The Chicoutimi Cucumber

I agree the Habs are unlikely to do pull a Redden on Gomez's ass. But as for that alienating Gio and Cammy, I have a hard time figuring why they'd be terribly upset (in hockey terms) to lose a guy who has become what MUST be one of the league's weakest second-line C. It's one thing to have come here because of Gomez's reputation as a playmaker (an unproven thesis, by the way); but two years in its seems obvious that the guy these skilled wingers would want to play with is Plekanec. See this: http://habsloyalist.blogspot.com/2011/02/aftermath-tale-of-two-centres.html The suggestion has been bobbing around the blogosphere that at some point Desharnais might take over G's slot. Pretty improbable. Nevertheless IF DD continues to progress that could eventually become an option. Things can't go on indefinitely like this. It's true that if Gomez plays strong down the stretch (but folks...here we are) and excels in the playoffs, then he will have redeemed himself and justified JM's patience. But if current trends simply continue unabated until the Habs are eliminated, then I really do feel that all options would have to be on the table regarding everyone's favourite Alaskan. At some point, you do what it takes to win. Period. And frankly I think UFAs respect that attitude more than anything else.

Myself, I think it would be folly to enter 2011-12 with Markov and Subban as our top-2 defencemen. Like it or not, the probability is that Markov will either be a diminished version of himself OR get injured again. You cannot then fall back on Hammer to play 26 minutes a night. And Subban, while he looks like a can't miss kid, will be a sophomore and probably still have ups and downs. This makes either signing Wiz or signing another player of comparable quality a must. BTH's scenario of the status quo MINUS Wiz and maybe Gill isn't an option for a serious team in my book. Therefore, again: if we have the chance to bag another top-4 defenceman, we should do it.

I don't think Gomez has been especially horrendous or anything lately, but come ON. -10 on a team of mostly plus player? 5 points in his last ten games, consistent with his seasonal pace for a 44-point season? That's simply pathetic. Other than a hot December, and with all due respect to his unquestioned ability to at least move the puck effectively through the neutral zone, he has more-or-less sucked ass all season - surely one of the least effective second-line C in the NHL. And I say this as a declared Gomez fan. Is he injured? A victim of weak linemates? Is he suffering under JM's system (perhaps the most plausible explanation, since he lost the internal battle to play a more offensive game?)Or is it possible that the rest of the league simply has the book on this guy and that his old moves/tricks no longer work? This isn't a slump. It's turning into an entire season - not just a season where he's not worth $7.4 mil, which is a given, but a season of sheer, straightforward mediocrity. At what point do we concede that IF by chance Gauthier has the opportunity to bag a legitimate top-2 centreman, the Habs should do the unthinkable and give Gomez the Redden treatment? At what point do we do as Philly and Chicago do and just ruthlessly and relentlessly try to make our team better, hurt feelings or not? Think about it. If (and yes, I know it's a big 'if') you could add a more productive C at (say) $5.5 mil, that still leaves about $2 mil in extra cap space to play around with. I was willing to accept the crazy cap hit when Gomez was in the 60 point range considering his blazing speed and Cup experience. But this is getting preposterous. Note that I'm not just saying 'dump Gomez.' I'm asking how long we are supposed to tolerate this kind of performance before we consider more radical measures.

Setting aside the question of fitting a new acquisition under the cap for this season, it's the very fact that we could lose any or all of those four that suggests to me that it's a good idea to add more quality D now, if we can do so. Like I said, it helps us now and gives us more options going forward.

I like any rumour that has the Habs in pursuit of a rock-solid second-pairing defenceman. This team is built on a defensive system and a D-corps that, when healthy, is under-appreciated. The stronger we are there, the better-positioned we will be both for the stretch run and for the partial retooling on the back end that is inevitable this summer. Add in Markov's propensity for catastrophic injuries and the need to add to the back end becomes even more pronounced. So I'm all for this direction.

I've said before that race plays a subliminal role in this. And I still believe that to be the case. Not for a moment do I believe that his critics overtly subscribe to racist beliefs. What I'm suggesting is that they are using the 'hockey code' as a justification for their negative gut reaction to the sight of a cocky, confident black guy playing hockey. This is, I suspect, especially true of the Milburys and Cherrys, who grew up in an era where African Americans were still expected to 'know their place' and not be 'uppity.' (Again, I do NOT believe that Milbury or Cherry would ever defend that expectation; I'm talking here about deep-seated, gut responses that are a product of social conditioning in a racist society). I realize that this kind of assertion is likely to trigger a strong defensive response, but look at the endless parade of white guys doing exactly the same move as Subban after scoring, then look at Subban doing it...and tell me what the difference is.

You're right that we need more guys like that. The problem lies in acquiring them. Who exactly are we supposed to trade in return for such players? Louis Leblanc? Josh Gorges? It's hard to see how moving young assets or high picks is the right move for our team. So that leaves UFAs. Are there any power forwards coming available this summer? Can we afford them? That's the kicker. I think we ALL agree with your diagnosis. It's the cure that's the hard part. If it were simple, the Habs would have done it long ago.

