Holy Campoli, more like Holy Shit!

Remember what I wrote about panic moves! Probably not since nobody reading this shitty blog anyway. Go read my previous post...


Alright let assume you are up to date I said Gauthier was under tremendous pressure to deliver now or face a clean up imposed from the top soon. I also said that he was the lesser of two evil better him GM than another Rejean Houle. So yesterday Gauthier made another move that reflected his ejection seat situation. Defensively the Habs spent the better part of the camp throwing shit at the wall to see what stick the problem was none of it did. The two reason why they did it is that beyond Markov, Subban and Gorges the talent drop faster than an ACME anvil on top of Wile E. Coyote and Markov setback make that only two quality d-man likely to start the season. The rest are either getting too old Spacek, Gill not good enough Weber or had a so so camp Yemelin. And all the kids at least on defense are NHL ready.


Gauthier boss/owner who just paid a shitload of money for the fabled franchise and may well be eyeing the GM/Coach ejection button a lot lately. Picture a black box with a big red button under a  breakable glass cover. If press it will send a signal to a team of lawyers who are on 24 hours standby ready to draft Pierre Gauthier "resignation" letter. While two security guard also on constant standby will escort him to his car with his stuff in two cardboard box. lolll Yeah it not likely to end that way only the small fish in the corporate ladder get treated like shit!


After all none of these guys are his men and a new owner is really tempted the clean house even under the best of circumstance. When he look at his new team throwing money down the drain (Gomez) Mr Molson is likely getting heartburn. Make no mistake this is roster that got a middle of the pack result at best while spending to the cap in the past two years. And with slim to no chance at a meaningful playoff run except for a fluke Halakinan run. Hell if it was my money I would have likely fire just about everybody in management on day one after closing the sale.  


With all of that in mind and some salary cap left Pierre Gauthier addressed a clear need for a fourth or third D by snatching free agent Chris Campoli. Will that be enough to actually give the team some defense stability? Maybe but let pray that Markov will be back really soon. While Campoli stats are not stellar you can make the case that he played for some pretty rotten teams except the Hawks. Having bad stats on a shit team is like getting V.D from a crack whore you can't help it. Off course you can and should stay away from a crack whore but until you reach UFA status you can't really not play for the teams that draft you or trade for you.


Not everything is dark and cloudy Cole feel like a great addition, MaxPac is back in force and by the look of it Cammaleri is back to Super Saiyan 3 shape shit even Gomez looked good lately. The other good news the throw everything at the wall camp was not a total waste of time at least in offence where some guys did stick. Brendan Galagher may well be the one sticking around and good for him! He got a chance because the team still got some spot needing filling and with Eller not likely making it to the opener maybe somebody else will stick around. So two weeks left of camp and only two pre-season game left time to get serious.  

Redemption time!

So the Habs have seeded 6 and are meeting the Bruins again in the first round. They won the first game but I come back to this later. This is Redemption time for many Habs players.

Redemption list.

1: Carey Price (Status almost halfway there.) Great season with a team that came very close to fall apart many times. But to totally make peoples forget Halak he need that ring.

2: Scott Gomez (Status badly needed) Crap season need great playoff run badly before Gauthier find an European team to park his ass.

3: Jacques Martin (Status desperate) 600+ wins 20+ years in the NHL but no cup. Martin is not getting younger and with the crop of new coach's earning their stripes in the NHL right now is likely his last coaching job. Nobody want and need that ring more than Martin.

4: Mike Cammalleri (Status high expectation.) After an amazing Rocket Richard like playoff run last year Mike had a somewhat deflated season. He need to go Super Sayan again if the habs have any hope of going deep.

5: Tomas Plekanec (Status reputation on the line.) Slower season than last year plus many critic have been saying fairly or not that Plekanec did a disappearing act in last year playoff.

6: Hal Gill (Status UFA this Summer and not getting any younger.) On a team that could re-sign Hamrlik, Gorges, Markov not to mention Wisniewski and Sopel... USS Hal Gill need to remind the Habs and the rest of the league why he's still worth the big bucks at 36.

