Revving Up Round 3: Strengths and Weakensses for Canadiens and Rangers

What a pleasure to have to write another one of these. Another series means the Canadiens strengths might be tested in different ways, as well as their weaknesses. To analyze the Rangers is a taller task than the Bruins, as they occupy less of my thoughts on a regular basis. Here goes anyway.


Canadiens strengths


1. Depth of scoring (Same as Bruins series)
This strength remains a core strength. In fact it did the Bruins in. To have Daniel Briere take a 4th line shift is a huge luxury, as is having a revitalized Lars Eller with experienced Gionta and fast Bourque on the 3rd unit.

The fortunate problem of the Canadiens coaching staff right now is the imminent return of Alex Galchenyuk: one of the team's strongest on-puck players. Usually it takes time for a player to go from first contact practice to insertion in the lineup, so don't expect #27 on Saturday. Beyond that, it's a coach's decision. The depth he adds is interesting as he could be inserted onto any of the forward lines to create a change of look and improve talent level throughout.

The Last Remnant of the Gomez Trade

OK, so we don't need to shed another tear for Scott Gomez, the league and players' association that were stubborn and stupid enough to squander a whole half season, have grasped their rush of common sense to make a very common sense fix to the Gomez problem (and for others like him: Redden).

Instead of having to sit for this season, they have made a scheme whereby a player can be bought out now and released from all the clauses that tie the buyout to health, etc. For the team and the salary cap, the effects are the same. The sole purpose of this new move is to be kinder to players like Gomez.

Don't Call Us, We'll Call You The Other Players The Canadiens Have Parted Ways With

Kovalev, Komisarek and Higgins gone. Tanguay and Koivu, probably not coming back. And the supporting cast of Brisebois, Bouillon, Dandenault, Lang and Kostopoulos also unlikely to return.

This is what you knew. But it didn't end there. There are also plenty of players that never stepped on the ice for the Montreal Canadiens – ones we thought and hoped might have a chance – that have been quietly loosed behind all the fanfare.

After a quick look at this year's development camp invitees and a quick crosscheck with last year's list, I identify 5 names that the Canadiens have likely bid adieu and one other that may be on his way soon.

1. Ryan McDonagh

We all know what happened to Ryan. While some media instantly jumped to the conclusion that Ryan must have been slowing in his development, Timmins has now come and corrected that view. Trevor was actually very complimentary about the Badger player, but stated the obvious for those who missed it:

"What people don't seem to understand is that in order to get something you have to give something. Obviously [McDonagh]'s the piece of the puzzle that was needed."

2. Thomas Beauregard

I have to admit, I was hot on Beauregard as late as last autumn (proof here). While he is not gone for certain, he is an unsigned free agent of the Hamilton Bulldogs. And, I think it is notable that he is not invited to this camp.

The Canadiens were probably right to take a chance on the prolific little winger in 2007 after his 124-point campaign in the QMJHL. And they were surely pleased with his progression after last season – one that ended with a championship in Cincinnati and 9 playoff goals. But in the never-ending whirlpool that is AHL hockey, players must be evaluated quickly to stick with or make room for prospects coming through. In Thomas' case, it seems the Canadiens have seen enough to know he may not ever be NHL material. It is a shame for him, but he'd be well-advised to stick with it.


3. Philippe Paquet

Who? Well exactly. He's been on the lists for ages now (drafted in 2005). But last September, I reckoned he was the very last man on the depth chart for the Habs on D. Since that time, it's fair to say that several even younger players have leapfrogged him, while he sits steadfastly last in line.

Like Beauregard, he's not officially off the cards for Montreal. But no invite, advancing age and the fact that he's done his 4 years at University mean it's likely the end of the road. It is a shame when you imagine what the 6'3" defender from Quebec City could have meant to the Canadiens. However, one can't force a player to develop as his high school coaches (and NHL scouts) envisioned. He provides a cautionary tale about how leaving player development to various US university staffs across the continent, while it sounds sensible, is quite a gamble.


4. JP Testwuide

JP was invited to last year's rookie camp as a try-out. Originally from George Gillett's hometown of Vail (tough life), teammate of Brock Trotter (and Paul Stastny) and a brother on the team, he still has loads of reasons to be here.

But the Habs did not have to issue an awkward goodbye to the young defenceman as he signed away that privilege by joining the Houston Aeros last spring.

In my opinion, he did the right thing, since, as a repeat try-out, on a team with depth at his position and no other, probably would have to have done more than double his penalty minutes in college to crack this camp. His brother Mike, a bigger, younger and more positionally-in-demand player, will have to keep the Vail fires strong all on his own this year.

5. Alexandre Monahan

Every year the Canadiens have a combine ahead of the general NHL combine to get a sneaky look at the talent in their own backyard. It's a good idea that has borne some fruit, but none has yet ripened into an NHL player or even a tradeable asset.

