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The Chicoutimi Cucumber

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Everything posted by The Chicoutimi Cucumber

  1. GAINEY: "There was some crap that I left behind that Pierre had to clean up and there was some good things I left behind that he got to take care of. I can say easily Pierre took what was left to him and he's done an excellent job with it." Fun stuff. "Crap"...L'il ####? Lapierre? D'agostini??? All of the above? Bob's always been a bit of a Sphynx. Good stuff.
  2. It'd be wrong-headed to infer too much from an outdoor game. As Joel Bouchard observed, the conditions favoured the team best equipped to play a super-simple, crash and bang game. This gave the Flames an artifical advantage. Nevertheless. We're in a Slump, the second one of the season. It will likely take 3-4 games to start rounding back into form. Part of the problem is the injuries - players seldom just step right in and make a sustained impact after an extended absence. Also, without ragging on Price, who obviously made lots of saves, the goaltending has not been as razor-sharp on this trip so far. Just gotta ride it out. It could be a lot worse, at least our guys are coming back.
  3. I've given up on AK ever being more than he is. Of course, what he is isn't exactly terrible. But Hemsky = giant upgrade. Gomez for Hemsky is a no brainer. If only! And in fairness, Gomer really could flourish in freewheeling Edmonton. We'd have to sweeten the deal with picks and whatnot, but it's something worth investigating.
  4. Who ever would have thought the words 'healthy scratch' would sound so sweet?
  5. Love the hat, Bob! Although his first rebuild turned out to be a massive disappointment, he substantially salvaged the situation with what was perhaps the single boldest stroke of any GM in NHL history (the radical reconstruction of 2009); and his legacy is one of unremitting dignity. My respect for Mr. Gainey remains undimmed. Always great to hear him speak - and great to hear him on the side of the angels on this one. My own words would have been less 'shut up' than 'F*CK OFF,' but point taken nonetheless. The outdoor game is a side-show and I'm concerned that Cammy is coming back too soon just to be in the carnival. Hopefully the excitement gives the Habs the boost they need to get back to some winning ways.
  6. Well, I'm not a Hemsky fanatic or anything, but it seems as though he would be a damned nice acquisition if he could be had at something other than a crippling price. Injuries are certainly a concern, but Hemsky is a PPG player. We must be a pretty good team if we can dismiss a PPG player as redundant! While he may not be a finisher, his career goal-scoring numbers are still as good or better than Kostityn's, while his overall hockey smarts must be light years ahead of the Boy from Belarus, whose lack of imagination and ability to read the play are an albatross that drags down his talent. (I'm increasingly of the view that Kosty is basically Sylvain Turgeon on steroids). Assuming Kosty ends up moved out to make room for Hemsky, that'd be a significant upgrade. If we keep Kosty *and* Hemsky, then it helps even more. In any case, we do have Gionta and Cammy - both 'finishers' - as well as the emerging MaxPac, who fits precisely the profile you describe of a big body who can score. You're right that we could use more players like that. But Hemsky's name has probably come up because other teams aren't exactly dangling Milan Lucics or Bobby Ryans at us. If somehow Hemsky is in play, I don't think we should pooh-pooh him because he's not John LeClair. In any case - it's a long shot. Fun to think about, though.
  7. Hemsky is 28. Not old, but you're probably looking at maybe 4-5 more years of peak performance there. He is not part of the 'youth movement' in Edmonton and he may be a guy who's worn out his welcome (isn't he one of those guys who was expected to become a real elite player and has therefore tended to become crticised for what he's not, rather than appreciated for what he is?). I don't think it's beyond the pale that they would move him as part of the reconstruction. He might interest the Habs because we're in an ambiguous place: if healthy, we're a better-than-bubble team that has already shown it can do playoff damage. With good health, effective re-signings (e.g., Wiz) and continued progression from MaxPac and Subban in particular I don't think it's beyond the realm of possibility that we could seriously contend as early as next season. This is the sort of thinking that could make Hemsky a sensible acquisition. But are we really in a position to deal a 1st rounder + (say) Weber? One to ponder.
  8. Hmmm. The Hemsky rumours have surfaced in the past. Whenever one of these rumours keeps coming up over time, I tend to suspect there's something to it. (This is what happened with Tanguay and a few other deals we ended up making). Hemsky's a talented if erratic and injury-prone dude and would definitely kick out top-6 up a notch. But it all comes down to the return. Edmonton will want young talent back, no? Risky business.
