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Ouch

  • It’s safe to say the Canadiens strong start is now over.

    The Habs are hurting. On the ice they have looked terrible in 2 of their last 3 games. Individual players are starting (continuing?) to struggle. An added dose of injuries and suspension haven’t made it any easier.

    It shouldn’t be any easier tonight welcoming the Flyers who no doubt will play their normal physical game. A style that continues to give the Canadiens fits.

    The Habs have owned the Flyers in regular season play, but they’ve also owned the Bruins going into Thursday’s game. We all saw how that turned out.

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22 Comments
  1. #1 groundworking says:
    November 15, 2008 at 9:49 pm

    This is going to be a loooooooooong year.

  2. #2 Joseph says:
    November 15, 2008 at 10:21 pm

    The infamous words of the grounds person from the movie Major League spring to mind… “They’re still ******”. :-)

    Seriously though, I wouldn’t push the panic button just yet. This team is capable of a lot more than it’s showing right now.

  3. #3 habsfreak says:
    November 16, 2008 at 2:07 am

    I think the laffs will finish 8th-10th in the conference…

  4. #4 habsfreak says:
    November 16, 2008 at 2:08 am

    PEOPLE START POSTING! Why does nobody come here anymore?!

  5. #5 Joseph says:
    November 16, 2008 at 2:52 am

    The Habs certainly have a way of making Marty Biron look like an elite goaltender.

  6. #6 groundworking says:
    November 16, 2008 at 3:17 am

    It’s the live chat, Habsfreak, which has supplanted the comment posts.

  7. #7 PACTUM SERVA says:
    November 16, 2008 at 10:58 am

    Which team will show up tonight? I hate to say this but maybe carbo needs to take a page out of ron wilsons book and start making some healthy scratches. This team needs a wake up call and a big dose of testosterone.

  8. #8 groundworking says:
    November 16, 2008 at 1:32 pm

    I agree Pactum. And my concern isn’t just with the losses, it’s with the wins too. They’ve looked listless in a number of the games that they’ve won, just barely squeaking out a win against teams that they should handily defeat.

    I know from my experience that it’s not always possible to bring your A-game against lesser opponents, but I’ve never played for the Montreal Canadiens and I was never paid millions of dollars. If these guys can’t find the pride to play hard for the Canadiens in the team’s 100th year, then I doubt they’ll be able to call upon that extra bit of motivation that’s needed to get a team through the tough stretches in the playoffs. Too early to tell, of course, but I don’t like what I’ve seen from a lot of this team, including some players who were very impressive last year. Koivu, however, is showing yet again why he’s wearing the C.

  9. #9 PACTUM SERVA says:
    November 16, 2008 at 7:09 pm

    Yep koivu is the only one earning his paycheck.

  10. #10 MarkyMark says:
    November 16, 2008 at 7:51 pm

    Habs won’t make the playoffs for the 6th of 9 years.

  11. #11 Joseph says:
    November 17, 2008 at 12:14 am

    Umm, doomsayer? The Habs will make the playoffs. I just hope that they do more than that.

  12. #12 groundworking says:
    November 18, 2008 at 10:37 pm

    Anybody else getting bored watching the games this year? Terrible hockey.

  13. #13 Joseph says:
    November 18, 2008 at 11:26 pm

    Yes, bored out of my mind. I can’t even tune in for a full 60 minutes. There are much better things to do than watch a team that doesn’t play to win.

  14. #14 habsfreak says:
    November 19, 2008 at 6:50 am

    So most people go to the chatbox now??

  15. #15 groundworking says:
    November 19, 2008 at 8:50 am

    Yeah, I’m not sure if the culture of the dressing room hasn’t changed for the worse. The Katstitsyn brothers are playing absolutely terribly–no fight, no creativity, no opportunism. The defense is disgraceful, in part because the forwards are up the ice so far, and working so little, that there’s no puck support for the D. Latendresse had his first good shift of the year last night.

