Marc Bergevin, that's going to be the particular windmill I tilt at for the next while.

Jaromir Jagr might have expressed a lot of things, but he demonstrated a desire to play for the highest bidder.

2012: Jaromir Jagr expresses a desire to return to the NHL, to his roots in Pittsburgh, where he still maintains a house, he's eager to point out.  He avows so much admiration for Pens' owner Mario Lemieux, he states he's willing to sign a minimum deal there.

They reportedly strike a deal and set up a press conference, but the day of, he's nowhere to be found, his agent can't reach him on the phone, rumours pop up about Philadelphia, and it turns out that he signed a deal with the Penguins' archrival Flyers.  For a few dollars more.

The next day, Jaromir doesn't face the Pittsburgh press, but rather does a phone conference, and explains that he feels uncomfortable speaking English, that's why he's on the phone rather than in person.  He'd forgotten to speak the language in the three years he's spent in Omsk.

That spring, he helps the Flyers eliminate the Penguins in that series when Sidney Crosby was pre-concussated by Claude Giroux for Brandon Dubinsky's future use.

2013:  During his stay in Philly, Jaromir waxed elegiac, in Vincent Lecavalier fashion, about how great the city was, the organization, his teammates, how he fit in so well.

That summer, he signed as a free agent in Dallas.  For a few dollars more.  But he expressed how invigorating it was to play with so many young players, have a chance to mentor youngsters, build something.

He's shipped out at the deadline, as a mercenary, to Boston.

2014:  Although he'd expressed a willingness to return to Dallas, and then to re-sign in Boston and have a chance at a Stanley Cup, Jaromir signs with the bottom-feeding Devils, for $4M.


When Jaromir Jagr speaks about his desire to play/sign a contract somewhere, he's acting as his own tout, his own auctioneer, driving up the price.  Montréal was another salary-cap strapped pawn he was trying to entice into the game, to create a market.  Thankfully, Pierre Gauthier and later Marc Bergevin never played that game.

Jaromir as the supremely-talented grand old dame of the game is a really cool story, I don't begrudge him his extended turn in the spotlight, but as far as him expressing interest in signing a contract here, I trust him as far as I can throw him when he's all slicked down with sweat from those 1 AM workouts and laden down with those weighted vests and his pockets full of Vegas poker chips.

Did the Canadiens err selecting Lukas Vejdemo over Nicolas Roy?

Before last season, two Roys, Jérémy Roy of the Phénix de Sherbrooke and Nicolas Roy of les Saguenéens de Chicoutimi, were touted as potential first round picks for the 2015 NHL draft.  Of the two, Nicolas Roy was thought to be the better prospect, being a 6'4" centre with offensive skill, while Jérémy was a smallish puck-moving defenceman with a great hockey sense.

As the season unfolded, the offence never kicked in for Nicolas Roy, he progressed as a player, but one who was now projected as maybe more of a shutdown centre, a mission he nailed during the summer Ivan Hlinka tournament.  He finished the season with only 16 goals, and 50 points total, and no chance to be picked in the first round.

He was chosen early in the fourth, 96th overall, by the Carolina Hurricanes, while Jérémy Roy barely missed the first round, being the first pick of the second round, with the Sharks trading up to claim him as the first player chosen on the second day of the draft.

This season though, Nicolas Roy has taken a great leap forward.  He's still excellent by all reports in terms of his defensive play, but he's also scored 46 goals so far, with three games to play.

«Il est extrêmement consciencieux de sa défensive, a noté Jean. Je savais qu'il était capable de faire 90 ou 100 points, mais je pensais qu'il allait devoir tricher pour y arriver. Il a prouvé qu'il pouvait le faire sans tricher. Si tu m'avais dit qu'il allait faire 90 points, j'aurais préféré qu'il en fasse 20 de moins, mais en étant dominant défensivement. Il a toutefois réussi à atteindre ce plateau tout en jouant de façon impeccable dans sa zone.»

