The Chicoutimi Cucumber

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?

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.

Gomer played decently tonight. Excellent pass to DD. I guess he needs me to rag on him more

It defies belief. Remember, your tax dollars are paying for this.

Pleks has been great. While he could do even better with Lucic on the wing, nothing has really been 'holding him back' from being a fine player. The contrast with Gomez is glaring. Pleks makes his wingers better, Gomez drags them down. One finds ways to succeed, the other ways to f*ck up. At some point you have to call him out. That's why I say you give him until about the quarter pole of next season, then pull the trigger. The only caveat is that he might be playing hurt in some way. I've heard nothing to this effect, but it might represent some sort of explanation for his non-stop suckage. EDIT: way to go, PK! Of course, now The Code Police will attack him for not taking off his helmet Interesting period. Habs look like a tighter unit tonight. JM has moved Gio to Gomez's line, trying to shake the latter out of his torpor. The risk is that Gomer Pyle will end up dragging Gio to perdition with him. But it's worth a shot.

Gomez has played much worse this year than he did last year - and the numbers back that up. So I don't apologize for definding him last season, nor for being patient for a while this season. And were he still bringing quality playmaking on a regular basis, I'd continue to be on board. But he has absolutely blown chunks for 2/3 of an entire season. For a second line C and key cog on your roster, that is simply unacceptable. I agree that unless there is a radical turnaround we should eventually mete out the Redden treatment (although I might give him about 25 games into 2011-12 before taking that step, and give him fair warning of this possibility first). Other than that, I disagree with almost everything in your post, including your griping about both the system - which is in fact the key to our success - and your attack on the veterans, who (Gomez excepted) have mostly been decent this season, given reasonable expectations. We should be happy the kids have stepped up instead of bitching about Hamrlik not being Chris Pronger.

No question, this team is a shadow of what it could have been. Markov and Gorges are huge losses, as is Cammy. That's two of our top-3 players out of the roster; hard to excel under those circumstances.

Yep, I have long been a Gomez fan, back to his NJ days. I have a weakness for slick, smart playmakers, and his speed has always blew me away. I thought his performance last season was satisfactory (only a fool would expect him to be worth his insane salary). But this season, after being patient for a good long time, I've finally and drastically turned on him. He has been absolutely wretched - a massive liability in every facet of the game outside the neutral zone. One of the worst second-line C I've ever seen on a good team - and that's a pure hockey judgement that has nothing to do with the salary. Unless he redeems himself with an awesome playoff, we'd be better off replacing him with almost ANY second-line-calibre C (including, conceivably, Desharnais). There should be no place on our team for a useless passenger like that.

Kostitsyn was identified by the Bulldogs' coaching staff as a basically lazy and immature player. I remember the coach (I forget his name now ) expressing surprise at Kostitsyn's work ethic in his first season with us - a remark that I took note of, at a time when Sergei seemed like a can't miss kid. The point is, Sergei has shown himself able to suck it up and put in the necessary effort for periods of time in the past. He showed it with us in his first half-season. What he was NOT able to do with us was to sustain that kind of commitment over time. That's why I say we should withhold judgement before declaring that he has experienced a conversion on the road to Nashville. Sooner or later, he may revert to his old ways: entitlement, arrogance, poor team commitment and laziness. Beyond that, Wamsley's right.

I'm not one to pout over lines, but JM's continued allegiance to that second line baffles me. Gomez's performance all season has been absolutely unacceptable - a disgrace to the uniform and an insult to both fans and teammates. And that of his linemates has scarcely been better. In contrast, both Desharnais and Pouliot have done everything one could ask of them. If you ask me, I would move at least Pouliot onto the second line (he did have chemistry with Gomez last season), or, preferably, give those minutes to DD and Pouliot. Maybe I'm overreacting, but I've had it with Kostitsyn's "Will I Ever Find Myself?" act and with Gomez's sheer incompetence. If either of the guys were rookies, they'd have been sent down by now. It's time to stop jerking around and demand performance: players who perform, get the minutes. Period.

I think lazy's right...it's unfair to judge the D based on the last two games. If the team fails to rally tonight for a strong all-around effort, though, then I'll start to worry. They've had a couple of days off to lick their wounds and refocus. Win or lose, I want to see the team play a strong, Jacques-Martin-style defensive game with good puck support tonight. Get back to basics, back to the system. We will stand or fall on that basis.

