ShortHanded
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Posts posted by ShortHanded
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Lots of reasons to be hopeful or negative, depending on which way you spin stats. I'm not going to comment on stats, because they're just numbers and can be as a result of poor play by the opposition. What matters to me is what they look like on the ice. Now, despite playing well enough in the first half of the game, how many can really agree that the second half of that game was acceptable? They barely generated anything and were, in fact, dismal from the red line to the opposition net, barely able to maintain any possession.
THAT is what worries me.
Injuries, sure, add up. But Pitt still manages despite missing the elite, and I think we can all agree that missing Gomez may actually be a blessing in disguise in some respects (hello Eller at #1 or 2). Markov missing is crucial, for certain, but the argument can be made that we managed last season without him for long stretches. Still, the guys we have *can* play.
So why don't they? Well, it's hard to develop chemistry with anyone when you don't see them more than a shift or two a game. It's hard to get a goal-scorer going when he's playing 10-15 minutes a game, virtually none on the PP, instead of 15-20 like others of his ilk (Cole). And it's really, really hard to win games when it looks like you don't give a crap and you lose 2/3rds of all battles on the boards... including when you outnumber the opposition.
I think Gauthier has a little more rope with which he can hang himself, but I have to believe that Martin is down to the frayed threads. I have to believe that because it's the hope to which I cling. He's a solid coach... whose time with this team should be at an end.
Yes yes and yes... Everything Colin said... Except I'm kind of hoping Gauthier doesn't have that much more rope either...
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The good thing about this skid, and if it continues is that some hard choices might be made. Gomez to the minors or traded next year. High selection in a deep draft. Maybe even an English speaking coach.
The fact that Gomez has gotten 'a bit' better this year really isn't enough considering how he's been for two years now. I understood a couple of years ago when he was sucking that we couldn't send him down because we were afraid of whether it would impact other vets to come play in Montreal, but now it's become something fairly normal to send underperforming vets that are overpaid to the minors (Redden, Souray, etc)... I really do believe we wouldn't be having the other salary cap discussions if we had Gomez's salary off our books. I would love to see him traded, but since that won't happen, sending him to the minors would be just fine.
And the reason people rag on him and not on Plex, or whoever else, is how LONG he's been sucking, and it's been LONG!
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Heheh... I love when my Habs beat my home town (ottawa)...
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The one I'm most concerned about is Eller, and it's too early to say how their relationship will turn out. I do like that after benching him last night, he defended him to the media and said it was more the circumstances than Eller's play. Still, I'd like to see him given more of a chance after mistakes.
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The guy I've been least impressed with, for all he's supposed to bea
able to do, is Spatch.
I like Gorges, Markov,Hammer, and I think Subban will be soon. I hope OB gets a chance to develop cuz he could be great
Oops! Forgot to mention Gill. He's either a low ranking top 4 or a great number 5
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I don't really regret not signing him. I like Gionta a lot. I would like to sign him next year though. Now that the leadership group is in place.
dear god please no! let's not bring back the poison
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we should be riding him as much as possible early on. he should be well rested. He's played what - parts of 7 games since last April. I don't want to see Auld more then once in a 10 game period unless we have a stretch of a lot of back to back games.
Price hasn't had time to be tired and he's playing great.. he should play tonight for sure. I just hope Martin sees it that way...
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Well, it wasn't a goalie that won a Cup.
They also failed to mention that Roy and Dryden lead top 8 teams to the Finals, not the 18th ranked team in the league.
Yeah, not to mention the fact that both Roy and Dryden went on to long and successful careers... and while I wish Halak the best, there's no telling yet which way his whole career will go.
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Finally! our PP connects!!
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The Canadiens will always have their history and the media will wait to spin nonsense every time they have success. Last year they compared Halak to Dryden and Roy and missed the most obvious comparison. They don't report anymore, they attempt to create a more sensationalizedc narrative that trumpets their agenda.