"He's extremely conscientious about his defence.  I knew he could put up 90 or 100 points, but I thought he'd have to 'cheat' to get there.  He proved he can do it without slacking off on defence.  If you'd have told me he'd get 90 points, I would have preferred he score 20 fewer, while dominating on defence.  But he reached that level while still playing flawlessly in his own zone" -- Chicoutimi Head coach Yanick Jean.

I didn't squawk too much when the Canadiens didn't snap up Nicolas Roy, preferring Lukas Vejdemo late in the third, describing him as a sneaky dark horse pick that their European scouts loved, and as a big centre who compares to Alexander Wennberg.  I figured the Canadiens know what they're doing, they can evaluate and compare the kids and make the best decision.

But now, so early in the race, I'm getting cold feet.  Lukas Vejdemo is a year older than Nicolas Roy, couldn't crack the Team Sweden roster for the WJC tournament, and this season has put up a meager 5 goals and 17 points in the SHL, which is admittedly a men's league, difficult for a 19-year-old to play in.

Evaluating young prospects is difficult, and there is a long way to go before either of these players reach the NHL, but it's not great for us that Lukas Vejdemo, who we were led to believe was on the cusp of a great jump in his development, instead seemed to stall, while the bigger local player we passed up, who was there for the taking, is the guy for who everything fell into place.

Game 69: Canadiens 1, Wild 4

The Canadiens, staffed mostly with interns and summer students, lost 4-1 in a tedious game against the Minnesota Wild.  With their horrible jerseys.  I so miss the Minnesota North Stars sweaters.

–The Wild were in the Canucks’ division for years, and they played soporific Jacques Lemaire hockey, so that there were lots of tickets always floating around for their four or five appearances every year at the New Pacific Coliseum, people just offering them up, practically begging others to take them off their hands. I guess they’re still weaving their magic, HIO decided to Netflix-and-chill instead tonight.

–I’m so glad we’re not paying the $7.3M yearly salary to Ryan Suter and Zach Parisé, until 2025. Good players, but so not worth the money. They’re not the ballyhooed ‘impact’ players teams look for, the Wild are still that mid-pack team they’ve always been, eking into the series and flushing out in the first round.

–Great suit on Michel Therrien, shiny and zooty. Should have been double-breasted though, with wider shoulders.

–The RDS boys were a little guarded in their evaluation of Mike McCarron. They question whether his skating is up to NHL standards quite yet, whether he’s being given a little too much responsibility right now, and whether he wouldn’t be better off in the AHL. The consensus is that next season he should at least begin in St. John’s. Stéphane Leroux mentioned again how Marc Bergevin prefers to not call up AHL rookies to the NHL, but rather give them a full season to acclimate to the pro game, as he did with Sven Andrighetto two seasons ago, and Charles Hudon last year. Of course, the situation is different, with injuries changing the plans on a daily basis it seems.

–Mark Barberio post-game, explaining that Andrei Markov was probably his favourite player growing watching the Canadiens, and how it was a little surreal this morning seeing his name penciled in next to his in the lineup.

–Darren Dietz looked like a big teenager, appropriately so, his last year in Saskatoon, with blotchy complexion and gangly physique. He’s grown up a lot in the last couple of years, looks like a man now.


So, what a difference a loss makes, a balm for a tortured fan’s soul, after a few calamitous wins.

Our lottery odds, according to NHL Lottery Simulator, have zoomed back up to 5%, a substantial increase from our recent sojourn to the depths of 3.5%.

We spin the Great Wheel of Destiny, with a melancholy nod to Adam Carolla and Jimmy Kimmel and their epic work on “The Man Show”.

Two spins in, we get Sabres, Canadiens and Jets. I could live with that, our choice of either Finn wingers to fold into our Top 6. Except that as a fan, I’d be tortured by which player to claim, I’d hem and haw. It’s as if I’d be relieved to pick at #3 and let someone else decide for us. I mean, I can’t even decide between Pierre-Luc Dubois or Julien Gauthier.

I can’t stand it. Let’s spin again.

At 14 spins, we get the second pick again, sandwiched between the Flames and the Leafs. Feeling up for more spins?

