Something PositiveIn Stewart We Add One Helluva Player

Gone amiss in all the orchestrated confusion was the promotion of Greg Stewart yesterday afternoon. I read somewhere that Carbonneau personally requested Greg Stewart to bolster his forces – maybe the man does have some sense.


Privately (and Tobalev will tell you), I have been asking for the Stewart promotion from the very first time I saw him. I thought he should make the team in October (from his review):

Personally, I'd have Stewart in the team set up. 10 goals in Hamilton prove he is no passenger and one game in Montreal showed me he is hyped to play in the bigs. As poor Steve Begin falls apart bit by bit due to his rugged approach, it will be nice to have Stewart there to step in and offer a spark plug of comparable energy

Why I like him
I'll tell you why I like him. There are two reasons.

The first is this:



For all the Laraques in the world, you'd have never seen this fight. Stewart stood up to a true jerk and a cocky vet who thought he could get away with picking on a rookie. The way he punched was the only reason fighting should be allowed (to settle real game-derived disputes), and the way his teammates applauded is marked next to the indifference Laraque provokes.

Stewart would be scarier than Laraque because a) he would stand up for his teammates no matter what and b) he could fight anyone he liked (moreover disliked).


The second reason I like him is because he can play. Not only that he is puck hungry. When he doesn't have the puck he fights to get it, he plans to get it, and often he gets it. His hits are not for the end of year tallies, they are for the pursuit of that small rubber disc.

Not only is he puck hungry, but he can protect the puck with his body and as he showed with his single (yet brilliant) assist this season he is aware of his teammates while he does all this.

If he had soft hands in the least, there would be no Guillaume Latendresse in Habs lore. He doesn't, but he still merits his place.


Pedigree

Or perhaps: Petergree.

Being a member of the Peterborough Petes is to the OHL what being a member of the Montreal Canadiens was to hockey.

- They began as a farm team for the Montreal Canadiens in 1956
– It is the oldest continuous franchise in the CHL
- They have won a record 8 Memorial Cups in 53 years
– They are known as a “Junior Hockey Factory”: producing a record number of NHL players, including Eric and Jordan Staal, Chris Pronger, Mike Ricci, Steve Yzerman, Doug Jarvis and of course Bob Gainey
– Coaches of the Petes include top NHL coaches Roger Neilson, Mike Keenan and Scotty Bowman

That ain't no joke.

Greg Stewart didn't put up incredible numbers in junior, but being a contributing member of the Petes was probably enough to get him drafted. The fact he won a Memorial Cup as a veteran junior two years after being drafted was a certain bonus for the Habs. As usual, he didn't do the heavy lifting. but as we know champions take many shapes and sizes.

His coach then, a Petes legend himself Dick Todd, had this to say of Greg:

“When I took over last year they raved about his conditioning and strength,” Petes coach Dick Todd told Hockey’s Future this week. “Usually the draft is so well documented that you don’t get quality players later in the draft coming to junior so he was a pleasant surprise to the hockey club when they got him."

Rare Canadian find

If as Mike Boone so eagerly writes, the Canadiens are de-Russifying their team, then they had better hope that they turn up a few more Stewarts than they currently do.

Greg is a notable exception in an otherwise dismal record of finding and developing Canadian talent.

Timmins has selected 23 Canadian players since his hiring. If you exclude Carey Price (who was a lucky dip for the Habs with an unearned 5th overall pick) then you're looking at Lapierre, Latendresse, O'Byrne, D'Agostini and Chipchura from that span. With the exception of Lapierre, who plays like he deserves a place, the other players still have question marks over their NHL careers, let alone stardom.

Talk of Detroit often comes around to the success of late round scouting and picks. But while Timmins can poach Europeans late (Streit, Halak and S Kostitsyn), Stewart stands as the very rare Canadian (indeed North American) to play any important hockey from among 7 players. The rest are absolute duds.


Look forward to Stewart tonight. He brings quality with his grit. It's great to see.

Habs LeafsGuest Preview

One of the wonderful benefits that the Score Sports Federation provides us with is a natural set of bloggers to argue and share thoughts with about hockey and the NHL in Canada. Ahead of only the second all-Canadian meeting for the Habs since LIW joined the Federation, I spoke with Sean of Down Goes Brown about the Leafs, our rivalry and the game tonight.

I put a few questions to Sean about some obvious topics and some that hopefully are not so obvious. Read on to see his responses.