Alexandre Monahan followed this very avenue to his NHL window. After a strong 38-goal 2007-08 with Victoriaville he got a well-deserved invitation to development camp 2008. Although his 2008-09 campaign wasn't poor, it seems that it didn't merit a call back from the Habs. Perhaps not surprising given this review from last season:

"Alexandre Monahan is an average skater and didn't really stand-out in the crowd which is something a try-out player has to do."

Again, it's a shame that Monahan didn't crack the nut, but in not doing so, he has in effect left a place for the next generation to have a go. In fact, if you're keeping track, there are more QMJHL try-outs this year than last. Erik Boisvert is back for a second shot and it seems Philippe Lefebvre has taken Monahan's place.


6. Nicklas Torp

The final omission from this year's development camp was pesky Swedish defenceman Niklas Torp. It is unclear what the situation is with Torp, and it may be that his explanation is innocent enough – didn't want to travel.

As a prospect, Torp probably still figures in the Canadiens wider plans. He certainly still appears on the relevant websites. To me, he is interesting since he distinguishes himself from our other defensive prospects (especially now that Valentenko is gone for good) with reviews like this:

"As a player, he stands out with his physical and aggressive play. He has good timing in his hits and loves to deliver a good check when given the opportunity. He plays somewhat dirty at times and agitates the opposing players frequently.

To me, that puts him firmly in the running for a future 5th/6th defenceman role, something that perhaps Weber, Carle or Subban would be wasted at, or that others may hopefully be too good and well paid to place there.


Apart from those 6 who made one camp but not the next, there are others. Some prospects fade into the ether (Heino-Lindberg). Others flee North America (Yannick Lehoux). And we may yet say good bye to others we know, since Hamilton's ranks have not be set for the season and free agents remain there as well – Aubin, Denis, Latendresse (O), Flinn, Kemp, Steve Gainey and Loic Lacasse.

As this camp grows and grows, there will inevitably be more players to say goodbye to year on year. While it is regrettable that we had to part, one can only say that many of them will still look back and have the memory that most of you and I don't have – that of donning the Montreal Canadiens sweater for real. Not something to sneeze at.


Those that are there

I specifically focused on the players that wouldn't be at camp this year because I was looking to fill a little niche. For one thing, I am not going to camp nor able to watch on TV so will have little to offer over those that are. Also, I've been writing about big club issues while others have treated the stories of players to be at camp thoroughly enough already.

Incidentally, if you want to read more about the development camp and the players that the Canadiens are still developing, a nice place to start is Robert L's excellent compilation of links on every player there. As for progress at the camp, scrimmage results and other minutiae (I can't believe it never occurred to me to take time off work to attend) all the normal media channels, including some of the blogs I list in the right hand column.

At a glance, the players that look quite interesting to me on the list are the two Swedes (Johansson and Engqvist), the Quebec goalie with the 22-5-0 record (Gabriel Girard) and the American tryouts Hunter Bishop and Ryan O'Byrne 2.0 (Brandon Nash).

Gainey Gets His Centre

Like the rest of you, I had a bit of trouble getting to grips with this trade at first. I mean, at first glance, it goes against conventional wisdom – and on several levels.

It is at once adding an overpaid player and a long-term contract in a time where flexibility is being touted everywhere. It also puts in place a #1 centre who is no bigger than Saku Koivu, thereby either blocking, or certainly reducing the chances of installing someone really big. Finally, I suppose the timing. It does really smack of a move that could have been made after Gainey tried his luck with the UFAs.

A good night's sleep has me thinking a little differently this morning.


Trade reports were misleading

The first we heard of the trade was Higgins for Gomez. Fair enough. But later it came out that it was Higgins, McDonagh, Valentenko and Janik for Gomez and others.

Psychologically this was bruising. Higgins for Gomez at first sounds great, though there's anxiety about the salary. But McDonagh as a throw-in reeks of Rejean Houle, and Valentenko to top it off.

My rest has given me new perspective. First of all, I think realistically this trade was McDonagh for Gomez, or at best McDonagh and Higgins. For their part Janik and Valentenko were already nothing to me. They were never to play for the Canadiens, so trade chips for the league, they might as well be. But just switching Higgins to the throw-in, from McDonagh puts it all in a new light for me. It's hot prospect for top centre. Fine. Throw in a winger who can be replaced by almost any number of the draft picks we've made from the last 5 years (since he's no longer a talented top-liner).


Trade in full

Perspective renewed, I looked again. I even bothered to check what the other two guys have done and why Gainey might have been interested in them instead of just fretting at losing a Russian I liked.

There's no doubt from anyone here that the best player in the trade is Scott Gomez. If Sam Pollock was evaluating the trade, he might say that Montreal won on the basis of that fact alone. Luckily for Sam he didn't have to weigh up for salary eaten.

Seriously though, Montreal did alright here. Gomez is a top-line player, and though Pyatt and Busto haven't an NHL game between them, there's reason enough to believe at least one of them will one day.

Tom Pyatt for his part wasn't a standout in his draft year so fell. But despite his small stature, he managed to cobble an excellent 40+ goal season in the OHL 2 years ago to go with 2 WJC gold medals for Canada. Two team Canada appearances alone show there's something to him. I wouldn't be that surprised if he replaces Higgins outright – after all what's 11 goals and 12 assists?