Theodore?
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Yeah, I'm shocked to find out BTH is so young too! wise indeed.
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Martin was publicly very clear that Pouliot is not being punished. This is an attempt to protect him from the pressures and heat that that line is rightly facing. He is not responsible for the line's problems nor is he responsible for fixing them: precisely the message a young player should be sent. I was interested to note Pouliot's comment that this had been clearly explained to him by the coaching staff and that he is entirely OK with it - quite a contrast to the non-communication that seemed to mark the Carbo years.
Moen is a good choice as a temporary presence on that line, a guy I've long believed should be inserted in our smurfy top-6 on an occasional basis. A big part of the problem has been Gomez's perimeter play. Moen is a banger who will make that line harder to defend against. A good coaching move, although obviously not a longer-term fix. The lack of a power game in the top-6 remains a fundamental team weakness.
Not too keen on the removal of OB or the downgrading of Subban, though. Here the message to young players seems to be punitive. Screw up and you're out. We're seeing the first test of JM's ability to bring along Subban without crushing the life from him. Habs-watchers should follow this sub-plot attentively - a lot rides on it.
Damn, that classic Sabres crest/jersey is a thing of beauty. Why in God's name did they ever change it? Dumb dumb dumb.
Thanks for the explanation CC. As always
and I agree about Subban and OB.. I'm worried for both of these guys long term and how things will go with them with JM...
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I think this 'demotion' of BP, is more a direct fault of G and G than it was Pouliot himself, sinec Pouliot as others have said is having the better season so far of the three. I hope this is more of a shot across the bow of G and G to let them know they need to play better.
agreed, but someone has to go on that line with them - so is Moen the best person?
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Does anyone else find it odd that it was Moen who was moved up to the G and G line and not Eller? Do you think it's too much pressure for Eller to put him on that line and that's why he wasn't put? I'd really like to see him given a chance to succeed in an offensive role, and given that Pouliot was moved out off the line anyway, so it's not like he's the one who's going to be given the chance, why not try Eller not Moen... I mean, I like Moen and all, but he's not exactly the guy with the softest hands... Of course, maybe he was put there specifically to be the physical presence on the line and make room for G and G?
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3) Freedom of content: I don't have to worry about losing readership or my job. Everything I write is for free and done in my spare time. Writers for the Gazette need to worry about selling copies and may have to compromise some of their ideas so that they can sell more copies. As soon as money gets involved work becomes less authentic because it needs to appeal to as many people as possible. Stu Cowan is also there to go over everybody's articles and tell them "you can't say this, somebody might get offended" and make whatever changes he wants.
A blog is the ideal platform for writers. If they are working for free, even better. Can you expect all of the world's top analysts to want to work for free? No. But there are many who do manage to take advantage of a new medium. It is easy enough to ignore the bad voices and only read the ones you enjoy.
about the money point: if you take it to the next level, the issue becomes not only that the individual writer is getting paid and that there's a concern about readership, but rather that the entire media company that owns the newspaper has ties to specific corporations/lobbyists/groups with financial interests, and that everything that falls under this media empire - newspapers, tv stations, radio stations, etc... has to tow that line, or at the very least not contradict it... If somone working for a newspaper uncovers something unpleasant about a certain pharmaceutical company for example, or even finds in their investigative journalism that a drug trial has been unsucessful or resulted in many many negative side effects, and that pharmaceutical company is a sponsor of that newspaper, or of a radio station or a tv station run by the same empire, or even that the two hotshot bosses of the pharma company and the media company play golf together, chances are, whatever the reporter HAS uncovered is either not to be reported or is to be majorly watered down... We think we have so many sources of media in the mainstream because we have a million tv stations, a million newspapers, etc.. but if you follow the ownership, there are very few independent professional media sources anymore (independent papers, tv, radio stations, etc...)