Sean also put some very creative and cleverly worded questions to me, you can see my answers on his site now.

Q1) We look at your team a foreign fans and think Kaberle, Toskala and Antropov... Can you tell us from a Leafs perspective who the players to look for tonight will be?

Sean: Nik Hagman is just a solid, smart player who can skate and score and play defense. He's been the best of Fletcher's acquisitions. Jonas Frogren is a crazy Nordic viking on the blueline who doesn't score much, but is the sort of guy who likes to block shots with his face. Dominic Moore is having a career year on the checking line - he's got great wheels, and will continue to contribute until he's dealt at the deadline for a second round pick.

Also, this Grabovski kid isn't bad. You've probably never heard of him.


Q2) By the same token, who are the players you as Leafs key on when you think of a match up with the 2008-09 Canadiens (if you recognize anyone on our roster anymore)?

Sean: Well, the main guy we'll be keying on is Tom Kostopoulos. He's going down. You do not want to get into a "hitting-from-behind" battle with a team that employs Ryan Hollweg. Kostopoulos better hope that whichever purse he steals this week has a gun in it.

Other than that, we watch for the usual suspects: Koivu, Kovalev, Lang, and all the various other divers. And of course, we'll try to convince Carey Price it's a playoff game so that he'll completely wet the bed.


Q3) We have an interesting history between our teams. But in all honesty, is this rivalry petering out a bit? Do you hate the Canadiens as much as perhaps you used to?

Sean: The rivalry has been pretty dormant since it's been a while since both teams were good at the same time. But it's still easily the Leafs best rivalry. There have been occasional mini-rivalries like the Senators, but at the end of the day nobody cares about Ottawa. I get more excited for Habs games than any other team, by far.

All that said, here's the weird thing: I don't actually hate the Habs, or their fans. I hate plenty of other teams, but there's a grudging respect for Montreal. The Senators could fold tomorrow and no Leaf fan would care, but the Habs are different. The rivalry still feels like it means something, and I hope it heats up again soon.


Q4) Mats Sundin. Open wound, I know. Would you have taken him back if he turned down Vancouver?

Sean: Leaf fans don't agree on Sundin, but virtually nobody wanted him back. Half of us are too mad at him, and the other half know that this season is about a high draft pick and Sundin would only hurt that. If he had re-signed after the deadline, or even during the summer, we would have welcomed him back. But once he finished taking fishing trips or shilling for gambling web sites and got around to actually thinking about hockey in November, he was dead to me. I look forward to him faking an injury to get out of the Canucks/Leaf game in February.


Q5) If you're not in the playoffs, I'm assuming you hope for a lottery position. Let's say the chips fall for you: Hedman or Tavares?

Sean: After watching the World Juniors, I've been sporting a Tav-erection for two straight weeks. Besides, the Leafs have far more blue-chip defensive prospects than we do forwards. Which is to say, we currently have one blue-chip defensive prospect.


Q6) Will Justin Pogge crack it soon? How bad will the save percentages have to be to pull the trigger on that? It looks to us, the casual observers, like you have a David Aebischer situation on your hands.

Sean: Pogge should play regularly in the NHL when he's ready, and it suits his development path. That's the only criteria. Toskala has been shaky this year, and Joseph has been brutal, but that doesn't matter this year. It's about the future, so if Pogge isn't ready then he should be in the AHL. And that's especially true since he hasn't been all that sharp the past few years, and is starting to look like he may not be the blue-chip prospect we were hoping for.

And if Toskala is traded and Joseph plays so badly the rest of the year that we drop into last place overall, well, that's a risk we'll just have to take. Cough.


Finally, as with the Calgary preview, we had a look at some players, people and places that mean something to either side. I asked both Sean from Down Goes Brown and our own Tobalev to state whatever came to mind (in a word or two) when they read the following list (the answers are good):

a) Shayne Corson
Sean (Leafs): Head-kicker
Tobalev (Habs): Bar fights

b) Jonas Hoglund
Sean (Leafs): Sundin's excuse
Tobalev (Habs): How was he good on the Leafs?

c) Ken Dryden
Sean (Leafs): Stop talking
Tobalev (Habs): Could have been the best ever

d) LA Kings
Sean (Leafs): Kerry Fraser high stick gretzky scores ears bleeding can't stop cutting myself argh i hate you...
Tobalev (Habs): 1993 Finals collapse

e) Conn Smythe
Sean (Leafs): Maple Leaf Gardens
Tobalev (Habs): Patrick Roy


Never one to shy away from controversial statements, apparently. Thanks Sean for taking part. As for you dear readers, Down Goes Brown is a great blog to get the pre-game and post-game analysis from the Leaf perspective and to correct Sean about some of his wild claims regarding the Habs (or just generally mock because he had to mention Dominic Moore in an answer about best players).

