What happened?

I have heard this more than once in the last few weeks that newly hired Habs VP Jeff Gorton should speak the language of Beliveau. I agree. However, the language of Beliveau was never french. The language of Beliveau was exciting hockey that included nifty stickhandling, great passing, smooth skating, and leadership that led to 10 stanley cups during his career. Beliveau loved hockey and his class on the ice was the true language he spoke. He had english players on his line throughout his career from Dickie Moore to Dick Duff and finally in his last year John Ferguson.  Marc Bergevin spoke french. His favored brand of hockey was not reminiscent of Beliveau and the flying frenchmen but of Bobby Clarke and the broad street bullies. The habs made the stanley cup final last year because of man-handling, cross checking defencemen and forwards and Bernie Parent goaltending. It was not the game Beliveau played and the 1976 habs tried to put an end to when they eliminated the ugly hockey t...

What in tarnation. Has a franchise had a more bizarre few months than the habs? It has been so weird making it to the Stanley Cup final seems like a distant secondary memory. It started even before the end of last season when Jonathan Drouin decided to take a leave of absence during a playoff race. The team made the playoffs and went to the stanley cup final not knowing what was ailing one of their star players.  Once the season ended things took a more twisted turn as the main pillars of the stanley cup run began to crumble or disappear.  I am not sure if I am chronologically listing the twists and turns correctly but here is what happened. Rumours began that Shea Weber was chronically injured and would probably retire.  These rumours have been proven to be true since Shea Weber never showed up for training camp and apparently is still at home in BC. The key word is apparently because all we have had are vague statements from Bergevin as to Weber’s status and zero commun...

Well the decade is closing on the resetting er rebuilding habs. The habs did not go to a Stanley cup final during the last decade, but did make it technically to two conference finals. Technically because one was in the 2009-2010 year. We can say that the Habs Gms left us frustrated, confused, or exhilarated at times but there were very few dull moments. So here is a year-by-year recap of the decade. 2009-2010 I mention this year because the habs made it to a conference final even though the season spanned two decades. This was the first season of what I refer to as the Gainey experiment. Before the season started, Bob Gainey unloaded Saku Koivu, who he once referred to as a champion in waiting, and Alexei Kovalev who had actually won a cup with the Rangers and had quantums of talent. Koivu had been the hab’s captain for almost as long as Jean Beliveau. He had a courageous bout beating cancer. However, his tenure led to no cups and no playoff success. The reality wa...

It seems to me that virtually everyone wanted Max Pacioretty traded at the end of last season. This off-season there seems to be a rehabilitation of Max’s image and now it appears very few people want him traded. What has happened to change popular opinion especially since no games have been played? This change of direction could be attributed to several things. First, the trading of Alex Galchenyuk means that the only pure natural sniper left on the team is Pacioretty. Second, the long term injury of Shea Weber means there is a lack of veteran leadership on the team other than Price and Pacioretty. Third, Pacioretty changed agent and Allan Walsh knows the PR game inside-out. The fact that Walsh is the agent  for Jonathan Drouin means that the trading of Pacioretty could result in more team dissension. Fourth, the media maybe helped by Walsh has begun to sing the praises of Max. During the last season, Pacioretty’s anemic production, his lack of chemistry with Drouin, and his per...

Well it's all over now. The Habs have done the unthinkable to many and the inevitable to others. PK Subban has been traded for Shea Weber. I think we have to understand this trade from what makes sports tick and that is money. It is also a story of greed and jealousy. Habs management most notably Marc Bergevin and their head coach Michel Therrien have never been comfortable with PK Subban. There has always been an incompatibility between them and PK's flamboyance and self promotion. Michel Therrien is a lunch pail coach, he prefers grit to flash, high work rate to moments of genius, conservatism to improvisation. Even there this was not the main problem with PK. The real issue was money. It started when Bergevin made the terrible decision to sign PK to a bridge contract. Anybody who had half a brain in evaluating talent should have realized that this was the time to sign him long term. It would not have cost them 9 million, even 7 million. It would have maybe cost them ...

Well reading all the habs pundits and habs fans on twitter there is really one major problem with the team and his name is Michel Therrien. Without Therrien at the helm this team would challenge for first place. Another coach could easily make the lines magically become productive especially with Galchenyuk as the number one center. The likes of Beaulieu, Pateryn and Andrighetto could be headed for stardom but are being held back by Michel Therrien's stubborn refusal to play young players. Once we rid ourselves of the rot known as Desharnais, Gilbert, and Weise this team will challenge for the Cup. Seriously. If we look at the talent level on this team it is abundantly clear that this team lacks in many departments. We have three players that are bona fide stars or productive players in Price, Subban and Pacioretty. We have one player who is close to them in Gallagher. Galchenyuk has for 2 years shown inconsistent bursts of offensive talent and may be headed to stardom. After t...

I will miss  TSN990 if  it's actually going to be closing its station in the future. I was listening that first day with Ted Blackman and I think Mitch Melnyk who were on that morning. I also remember winning free hockey tickets the first week and I think the question was about the rover in the 20's. There have been some entertaining personalities on the radio station including Melnyk, Marinaro, Stock and even Joey Elias. What do we have to look forward to?  Well I was listening to the French sports talk on 98.5 tonight and the main topic of conversation was Mathieu (AHL) Darche . Somebody actually called in and said that the fact Darche was not offered a contract was the first major blunder by Bergevin. He also went on to say that the Robinson non-hiring was ok since they hired a francophone instead in J J Daigneault. The host of the show agreed with both points. This folks is what we have to look forward to when we listen to French sports talk. Larry R...