7: Hamrlik, Wisniewski and Sopel (Status UFA this Summer) See Hal Gill

9: The rest (Status highly motivated) The Montreal Canadiens are a team in transition with an aging blue line and many prime assets in the minors this team will change a lot in the near future so for many it now or never. The Habs could easily take a major step back and fall under the 8th line next season for the fans and management it would be a less bitter pill to swallow if they were to add a banner! 1 down 15 to go we can always dream!  

From fluke run to solid challenger where do the Habs sit?

When will the Habs be taken seriously? Hey like everybody else I did it after the last playoff I was pretty negative on their future chances of going deep again. In fact I was really piss off that the Habs just gone cold with only 7 wins to go for a cup because I also felt it was a one time ting! Some of the labels used was "Lightning in a bottle" "fluke run" more respectfully "Cinderella run" or it all Halak and Cammy. While Halak was a big factor and his trade spelled doom for most observers including myself the Canadiens pretty much picked up where they left off after the Pens round.

We can't talk fluke run or easy calendar anymore! Not when the team sit on top their division with barely a few points behind Washington in the conference. Not after crushing the Canes 7-2 limiting the Bruins to one goal in a 3-1 win and a 2-0 shutout against the Canucks in the same week! The Power Play also came back to life with 6 goals in three game this week! This is a team that did great with almost no power play production what would they do now that they do get some?

Now that nobody can't use the calendar to put down the Habs what would be the next excuse? What would be the next thing that keep them from being ranked way higher than 10 on most power rankings.
My money on Markov injury!
Update: This is a two part post Tomorrow I report on how well the Habs did in most power rankings!

I ain't got nothing to bitch about!

Am gonna let you in on a little secret of life blogging is a lot about bitching. In fact to blog usually you need to have something to bitch about to get you started. In that respect the Habs are getting frustratingly better. They put away both the Canucks and Bruins the power play produced 3 out of 5 goals in the past two games. Gionta got two and Gomez finally got one! So what the fuck is left to blog/bitch about?

Can't bitch about the O'Byrne trade. With a defense playing the way they did so far who would you sit to play the guy? Hell even Spacek is doing better now I would not play him on the power play like Martin did last night but so far so good. The trade did leave the Habs 1.5 million of cap space so speculation are rampant on the twitterverse on what Gauthier is cooking. But if the power play is getting to a more normal standard Pierre can afford to take a wait and see attitude.

See what I just did I found a way to blog/bitch about the Habs leaving me with nothing to blog/bitch about! It good enough for one day let just hope we get something more to chew on soon! loll Seriously I say let the good time roll and we find something else to bitch about soon enough!

Habs aging blue line!

Roman Hamrlik and Jaroslav Špaček are 36 years old Hal Gill is just a year younger at 35 between them they will cost the Montreal Canadiens around 15 Millions of cap space this year! And two of the three are UFA next Summer.

Just saying that was enough cap space to keep Halak and still sign Plekanec last Summer with enough left for a top 6 forward to back up Gomez/Gionta and an extension for Markov and the amazing Andrei Kostitsyn next season. Gauthier gambled on Price and it look to have pay off so let sleeping dogs lies. It was a bold move and it a shame that it was the only one Gauthier is willing to make so far. The Habs have a lot of cap space that could be used right now to get out of their power play rot and maybe get two line that produce instead of one if they are willing to bury bad money!

If Gauthier was bold enough to sell it to the owners group one of these old horse could be put to pasture in the AHL for cap space now or better yet let find a sucker in the NHL for Spacek! The Habs have a really good defensive right now the problem is it not centered around these guys! Forget Hal Gill the Habs need his size and playoff clutch play but you could easily remove Spacek and Hamrlik from that blue line and the Habs will not be all the worse for wear! Even more now that Markov is back Subban and Gorges make whoever play with them look a hell of a lot better than they are. Bring Weber and Carle up and put Picard back where he belong with Subban.  O'Byrne deserve either a real shot or a trade and rumor as it he will get traded maybe the Habs could kill three birds with one stone! The future belong to those who are brave and bold enough to seize it! The question is will Gauthier move?