Montreal Canadiens

A 1 – 2 Goalie punch?

Alot is being said about the goaltenders in Montreal in the media. Will one get traded? When? For who/what? Which one?….etc.

This morning I read this great article on The Hockey News site titled “Top Shelf: Re-packaging the 1-2 goalie punch“.

The author (Ryan Dixon) mentions that there is another team doing a very similar thing that is going on with the Habs as of late. That is, each goaltender has played a substantial number of games.
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Habs 100th anniversary videos

For any of you who weren’t able to view the festivities for the Habs 100th anniversary last night or for those of you who would just like to watch it again (and again…??).

Here are the videos from last night courtesy of Habs TV!

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100th anniversary ceremonies

Last night was a magical night for Montreal Canadiens fans. I thought they would have some special surprises planned but I couldn’t have guessed how it would have unfolded.

I watched RDS for many hours before the game and was impressed from the beginning. I thought it was just great.

When they dimmed the lights in the Bell Center I almost felt goose bumps all over.. I knew something pretty neat was gonna take place.

Then… when the pucks were dumped on the ice and I saw Patrick Roy walking on the ice in full gear…. I was in awe. It was awesome. Seeing all those guys jump on the ice brought back alot of memories. One guy I hadn’t noticed walk on the ice was Mats Naslund… later when he was introduced I was so pleased to see him there. He was one of my favorite players in his time in Montreal.

I won’t try to name every player that skated with the alumni… but let’s just say I thought it was very classy and very cool for the die hard Canadiens fans. Many of those guys I hadn’t seen in their playing days but like some of you (I’m sure) I’ve read about them and have seen their statistics over and over again. I’m not just really a fan of the Montreal Canadiens I’ve seen on the ice….. I’m a fan of the Montreal Canadiens rich history as much as I am the current team they ice year after year.
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A little bit of Habs news today

It was reported that David Desharnais is heading back to Hamilton. Desharnais played just under 8 minutes against the Penguins, no points and -1.

Hoping that he’ll be back sometime.

And RDS is reporting that Andrei Markov started skating and that there’s a chance that he could be back in the lineup as early as late December.

Imagine if Markov did come back healthy and ready to go by early January… just in time to get in sync for the playoff run….

Gomez, Spacek, D’Agostini and the newly acquired Benoit Pouliot were also skating today.

The game against the Penguins had the Habs down Markov, Gill, Gomez, Spacek, Gionta, D’Agostini and Andrei Kostitsyn…. am I missing a few???

The team played with effort and heart.

Imagine what this team may look like in Januray or February is these guys are back and the team is relatively healthy. I’m optimistic… At the rate of NHL injuries this year though…. there are no guarantees.

Some bright spots this week

So far this week we have 1 win and one loss.

The problems this season seem to go from a game with some bad defense to a good defensive game with bad a offensive game. Is this a really big problem yet? Is it time to wave the white flag?

It’s a consistency problem. But I don’t think it’s huge yet. No white flags here.

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What’s with all the fuss at 2-5??

Listening to some stuff going on you’d swear it was February and the team was looking like they were going to miss the playoffs.

Not sure why but it almost seems to me that expectation is always so high. When the “new” guys were being signed, I didn’t expect a whole lot to happen during those days… but I must admit that after the summer was over I did feel a certain optimism. There were new players with both offensive and defensive skill.

Going into tonight the Canadiens have lost 5 straight and perhaps it feels a little worse because they started out with 2 wins in a row.

But let me ask a couple of questions…
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Defensive juggle before the home opener

According to the Montreal Canadiens website Yannick Weber has been assigned to the Hamilton Bulldogs. This doesn’t really come as much of a surprise.

With the home opener a few days away it would seem likely that the Canadiens will likely call up the recently signed Marc-Andre Bergeron.

There was a time that I looked at the defensive core and thought to myself that it could look promising. It really seems like it was long ago but in reality we’re talking a couple of weeks. Back in the days when the anticipation for that first game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, the team that was gonna intimidate and push us around.

Today I’m slightly confused. I’ll explain myself a bit further on my confusion… but first about Bergeron.
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Thinking about the team 3 games in

So we’re 3 games into the 2009/2010 NHL season. In these first 3 games there’s been many ups and downs already.

The Canadiens have had 2 big injuries and 1 minor injury in their first 2 games and thankfully last night everyone made it out ok!

Here’s a few thoughts on some ups and some downs so far (in no real particular order).
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Season just about on and some last cuts made

As I write this there is 2 more sleeps before the new 2009-2010 season opens with the Montreal Canadiens facing the Toronto Maple Leafs. I’ve been waiting for this long enough to qualify me as a slightly obsessed fan.

Jacques Martin has made some more cuts and now we have the team or roster together that will start the year.

The cuts that were made today were Ben Maxwell, Tom Pyatt, Yannick Weber, Mathieu Carle and Curtis Sanford.
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Bob McKenzie’s 6 cities in 6 days : The Montreal Canadiens

Bob McKenzie of TSN has a series called “6 cities in 6 days” where he covers all the Canadian NHL teams, talks about their changes and where he sees the team going.

McKenzie believes “the Price had better be right” in Montreal this year. Bob also mentions the many changes in the team’s roster this year and that it’s anyone’s guess just how much success they’ll have… an interesting remark however is that he references the Carolina Hurricanes Stanley cup run, saying the team could resemble that team in the sense that the team could be better then the sum of it’s parts. (At least, that’s how I remember him saying it!)

If you haven’t see his analysis of the Canadiens, you can view it here.