We're doomed. End of season wrap-up

So, Montreal gets to lose to Boston. Just perfect.

I was watching last night's game against the Penguins and was struck by how the game resembled the season. Some great highlights and a lot of potential, but with a very disappointing outcome. Bride of Kovalev, who usually likes to nap while the Habs play, commented that it seems none of the players have any idea where their teammates are. She said she knows that it's a good idea to pass to open spaces, but the Habs seem to pass to areas where no one wearing a red sweater is anywhere close.

No offense to BoK, but if she can see the lack of chemistry the Habs exhibit, then why the hell can't Bob Gainey, and why didn't Guy Carbonneau? It seems Carbo didn't take the blender with him after he was fired, and Gainey's been making use of it since. I like Glen Metropolit, but why the hell was he on the first line last night? I know Gainey was trying to give his players a rest, but last night was not just some throwaway. With a win, Montreal could have avoided playing the Big Bad Bruins (and losing in quick order). Also, when you're gearing up for the playoffs, there is no rest. You play as you practice, and practice as you play. You put your top lines out, keep their rhythm and chemistry going, and hit the ground running when the playoffs begin. Last night's experiment means the Habs will start the series against Boston cold, with zero momentum. (With the exception of a very quirky Carey Price. Look for awesome, unbelievable saves, combined with slap-your-forehead dunce-cap ass goals from him in the upcoming series.)

So, the season is over, and now we get to see the Bruins kick the shit out of our Habbies. I wonder if Big Georges Laraque will play? If he doesn't, one has to wonder just wtf Bob Gainey is thinking.

Also of note, we will undoubtedly be saying goodbye to many of our players very soon. We have, what, 11 free agents? I'll speak more on this in the coming weeks, but I end this season sadly. I have no reason to think Koivu will be back, nor do I think Kovalev will submit himself to Gainey's "management" any further. Tanguay was awesome for us, and I hope he'll stay, but I expect the worse. Komisarek is a mixed bag. He could be great, but he was terrible this season. I imagine he'll go on to do great things, but with a different team.

Now on to the playoffs. I'll hope for the best, but expect the worse.

Draft Starts Tomorrow!

Teams and draft order to come soon...

The Shit hits the Fan

I hereby call a moratorium on posting from Bruins and Habs Fans, at least until we all cool off by Saturday. But I'll say this:
Bob Gainey: Where's Laraque? What the fuck are you thinking, knowing how the Bruins are going to come at Montreal? And as long as Price plays this brand of bullshit dystentery goaltending, Jack Edwards can froth at the mouth and spew his verbal diahrea all he wants, cause the Habs fucking suck, and Bob Gainey is a fucking mental case.

Playoff Pool Time

Ok folks, time to pull aside the curtain and see the REAL reason why this site exists: My annual playoff pool!

Let me know through my e-mail, those who have it, who's interested. I'd also be curious to see if some celebrity guests (other bloggers) would like to participate. P-stone can tell you, the reward for winning is a big fat prize. Oh, and since the feds are watching my every move, I must tell you that there is no cost to play. I do this for love of the game and for the love of stats.

Season ends this Sunday, playoffs begin soon thereafter. So let me know who's interested, and I'll start working on a draft order.

Rules are:
You draft 6 players. 3 Forwards, 2 Defensemen*, 1 Goalie.

Once a player is drafted, he's gone. Choose wisely: if your entire team is wiped out in the first round (Bride of Kovalev had this misfortune), you're done.

Points are given as follows: 2 points for a goal, 1 point for an assist, 1 point for a game your player participates in (folks have always argued whether the backup goalie should get this point; I'll check last year's rules on that), and 2 points for a shutout.

Fairly simple. I'll post the standings each day, and you can use the comments section for smack talk. I'll also be posting post-mortems on some days, so there's that to look forward too :-P

Good luck, and happy playoffs!


*In the case of D-men/Forwards who swing both ways like Dandenault, you can choose which position you want them to take, and there they will remain.