I think a huge factor in the blogosphere and the independent media that's sprouted up online is the fact that the mainstream media just doesn't cover what matters anymore... There can be a huge event, but if no one is there to cover it, it's like it never happened, and so what is news has become dictated by the media giants and the independent writers/bloggers/etc are a reaction to that...
I know this always existed at some level, but I think with globalism and corporatism (I think I just invented a word) it has definitely increased.
That said, a separate point is that we can now pick and choose exactly where we get our information, and it's so often mixed with opinion that it's very easy for someone to focus only on what he cares about and the news that reflects his opinions, and not realize that he's doing so, and that there's a ton of material out there refuting his opinions. If I'm left wing, I can read only huffington post and have all my views confirmed. If I'm rightwing (shudder), I can read only fox news and have all my views confirmed... and I might never have a conversation with "the other side" and see if anything they're saying makes sense. We have the ability to "fragment" our media now and so we have the ability to completely lose sight of what else is out there...
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ShortHanded - where've ya been? you haven't posted in what, a year?
Maybe about that long... very sucky, I know... but I did actually check the site in between - just never posted as I was insanely busy on both the work/life/family front...
You will find me either posting A LOT more in the coming months or not at all again - I am expecting my first kid and it'll really depend if I'm up all night feeding and my hands are free, or if I'm up all night feeding and my hands are tied up
It's good to be back though
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Agreed about Stubbs and Boone, although Boone writes from a fans perspective and it generally accepted that he will over react to situations. They are very understanding of the blogosphere and respect the quality of what is produced by it. That is why Habsinsideout is a massive success.
very true. and no one treats boone as though he's an expert. He doesn't expect it either so there's no false impression there that he's supposed to know more...
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The problem with this is that you are not holding Fisher accountable for what he is today. It would be like the Habs giving Patrick Roy the starting goaltender job because of what he did 15 years ago.
Red Fisher is 85 years old! Do you think he is willing to spend time re-watching film to get it right? Do you think he knows what Corsi is? Offensive zone starts? The Salary cap? Twitter? Facebook? a Blackberry? Do you think he knows anything about the technical revolution that has changed the face of goaltending? No, he probably goes and sits in the same seat he has for the last 50 years, watches the game absorbs what he sees and spits out his opinion just like he always has.
Sports reporting is drastically changing. It is not about having a journalism degree anymore. It doesn't matter if your prose or grammar are correct. It is changing into knowledgeable individuals breaking down the game and destroying sacred cows of laziness. You can't toss out your opinion in a paper and ignore the backlash anymore. With messageboards and comments sections your under researched, under informed bias filled opinion can be destroyed instantly.
There is a reason why newspapers are going #### up and that is because they were bloated advertising sections who had lost their way. Like mentioned earlier, they have morphed from reporting news to creating news in order to increase circulation. 25 years ago a paper like the National Enquirer was mocked for it's sensationalism, now US, People, etc are the largest selling magazines in North America.
It is why traditional media continually bash the blogosphere. If you had a job where you didn't have to push the envelope and you were handed free tickets and access to players and management and you could mail in an uninspiring column, would you reject the notion of somebody destroying your opinion through hard work and research? Of course you would because you have spent the past two decades working in your comfort zone. So their personal lifestyle agenda mocks those showing them up as amateur because they don't have credentials or a journalism degree.
Like BTH says in any other profession hungry kids chomping at the bit with fresh ideas and unique perspectives would move in and replace the older generation. They are bashing down the door and the old generation refuses to A. raise the level of their game or B. retire. They are not accountable for their lazy ideas and stale view of hockey and are entrenched in their positions. It is like they have life tenure.
That is great that Red Fisher thinks that you shouldn't keep potential over actual performance, but that would mean you should trade PK Subban for Kris Letang or Ryan Whitney as well.
Talk to an 85 year old man about war, politics, family values, technology, racial tolerance, a woman's role and tell me how much of their viewpoint you can relate to. How much of their viewpoints will be antiquated. I respected my grandfather dearly but at 85 not only was his memory a shadow of what it was 20 years earlier but he was caught in a different era. The Net generation is a different animal to a senior citizen and something they fail to grasp.