It seems atypical of the Habs to stand in the way of their own talent. That hasn't been past practice to my knowledge. So I'd be sceptical of this report. But if they ARE holding Kirk to his contract, they'd better have something plum lined up for him.

That's a well-argued piece by Basu. What I find especially amusing is that the online comments and responses basically ignore every one of Basu's points in reiterating a quasi-religious belief that JM is the 'wrong man for the job.' This despite facts like this: Martin has a 75-60-15 record through his first 150 games as coach of the Canadiens, winning half his games even though his best player's been injured 60 per cent of the time. With the awe-inspiring powerhouse talent they possess, the Habs should be doing WAAAY better than 75-60-15 and a Semi-Final appearance, right? Clearly JM is a flop.

If Pleks really does see himself as all-star material, then I suspect being snubbed would actually serve as extra motivation - to show the bastards. Think of how Kovalev was able to parley being snubbed by the Russian national team into his last truly great season in 2008. Anyway, I don't think Pleks is indeed all-star calibre. Yes, he's a very good hockey player. But you can list a number of players at his position, even in the conference, who you'd probably rather have OR who are at least more offensively impressive: e.g., Staal, Stamkos, Richards, Backstrom, and Malkin. And that's not even mentioning Crosby. As for PK, he doesn't need the rest, he's an absolute beast. I'd be more concerned that he'll find the whole affair distracting and ego-inflating, knocking him off the focus he seems to have attained in recent weeks. Then again it's just the 'rookie' game. Frankly, his omission from that game was a bizarre aberration in the first place (name me a rookie defenceman you'd rather have?) - plus this will give him some sort of chance to show sclerotic NHL bores like Mike 'Kramer' Richards that he's not a total jerk-off and maybe build up a bit of good will.

Well, that much I agree with. We can beat them, just like we can beat any team. But in any given game the smart money's on the Flyers, much more obviously than is the case with most of our other opponents.

Well...I appreciate the nuance, but the sad fact is that ANY losing team can make this argument. Take away the mistakes, the penalties, the elements that made the team lose, and presto, you've got an 'even' game. Heck, many times in the late 1990s I saw the Habs play pretty competitive games against vastly superior opposition, but inevitably lose, precisely because the other team was simply able to make a handful of plays that the Habs weren't. So last night: IF they don't take those penalties...yeah, but they did. And incidentally the PK was not competent to shut the Flyers PP down. My guess is that, more often than not, when we play the Flyers there will be analogous things that we do, or that happen to us, that cause us to lose. That's just when happens when you're overmatched. After we beat the Bruins last time, a widely-circulated post from a Bruins-fan message boad basically said that 'we may as well face it, the Bruins are the Habs' bitches.' I have a strong suspicion that the habs are the Flyers' bitches in exactly the same way (minus the 50 years of futility, natch ) The one qualifier is our injuries. MAYBE with Markov at 100% and the Wiz still in the lineup, we can give Philly a run for its money. That's how much faith I have in Markov. But as it stands, I'm pretty pessimistic and I think the evidence from last year's playoff backs that up. Our best hope remains that Philly somehow gets eliminated.

Well...does anyone really think we're better than the Flyers? If you set out to construct a team to defeat this edition of the Montreal Canadiens, you'd basically end up with this Flyers club. For me, it amounts to a dismally bad matchup, and we should just face the facts and hope we don't draw them in the playoffs again.

Muller's name comes up a lot in the context of the Senators too, who will surely clean house in the off-season. If we lose Captain Kirk, that'll be too bad, but I have a reasonable amount of faith in PG and Martin to bring in a solid replacement. Robinson would, of course, be great.

Weiss seems like he'd be a good addition, notwithstanding the positional issue. Indeed, his smallish size and all-around game suggests a perfect fit for our team Given that JM probably knows him well, this is a rumour that I'd be inclined to think credible, despite the source. Indeed, I'll go out on a limb and suggest that Weiss *might* even make Gomez dispensable Anyway - an interesting idea.

Another nit-picky beef about last night: the choice of Pouliot and Kostitsyn for the shootout. Both those guys are the opposite of players you go to with the game on the line, and in both cases I was eerily, absolutely confident that they would NOT score. In that situation, I go with the Plekanecs and the Giontas and Gomezes any day of the week. Puzzling decision by JM IMHO.

