All I know is since Lats has moved from the roster, The team has been playing pretty damn good. I don’t think it matters who’s fault it is at this point, I’m just looking at the numbers and they aren’t looking too good for him. We’re not a rebuilding team that has the time (3 years and counting) to wait and see if this kid pans out. We’re a cup contender now.

Say what you want, but that was inexcusable. I was watching this game and witnessed a plethora of Habs give up on the puck/play time and time again. When you’e got a number of players making the same mistake(s), you’ve got a coaching problem. And this is the Tampa Bay Lightning for crying out loud. I don’t care if St. Louis and Lecavalier get up for Montreal. So what. This is a team that they have to beat. Two points lost to an undeniably crappy team. Inexcusable.

As to Kovalev, he can’t score. I’m not sure why, but it simply isn’t in the cards right now. Perhaps he needs a visit from the Love Guru.

My expectations have lowered for this, the centennial, season.

A very frustrating game to watch for sure. I keep expecting to see a PP goal, or a goal by Kovalev and I am astounded game in and out to watch the futility. They learned nothing from the first goal by Brisebois. (Get the puck on the net for rebounds). When you think about the games Montreal has won, it usually works out to- 1st goal: garbage or rebound goal scored by someone who grabs a lose puck with the goalie out of position and sneaks one in. 2nd goal: A good pass with a goalie moving with a great shot. 3rd and all subsequent goals: 3-7 passes with 3 missed chances at shots waiting for the perfect play that presents itself 1 out of 15 tries.

Unfortunately in Montreal losses, its the 3rd goal they’re trying to score first. Last night was a perfect example of how good and terrible their powerplay is. They passed on so many high percentage opportunities only to cough the puck up after 40 seconds of controlled passing. Lang is the worst for this. Kovalev apparently is legally bound to beating three defenders before he makes a move.

Finally, I want to highlight two keys to this game that had nothing to do with the Habs play. 1. Lecavalier and St Louis wanted this one BAD. Their season has been utter failure to this point. You could see the emotion that the two of them had for this game. And while the Habs surely could have responded and played with the same intensity that won their past few games, it is often hard to play an opponent that is so bad that they leave EVERYTHING on the ice for 2 points in an 82 game schedule. For those two this was more than one game, it was to end a 9 game losing streak before it got to 10. It was to respond to Barry Melrose who wished that they lose all their remaining games after he was fired. In the end, I think it mattered more to Tampa and so they took it. Not an excuse for the Canadiens, but a reality.

2. Carbo laid an enormous egg on this one. I fully agree that the 4th line has worked the hardest of anyone since the troubles in Montreal began.. That being said Begin, Lapierre and Kostopoulos are not going to get you back into a game when you’re down 2 goals. His refusal to play anyone other than the 4th line against the Lecavalier trio meant that Tampa could virtually bench its worst players in order to keep Montreal’s 4th line on the ice. Any coach in the league will take that trade if you allow them, regardless of how admirable their work ethic is. And if there is one thing I can guarantee its that you won’t break a slump by not playing slumping players.

One good thing, Lats, Lapierre and the two kids played great games tonight. Lats even make some very good body checks, here is hoping that the benching helped. Kovy is just snake bitten, he seems to be working hard but the puck just will not bouncing his way.

The Tampa Bay game was just a game where all they thought they had to do was show up?? But how many times have the two french canadian kids beat us on our home ice. I do wonder though if the game would have been different had Halak stopped that first goal, a puck he should have had. That seemed to take the life out of the team and they just never recovered.

An just when we write off Brisebois and he scores two goals in two games and played a half decent game against Washington.

Oh well back to the drawing board.

I think Gainey has no choice but to do this Senet…I agree totally. Our big guns are playing horrible hockey. Still gliding out there, very weak on the puck, and making poor puck decisions. Still trying all these little behind the back passes which ends up most of the time having the puck going to no player in specific,,,hence turnover. When times are hard, get back to basics. Shoot on the net are have traffic heading there. One without the over is useless. But still we are trying to be too cute and its not working.

Confidence level is dropping for this team, and thats when its gonna get real bad. These teams looked so different coming out of there respective zones tonight. Wash was tape to tape passes on the fly to get things started offensively. We where just chaotic. Dumps and chips on the backhand to no one at all, which leads to no momentum and no offense. Where o where have the first 10 games gone? Where has our team who played these games gone? And why are these shabby remnants of a once thrilling squad all that is left?

