Civil War Part 2- The Russian Purge
Yeeehaaa it's September 1st the official start of the hockey bitching season. I guess the Marvel folks got it right when they named one of the recent Avengers movies Civil War. This has been the theme in Habsland since the Subban trade in June 2016. Tweet grenades have been launched in the twittersphere as the warring sides have dug in for a surreal lengthy fratricide. It has also led some blow-hards to try and silence media criticism. Lest we forget that not so long ago any critique of a professional sports team was met by censure or dismissal whenever the franchise decided to exert their influence and power. Hopefully, we will not go back to those dark ages.
Well, one thing you gotta credit Bergevin with, there is rarely a dull moment off the ice as he remolds the habs on a yearly basis. Dare I say Bergevin is the risk-taker in chief of NHL GM's, even allowing David Poile to win GM of the year. After the habs early playoff exit, the whole left side of the defence has been replaced except for trade-deadline acquisition Benn, and other than Alzner the other newcomers are lesser known than Andrew Scheer(who). Meanwhile a big offensive center the team's achilles heel is still missing. We await with bated or dreaded breath Bergevin's next move as the available cap-space allows him to bring in an important cog either a number one center or a mobile defenceman. Will it be Duchene, Nugent-Hopkins, or my predicted choice Giroux, or the highly preferred but unrealistic option Tavares? Could a mobile defenceman be in the cards like Letang or Trouba. Bergevin always tends to surprise so it could be someone no one is considering. Let's hope he does not surprise us by leaving the cap-space intact especially after the ticket price hike.
The under-reported Russian purge also happened during the summer. I am still of the opinion that Claude Julien had a hand in this. Maybe Julien saw the chemistry in the room was tarnished by the Russians. If you look at the Bruins roster during the Julien reign there were few Russians.
The veteran Markov, the reborn Radulov, the unprotected Emelin, and the still-born hab Sergachev were all unceremoniously purged from the habs future. The one remaining Russian-American Galchenyuk was clearly on the trade market but there were rumours of little or no interest by the rest of the league. Bergevin may have been forced to re-sign him. I still believe he could be traded if the right offer lands on Bergevin's lap. As the Subban signing proved, Bergevin dislikes being forced to sign players he does not think are made of the right stuff.
Even though his regular season stats were decent, I thought Markov was never the player he was before his knee issues. He has such an accomplished hockey mind on the ice, his lack of pace was not an issue during the regular season. However, once the playoffs began, his slow pace became noticeable and he looked ineffective as he was rushed into making split-second decisions. As for Emelin, I always liked him when he was in a zone. His thunderous body checks were a thing of beauty. Sadly, he was not always in a zone and there were games he disappeared. I still believe he could have been the one Russian Bergevin would have preferred keeping.
Alexander Radulov proved his critics wrong during the first half of the year. He was more of an energizer bunny than Gallagher and that is saying a lot. There was a slight fading in the second half of the season and that was expected after playing in the KHL for several seasons. He had his spurts in the playoffs but the Habs did not win a series and they rarely scored. The vibes I got were that Bergevin made an offer but lacked the enthusiam behind it. I think a player senses if he is appreciated or not. Bergevin seemed almost relieved when Radulov signed elsewhere. Finally, there is the wild-card move trading Sergachev. As predicted in my previous blog, Bergevin needed people to forget Subban in a hurry or his job would be on the line. Bringing in a quebecois prospect with superstar potential would lessen some of that bad publicity. Even though I was not impressed by what I saw of Sergachev in the world juniors, there are many who expect him to become a dominant defenceman if not a superstar. However, I really like Drouin as well and he could turn out to be the consistent flashy offensive star the habs have desperately needed. Being a quebecois doesn't hurt either.
On another note, I started to ask myself which side was I on in this heated civil war? Having been a long time Habs fan (decades) with only a few wavering years (the Eric Landry era comes to mind), was I going to be a habs fan after Bergevin traded the flamboyant Subban for the steady and productive, but dull as dishwater Shea Weber?
