Game #28 Habs Steal One From Jackets' Pocket

Details

Date: 6/12/2011
Opponent: Blue Jackets
Location: Montreal

Loss: 3-2 (SO)

Habs Goalie: Price (L)
Opposition Goalie: Sanford (W)

Habs goalscorers: Kostitsyn, Gionta
Opposition goalscorers: Prospal, Umberger (Nash - SO)

Play of the game

We'd been lucky once already this game with a last-second goal in a listless first period, so hoping for a second while trailing late in the third seemed like it might be asking a little much. Then, a shot from outside by Plekanec was actually followed to the net by a couple forwards for once, Gionta to one side and Cammalleri to the other. The captain ended up with a soft rebound and made no mistake in putting it home to send this one to overtime and absolutely stealing a point from Columbus.

Dome hockey team

The 6 players we're playing in a no changes, do or die contest in the dome

Forwards

Andrei Kostitsyn
His goal late in the first off a beautiful feed from Cammalleri was the only thing keeping us alive through the first 58:39 of the game. His defensive game wasn't up to scratch, and was on for both goals against. Still, he was one of the few that showed any offensive spark.

Brian Gionta
His late goal to salvage a point from a pretty uninspiring performance by most of the squad makes him a shoo-in. I love to see a captain that does exactly what a captain needs to do.

Erik Cole
Poor Erik Cole couldn't buy a goal tonight. The fact that he had so many missed chances almost made me want to leave him out, but we know he's doing a lot of things right to get all those opportunities. Seems to magically create offense from nothing on a regular basis.

Defencemen

P.K. Subban
It's easy to sell Subban short these days with the expectations he has built for himself. He's played flashier games, but I like that he's been a little less flamboyant on the ice. He was on for almost 32 minutes and did his fair share of work to pitch in on offense while still being expected to be playing a more defensively responsible role.

Alexei Emelin
9 hits. 9 hits, and all over the rink. At least 3 of them were real earth-shakers, too. He plastered guys at the blue line to make them pay the price for coming into the zone, and he rocked them on the boards to make them pay for being in his house. Played solid defense for over 22 minutes and picked up his first NHL assist, he should be proud of his work.

Goaltender

Carey Price - Game Puck
No question about this one tonight. Without the stunning work by Price throughout the game, we would have never had a chance. His absolute stoning of Umberger on the breakaway with just under a minute left in the second was a strong play of the game candidate, along with his huge save on Nash in the opening minutes of the third. Price was huge all night and was instrumental in getting that point for the standings.

Comments

Perhaps a little tired after a long road trip, the Habs started the night slowly and looked lethargic at times, especially early in the first. Columbus had a good game plan tonight, and they did a great job of clogging up the neutral zone and playing the body to prevent us from using our speed to play strong transition hockey. I haven't seen the team so completely and thoroughly stymied as this in any game I've blogged so far this season.

Worse than that, Colombus has some speedy players, and they created a shocking number of breakaways and odd-man rushes through breaking up plays in the neutral ice. Nash and Huselius looked particularly dangerous together, and I was reminded of how much I love watching Nash play hockey. Our power play woes continue, and we looked particularly pathetic in the third opportunity when another ridiculously slow line change stranded two lone Habs in the offensive zone while the forwards figured out who was supposed be doing what, and when. Oh, and when we went 0-for-3 on the shootout.

As I alluded to above, it seems to me that we got more a little lucky at times tonight. But given how unlucky some of our guys were (Cole fanned on some golden opportunities tonight), we deserved a little. Overall, though, we looked tired and weren't passing the puck well. It looked to me like we got outplayed by a Blue Jacket squad that really had their game together, and we should be pretty happy to take home a point.

Habs Reinforce Weakest Position

Sure Carey Price is one of the best players on the Habs. But goaltending at an organizational level with this team was a glaring weakness.

Auld is an OK back-up, but with what future. Sanford is a good AHL goalie, but might not have the confidence of the management team. Ramo seems OK, but he's in the KHL. Beyond those the situation was more dire.

Mayer has not handled the AHL workload well. Doesn't bode well for anything more than that.

Peter Delmas hasn't exactly shown his release from Colorado's system was a mis-step on their part.

Petteri Simila is in the second Finnish league now after sliding out of the OHL and the SM Liiga.


Drew MacIntyre probably won't sets hearts alight in Montreal. Perhaps he should offer some comfort. If Carey price ever got injured and Montreal needed a back-up, it will be nice that Curtis Sanford would be contested. Mayer couldn't do that. MacIntyre might push him.

