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Game 45: Habs/Rangers

Following a tough shootout loss at home last night, the Canadiens welcome (begrudgingly) the New York Rangers to town who are fresh off of a 3-0 victory against the Maple Leafs. Marty Biron started in net (and played fantastically), which will leave the Habs to face Lundqvist. I guess Torterella wasn’t about to start Biron in Montreal after the 4-0 victory Montreal scored earlier in the season.

For Montreal fans it will be the first opportunity to see Rene Bourque in a Habs jersey. The trade that sent Michael Cammalleri back to Calgary has been a controversial one.

From an emotional stand point, if you asked me who I would rather have on the roster – Gomez, Gionta or Cammalleri – I would have picked Cammy in a heart-beat. A roster that is without Cammalleri and with Gomez is certainly not what I would call improved. Despite Cammalleri’s struggles to score this season, he has the potential to make a huge impact on a team that lacks any top line offensive talent. The team also sent the rights to Kari Ramo and a 5th round pick in the upcoming draft. People have made a big deal about losing Ramo, but the truth is – he was never going to play for the Montreal Canadiens. Carey Price is the goalie for now – and the distant future. Ramo would not leave Russia to be a back-up. So Ramo wasn’t ever going to don a Habs jersey, and unless Calgary is going to deal Kiprusoff, its unlikely he leaves Russia.

Back to Rene Bourque. He has had effective seasons for the past couple years in Calgary. His last two seasons both produced more than 50 points. And if you asked me whether I would rather pay $3.3M for 50 points or $6M I think the answer is pretty clear. However, Bourque has struggled this season and is currently on pace for just 32 points. At 30 years old, and signed until his age 34 season – Montreal has taken a gamble that this season is an anomaly.

Montreal also gains another second round pick in next season’s draft – which at this point would give them two picks in the first 10 of the second round. The opportunity to swipe another PK Subban or Max Pacioretty could be a value add in this trade.

Ultimately, my impression of the trade is that while emotionally, I had a soft spot for Cammalleri because of his post-season successes, Montreal HAD to do something to gain advantage from a losing season. Another pick and some cap space – along with a player in Bourque who could provide desperately needed size and scoring, and a junior age player on a good junior prospect in Patrick Holland is a decent haul for Cammalleri. I question whether or not Gauthier should have publicly let it be know that players were available though, because you never know what another GM may or may not have offered in terms of players and picks.
Game 43: Habs/Bruins

In a season that has been defined by injury and turmoil – what would a match against the Bruins be without a little added injury and turmoil?

Injury

Brian Gionta has (most likely) been lost for the year as he has a torn bicep muscle that will require surgery. Gionta will finish his season having contributed just 15 points to the Canadiens in what should be considered by all as a complete disaster of a season for the diminutive player who will turn 33 in less than a week. Gionta has played 31 games this season – but he has been hampered by injury almost all season long – which has limited his effectiveness in the ice-time that he did see. I would expect that not only will Michael Blunden remain with the team for the foreseeable future, but Louis Leblanc will probably return to Montreal should any other injuries befall the Habs squad.

Turmoil

Michael Cammalleri spoke up after the Habs’ last loss to the St Louis Blues, saying essentially that the Canadiens’ losing attitude was at the heart of the team’s struggles this season. This quote was given to Francois Gagnon of La Presse and screams out as something that may have been misinterpreted or translated poorly before being seized upon by the national news media. Maybe.. Maybe not.

Ultimately I agree with Cammalleri. The Habs have been pretty terrible this season – and much of this is due to the fact that the teams most important players have been hurt – or lost their offensive mojo. The problem of course with his assertion, is that Cammalleri himself has struggled to find any kind of offensive or physical consistency this season. It has been noted many times on this blog that Cammalleri has looked lethargic at times on the ice. His play has been enigmatic at best. In fact, if Michael Cammalleri were Russian – there would be people talking about his heart.

Until the veterans on Montreal’s squad start to play up to the salaries that they are paid the team will continue to struggle. Whether or not the team needs an attitude adjustment is something that those of us outside the locker room cannot know. You certainly cannot blame the losing skids on players like Desharnais, Eller, Pacioretty, Subban or Price. The youth of this team would be an incredible benefit if the highest paid players were playing up to their offensive capabilities. There is no hiding the fact that if Cammalleri or Gionta is on pace for a season similar to their career years – we wouldn’t be talking about the team’s struggles.

Bruins huh? This should be fun.

GO Habs GO!!!