First to last on the PP in less than a year is unacceptable and very amateur indeed. But guys, struggling or not, you don’t give your 4th line all the ice time and ESP. any PP time and expect to win. Come on….I’ve watched alot of hockey in my life, as I’m sure all of you have….and you all know that you maybe only do this when you’re up 7-1..not when you’re down or even.

High “energy” line or not. The PP is for ur top players…skilled players…weather they are struggling or not. The best chance for a goal still comes from these players. Putting who they didd on the PP was plain WRONG. Don’t care who agrees or disagrees. Are we the only team to go thru these harsh times? NO we are not..but one thing remains consistent with all these teams except for tonight…you keep coming back with your best and power thru a hard time.
Sure guys don’t even know who they are playing there next shift with anymore…how are you supposed to get into a rythem. Piss-poor coaching tonight. Carbonneau din’t lose it for us thats true…but he sure helped. So easy to tell he’s panicing, throwing any collage of 3 players together for a shift and playing perhaps the 3 most unskilled players on the PP tonight…AND…thinking that this is going to work !!! Laughable coaching Carbs. Sorry guys.

P.S…And are we all really THAT shocked at Kovys lack of anything. We all knew last year that there was a chance of this happening this year. The guy has never put together 2 good seasons. The guys not slumping…this is what we’re gonna get this year from him. If he’s still worth anything, this is a very good spot to start looking when you’re talking trade. Ugly ugly hockey…so hard to watch.

I agree that we’re witnessing frustrating times in Montreal right now, but I think its highly unrealistic to think that trades in the NHL happen so easily. Kovalev isn’t going anywhere. He’s 35 years old, counts for 4.5 million in cap-space, a free agent after this season, and with 5 goals through 29 games his return value has probably never been lower. As a GM there is simply no trade that would make Montreal better that could be had for Kovalev. If Gainey has a move at all it will be with a roster player, a prospect and a draft pick (unless we’re talking about side-ways trades that don’t improve the squad). Barring a trade to free up space for Sundin, if you consider the NHL trade wire in the past few weeks http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/transactions/, you can bet that nothing at all will happen in the immediate future.

As for last night’s game, I completely agree that there is no use in continuing to switch up the lines. It simply doesn’t work and has had the effect of making everyone play on an island (Kovalev wasn’t the only one doing things on his own last night). Carbo can’t be blamed for a lack of player productivity, but he’s the one who has to put them in a place where they will succeed. Seeing how Kostitsyn, Plex and Kovalev have worked individually why not reunite them? How long do you wait? Everything else including using the 4th line as your PP has failed. Its time to put the players in a position to succeed.

I have to agree that the experiments had a place in the coaching decisions but it is time to establish two solid offensive lines and stick with them until they start to work again. As for the power play, I feel Carbo was right in sending the message that if you are not going to work then someone who does work hard gets more ice time, but the only thing I disagree with in his decisions is when the game is on the line you need your best players on the ice to see if we can score the tying goal. To me the only mistake that carbo made was trying to make is point for too long. I think he is gradually learning that some coaching moves can only last so long and then he has to go back to the team plan that he started with.

Havlat plays for Chicago, makes 6 million per season (which would put us over the cap) and has only 2 more goals (and 2 LESS points) than Kovalev. He’s also 27 years old. Other than he lives in Montreal in the off-season what reason would Chicago have to make that trade? If you were referring to Gaborik in Minnesota, he makes 7.5 million (which means you’d have to trade Kovalev AND another player worth at least 1.5 million to fit our cap. Not only that, he’s also only played 2 games this year because of injury. By all accounts he wants to make in the 9-10 million range next year which is entirely out of our possibility so we would be basically renting an injured player for Kovalev and another roster player. If a trade eventually comes down, I can see moving a guy like Higgins but it is incredibly hard to move a guy like Kovalev if he’s not performing.

I agree, lets’ get George back in there, I’d hate to see him get a shaft like he did in Pittsburgh plus the fans love him.

I’d like to see Carbo grow a pair and bench Kovy for a while and see if he’ll wake up. Working hard is great but he’s there to score goals and right now he’d trying too hard and making really costly mistakes. What’s the worse that could happen by putting him on the 4th for a while.

The Oilers used Laraque well. Montreal should emulate that.

I had mentioned that Kovalev should have been benched a couple of weeks back. But no. His reward for an absolutely horrid performance in one particular game was ample time in OT followed by a shot in the shootout, which had no intention of eluding the goaltender. That lead me to believe that there was something fundamentally wrong with Carbonneau’s thinking. Nothing has transpired as of late which leads me to believe otherwise.