Canadiens Deadline Assets Hamilton Bulldog Players

Nearly there. The picture is becoming quite clear. Want the world, don't want to pay. Let's see how much we think Bulldogs players are worth.

Battles, Cuts and Intrigue Martin's Mind By Ice Time

In the world of new statistics we are told that we can tell a coach's mind to a certain extent by faceoff deployment. Important faceoffs are taken by important players (favoured players). The same can be extrapolated from ice time.

As camp winds down and the NHL team is left to rake in revenue for the Molsons, we can begin to view Martin's mind.


Battles

There are a few pitched battles going on under the radar as far as I can tell.

Up front, Eller just about locked up his place in the NHL with his display last night. But that was probably superfluous, as Martin seems smitten with the Dane - he's played 49:30 already, good for 4th most among forwards.

This has muddied the waters a bit in my opinion after the top 9. Here Pouliot has possibly slipped to earn his place along with Darche, Boyd, Maxwell, White and Pacioretty (Pyatt based on his enormous usage so far, along with Moen and Halpern, i judge to be safe). Pouliot should hold the edge but for his last 2 efforts. Even so, he holds good cards with Martin the dealer. Boyd has NHL cred to back him up. Darche the benefit of the doubt.

Its the challenges of White and Maxwell that stand out for me. Martin has used White sparingly, but with great effect thus far. Ryan looks to be what Moen, Darche and Boyd may not be. Maxwell is different. He's looked genuinely inspired at times at stark contrast with Pouliot. The fact he's a natural centre would be the only thing holding back his odds for me. Notice no mention of Pacioretty. Despite his points, his underuse to the tune of 21:19 over 2 games belies his starting position on the grid. He's a very dark horse for the big team this year indeed.

On D, there are battles too, but they seem less urgent with the injuries. With Carle out of the way, it's Weber, Picard and O'Byrne for the final two places in my opinion. Martin tips his hand with playing time here. Weber has played 64:09 in 3 games. Picard has played 49:56 in 2. O'Byrne, meanwhile lags at 36:39 for 2. It seems that Weber ad Picard have their noses in front, but we mustn't forget that a defense of Subban, Spacek, Weber, Picard, Hamrlik, Markov seems highly unfavourable to the goalies we have. O'Byrne hangs on therefore, and a couple of decent (don't even have to be great) efforts should see him through to starting lineup.


Cuts
The cuts from training camp represent a multi-tiered group. There are the players outside the plans, juniors like Lefebvre, Leblanc, Tinordi. There are the players who are tipped for the AHL. And then there are those that have played themselves out of positions.

The list of players sent to Hamilton includes:
G: Robert Mayer and Peter Delmas

D: Frederic St-Denis, Sebastien Bisaillon, Marc-Antoine Desnoyers, Kyle Klubertanz, Brendon Nash, Neil Petruic, David Urquhart and Mathieu Carle

F: Andrew Conboy, Olivier Fortier, Dany Masse, Aaron Palushaj, J.T. Wyman, Alexander Avtsin, Jimmy Bonneau, Ian Shultz, David Desharnais, Gabriel Dumont and Andreas Engqvist

The Bulldogs though are like the Habs, they are restricted in the positions they have to offer. Not to mention that 4 to 5 of the 16 forwards up in Montreal (likely to include Russell and Bishop among others), 1 or 2 of the Dmen and 1 more goalie will be demoted.

So far, only Champion has been released outright. He was a try-out with the Habs and now leaves for junior without a contract. Another in the rather lengthy list of potential goalies to attempt to fill the Canadiens shallow depth chart this summer.

Delmas is at Bulldogs camp now, but unless he does something reveletionary, he'll be in Wheeling or elsewhere come October. Ditto two of Urquhart, Bisaillon, Desnoyers and Petruic. Up front though the Canadiens only have 29 bodies to play 24 positions and fill 26 to 28 places. I'd wager Bonneau is the favourite to be deemed non-Bulldog material by the Habs, but who knows, Masse and Russell might be in that mix.

Of the cuts to be favourites on the Dogs, look for Desharnais, Engqvist and Palushaj who all got very long looks at the big camp (41:38, 35:18 and 33:11 in playing time, respectively). On D, that man would be Carle who saw 38:29, mostly out of necessity.


Intrigue

Intrigue might be a strong word, but there are some surprises from the camp.

