Canadiens Season Preview Prospects At The Back

After days of putting out day after day of previews, wouldn't you know that the first time people start congratulating us is the same day we slip and miss a day. Perhaps not slip, but in not wanting to lose my hockey pool, I spent the time compiling my lists for that instead. Mind you, I still ended up with the most questionable goalies as I do every year.

Anyway, as the title of the post suggests, this is my look at the below NHL prospects on defence. As with the forwards, I had neither as much data or as much drive to do a full-blown analysis of each of these guys. So instead, it's just some thoughts possibly mixed with scouts' thoughts and random stats. In any case, the preview wouldn't be complete without something on Alex Henry, so here we go.


Potential call-ups

1) PK Subban

With Yannick Weber on the "NHLer" list, there's absolutely no doubt who the top prospect at the back is. PK Subban, junior star, Team Canada star, high draft pick, media darling has skills and personality to make it.

What's most exciting about PK is not his accomplishment with the indomitable Team Canada, nor his more than point-per-game from defence last year, but his personal skill set. Unlike some players who win, but you can't really put a finger on why. With PK it's easy – it's his skating. As a pretty pitiful hockey player myself, I know that being unable to keep up on skates puts me at an immediate disadvantage in nearly every situation on the ice. I can only imagine the other guys must be thinking the same, only in terms of advantage. Well, PK has that advantage in spades. He had it over most junior pretenders, and from what little I've seen, I'd say he'll have it in the NHL one day too. It seems that because he's practiced his skating through drills rather than simple reliance on game day that he can do things to make it look as though he was born with blades on his feet. You'd better watch:



With skill like that, PK can already offer a talent that puts him among the elite in the NHL. Oh, that hockey were only about skating and going forward. The reason PK is not up with the team today, and the reason that Yannick Weber has surpassed him at several different steps now is because of defence – you know, the position he purportedly plays? It remains the question at this time, perhaps the only question. But luckily defence is something that can be learned with some dedicated study. And though all his highlights display amazing rushes, you might have noticed the hole where brilliant, or even simple effective pass would normally fit for a Dman.

There's a definite place for Subban and his crazy feet in the NHL. The question for the Canadiens is whether there is a place for him on a team with Andrei Markov. And possibly Yannick Weber. If he shows he can be a defensive asset in Hamilton, the answer will be an unquestionable yes. If he can't, the onus will be on Gainey to find the team who needs the offense from the back and can afford to forgo him playing his position as others might.


2) Mathieu Carle

If PK has problems finding a place on the offensively laden blueline in Montreal, imagine 3rd in line Mathieu Carle.

Long-term it would take some moves to see a real place for Carle up on the Habs. Short term, however, he has a few aces to play in order to expedite his call up.

The first is his age. 22 now, he may be more mature and better able to see where team game outweighs individual game than some proteges. The second is his direct experience in Hamilton. As mentioned, it's not been an overwhelming success, but at the same time he has shown he can do a job for a successful team against pros.

Third, and I'm loathe to say it, but it's the fact he is Quebecois. I'm not saying that he'll be brought up just to make up numbers, but the company line has always been at equal value, we'll choose the local lad. Well, for the brief period before PK really gets any AHL experience of his own, Carle is holding at least that equal card, if not a slightly better one. What's more, we've seen this decision exercised already at camp with the first cuts, and there's no reason to think it won't hold until mid-winter.


3) Shawn Belle

I probably made more fuss than was necessary for Shawn Belle attending early skates, but I did think it showed a good attitude form him at least.

If you want to read about the best of Shawn Belle, I've done that bit already (near the bottom of the piece). What has transpired since the writing of that article, however, has led to some extra conclusions. The first is that Shawn Belle is no panacea – he would be a replacement with plenty of faults, a player who would make mistakes. The second is that he has been properly assigned to Hamilton – the players ahead of him in this depth analysis are indeed better at the moment. Finally, that for all his attitude coming early, he perhaps hasn't quite grasped how his NHL dream is slipping by. His average showing at camp has been wildly surpassed by the man we put on notice (Ryan O'Byrne).