Michael Busto is a lower leaguer, so written off in a flash. But was he selected or was he a throw away? The simple fact that he played for the Kootenay Ice in 2006-07 tells me that he was hand-picked by the Habs, simply because they will have watched that team quite a bit scouting Ben Maxwell and Ryan Russell. In some ways, I see this then as a bonus draft pick. He's a big enough defenceman who could conceivably one day play in the league. It's as good as Janik, and realistically better than Valentenko. Not a bad upgrade.

The Canadiens for their part gave up less than our initial emotional outpouring suggests, I think. I mean look at it from the Rangers point of view. Sure, they're happy about ditching a $7.3 million salary so they can waste all the cap room by the end of today on another Roszival, but take the salary aspect away and it's a different picture.

First, they get Ryan McDonagh who at this point can't be called anything more than a prospect. No offense to Ryan, but how does one expect him to be the next Chris Chelios when it's debatable whether he's even a top 3 defender on his own team, let alone the league. And it's not like Wisconsin were the top team in the league. Add to that the fact that Markov is a fixture in Montreal, Gorges has progressed and Weber and Subban have easily leapfrogged him in the pecking order, McDonagh was not value enough to fetch a Gomez.

Chris Higgins of course is a known quantity for Canadiens fans. But this season, I think was a little closer to the truth than Chris might like to admit. To say we were surprised when he notched 22 goals as a rookie would be an understatement. Nothing in his past suggested he could or would do that. He solidified his reputation as a twenty goal threat the next two seasons, with 23 and 27, but to go to thirty? It's a stretch. Ironically, the only way Higgins might do that is with a supreme passing talent like Gomez, since he needs open nets on most nights, usually 3 or 4 per goal. Seeing as his unreliability with the finish probably meant his career path now reads 3rd/4th liner, where's the harm in losing him? After all, as we know, 3rd/4th liners are truly the only commodity that one can pick up with any success in this league. Losing Higgins for the Habs means creating a place that a Hamilton player can fill almost right away. For the Rangers, picking up Higgins means they get a lot of energy and a bit of hope.

Finally, Valentenko and Janik. Valentenko is likely in Russia for good now, since he's too good in his own mind to take a tryout at this point, yet not good enough in the eyes of NHL execs to get guaranteed money. Why the Rangers wanted him, I'm not sure. one to watch. Janik, the forgotten man, was never going to play in Montreal. He failed a tryout where all he had to do was outplay O'Byrne.


Salary balance

I can't convince you or myself that we're better off with salary today than we were yesterday. The Gomez salary is horrendous. It is, however, about par for the course for top players who've received a contract in the past 3 seasons. It is worse than say Sundin, Richards, Briere, Richards and any other number of top centres.

I will also suggest that Gainey is reshuffling his salary so that players are paid in the old-fashioned top-heavy way. Getting rid of Higgins (the potentially $3 million 3rd liner), Bouillon and Dandenault ($2 million spares) is the indication for me. We should know more by the weekend.

For another thing, Gainey must surely know by today that salary flexibility isn't all it's cracked up to be. Nor will it be next year, in all likelihood. I wouldn't say you want to fill your cap up with overpayment, but it seems having loads to spend on July 1 is a false promise, to say the least. Might as well gamble with a player instead of gambling with bargaining power again.


Saku Koivu

The hardest aspect of this trade to take is the chance that Saku Koivu might have been replaced with a younger and heavier version. Gomez, from all accounts is a bit of a Koivu with his tenacity, his playoff performance and his incredible passing vision.

Many fans are visibly upset that we have gone for the Koivu "upgrade". But unlike me, it's not because they are sad to lose Saku (RDS poll showed that).

I think many fans presumed that the small skillful centre era was coming to an end. I think most fans deemed that era to be a failure. Personally, I'm glad Gainey is not so closed-minded as that. And, frankly, I think blaming Koivu for the lack of Stanley Cup parades even over the last 5 years is wholly unfair. In fact, if there were one thing I'd take from these last ten years of Koivu, it's that the whole big centre myth is a bit bogus. Someone competitive, given wingers with enough talent to bury a chance (see not Higgins) is what you need. After all it was Briere/Richards to beat the Canadiens one year and Savard/Krejci the next. Datsyuk's been to the Stanley Cup final in both years, Joe Thornton never got a sniff.

So sadness then? Koivu's gone?

Well he ain't gone yet. And, depending on the results of today's efforts, he may not be gone for this season either. I've seen others who agree that Gomez, Koivu, Plekanec would be nice. I think so too. I also think the possibility of future trades is there either way too.


Obviously I had a good sleep. As I can see from comments all around, many of you didn't. I wish you a better day and a sleep just like mine after the fireworks have gone off this evening so that you can start to see something positive in supporting this team (with Gomez at the helm) for the next 9+ months.

Happy Canada Day all.