This team is not turning any corner. What they’re doing is persisting with bad habits which become more and more difficult to break with each passing game. Diagnosis: a new strain of Ottawaitis.

As opposed to the current problem which obviously exists in the dressing room?

I agree that the whole team has been inconsistent, and I also agree that too many players are far too reliant on what Kovalev is doing, or not doing. I even agree that Kovalev is getting much less room to maneuver this season thanks to the uninspired play of his linemates. But I believe that you pinpointed the problem, MN, when you stated, “If the rest of the lineup continues to wait for Kovalev to signal that the drought is over, we could wait a very long time.” Precisely. And sometimes drastic problems call for drastic measures. And maybe taking Kovalev out of the equation for a game or two wouldn’t be so much a message to Kovalev as it would a message to his teammates. Maybe that should be explained to him beforehand. Maybe not.

An extreme (and unfair) example: Was Maurice Richard ever benched? Yes, he was, but the motivation for doing so wasn’t to punish him, it was to send a message to the team as a whole.

Back to Kovalev’s production.

He’s actually tied with Koivu for second in team points with 22. Markov leads the team with 24. But far more importantly thqan who has the most points on the is team thus far is the fact the Kovalev, despite being restricted to a more confined space on the ice this season, still leads the team in shots on goal with 84. That’s 5 goals in 84 shots on goal, or a shooting percentage of 6.0… well below his career average of 12.0. So there’s evidently more to Kovalev’s drought than the fact that he’s being played tighter defensively by the opposition this season. And even with that being the case, elite players find a way to produce. It’s been 18 games now. So what’s wrong?

All of that being said, I will reiterate that I like Kovalev as a player and as a Hab, and I want him to break this drought as much as any Habs fan. But if Carbonneua sits and waits for the players to fix what’s wrong, we may very well see this season’s goal drought shatter his career high set with New York.

Well he has tied his New York record of 19 games. I’m not opposed to sending a message to the players, but what new message can be taken from benching one of your best offensive threats? I just don’t understand punishing one of the few who has actually produced points. It may not be the number we hoped for at the beginning of the year, but aside from Markov he’s done better than everyone else thus far. Kovalev is 35. He is also already overly aware of his own slump. He doesn’t need Carbo to remind him publicly. If Carbo is continuously punishing guys for a lack of production he runs the risk of losing impact when he needs to use the strategy – especially if he’s punishing the teams second MOST productive player.

Aside from that, there has been a lot of trade talk concerning Montreal for most of this season thanks to the continued Mats Sundin soap opera. I figured it helps to know exactly the situation regarding what Bob Gainey can do given this team’s contractual obligations. Here is a list http://www.hockeybuzz.com/cap-central/team.php?team=MON of each player’s salary for the 2008-2009 season. That site is a good resource when trying to determine exactly what kinds of trades might be available, and how much in terms of players it would cost to land some of the big names that we hear thrown around often. “Trade for Kovalchuk” seems like a good move until you realize who would be missing from the lineup just to match salaries.

Laraque must play more. Trade Latendresse.
Laraque deserves to play, he has impressed me even if he hasn’t gotten the intensity that I hoped he would show.
Not wanting to trade Latendresse because he may finally start to play with any hope of physical play, effort, or average skill is ridiculous. He’s had more than ample time to show his skills. Some thigs develop with time, but lack of effort, lack of desire and lack of physical play will haunt him throughout his career. To keep him in case he finally starts to play the way we thik he should is to doom the habs to having a crappy, heartless “power forward” in the lineup for many years to come.

Laraque has only been a healthy scratch a few times this season. He’s been hurt for the rest, so he’ll need to be healthy to see more ice time. As for trading Latendresse: I’m not opposed to Gainey making a trade that he thinks will make this team better, but I would have a huge problem with him making trades just to get rid of a guy who the City has fallen out of love with. His return value is straight up not very much. He may get added to a trade to sweeten a deal, but the team won’t get anything of value back for him in a 1 for 1 situation. And while doing nothing seems like a futile move, it has served Gainey well in the past. With all of the reactionary fans calling for huge changes after 2 game losing streaks, its important to understand that when you make trades from a point of weakness, you’re bound to lose the trade. If Gainey takes a macro approach to the team and lets some of the struggling players get out of their slump, he will give up less to get quality back.

Joseph: The confusion over the Kostitsyn’s spelling was due to the translation from Cyrillic by the NHL when Andrei was first drafted.. which to me is weird because Sergei was already in London Ont, playing for the Knights at that time with “Kostitsyn” on the back of his jersey.

