Senators vs. Canadiens: The LIW Analysis

The playoffs are upon us. Before settling into your playoff chair adorned by items of superstition, let's take a moment to assess this series coolly and calmly.

We know the Habs handled the Senators to a 2-1-1 record this year. Oh wait, what's that you say? The Sens were 2-1-1 too? Oh dear, this could be close. let's look:

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 Gonchar clause

If you bar players from taking a shot in the shootout if they are in the penalty box, you may open a whole can of worms with intentional penalties.


For example, say we're playing the Leafs. With 1 second to go, someone who can't shoot well (pick anyone on the Leafs) shoots it over the boards and gets a delay of game penalty. Wade Belak jumps on Alex Kovalev and punches him outright. Kovalev doesn't retaliate, but Markov does and so does Komisarek. Hapless Leafs jump in (though none of their shooters).

Multiple roughing penalties get handed out: 5 to the Leafs and 2 to the Canadiens. Notably, the Leafs lose none of their successful shooters, but manage to shorten their shooting bench to 15, so if the shootout goes beyond 15, Sundin is up when Gorges is shooting for the Habs. The Habs lose Markov who was goaded into a penalty.

Or take this example. I'm the Bruins playing the Sens in March. Gerber has been tanking now for a while. Andrew Alberts runs Emery and gets him to take a swipe. Both get penalties. Alberts can't shoot (who cares), and Emery must watch Gerber face the shooters.

This time it happened to be Gonchar that took the penalty, but more often than not it is not a skilled player doing that in OT (or any part of the game for that matter). Therefore, on average, between shortening the bench, targeting players to instigate and the chance of goalies missing the SO, there are many implicaations for this suggested rule change.

I wouldn't suggest asking for it. That is unless the Canadiens are craftier than I thought and have all these gameplans of their own up their sleeves.


Here's my proposed solution to the problem:

If the team on the PP scores on their first penalty shot, the game is over and won. No chance to reply for the offending team.

Wouldn't see many penalties that way, I bet. Whaddya think?