  9. I agree that structure is key, but I also think there's a talent threshold beyond which it hardly matters what you do. Look at Florida under Jacques Martin, the definition of a 'structured' team that still sucked for simple lack of talent. Ditto Columbus under Hitchcock, or the Habs under Vigneault. We're winless in 5 of our last 6. Now this is partly because the structure hasn't been as strong as it should be - certainly the team needs to hunker down and play airtight disciplined hockey - but it's mostly because we have too many holes in the lineup. Your dictum applies to one or two key injuries, I'd say; not to half your roster.
  10. I agree that last night's first and third periods were weak, but more broadly speaking offence starts from the back end. This is why I am sh*tting bricks over the possible loss of The Wiz. Hamrlik and PK are not really enough to generate sustained momentum from the back end, at least not against good teams. Not that Wiz is a superstar, but given the absence of Markov and our other injuries he is now a guy we cannot afford to lose for any extended stretch.
  11. Oh, thank the God Lord in heaven. Not for that jackass Lavoie, but rather for the possibility of Wiz not being out for a month I hereby retract my panicky posts suggesting we'd be out of a playoff spot by the end of that span.
  12. Looks like Burke has finally figured it out. Of course, a low first-round pick and a conditional second-rounder are, perhaps, far from guarantees of future success especially given the dismal track record of the Leafs' scouting staff. And although Burke will spin this as 'recovering the lost pick,' and the media will probably go along with him, the fact remains that Burke still gave up Kaberle and Seguin and went from a high (star-player-calibre) pick to a low first round pick in order to acquire Kessel More disconcerting is Boston's loading up. Unless Washington is saving it for the dance, there are only two real contenders in the East. One thing I notice - winning teams aren't afraid of the cap. They go after the players they want and deal with the cap implications later. We should keep this in mind if the opportunity to acquire a good second-line C comes up (and yeah, Gomer Pyle, I'm looking at you).
  13. There is one silver lining contained in the 'total disaster' scenario, which is that it might free up PG to deal (shall we say) more aggressively with the ever-intensifying problem that is Scott Gomez (who was -2 last night, schooled by a bunch of raw rookies). When your team misses the playoffs suddenly considerations of 'chemistry' and so forth become luxury items, and nobody could blame the Habs for getting tough on his ass under the circumstances. Anyway. More realistically: yes, we might get Cammy, Gill and Mara in the lineup, and I suppose Spatches could return in reasonably short order. None of that will give us an effective QBing on the powerplay. We have one of the best defences on paper to run a power-play, with Markov, Wiz, and Subban all elite-to-good options there. Unfortunately we are now reduced to relying on PK + leftovers (Hammer, Weber) in this respect. Considering the importance of the PP to our success, this is extremely worrisome. Maybe with a healthy Cammy we can squeak by. (Personally, I'm concerned that Cammy may be returning too soon because he's hot to trot to play in the outdoor game. Players are not always entirely sensible about these things). If our PP does collapse in the absence of Wiz, the answer (such as it is) will be for the team to fanatically recommit to Martin's suffocating system. Every forward needs to backcheck ferociously and play a hermetic game. If we do that, we'll have a chance to ride it out. Otherwise, I fear it could be curtains for us, sooner than anybody thinks. Not to be alarmist or anything
  14. You're right on all counts. It's not PK making a rookie mistake that troubles me, though, it's the reality captured in your last paragraph. If we go too long with these blueline injuries, we will be in very grave danger of missing the playoffs, and the season will go from good to disastrous in as little as two weeks. Word is Wiz could be gone for a month. Be afraid, folks. We are staring catastrophe right in the face.
  15. A month without Wiz is scorched-earth time. Big, big disaster - possibly even enough to collapse our playoff hopes. PK and Weber will need to come up huge.
  16. Maybe...but giving up yet another pick for yet another rental doesn't sound terribly appealing to me.
  17. Here comes the Cup!! Hard to get excited about this: marginal cost for marginal gain. Mara is actually an interesting case. He was a major offensive defenceman for the early part of his career, albeit on an awful Phoenix team, scoring 42 and 47 points in 03-04 and 05-06. Then, right at the point in his career when his game should have matured (around age 28) his numbers suddenly went into the toilet (18 points and -22 with Boston). Ever since then he has struggled as a near-marginal NHLer, although he did get 10 powerplay points with the Rangers in 2008-09. What the hell happened? Who 'gets old' at age 28? Did he suffer a serious injury or something? Is it a case of pigeonholing, such that he actually has neglected potential to produce some useful offensive numbers? This is one career arc I don't understand. Anyway, I thought he was OK with us on the first go around despite the bad +/-. Warm bodies with NHL experience can't hurt given the state of our blueline.