Shawn could be a call up, but really he has to do more to impress if he wants to make it stick. Hamilton is a valuable training ground for a defender like Belle, and another season like his last, on a winning team, could mean knocks on Gainey's door about a depth defenceman in a trade, if not in Montreal.


4) Andre Benoit

Andre's back with the Bulldogs after tow very successful seasons in Europe. But what stands in Andre's way is the same solid group of defenders that stand in every other offensive Dman's path.

What seems to be clear from his statistics and reports is that Benoit could step in and do the job. However, depth, salaries and midsets being what they are, it would take a lot of bodies going down, specifically from the PP rearguard for this to ever happen for Benoit. Still, he's 4th in line here because of his stellar junior record, his experience in the AHL and his clear determination to give this NHL thing another go. Don't look for him in many games, but you never know, one or two could be in the cards.


5) Alex Henry

Alex Henry, my goodness. I did have some stats on him, but not many. I can tell you that during his 2 game stint last season with the Habs he managed to do so poorly with his 10 minutes that he comes at the bottom of nearly every category we looked at in the league. So badly that one stats site I was looking at found that Mathieu Schneider's stats were being dragged through the dirt by virtue of him having worn the same number as Henry (a bit of computer confusion).

So why even mention him? Well for one thing, he's playing in Hamilton's top 6, making him call-up material. For another, he does quite well down there. While it's not time to write Henry off altogether (he is massive), it seems that his skating and awareness might be more AHL level at this point in time.


6) Michael Busto

Finally, Michael Busto – that other guy from the Higgins trade. How does 6 years in the WHL strike you? I'm not sure I've ever seen that. Sure by the time he left, he was posting good stats, but he was the 210 lb 21-year-old playing against teenagers.

His next seasons were in the ECHL, so take that for what it is. In the end, it seems that Busto was either a guy Sather wanted off the books (unlikely he micromanages that much) or that he was simply brought in to replace TJ Kemp in Hamilton and nothing more. Don't go out and buy your Busto sweater anytime soon.



Not at camp

1) Alexei Emelin

Another NHL-ready, contractually tied player in the organization. It is reported that Emelin spurned the Canadiens, though like Valentenko, you have to wonder what the team was offering this able pro.

Skill-wise, Emelin is the best immediate fit for the Canadiens. He plays sound hockey, he plays rough, he plays in that gray area of the rules. Emelin is exactly the type of player that a young goalie tandem need – someone to make opposing forwards think before entering the zone. Someone who serves notice that shots from good positions are something that shooters will have to pay for with bruises.

Anyway, this year is fait accompli, he's at Kazan. If the allegations of an out clause are true, he could replace Mara next season. If not, it'll be at least two more.


2) David Fischer

Hockey's Future says:

The club remains high on their former first rounder and the former Minnesota Mr. Hockey has slowly but surely progressed in his development.

I have to seriously question that assertion. If the club were high on Fischer, I wonder whether they'd really be leaving him in a program that clearly isn't vaulting him to a future of NHL stardom – certainly now they have their mentor/coach Guy Boucher in place on the farm.

That said, Fischer is still one for the plans. While McDonagh was the better absolute prospect, in the Canadiens scheme where Markov, Gorges, Weber and Subban figure in the future, Fischer as the 6'3" now more defensive defenceman (out of necessity) is a better organizational fit.

When he was drafted in 2006, Fischer was a tall 2006 Mr. Hockey with talent to progress offensively and defensively. As time has passed, things haven't gone quite as well as the optimists thought. Though he is still 2006 Mr. Hockey, he also now holds the inauspicious title of 2007, 2008, 2009 Mr. 4th defenceman (I now get overtaken by younger players at our school) Wisconsin. His offensive game looks ever dwindling, and he's no Ken Daneyko. It's a tale of talent analysis gone off, but not so far that he's out of the picture. A 6th defenceman out of a first round pick (with Varlamov, Berglund and Giroux right behind) isn't great, but it's better than nothing.


3) Konstantin Korneev

This guy is a forgotten prospect. I mean truly off the radar. In deciding whether I should even continue mentioning his name, I did a search and found the Habs still maintain a player page for him.

He's worth mentioning though, because though 25 is old to import a player, he's already a star in the Russian pro ranks and for the senior national team at times. It would probably take massive roster overhaul again, a transfer agreement and a few other minor miracles to ever see him in bleu, blanc, rouge, but as non-NHLers go, he ranks for us.