First for me is the goalie deployment. On other teams we have seen complete unknowns get a skate out in goal. Not so in Montreal. Robert Mayer, the legitimate back-up for Hamilton got a half game, as did Sanford. The goalie overuse in these early games was probably made necessary by certain athletes needing more time to ready themselves. I feel it comes at a cost to the organization, which as I mentioned has no depth at the position.

Second has to be Spacek's playing time. What on earth is Martin driving at? 72:57 so far for the guy we all anticipate needing nights off to rest during the season. It's bordering on madness, playing Jaro as much as that. It's come at the expense of Ryan O'Byrne in part, but also the contenders like Carle, Klubertanz and St. Denis who played a combined hour between them. Not that I know what I'm doing as a coach, but I'd also have thought that it might be more useful to get those potential replacements into games ahead of Jarred Tinordi who at 18 has a few years of tutelage to come before bleu, blanc, rouge days.

Finally, there's Avtsin. Upon demotion, Martin said something about his injury from the summer really holding him back during camp. Apparently it held him back to the point that he couldn't even dress for the early undressings at the hands of the Bruins and Sens. The player commits in a big way to come to North America and doesn't even get a minute of ice. Fortier was injured a whole season and didn't have a chance of making the team at all and he got a skate. JT Wyamn is no NHLer and he got 2 games. Conboy has nothing more to offer than a scowl, he got two as well. We don't know inner workings. Maybe Avtsinn was injured. I suppose I hope he was/is, because it would be a shame if the Habs blew another prospect because Martin is stuck in his ways.

Thought For The Week Goalie Wins

If you've read this site before chances are you have at some time stumbled across a debate about goaltending proficiency. A lot of the time, the issue of goaltender wins as a statistic comes up.

Lately, it seems the prevailing attitude is that wins have nothing to do with goaltending. The argument is well made and the logic sound.

So imagine my surprise when I was (goodness knows why) listening to Robert Mayer's interview from Habs Inside/Out and they asked him about his definiton of a successful season:

Question: "What would be a good season for you, for the next year?"

Mayer (without hesitation): "A good season for me? You know what, a good season for me would be if I had more wins than losses..."

No mention of other statistics, no mention of save percentgae or even strength save percentage, or games won where he outperformed his expected save percentage based on average shot quality. No, it was wins. Wins are his primary stat for evaluating a season. More wins than losses = good. All wins = perfect.

I find that interesting. I suspect he's not alone among his bretheren.

While I completely agree that it is oversimplistic to look at wins as a main crux of an argument for goaltender proficiency, I have often also wondered at the oversimplicity of just discarding the stat altogether given its likely influence on how the goalie plays (drives his motivation).

I think I'll remember Mayer's words when I look at seasons past come June.

Goaltending Controversies in Montreal Will Die Hard

"At least the goalie controvery's done with"

I don't think it would have surprised anyone if GM Pierre Gauthier uttered those words when he traded Jaroslav Halak for Eller and long shot Ian Schultz. That day, he effectively removed the competition for the starter's role in Montreal and placed it again in the lap of Carey Price. But in the days where he failed to sign Dan Ellis and instead settled upon big man Alex Auld, he may have inadvertently opened another controversy up.

Don't for one minute think I think or wish that Alex Auld will challenge Carey Price for the starter's role. For that to happen, we'd already have to be a very miserable group. Rather, it's my belief that Auld has by no means locked up the second-string position, unless we think the Habs too cheap to pay out his one-way contract in the minor leagues.


Auld's need for rebound

Last season, Alex Auld had a very lacklustre season, indeed. Though his Rangers numbers look good if you allow them to factor in (3 games in relief only), it was his 0.894 save percentage with the Dallas Stars to go with an 80s-esque 3.00 GAA that lead me to worry. His ES save percentage was also among the league worst and so was his save percentage on the PK. It just wasn't a season to remember.

That's not to say that Auld isn't a challenger, he is (hence the battle). But his challenge rests on a return to the form he posted in Ottawa and Boston rather than that of Florida, Phoenix and Dallas.


Sanford won't go easily

Sanford can't even look to NHL numbers from last season to make a case. The healthy duo of Halak and Price made sure he was firmly entrenched in Hamilton. However, where he differs from Auld is in his success. Last season, Sanford posted numbers to put himself among AHL leaders for the second year in a row and played so well toward the end of the season that he wrested half the playoff starts away from the All-Star choice, Cedrick Desjardins. The AHL is not the NHL as we well know, but there's history to suggest that AHL success in goaltending counts for at least something.