Question to Rogers Announcers

What game were you guys watching last night? Was it the one where Daniel Alfredsson, after getting a whack to the back of his ankle, first tried to fake an injury to draw a penalty, and failing that, turned around and fired a slap-shot directly at Mike Komisarek? Must have been a different game, since the Rogers announcers were congratulating Alfredsson on being a gritty competitor. Hmm. Looked to me like he was just being a stereotypical chicken-bitch who gives Europeans a bad name.

And then there was the Lapierre-Lee fight. Hockeyfights.com gives the win to Lee, but I'm calling this one a draw since most of those votes are ad-hominem votes against Lapierre. Scoring the fight, it was four punches landed by Lapierre, and one by Lee. Granted, that one was a doozy, but takedowns like the one that followed don't matter for shit in hockey fights. But, according to the Rogers folks, the fight was not even close, with Lee knocking Lapierre out and having him taken out on a stretcher.

I also found it curious that the Ottawa announcers criticized Montreal's recent success, arguing that the Habs rely too heavily on its first line. Dudes, your Senators have relied exclusively on their first line for the last five YEARS. Don't lecture us about a team putting all its eggs in one basket. Where has that gotten you? One Cup Final, an early exit, and some early tee-times while other teams play in April. And don't criticize a formula that until last night was 5-0-1. Maybe we could talk about that dirty little shit Grabovski and how he is dead meat next year? Or something relevant to Montreal, not Pot-Kettle idiocy?

In any case. Broadcasting Fail to Rogers for last night's BS-fest. And by the way, Bump and Tease before a commercial break, mm-kay? Broadcast 101. Even Versus isn't this bad.

Sigh. I guess it all makes sense, in some weird way

So. After a tremendously bad day with work yesterday, I come in at 7:30 today (an hour earlier than usual) in order to try to fix yesterday's bad bullshit, and after getting the most pressing business out of the way, checked on Habsinsideout. And what to my wondering eyes should appear, but the news that Patrice Brisebois is the Habs' candidate for the Bill Masterton Trophy. Tomorrow is April Fool's day, so I'm assuming today's story is legitimate. Quoth the Gazette, "The Canadiens' veteran defenceman is his team's nominee for this year's Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy, an annual prize awarded to the player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey. The nomination will be announced today by the NHL and the Canadiens."

So let me get this straight. I've been busting my ass at my job, came in on Sunday to make sure things were going well, had my ass kicked by two different printing companies yesterday, and am doing my utmost best to sort out the resulting messes and get stuff DONE, and this douchebag gets nominated for a damn trophy?
I suppose I should just let deadlines pass, do a thoroughly shitty job, and wonder why my students don't respect me. I guess in the wacky land that is Bob Gainey's Montreal Canadiens, I'd get promoted in no time.

This is not a knock on my job. I enjoy my job and the different challenges that come up. Every day I learn something new. This IS a knock on the crazy-ass organization that is the Canadiens. They trade number one goalies for untested rookies whom they try to anoint as gods, they fire good coaches too soon, fire bad coaches too late, and keep horrible defensemen who have no business in the league and nominate them for awards.

Wow.

Habs for Sale?

So TSN is reporting that the Canadiens are for sale. This is TSN, so take any news like this with a grain of salt. Teams get bought and sold all the time, so this is nothing too earth-shattering.

What WILL be interesting to see is whether the NHL will insist on language that guarantees the team will stay in Montreal. We all fear another Canadian team moving to somewhere like Orlando or New Orleans in Gary Bettman's idiotic mission to bring hockey to the south. So that possibility, although remote, is still a semi-realistic one. No one would have thought that the Jets would move from Winnipeg to a place like Arizona back in the 80's, but it happened.

Also remember though, that Gary Bettman blocked the sale of the Nashville Predators because the buyer was interested in moving the team to a legitimate hockey market. I know Montreal does not have the same venerated history and has not ingrained itself into hockey-lore the way Nashville has, but if Bettman can block a sale because the potential owner is interested in a move, then at least there's some precedent for doing it again.