4) Mac Bennett

The scouting reports say good skater, good instincts and most irrelevant of all (hi Keith Gretzky and Brian Sakic) bloodlines. If that's all you read and saw you'd be pretty stoked. Mac has added some context to the reports by attending a couple of camps with the Habs now. Impressive at the development camp and again at rookie camp, initial signs are good.

The fact that Mac Bennett has suddenly appeared at #14 on the list of Canadiens prospects at Hockey's Future probably speaks more to the prospects below him than it might about him. While Mac certainly provides intrigue, the fact remains no one in the Habs organization, nor likely any of the fans writing up about him, have seen him playing real games against anyone that isn't at a US high school. For every one Sean Hill, there are ten or twenty Steve McCools, Matt Shasbys and Kishels.

What's more, this is the very easiest time to be raving about a player like Bennett. We know he had a good season because he was drafted. The question always remains with any of these prospects – will it translate into another? Will it be duplicated at a higher level? We'll see. This season he is still in a high school league, so our answer may have to wait until Michigan 2011.


5) Niklas Torp

Torp to me sounds like the Swedish Emelin. Not giant, not great offensively, but an abrasive defender who makes people work for their space. Last year was not a year of distinction for Niklas. However, as a 19-year-old defensive defenceman in a men's league, what would one really expect.

This year has started out nicely for the youngster, and he's definitely grabbed a regular spot on the Jonkoping team. Let's not get too carried away, but he does already have more points than last season after 3 games. I think it's more of an indication of increased role than any sudden offensive awakening – still a good sign there.


6) Greg Pateryn

I'll forgive you for overlooking the guy we got for Grabovski, he's pretty low down the chart. There's not much to say yet about Pateryn. He has had one season at Michigan as a part-timer and is now vying to stake a place as a 19-year-old there. As for Montreal, one can't really see him taking less time than Fischer has been, so his pro career, if it ever gets going at all, will likely be another 3 years away.


7) Joe Stejskal

Here's another in the long list of American high school defeders in the Habs system. Outstanding high school (well, of course, he was drafted after all), but lacklustre in college thus far. It says that he's had time on the top pairing, which certainly shows any offensive prowess we thought he might have had might not be as natural to him as some. Furthermore, he's playing at Dartmouth, not Boston, not Michigan. While great for his academic career, the men in green don't immediately spring to mind when thinking of future NHLers.

He's still young enough that 2 more seasons of college could turn his career around, but you won't find any of my money on that. His saving grace is that he isn't 5'10".

The Unexpected Guest Shawn Belle Is Here?

Not sure if you've all been keeping tabs on the goings on in Brossard. I expect you have.

To go with all the raves about PK Subban's skating and Max Pacioretty's power-forwardiness, some of the best news to come out of the last few days has been the attendance of Canadiens veterans new and old at a series of little practices and skates.

When I looked down the player list, my first thoughts were of encouragement – mainly that so many players were already and raring to go. My second thought went to the players that were missing, such as Andrei Kostitsyn. I didn't alight there long. Finally, the thing that ended up jumping out of the page at me was the name Shawn Belle.


When you look at this list from Pat Hickey:

Newcomers Scott Gomez and Mike Cammalleri were among those getting an early start, and it's interesting that Sergei Kostitsyn was there without his older brother, Andrei.

Other players on hand were Roman Hamrlik, Guillaume Latendresse, Jaroslav Spacek, Maxim Lapierre, Shawn Belle, Glen Metropolit, Matt D'Agostini, Gregory Stewart, Travis Moen, Hal Gill and Jaroslav Halak.

... you can see that the players listed are all familiar to us, either by their play or their appearance in the summer headlines. But Shawn Belle doesn't seem to belong. His appearance on the ice in Montreal seems a bit of a puzzle.

Now, I have no inkling as to whether Shawn was specifically invited, or whether the invitation was open for any of the Bulldogs players to join, but I think the fact that he was the only Bulldog in attendance speaks volumes – Mathieu Darche after all might even be in Montreal anyway. Allow me to speculate.

