Komisarek To Add Olympian To His Stacked Resume

Has there ever been a player in NHL history less deserving of the resume he carries around with him than Mike Komisarek?


1) $4.5 million a year
2) Starting All-Star
3) Olympian

The previous bout of extreme nepotism that led to Komisarek's All-Star farce was widely criticised by those around the league. At least that was an exhibition game.

Brian Burke's latest manoeuver to include our 4th defenceman on what he must hop will be a 7th place contending team, just about tops it. Burke, you see, is charged with selecting a team to win, not one to skate in Montreal for a gala appearance.


Alternatives

I am no expert in Team USA defencemen, but I have been reading around a bit and have come to the conclusion that Komisarek with his limited use and worse stats than Luke Schenn probably isn't worthy of the Olympic experience with a team that's vying for a medal.

I look at Kukla's Corner and can see a few choices that seem like instant alternatives: Alex Goligoski, Ryan Whitney, Andy Greene. Tyler Myers also comes to mind. Heck, what do we know, maybe playing on the worst defensive team in the NHL gives you some unknown advantage...


USA a sideshow

Besides Komisarek, the USA team selection overall means that the US team will likely be a sideshow at this Olympics. One can talk about a youth movement, but a team that plays 4 games together every four years aren't going to gain much from this Olympics for the next ones in Russia that they couldn't earn in an NHL playoff series. In fact, it's that NHL playoff experience that is sorely lacking in Burke's selections.

How does Burke explain leaving out Jason Pominville? Brian Gionta? He doesn't.

It's a shame that Burke has missed this opportunity to select his most competitive outfit without an ego or two getting in the way. This Olympics plays out in prime time for the US television audience. If the team learns how to play hockey instead of impressing with wins, the opportunity to use this Olympics as a launchpad for NHL popularity in the markets starving for fans will be lost.

The next Olympics, when the games take place on the shores of the Caspian, may well feature a better American team. But tell me, do these casual American fans love their hockey enough to skip work? To get up early to catch a game? Hmm...


Anyway, enough fretting on the Leafs of the Olympics. Well done to Komi on adding another conspicuous line to a CV that looks never to include his goal of "Best NHL defenceman" anytime soon.

All Farce GameMontreal Loses Interest; Penguins Fans Vote For Injured Reserves

It was always a joke they said. unfortunately though, the Canadiens have decided to make this farce that is the all-star game a central piece of the Centenary celebrations.

You all know about the clever (read no social life) fans from Montreal voted thousands of times for each of the six nominees from the Canadiens. The league stripped some votes and added a very basic security screen (they probably never appreciated how little social lives the guys really had).


Everything looks rosy for a while. But now it seems the Pittsburgh Penguins hopefuls are getting the full support of a similarly childish campaign. The worst part, in terms of making this event more farcical than it already is, is that they are voting for non-stars such as Whitney and Gonchar, both of whom haven't played a second since the finals last spring. Just wait, slow to wake Caps fans will be next...

Carbonneau thinks it's off. I think most us are almost at the point of calling it all off.


What can the league do?
I think it can strip the vote away from fans. Few would contest that those of us who read blogs day and night and think and write about the Habs are big fans. But I doubt many of you readers have submitted thousands of votes. I haven't voted at all. I'm not sure I will – certainly not this year.

The vote could be stripped because the fans who do vote have a few times now (Rory Fitzpatrick, Canadiens 08 and Penguins 08) crossed the line. In their place, I would suggest a simple ballot among the players. It would be like the Lester Pearson award time 6. You could bar voting for oneself, or even teammates. Personally, I think that would be just as fun to see for the fans.

Ah, but the league doesn't care about that really. They care more about traffic to their website, right? I think a little more concern for their image, even at the expense of the pennies they can get from housebound teenagers in Pittsburgh and Montreal, would be a new and possibly refreshing approach.

While the league is about it, maybe they could scrap the requirement for a player from each team. By the time that happens, there's little room for actual all-stars. Imagine if all six Canadiens made it. With the need to represent every team, only one player from each remaining team could crack it. That would mean Malkin or Crosby sits so Doug Weight or Matt Stajan can play. Some teams have been so devoid of real all-stars for so long that they are making Hall of Fame resumes for their lame-stars (DiPietro anyone?).

Anyway, who are the all-stars so far?

I have Tim Thomas in goal (mindful that December, as usual, will probably alter this one); Markov and Green on defence; Malkin, Crosby and Ovechkin (no surprises) up front.

Anyone still voting for Komi?

All-Star DefencemenBallot Is A Joke

Habs fans are very pleased with themselves these days. 6 players on the all-star ballot for the upcoming game in Montreal.

I recognise it is a great achievement for those players considering the recent editions of the ballot. But honestly, who makes these lists?

The NHL, for one thing, has chosen to put forward 10 goalies, 30 forwards and 12 defencemen from each conference.

