Jack Todd Getting It Right Today

It doesn't happen very often, but in the wane of aSuper Moon, even Jack Todd can still put together a column that gets my head nodding. As a tribute to the guy I used to buy newspapers for in my younger days, I link his piece here.

Why I think he's right?

The playoffs are boring.

I mean, don't get me wrong, they have exciting moments, such as Brad Richards tying goal with seconds to go. A goal which saved a team from elimination (essentially). But on the whole, the playoffs are very boring indeed.

Why is that? It behoofs the NHL to be asking themselves this question. Is it because there's no fighting? Not in my opinion, though some rumble that it is. I think it's due to the same very things that Todd starts to point out. Shot-blocking, grinding, etc., etc.

He gets it so right when he sums it up:

"The new NHL was supposed to be all about movement, skating, offence and talent. Right now it’s about obstruction, shot blocking, grinders and boredom."

The league's singular inability to enforce their own rules is the biggest culprit in all this. Instead of getting to watch Ovechkin vs. Lundqvist, we see Girardi vs. Beagle. No offense to the latter, but no one fell in love with a game for the skills they provide. That is except the coaches who employ those players solely for those assets and the way they fit into their simplistic game plan.

I could legitimately coach in the NHL right now. There is one strategy, and I know it. Dump, chase hard, grind, block. If you do that, I play you. Hunter made the playoffs because of it, but criminally went out against an opponent there for the taking for his complete lack of adaptability to situational circumstances.

The NHL is literally wasting the careers of some of the most dynamic players seen in a generation. They'll be lucky to get more like these if youngsters grow up adhering to the wisdom of current coaching strategy.


Russians are picked on too much

It's gotten to the point where Russians are being singled out to a ludicrous degree. Read Todd for the synopsis. The criticism is so systematic that it's built into every word that comes out of a commentator's mouth. The default to look for Russian shortcomings and praise grinding heroics.

Kovalchuk has been outstanding and we hear very little indeed. Doesn't fit the script.

Time for a new script to go along with a new game with rule enforcement.


Beckham?

Can't say I agree with Todd about Beckham in full, however.

Never a great soccer player? Perhaps not, but then the list of greats would be pretty concise. During his youth at Manchester United Beckham was never a Ronaldinho ball handler or a Messi mesmerizer, but he was excellent at almost everything else. If you could watch a midfield with Roy Keane, Paul Schole, Ryan Giggs and David Beckham and come away saying any one of them was not great, it was probably a game reffed by NHL officials.

Beckham never delivered England the World Cup he and his generation looked like they could, but his delivery into the World Cup in 2002 was everything that greatness is about. Wouldn't expect Jack Todd to get it completely right, though, would we?

Cole Shoulders High Expectations in Montreal

Two somewhat paranormal coincidences to report, one being my comment on Topham's Thursday post about my "dream signing" being Erik Cole; and him being signed hours later. The second is that I apparently agree with Jack Todd, for once. Eerie.

So why Erik Cole?

In my opinion, the biggest need for the Habs up front this off-season was clear: a proven top-6 winger with size. We've all talked before on many occasions about the need for a power forward, preferably a good winger to play with the albatross that is Scott Gomez. Someone who can battle in front of the net, and not have Andrew Leighton simply look over their heads if they set a screen. Someone who can score at least 20 goals a season; the more, the better. Having another RH shot among the forwards would also be a big plus, as only Gionta and Ryan White currently qualify.

Now, we knew we were fooling ourselves if we even dared think about Jaromir Jagr or Brad Richards; and wonder idly if there was ever any talk from head office to, say, the Sharks about Setoguchi or Pavelski when they were moved. The UFA pool was fairly shallow this year, so Montreal didn't have a lot of great choices. Once Philly wrapped up RFA Claude Giroux, the market consisted basically of Cole, Michael Ryder, and Jamie Langenbrunner.

