[Game Thread] Carolina Hurrianes @ MONTREAL CANADIENS

[Wamsley01]

For the breakouts, I still don't think the forwards are helping much. Yes, Spacek made a bad read on the giveaway for the Jokinen goal, but you'll notice that the Habs had two forwards at the Carolina blueline and no one in between Spacek at the faceoff circle and them. The Habs' forwards HAVE to close those gaps. Sergei Kostitsyn got berated publicly in training camp for the exact same thing.

There could be coaching concerns, but I do see Gomez, Cammalleri and Plekanec back, getting the puck often below their own faceoff circle. Moen is always in good position up the boards to help move the puck out as well.

The Habs' forwards need to do this while still being in motion, however. It's a tough thing to learn, apparently. And young guys often have to learn from their own mistakes... hopefully guys like Lapierre and Latendresse, who are now both over 200 games played, will start playing with that veteran awareness.

The D is going to make bad passes. They simply aren't good passers, and they aren't good when pressured. We know this, but that's why it's very important for them to get help from their forwards.

Funny, three of the four players reared in a different system.

[Wamsley01]

That game was bone-chilling. If the Habs are anything like a good team, they should have looked a lot better. Remember that this was an absolute 'must win' coming off a humiliation in Nashville. We should have been coming at the Canes in waves. Instead we fluked out a win. Even Benoit Brunet was expressing grave worries after it was over. This team does not look good in any facet of the game, except:

It's becoming clear that when Carey Price is on his game, he is already the best goalie we have had in Montreal since you-know-who. He has the great intangibles working for him - presence, swagger - like it the shootout where he simply projected 'You Ain't Gonna Score' as well as any goalie I've ever seen. That aura of near-unbeatability is impossible to bottle and it eventually leads to a goalie being larger than life. I LOVE what I'm seeing from that kid right now.

Apart from that, be afraid. Be very, very afraid. This win was in many ways a moral defeat.

It was the first time in a while where he has used his size to his advantage and displayed the patience

to wait for the Canes to make the first move. His gap control was really good as he took advantage of

the forwards coming in at a slow pace and remained high in the crease taking away any chance of a shot.

Once the forwards got in deep, they could not create enough speed to take advantage of the gap between

Price and the net and when he fanned out his legs and glove, they covered the bottom half forcing them to try

to get the puck high in a hurry.

Last season you could tell when he was lost, he was guessing on the shootout moves and looked incompetent.

The behind the camera angles was very reminiscent of the patience he displayed in the World Junior shootout.

These are the little things that keep me from piling on him in bad times.

He is not a superstar yet, so don't expect the results that a superstar produces.

[Wamsley01]

I guess I am slightly put off by the organization when they remake the team completely in the offseason, spend over 100 MILLION dollars on FAs', and yet when one guy goes down the wings are clipped and its now survival mode for 4 months.

Don't get me wrong I understand how valuable Markov is to this team, however it continues to be a sore spot with me that you can spend that much money on a rebuild and still be a the whim of one guys performance/health.

This is becoming less of an excuse and more of a crutch as the season drags on in my opinion.

Welcome to the new NHL.

When you invest, you better be sure what you are getting because a mistake that takes up 10% of your cap room

for 4% of your roster is debilitating. Now if the 10% spent correctly is gone? The other 90% better be damn good

choices or you better have players playing above their pay grade.

Outside of Price and Plekanec, I don't see any players outplaying their pay grade AND I sure as hell don't see any

multi million dollar players earning theirs. As much as I like Cammalleri, 16 points in 21 games is not $6M worth of player.

The cap is the new NHL and if you don't manage it wisely, the only way to save yourself is a stocked farm.

I think the reasons for this teams early season failure is pretty evident. If this season is going to turn around

it will be on the backs of the $18M line and the Kostitsyn brothers. If this is all they are going to give, start printing

your Taylor Hall, Tyler Seguin jerseys because anything else is just depressing.

Edited November 18, 2009 by Wamsley01

[Easy Ryder]

Don't minimize the impact off a Markov less habs line up on

the other players production.

If no D can make that first pass on the tape it becomes very hard

for small forwards to use their speed.

Speed is what brings opponent to the penalty bench.

Only 69 PP opportunity in 1/4 games is not near 78 the average of the league.

MTl did score only 11 goals, league average is 16.

It's more than safe to say that with Markov there would be 5 more goals would have been scored,

more penalties would have been called against the habs because of Markov pass accuracy and

more 5-5 goals on Markov pas opportunities.

Cammelleri 16 points in 21 games would be easily 1 point a game. ok for 6 million.

So hold on, O'byrne and Laraque are back with 479 pound more or less for vegetarian

for tougher opposition. Washington, Detroit , Colombus and Pittsburg. Yeah they are teams

loaded with talent, the only way to compete is put beef beef on the ice and play the system.

Note to Laraque one word, nobody touches Plekanek and Gomez.

Note to O'byrne, bring what you showed at the camp and you are our top right D.

[KoZed]

It's becoming clear that when Carey Price is on his game, he is already the best goalie we have had in Montreal since you-know-who. 

Since Théodore?

[Colin]

Since Théodore?

*shock* You need to say his superhero name!

CAPTIAN PROPECIA! <insert theme music and sound effects>

[MK1]

Don't minimize the impact off a Markov less habs line up on

the other players production.

If no D can make that first pass on the tape it becomes very hard

for small forwards to use their speed.