As a kid I grew up believing that being a Habs fan was always inextricably linked to watching eye-opening artistic hockey. The Flying Frenchmen symbolized hockey played with a passion for the spectacular and their mystique inspired multi-generational ice masterpieces. Of course, since 1979 the habs have not been able to get anywhere near those lofty standards, However, every once and awhile the habs lucked out and were able to muster championships with a few individual phenoms. Patrick Roy was one not to bow to Dryden or Plante's reputation, Guy Carbonneau was another, a defensive whiz following in the footsteps of Bob Gainey. Claude Lemieux was as clutch as any habs playoff performer of yore, and Chris Chelios came close to the fiery skills of a Guy Lapointe. One thing all these players had in common, none of them were first round picks. Yes, you don't need a first pick overall or a first rounder to build a winner. PK Subban, a second round pick, seemed to be of the same ilk, someone who had a passion to make the Habs great again. I had hoped that Subban, along with Price who many consider the best goalie in the NHL, and Pacioretty a consistent elite scorer (regular season anyways), might together conjure up some of that old habs magic.
We all know the ups and downs of the the post Subban era. However, the interesting thing for me was the once strong Habs nation began to splinter and the two opposing sides became as nasty to each other as a race debate in the deep south. Yes, civil war had been declared and there is no end in sight. The feuding on twitter went ballistic when PK made the finals, personal insults were heaved, blockings and mutings followed.
As the Joker once said why so serious? I think something much more serious happened in the 2003 draft. In a what if scenario, the habs drafted Andrei Kostitsyn 10th in the first round, in the second round with the 40th pick they drafted Cory Urqhart, and with the 61st pick of the second round they chose home-grown Maxim Lapierre. What if they had chosen Ryan Getzlaf who was picked 19th overall that year, and Patrice Bergeron who was snapped up by the Bruins at 45th overall in the second round, and David Backes who was only chosen at 62nd overall in the second round. How many more cups would the habs have now with three dominant big centers?
As for myself, I found out last year it is very hard to disown the team that represents the city where I was born and ignore the barrage of habs propaganda from the local media. However, once the habs were eliminated I found myself cheering for PK to win it all. I was happy he was back to playing with the swagger he had shown on many nights in a habs uniform. I had a hard time understanding the anti-Subban sentiment from some of the habs faithful during the Predators run. It is puzzling the angst against an ex-player who had not asked to be traded and who had willingly signed a long-term contract to remain a hab. There actually seemed to be rejoicing by some habs fans that Subban did not win the Cup. Was there the same virulence against Patrick Roy during the Avalanche Cup runs even though Patrick was the one who had demanded to be traded? Will the fans stomach a Cup run by Radulov next year even though Alex decided not to remain a hab? I have no problem being a habs fan and a fan of PK Subban. I am still hoping that my ideal scenario comes to fruition, the Habs win the Cup, Subban wins the Norris, and Drouin dazzles.
Well, one thing you gotta credit Bergevin with, there is rarely a dull moment off the ice as he remolds the habs on a yearly basis. Dare I say Bergevin is the risk-taker in chief of NHL GM's, even allowing David Poile to win GM of the year. After the habs early playoff exit, the whole left side of the defence has been replaced except for trade-deadline acquisition Benn, and other than Alzner the other newcomers are lesser known than Andrew Scheer(who). Meanwhile a big offensive center the team's achilles heel is still missing. We await with bated or dreaded breath Bergevin's next move as the available cap-space allows him to bring in an important cog either a number one center or a mobile defenceman. Will it be Duchene, Nugent-Hopkins, or my predicted choice Giroux, or the highly preferred but unrealistic option Tavares? Could a mobile defenceman be in the cards like Letang or Trouba. Bergevin always tends to surprise so it could be someone no one is considering. Let's hope he does not surprise us by leaving the cap-space intact especially after the ticket price hike.
The under-reported Russian purge also happened during the summer. I am still of the opinion that Claude Julien had a hand in this. Maybe Julien saw the chemistry in the room was tarnished by the Russians. If you look at the Bruins roster during the Julien reign there were few Russians.
The veteran Markov, the reborn Radulov, the unprotected Emelin, and the still-born hab Sergachev were all unceremoniously purged from the habs future. The one remaining Russian-American Galchenyuk was clearly on the trade market but there were rumours of little or no interest by the rest of the league. Bergevin may have been forced to re-sign him. I still believe he could be traded if the right offer lands on Bergevin's lap. As the Subban signing proved, Bergevin dislikes being forced to sign players he does not think are made of the right stuff.
Even though his regular season stats were decent, I thought Markov was never the player he was before his knee issues. He has such an accomplished hockey mind on the ice, his lack of pace was not an issue during the regular season. However, once the playoffs began, his slow pace became noticeable and he looked ineffective as he was rushed into making split-second decisions. As for Emelin, I always liked him when he was in a zone. His thunderous body checks were a thing of beauty. Sadly, he was not always in a zone and there were games he disappeared. I still believe he could have been the one Russian Bergevin would have preferred keeping.