  18. I believe in building from the blueline out. So I say, find the room!! It's true, though, that if Wiz is bound and determined to cash in as a UFA, we will likely be unable to afford him. We'll just have to hope that Markov takes a discount and that Wiz likes it enough here to be reasonable.
  19. Maybe it took Desharnais to put the fear of God into him?
  20. Fair enough. Boy, Desharnais has become a real wild card! His emergence has all sorts of ramifications for the roster - especially for Gomez and Eller. Fun to see the Little Engine that Could proving the doubters wrong and shaking things up. Hopefully he can continue in this vein, it's a blast.
  21. Very interesting post, Wamsley. I don't know the numbers although I do recall reading an analysis somewhere (probably on Eyes on the Prize) that used stats to prove that Kostitsyn is an average-to-above-average 6th forward. For me, as for most others I suspect, the frustration with AK is less that he's worse than others from his draft year, than that he so obviously fails to make the most of his offensive gifts; he blows hot and then mostly cold, consistently neglecting to take full advantage of a formidable shot and considerable brute strength. Players like that naturally drive people crazy. Now casting him as a third-liner puts things in a different light. What holds AK back, it seems to me, is two things: character - he does not seem to be particularly strong in the mental side of the game, getting into funks and looking disinterested many nights - and offensive intelligence. By the latter I mean that he doesn't seem to read the play or see the ice very well for offensive purposes. This likely means that he will never fully realize the scoring potential that most of us have seen in him. It's not entirely impossible that he might be better cast as a solid two-way player with some offensive upside rather than as a primarily offensive top-6 guy. Perhaps instead of trying to cram the speedy and dynamic Perezhogin into this mould (and thus driving him out of the league in disgust) the Habs' coaching staff would have better off taking this approach with AK: the same approach they've tried with Pouliot, not asking him to score but primarily to be solid in the fundamentals of the game. Given AK's build and seeming lack of offensive drive, making him a quality role player, in a very well-defined and structured game, might be the way to go. His lack of imagination would cease to be an issue at that point.
  22. Hey, some pretty thoughtful posts, patience. Nicely done. I just want to pipe in and say that a multi-player deal seems to be quite out of character for PG, who has a history of favouring small, incremental moves. That the Habs have been a pretty good team will likely make Gauthier even less inclined to pull the trigger on something like that. Having said that, offence-starved Nashville would surely be interested in AK, for the reasons you state. There could be some sort of fit there. Would, however, moving Kostitsyn leave a big hole in the top-6? Maybe not if we're talking a multi-player deal with a forward coming back, but it's hard to see that working out, especially since the Preds won't be interested in a lateral or backward move at FW.
  23. Looks like Eller is playing himself into a ticket to Hamilton, no? Given that Price has outperformed Halak, might it be time to forget team politics send the lad down? Give him a chance to rebuild his confidence and come back stronger?
  24. Let's remember that PK is an unbelievably talented hockey player, an emerging star. That means he is a problem for other teams; and any psychological edge that can gain over him, they will take advantage of. Now then: a narrative has been created of 'Subban the mouthy punk-assed kid who sooner or later needs to be taught a lesson.' And opposing players are trying to use that to get into his head and to work themselves up into a pitch of intensity when confronting him. It's a tactic they're using. Lupul's comments were inane and contradictory ('I don't have a problem with him, BUT...' Well, either you do or you don't). It's just tactics. I watched the highlights on NHL Network. Those guys were pretty blunt that they didn't see anything amiss with PK's actions. I think if PK continues this will eventually blow over. I've said it before, though: if he were a white kid, the narrative would be different. Indeed, there's be incredible enthusiasm over this Good Canadian Boy who oozes talent and can dominate in every facet of the game. Where is the patriotic fervour over Subban, eh, Don Cherry? Where are the adoring segments showing his crushing hits and his dazzling moves? Oh, sorry, he wears the wrong jersey. And has the wrong skin colour. Oh well. PK will be wowing 'em long after Cherry is pushing up daisies. What might help, I think, is if someone like Gill stepped up and bluntly said just what I said above: 'would we be hearing this if Subban were white?' That would shut up these jerk-offs instantly and permanently.
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