I think that Bob Gainey or Jacques Martin or whoever is in charge of invitations to the main camp must have given Shawn Belle a special phone call at some point along the way, perhaps with some gentle encouragement to come along and get ready to show his goods at this camp.

Why is this feasible?

For one thing, I believe he has a chance this year. He's big, physical and has NHL experience. I think if Ryan O'Byrne continues to flap about in the wind, that it would be just as likely for Shawn to take his place as trying to shoehorn in a green Yannick Weber into a defensive defenceman slot. For another thing, he's showed he can play a system (something Jacques Martin likes); and he's played the O'Byrne role before with Minnesota.

Belle may also have been asked in to make some credible competition for places hot up a bit sooner than it might have. Gainey might want to see if O'Byrne and the youngsters can respond to having another hungry candidate around, and for longer.

There's also another consideration here: a trade. If Bob Gainey is thinking of swinging a trade, even at this late juncture, the assets he is likely to move must include some defenceman (of which he has a wealth). In that scenario, Belle could either be one of the pieces, or indeed be asked to step in after the chips have fallen.

Whatever the case, Shawn Belle is here. He's come early. Ryan O'Byrne, don't say you haven't been warned.


Who are you Shawn Belle?


Not much more than a year ago, Shawn Belle was someone else's problem – a depth prospect who looked on track to take his place in the first rounder career graveyard. He became our business last July when Bob Gainey threw his second small centre of the offseason into a trade. Gone prospect we know and had big hopes for (Corey Locke), in unknown beast.

Since he's arrived, I have come to appreciate that Shawn Belle is an interesting player in the scheme of the organization. For one thing, he is quite a big guy – if not that tall, his 235 lb frame makes him one of the heaviest options to the coaches. That's even more important when one considers he's a big defensive-minded guy among smaller offensive-minded backliners in the pipeline. If I was to separate defensive prospects into two lists: one of potential Habs to fit PP duty and potential star future and another with defensive defencemen with highly affordable salaries; Shawn would come pretty high up the ranks. I'd have Emelin and Fischer ahead, but then neither or those guys is available now. Neither of those guys has a +19 season in Hamilton under their belt, nor any of Shawn's NHL games.

His history indicates everything the scouting reports say:

ASSETS: Owns an impressive physical package and plenty of athleticism for a blueliner. Is willing to make his presence felt with strong hits in the defensive zone.

FLAWS: Lacks the hockey sense required to maximize his potential. Is not a scoring threat at all, despite the tools to do so. Takes a lot of bad penalties.

CAREER POTENTIAL: Top six defenseman.

Somewhere else, I found this:

Belle has the attributes to be a Komisarek-type player in the NHL. He's big and strong and is noted as an outstanding skater.

His potential was obviously noted early on, as he was drafted in the first round of the 2003 draft at position 30 by the St. Louis Blues. Following that, he was twice identified twice by Team Canada for participation at the World Juniors. His second medal at the tournament, his gold one, was earned as part of the team some call the deepest Canadian squad ever. All looked to be going rather smoothly indeed.

I suppose the first hiccough came with a trade from the Blues to the Stars. Leaving the organization that drafted you before you have played an NHL game is often hard to recover from. Nevertheless, the next season Shawn managed to jump from success in Tri-City to Dallas's minor league team in Iowa. Faring well enough for a rookie that year, it was to be short-lived with the Stars. Shawn was eventually appended in what was a big league deadline deal and shipped to the Wild.

The Minnesota system rubbing off or something else, Shawn went from being a potential offensive threat to simple big defender – a move that may facilitate his entry into the league one day. Two seasons in the AHL with Houston seemed to have turned Shawn into a reliable, if wholly unspectacular, piece of the team.

The latest chapter of his tale took place in Hamilton. To say it started well would be selling him short. I think were it not for waiver restrictions, Shawn would have been up in Montreal some time in November, because at that time he was leading a very average Hamilton defence with impressive +/- numbers. Indeed, Don Lever was quite positive about his new ward:

"He's a first-round pick and the potential is there. He's a hard worker. I have no complaint with the way he works. I have a hard time believing that he only had three points last year. He's got the free reins here as long as he gets back to where he's supposed to be."

