What happened?

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...

Do I really need a vacation after the sports euphoria I just incurred being an azzurri and hab fan. Some of it I barely believe even now it was all so surreal. The Azzurri are Emperors of Europe and the Habs are Kings of the North. I was feeling positive about both teams as early as January (see some of my tweets back then) but my faith started to crumble a bit especially with the habs. The habs barely made the playoffs. Some of it was due to Covid and their tortuous schedule when some  of the games had been cancelled due to Armia testing positive. Some of it was also due to their collapse during the year which led to Julien’s ouster.   Bergevin and Molson were finally able to sign free agents when American owners decided not to spend after losing money in empty arenas. The cap space Bergevin had left unused for several years helped as well.  The new habs players brought enthusiasm and a winning culture. Corey Perry was a revelation as he symbolically stood in front of th...

The habs are once again in disarray . Is it time for our collective primal scream...Yes they were in disarray last year when the pandemic hit. There were few bright spots, players having good years could be counted on one hand. Tatar, Gallagher, a revitalized Weber, and the improving Suzuki were the only positives. On the negative side  Carey Price was a shell of his former self. Kotkaniemi was in the AHL, Drouin was recovering from an injury and unable to keep up, and Max Domi decided he was going to play like his Coyote days. Well the NHL resumed the season with an improvised playoffs, the habs played like gangbusters for one series and then gradually receded back to reality against the flyers.  Once again the habs came out like gangbusters this year with several new players. The new players produced and there was eternal hope. However, things started to fall apart at the 10 game mark and now the habs are in eternal freefall. They have changed coaches the conservative Julien...