    I’m glad that the guys aren’t worried about it yet. At least the death is painless. But my problem isn’t with their losses, it’s with the complete lack of effort that they’ve showed in all but two or three games this year. I mean, if you’re just squeaking by with wins in games that you should win easily, eventually it’s going to catch up with you. So here we go: a 3-2 SO victory over the worst team in the league, followed by a 2-1 loss–and brutally out-shot–to a mediocre team.

    I have missed maybe 5 Habs games on TV over the last 3 years (one of them was the third period of the comeback against the rangers), but I’m not just mad at losing when I say that I’ve been having a hard time this year, even when they were winning, bringing myself to sit down and watch a full Habs game. It’s like nobody on the first 3 lines of this team is fighting for anything–not their jobs, not the win, certainly not the Stanley Cup. Ah well.

    Something is wrong with this team that we don’t know about.

  16. #16 Ice Man says:
    November 19, 2008 at 9:17 am

    What is there to say that hasn’t been said already.

    Why is everyone else in the entire nation seeing the Habs problems but CARBO?

    U park a big guy such as Lats in fornt of the net to screen the goalie, bug the goalie & I don’t mean Price either.

    If they want to score goals they have to shoot. The habs R always looking for that pretty pass. Shot the Damn puck. Every shot on net has a chance to go in. Shoot on net and get the rebound.

    Stupid penalties & lack of grit.

    Price will be ruined if the horse **** continues.

    Montreal score in waves. Higgins has his quota for the month.

    Kovalev, BGL, Begin, Dandy, Breezer need to go this summer…

    Thrown in Carbo as well….

  17. #17 PACTUM SERVA says:
    November 19, 2008 at 12:07 pm

    I agree Groundworking, there is more than meets the eye with this team. Maybe dressing room problems? I dont know but its really hard to watch this team play so far. Somethings gotta give.

  18. #18 Mats Naslund says:
    November 19, 2008 at 2:47 pm

    I agree the habs aren’t playing great hockey right now.. but all is not lost. As long as they are peaking at the end of the regular season I will be happy. The expectations surrounding this team were ridiculous from the start. If that Kostitsyn post from last night had gone in, everyone would be singing a different tune. I personally think Carbo should go back to his original lines and let the players play through some adversity. Kovalev with Tanguay and Koivu helps no one. The reason Kovalev was successful last season was because Kostitsyn and Plecks had the energy to let him do his thing. The top line right now is give away after give away. The habs need to control the puck and put on offensive pressure to be successful. Too many careless passes, and not enough shots on goal. Make goalies beat you, and you will win more times than not. If you take half the shots of the other team you are playing with fire.

  19. #19 groundworking says:
    November 19, 2008 at 4:28 pm

    Nice post and name, Mats Naslund. I remember watching them last year and thinking “how are these guys this good?” I watch them this year and I have yet to wonder the same thing more than, maybe, 3 times?

    But it’s not about winning and losing. I’ve seen them lose games where, at the end of the game, you sit back and think: “wow the other team was lucky, b/c the Habs played better”. I think of the Buffalo game at the start of the year, which was a good game. But lately, they’ve just been getting out-worked by the other teams–not just in the games that they lost, but I think also of those games (against Toronto, Boston and the Islanders, earlier in the year) where they should have lost, but squeaked-out a win.

    I agree with you, though. Keep the lines and let them play through adversity. I also agree that it’s better to slump now than later, but I wonder if this “slump” isn’t more than a “slump”, maybe a fundamental lack of chemistry on a brand new team that has frankly not yet played well enough for long enough to call a down-slide a “slump”. They’ve had more bad games than good games, despite the record.