At 18, we get:

Winners

First

Montreal Canadiens

Second

Calgary Flames

Third

Ottawa Senators

Draft Order

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 

9 

10 

11 

12 

13 

14 

The Leafs have really done all they can, they come up incessantly in these attempts. Out of 18 attempts, they ended up with 14 Top 3 picks. The next best team was the Oilers with seven. Compared to our measly 3. Dagnabbit.

Monsieur Condon, please accomplish more fooferawed giveaways like that gift for Nino Niederreiter. One or two a game for the next dozen games should do. Make it look accidental, like Chris Kreider broad-jumping into Carey Price.

And, how low can you limbo in terms of playoff odds and still not be mathematically eliminated?

Montreal Canadiens Playoff Chances

Lost to Minnesota 1-4, playoff odds down 1.5 to 0.5%

Canucks to add Pedan and Tryamkin to embiggen themselves.

The Canucks have a reputation a little like the Canadiens', deserved or not, of a team that’s skilled but undersized, that can be bullied and intimidated, that will resort to stickwork and diving in response. Its fans are also Bruin-scarred, for not as long as we are, but in a very notable instance of NHL goonery and thievery that transpired over 7 traumatic games.

So like us, they’ve been trying to beef up, with stockier players like Bo Horvat and Jake Virtanen at the draft, getting Derek Dorsett and Brandon Prust in trade, and Zack Kassian before that. And they’re still waiting.

But the cavalry may be coming up over that hill yonder. They have Andrey Pedan, who is famous for that one-punch KO of Jarred Tinordi last season in the AHL, who is getting called up. He’s a big leftie defenceman at 6’5″ who skates well, has some skill although it hasn’t translated into many points yet, and has an aggressive style which the fans will welcome, after years of seeing their slick defencemen getting facewashed by Kyle Clifford.

Also comes news of Nikita Tryamkin, a 6’7″, 230 lbs giant they drafted high in the third round in 2014, a few slots before we picked Brett Lernout. He’s playing in the KHL, and there was faint hope the team could bring him over now, his season being finished since his team is out of the playoffs, and his contract expiring this summer. The talking heads were cautious, explaining that it’s not common for KHL teams to do NHL teams any favours, but it appears he has been released by them, and all that would remain would be paperwork and visas and a contract and bureaucracy with the NHL as to whether he can join the team this year.

He’s also a leftie, so there’s not much hope of that ever happening on a consistent basis, but can you imagine these two playing the third pairing for the Canucks? Imagine that Corey Perry might not be so frisky with the crosschecks after the whistle blows in front of their net?

And I’m not bitter at all that we dealt Jarred Tinordi in a joke of a trade, in what should have been his development year, while the Canucks have their Twin Towers just about ready to go. For the next time Milan Lucic comes to town and looks to torment Yannick Weber again.

You say tank, I say engineered dive.

With spring approaching, a young man's fancy turns to thoughts of the draft.  When his team is winding down an abject season.

According to NHL Lottery Simulator, the Canadiens are still only the ninth-best worst team in the league, with lottery odds of 5%, one in twenty chance of hitting the bullseye on the dartboard.  Heck, I could do better than that, unless the waitress has my number and can sell me rather than just wait for my orders.

Giving the simulator a workout, I get an All Canadian result on the first pull of the Wheel, Flames-Leafs-Oilers 1, 2, 3, and us getting 9th overall.  Let's spin again.

And we get:

Winners

First

Montreal Canadiens

Second

Edmonton Oilers

Third

Arizona Coyotes

Draft Order
1 Montreal Canadiens
2 Edmonton Oilers
3 Arizona Coyotes
4 Toronto Maple Leafs
5 Calgary Flames
6 Winnipeg Jets
7 Columbus Blue Jackets
8 Buffalo Sabres
9 Vancouver Canucks
10 Ottawa Senators
11 New Jersey Devils
12 Carolina Hurricanes
13 Colorado Avalanche
14 Philadelphia Flyers

You have run the simulator 2 times.

I'll stick with this, despite the sub-optimal results at 2 and 3, the perennial losers from Edmonton who squander young prospects with their ineptitude, and Gary Bettman's pet American franchise, which he has coddled and propped up for years.

