Good news: It official the Habs are eliminated!

Don't bother playing this season it already over at least if you believe all the experts!


The good news all the same "experts" who are predicting the Habs out have crappy accuracy in making Habs prediction in the past three years so it as likely that Montreal will finish third or win the President Trophy. Off course since the "experts" predicted the Habs will finish around 9th they are as likely to end up with a lottery pick. That's why you play the game to find out! 


And I don't know how they can say last year was all about Price when the year before almost the same players with Halak reached the conference final. I don't like Martin defense first system but you got to admit that it make the guy behind the pipe look good. You could say the same thing about the Bruins and Thomas in fact some of the experts even did! The Bruins who by the way won the cup came one bad bounce close to an early exit against guess who the Habs!

Let me list all the things that went bad for the Habs last year. Markov out again all year Georges out for most of it Cammalleri out for a month, Gomez worse season in his career, Pacioretty "Accident"... Still the team won a six seed. So let see in order for the habs to have about the same bad luck they need to lose two big piece for all the season and two more for months, Gomez should play as bad or worse and Martin should keep playing him! And they will not use that $3,979,490 cap space left because I don't know Molson cheaping out! Yeah all of this need to happen for the Habs to end up with a worse or as bad luck than last year.

I love how the experts point to Cole as the only addition of the Summer then totally forget to mention a guy like Yemelin. That the Habs ace up their sleeves, the team management did not spent six years trying to get this guy to come from the KHL for no reason. I feel like am repeating myself but what the fuck the game is played on the ice!    

Something is rotten in the NHL kingdom!

I resisted the urge for a while now. The "Chara incident" was commented, analyzed and deconstructed 
to death by anybody who anybody both in 
mainstream media and the Hockey blogosphere. 
I don't want to talk much about intent or if Chara is 
considered a clean player. But I will say that it a bullshit 
excuse being used by apologists. 
These apologists forget one rule in life your intent is worth squat. 


If you ran a red light and hit somebody breaking his neck 
do you think your "intent" will get you a break in court? 
If you drive drunk and kill somebody do you think anybody will 
give a shit about your intention? Pro Sports does not exist in some kind of bubble where civil society does not exist anybody who pretend otherwise should be considered an idiot and dismissed as such. 


The Chara hit was dirty but here the problem by the NHL fuck up standard it was not. The NHL consider that Chara is totally innocent because they decided a long time ago that they don't care how many guys get hurt as long as they get plenty of "Big Hit" to fill all their highlight reels. And anybody who subscribed to the NHL channel on YouTube would tell you the league is obsessed with Big Hit and highlight reel. The excuse that what Chara did happen all the time is just that an excuse to do nothing about reckless hit.


The NHL safety standards are a joke the other excuse I heard by the apologists is that the Bell Center is nefarious for being a dangerous place to play. Guess what the Bell Center is a modern NHL standard rink like almost all the arena of the NHL if the Bell Center rink is dangerous they all are. Ever wonder why every team in the league got many D-men hurt recently? About a little more than a decade ago players started using composite hockey stick that weight next to nothing nobody said anything at the time but it like Major League Baseball letting players use aluminium bat. That the kind of NHL safety standards that lead to this festering mess.


The real problem are the apologists both inside and outside the NHL upper management these enablers are responsible for NHL safety standards that let players wear and use just about any equipment they want and turn a blind eye on reckless hit and erratic disciplinary decision that leave players scratching their head. The apologists are scared that if you take away hit to the head and clean up the sports the next step will be fighting. If you think this situation will change anytime soon you are naive my friend. Reform will only come when the owners want it and most of them just don't give a shit about players safety. To reform the NHL you have clean up the whole upper management to really see a culture change and the current crop of owners are just not interested in doing so now but who knows maybe after the next CBA we can only hope.
   

Thank god for small favors the Kaberle drama is finally over!

The Bruins might be getting better but at least they did not get him cheap. In fact one might say they overpay considering that he is a UFA. The whole drama stress one point GM's who give out no trade clause should be run out of the NHL. Better yet let outlaw the damn practice in the next CBA.
This bring me to the next thing I want to talk about: Things that need to change in the next CBA!
But that for another day.  

The trade deadline rumors mongers...

I have a very good source that tell me that 99.999% of all the trade deadline rumors you will be hearing and reading in the next week are all bullshit! Some bloggers and more than a few sports journalist are throwing shit at the wall to see what stick. Almost none of these attention whores have sources except maybe the many voices in their pretty little heads. You know who they are and you know that these idiots are going to claim to have scooped each other but it all bullshit. If you predict rain all the time you are bound to be right many days of the year that does not make you a reliable weather journalist!