What's more, Sanford probably has different goals this season as he spots the low hanging fruit in Montreal. with 108 NHL games already, I'd bet good money that he's eyeing more for 2010-11. And there's plenty of credibility to his claim as well. Over that span, Sanford has been a 2.74, 0.901 goalie to Alex Auld's 2.78, 0.904. His only season in a starting role with the then abysmal 2005-06 St. Louis Blues, he easily distanced himself in the race.


Factors in the decision

With fans as unforgiving as the Montrealers who want to fire the coach a mere warmup into the season, this controversy is set to boil early. As to who wins out in the end, it's hard to say. I do feel there are some factors already in play that favour Auld.


Size: The Habs have made no secret of their cunning plan to choose the bigger goalie where possible. Auld is 5" taller and will thus have bigger equipment. I think this tips things in his favour at the outset.

The decided order: Auld has been signed as the back and it shows with the salaries. In another organization (say the Hawks), this might not matter. But a decision made is a decision made in Montreal sometimes, regardless of evidence to the contrary. The order of things will be hard to overcome for Sanford.

Ottawa/Boston: In fairness, Auld turned out very good results over 66 games in Ottawa and Boston, better than anything Sanford has shown at the AHL level. The shadow of these should carry weight at least early on.


Even with all that, I think Sanford stands a chance for reasons of his own:

The system: We all know and love the Jacques Martin Canadiens as a puck concession, shot surrendering machine. It worked with halk, because for some reason he likes that. But when it comes to Auld v. Sanford, I think Sanford may have the edge. Auld's greatest successes have come when he's been more protected from shots (like in Ottawa and his early Vancouver days) and he's had some tendency to look less impressive under heavier fire (Vancouver 2005-06 and Florida). Sanford's strength is Auld's potential weakness, and he may just push him on that because we all know that shots aren't going to stop coming in...

Salary cap: Pierre Gauthier has managed to spend nearly every last penny on this team, a team that may yet need to be tweaked. $1 million vs. $550,000 may not seem much, but come March that could buy a million dollars worth of reinforcement. If Auld plays like an AHLer anyway, I wonder how long the capologists will allow it.


It's been many a year since the Canadiens entered training camp without something to discuss from the back end. You didn't really expect that to end just because Gauthier dealt Halak did you?

Canadiens Recall Robert Mayer

RDS and others are reporting that the Habs have called up Swiss/Czech goaltender Robert Mayer to stand in for Jaroslav Halak in Canadiens practices this week.

It's not really Canadiens news as such, as Mayer is firmly 5th choice for the big team – as if they ever let it get to that point without trading. However, for the young man, it must be quite an exciting time.

Let's face it, though, this is the biggest Habs news of the past while. And it is more interesting given we haven't spoken about or glanced in Mayer's direction in months.


Who is Mayer?

Mayer is what he is – a depth prospect. He came to the organization as a signing rather than a draft pick following a fairly strong 2007-08 during which he played a decent back-up role on a strong Saint John SeaDogs team and backstopped Switzerland at the World Juniors. One has to think that he really got on Timmins and co.'s radar at the U18 Worlds in 2007, though, where he excelled in posting the top save percentage of his year for the tournament.

His stats don't scream elite prospect, but he did do enough to make the CHL top prospects game ahead of the 2008 draft where he ended up going unselected.

Hockey's future has Mayer as prospect #17 for the Habs, which is either a compliment to Mayer or an indictment of the depth the organization pretends to have. The good news is the reviewer for the site, despite panning Mayer generally, still has something to like in a glove hand and positioning (a rare combination?):

With solid positioning and a great glove hand, Mayer has the potential to be much better then what he has shown so far.

In any case, this is what it's reported to be, and not some prelude to Halak/Price being shipped. The Hamilton Bulldogs are winning and need their goalies, and the Montreal re-Habs need someone else to shoot on.

Robert Mayer, good luck and enjoy yourself...

Habs Goalie Threatens Bower's Record

No this isn't an article on Carey Price, nor plea to trade Halak.

Merely to inform you all of something that has probably been completely overlooked by most fans.


Last night, the Hamilton Bulldogs won a thrilling contest in which they scored 5 goals, and won by a large margin. However after the final buzzer, coach Guy Boucher had a sour taste in his mouth. He had just been informed that the goal his team allowed was one that prevented Cedrick Desjardins from breaking a record that had stood for more than 52 years, a record of Johnny Bower's:

“Since 1957! Now I’m really ticked,” said Bulldogs coach Guy Boucher when he was told how close his goaltender was to a record that had stood for more than 50 years.