  20. #20 PACTUM SERVA says:
    November 19, 2008 at 5:15 pm

    When things started to go bad i thought that are offence was creating alot of chances but it was our defence letting us down. Then carbo shows them a tape of the toronto game and the mistakes they made. So he says the need to get back to playing more of a defensive game……so he says. We come back and beat ottawa after that with a good effort but then the wheels fall off and our offence is nowhere to be seen and our defence is worse than before. I am not here to blame carbo but can anyone tell me what was with the line of pleckanecs,higgins and kostopoulos? Talk about trying to fit a square into a circle. When carbo starts putting lines like that onto the ice it makes you wonder if he picked them out of a hat. Some of our players are a little to comfortable so maybe a few call ups from hamilton and a few healthy scratches might wake up some people

  21. #21 blanchstains says:
    November 19, 2008 at 9:50 pm

    every team has a slump every single year. no doubt.
    the positive way we canm look at ours is that is happening NOW.. and not in may or aprill.. thank god

  22. #22 The Rocket says:
    November 19, 2008 at 11:20 pm

    The Habs just released a team Firefox browser. If you like the Habs, its a must have… super cool!!!

    http://www.canadiens.com/firefox

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  • goalie : I can't type.... what a faux pas on my behalf...
  • goalie : I just realized what I said adn didn't say yesterday. What a fayx as on my behalf. Regarding coaching Randy Cunnyworth MUSDT stay as an assistant- he deserves at least that after the tremendous job he did in the latter part of this past season. I'd still mlike to have Robinson, Carbo adn Allard on the staff also.
  • Avatar37 : I agree Senet, my choice if we can't have Cunneyworth would be Crawford, Robinson on defense, Cunneyworth for offense, and Carbo as offense/faceoffs .
  • Senet1 : I think if I had my choice it would be Crawford and see if he could get Carbo and Robinson as assistants. That would be my idea coaching team.
  • goalie : I witnesed Marc Crawford MANY times when the Avs, etc. played against Oilers and let me tell you - he is constantly on the referees asses virtually game after game. He is the complete OPPOSITE of J. Martin. Crawford is calm on TSN but he is one excited coach behind the bench. A friend of mine who was an NHL linesman for 26 years said they dreaded Crawford he was so tough on the officials!
  • goalie : You know, I've bee thinking about the coaching situation. I'd be really excited if the Habs had Hartley as head coach and Carbo adn Robinson as his assistants. I also read it somewhere about a month ago that Toronto's goalie coach Allard (?) wants to relocate back to Montreal where he has his goaltending school/business. Add him to the mix and I'd say the Habs would be in great shape coaching wise.
  • Avatar37 : Well, from what I recall, Hartley didn't do all that well with the Thrashers. But, I don't know enough about him to judge one way or the other. Crawford I do know, and he always seemed to be a good, level headed coach to me.
  • Senet1 : even Pacioretty two years ago did not impress any of us. Younger players have to play and make mistakes and learn from those mistakes. If they sit in the press box they are learning nothing.
  • Senet1 : Of course if he have some good assistants like a Larry Robinson to teach the young defence and someone like Carbo to teach faceoffs etc. then your coach does not have to be as good at teaching. If Hartley fits the bill you get no argument from me. My only previous point is that if he is impatient with your younger players to the point that he does not play them, then we are right back where we were with Martin. Martin was a good coach too, but how he handled Emelin, PK and even Pacioretty two
  • goalie : I would like to see the Habs sign a coach who realizes that our team isn't tough enough (we need to get bigger and somewhat more nastier),the coach needs t be a great TEACHER and be a coach who can get the players to understand and buy into his system. Other than that I couldn't care what lingo he speaks. I wnat to see our team become a ligitimate contender fast!
  • HabsLoseAgain : Well we dont know if he is or is not a teaching coach. I woukd just hate to paint Hartley something that he is not. There will always be questions but if Hartley was hired as the habs new bench boss i for one would not be overly upset.
  • Senet1 : My thoughts are not that he is or is not a good coach but rather that when he won the cup he had an experience team of superstars on that team. Where as we have a group of young inexperienced players, is he a teaching coach or a tactical coach or both? I am not question whether he is a good coach, but my question therefore is he the coach for us at this point in the deveopment of our team?? Not sure we are all purely speculating at the moment?
  • Senet1 : Something happened to my first post. I will try again.
