Jekyll and Hyde again!

Another week of Jekyll and Hyde play from the Habs. Three games two wins against the Senators and one loss to the Devils! How is a 2-1 week a bad thing? It not except 4 out of 7 goals came from the Plekanec line and while it great that the team got at least one line that produce when they don't score nobody else does and we lose by shutout against the Devils. A team that can't even afford to have a real roster to face us by the way! 


By all account the Habs had a cakewalk of a month with many teams they faced being in worse shape than they are. Hell the two wins this week was against a team that had the second worse start of the season. While it a good thing to help with Price confidence and Markov never ending bad luck in the short term it not going to last. The easy points wasted now are going to bite the Habs in the ass by the end of the season!


Players of the week:  Subban, AK, Plekanec and Price.
Ghost of the week: Gomez and the Power Play for a third week in a row!
Sign of hope: Markov is close to being day to day and Pouliot finally put one in!


So while the disaster season that I predicted is thankfully not materializing yet their still enough sore spot to worry about.

The NHL is a joke league!

The NHL with the idiotic suspension of Rick Rypien is showing how far they need to go to be considered a serious league. All serious pro sports league share a few rules that players break at their own peril. One of them is don't ever go into the stand to fight a fucking fan!

The NBA banned a player for a full season for the same kind of incident! That how serious this kind of shit is taken otherwise you're no better than wrestling. This is how low the NHL sank by giving this ridiculous six games suspension. When you're considered at wrestling level peoples are going to start suspecting that you also fix game by the way.

On another note the 55 millions Texas Rangers eliminated the 206 millions New York Yankees. Fuck the Yankees and their overkill payroll!  

  

What if the Habs had more home games!

It ridiculous the prices of tickets in Montreal but yet they sell out every home games! And the Habs are not alone the top five NHL market can sell their tickets at outrageous price and still sell out everyone of their games! This beg the question, why every team get to play 41 home game? This is a league that got about 5 teams selling out every game at scandalous price and five team that cannot fill half their arena if they gave away the tickets for free! 


An easy fix is to have those big market play 51 home games and split the extra earning with the visiting team 40/40/20. 40% goes to the big market home team 40% goes to the small market visiting team 20% goes to the league.


40% off a sell out crowd in Montreal is worth a lot more than 100% off an half empty arena that the average ticket price for the few peoples who actually turn up was 30 bucks! You know what you get for $30 at the Bell Center? The price of parking on game night plus half your first beer!
If you're a top earner and are keeping this league afloat should your fan base be rewarded with more home game? And if you're a small market hemorrhaging money 31 home games to sell is a lot easier than 41 plus the added rarity mean that you're likely be able to ask more for tickets on average.
The Islanders with their No Habs No campaign is not really targeting Islanders fans by the way it directed at attracting even more Habs fans so let take the next logical step in the new CBA!        

The Habs won... By a cunthair again!!!

Good team always find ways to win by the skin of their teeth, great team usually don't need to. So by that measurement the Habs are a good team. Montreal is now 3-1-1 good enough for fourth place in a conference that got about every teams struggling but the top 3 and the Bruins who are behind in game played. If Mtl can get a serious boost by adding Markov next week it a golden opportunity because the Leafs are due to crash into the wall we call reality this week!

On a final note here come the scapegoat! Who will be the first NHL coach to get scapegoated out of a job? After last Friday game my money on Lindy Ruff.

You lose some and you win some! And sometime fate is just a fucking Bitch!

So the Habs are now 2-1-1. Five points out of eight considering the anemic power play the fact that no team really dominated the Habs and that Price is not yet the utter epic failure that I predicted it not so bad a start. If the Habs can win tonight against the Senators we can consider this to even be a good start. By all account they could do worse! The Sens, Pens, Devils and Sabres are all having a worse start than the Habs and while it not a surprise when it come to the Devils considering their recent roster shenanigan it is for the rest of that group. 


The big surprise come from the Leafs who are now 4-0 and while I will not call them "The Laugh" for a while I fear that Toronto fans are in for a rude awakening when their team face teams who are in better shape than the Habs, Sens, Pens and Rangers. My money is on reality coming to bite them in the ass next Saturday October 23! Truth be told it way too early for anybody to make any conclusion on this season start after all right now the Islander are in eight place and the Bruins played only just 2 games. 


On a positive note Gorges got the power play monkey off the Habs back yesterday! 
I feel George Carlin will curse me from his grave for using the wrong expression but what the fuck it worth being haunted for a while. Hell being visited by the ghost of Carlin is something I would consider an honor anyway! loll  

While waiting for Markov!

The Habs are now 1-1-1! One win, One defeat and One overtime defeat! Worse yet the Habs have not scored a single power play goal since the season started. Not exactly panic time but it still leave a bad taste in my mouth. The absence of Markov is a big drag and Subban is being overused to compensate. While the kid is great he will make rookie mistakes and the more you use him the more likely he is to make them and that what happen yesterday. On a positive note AK scored a great goal and maybe that will help jump start his career. Pouliot well what can I say maybe the Habs need to start looking somewhere else to back the Gomez and Gionta duo! That the big problem of that team they got one great duo and one good duo but no great or even good trio! Last time I check a forward line in hockey is composed of three dudes not two! So it clear that the Habs are missing a piece or two to be a real contender.


On a very positive note to end this middle of the week post the Price maybe right after all that was another solid night for Carey.  

Mind fuck!

Last night game was well not great but good enough at least if you're an Habs fans! On the other hand if you're a Pens fan you got to wonder if the Habs are not mind fucking the Pittsburgh Penguins! The Pens were frustrated and off their game for most of the first period. The only thing that kept them in the game is the Habs incapacity at capitalizing on the power play and one sided officiating. M.A.B gone and Markov absence is hurting the team power play a lot something to fix this must be done. Because of Markov bad luck the Habs cannot depend solely on him coming back and staying healthy.

In both Markov and Hammer absence Subban was pretty much the number one defenseman and number one target, thank god he look like the real stuff. On another positive note Carey Price had a solid game and actually kept the team in the game for most of it. One might have issues with the second Pens goal but it is to be expected and Price did not collapse after that. So except for the second period the Habs had a good game. If they start playing 60 minutes soon they might just have a good season at least good enough to avert the disaster that I predicted!