Alexander Radulov proved his critics wrong during the first half of the year. He was more of an energizer bunny than Gallagher and that is saying a lot. There was a slight fading in the second half of the season and that was expected after playing in the KHL for several seasons. He had his spurts in the playoffs but the Habs did not win a series and they rarely scored. The vibes I got were that Bergevin made an offer but lacked the enthusiam behind it. I think a player senses if he is appreciated or not. Bergevin seemed almost relieved when Radulov signed elsewhere. Finally, there is the wild-card move trading Sergachev. As predicted in my previous blog, Bergevin needed people to forget Subban in a hurry or his job would be on the line. Bringing in a quebecois prospect with superstar potential would lessen some of that bad publicity. Even though I was not impressed by what I saw of Sergachev in the world juniors, there are many who expect him to become a dominant defenceman if not a superstar. However, I really like Drouin as well and he could turn out to be the consistent flashy offensive star the habs have desperately needed. Being a quebecois doesn't hurt either.
On another note, I started to ask myself which side was I on in this heated civil war? Having been a long time Habs fan (decades) with only a few wavering years (the Eric Landry era comes to mind), was I going to be a habs fan after Bergevin traded the flamboyant Subban for the steady and productive, but dull as dishwater Shea Weber?
As a kid I grew up believing that being a Habs fan was always inextricably linked to watching eye-opening artistic hockey. The Flying Frenchmen symbolized hockey played with a passion for the spectacular and their mystique inspired multi-generational ice masterpieces. Of course, since 1979 the habs have not been able to get anywhere near those lofty standards, However, every once and awhile the habs lucked out and were able to muster championships with a few individual phenoms. Patrick Roy was one not to bow to Dryden or Plante's reputation, Guy Carbonneau was another, a defensive whiz following in the footsteps of Bob Gainey. Claude Lemieux was as clutch as any habs playoff performer of yore, and Chris Chelios came close to the fiery skills of a Guy Lapointe. One thing all these players had in common, none of them were first round picks. Yes, you don't need a first pick overall or a first rounder to build a winner. PK Subban, a second round pick, seemed to be of the same ilk, someone who had a passion to make the Habs great again. I had hoped that Subban, along with Price who many consider the best goalie in the NHL, and Pacioretty a consistent elite scorer (regular season anyways), might together conjure up some of that old habs magic.
We all know the ups and downs of the the post Subban era. However, the interesting thing for me was the once strong Habs nation began to splinter and the two opposing sides became as nasty to each other as a race debate in the deep south. Yes, civil war had been declared and there is no end in sight. The feuding on twitter went ballistic when PK made the finals, personal insults were heaved, blockings and mutings followed.
As the Joker once said why so serious? I think something much more serious happened in the 2003 draft. In a what if scenario, the habs drafted Andrei Kostitsyn 10th in the first round, in the second round with the 40th pick they drafted Cory Urqhart, and with the 61st pick of the second round they chose home-grown Maxim Lapierre. What if they had chosen Ryan Getzlaf who was picked 19th overall that year, and Patrice Bergeron who was snapped up by the Bruins at 45th overall in the second round, and David Backes who was only chosen at 62nd overall in the second round. How many more cups would the habs have now with three dominant big centers?
As for myself, I found out last year it is very hard to disown the team that represents the city where I was born and ignore the barrage of habs propaganda from the local media. However, once the habs were eliminated I found myself cheering for PK to win it all. I was happy he was back to playing with the swagger he had shown on many nights in a habs uniform. I had a hard time understanding the anti-Subban sentiment from some of the habs faithful during the Predators run. It is puzzling the angst against an ex-player who had not asked to be traded and who had willingly signed a long-term contract to remain a hab. There actually seemed to be rejoicing by some habs fans that Subban did not win the Cup. Was there the same virulence against Patrick Roy during the Avalanche Cup runs even though Patrick was the one who had demanded to be traded? Will the fans stomach a Cup run by Radulov next year even though Alex decided not to remain a hab? I have no problem being a habs fan and a fan of PK Subban. I am still hoping that my ideal scenario comes to fruition, the Habs win the Cup, Subban wins the Norris, and Drouin dazzles.
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