So my prediction for trade deadline day is simple nothing is gonna happen except that we are going to laugh at all the TV special covering nothing!

How the hell can I blog about the Habs?

The Royal Navy has a toast that goes something like this. "Here to a Bloody War or a Sickly Season!" Two sure way to get promoted, the Habs boat may well soon be sailing in bad weather but for now it the eye of the storm. So what to talk about? Can't bitch about Subban scratching everybody else did it and they still won the last three games anyway! Am not going to throw shit/trade rumors at the wall to see what stick like somebody that should remain nameless does either! By the way the Habs are doing a better job at keeping secrets than the CIA so unless Wikileaks come up with an Habs data dump anybody who pretend to have insider info on them is likely full of shit including more than a few so call mainstream sports "journalists". I don't have sources or access and because I don't have to protect either I also not gonna bullshit anybody or care if I hurt some peoples feeling! 

But here lie the problem the team is going well we would have so much more fun if the shit was hitting the fan! The Habs fanatic in me is enjoying every moment of this surprisingly great season. The blogger in me wish for the second coming of the Cherios/Corlon* duo to screw half the puck whores in Montreal and create another big fucking mess!

*Names have been changed to protect the not so innocent!

Riddle me this habs fans! My car is on the fritz!

My car got some serious mechanical problem.
The engine is a mix bag of working parts and parts that are leaking oil it can't hold highway speed for more than 40 minutes. Plus the next day after a ride forget it my car not starting unless it boosted. The front breaks are brand new but the back are old and about to give on me plus I can't find new replacement parts, my credit card is max out and nobody would trade with me for my old parts at the meet swap.
The power steering is loose and there 7 millions persons who think they can drive my car better than me!
Who am I?

It been nice knowing you Max!

Max Pacioretty I salute you with this classic but I fear you just screwed yourself out of a call up this season!

Law of intended consequence!

First erratum apparently you should never blog in the middle of the night half asleep or half drunk it make you forget to check some facts like can a team send down players who are 35 or older in the minor to save cap space! Unfortunately for me and the Habs you can't! Fortunately for me nobody read my shitty blog in the middle of the night anyway who am I kidding nobody reading this shit period!


Why was Halak traded anyway? Wrong question why was Halak traded to a western conference team? Every time a team move a player that may become a franchise player it always easier to dump him in the conference you don't play in. This is especially true of goalies the thinking is that since you don't get to play that team on the other conference many time it not going to bite you on the ass too much if the player is say the next Patrick Roy! Am not going to discuss the idiocy of trading away that kind of asset because you know my view on the matter and the deed done. Plus it help that Price is having a good start!


This is an intended consequence that is well known another one less discussed is that you may get to steal points away from conference rivals. If the player really become a franchise player and help his team win more they will meet and likely defeat many teams in your own conference. take a look at the blues schedule and result for October.

Results October Saint Louis Blues

Sat Oct 9, 2010 Flyers Blues 7:00 PM FINAL PHI (1) - STL (2) OT    Recap                                          

Mon Oct 11, 2010 Ducks Blues 1:00 PM FINAL ANA (1) - STL (5)   Recap                                          


Thu Oct 14, 2010 Blues Predators 7:00 PM FINAL STL (3) - NSH (4)   Recap                                            

Sat Oct 16, 2010 Blues Stars 7:30 PM FINAL STL (2) - DAL (3) SO   Recap                                          


Mon Oct 18, 2010 Blues Blackhawks 7:30 PM FINAL STL (2) - CHI (3) OT   Recap                                            

Fri Oct 22, 2010 Blackhawks Blues 7:00 PM FINAL CHI (2) - STL (4)   Recap   

Sat Oct 23, 2010 Penguins Blues 7:00 PM FINAL PIT (0) - STL (1) OT   Recap   

Thu Oct 28, 2010 Blues Predators 7:00 PM FINAL STL (3) - NSH (0)   Recap   

Sat Oct 30, 2010 Thrashers Blues 7:00 PM FINAL ATL (3) - STL (4) SO   Recap   

Out of six possible points for the Eastern conference the Flyers, Penguins and Thrashers managed to make only one each. It would be better if the Blues did not give away so many loser points but still it three points! The Blues are playing the Bruins today and the Rangers tomorrow later this month they will play the Devils and the Senators. While they will play the Habs once later this season all the points that they get off Eastern conference team may well make the difference for the Habs at the end of the season. Remember the Habs made the playoff by one point last year. If Montreal does not waiver too much and fix their fucking power play it may not matter but if it come to a nail bitter those points might make a big deal! So Go Halak Go!