Speed is what brings opponent to the penalty bench.

Only 69 PP opportunity in 1/4 games is not near 78 the average of the league.

MTl did score only 11 goals, league average is 16.

It's more than safe to say that with Markov there would be 5 more goals would have been scored,

more penalties would have been called against the habs because of Markov pass accuracy and

more 5-5 goals on Markov pas opportunities.

Cammelleri 16 points in 21 games would be easily 1 point a game. ok for 6 million.

So hold on, O'byrne and Laraque are back with 479 pound more or less for vegetarian

for tougher opposition. Washington, Detroit , Colombus and Pittsburg. Yeah they are teams

loaded with talent, the only way to compete is put beef beef on the ice and play the system.

Note to Laraque one word, nobody touches Plekanek and Gomez.

Note to O'byrne, bring what you showed at the camp and you are our top right D.

Cammi has performed well so far this year, but I also have different expectations for him compared to the rest. He was brought in and paid $6M/yr for one reason and one reason alone ... to score goals. 8G in 21GP has him on pace for 30+, which I will be fine with at year's end. But that is the floor for a player earning his salary for what he brings to the table.

I hope he keeps it up because he is a new fav on this current team, however he needs 30+ to earn his spot on this team given his salary committment.

[jackp]

It was refreshing to see only 1 negative comment concerning my last post from the thought police. If the person identified wants to see positive comments from me, then I invite him to visit the Alouettes forum at

http://forums.en.montrealalouettes.com/vie...=801921#p801921

where discussion revolves around a team that deserves positive comments.

The main thing that pisses me off about Gainey's panicked moves this summer was the Gomez trade. Granted, the aging Koivu had to go. Granted, Kovalev might have outstayed his welcome (though I loved him). And granted, Cammy and Gionta were good pickups. But 7 million dollars for 5 years?!!!! J---s C----t!!! The guy is a floating shell of the player who once played for the Devils. This was an incredibly stupid move, reminiscent of the Houle days. And mark my words, this guy (Gomez) will become as hated here as he was in New York. It's pretty obvious to me that he's only interested in collecting a salary with the minimum pain involved. I'm sure Sather is still chuckling over that one.

[redondo]

It was refreshing to see only 1 negative comment concerning my last post from the thought police. If the person identified wants to see positive comments from me, then I invite him to visit the Alouettes forum at

http://forums.en.montrealalouettes.com/vie...=801921#p801921

where discussion revolves around a team that deserves positive comments.

The main thing that pisses me off about Gainey's panicked moves this summer was the Gomez trade. Granted, the aging Koivu had to go. Granted, Kovalev might have outstayed his welcome (though I loved him). And granted, Cammy and Gionta were good pickups. But 7 million dollars for 5 years?!!!! J---s C----t!!! The guy is a floating shell of the player who once played for the Devils. This was an incredibly stupid move, reminiscent of the Houle days. And mark my words, this guy (Gomez) will become as hated here as he was in New York. It's pretty obvious to me that he's only interested in collecting a salary with the minimum pain involved. I'm sure Sather is still chuckling over that one.

How many games has it been, and you've already given up on Gomez? Remember that Kovy, whom you said you loved, also had a very slow start with us (it took him a while to even score, and when he did it was an empty-netter) when we first got him. I was not happy with the Gomez trade either, but it's a little early to pronounce him dead in the water. He certainly looks like he is trying to me, at the very least.

[MK1]

How many games has it been, and you've already given up on Gomez? Remember that Kovy, whom you said you loved, also had a very slow start with us (it took him a while to even score, and when he did it was an empty-netter) when we first got him. I was not happy with the Gomez trade either, but it's a little early to pronounce him dead in the water. He certainly looks like he is trying to me, at the very least.

Without Gomez there probably would not have been the Cammi and Gio signings this past summer. And while I agree he needs to pick up the pace a bit and start to hit the scoresheet more often, the first line on this club is the least of it's problems.

[Habsfan]

So the main problems as i see them are they are soft in there own end, out of position alot, can't put 2 passes together, even with mo pressure, soft on the puck, they can't clear it when they need to. The amount of turnovers is just staggering, they have turnovers per game then shots. The Dumb penalties just kill these guys, they are leading the league in 2 minute minors.

The defense is having a hard time cause almost half the regulars are injured. Which forces Martin to use guys like Hamrlik and Spacek 26, 27 and 30 minutes per game. Both are 35 years old and aren't used to getting that much icetime. They get tired faster(because they are on the ice for soooo long) and when you get tired, you make mistakes. True that Hamrlik and Spacek have done a good job up til now, but I'm sure things will improve with the return of O'Byrne, and Gill.

Hamrlik's and Spacek's ice time will go down to a more manageable 22-23 minutes per game, and they should cause less turnovers.

And when Markov returns even Gill will look better, cause instead of playing 19 or 20 minutes, he,ll only play 15 minutes(mostly on the PK) and he won't be on the ice as much, therefore will have less chances of making mistakes!

Here's the ideal icetime I'd give our d-men.

Markov: 26 to 28 minutes

Spacek: 21-22 minutes

Hamrlik: 21-22 minutes

O'Byrne: 19-20 minutes

Mara: 18-20 minutes

Gorges: 18-20 minutes

Gill: 15-16 minutes

Bergeron: 14-15 minutes

[Trizzak]

*shock* You need to say his superhero name!

CAPTIAN PROPECIA! <insert theme music and sound effects>

*raspberry*