The streak that Desjardins did lay down was a mere 212 minutes and 37 seconds (or 3.5 games in the end). His bumbling teammates were too focused on their own selfish targets for goals for and allowed a breakdown to happen – for shame.

Anyway, in the midst of all this streaking, Desjardins has also managed to vault himself into the second ranking in the entire AHL for GAA and third for S%. And what numbers too, 1.57 and 0.940 respectively.

It bodes well for either the Habs goaltending depth, or the Habs defenders knowing what they need to do to make a goalie look good in the real show. Especially if you consider that Sanfor, who has played in the teams other 16 games is clocking 2.14 and 0.921 himself.

My thoughts do go out to the people who actually watch this league, though, as 14 goalies saving more then 92% of shots and 3 saving more than 94% doesn't say too much for the quality of shooters, nor bode well for the quality of the spectacle...

Habs Rough Start Was Expected

The Canadiens with their new defence, attack and coach are living up to all the predictions we ever made about adjustment periods. The start has been rough. They've lost 5, they could have lost 7 – mind you they've won 2 and might have won another 2.

To add insult to injury, though Tobalev's been up on the game reports, I've been having an extremely rough start to the season myself. I have to apologise for that. I have been very busy working on a side project about the history of swimming that turned out to be much more interesting and thus much more time-consuming than originally anticipated. Anyway, I'm done that now, so you needn't worry about 4 days between posts for the next while.

Next, how about the Habs get their acts together?


What's wrong anyway?

Markov being injured doesn't help at all. The balance of good goaltending to average shows in the standings. The PP has lost a QB and the main zone winning and coverage drawing element too.

Also, we mustn't forget that all those pundits who fretted about too many changes on the Canadiens (including the coaching staff) did so because they were drawing on the experience of other overhaul experiments. It takes more than two weeks to learn how a defence partner positions himself, more than a fortnight for a passer to find his wingers on instinct alone. The coaching change too was massive, meaning even the incumbent players are newbies on the rebranded Habs. It'll take time to unlearn Carbo's system from the past few years. Imagine players who've been playing so unfettered for their whole careers – for them the Martin system will be at least a year-long project.

And then, on top of it all, I think the players are having trouble adapting to their new physical training regime, which from the sounds of it preseason was a lot more intense than they have ever been used to. You can see the Habs come out flying, but flagging as the game rolls on – signs of early fatigue and conditioning issues.

Unfortunately for those of us watching the standings, the only remedy for all of these issues is patience. And a healthy dose.

I understand that patience is hard to find in the 7th year of the 5-year plan. I understand because I feel it too. My trick is to remember last year. Last season, the Canadiens came out extremely strongly – firing on many cylinders. By December they were solidly in 4th (and were it not for the Bruins amazing feats of shooting and save perfection of last fall) would have also been vying for the conference lead. The team had 3 legitimate all-star shouts, a scarily solid looking top 4 on defence and a strong offence without overly taxing Kovalev. Of course, we all remember how that ended.

Of course the teams that we don't watch mostly started slower than the Canadiens, yet at least 3 teams who lagged behind by the yuletide season outperformed our Habs in the balance of their games. That one of them was Pittsburgh must be of some comfort. Philly started last season's first 7 at 0-3-4. St. Louis made the playoffs from 14-22-2 in early January; Minnesota missed from a 6-0-1 start.

Every year has stories like these. Every year we are served with the lesson of patience, of waiting to see how things unfold. But just as blogs and papers need to be written daily, so too the fretting about every mis-step, every stray pass, every loss.


Take the positive

It might be highly optimistic to ignore all that's clearly wrong and focus instead only on the positive morsels we've been tossed. But really, why not? Sure the optimist will be the one who stands wrong at the close of the campaign if the Habs really do never score a PP goal again, or if Carey Price and Halak do let in two back-breaking goals per contest. I'd rather be wrong with some hope than right about hopelessness. And so, the reasons to see the end of the tunnel:

1) Tomas Plekanec: He's been producing shots, chances, goals and plays again. He's already reached more than 20% of his assists form last season. We keyed on him for success and he seems ready again to deliver.

2) Acquisitions at forward: Gionta is great. Gomez is good. Cammalleri is tricky. And Moen is better than expected. Gainey's brought in some quality at the front. Though Gomez will tick along at 6% shooting, Cammalleri probably won't sick on 3.8%.

