Insert Headline: The Spin and the Motive for the Erik Cole Trade

Canadiens unload Cole to the Stars.

Erik Cole has been traded to the Stars.

Erik Cole's contract traded to the Stars for UFA Michael Ryder.

Canadiens acquire Michael Ryder from Dallas.

Stars and Canadiens swap scorers.

What Keeps Carey Up All Night?

Losing apparently.

And thinking of a clever response to some stranger's tweet, perhaps.

Better Than Expected: 10 Reasons For Habs Quick Start

I don't think I'd be alone in saying these Canadiens are a fair bit better than I expected them to be. With a serious face, I repeatedly called for this team to be a basement dweller, a team with negligible (if any) improvement) from a 15th-place finisher.

If you want surprises, this is the way to go, let me tell you. The team greatly surpassing an out-of-whack evaluation is more fun to follow than the 2012 edition where the team similarly surprised, but in the opposite direction.

A New Header For LiW

We've heard it before and we're hearing it again, the readers are speaking and telling us that our "classic" PPT made header from the mid part of last decade is starting to look out of date.

On the suggestion of the readers, we are beginning a redesign. On the suggestion of Tobalev, we are opening the floor to creative parties among the readership who have better talents than us for this sort of design.

Kaberle:The Name Unspoken

[Prior to the beginning of the season, a broad assumption was made by many a fan that the career of Tomas Kaberle was at an end, a mere 6 month wait away from a buyout.

But then a funny thing happened, a rookie GM went over his own deadline in signing his RFA and Kaberle saw the light of day. He played in 5 of the 6 games before the erstwhile defender returned and then stood in as a spare part for the game of the return itself.

Habs Week 3 in Review: Precipice

Wow, all that positivity must have caught up with us. This week (beginning with the game identified as a litmus test) really gave fans, players and management a lot to think about.

I think the question one has to ask (as before, though more people are open to the suggestion now) is: which team is the 2013 Habs? Weeks 1 and 2 had us all thinking that our faded memories of Markov were mollified by time and that maybe all the off-season griping over moves made and not was for naught. I think a week later, we find all that right back on the doorstep.

I wish there were a lesson other than anything can happen, but there may not be. Here then is a more downbeat weekly review of the Habs play than we've become accustomed to.

You Win Some, You Lose Some

It has long been a major complaint of mine that referees who make no pittance of a salary for officiating the games we watch (and number far too many on the ice and off) are so inconsistent at their application of NHL rules.

Last night, we had to watch an overtime and a shootout, and a loss, because the pair of referees and goodness knows how many people in Toronto missed Thomas Vanek sweeping our goaltender into the net for a goal (an interference call if there ever was one).

Get Subban Off My #1 PP

Seems like a bit of a funny headline on a morning after Subban scores the only Habs goal on a PP. Hear me out.

This is not a new thought. It is something I have been harbouring for a good long time. That Markov and Subban together are not a good mix.

Bring on the Bruins: These Habs Need a Test

The next game on the Canadiens slate is the Boston Bruins, recent Cup champs and current conference leaders.

Although, I'd love for the easier games to keep coming down the pipe, this most imminent test of the Canadiens current team, strategy and form couldn't come soon enough.

Habs Week 2 in Review

One good week is nice, a couple in a row in this shortened season is a serious head start for the playoffs.

I have to own up to being more negative than positive about this season, but factors which I could not understand (Bourque morphing into a player to be held as an example to all, Gallagher and Galchenyuk outmatching some serious competition by such a wide margin, Markov not only reviving the PP, but making it better than ever before) have conspired to make the team I was analyzing into another proposition altogether.

This is the review of the second week in which more players had multiple goals games, the PP kept ticking and the start goalie didn't lose.