It makes you wonder though, how much Phoenix would give up to swap their #3 pick for the first overall, with local-born Auston Matthews as the prize.  Would it start with Anthony Duclair and a second-rounder?  Plus Laurent Dauphin?

Jarred Tinordi?

And making our way to Sports Club Stats, we find that:

Montreal Canadiens Playoff Chances
Did not play, playoff odds down 0.2 to 1.1%

At what point does the ref finish his ten count and call this fight?  This is no standing eight count, we're flat on our backs, and everyone can see the little cartoon birds fluttering and circling over our heads.  We have x's where our eyes should be, and our tongue is hanging out.

Looking at the mock draft sites,

Draftsite has us picking Calgary Hitmen defenceman Jake Bean at #9.  Pierre-Luc Dubois goes to the Sens at #8 (Drat!), and Julien Gauthier to the Flyers at #11, according to them.

First of all, I don't know anything about the young man, but that's a terrible pick for our team.  I don't want anyone named Mr. Bean playing on our team.  I'm nothing if not superficial, I kneejerk quite a bit to those kind of things.  I hated Nick Schmaltz too as a prospect, sight unseen.  And Boone Jenner.  So there.

But also, and more importantly, it would take huge cojones for Marc Bergevin and Trevor Timmins to pass up Julien Gauthier like that, what with his pedigree and local roots.  They'd have to really hate the player, to pass up a huge scoring winger like that.  As if it wasn't an organizational need.

MyNHLdraft has us at ninth in their current mock draft too, but deed us Michael McLeod, a 6'2" centre who is the object of many Canadiens fans' affection.  That I could get on board with.

They also have the Sens picking Monsieur Dubois at #8, and the Flyers again snagging Julien Gauthier at #13.

I'm kind of over that whole deal of the Flyers fishing in our pond and coming up with Claude Giroux, Sean Couturier and Samuel Morin.  Enough.

Will Michel Therrien return as the head coach of the Canadiens next season?

I posted this morning:

I often try to draw parallels between the Canucks and the Canadiens, various situations they’re facing. The head coach position is one area where there are a lot of questions, and a lot of the fans are clamouring for a change.

Willie Desjardins isn’t loathed personally as Michel Therrien seems to be by many in Montréal, but a lot of the accusations are the same, that he doesn’t play youngsters, doesn’t develop them well, that he only plays them because Brandon Prust and Chris Higgins are no longer there to be on the roster, every day.

One big difference though is that when Trevor Linden gave his Head Coach a vote of confidence, the wording was quite different. Instead of like Marc Bergevin answering in the affirmative a direct question on if his coach would finish out the season no matter what, from which a lot of Canadiens fans deduced that he would be fired after, assuredly, Trevor stated calmly that Willie would be the coach next season.

Right or wrong, his coach is a lot more secure in that regard, in that fans know what to expect, and don’t feel like they have to whip themselves into a frenzy of hatred and personal attacks to try to tilt the balance in what small way they can come May.

And I thought about this some more, how the RDS guys are confident that Michel Therrien will be back next season, how Michel Therrien seems very assured, relaxed and in control during his press conferences, and it's starting to sink in for me that he will indeed return next season.

During the depths of the swoon, when neither goalie could be relied on, and the team played listlessly, defeatedly in front of them, I thought there was 90% chance that Michel Therrien would be relieved of his duties, if not immediately then most probably in the off-season.  It was quite clear that the players had spoken, they weren't playing hard or with any inspiration.  They were looking for a change, and it seemed inevitable.

And I was secretly relieved, I've never been a big fan of Monsieur Therrien, I generally prefer young coaches who are 'players coaches', who motivate them, who trust them, who unite a team rather than play mind games with them à la Scotty Bowman.  I yearned for Guy Boucher, who was unavailable when we were last hiring, the Lightning having stolen him from us, from the Bulldogs while we relied on white-bread Jacques Martin.  He is now freely available, with his impressive résumé, fresh off a stint coaching in Europe to stay sharp while he awaited an opportunity to jump back on the merry-go-round.