So far, it's been closer to the 'we're tired we quit' scenario than the 'rebound' scenario. But dlbalr is right, they're battling to find their legs. Meanwhile, Gomez continues to be utterly hapless out there; fortunately DD picked up the slack with that tremdenous pass to MaxPac. I'll likely get flamed for this, but it might be time for JM to discreetly start re-allocating Gomer's minutes to Desharnais. I'm sorry, but he is NOT worse than Gomez at this point.

Gut-check time. We need to nip this losing streak in the bud, and the players need to show they have the cojones to bounce back from the pounding Boston meted out. Sometimes the game *after* the 'big game' is the REAL test. I think it could go either way...the team could rally with a really gutsy all-for-one effort and beat a team they should be able to beat; or they will come out listless and tired and end up pissing two points down the drain. I'll bet that, as the deadline looms, PG is very interested to see how the team responds.

Yeah, PK is a real *problem* 14 points in 16 games...robust physical play...does it all out there...oh, wait, he has a big mouth and only fights now and then. What a shmoe. Save your contempt for useless money pits like Scott Gomez, please.

I seem to recall somewhere that PG has a previous history of seeking big, strong players - more of a believer in this than Gainey, apparently. I can't confirm that, but if it's true then for sure he is aware of the issue and looking to address it.

Well, maybe you're right - less in the sense that we need a goon to win the fights or prevent us from being intimidated, but in the sense that we need a guy who will DESTROY anyone who tries to injure PK, Price or any of the other bread-and-butter assets on the franchise. You've got me there. It's not the fights per se, it's the cheap shots. The NHL has decided that it supports criminal assaults on skilled players, so teams have no choice but to defend themselves.

This is a good, balanced post. I agree that a more bad-assed 4th line that can mete out some punishment would be a good idea (and perhaps an achievable one before the deadline). And bringing up Henry as a semi-regular is also a good idea; in his cups of coffee with us he always seemed competent to take a few NHL shifts on a nightly basis. Clearly, we're not going to reconstruct our team into a bunch of goons, but one or two players can help to shift the overall team image in this respect. As for clutching and grabbing, to me the Devils' game was a bit of a signpost that it's creeping back; and in the playoffs it never went away. But as for dirty, career-jeopardizing play, that's at as high a level as it's ever been. It's stupid, it's disgusting, and it's unacceptable. Look at that nauseating Crosby hit - they issued no suspension because they didn't think the hit was 'intentional.' Well, try that with a judge if you 'accidentally' run someone over. Arbitrary and idiotic. I find it amusing that defenders of 'The Code' position themselves as upholding old notions of virtue and honour, but probably hoorayed unanimously when the Bruins kept pummelling habs' players who were either down or hurt. Pouliot demonstrated a far greater allegiance to this 'Code' when he did the decent thing and stopped pounding his man. For that matter, when Bill McCreary Jr laid out Wayne Gretzky with a legal open-ice hit he was roundly condemned. The NHL actually altered how it was calling abuses in the face-off circle at Sather's request because 'The Kid' was getting carved up night after night. There was a time when the 'Code' said: protect your star players. Things - including this mythical 'Code' - have changed. For the worse.

The NHL is gradually regressing back to the point where it was before the lockout, on two fronts: clutch and grab is slowly creeping back in; and outright thuggery is roaring back. The idiots in charge of this league WANT to see Sidney Crosby's career destroyed by pointless headshots away from the puck (just like they WANTED to see Scott Stevens lay waste to all comers with what should have been classified as illegal elbows to the head). They WANT a league of Matt Cookes where the Crosbies and Savards are left to rebuild shattered frontal lobes and Ovechkin constantly has to watch his knees. They want this, in the name of some asinine code of "manliness" where if you cannot withstand a hammer-blow to the skull, you are some kind of pansy. Mark my words. The golden age of fast, exciting, super-talented hockey we've been enjoying for the past few seasons is drawing to a close. Having said all of this, I don't think last night's game was the big deal that people are making it out to be. 8-6 is a freak event. The Habs are NOT intimidated by goonery; this group never has been. Philly has their number, not because Philly goons it up, but because Philly's D is just too strong. As for Boston, we've beaten them pretty consistently this year. Last night was a bizarre outlier caused by the Habs completely abandoning the system. Beyond that, this game has ZERO playoff relevance for the simple reason that you hardly ever see fighting in the playoffs anymore. So let the Prunes goon it up. Far more salient to the playoffs is hooking, holding, and stickwork, which even in the immediate aftermath of the lockout were permitted to dominate in the playoffs and continue to do so. I think that, between our aged D and Plekanec's notorious carving-knife of a hockey stick, we can compete effectively in THAT sort of game. Could we use one or two big, strong power forwards? Absolutely, but we need them because we need people who can crash through hermetic defences, much more than to open a can of whupass on them.