3) Even without Markov, the top three have been a top three: Thanks to Josh Gorges re-upping the ante, we do have a legitimate three to turn to. For their faults, Hamrlik, Spacek and Gorges have showed promise. If Markov comes back, Martin could go all Anaheim and play 5 and 6 for fewer minutes than Georges Laraque in a playoff game.

4) Sergei Kostitsyn has pride: It seems he does after all. Though he took some time to find it, Sergei might well respond the way Jacques probably hoped he would after a slap in the face. His 2-goal starring effort in the Bulldogs last win indicates he may post numbers that finally push the "great entitled" of the third and fourth lines to do something once in a while.

5) Curtis Sanford: The Cedrick Desjardins buffer has re-found his Moose form, which should he continue will press Gainey to do something about our current pair sporting early 1980s statistics.

6) The New York Islanders: Last season when their first (incredibly lacklustre) team all went down with injury, the Islanders iced an ECHL line and pairing nightly and still cranked out 61 points by season's end. The lesson for me is that every team should be getting 26 wins a year, it's the new floor.


There's more too. I'm sure you can all add. So patience all. When we said we'd give Martin time to establish his print, I for one meant it.

Canadiens Season Preview Remaining Goalies And Prospects

The more astute among you will have noticed I got overexcited and missed any discussion of outgoing goalie Marc Denis – such is the impression he made on me last season. Well, NHL stats-wise it would have been a waste of time. And now I'm at the end of the line here, I haven't the energy to spend on an AHL journeyman no longer with the team. Today is my last installment of the preview and it encompasses NHL/AHL player Sanford, next in line Desjardins and the goaltending prospects.

Sanford et al


Curtis Sanford

NHL Season	GP	Starts	Pulled	Min	W	L	OTL	GAA	Save %	SO
08-09 (VAN)	19	15	3	973	7	8	0	2.59	0.906	1
07-08 (VAN)	16	9	2	679	4	3	1	2.83	0.898	0
06-07 (STL)	31	26	5	1492	8	12	5	3.18	0.888	0

Personal save profile
	Average save percentage at even strength Made slightly more saves than expected at even strength Was above average on the PK Played behind a well above average defence at ES and on the PK

Legend


Stats notes
I don't know much of Sanford beyond what you see here, so this should be interesting. Here's what I think:

1) As good as his defence
Last season, Curtis put up some nice numbers – better than Price's even. But do not be fooled, that whole right side of the pie shows that he got some very nice defensive help from his teammates. The 0.910 expected save%, particularly, is a very nice starting point to be giving a goalie – it leaves little to do to crack the league top 30 list. By the same token, his stats in St. Louis were poor on a poor team – no heroics then.

2) Don't expect full starts
Last season he played in 19, but only started 15. In 3 of those 15 starts he was pulled. Similarly, the previous year, there were 7 complete games with 9 incomplete ones. That's 19 complete games in 2 years (and 16 partial ones). I wouldn't expect anything different this year, health of the current team permitting. An able back-up to be sure, but not one seen as a starter in this NHL anymore.


3) Settling in
After briefly trying to crack the NHL as starter, and then as top-2 man in St. Louis, it seems that Curtis may be settling now into that third man role where he can thrive. More occasional starts with more regular work on the farm have translated into better stats in both locales.


Topham on Sanford:

When I heard we had signed Curtis Sanford, my mind immediately went back to the pitiful St Louis Blues. The first I heard of Sanford was when he wrested the starting job form Patrick Lalime in St Louis back in 2005. That season was effectively his NHL rookie season and he put up some good numbers. But ever wanting to fit the mould of future Habs goalie, the next year when given his golden ticket, he stumbled (that'd be that 0.888 season you can see above). From that moment it seems the league has said thanks but no thanks to Curtis Sanford as starter or even backup starter.

But since then, he's also pulled his game together. 2 seasons in the NHL were spotted with fewer games but improvement. Parts of a season in the AHL were marked by absolute dominance. Consider then, when Gainey was looking for a goalie to help Cedrick Desjardins and possibly stand in for some minutes if an NHL guy went down, that Curtis Sanford was not such a daft choice.

I expect this season will be a mirror of Marc Denis' season last year, with pretty much the entirety of a season spent in Hamilton, shining for the most part, with a brief if any call-up to the Bell Centre. His experience of being part of the league winning, and always ambitious, Moose franchise should aid and abet the morale in Hamilton – a reminder that though dreams lie in the NHL, winning in the AHL while being paid hundreds thousands to do it ain't half bad. Any mentoring of Cedrick Desjardins at this point would be a big bonus, because the Habs are staring down the barrel of a gun with goalie prospects at the moment. I think over the season he will be asked to pass the torch to Desjardins, something that may spell the end to another brief veteran goaltending career in Hamilton.


