l.moustakas

I find CBC has far too much of an anglophone / right-wing slant in its presentation of hockey. Having said that, I think, by and large, Friedman, Hrudy and Weekes do excellent work. Too bad they are overshadowed by the antics of Milbury, Cherry and Stock. Speaking of Stock, am I the only one who feels he rather liberally takes shots at players currently in the NHL, especially when is he on RDS. As someone who was little more than an undersized pugilist in the NHL, perhaps he should tone it down (mind you, I would love if I just had the talent to be that!)

Personally, I loathed Travis Moen in his first two years in Montreal. He was not nearly physical enough for my liking, nevermind the relative absence of support scoring. This season he has been a force on the third line, but I am weary of his sudden input. Is it genuine or is it motivated by his contractual status? If it is the former, the Habs should certainly retain him, but I have some doubts.

Shameless site plug, but the recap is up: http://habsworld.net/article.php?id=2686 Always more fun to write these when the team wins, although I doubt this will help launch them into a long winning streak and playoff spot. Just saying.

Come on. You all should have seen that coming. Montreal gets a goal waved off. Then Philadelphia, on a similar play, has their goal allowed. Just feels like that kind of game, no? This game is a test of the Canadiens' character. A win here could be bigger than the two points.

That no-goal was brutal. Cole's presence was largely without consequence, and the league typically let's players get away with far worse. Good point on Price's puck handling, salient statistic as well. As for Cammalleri, he is shooting more but he is still skating in half strides, especially when he sets up to challenge the puck carrier on the boards. He looks like he is trying to trick opposing players away from the puck as opposed to forcing a turnover by forechecking hard.

Ben Maxwell. What a dud. I will steadfastly defend Trevor Timmins record at the draft table, but let's just say the 2006 draft was not his best. Only Ryan White remains as a viable, full time NHLer. Mathieu Carle, Ben Maxwell and, worst of all, David Fischer are all looong gone. On another note, I am so incredibly glad it is the last day of Movember. My razor and my face will spend some quality time together tomorrow.

On the flip side, after such a long absence, one has to wonder if his conditionning has taken him as far as it will go. At one point, he will need to be thrown into the fire and with the team on a rough California stretch (which, if memory serves, is a trip the team typically struggles on), this seems like a good a time as any.

Hopefully that is something the league and PA can address in the next CBA. The cap on fines is ridiculous. It's like if I got fined 10$. I can barely get a pint on Friday night for that...

I feel that, with this, one almost needs to split their mind in two. On one hand, the league is wildly incosnsitent. Lucic on Miller, Wolski on Alfie. The list of unpunished offenses goes on. On the other hand, Pacs hit was violent and was to a vulnerable player. It deserved a suspension. As a fan, though, it is frustrating to see the league miss the mark so often and, when they get it right, it just so happens to be on the Habs best winger. Regardless, it is the correct call, in my opinion. Until the league sets guidelines defining which infractions warrant what punishment, it will be like throwing darts and we will keep measuring silly things like 'intent' and 'sudden moves'.

The 'hero' syndrome is always a concern, especially since the team is so devoid of Francophone talent. Were there a more solid core of francophone players, I believe the pressure would be lesser. In any event, a three-game trip out west with games at odd times should shield Leblanc from undue media and fan pressure. Has anyone seen him play this year? Do you think he is ready to put in NHL minutes?

Besdies, if he did really request a trade, should that not be a red-flag? Carter, who has played just around 10 games in Columbus already wants out. Meanwhile, Rick Nash, who has endured the perpetual mediocrity of the same franchise, is willing to stick it out. What is wrong with this picture? Jeff Carter is well within his rights to be upset at the Flyers. But he is not so much withing his rights to request a trade. He certainly does not own the moral high ground to do so.

Ah, what a treat for Centre Ice watchers. The NESN duo are not the most ridiculously biased broadcast team in the league. Noooo. As we say in French (and in English, but I feel like saying it in French): "Ils sont du pour perdre". In any event, I have back-to-back floor hockey games tonight. So whoever writes our recap best do darn good job!

Emelin looked a bit off, indeed. When he took his holding penalty on Tavares, is it just me or did he seem like he had him in a good position for a hit just moments before? As for Gomez, I am literally pulling my hair out watching him take so many shots from dead angles. Not only that, be he shoots quite high, limiting rebound potential. Argh. However, with last night's sleepy performance, there is plenty of blame to go around.

If Montreal were to acquire any big name player (Carter, Nash, Ignla, etc) then we all know that cap-space would be needed. And, short of burying Gomez in the minors (which, at this point, I'm all for), that cap space will be hard to come by. Look at me bringing up the salary cap. You would think I was Brian or something. Sheesh.

@Brian - I could hardly imagine how this could not be the first time four Swiss players are in the same game. Especially not four Swiss skaters! Who could have been there before? Luca Cereda, Reto Von Arx, Goran Bezina and Julien Vauclair (I swear, I did not even use wikipedia to find those names!) Glad the Habs gave the nod to Budaj. Between having back-to-back contests and his good showing thus far, its hard to argue with the decision. In any event, shameless self promo, but just whipped up a preview: http://habsworld.net/article.php?id=2643

Wow. When the most experienced projected d-man is Gorges, that is slightly scary. Luckily, the Canes blueline is nothing to write home about either. Besides, I must admit I am quite curious to see St-Denis in action. I'm far less thrilled to see Engqvist in the lineup though...

Haven't posted in a while and now I am doing so only for shameless self-promo. Our preview is online at http://habsworld.net/article.php?id=2632 The Habs really need to try to exploit Ottawa's lack of defensive composure. Most penalized team in the league, one of the worst PKs and also in the top 5 or 6 in giveaways.

Why thank you.

Selon RDS, Marc Denis occupera le role d'analyste (colour commentary) durant les matchs du CH. http://www.rds.ca/canadien/chroniques/321398.html Vos reactions?

Not sure why you said that would be an unpopular decision, Brian. Frankly, I thought it made total sense. As much as I am a Desharnais supporter, at this point Halpern's veteran saavy outweighs Desharnais' youthful enthusiasm (and pointless streak). Having said that, should Pouliot sit instead and Martin opt to dress the two centres down the road, it would not be a horrible option either.

Sometimes I wonder if all of these so-called experts (from this article and others) are even paying attention. Montreal has an edge in the season series, in the past decade and lifetime versus Boston. Last year, the Habs went to the conference finals and vanquished two of the top contenders in the East. The Bruins blew a 3-0 seires lead in the second round. Yet, in spite of all of that, Boston, who only has two more regular season wins than Montreal, enters as the overwhelming favourite according to most analysts. Really? Am I missing something here? I am not saying my predictions are gold, but I am able to recognize freakin' facts when they hit me in the face.

Brian (dlbalr), Fred (JoeLassister) and myself give our prediction and 'expert' (cough) analysis for the other seven series: East: http://habsworld.net/article.php?id=2457 West: http://habsworld.net/article.php?id=2458 Enjoy!

As some of you may or may not know, I was actually born just near Chicago. And the Chicagoan in me just wants to say the following: Thank you Minnesota Wild.

Good luck with that. Oh, and remember, you reserve the right to serve who you choose....

Wait wait wait. End this topic? Not quite. You did not think all this wonderful ranting would go unnoticed in ATB: http://habsworld.net/article.php?id=2452 Come on. You guys made my weekly piece both easy and entertaining.