History Set Straight

I have much more to say on this, but for the time being, let this serve as your battery against any foray from bitter fans of any ilk who invoke the territorial rule as the reason for the Canadiens success (and perceived lack of it since the 1980s):

Debunking the Habs French Territorial Rights Rule

Happy anticipating... Go Habs Go

Speak of the Devil: Habs History on the Internet

After yesterday's shoddy history lesson from the hockeybuzz, it's a pleasure to turn around and find our old friend Robert at Eyes on the Prize diligently documenting the Canadiens history, and properly too. If you want a good read, and to learn a lot more about the early Canadiens (Canadian on the hockey cards of the day, apparently) and Mr. O'Brien's 4-team assault on the Montreal Wanderers in the NHA of 1910, then have a look at this piece.

Incidentally, I'd love to be able to do something like documenting the 100-year history of the team. If not for a job getting in the way, then maybe I would. But one couldn't hope to do a more thorough job of it than Robert. He says on his blog, he'll be doing every team from the 100 (ending with the current one) in installments (Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays) from here until they are done some time in March, by my calculations. I'll be checking these out, and I recommend them to anyone who loves this team and its history.

Hopefully, Tobalev and I will be able to complement all the historical accounts with some perspective on the current and more recent editions of the Habs.

August today. The last non-hockey month of the summer!

Overtime losing has it's benefits

Robert L at Eyes on the Prize has the sneaking suspicion that the Habs recored may be fooling everyone into thinking they are better than they are.

Well, he's right isn't he?

Overtime losses do skew the results a little, but I would like to point out a few reasons we should at least be optimistic about the Habs:

1) Many of their OTLs were actually shootout losses. So they didn't actually lose those games. Let's say they tied, with the opponents getting a bonus point. The Canadiens are 2-5 in the shootout, so let's say then that they are 17-13-2 with 5 ties and 2 bonus points. As you can see it's above .500 in actual game play.


2) As much as we dislike them, OTLs do count for points. As I've harped on and on about, in the end points are all that matter in the regular season. I would rather get a point for losing and have a skewed feeling about where we stand than not. I bet the Islanders and Leafs didn't mind beating us last year on the strength of 5 and 6 more OTLs each.

3) Nothing is more disheartening than a 4-0 loss. So, any game that goes to OT is a game we played well enough (or almost) to win. 26/39 is very good in that light. Take into account there were a few games lost before OT that the Habs could have won, then the picture looks alright. Of course, most Eastern teams could do the same exercise for a feel good exercise, but that's why you go back to Point 2 (above) and give less credence to rationalizations like this and more to concrete points.

4) The Habs have 19 wins out of 39. If points were only awarded for winning, we would still be in playoff striking range (T8).

5) The Habs are just below the pace for 96 points (94.6 to be exact). With 3 points in the next 2 games, the Canadiens would be halfway to a 96-point season – the very target I set out. I think we'd all agree that 96 points would be a success and a good step towards improvement and possible playoff success.

Come on Habs fans. Chins up. The kids are alright...

Habs cut possible NHLers

So, today Bob Gainey promoted 29 players to our championship club. There players can develop in a winning environment without 65 reporters in their faces after their morning skate and all us bloggers watching them tie their skates with baited breath.


Unfortunately, the cuts in this case also expose some of our impressive harvest of prospects to other teams with less skill at the draft. Columbus have been relying on our waiver cast-offs for years to build their defense, maybe this year they'll grab a goalie and take aim at the playoffs for the first time (in 2013).

The players cut include (from Habs Inside/Out):

Goalies:
Yann Danis (must clear waivers)
Loïc Lacasse
Cédrick Desjardins

Defencemen:
Andrew Archer (must clear waivers)
Mathieu Biron (must clear waivers)
Mathieu Carle
Marvin Degon
Jon Gleed
Jamie Rivers (must clear waivers)
Pavel Valentenko


Forwards:
Mathieu Aubin
Ajay Baines
Thomas Beauregard
Jimmy Bonneau
Matt D'Agostini
David Desharnais
Jonathan Ferland (must clear waivers)
Sergei Kostitsyn
Janne Lahti
Francis Lemieux
Corey Locke (must clear waivers)
Eric Manlow
Ben Maxwell (to junior)
Duncan Milroy (must clear waivers)
Ryan Russell
Gregory Stewart
Cory Urquhart (must clear waivers)
Ryan White (to junior)

The players in bold must clear waivers, and based on what other teams have made available, I would expect someone to go here. The most likely candidates for me seem like Yann Danis and Corey Locke.