Where Sanford will start 2009-10: Starting goalie in Hamilton

Where Sanford will end 2009-10: Co-starter in Hamilton

Key (NHL) stats: 5 GP, 0 GS



Potential call-up

1) Cedrick Desjardins

Just who is this Cedrick Desjardins that we are meant to be trusting with our fortunes if disaster strikes? You can be excused for not knowing the answer.

Cedrick is an undrafted youngster who has taken the road less travelled to get to where he is in the depth chart. From very very humble beginnings as a 1-game winner (20 starts) on the 11-game, Crosby-targeting, tanking specialists that were the 2002-03 Rimouski Oceanic he steadily improved as a goalie in junior. 2003-04 was OK, but it was 2004-05 and 2005-06 where he shone. In 04-05, he backstopped a Crosby led team to the Memorial Cup finals (though they lost to a stacked Knights squad). The next year, with equally impressive stats for the Q, he took Quebec (with Radulov and Esposito) to the Memorial Cup finals again – this time to win.

From there, he had a training camp invite but nothing more from the Chicago Blackhawks. And then, though the stingy Montreal media would never give Gainey credit for it, the French Canadian (NB, to be exact) goalie was scoped by the Habs organization. With Halak and Danis in the picture, Cedrick was to offer depth, and that first season he did (in Cincinnati), where once again his numbers improved. The following year, 2007-08, he was to be called up to the Bulldogs for an extended stint and performed very well (0.909 in the AHL). he'd end the season in style by starring in the Cyclones' capture of the Kelly Cup – a third championship final in four years. That brings us to last season where Desjardins was chief deputy to Marc Denis all season long. In 30 games, he once again improved his numbers (0.919 and 2.55 this time) to mark another season of progress. In the end, it was probably his strong play that sealed Denis' fate and paved the way for a Sanford/Desjardins tandem.

I note that he is a possible call up because his numbers in the AHL so far are very credible. We've seen him in camp against NHLers now too, and he fared well enough to keep that credibility. With other young goalies at the top level, it doesn't seem like Desjardins is here for the Canadiens. However, if he takes another step forward, he could well make things interesting by the trade deadline – making himself, Sanford or one of the NHLers bait for organizational improvements.


2) [Fill in blank]

If 3 goalies sustain injuries, Gainey will need to move as there is nothing looking anything like an NHL player beyond Desjardins in this system.

Loic Lacasse might have had a place here, but the 2004 draft pick, who put up some nice stats in his first stint in Hamilton showed the patience of Jaroslav Halak's agent and has committed careericide in the first degree by signing a contract with the NAHL. Oh, heady days.



The next wave

1) Robert Mayer

Though born in Czech, he represents the Swiss, and with a name like Mayer it's not hard to fathom why. The Canadiens signed Mayer during the summer of 2008 after his first season with the Saint John Sea Dogs of the QMJHL. His 2008-09 was once again spent in new Brunswick, and while his personal stats took a leap in the right direction, the Sea Dogs he was leading were left disappointed in their quest for silverware.

It says the Canadiens assigned Mayer to Hamilton after his sojourn in Montreal for training camp, but that was only temporary. He should be the top goalie the next level down – a replacement for the departed Lacasse. Hopefully he'll get the lion's share of the work in Cincy, so he can take the next step in development and provide us with a bit of proper depth at this position.


2) Jason Missiaen

Perhaps in the future we will get a chance to witness Missiaen skating up to "The Monster" after a sweep of Toronto in the playoffs (OK, sweep of the Marlies?). The sooner the 6'3" Swede is made to look like a dwarf and not a troll, the better – then we can put that stupid nickname to bed.

As for Missiaen, there isn't really much more to say than that he is very big (6'8" by most accounts). Drafted by the Canadiens in 2008, probably on a bit of a flyer, he is still playing junior hockey this season. After taking what seemed to be backwards steps with the Petes last year, Missiaen seems to have started well this season as their new full-time starter. As with Mayer, any improvement will be welcomed. But it's hard to see him unseating Price, Halak or even Desjardins at any point in the future. Still, where there's a limb, there's a way – and he has lots of limb, his pads must make Giguere's look like toys.


3) Petteri Simila

The Canadiens scouting of goalies seems to have become a little lax, wouldn't you say? I mean, I know it's good we have two guys under the age of 25 in the NHL. And that if all goes well the goaltending position could be sealed and delivered for a decade and a half; but perhaps one criteria on top of height?