Michael Ryder
We've been here before. Ryder was a Calder-nominated rookie for us back in 2003-04, scoring 25 goals and 38 assists. He had 2 straight 30-goal campaigns after the lockout, but a sub-par 2007-08 season (likely due to personal issues related to his brother) saw him benched by Carbonneau and left to free agency. He rebounded with Boston, scoring 27 goals and over 50 points again, but since has trailed off to 33 points last season and 41 this year despite around 15 minutes of ice-time. He's a proven scorer, and at 6' and 192 lbs is large for a Habs forward. Somehow I don't know that he'd welcome an offer from Montreal, nor that Montreal fans would be happy to have him back; and there's no guarantee he'll ever return to his 30-goal form. Dallas will pay him $3.5M per year for the next two seasons finding out.

Jamie Langenbrunner
The oldest of the trio at 35, Langenbrunner is a proven 2-way forward that's won two Cups (one with Dallas in 1999, and one with New Jersey in 2003). He fit in well with New Jersey's conservative style of play and Jacques Martin would probably love him for it. He's scored 20+ goals 4 times in 16 NHL seasons and twice came within 2 goals of the mark; and has 6 seasons with 50+ points. He's got good size at 6'1" and 205 lbs. Given that he's still unsigned, I'm left wondering why - he would have likely been a decent addition to many squads and his last contract was only worth $2.8M/yr. I am guessing Pierre Gauthier talked to him, but the fact he's still unsigned makes me think there's something a little fishy.

Erik Cole
At 32 years old and beginning his 10th NHL season, Cole has had his problems with injuries with an astonishing 86 games missed since the lockout. However, he's managed to clear 50 points 4 times in that span, and score 20+ three times (with another 18-goal season). However, he doesn't seem to play well with people who aren't Hurricanes: he had a pretty disastrous 27 points in 63 games with the Oilers in 2008-09 before returning to Carolina to put up 15 points in a mere 17 games. Still, he can be productive while playing tough minutes against hard opposition, and was one of only 5 players to score over 25 goals and deliver over 200 hits last season.

I reasoned that we need a big, RH winger that can hit and score. To me, Cole was the best choice. I think he's the biggest offensive threat of the three, he uses his size and at 6'2" and 205 lbs he's far from small. If he can stay healthy, and he did play 82 games last year, I don't think it's unreasonable to think he can put away another 25 goals and help Gomez pull his numbers up to reasonable levels - but I'm expecting a fair amount of line-juggling from Jacques Martin early on and the lines might not be what we're expecting. I was hoping to sign him for a little less than $4.5M for 2-3 years, but he'll be 37 at the contract's end and not exactly ancient. The reality is that we have to pay a premium to get players from the US that would rather not pay Canadian and Quebec taxes.

Maybe less like a "dream signing," and more like a realistic one. I guess I don't dream very big. But if Cole stays healthy, I think he can be the physical 25-goal scorer we could use so badly; and it least it's a dream that has a chance of coming true.

Let us know in the comments who I missed, and who you would have rather seen putting on the Bleu-Blanc-Rouge this past weekend.

It's Carey Price Day Again

Usually we do our best to set ourselves apart form the mainstream media by covering things they overlook or under-report. Not today. Today it's the midway mark of the exhibition season and few have done much of interest in camp. Today we'll toe the line with everyone else.

Today will be Carey Price Day...

After telling us to chill out, he's now telling us he won't be losing any sleep over his performance either.

Jack Todd thinks we the Habs may regret not trading Price (but only in Ottawa). In Montreal his piece on the goalie has a downgraded headline.

Someone in Toronto thinks the time has already come to give up on Carey (I was always told they were patient to a fault with losses in Toronto). These lines the most extreme:

If the organization is going to move forward and build on the momentum of their unlikely playoff run Price needs to be moved by Habs GM Pierre Gauthier immediately.

Rejean Tremblay isn't liking Price too much either and sees through his pronouncements about all that he's learned.

In Boston, they must at least be chuckling as they watch Rask. They speak some sense too:

It’s much too early to know whether the Habs made a mistake by keeping Price and trading Halak, but it’s easy to sympathize with fans who don’t think their goalie situation looks ideal.

