Habs Hits

>GG announces the sale is all but final to the Molson's. He reflects on his time as the owner of the greatest franchise in pro sports and sheds some tears. Even apologizes to the fans for not bringing a cup to Montreal. Class act all the way, you will be missed GG.
>In addition to Scott Gomez, PK Subban has also been taking French lessons. Considering he is a quote machine, it's only fair he provides them in both languages.

>Rumor has it that Robert Lang has been invited to the Habs training camp. His agent says he is negotiating with 6 teams right now so he might not even make it to camp, but a good decision by BG nonetheless, if it's true. He was certainly one of the Habs top players last year and I for one would welcome him back, even at age 39. The only question mark is his recovery from the injury last season.

>Dandy has recieved and invite to the Sharks camp. I'm still not sure why someone hasn't picked this guy up. I would think the market for a excellent skater like him who can play both forward and defence would be a little better. Guess not. Franky B. still has yet to find a home.

>Single game tickets go on sale Saturday September 12. Those looking to get some will be praying the "site crashing" fiasco from last year doesn't happen again. I remember blowing most of a Saturday trying to get tickets, only to find out the system was junk and the date to buy tickets was moved to the following Wednesday. This in turn caused me to waste a day at work sitting mostly in the "waiting room" before I finally secured my seats. Thanks to scalpers, it has to be this way, which sucks for anyone trying to buy tickets for two games. Guess that's what ebay, stub hub, etc. are for.

The Countdown Is On

Less than a month to go until the regular season starts. I, and other fans with RDS will have the opportunity to catch a minimum of 86 Habs games this year on TV. RDS announced that they will be showing 4 preseason games (1 of those on TSN2 as well) in addition to the 82 regular season ones. Hopefully we will have some playoff hockey added on to that. RDS as mentioned will once again show all regular season games (god bless them) with TSN/TSN2 showing 16 regular season games and CBC another 26. Hopefully the anti Habs sentiment on the CBC telecasts will be minimal, although with PJ Stock, Mike Milbury, Don Cherry, and Greg Millen, I'm not holding my breath. I will also cross my fingers Pierre Maguire somehow lands a GM position to make games on TSN a little more enjoyable. For American fans, Versus will have 2 games and NBC 1.

 
Rookie camp begins September 7th through the 11th, followed by main camp starting on the 12th. The Habs begin their preseason schedule on September 17th and the regular season gets underway October 1. There will be a long break from February 13 to March 2 for the Olympics in Vancouver. Last regular season game takes place on April 10.

In related news, it appears that my streak of visiting Montreal to catch some games will come to an end at two. Honeymoon in Cuba will take up our vacation time this year. It also appears I have been held off the list of camp invites again. I figured they would be looking for a 30 year old rookie d-man. Guess not. I will check again next year.

Habs Hits

>Kovy wants to retire a Hab, as per TSN. Good to hear, spare me the "well he should have signed here then" crap. It's nice to see players actually enjoying their time with the Habs. And if his heart is still in Montreal, maybe he will give the Habs a break when the Sens come to town....lol. Who knows maybe he will retire a Hab.

http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=289008

>The much publicized Team Canada summer camp has come to an end with a good old fashioned no contact scrimmage and the "why isn't Cammalleri there" debate has picked up steam among Habs fans. For a team that struggled to score goals at the last Olympics, you'd think a 39 goal scorer would be a welcome addition. In fact, the only Canadian players who scored more goals than Cammi last year were Carter, Nash, and Staal with Heatley scoring 39 as well (all of which are at the camp). Considering both Carter and Staal are centres (although they could be moved to the wing) that would make him the second highest scoring winger with Heatley. Oh well, just gives Cammi some more incentive to prove the Team Canada brass wrong I assume.

>BGL takes a shot at the media saying they invented a bunch of crap last year. Good to hear him coming out and saying this. Not a better guy on the team to do so in my opinion. Let him worry about keeping the media circus in check (and pounding on opponents) and let the rest of the team worry about playing. No sense in having everyone involved.

>The Habs will not play a game at the Big 'O' as was previously thought. The NHL requires 7 days to get the facility set up for an outdoor game and the Als will probably play (because they are running away with the East right now) in the East final within that 7 days. If only the Argo's played in Montreal instead....

We're #1

For a second straight year, Habs fans were ranked #1 by Wild blogger Derek Felska. The poll takes into account several areas including attendence and team coverage (including blogs and message boards). I have been lucky enough to attend 2 games each of the past 2 seasons and can vouch for the electric atmosphere and vocal fans. Nothing quite like seeing a game at the Bell Centre.

http://mvn.com/thestateofhockeynews/2009/08/the-best-and-worst-fans-of-the-nhl-2009-edition-the-top-10.html

If I were Jacques Martin

I would grow back that porn stash he was sporting in the 80's. Then, based on the current roster, if the season started today, I would assemble the following lines/pairings:

A. Kost/Gomez/Gionta-A high flying first line. Gomez, a superb passer will be flanked by two shooters who should be able to make good use of his feeds. I am tempted to put Cammi on this line, but feel A. Kost can regain his form from 07'08.

S. Kost/Pleks/Cammi-Another line with speed to burn. Cammi is the sniper on this unit. It is up to S. Kots to win this spot and Pleks to regain his form. The A. Kost and S. Kost combo doesn't work for me, Sergei seems to always want to set up Andrei, turning down scoring chances of his own.

Moen/Laps/Lats-Big, grinding checking unit that will be counted on as the shut down line. Moen should add some experience and toughness. Laps and Lats worked well together last year so the same is expected. Reliable in their own zone and chip in with a goal here and there.

