CENTENNIAL SEASON GOES AWRY IN MONTREAL
This was supposed to be a season to remember in Montreal, but the Canadiens faithful may soon be forcing themselves to forget the 2008-09 season.
Let’s rewind to last June, when the entry draft pulled into the Bell Centre to drop the ceremonial first puck on the Canadiens’ 100th Anniversary celebration. The “bleu, blanc et rouge” were preparing for a magical season. The All-Star Game was on the horizon and the Stanley Cup could be right behind it.
The Montreal roster contained a nice mix of speed and skill, youth and experience. Aside from Mark Streit, it was basically the same group of players that earned the top spot in the Eastern Conference the year before. There was a rejuvenated Alexei Kovalev on the wing and a blossoming Carey Price in net. And if a tweak or two was necessary, the organization possessed enough prospects to swing a deal.
The optimism, while blown out of proportion in some circles, was certainly warranted.
And the Canadiens only fostered that optimism with an 8-1-1 start. They were 27-11-6 after a shootout defeat of the Senators in Ottawa on January 17th. However, little has gone right since, on the ice or off.
They would win only three times in the next four weeks. That prompted former coach Jean Perron to go on CKAC Radio and say Price, Christopher Higgins and Sergei Kostitsyn’s partying was affecting the team.
Shortly thereafter, local police came across Sergei, brother Andrei and Roman Hamrlik while busting an organized crime ring. The players had done nothing, but associating with a known felon wasn’t part of the anniversary celebration program.
Neither was Alex Kovalev returning to his 2006-07 form. That year, the Russian enigma recorded just 18 goals and 47 points, and was a -19. He recovered last season with 35-49-84 and a +18. But this season, Kovalev has dipped to 16 tallies and 47 points (his plus/minus is even for the season). His play became so disinterested that general manager Bob Gainey sent Kovalev home for two days to clear his head…with his team’s season slipping away.
Kovalev, though, is not the only Canadien disappointment this year. Franchise goalie Price undeservedly started the All-Star Game – and his play has only gotten worse since then. He has just four wins in his last 17 outings, allowing five goals twice and seven once in that stretch. It’s Jaroslav Halak doing the heavy lifting in the Hab net right now.
And the Montreal power-play clearly misses Streit, dropping from first last season (24.1%) to 18th this one (17.9%).
The Canadiens, as of Wednesday afternoon, sat fifth in the Eastern Conference with 79 points (36-24-7), but that’s only three points better than the 9th-place Rangers.
Combine all of this and you get Gainey firing head coach Guy Carbonneau Monday and stepping behind the bench himself – to save the team (and probably his job).
The players’ indiscretions go back to Carbonneau initially, but isn’t the GM just as responsible for keeping the employees in line?
And it wasn’t Carbonneau that whiffed at the trade deadline. While Mathieu Schneider was a nice addition earlier in March, how did Oli Jokinen end up in another Canadian city? The Canadiens had better prospects to deal than the Flames, so either Gainey failed to pick up the phone or the Calgary front office simply beat him – either way, point your finger at Gainey.
And let’s not even discuss the seemingly never-ending Vinny Lecavalier rumors.
No matter how you look at it, the Canadiens’ 100th season has been simply disastrous. Yes, this team should make the playoffs, but without an in-form Price and a significant deadline acquisition, it would be lucky to win a round. And that’s a long way from the storybook ending Montreal’s been expecting.
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The Shootout...Are NHL GMs reading this column? We wrote recently that strengthening the fighting penalties could be used as a deterrent for needless altercations. And what do we read yesterday? NHL GMs want to implement a 10-minute misconduct for fights thought to be staged!
As useless as Tim Thomas’ old school mask appears, he clearly needs it. Thomas was tremendous Tuesday night in Columbus, except when his helmet broke in a collision and he had to wear Manny Fernandez’s while repairs were made to his. That’s when Thomas allowed his only goal of the night, a weak off-wing wrister from Raffi Torres...
And Congratulations to Gary Roberts on a wonderful 21-year career.
As always, please direct your comments, questions, complaints to boguschhockey@gmail.com
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