ShoutBox

Last Message 9 hours, 18 minutes ago

goalie : Didn't get to see the game at all but it's great to see Pacs get a hat trick and fpor Cole to be + 3. When was the last time this team won three games in a row? Great victory -looks like they're giving 100% effort!
Senet1 : 4-2 win habs
Senet1 : Gomez scores, Yea!!!
goalie : As I said yesterday it will be interesting to see what our lame ass GM gets for players he ships out. Bourque is good and he'll help us but I still think we could have gotten more for him and for Halak when he was traded.
Avatar37 : round those picks occur (probably 3rd).
Avatar37 : An interesting article. If we slip to the 5th or 7th draft pick, a very interesting case could be made for drafting Galchenyuk. If we wind up with the second or third pick, I'm not sure who I'd draft, because clearly Yakupov is going to be drafted first overall. Our second round pick also becomes interesting, I know I'd take Vasilevski if he were still available. It will also be interesting to see if we can turn some of our veteran players (Moen, Gill, Campoli) into draft picks, and what
Avatar37 : «link»
Avatar37 : That is why PG should have waited on trading Cammalleri. Right now, there is a high demand for a top 6 forward, we could have gotten much more than Bourque in return. That isn't a knock against Bourque, but a knock against a knee-jerk reaction trade that didn't maximize our return on a top asset.
Avatar37 : «link»
Avatar37 : chips fall where they may. After all, the only difference between finishing 17th and 29th is how good a pick you get in the draft.
Avatar37 : We currently sit in 26th place in the league. We are 15 points ahead of Columbus, it's safe to bet at this point they will place last. We are, however, only 4 points ahead of Edmonton so it's still wide open as to who is going to finish second last. I still think that it's time to sit the veterans, play the youth, let them get experience, and regroup for next year. I'm not suggesting deliberately tanking like the Penguins, but give all our young players lots of playing time and let the c
Avatar37 : goalie - If it were not for the play of Cammalleri, we would never have made it out of round 1. Cammalleri played as big a part, if not bigger, than Halak did. Sure, Halak played well, but remember the team collapsed in front of him, making his job much easier. We had lots of blocked shots and the ones that got through were typically from the outside.
Senet1 : Goalie you are absolutely right, of course the one thing we had the two previous years that won the games that we are losing this year was our power play. If you look at say 10 games that we should have won had we had a similar power play, again we would not be having these conversations. When your PP goes from first to last in the league that is a lot of goals.How many games have we lost this year by one goal. Again poor management who did not prepare for Markov's possible absence.
goalie : I'll put it another way.... we need more players who are willing to get their noses dirty.
goalie : Two years ago when our goaltending stole series adn our players suddenly scored the coaches / GM believed that that was our true team . Well time has proven that was not. Though I was very glad to see the Habs knock off some very good teams we were very fortunate. And fortunate that spring was spelled HALAK!
goalie : The wrst mistake management could possibly make I believe is to say, we played well some games and we believe the team can play to that level more often in the future. This team CANNOT adnb DOES NOT play to a high enough level. Please do not kid yourself mamngement. hat is partially why we're in the lace we are.
goalie : Senet is correct when he says that if we had more games with a better efort this year we'd likely be in the playoffs. It has been very inconsistent effort but much more than that. We lack big, tough playing and finishing. Never mind fighting for a moment. We did not compete for the pucks nor along the boards nor in front of both nets enough this year. Thus we are in 29th. If the coaching staff doesn't see that then they shouldn't be there.
Senet1 : Surely Molson is not going to keep him as the GM?
Senet1 : when he knows he will be fired at the end of the season. Nothing really makes since in this whole process.
Senet1 : I am not sue why PG has not been fired by now. They could be waiting for another GM to come available at season end, but why would you not set up a committee to manage the team in the short run until a new GM can be named. There is no since in chaning coaches because whoever the GM is he will want to name his own coach. Gainey and a committe of other executives can manage the team through to the trading deadline and onward. What motivation does PG have to making any worthwhile trades when he is
Senet1 : I am too mch of a competitor to want my team to tank to. However, If these players played like they ae cabable of playing all year we would not be having this discussion right now, we woud be talking about the playoffs and who we would rather meet in the first round.
rocky : Exactly, and Senet nails it when he says we have not had an elite top 5 in the nhl player since lafleur.
goalie : I too want the Habs to get the best possible draft this June. We all need SOME hope!
rocky : He is persona non grata in habville, and a ghost in every sense of the term.
goalie : It remains a miracle how we have heard from our mighty GM twice since Christmas - the trades involving Spacek and Cammy and those comments were extremely brief. PG just does not cut it in my world. Part of a GMs job is to go public from time to time. PG never does that in fact he's a ghost GM!
rocky : Its true, there is no honor in that. These guys have only known the ethic of giving it all to win every night. I do not want them to "tank", and they will never do that anyway. I do want them to lose though, as awful as it sounds.
goalie : Roicky as a good point. We all want the Habs to get a really good draft pick. However, players, coaches etc. also have a keen desire to compete and win. That's why they're playing at the pro level. Thus we can only hope that the team plays some good games and let the chips fall where they may. After the disasterous season we've had let's not lower ourselves adn get involved in any dscussions about 'tanking' games.
rocky : So long.
Senet1 : Good discussion rocky, I have to step out for an hour, but may be back later.
Senet1 : The only way this team comes back to a team with long term potential is to draft a game breaker. Even all the other bad teams have a Stamkos or a player like him. He have some good player so what we need is a Malkin that we can count on 80% of the time to win a game for us.
rocky : I mean winning will only do them harm that is.
rocky : It really hurts because my reflexes make me want to cheer like mad, but it will only hurt the team now.
Senet1 : Yes I have mixed feeling when watching the game. Last night I say here we go again. with our record of shoot losses I did not expect to win that one. Yet I wanted to win real bad?????
rocky : God, so horrible to sit and hope for losses, but here we are.
Senet1 : Our problem is we play one out of every 4 games good and therefore, we play well enough to stay on the borderline of a top five pick. If we win three or four in a row we could take ourselves right out of the running.