Except I'm no longer seeing the stars align, the dominoes falling.  My 90% confidence margin has shrunk to a 33% chance that Michel Therrien is let go.  It's possible that GM Marc Bergevin has already made a decision, which he will announce in due time, but hasn't bruited yet, hasn't sent out the signals that usually presage such coaching changes.  But it's now more likely that he wants to give Michel Therrien more rope, to chew through more of that contract extension he was offered two summers ago, and which expires in 2019.

And I wonder why.  Coaches have a shelf-life, and Michel Therrien is believed to have a relatively short one, his tough love approach, his 'my way or the gangway (to the pressbox)' style wears on players.  Would this summer not be a good time to make a fresh start, now that the team's culture of hard work, of team work, of selflessness, of 'Pas d'excuses' is established?  Have a more fan-friendly, player-friendly coach swoop in and build on this foundation, maybe unlock the latent, potential offence to be found in players like Alex Galchenyuk and rookies like Charles Hudon?

One of the big points which Marc Bergevin hammered home early in his tenure is how he wanted to put an end to the revolving door at head coach at the Nouveau Forum.  He stated and repeated often that organizational stability is a trait of winning organizations, that the media-fueled madness directed at the coach, the pressure he had to withstand, had to end.  He pretty much stated that there was a new sheriff in town, and things were going to be different.

And maybe we nodded facilely, too readily, not understanding to what degree he meant it.  Maybe Marc Bergevin is trying to reshape the market, tame the external forces that guided decisions like this in the past, when Red Fisher and Réjean Tremblay were power brokers to be feared, like Walter Cronkite weighing in on the Vietnam War.

More importantly, maybe Marc Bergevin is trying to serve, has already served a message to his players.  He is quoted as saying in his past evaluations that he liked his core, his leadership group.  During the swoon, he went into the dressing room and exhorted his troops, telling them that they had to rely on each other, that they were the ones who had to pull out of this slump.

And it seemed like they didn't believe him, because they played a slew of games when they gave less than 100% effort, and I'm going to point the finger at my favourite player Andrei Markov here.  He along with many of his underperforming teammates seemed to have thrown in the towel.  They played as if to force the issue.  To speak on the coaching situation louder, since the original message wasn't getting through.  By remaining steadfast, Marc Bergevin sent his own message.

Michel Therrien was famously glib and emotional in his previous stints in Montréal and Pittsburgh, and it made for good press copy, good YouTube to this day, but it was ultimately self-defeating, and after getting fired in Pittsburgh, he took some time to develop himself, improve his skillset as a coach.  He took some PR and public speaking training with a top firm in Montréal, and it seems to have taken hold.  He now has a wide array of inoffensive bromides and clichés he applies to any situation, instead of firing quotes in the heat of the moment.  One of which is his trusty line about how adversity isn't necessarily a bad thing, it's how you respond to adversity that's important.  How when you have one knee on the ground, the important thing is what you do next, do you put the other knee down, or do you get back up?

The leadership corps has been tested by adversity this season, and may have put the other knee down.  They might have looked to the GM to get them a new coach, a different goalie.  They looked for help 'outside their dressing room'.  And their pleas went unheeded.  The GM gave them some tough love, he meant it when he said they had to get themselves out of the mess, he wasn't going to do it for them.

Maybe in the long run, in terms of changing the culture, in terms of empowering the veterans and leaders and steeling them for what they'll have to face in the next few years, Marc Bergevin is ready to weather the current storm to ensure smoother sailing for the future of the organization.

Is Michel Therrien singularly bad as a NHL coach?

Fun game: who is this article (excerpts) about?

Hint: it’s an NHL coach.

The(y) don’t have enough talent… They have too many injuries, and everybody knows that too. But it’s still hard to fathom they (…) look flat-out terrible at times, especially at home.

At some point, you have to start discussing how much of this responsibility lies with the coach. No matter who he has at his disposal to dress.

Sound familiar? There’s more.

A lot of this gnawing feeling grows from (his) stubbornness, a trait you heard plenty about… A bad home record is often a product of not getting the right matchups on the ice when you should be able to.

The power play continues to struggle. (…) Deployment is an issue.