Now this is where things get dicey what if both team have great playoff run and end up meeting in the final. That the very definition of the law of unintended consequence. Gauthier chicken might come to roost at the worse possible time! With so many team having a crappy season so far it a real possibility.                                                

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?

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!  

  

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.  

Is it time for Hamrlik to go the Swiss way?

Mathieu Carle will in all likelihood be put on waiver this morning and it likely that somebody will snatch him up. It would be good news for Carle who might get a better chance to make the NHL somewhere else and it bad news for the Habs who will lose another asset that they failed to develop in house! It a failure to make space for the kids to develop that will hurt the team the most in the long run. The roster is pretty much fixed in stone and it was before the camp even started!

This beg the question what the hell is Hamrlik still doing with the Habs? Even if we don't have Markov for a couple of months so what Hamrlik is also hurt! So it time to save cap space by sending his ass to some swiss team like the Blackhawk just did with Huet! Now Mathieu Carle may not be a prime asset but he's not the only kid that Montreal could have promoted this year! It time to make bolder move by making some space for the kids if you are willing to gamble this much on Price you might as well be all in!

And so it begin!

The Habs have played their first pre-season game last night and thing did not go so well for Carey Price...
Now am not one to say "Told you so!" and the booing was very premature but I do believe this is just a glimpse of the shape of things to come. Thing may and will likely get a hell of a lot worse for the 23 years old "not a kid anymore" Price! You think last night was bad just wait until their 2 points on the line! Just FYI we will "Chill Out" we you have one good period! For the sake of fairness the whole team looked disorganized in the first period but an elite number one goaltender is expected to keep his team in the game when that happen Price was not even average but it a pre-season game and accident are bound to happen.

So let put all that drama aside and look at the positive note of this first pre-season game.
Weber got a wicked shot if he use it more he might end up a superstar in the NHL! Palushaj and Leblanc have a bright future in the NHL they both are not making the team out of camp but we can expect that they are first on the line for injury call up. When the team finally settled down they turned thing around, it may have been too late for this game but it looked a lot tighter.

Quebec city new arena and journalistic hypocrisy!

Vancouver Olympic cost
$6-9 billion

G8 and G-20 Toronto summit security cost. 1 Billion maybe 2 we may never kow

The next time you hear bitching at the Federal, Provincial and Municipal government paying for the construction of a new arena in Quebec city remember all that money spent somewhere else.

Also remember that the Montreal Canadiens renegotiated their municipal Tax to get a sweetheart deal a few years ago! By the way that Tax break is going to cost more to the city of Montreal over the next five years than what the city of Quebec will spend on their own new arena. Remember every museum, festival and cultural center that are getting public money every year! Remember every Canadian movies and TV shows that are getting generous tax break!  So I got to ask where were you to preach fiscal restrain? When GM got their ass saved with money from the Federal I did not hear many Ontarian bitch too much about that!

Back then where the hell was all these offended taxpayers when under the Liberals the Human Resource Development Department lost a billion, not spent, not wasted just fucking lost! If you are coming out of the woodwork to bitch about public money spent to build a municipal arena now you are way, way too late...
Am not exactly trill at the way this new arena will be build but I despise all the "vierge offencée" that we are hearing this week! Sure it done for political reason but guess what everything a politician does is for political reason!

It time for the fucking season to start!

We are still a month away from the start of the season and every NHL fans out there are on the edge. NHL Bloggers are tearing each other up when they don't have a pissing contest with the MSM, you know those so called real sports journalist...
But I digress everybody out of subjects right now because every subject was milked to death!

Kovalchuk: Thank god that drama over!
Carey Price: Signed for two years.   

What else? Actually we got nothing else and we still have one damn month to wait for the start of the NHL season! At least training camp is about to start. I could pull a rumor out of my ass but that somebody else specialty! The current situation beg the question should the NHL start the season in the middle of September? They could still play 82 games you just move a few Sunday afternoon bore fest in the middle of the season for a few Saturday night happening in the middle of September!

NHL players on twitter. To follow or not?

So Hockey fans, Habs fans and bless your heart Leafs fans do you follow NHL players who are on twitter? I know I don't because they never say anything interesting anymore, mind you that a problem with pro athletes in general.