It ended up well enough as well for Shawn, as he led all defencemen on the season in +/- and even managed 13 points in the end. Obviously his 93 PIMs sound like they need to be trimmed.

That's how he ended up in Brossard this week. Whether next year's report includes NHL game reports or not appears to hang in the balance right now.

Bits And Pieces: Habs-Related News On A Summer's Day

A quick scan of the news I've missed being without internet for a day or so while out on business to find a schedule, some signings and the ubiquitous rumours.

Not quite neough for a big post on any or each, but I thought a rapid-fire relay of thoughts would be appropriate.

NHL schedule released

So, there will be NHL games this year. That's good news. It's not really news though is it?

I suppose there are things we've been anxious to find out, specifically when will this boredom end, who will we play on our 100th birthday and when would we be seeing Saku Koivu again.

The answers. The first night of NHL action will be October 1st, and it will feature the Habs vs. the Leafs in Toronto. We will be playing the Boston Bruins on December 4th at home – a fitting choice for the biggest occasion in these 100th celebrations by a long stretch. And, as for Saku, we won't see him in Montreal after all – which is a shame. Word, however, is that he and Kovalev will make a homecoming of sorts to take part in the premiere of the movie in which he played a lead role (date not reported).

A couple of other interesting points about the schedule include the outdoor game on New Year's day (where the Slovak monster meets the Green Monster as the Bruins host the Flyers at Fenway); the European trips for the Red Wings and Blues in Stockholm and Hawks and Panthers in Helsinki; and the 2nd Victoria Cup in late September, in which the Chicago Blackhawks will be representing the NHL in lieu of the Canadiens or the Stanley Cup champs finally stepping up to the plate.

I did also come across a funny (as in laughable) take on the schedule by a Bruins writer. In going through every game, it's not surprising that he finds few losses and concludes with this irritating and smug (distinctly Bostonian you'll be noting) conclusion to the year for the Bruins:

April 11 at Capitals: The Bruins close out the regular season the way they started it — by beating Washington. Boston doesn’t go 82-0, but finishing on top of the East again is commendable. It’s only the beginning.

Next stop, the playoffs. Is this the year of the Bruins? Thirty-eight years of waiting is long enough.

I should introduce this Bruins fan to the 2006 Hurricanes, the 2007 Senators, the 2008 Habs and every other team that wins the East with high expectations of a follow-up. Of course, they'd be crazy not to expect winning all the NHL trophies again wouldn't they? Before the awards ceremony, though, David Krejci have you met Tomas Plekanec?

The Boston is generally a idiotic as it is ignorant. For example, on the hundredth anniversary of the Canadiens, the knowledgeable scribe has this inane comment:

"Dec. 4 at Canadiens: The Habs have more new faces than a Beverly Hills Nieman Marcus. But the Bruins treat them just the same as Montreal’s old guard — with utter contempt."

His other comments are childish and planted for a reaction. So go read it. There's never a bad time to get riled up about the Bruins.

Canadiens contracts

Also in the news was a couple of Canadiens contracts.

Guillaume Latendresse signed the smartest contract of his career. In taking less than last season, he's won big PR points and showed he has a head on his shoulders. If the Canadiens are pressed for cap space, they won't be trading or benching the 16-goal winger who plays for $800,000. It's a no-lose situation for him and for us. I'm very happy with the news.

Shawn Belle also signed to a two-way deal. I haven't seen him play, but all other signs point to him being a good guy to have around. He's bulky, versed in Lemaire hockey and put up very nice numbers in Hamilton last season. It's also good news as I see it, even if he's to stay on the farm and keep that situation steady for this season.


Robert Lang

The very reliable rumour site (reliable in that you can always expect that 2.5% of all rumours they report, no more, no less will come to pass), has stated that Lang will be playing in Russia this season. Expect him to sign anywhere but with 97.5% reliablilty promptly.

Less surprising is Eric Engels total and continuing contempt for the KHL:

"Welcome to the KHL Robert Lang, where they don’t mind paying big bucks for a guy with a limited skating stride, who just recovered from a torn Achilles, at the age of 38. If he wanted less he’d still be playing in the NHL, and likely Montreal, but it’ll be hard to ignore the financial incentive that Avangard Omsk is giving him."