The Kovalchuk example was just because he’s someone who has been thrown out there in the past (could have been Bowmeester or Gaborik etc). A trade for someone with a little grit and leadership, may be more likely given cap realities. Just for fun though, who out there do you see that could make that kind of contribution? And secondly, given that Lapierre, Kostopoulos, Laraque, Begin and Dandenault (when everyone is healthy) are already fighting each other for ice time, how or where would this new player fit into our line-up?

I’m sure you’ve examined the possibilites but let me think about that and get back to you. I will say that I wouldn’t be opposed to the Habs moving one of the so called grit players that they presently have for a more effective player in that role.

Also, I am not questioning your coaching philosophy. I am merely throwing ideas at you for feedback and thus helping to complete my own thoughts in the process.

That said, morale and confidence are tricky things. For example (and I hate to keep falling back on this example, but…), I’m quite sure that every player in Ottawa’s dressing room last season knew that he needed to elevate his level of play, yet none of them could could manage to accomplish this given the lack of confidence and therefore morale which existed in that dressing room. Just as lowered confidence occurs at one point or another in everyone’s lifetime in our culture, there is undoubtedly no easy fix – one just has to, as you say, battle through it. So perhaps Carbonneau’s best approach as a coach is to put down the wrench and play the role of team therapist? I don’t know. One thing he can do is look to move a player for the aforementioned ‘role player’, but then we all saw how effective that was for the Senators last season too, so…

Sit, watch, wait and hope. The inevitable reality for all sports fans, as frustrating as it may be. Perhpas we should move for professional sports to be made more deomcratic. After all, we, the fans, make the players rich enough. We should have a say in how things are run. No?

Problems, problems everywhere. Other than maybe a couple of calls…all the penalties were legitamite calls in this league…so lets not take the easy way out and blame the refs. Couldn’t get anything going 5 on 5 either.

This team is lazy for the mostpart…don;t wanna skate and work hard for goals, and that accounts for some of the penalties also. Forwards waiting flat-footed at the blueline for pucks from the D…so you’re easily caught if you do get it. Break out passes are almost non-existent now…its usually dumps in the air or flicks along the boards. Forwards are scared to go to the net with the puck…when we do get inside the zone our guys turn towards the boards not the net, and we get alot of low qualities shots from low quality scoring angles as a result…dont wanna head to the net, might take a knock there.
4th line still playing wayyyyyyyy to much…these guys aren’t gonna generate enough goals (if any) to make a difference in any games Guy…wake up man. Seems to me these guys aren;t very inspired by Carbs anymore, and seems to me he doesn’t know what to be doing to shake this. Kovy and Lang together is still a bad idea…not much being generated there either and thats 2 older guys playing together who don’t really like skating hard. Plecs and Andrei are wasting away…hows about trying the 3some from last year again…can’t be any worse than now.
Whatever you’re practicing at the rink on off days seems to be the wrong thing guys…generating offense is not improving by any means…maybe spent more time on that…thats getting NHL players to learn how to get out of there own zone WITH the puck and turn that into offensive chance… would be great to see that Guy.
So after all of this…where do the problems lie??? Anyone know??? Could be so many things.
All I know is this was another brutal effort by a team whose only 3 guys who want to skate aren;t skilled enogh to score any goals. Sh*tty spot to be in. Maybe it’s just alot of bad dreams are coming thorgh from last year, when alot of us questioned if this team just over-achieved…wait til 09-08 to find out….well guys, maybe we’re finding out in a harsh way that we did.
Getting harder and harder to watch these guys play.

I Agree, this team is getting pretty hard to watch but good or bad we are all suck with them. Carbo should just bring in tapes of Detroit and say “here, this is how you play the game of hockey!”
This team is a mess right now, seems like everyone is scared of making mistakes and just plain refuses to play fundamental hockey. Any idiot can shuffle lines around all year, all your doing is killing any chance for chemistry or consistency . So now what? I don’t think anyone has the answer yet but I think it’s about time for Carbo to step back to see the forest through the trees and get back to basics. Tight passing, strong forechecking, and move your damn feet or you sit!. This isn’t brain surgery.

Upon further relflection, I get your point, MN. It’s doubtful that a personnel change is going to fix this team’s problem. After all, I find it difficult to believe that this is a player problem for the mere fact that so many players aren’t doing what they should be doing – playing to their respective potentials. No, there’s something else going on with this team and Carbonneau must know what it is.

A premature prediction: A seventh or eighth place finish and a potential first round matchup against Boston, who isn’t likely going to begin playing any differently than they have been thus far this season. Can you envision it? Ryder shoving it down his former team’s throat when it matters most.