Dull Sabres
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Last season some of the most entertaining Habs games to watch were the ones between the Canadiens and Buffalo Sabres.
Of course the Sabres are a different team than last year’s President Trophy winning group. This Sabres team is one that struggled badly to keep up with the visiting Maple Leafs, only to finally beat them in overtime because Bryan McCabe put the puck in his own net.
A team that was was shut out by the Columbus Blue Jackets on home ice last night. Virtually unthinkable last year.
After dropping their last game in Ottawa, the Habs face the Sabres tonight followed by the Bruins on Monday. Continued losing will begin digging their Divisional hole early, only to be followed up by games against the Hurricanes and Penguins once again.
The Canadiens have not been badly out shot recently, like they usually are. But their even strength scoring is still a major issue that doesn’t seem to have an easy answer or quick fix.
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October 20, 2007 at 1:03 pm
I like the Habs efforts, in most games they work just as hard..or even harder than the other team, it’s just they have no finish, watching that Florida game, they had a couple 2 on 1s and ended up without a shot on goal. That is what is ends up in the L column instead of the W column.
Their effort is there in most games we get to watch here on the west coast,
I believe in Bob Gainey and I think he is headed in the right direction, and I also think both golaies will not be happy playing partial back up roles to each other, and Bob might end up trading one off for a valuable scorer, which this teamd badly needs.
October 20, 2007 at 6:00 pm
Pierre Mcguire hit the hail on the head yesterday on the team 990 when he said that this was the first time in a long time that there has been hope for this franchise. The youth movement is not just something optimistic habs fans try to brainwash themselves into thinking. It’s actually happening. Carey Price is as blue-chip as a prospect can get. Did you notice how many fights there was for jobs this year? That is testament to how well of a job gainey and timmins have done in such a short period of time. We are only starting to see the fruits of their work at the draft table.Players like Higgins, Plekanec, Komisarek, Kostitsyn, latendresse, grabovski and Price are already playing for the habs and are all a good 2-7 years away from hitting their prime. Then you throw in names like halak, D’agostini, Lapierre, O’byrne and sergei kostitsyn who are all between 22 and 20 years old and could all play for the big club today. I’m not even done yet, then you have players such as Mathieu Carle, David fisher, Pk Subban and Ryan Mcdonagh on defense as well as Max pacioretty, Ben Maxwell and Ryan White on offense. These are al players who could realisticly play in the nhl in a couple of years. In the coming season, the leash is only going to get shorter for the veterans on this team. UNlike the leafs, we wont be stuck in medicrity forever and will be a good team for a very long time. we will be competitive while not stinking completely like the pens and sens while wre waiting.
October 20, 2007 at 10:21 pm
I completely agree Habsfan. This is the second round of “ground-up re-building” that this team has done since winning the cup in 1993. The main difference between this time and last time is that they got it right this time: no Terry Ryans so far. Plus, the way the new NHL works makes it very difficult to build a solid team through free agency–it’s healthier to get them young, get them loyal and settled, and then just have to match known offers rather than beat unknown ones. Plus, the hockey gods, who went into exile when the team left the Forum, might be making their way back–imagine if we had millions tied into an injured, non-goal scoring Souray this year!
I still have the old-school view about building your team with North Americans, but I hope I’m proven wrong. It’s nothing Don Cherry-like, but it’s just that North American hockey players dream for the chance to win a Stanley Cup, and I think it shows in the playoffs. Koivu, Sundin and Alfredson, as well as many other Europeans, are obvious exceptions to this “rule”.
October 21, 2007 at 8:18 am
Good effort against the slumping Sabres… I agree with the great promise our young rising players can bring us and if I’m Bob Gainey, I’m not trading one of them no matter how tempting the offer. I think his only trade bait are veterans and/or players who are being pushed or will soon be pushed out by an up-and-comer (Kovalev, Ryder, Smolinski, Kostopoulous, Hamrlik, Brisebois, Bouillon, Dandeneault, Huet, Murray, maybe even Koivu if he waives his no-trade). I doubt Gainey will do anything to harm the team like trading Higgins and picks for someone like Marleau, he’s not JFJ.
October 21, 2007 at 2:00 pm
get rid of koivu are you out of your mind! he is the captain the leader of this team.And if you get rid of Huet who knows what will happen this year because you can’t always trust goalies 1,2 years into the league.
October 21, 2007 at 2:28 pm
I like the comment of Groundworking and also Smiler, I truly believe–with a couple of notable exceptions- that the non-north american players just do not have the passion for the stanley cup that NA players have. Remember how kovalev could not play in a game 7 because he had a sore pinky finger ! a NA player in that case would have been on the ice if his whole arm had been chopped off. I do like Koivu, but like Naslund in Vanc, I do not think he is a
dressing room leader, soft spoken, but does try to lead by example–a great
characteristic of a leader, but I also think it requires someone who can call other players out and tell them to get butt in gear. I did not get to see the Habs/Sabres because of course the maple leaf *** kissers at CBC only show leafs games, but highlights look good, Higgins having a real good start.
October 21, 2007 at 5:19 pm
I said I wouldn’t cry if Souray left and I was slammed for it on this site last year. Now he’s a 5.5 million dollar, one goal, on the IR with another seperated shoulder bust in Edmonton(and his play in his own end hasn’t improved let me tell ya) and Hamerlik has been lights out in his own end this year. He’s been a physical presence and has moved the puck very sufficiently out of his own end. Why do you think Breezer hasn’t looked completely terrible this year? Cause he’s playing with Hamerlik. And that pairing is taking pressure off Markov/Komisarek.
When Ryder and Higgins figure out how to finish again the top line along with the suprisingly good Kovalev lead 2nd line the Habs will have an interesting offence.
Although I’m making the pred. that Ryder will be gone at the deadline if the Habs are struggling to make the playoffs again cause Gainey won’t make the same mistake he made with Souray(and I think D’Agostini may be able to take his place by that point) and if Kovy has a pretty good year(25+goals and 65+ points) Gainey will find someone to take him and the remaining year on his contract(Pittsburgh anyone?)
And then with all that cap room the Habs can make some ridiculous offer to Hossa in the summer. lol
October 21, 2007 at 10:31 pm
Although the shot totals this season have been much better than last year’s standard 20-shot games, I still think our forwards are passing up a lot of good shooting opportunities. We always seem to want to try that extra move or pass when we’re in prime position to get a quality shot off to start with. It’s hard to harp on a team that’s been getting 30 shots a game, but that’s what I’m seeing night in, night out on RDS.
On another note, Hamrlik has been pure sweetness while Brisebois is a 1974 Pinto in a 2007 world. I can’t believe how much ice time this guy gets when it looks like a midget-aged d-man could do better out there. At the very least he should be demoted to the third pairing. It’s embarrassing.
October 22, 2007 at 3:22 pm
If we keep our effort like we did against Buffalo were going to the playoffs.