I guess Eric doesn't remember everyone eating these very words as recently as January. I guess 6 months is a long time when there's always another rumour to invent.

I hope Robert does what's best for Robert. He was a pleasure to watch, and from what I heard a gentleman. Omsk and Jagr might not be such a backwards step as KHL-bashers want to believe.

The Brisebois FileThe Player And Where He Fits

I have been very restrained on our friend this year I think. Last summer I was livid about the re-welcoming of Brisebois into the fold. That event alone kept this blog alive when it could have died out over a first August. But since then, I think I have been more restrained.

I can tell you I felt just as physically ill when we signed the Breezer this summer as I did last, but I kept it too myself. For one thing, I thought why rehash the same old stuff? For another, I thought – this is now a team with depth, how much harm can Brisbois do as an 8th D?

After Saturday night's win, and Tobalev's interesting game review, a comment from Dishonest John brought all the feelings welling up to the surface again. Now, I know Tobes explained his ire and this may have been done before; but for the my well-being and the benefit of new readers I would like to explain what it is that infuriates me (us) about:

a) Brisebois the player
b) The GM that keeps signing him
c) The coach that plays him more than would seem prudent

The player
Tobalev has admitted he is not unbiased, and I should do the same. There are players I like better than others. Some play the way I like hockey to be played, others less so. I don't think bias is a problem in editorial "journalism" like blogging. In fact, i feel it is an asset. If we had no opinions and biases, none of you would have any reason to visit us like you do.

When it comes to Brisebois, it would be fair to say I am biased. But, conversely, it would be unfair to say that I jumped to a conclusion about Brisebois or didn't give him a fair shake. In fact, back in 1991, Brisebois was a prospect I longed to see in the Habs lineup. I had his Laval Titan card. I knew his birthday. I could have told you all his stats. No, the fall of Brisebois was long and painful. It coincided with the fall of the Canadiens and the realization that Stanley Cup finals every 3 or 4 years were not normal – quite the opposite.


Whether it's fair or unfair that Brisebois was thrust into the number one defenceman role or not is up for debate. But, it was during this period (and also those 4 years where he would be the highest paid Montreal Canadien in the history of the team!?!) that his plummet would accelerate. Being thrust into the limelight and onto the ice for greater lengths of time exposed the fact that Brisebois could not compete with the best NHL forwards physically

At first, I was most frustrated by his weakness and misjudgments. But over time, my ire was reserved for his response to mistakes. For me the shoulder shrug and glare at the bewildered goalie of the day was enough to ruin an evening at the time. When you extrapolated his indifference to mistakes in game over a season and over many seasons, the frustration as a fan was mounting.

In fairness to the player, he has seemed to at the very least relent in his quest for headlines. He seems to want to do his job in a simple and straightforward manner now, and this certainly seems to be limiting his most obvious gaffes. There has been much more feeling of relief as his shifts end in line changes rather than faceoffs early this season than there ever used to be. And with regard to the simmering of the summer , one can hardly fault the player himself for signing an NHL contract when someone is offering (but please don't ask me to call $700,000 a pittance or call him a bargain).


Expecting (hoping for) more from management
It was commonplace for Breezer, our "number one" defenceman, to be overtaken by rookies and up and comers in the old days. There were many: Rivet, Bouillon, Robidas, Souray, Markov, Komisarek, Streit. It was frustrating to see. More frustrating was his reserved place at the top of the ice-time leaderboard amidst all the other progress around him.

It is this once again that frustrates a fan. A team of managers that had no qualms about benching and ostracizing our best even-strength goalscorer last year is now digging their heels in for this guy.

I don't think I'm alone when I say I just don't see why.

Mistakes
I fully understand the benefit of riding out mistakes with young players. I understand and endorse that approach. I would have once advocated it for this very young man. I have seen enough hockey to know that the best players are born out of the fires of their own worst crashes. It is imperative to let players fail to see if they emerge out the other side.

But if they don't emerge from the other side? If they've crashed hundreds of times and never learn? This is a puzzle. I personally don't see the benefit of riding out rookie mistakes when they are a result of the play from a player one year away from retirement (or more if he swindles the Canadiens again).