Petteri Simila is the midge of the Canadiens junior goalies, a mere 78" tall. What we do know about him is that he was drafted with the very last pick in the NHL draft (basically a free agent signing if you ask me). Someone somewhere must have caught one of the Karpat back-up's games and decided he was worth a look. Still, let's not assume too much, the scout didn't bother to mention it until the draft was basically over.

I look at Simila as a try-out really, no different than Desjardins or Mayer – the fact he was drafted being irrelevant. This season's try-out for the big man will be in the Niagara Falls area with the IceDogs. Though he'll wear the logo which enshrines Don Cherry's pitbull for the year, we can rest assured that the luminary himself won't be interfering with our prospect, since he sold the team a while back.

Simila has an uphill battle to prove himself to IceDogs brass, let alone Habs brass. The season has started with him in the back-up role. If he can wriggle into starting position and do something of note, another camp might be in his future. Then again, Canadiens prospects are so thin on the ground at his position merely being able to tie skates by next summer might be enough.

Denis Out, Sanford In Desjardins Bumped To 4th In Queue

It must be quite a laugh for Bob Gainey and former Panthers GM Jacques Martin. While Bob is scooping up his 8th new addition to the organization through free agency – their chief playoff rival from last spring has done nothing other than take one step sideways (signing Scott Clemmenson to replace Craig Anderson) and four steps back (signing Leopold as a replacement for Bouwmeester, whose rights they acquired in that late June trade).

Yesterday, it was Gainey's turn to make a sideways move by signing Curtis Sanford of the Vancouver Canucks/Manitoba Moose to take the place that Marc Denis occupied last winter.


Curtis Sanford

In Curtis Sanford, the Canadiens have acquired a third-string goalie with good credentials for the position. Over his long and convoluted career, Sanford has scaled as high as starter (St. Louis, 2005-06), but generally settles in somewhere between great AHL starter and adequate NHL back-up.

Sportsnet says of his strengths:

Has a tremendous attitude and the perfect demeanor for the backup role at the NHL level. Is capable of making big saves at key moments of a hockey game.

And, weaknesses:

Is somewhat small for the goaltending position, and tends to get beaten upstairs with relative frequency. Isn't durable enough to be an NHL starter.

On looking at his stats, one thing is clear. It seems than when he plays against AHL calibre shooters he can be an excellent goalie, but struggles at the NHL level. Even the difference between Peoria 2003-04 to 2004-05 (when young NHLers roamed the AHL ice) was marked, with a drop of 2% in saves made. The fact that he ranges from slightly just below the standard you'd hope for in the NHL to all-star in the AHL gives proof to the fact that there are more good goalies around than shooters in the two leagues.

No doubt it hasn't escaped many pundits that Gainey has yet again this off-season replaced a French Canadian with an outsider. But if you stick to their mantra "a talent egale, on prendra le Quebecois", Gainey may win a debate on it. While Marc Denis has not put up an NHL record anyone would want to hold up since before the lockout, Sanford had 2005-06 in St. Louis and, to some extent, last year in Vancouver. Even in the AHL, Sanford has outclassed his rival (last year's numbers: 1.73, 0.936 vs. 2.46, 0.920).

It seems that like many of the moves from this off-season, it will have to be regarded as a minor upgrade at the same position.


Trade ripples

The predictable summer rumour merchants jumped right on this signing – just as they do with every Montreal, Toronto, New York or Philadelphia transaction. Hockeybuzz suggests that the move frees up Halak for a trade. Not only that, but a trade that would ring the Canadiens another top centre (Patrick Marleau) and unblock the Heatley logjam all at once.

It's a lot to read into the signing of a Manitoba Moose employee. Plus, it's been said before when Marc Denis was signed.

Personally, I wouldn't say that this signing does free up Jaroslav Halak to be traded – not after Carey's forays into blunderland. I certainly don't think that it gives Gainey the impetus to go out there and actively offer Jaro around.

I do think, however, that it removes the restraint that was previously there. Where there was no depth before (sorry Cedrick), the addition of Curtis Sanford does mean organizations won't fall down if an NHL-level goaltender is traded and someone has to move up. It means that while this isn't the signal that a trade is inevitably around the corner.

If anything, I think it plugs what was the major hole in the hole organization for now and is a sign that Montreal can now listen seriously to offers about nearly all of its roster (barring Markov). That in itself is important because you always want to be in a position to be the team that benefits from the crazed Florida GM coming knocking.