(…) we’ve watched immortals like XXX suit up for a franchise that once employed YYY and ZZZ…

One of his biggest failings this year has been how his constant line shuffling has impacted XXX. Other teams have gotten regular linemates for their stars….

Everyone can take one guess. No Googling allowed.

Another hint: your first guess may not be your best guess.

But if you must have the answer...

So I guess my point is, as a social media contributor posted out, that there are more than one 'bad' coaches in the NHL.

Also, that the oft-cited “most qualified, regardless of language” label is a chimera, much more difficult to discern than objective ones like ‘the Fastest Man on Earth’ or the National Spelling Bee champion. That it’s dependent on conditions, there are no sterile lab conditions where you can test that, one candidate vs. another, and come up with a 100% certain answer.

Finally, that we tend to echo-chamber ourselves into fixations as Canadiens fans, that looking over the fence at the neighbour’s yard often reveals their grass isn’t all that green after all.

And I say this as a member of the ‘Take Guy Boucher off the market right friggin’ now’ faction.

I’d also like if Benoit Groulx replaced Sylvain Lefebvre in St. John’s. Marc Bergevin says he’s always trying to improve the team, maybe that should apply to coaching staffs, and maybe we’re seeing the incumbent struggling to break through a ceiling. I think Mr. Groulx has lots of potential and experience, and has nothing left to learn in the LHJMQ. Let’s bring him in the fold, stock the pond.

Éric Veilleux is also one I’d keep an eye on, lots of leadership and charisma, coached Michaël Bournival and Morgan Ellis to a Memorial Cup in Shawinigan.

IceCaps 3, Devils 1

I watched the IceCaps game against the Albany Devils, which featured a tame first period, then three quick goals in the second period by the good guys, followed by three fights.

The 'Caps opened the scoring with a powerplay goal by Charles Hudon, on a beautiful feed from Gabriel Dumont, who'd corralled a rebound of a Nikita Scherbak shot.  RDS' Stéphane Leroux took care to mention that all five IceCaps touched the puck on this play, so props to Darren Dietz and Bud Holloway on this one, they should by all rights earn tertiary and quarternary assists on the play.

Shortly after, Alexandre Ranger made it 2-0, cashing in a pass from Mark MacMillan on a 2-on-1.  And seconds later, Brandon McNally redirected a Bud Holloway pass into the Devils net with a skate, a play which was reviewed and found to be legal.

After this, Ben Thomson, a 6'3" 215 pounder according to the roster, acted like he wanted to go with John Scott at a faceoff, but ultimately chose an easier target, transparently so.  Kind of like when René Bourque had to atone for his knockout elbow to Nicklas Backstrom, and had to fight someone on the Capitals in their next game, and he chose to go Matt Hendricks instead of John Erskine.  Smart move.

Josiah Didier was Mr. Thomson's foil, and the poor guy, as big and strong may he be, is not a good fighter.  He came to us from the NCAA Denver Pioneers, and as such played with a full cage, and fighting was not allowed/tolerated as it is in the CHL. He has no experience fighting on the ice, but I hoped that he might have a natural affinity, to act as an insulator on our roster, a guy who can cool the temper of 'agitators' and the like.  Lots of NHL enforcers get to the NHL after a college career where they couldn't drop the gloves, they find a talent for it in the AHL.  Kent Carlson, famously, came to Canadiens training camp as an unknown in the '80's and swept through the NHL, surprising many tough guys.  He said he got into a few street fights as a youth, but had never fought in organized hockey until he turned pro.

I don't think we should bet on this happening with Josiah.  His natural size and strength aren't much help for him, he's not agile or quick, he struggles to grab on to his opponent without taking shots.  This is the third fight I've seen him in, and this was his best effort, in that he managed to not get knocked out by the willing and able Ben Thomson, he grabbed him, ripped off his helmet and ducked haymakers before pulling him down.  I let out a sigh of relief.

About a minute further in the game, Mark MacMillan got checked hard into the boards, and a line brawl erupted with everyone involved.  Brett Lernout ended up tangling with Dan Kelly, and due to questionable work by the camera staff and the director, we didn't see what transpired, they focused instead on Mark MacMillan barely hanging on to the much bigger Ryan Kujawinski.