It's actually 27 teams...you're forgetting about the Flyers

Personally, I really wonder how much of the ongoing complaining about JM has to do with his total lack of charisma as a media personality. I think people infer from his media style that he must be a total dud...because not much in his record with us suggests that he actually is. As for demanding that he harrangue the refs, how quickly we forget Carbo It took a while for the refs to stop punishing us for Carbo's year or so of non-stop bitching at every call. Besides that, Moustakas has a good point; how do you teach a team to be unflappable in the face of adversity, and to take responsibility for what happens on the ice, if you're blaming the refs? There's wisdom in that thar boring JM style.

Winning this game will not cause the Habs to be taken seriously by the know-nothing media blabbers or the legions of ignorant hockey fans. Even a semi-final appearance and spectacular series victories over supposed powerhouses led by Crosby and Ovechkin did not do that. This is in no way a 'must win.' But obviously we want to sustain our recent winning ways; so it's important in the sense that every game in the second half is important.

I agree that the odds of our acquiring a top-4 defenceman are slim. The return would likely have to be a high draft pick, a good young player, or maybe someone like Kostitsyn (but there I'm probably delusional). I would be very happy if we could do it, though. One thing we haven't discussed much on this board so far is what the Habs are positioned to give back in a trade. Does the emergence of Patches and the ongoing inconsistency of Pouliot/Kostitsyn give a surplus at FW? Are there young guys of the D'Agostini/O'Bryne stripe who might interest other organizations, but who clearly aren't in our long-term plans? Do we have a glut of a certain type of defencemen in the system? How are we positioned with draft picks? (Not well, as I recall). It's one thing to talk about our wish-list, it's another to actually think like a GM and calculate what our tradeable assets are.

Argh! We keep talking past each other. Again: YES, I agree that IF we keep everyone, our D is fine. The difference is that I would like a safety net so that we can absorb the loss of a Hammer or a Wiz and still have a strong (preferably enhanced) defence corps, should one or both of these stalwarts walk come summer. Factoring in the added benefit of a major short-term improvement to the club and this seems the way to go provided it can be done. Anyway, time to let this rest, I think!

Defensively I think Wiz is a drop-off from Hammer, but obviously if a choice were forced I'd pick Wiz. I just meant that we're weakened by Hammer's absence. Remember that I'm not counting on Markov any more. Like you, I like our current configuration a whole lot, if you factor in #79; but if you imagine our present Markov-less D AND subtract Hammer, you've got a recipe for adject disaster. The Habs pencilling in Markov to be there at playoff time or for the bulk of a season is equivalent to the Canucks doing the same with Sami Salo. It's just naive at this point. But I suspect you're correct that the Habs will not acquire another top-4 guy this season - if only because they don't grow on trees (unless Garth Snow is the gardener ). All I was saying is that if one comes up, we should be interested.

If the scenario is that we only lose Gill AND re-sign Wiz, then as much as I value Gill, you're right. If the scenario is that we lose 'only' Hammer and re-sign Wiz, then I think that represents a significant loss to the overall D-corps, although perhaps not a crippling one provided everyone else stays healthy - which in Markov's case is a gigantic proviso. If the scenario is that we fail to re-sign Wiz AND one or more of the above, then I think our D is seriously compromised, especially given the likelihood of Markov getting hurt and/or being damaged goods. Therefore, it would still be better to acquire another top-4 defenceman if that can be done, especially if that guy is an upgrade on the declining Hamrlik. This allows us to release both Gill and Hammer without serious cost, or else letting Wiz walk if he can't be re-signed. The goal, after all, is to get better, not simply to accept a 'status quo-minus' version of the current D.