Great to see Saku - who, I can't help but notice, was up to his familiar late-career trick of taking bad penalties - but the game was basically a dud. The Habs just didn't have much inspiration tonight. Nice to see them gut out a point nevertheless. I was surprised to see Mario Blueberry suggesting that Lapierre could be out of the league at the end of the season. I'd thought he was more highly-regarded, talent wise, than that. Interesting. The Habs kept shooting high on Hiller and, all too often, missing the net. Could be a case where the scouting report actually worked against them. Koivu, Koivu. I was touched by his return. Nevertheless, although still useful, he is not the player he was, and things probably have worked out for the best all around. EDIT: I'd meant to ask - how come the Habs didn't do the usual thing and have a little ceremony honouring Koivu before the game? That would have eliminated the awkwardness of him calling his teammates out on the ice and cutting short the standing O at the beginning. Then, with the 2nd star selection, half the people had left the building. It seemed as though the fans never really had a chance to properly settle the account with Saku. But I wasn't there, so maybe my impression is wrong.

Good call, Wamsley! I guess that would have to be Saku's finest hour with us. Another that comes to mind is his shootout winner to cap the 5-goal comeback victory against the Rangers. It was just so fitting that it be Koivu to seal the deal. Habs29retired, I'm with you on the 'might have beens.' So few people remember just how dominant Koivu was before that horrible knee blowout. The leading scorer in the NHL, 50 games into the season. No one ever seems to mention that this was the superstar that never was, all because of a ruined knee. Despite being tragically damaged goods, Saku always stepped up in the playoffs. Carolina had to gouge out his eyeball to stop him. Joe Thornton was owned by him in the dance - twice. Some fans used to gripe about Koivu, but for me the real shame was the Habs never provided him with the supporting cast he deserved. What should have been a truly magical career was martyred to injury and managerial incompetence.

I sure hope Molson takes this bulls*t by the horns. And yes, I'd love to see a seamless transition from JM to Muller at some point - now that would really speak to an organization that has its act together. Who knows, maybe Muller could get away with it. Certainly if Louis Leblanc or one or two other impact francophone players materialize, and the very French Gautheir remains GM, it *might* be saleable to the ravenous jackals of the French press and thus, fans. Might.

Fun game. The Sens are a sad case, though, and I think Wamsley did a good job of breaking down why that is. Everbody had a good game, but I was especially impressed with Pouliot, particularly in the first half, when he played with real authority and imagination on seemingly every shift. I'd love to think that he's finding his groove, but as Boone points out, he and Kosty are consummate teases. And Gomez really cranked up his game after a confused first period - watching him give and go with Gionta was a taste of the old Jersey glory days. I'd also single out Patches, for not missing a beat, and Eller and Desharnais, who both did lots of good things. And kudos to White for standing up for the cheap-shotted Moen. A great night that should work wonders for the confidence of the young guns: just what the doctor ordered going forward.

But Kirk couldn't be our coach. He's not bilingual. That's something the Martin bashers have to consider. Thanks to Montreal's stupid managerial affirmative-action program, the issue is not whether we have the best coach available, but whether we have the best francophone coach available. Even Scotty Bowman would never be hired to coach us now. You also have to ask whether it would be in Muller's best interest to leave a solid organization like Montreal to join what appears to be a basket case in NJ. Come to think of it, even before the wheels fell off, Lamouriello (sp?) had a habit of arbitrarily decapitating coaches. I'm not sure that, if I had a nice comfy job with a good organization, I'd leave to go stick MY head on the block in Jersey.

I dunno, I have a good feeling about this one. I think the young bloods are going to add some enthusiasm and that the team will hunker down and play hard as a response to all the injuries. That's often the pattern, after all - injuries usually start to tell after a certain span of games. So, count me as optimistic for tonight.

Well, there you go. That's a dismal pool. Phillips sounds intriguing at first glace, but holy moly, he's 33 years old, and is -20 (!) with a grand total of 3 points on the season. I know that stats aren't everything, but you'd need a bloody solid scouting report to be assured that he represents a significant upgrade on Hamrlik. Salo, what a joke that is; which leaves Bieksa and Kaberle. The Habs would be well-advised to pursue Kaberle IMHO and if we could be assured of signing him, he would represent a substantial upgrade. Trouble is, the bidding wars could bump his salary out of reach. This is even more true of Bieksa. Both will end up overpaid, but Bieksa is the more likely of the two to massively fail to live up to the big payday.

Ha ha, I think the only time I lost serious sleep due to hockey was the night before the 2002 Olympic Gold Medal Game. I wanted Team Canada to win SO bad and was terrified of the consequences for our hockey program if we didn't. Muller probably will get poached eventually. But see Wamsley's wise point that JM is not exactly a drooling idiot and that we will likely continue to be well-coached in Muller's absence. Also, the idea that Muller is indispensable is surely a bit of a stretch. Almost nobody is. Whatever his merits, I doubt he's Scotty Bowman redux.

I've always pulled for Desharnais and I'm impressed with his moxy out there on most shifts. Conventional wisdom about size can go blow - I think he has at least a chance to carve out an interesting NHL career, perhaps as a 'polyvalent' player who can add some energy and some offence while being surprisingly useful on the forecheck. Congrats to the Super Smurf.