These guys make millions and are so afraid to jeopardize their status that we never heard anything but rehash cliché from them! While I can't always mute, escape or skip a cliché filled TV/Radio/Newspaper interview I got no reason to go out of my way to follow players who bore me to death! Where are the Roy, Carbonneau, Lafleur and Ali of the current NHL, can you think of anyone? 

The last interesting quotes from an hockey players was about sloppy seconds and Sean Avery got so much grief over it I bet he never said anything but cliché after the incident!

Updated: And if you happen to know NHL players who are actually interesting to follow on twitter add them in the comments bellow.


  

Being an Habs fan is costly!

Am not a cheap guy but seriously $9.75 of service charges per ticket per game that enough to tick me off!


The ticket business is the only business that I know who get away with charging peoples for the privilege of doing business with them. Now mind you the entertainment business usually charge a per transaction service charge meaning that no matter how many tickets you buy it only one charge not one per item! The banks have service fees but mostly you don't buy things from a bank you get services. Beside if you make many transaction they got service plan that let you have a flat monthly rate.


$9.75 per game, per ticket is just the first of many money grab an Habs fan who want to see a game is victim of. Let pass on the actual price of the tickets mainly because that life in the NHL. At least in Canada

$25 that the price of parking at the Bell center on game night.


Foods and drinks mainly Beer will also cost you an arm and a leg. Once upon a time the game started at 8:00 or even 8:30 PM you always had the time to eat somewhere else before going to the old Forum. So it no surprise that now the game start at 7:30 or even 6:30, they want you hungry and thirsty!


Souvenir for the kids you can't go to a game and get back empty handed that gonna cost you!  


The Reebok EDGE Montreal Canadien Authentic Home Jersey will cost you $289 on Amazon. Likely made in a Chinese sweatshop by the way! Did I mention that if you want your mom to see you on TV you better wear one! On the other hand if you don't want the wife to know you were at the game...  It no surprise that the team has a fake jersey problem at that price!


Come to think of it that $9.75 service charge is not so bad after all! If you can afford the stiff ticket price and the rest, the service charge should not bother you much... Otherwise RDS has every Habs game in HD.

I miss the Nordiques!!

I am an Habs fan always was, always will be but I came to the realization in the past few years that I miss the Nordiques! In fact I miss them a lot!


Why? Well it feel to me that the Montreal Canadiens players and management was trying a hell of a lot harder to win when they had to fight for the heart and minds of the province! It why a few sports columnist want more local guys to play for the habs it not just a language thing they also think that local talent got an extra motivation to perform!


The Habs vs Nordiques rivalry helped a lot with that. Remember 1993 if the Habs had played the Sabres in the first round they might not have recover from losing the first two games! You get eliminated to the Sabres or any other team in the NHL you might hear about it for a month. You lose to the Nordiques and you never going to live that down! That what was at stake after the first two games for Guy Carbonneau, Patrick Roy, and the rest of the 17 local guys on the 1993 Habs roster!


1993 habs roster 17 local Guys

Centres

21 Guy Carbonneau (Captain) Local
15 Paul DiPietro Local
18 Denis Savard (A. Capt.) local
25 Vincent Damphousse Local
29 Jesse Belanger Local
47 Stephan Lebeau Local

Wingers
11 Kirk Muller (A. Capt.)
12 Mike Keane
17 John LeClair Vermont apparently close enough!
22 Benoit Brunet Local
23 Brian Bellows
26 Gary Leeman
31 Ed Ronan
32 Mario Roberge Local
36 Todd Ewen
45 Gilbert Dionne Local
6 Oleg Petrov††

Defencemen
5 Rob Ramage
27 Mathieu Schneider
14 Kevin Haller
24 Lyle Odelein
28 Eric Desjardins Local
34 Donald Dufresne Local
38 Sean Hill
43 Patrice Brisebois Local
48 Jean-Jacques Daigneault Local

Goaltenders
33 Patrick Roy Local
37 Andre Racicot Local

"Après les deux premiere partie l'équipe c'est mise a gagné sur l'orgueil!"
Loosely translated. "After the first two games the team started winning on pride and sheer will!" If you think pride and willpower does not apply to the 2010 NHL you can always ask Alex Ovechkin and Sydney Crosby how they liked their long Summer! Pride is the reason the Bruins and the Leafs are always playing a little better against the Habs. Pride for a lack of a better word is good! That why I miss the Nordiques they motivated the Habs like nothing else!