It's a shame, because the luxury of carrying these players would have been nice, but waivers would have been a worry with every call-up and demotion throughout the season. So a tough decision, but one we probably had to take. If we didn't have Grabovski, the loss of Locke would hurt more. Obviously, we can't cry about Danis, with the other three able goalies we have.

Don't expect Danis to end up in LA though. LaBarbera is superior and Bernier is a hot prospect. They aren't as goalie poor as we think. The likely thieves are Tampa, Islanders and Blue Jackets (again).

As for Locke, any team without a small lead center would be open to 2nd-line scoring potential. I think Phoenix could use him.

Milroy was a hope for me, but showing he's not up to it this year says a lot about his stats from last season (professional AHLer). He has been surpassed by his last batch of prospects in the organisation, I think. And, we shouldn't see him in camp again next year. Ditto Ferland.


So what does it mean for our team - the one in Mtl. Price stays (for a week), and Grabovski, O'Byrne and Chipchura have an extended chance to make it.

Given the choice of the players left, this is who I'd want for opening night:

Higgins Koivu Ryder
Kostitsyn Plekanec Kovalev
Latendresse Smolinski Kostopoulos
Begin Chipchura Lapierre

Markov Komisarek
Hamrlik Streit
Bouillon O'Byrne

Huet
Halak

Sitting out: Murray (he's still here???), Grabovski (would love to see him in), Brisebois (hopefully a last-minute cut?), Dandenault, Gorges and Price (in Hamilton by next week).

We can't absorb Briere

I for one will be extremely disappointed if we choose to spend 6 million a year on Daniel Briere. Even though this is the new NHL, and he has proven himself to be very well suited to the new conditions, I only have to watch how the league changes at playoff time to know how bad an idea that would be. Daniel Briere has his benefits, but taken in the context of the bulk of the players we have, I don't think he fits. I'll weight up what I think he could offer us below:

1) A French Canadian superstar.
At this point in time, I think this is imperative. The team can't afford to be dragged through the whole language war every time they lose 2 games in a row. Some members of the media are itching for a homegrown (and not Brandon Reed) star. I don’t think they’ll go away. In fact, they’ll continue to create a mess until the big star they crave is brought in. Daniel Briere is a Quebecer, and a star, but not a superstar.

7/10

2) A first line centre.
I am happy with Koivu on the first line, but he’s pulling a young Higgins and a one-dimensional Ryder all by himself. A 1b centre to get Kovalev going or take one of Higgins or Ryder off Koivu’s hands would help. Definitely desirable, if not necessary. Briere seems to fit this bill too. 95 points show that. I think he’s still a lesser player than Koivu. I haven’t seen the extra gear for the playoffs, and I don’t see 95 points if it’s 2 equal lines at the top.

8/10

3) Size.
Diminutive. Manages to look even smaller than he is.

2/10

4) Value for the cap hit.
5-6 million dollars for Koivu Mark II seems a little bit rich. Even if he continues to develop and becomes a 100-point man on the Habs. Elevates Kovalev on his off nights, and exceeds realistic best-case-scenario expectations, 6 million will prevent the team from getting the defenseman they really need.

5/10

5) A locker room leader/example
No reason to doubt Briere here. Two long playoff runs, a first place run. Has earned his way into the league.

8/10


A bit too expensive for his potential contributions to our team. A bit too small to meet the hole in our team. And, not a big enough star to carry the whole expectation on his own. Overall, I don't think Briere is what we need. It would be a shame to sign him just because he's the only one available.

I also think it would create a him or Koivu situation in the future, where we would be looking for the big/crashing centre that we should be looking for now. Koivu is cheaper for the moment, and coming off a good season. Better to keep the known quantity I think in this case.

If I were Gainey, I'd be looking into the possibility of getting Patrick Marleau. Sign Souray and trade him for Marleau. Ideally Lecavalier would be the one, but I fear he's in Tampa for a while longer...