Red Fisher is a legend and I still enjoy listening to him wax poetic about Canadiens history, but his opinions hold zero relevance or insight in 2010.
I haven't posted for a long time, been busy but now that season's back I'm around again, and this is just too good of a thread to pass up on... I have to say that this is a fairly fair generalization, but that in reality, whether it's Red Fisher's age or something else that drives him not to be analytical anymore, I agree that he simply isn't. And it's true that he rewrites (almost) the same article weekly, most of which are just him on his soapbox... I wish that he would consider more information, more factors, but his articles on the price/halak trade were just very much the rantings of a frustrated fan - where you could basically reduce hi whole argument to "but did you see the save Halak made?"... I could do that...
In fairness, other "older" journalists, such as Stubbs and Boone, are at least fair to the players and consider a lot of points. They don't go nuts on the emotion factor. They may write more fluff pieces than analytical ones, but I think this can be said for most sports writing.
As for writing in general, I completely agree that newspapers, and the conventional media as a whole, have stopped writing the news and become sensationalistic.. They report on reporting half the time. They manufacture. It's so meta... And no one does any proper investigation anymore - it's just repeating what's been told to them without any critical thinking whatsoever. It's how the US ended up in Iraq, and only after that turned into a collossal disaster did any of them ask any questions. Well, where were you before? What happened to investigative journalism... Off topic, but drives me crazy.
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Without having a lot of reasons for it, I could see Gomez, Gionta, Camallerri, Markov, Pleks the homegrown wonderkid, with an "A" for Gorges. I think its pretty much the room that dictates this decision and often a coach just puts the official stamp on it.
I actually would add Gill to that list too - in some other thread there was talk about his being really vocal if something needed to be said, and I think Gorges could totally be a C...
Isn't it great that we have so many ppl who COULD be, who are worthy of it??
And PK, in a few years - like 7 years or something. Let him grow and mature with as little pressure as possible, which is already waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much in this city.
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Lappy's been AWESOME this playoffs, and actually that whole third line of him, Moore, and Pyatt is great... Keep them together next year.
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We NEED Gill for this next game...
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I'd say the noncalls against the Pens are what people are complaining about. Most specifically the ankle grab on Subban that led to the Pens goal. As someone else mentioned, the Habs had just scored, were putting on more pressure, and the game (at least the first period) turned on that play. Had it been called the correctly, the Habs had a 1 goal lead and would have been heading to a PP.
If Orpik was "boarded", where was the charging call for him leaving his feet into Plex? Although I'm sure had Plex fallen, he would've received a diving call. I won't even touch the freebies Crosby gets. 87 can do no wrong. I've been given a seat for 10 before for less chirping than he does.
Once again, in the end, it ultimately didn't change the outcome of the game. The Habs won, and even Darche admitted (I think it was him) that the Habs were letting the officiating get to them. Is it some grand conspiracy, I doubt it. But the officiating last night (and the diving trifecta game against the Caps) have left me scratching my head.
yup. non calls for me too - especially the Subban trip ...
I don't care if they penalize us, but penalize both teams when it's so obvious.
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I know we look awful on paper but if we can only get one of them back, I'd totally take Gill over Spacek (that's assuming Markov's not an option at all)... Which is a testament to how much Gill's proven himself in these playoffs - him and Gorges have been something else!
I know on paper spacek is better, but really I agree that we haven't missed him all that much - of course, maybe it's cuz he's not playing his side...
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It's 2-1 after 1 in an open game. It's not over yet. Maybe Martin bought back the refs in the intermission.
Love it. Turns out you were right
Are we seeing a trend or is this just a temporary problem?
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you know what else would clear up room? Sending Gomez to the minors!! (Not to beat a dead horse, but I really can't take it anymore)