Even people who like Price have nothing better to talk about.

Carbo is supporting his young former protege.

Martin is starting him again. Full game. Sorry Sanford.


All of this is a bit crazy. Thank goodness some cuts cam today, so fans will have something else to debate.


On where I stand on all this?

Not really sure. All I know is that I was hoping like many that the first time I saw Carey Price in action, I would suddenly see him through Gainey or Gautheir's eyes. It hasn't happened, but I'm not giving up hope just yet.

That said, I believe like many of you may that the detractors make great points, even if they aim to sensationalize and scandalize for readers. This, for me, an interesting thought from the sporadic Jack Todd:

If you thought things were going to be different with Gauthier in charge, you were wrong. It didn't take long for Bob Lite to prove that where Price is concerned, he drank the Kool-Aid.

Nothing that happens in the next few months is going to prove Gauthier right or wrong. It doesn't matter how Lars Eller plays, or how Halak fares in St. Louis.

He goes back to hyperbole after that, but essentially to say it is up to Carey to get this show together. We'd like it to be sooner (at least so we can read and talk about something else), but we'll take later if necessary.

Bottom Of The Barrel Still To Be Found

"I thought Jack Todd's column about Jacques Martin a whole week after he was hired was the bottom of the barrel," forward Christopher Higgins said of today's Canadiens lead news. "I guess the barrel is a little deeper than we thought."

Just a comment on the dire situation for Habs news fiends...

[Note, I may have misheard what Higgins actually said, static and years of loud rock concerts...]

First Farber, Now ToddAnother Habs Writer Who Throws His Credibility Out The Window

I remember I used to like Jack Todd. I even remember why. He used to be different. See things in the games that no one else did. Express his views more clearly. He used not to write the same old tripe.


Those days, it appears, are gone for the vet reporter. In writing on Lang's injury, he reveals that he really only looks at statistics, and that that standard is good enough for his piece to go across newspapers nationally.

He starts by breaking this news:

Robert Lang, the veteran centre who has been the team's best player all year long...

In giving away, the fact he doesn't actually watch the Canadiens much – by ranking Lang's season ahead of Koivu's, Markov's and Price's – his credibility is flushed when he says something like this:

And that might be the Canadiens' season, not simply Lang's, because unless general manager Bob Gainey can pull off a brilliant trade, his team is perilously thin at centre ice.

The common line from a common piece of unimaginative journalism.

There is no mention of Higgins and Koivu just returning, to conceivably insulate the Canadiens here. Or a thought that adding Tanguay back in could help at all.

One must remember that for a team perilously thin at centre, it sure did OK when losing their captain and best player of the season December, Saku Koivu. Koivu and Lang have only played in a handful of games together since (the three centres all present) – which itself has been the worst stretch of the season. Given a choice between Lang and Koivu, anyone watching the Habs night in, night out would have no trouble telling you who they want.

I guess Jack should try doing that sometime again. For now NHL.com/stats seems to suffice for research.

Remember when you used to like reading Jack Todd?

I used to like our unwavering, Expos-boosting, drug abuse-hating reporter as much as anyone in the other sections of the Gazette. But today, he's gone all soft:

In an article entitled: Brisebois deserving of fans' adulation, Todd suggests:

We admire Brisebois for putting his head back in the cannon's mouth, we admire him for trying to play through all the injuries he's had, we admire him for taking a relative pittance by NHL standards to return to the Habs.

I've already answered all of these points with regard to the player who should have retired if he loved the Habs so much.

There was also Jack Todd's take on Marion Jones. While admitting her whole career was a lie was no doubt difficult, why should she be let off so easy when in the process she denied other US athletes a career (Olympic places) over that time, stole gold medals from other athletes (bronze from 4th place finishers), dragged the sport of Track and Field through the dirt, brought the legitimacy of all Olympic medalists into question, and lied on record about it for years.

I'm saving the article to send to him so we can laugh about his flights of fancy come January...