My view is that we could get the same efficacy with the same mistakes out of a youngster, say Shawn Belle or Yannick Weber (O'Byrne even) and the risk could lead to benefit. But I emplore management not to take the risk for nothing. It is akin to buying stock in GM at the moment.


I think that this frustration with management, more than anything directed at Brisebois himself (who for after most games I have been happily indifferent towards this season) is the primary source of editorial energy at the moment. I think that this too was Tobalev's impetus on Saturday. Because though he slighted Brisebois, his conclusion was that the Habs should be promoting from within – decisions which are out of Brisebois' control.

We started this summer asking to become a Stanley Cup contender. And the hope that was built over last season was a good foundation. But hope of gettng there by anyway other than luck is waning as management simply plays out the minutes. At current pace we are well past the point of asking Gainey to be proactive about reassembling a decent defensive 6. We can only hope that his reaction to Komisarek's injury will not take a further 9 games.

Panic Stations?Things On the Habs Worth Fretting Over

Oh, you could see we were all dying for a loss. So many topics we had been raring to blog about, so many things more than lamenting Kovalev's line only scoring 0.6 PPG. A loss is a good tonic. It brings it all out.

But as with all things, the Canadiens are never quite as bad as they appeared in a loss – never quite as good as we rave they are after a win. So, although the defence was bad in Saturday night's game, the fact is that they often play just as poorly and get away with (both on the scoresheet and the broadsheet). And, another fact is that Anaheim's defence (one we would all be envious to have on paper) was pretty piss poor as well.


For me, the underlying lesson from all this is that defence in this league is difficult. Very difficult. Talking about keeping a child fist-sized piece of rubber out of a sumo wrestler-sized net is hard – more so when people actually shoot straight. Blocking 90 mph shots and rooting the puck out of the corner when 230 lb behemoths are barreling down on you is no walk in the park either.

On most occasions, the team gets away with it, usually through a combination of luck, timing and goalkeeper skill. Occasionally, two or more of these things go the wrong way and it all goes pear-shaped.

Saturday night, all three things went in the wrong direction as far as I could see. The Canadiens hit posts and legs, the Ducks (by and large) did not, the Ducks anticipated their breaks well with many players jumping in and Halak and Price were unusually useless allies.

I do believe a lot of the fault lies at the feet of the defencemen for this one. In trying to be philosophical about the loss, I mostly give them the benefit of several players all having bad nights at once.

JT at The H Does Not Stand For Habs does a fine job at calling the issues with players. For my part, I wanted to supplement her views with some views on a couple of issues that go deeper than bad luck and miscues. In my mind these are:

1) The defensive system
2) The Brisebois situation

The system of defence
From the beginning of the season, one thing was very clear to me – we would need a good goalie this year. The Canadiens coaches seem to have gone with old faithful in terms of Habs strategies – hedge your bets on goaltending. From the my first memories of hockey until now, this has been the strategy employed by management.

One can hardly argue with the idea: get a good goalie and let him stop the shots. It is both cost effective and more reliable than trying to get the job done with 6 different guys paid at variable rates. And, in Halak and Price, the Canadiens have two reliable and efficient netminders.

The problem is not with the overall premise for me, but rather with the lack of much planning beyond the initial choice of “goalie or bust”.

Signing Hamrlik was a nice move to try and instill a second tier to the plan. But it kind of stopped short there. With Roman and Markov it means that for large parts of the game we can have 5 dependable players on the ice. The problem (as we saw Saturday) was that when one of them (the lynch-pin piece, no less) goes AWOL, then 4 dependable pieces just isn’t enough.

The system is naïve, as well. Over-reliance on a goaltender hasn’t been in style since Hasek left the Sabres. Even NJ, with the best insurance policy of all, have a system to fall back on.

If the Canadiens are to achieve any kind of meaningful success this year, it will happen through improvement to this, their greatest deficiency. Someone will have to help Komisarek take the next step in development (i.e., playing the puck to the forwards) and oversee the progress of Gorges and O’Byrne.

The question of who this person will be has been raised (again by JT):

Doug Jarvis isn't necessarily doing a bad job with the D, but I can't help thinking it would be better all around to have a guy who's actually played the position offering instruction.