For goalies that means two thirds of all NHL starters. Anyone who has to choose goalies in a pool would know that there are scarcely 8 all star worthy choices in the league. To be included in the top 20 is no achievement for Carey Price. Not when Lehtonen, Bryzgalov and DiPietro are all on there too.

And by the way, where's Tim Thomas?


The forwards too offer some slim pickings. 60 NHL forwards means an average of 2 per team. To be honest, given this is a league that still includes LA, Atlanta, Florida, Islanders, Phoenix, Toronto and Columbus, it's almost insulting to have a mere three. Though it's accurate to exclude Toronto and Florida forwards from all-star consideration, do 3 Rangers really deserve to be ahead of Tomas Plekanec and Andrei Kostitsyn? Does Trent Hunter?


Defencemen
Despite all that, my bone to pick is actually with the list of defencemen. How on earth did the NHL come up with the list they did in the East? Do the list makers even watch hockey?

First of all, why are Sergei Gonchar and Ryan Whitney even on the ballot? They haven't played a game yet, and probably won't play much, if at all before the game.

Second, Teppo Numminen? Is this the class of the East – a 40-year-old best remembered as a Winnipeg Jet. If Gonchar and Whitney are in on the strength of making a final last spring, what's the excuse for Teppo. he played a single game this year. Buffalo's had a good start, but all-star defenceman?

Chris Phillips? Average last season, terrible to start this one.

Obviously the selection process was a bit out of whack with defencemen. Where, for example is someone from New Jersey. When we scrape the barrel with Numminen and Phillips, saying NJ relies on a team system is no excuse.

But really, thank goodness they stopped at 12 instead of the 20 the normal distribution would suggest. Goodness knows who they'd have come up with...


Habs defence
This NHL-generated list makes the cries for a fourth defenceman on the Habs even more comical. Komisarek is no all-star, but you could hardly argue him down lower than some of the other top 12 in the East (except by using Hamrlik, of course). It seems most teams in our conference would be thrilled to have one from Hamrlik, Markov and Komisarek, yet we bay for more.

If there's one thing this all-star ballot has made abundantly clear is that the Canadiens have top-notch personnel relative to the rest of the conference and indeed the league. The Canadiens defensive lapses must be corrected from within, not by adding another name brand player at the expense of futures.


As many votes as you like
Even though the games in Montreal this year, I'm not voting to get all six guys on as starters. Last year we enjoyed quite a nice surge after the all-star game where a single Hab was participating.

Vote them a break – vote Crosby...

The Unknown QuantityWhich Hurricanes Are Visiting Tonight?

North Carolina's state motto is: Esse Quam Videri

Roughly translated from Cicero's Latin, this means: To be rather than to seem.

I thought this was rather fitting. For me last year they seemed like a contender. With Williams, Cole, Ward, Staal and Brind'amour, they had a nice group. Their approach was new NHL. They had a Cup to prove it.

Although they have lost a favourite of mine (apart form his Hab killing exploits) in Erik Cole – getting Pitkanen in return was canny, giving them a puck-moving defenceman – they still seem like a serious odds-on favourite to me to make the playoffs. And given the success of SE division teams in the playoffs after a season of rest in the past, it would seem like they have a chance to make noise in the East.

But can they be a contender? Can they be in the playoffs after missing out twice?

We'll get a better idea tonight.

They are certainly off to a decent start at 4-2-1. They sit in the playoffs for the moment.

Players to watch
Among the forwards, Eric Staal, as usual is a player to watch. He has started slower than some of his flying starts to the season, but still ha 4 goals in 7 games. Carey Price must beware because Staal is the kind of shooter who can really pick corners. He shoots high and scores high often. Carey's traditional weak spot will make him salivate.

The rest of the forwards look a little out of place on their new line assignments, as the Canes are still making up for the trade of Erik Cole and the long-term injury to star (and fellow Hab-hungry) Justin Willians. Brind'amour will do what he does. Whitney as well. The rest could surprise one way or the other. Personally I would be more worried about line 3 with Matt Cullen and Patrick Eaves than Rod and Sergei Samsonov...

The defencemen, while wholly improved over the squad from 2 years ago have also been decimated by the loss of Joni Pitkanen and Frantisek Kaberle. The group still has an offensive threat in Joe Corvo and able defenders among the remaining guys.

Cam Ward is the other player to keep a special eye on. He hasn't ever lost in Montreal. That goes back all the way to that series. Damn you Gerber... He has been off to a patchy start in what is now becoming a patchy career. Michael Leighton has played in 3 and won 2 for the Canes – so that tells you an awful lot. Will the Bell Centre ghosts put this situation right?

As you can see the Canes are not quite 100% for us tonight. In addition to offering the Habs a good opportunity to take advantage of the injury-ravaged roster, it also makes the evaluation of the team tricky.

Seems to be too early to make a call on them


In Habs news, I just read that Brisebois will be resting tonight, along with Laraque and Begin. So Carbonneau has decided that the uphill battle is unnecessary like the rest of us (for now). Maybe he didn't like the Cullen line against D4 and current D6 either...