Back to work.

The Habs lace em up tonight in Tronna in what should be a great return to action after the All-Star break.

The Canadiens were desperate heading into the two final games before the break after having their worst slump of the year. They pulled off two huge wins against strong teams in Atlanta and Buffalo and most of that slump is forgotten.

Which team will show up tonight? The same team that beats Division leaders or the team that struggled so badly in January?

The Christmas break preceded the Canadiens slump, hopefully the All-Star break won’t breed similar results.

The Leafs always raise their game when playing the Canadiens and tonight should be another interesting matchup.

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104 Comments

#1 Izzy says:
January 29, 2007 at 8:37 am

Guys,

I dont know how much you respect Red Fishers opinion, but I always have. Heres a copy of an email I got from him this am…..oh…soryy about the queen liz thing…lol…couldnt resist.

From : Fisher, Red (Montreal Gazette)
Sent : January 28, 2007 11:14:14 PM
To : “Marc True”
Subject : RE: has Carbonneau lost this team?

| | | Inbox

Carbo hasn’t lost this team. He’s simply not getting te production he needs from people like Kovalev and Samsonov. Before the season began, I thought this team would finish No. 8 in the East, and right now they’re No. 5. So hang in there.

As for Burns, he won’t be looking for work any time soon.

———-
From: Marc True
Sent: Sunday, January 28, 2007 6:27 PM
To: Fisher, Red (Montreal Gazette)
Subject: has Carbonneau lost this team?

Red,

I have enjoyed you work for over 30 years and respect your opinion. I have
not missed a habs game in at least 20 years and have never in that stretch
seen a team that just didnt care if they lost to the leafs on a saturday
night until this year. I know and ( certainly ) you know that this team has
decent talent and could ride that wave, maybe into the second round of the
playoffs if they just had a little heart and desire.
It seems to me that the players on this team do not fear any figure of
authority ( repect) and possibly have no pride on many given nights wearing
our storied jersey.
December 23rd, in Boston….that was our d day. Something happened Red.
There is more to the eye than the obvious here and I cant put my finger on
it, BUT I have at many different levels of hockey seen exactly this when a
coach has lost his team.
If Guy has lost them, they’re already gone Red and NOT coming back anytime
soon and IF he has lost them, there arent enough Forsbergs in the world to
bring them back.

um…..I hear Pat Burns might soon be looking for work?….that guy could
make a freight train take a dirt road.

thoughts?

in Fredericton

Marc True

#2 coutNY_HabsFan says:
January 29, 2007 at 11:10 am

Wow, forget Carbo losing the team, I think we’ve almost lost the blog. I took a break this weekend because my frustrations were getting the better part of me. The team looked flat Saturday and in a time where the habs needed a win with Buffalo losing and Senators winning, they were to say the least, disappointing. It is a matter of pride, so when we lose our frustrations mount and the finger pointing begins.

I think there is a cancer and it starts with us. We (as general fans) constantly questioning the organization, players, and each other eventually filters to the media and back to the organization. It seems we are constantly trying to drive wedges between people, with a fixation on the negatives, feeding this evil cancer to spread. When things were going good, like Carbo before the Christmas break was a coach of the year candidate, now there are some that have already written him off as a colossal failure. It seems there was a point that we’ve turned into junkies and the only “fix” is a quick win to satisfy these cravings. Not bad if we’re winning, so then we can keep our high, but don’t dare lose because no one wants to be around when a angry crack-head is looking for there next fix.

I hate to lose as much as the next guy and some losses sting more than others. At times I have harbored fears of a Habs downward spiral (usually immediately after a loss) but I do not state these fears as fact. I do NOT call out that players are terrible and that it is fact, because he had a turnover that lead to a goal or missed a wide-open shot. We should focus more on what has worked for us to make us more successful.

The season is not over, there is talent on this team, and we have beaten some of the top teams in the NHL. This is a team sport and when Montreal has come together as a team they have been unstoppable.

Go Habs Go!

#3 Izzy says:
January 29, 2007 at 11:32 am

the blog is fine coutNY…..as a matter of fact posting is actually up and thats what the blog is all about, whether or not we agree with everything that is said or what trend becomes apparant in our eyes.
I know a lot of my posts have been off the wall recently also, but I guess its my only way to try & get through this gauntlet with a smile and a laugh.Hopefully they made someone else smile too. Hockey is just a freaking game, and although I keep it #1 in my television viewing priorities, it comes dead last after family, work, golf, a beer,my great looking wife,my cars,snow removal and making sure there’s enough batteries in the house ( dont ask ).
Everyone here loves the habs, and each of them shows it in the only way they know how.Unfortunately for some it comes in the cloak of anger.For me…its time to laugh it off.

izzy…

#4 coutNY_HabsFan says:
January 29, 2007 at 1:03 pm

Izzy, True about the posting being up… although, it seems at times to be tied up with postings that would make a day time soap opera proud. Entertaining for a while but loses its luster. I know there are a bunch “feel good hab’s fans” are waiting in the wings when the habs win a few changing the talk to Cup runs and playoff expectations and I know there are negative-Nah-sayer’s lurking in the wings waiting say “I told you so” when they lose… and on any given day things will change!

We were bound to lose one, and this particular loss was not a good hard fought fight, but I do not think the team deserves to be constantly classified losers… maybe if we had a record as bad as Flyers or Chicago, but 5th in the East??? We are better position than last year, meaning we have improved… No I am not satisfied with the just improving, but last year we gave the reigning Cup holders some of there worst loses and best hard fought games in the playoffs. And Yes this means nothing now, but either will this loss come playoff time when the Leafs are playing gulf somewhere!

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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.