  • Senet1 : That is why I said I am not sure he is the coach for us at this time? Right now we are all speculating including yourself, because non of us know for sure?
  • HabsLoseAgain : Crawford also won a cup with Patrick Roy so would you say he is a good coach or did he just have great players and one of the best goaltenders of alltime?
  • HabsLoseAgain : Senrt so please give me some reasons why you think Hartley is not the coach the habs need right now. What is it that you do not like about him or his coaching style?
  • HabsLoseAgain : Well all great coaches had great players playing for them so i guess you you add a a pile of other coaches to that list including Bowan......
  • Senet1 : Hartley, was he a good coach or did he just have great players and one of the best altime goaltenders of all time. I am not sure that he is the type of coach that this organization needs right now. Unless of course we sign a ton of free agents.
  • Avatar37 : However, my feelings may completely be wrong, Hartley may turn out to be a good fit.
  • Avatar37 : I didn't say Hartley was unknown, I said we demoted a good coach in Cunneyworth and now have an unknown quantity because we don't have a coach. I don't have that great a feeling about Hartley, I'd be much more comfortable with Crawford.
  • HabsLoseAgain : In my opinion i think he might be a good fit in montreal. Oh and he also likes to have a tough team.
  • HabsLoseAgain : Also this year he coached the ZSC Lions to the swiss championship title.
  • HabsLoseAgain : lol the so called "unknown" won a cup in 2000-2001 with the colarado avalanch.
  • HabsLoseAgain : lol Bob Hartley is not an unknown lol.....sheesh.
  • Senet1 : I think he has until the trading deadline to show us that he deserves to be on this team. If he does not get back on track then he could be simply a 2nd round draft pick to whoever we can trade him to.
  • Avatar37 : Bourque reminds me of Pouliot, size, skill, and invisible. He needs to get back to playing a physical game and bang people around and maybe he'll start getting some of those garbage goals again. Need to get to the front of the net. I hope he can find his game again.
  • Avatar37 : We had a good coach in Randy Cunneyworth. Now we have an unknown, with Bob Hartley rumoured to be the front runner. I'd rather have Cunneyworth.
  • goalie : A player like Rene Bourwue has al the physical attributes of what would be a beter than average player. Hwever, he certainly didn't play that well especially after being in Montreal about three weeks. We NEED players like Rene to play hard AND produce points on a REGULAR BASIS in order for us to be competitive.
  • Senet1 : MONTREAL – Rene Bourque had a rocky start to his career as a Hab, but he’s planning on using the next four years to make up for it. After arriving in Montreal under less-than-ideal circumstances in January, Bourque spent the following 38 games hoping to find the spark he needed to rekindle his offensive production. Despite flanking Tomas Plekanec on the team’s second line to close out the season, the 30-year-old sniper suddenly found himself firing blanks in his new NHL home.
  • Senet1 : I think we have to be patient and not expect too much too soon. Let's get a strong management team in place, make a good choices in the draft get a good coach and then see what we need at the free agent market. I will not be too disapointed if we miss the playoffs again next year if it means a long term team success. We have the opportunity to make some major strides over the next two years at the draft table. Then we fill in the holes.
  • goalie : I certainly agree that we need to get some impact forwards who will sign for 5 years, not for a season then walk away. That's not going to help us.
  • goalie : I wouldn't trade PK for Ovetchkin no matter what. He is a coach's NIGHTMARE and a poor team player.
  • Senet1 : I believe he will as we graducally put better players around him and build this team.
  • Senet1 : Goalie I agree with Avatar. PK is the present and future of this teams defence. I would not even take Staal from Pittsburg unless I had him tied up in a long term contract of a Minimum of 5 years. Also once has to consider the salary difference. Pk is on the move up probably 3M plus for his next contract and then eventually 4-5M if he keeps on improving. He has moved his game up two gears since he came into the league 2 years ago. He now has to move to the next level and I believe he will as w
  • Avatar37 : pressure playing in Montreal, since he has problems with the expectations in Washington and Montreal isn't any easier. Then again, the media were very easy on Kovalev, so maybe it's a Russian thing? No idea. Anyway, yeah, it would have to be an established star that gives us an immediate drastic upgrade at forward, that's the only way I'd trade PK, because we'd be giving up a potential QB on our blueline for the next decade.

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