It’s been an issue on my mind for some time. Personally, I’m not sure if a change in personnel is necessary – possibly just a renewed focus. Teach the defencemen to be consistent, how to trust themselves in possession, how to make time and room for themselves by anticipating the play, and teach them some safe rescue manoeuvres that don’t include dumping it up the middle. The system Detroit teaches is simple: it is patience over panic.

This is salvageable. Even with the current group. They are intelligent enough, can skate and have shown they can improve. Hopefully this game will highlight that this needs to be the focus of a season’s work – readying their system for April.


Brisebois
This, unlike the former is no minor indictment. It is major in my mind. This situation keeps on rearing its head and little is done to remedy it. The fact that it took until the Anaheim game to become apparent that Brisebois is still Brisebois is surprising. The fact that he had a game like he did is not.

Now, I can rant with the best of them on how much I dislike the moments where I have to sit through 60 seconds of a Brisebois shift, but this time, that’s kind of beside the point. He is what he is. He’s trying as hard as he ever did, and his skills are diminished now (if that’s even imaginable).


This whole situation is the responsibility of the management who continues to sign this player and the coaching staff that continues to play him. The fixation on Patrice, whatever it is, is and will continue to be the Achilles’ heel of this team.

As one fan in a throng who sees things on this dossier in the same light, I am puzzled. Of course I defer to the judgment of these men on hockey specifics. But in my mind, this is not a matter of expertise, this is basic: Patrice has glaring deficiencies, he is a free agent – don’t sign him…

(The fact that Anaheim, only two days earlier, had signed Bret Hedican (+17 on a team that scored 4 more goals than they allowed) was a reminder that our signing strategy on defence was haphazard to say the least. Far from being an advocate of signing another washed-up defenceman – Hedican while not a real option perhaps just highlights how silly our own signing, so early in the summer was.)

I much prefer the idea of promoting from within because it allows for two important benefits: cheap salary and open mind. In the case of the Canadiens, they actually did have the chance to promote from within. An opportunity missed as it turns out. Shawn Belle is a former Team Canada member, has NHL experience and is good enough to be a 7th defenceman. Opinions may vary, but both Valentenko and Weber could have handled the odd assignment in the NHL too, as far as I’m concerned.

If I accept that Brisebois should have been signed (and I don’t), I still object to him starting every game, playing every game and playing in every situation. I thought he was insurance. I thought he was a fall-back position – at worst.

The problem is, while management talk about Patrice in those terms many times, they use him very differently when it comes to action time. We are not privy to the private conversations between Gainey, Gauthier, Carbonneau, Jarvis and Muller. We can only guess. But it is certain now that one of this braintrust is a Brisebois-believer, and at the very least the other 4 are not adamantly against him. I have a feeling this decision falls to the coaches, and I have an inkling which of the three it might be. In any case, that is irrelevant.

And, to be honest, Saturday represents the least of my concerns here. Although young Ryan O’Byrne, a defenceman with half a year of NHL experience, was probably wrongly benched for poor play vs. Florida, it is the memory of the playoffs that makes me uneasy here.

Last season, after the most successful run the club had had in more than a decade, the coaches decided on the eve of the playoffs to shuffle the deck. In come veterans (because that’s a winning formula in the playoffs). Even when the experiment went awry with 3 losses against a team we had (and should have continued to) dominated all season, the coaches stuck with Brisebois. The lineup was contorted to fit him in. A goalscorer was benched when we needed goals, two defenceman moved up front when we needed goals and Brisebois played and played when we couldn’t really afford to let up more than 3 goals a game.

What troubled me last playoffs is now troubling me again: Is this management or coaching staff capable of learning from the mistakes of their collective past?

The signing showed that Gainey was still prone to a soft spot with Patrice. And, the first seven games of the season show me that Carbonneau and co. are no less immune. Heaven help us…

Outlook
In a way it was fortuitous that Brisebois played spectacularly badly in this case in a loss. And that he did not score on a knuckler to cloud affairs. If we could ever hope for this group to learn and question their ways, it will take a loss like the one we had on Saturday.

I look on now with interest to tomorrow morning for the announcement on who will be playing. I look forward to seeing how the staff reacts in their plans and game-tme decision-making.