So the Devils had done what they could to try to turn the tide of this game.  We hoped that the rest of the game would continue without incident, but that was too much to hope for.  Dan Kelly, freshly emerged from the penalty box, ran Nikita Scherbak into the corner of the glass partitions near the Devils' bench.  Stéphane Leroux compared it to Zdeno Chara's vicious assault on Max Pacioretty, and the thought had occurred to me as well.

Darren Dietz rushed in to avenge his teammate, while the medic attended to a dazed Nikita Scherbak, who is having a star-crossed rookie season as a pro.  During the cleanup, Bud Holloway and the Devils' captain Rod Pelley talked it over with the refs, and there was some disenchantment from newly-installed assistant captain John Scott when he learned there wasn't a major penalty on the play, just offsetting minors for Dan Kelly and Darren Dietz, and fighting majors.

Sure enough, immediately after puck drop, John Scott grabbed Ben Thomson by the neck, literally.  He'd told Jérémy Grégoire to shift off to the left wing so he could line up against the Devils tough guy, and then mauled him.  I have to say it was a punishing fight.  In the past, when I saw John Scott play for the Wild, I was never impressed, found him to be slow, ineffective.  Nobody wanted to fight him, and when he did, it turned into a grab fest, nothing much transpired.

Here, he fed him seven or eight rights before the Devil could get organized, and they all seemed to land on the chin.  He then switched to lefty to keep his adversary off-balance, incapable of mounting a defence, and tagged him four or five times, although mostly in the visor.  He went back to the right and cranked him ten or twelve times through the earhole in his helmet, then finished off with a roundhouse left/push/takedown.  Kudos for the kid for not buckling at the knees, and not puddling himself.

My biggest worry was that John Scott might get suspended if he went overboard, since tomorrow's game against the Devils promises to rock and roll, we may need him then.  He did get the instigator penalty and get ejected, but I had to believe that Ben Thomson, after two fights, wouldn't be much trouble the rest of the game.  Or the next day.  Or the rest of the Devils for that matter.

The third period started off calmly, and thankfully Nikita Scherbak was back in action, after some time in the quiet room no doubt.  He took a poor penalty early on, crosschecking a Devil into the boards, probably trying to avenge himself for the earlier hit by Dan Kelly.  He ended up costing his team a goal while shorthanded, making the game 3-1 with 15 minutes to play.

Noticeably, both Nikita Scherbak and Tim Bozon, who were drafted as scoring wingers, played centre.  I knew that Nikita had been shunted to the middle recently, and that the results were moderately encouraging, that the position might be a good fit for his skill set, but I didn't know that Tim Bozon was being asked to do that as well.  After Charles Hudon last season, that's quite a few skilled guys who we switch positions.  I know that Marc Bergevin claims you're advantaged by having many forwards who can play centre, that must play a role.  The team's status might be like the Canadiens' too, with all the callups and injuries, they're having to scramble and experiment, test the youngsters.

RDS' Norman Flynn mentioned that Nikita is getting a lot of icetime, no doubt due to the Canadiens calling up Mike McCarron, and the resultant vacuum at centre.  With 6:30 left, Mr. Flynn also noted an instance when Stéphane Lefebvre sent out Gabriel Dumont to take a faceoff, who quickly returned to the bench and was replaced by Nikita.

The Devils tried to mount a comeback but couldn't get organized.  They even played 3 minutes with an extra skater after pulling their goalie, but couldn't sustain any real pressure.

So a good win for the IceCaps, although their playoff prospects are looking grim, being six points back and with Hartford in their way.  I like how they battled, they worked and skated hard, and pushed back when needed against intimidation attempts.

And that's refreshing.  I don't want to harp on this, or maybe I do, but the Canadiens have been targeted this season, and certain moments have left a bad taste, like Lars letting himself get punched in the head during the Winter Classic, and Jacob de la Rose doing the same, letting Max Domi punch him repeatedly in the head, with no response.  Not good Jake.  If you're not going to bring offence, you have to bring more than positional play.  You have to contribute something else.  Especially at 6'3".  Against frigging 5'8" Max Domi.

[Addendum]

Nikita Scherbak is finally starting to show something, but I wouldn’t count on him at the NHL level until at least another half-season in the AHL. He still needs a lot of work in my estimation.

Last night, seeing him dazed on all fours after being run into the corner glass stanchion, then seeing him back on the ice for the third, I wondered why they didn’t keep him out of the game for precautionary reasons. According to the Centre for Disease Control, any evidence of a concussion, such as a player being stunned, or dazed for a few seconds, is symptomatic of a concussion, no matter how mild.

You’d think that after Michaël Bournival, they’d err to the side of safety. It’s not like the situation was crucial, up 3-0 in the second period late into what is probably a lost season. Developing the asset(s) is job #1, not beating the Albany Devils at all costs.

P.K. Subban not included on 'First 16' preliminary World Cup roster.

The unfortunate thing about P.K. being left off now is that he only has 20 games or so, and no playoffs, to convince the decision-makers that he deserves a spot on the team.  With the ingrained knocks on him as a player and a person in the minds of conservative hockey people, that's not a lot of time to change those kinds of perceptions.

We've been through this kind of situation before when, with the Canadiens eliminated from the playoffs by the Senators, P.K. was available to join the 2013 World Championships Canadian team, but GM Steve Yzerman balked.

My focus was on the defence corps, a definite weakness at the start of the tourney, replete as it was with Luke Schenns and Brendan Dillons and Jay Harrisons.  Not to exaggerate, but my first take when the roster was announced was that it was definitely underwhelming, and that it wouldn't even be a very strong unit on an NHL team.  Later, Steve Yzerman added Dan Hamhuis, who's a capable, mobile defensively-oriented piece, but not necessarily what the team needed, then publicly stated he was going to stand pat with the team he had, unless injuries struck.

Now, the elephant in the room, certainly in Montréal and online media, was that P.K. Subban was an available offensive force from the blue line yet didn't receive a call. (...)

... this year seemed to point towards the addition of P.K. Subban.  After the Canadiens were eliminated, it was spoken of as a 'fait accompli'.  Why the hesitation?  Did Steve Yzerman worry about team chemistry, with P.K.'s strong personality a concern?  Did his lack of discipline from last season, and a noteworthy lapse in the late-season game against Pittsburgh on national television, tinge the esteem the management team had for him?  How can there not be room on the blueline for one of this year's Norris Trophy candidates?  Did Steve Yzerman relent when Lindy Ruff advocated for his inclusion, knowing full well from facing the Canadiens the last couple of years what an impact P.K. could make on this D-corps?(...)

At the start of this season, I thought P.K. had to play very hard, disciplined hockey and keep his nose clean both on and off the ice to merit inclusion on the Sochi Olympics team.  I thought he'd done a remarkable job of that, despite a couple of blips, and had gone from a darkhorse candidate to one who was routinely mentioned by prognosticators as a sure thing, on the strength of his offensive explosion and stellar play.  Now it seems the battle isn't quite won.  He'll have to be excellent in the first couple of months of next season to cement his participation on Team Canada.

P.K. made it on the Olympic team, barely, almost grudgingly, with the benefit of another couple of months to properly evaluate his performance, with cooler heads.  Now, he'll have to battle the likes of Brent Burns, Alex Pieterangelo and Kris Letang for one of the guaranteed right defenceman spots, and T.J. Brodie and Mike Giordano and others for the 7th D position.  And as we remember from the Sochi selection ordeal, hockey men tend to prefer having a leftie as the 7th D, all things considered, since lefties tend to play the right side more often than righties play the left.

To me, it's a no-brainer that P.K. should be on the team.  He brings something to it that the other contenders don't.  They might be more steady-eddie, but none of them have shown the big-game ability, the clutch scoring that he has.

But Team Canada managers have shown recently that they're a cautious bunch.  They know they have a winning hand, and play it cautiously.  They're like a chess player with material advantage, risking nothing, agreeing to exchange piece for piece, looking to strangle the opponent at the end with that same advantage.

With Mike Babcock at the helm, and a slew of defensible alternatives on hand, it doesn't look good right now for P.K. to make the team.