Stewart/Metro/Laraque-Metro flanked by two beasts on the wings. Good energy line and one that can be counted on to stick up for team mates when the going gets tough. Not a lot of skill, but will add another physical dimension.

Extras: Chips/Dags-Chips can fill in at centre on on the wing. Smart 2 way forward with good leadership. Dags can fit on one of the top two lines if needed with his scoring touch. Wouldn't be afraid to play either of these over BGL, Metro or Stewart.

Markov/Gorges-I loved the way these two played together last year when Komi was hurt. Good first pairing, Gorges is a smart d-man who is positionally sound. Markov, well, he's Markov. One of the most skilled d-men in the league.

Hamrlik/Spacek-Spacek is more of an offensive guy, Hammer can play at both ends. Another well rounded pairing who can play against top lines if need be.

Gill/Mara-Big, tough third pairing. A little slow, but should make up for it with wingspan. Gill proved he can play against elite forwards in the playoffs last year. Mara is a pretty solid two way guy.

Extra: O'Byrne-Makes sense for him to be in this slot over the other young guys. Has the most experience and his size can add another dimension to the back end if needed.

First call ups from the Bulldogs would be Patches and Maxwell on forward and Weber and Subban on the back end. Patches played well last year, but another year in the AHL would do him good. Weber should be first call up on defence, he proved he can play at the NHL level last year. He might also be a valuable option if the PP struggles.

So that is my lineup. First line should score enough, second line could be a question mark with S. Kots, who will be on a short leash. Enough grit on the bottom two lines to force opponents to keep their heads up. Defence should be mobile enough and hopefully better in their own zone that last years unit. The PP, with Spacek and Cammi blasting Markov feeds should improve. Chemistry could be an issue, but it's not like last years team had much.

Over The Line

We all know the media and fans in Montreal are probably the toughest in the NHL. They love a scandal and they will do everything in their power to create one. Their efforts appear to really pick up when the team is losing, or coming off a losing season. Players around the league know how tough they can be, which I imagine is one of the reasons why, until this year, most free agents have avoided the city of Montreal like the plague.

It's been well documented that the 100th season was a let down. Not only did the team struggle, but a scandal involving the Tit's brothers and Roman Hamrlik made front page news (despite it turning out to be not that big of a deal, at least in my opinion, but that is a whole different story). Then came the players off ice activities coming into question, with several pictures of players drinking and womanizing. Heaven forbid a single 20 something athlete enjoy a few drinks and try to get a bit of action. I guess on days off players are required to hide in their basements playing video games. There were no dates on the pictures so they could have been from the off season or days off, so who cares. Last week, a picture of Max Lapierre and Scott Gomez surfaced and media/fans again questioned off ice activities. Imagine Lappy taking out a new teammate on the town to show him around, how dare he.

And now the most recent gong show. Carey Price had a feature on TSN talking about this past season. He was in Calgary training and new coach Jacques Martin had came to town to spend some time with him. Really good interview talking about how he wanted to bounce back. But the media and fans found something to criticize.

His hat. Yes his hat. He was sporting a Washington Nationals hat in the interview. Some fans felt this was disrespectful to the late Montreal Expos fans and the city of Montreal for him to wear such a thing. Now I was a big Expos fan. I grew up cheering for Tim Raines, Larry Walker and Vladimir Guererro. The 1994 strike that cost the Expos their best shot at a World Series championship was a kick in the junk. But I find Price wearing a Washington Nationals hat in no way disrespectful to anyone. Am I to believe that there are no residents in the city of Montreal that cheer for the Washington Nationals and/or wear any of their clothing? If a resident indeed was seen wearing any Nationals clothing, would they be banished? Maybe if he was sporting a Leafs hat things would be different.

So the media and fans, after jeering him throughout the playoffs, are again getting on the 22 year old's case. Why would he want to stay in Montreal any longer than he had too? Why wouldn't he play out his time until he becomes an unrestricted free agent and then get out of town as fast as he can? He is a potential franchise goalie who has won at every level he has played. It's time to start treating players with a little more respect. Yea I know, the team hasn't won a cup since 1993 and the fans are hungry. But trumping up scandals like this over nothing doesn't help. And I certainly won't put this incident all on the media, this was mostly so called "fans" of the team. It may be time for these "fans" to pick a new favorite team. Lucky the Habs have enough that they can stand to lose a few of these pinheads.

Bring on PK

Disclaimer****Now as much as I would love to see this kid in a Habs uniform next year, I do think PK Subban needs to spend the year in Hamilton. But I can't wait to see him in a Habs uniform, someday.

When the Habs selected Subban in the 2nd round (43rd overall) in the 2007 draft, I knew nothing about him. Reading some stories about him cracking up the media at the draft, I was intrigued to hear him talk. I then heard about how his father was a die hard Habs fan living in the Toronto area, and I liked him even more. But could the kid play???

Looking at his numbers with Bellville in the OHL, it appeared that he could. After cracking the Team Canada at the WJHC in 2007'08, Subban played the role of 7th d-man, getting little ice time, but doing it all with a smile earning a gold medal. So I still really didn't have much of an idea of what he brought to the ice. Then came the 2008'09 WJHC. Subban dominated as one of Canada's top d-men scoring 3 goals and adding 6 assists in the tournament. His end to end rushes provided energy to the team and he worked the PP with Ryan Ellis to perfection. The knock of him was his defensive play, but that didn't stop Canada's coaching staff from using him in the last minute of key games to protect leads. His physical play was also impressive, throwing several hard open ice hits.

At the Habs development camp, the fans in attendance chanted his name. All this for a 20 year old kid who hasn't played a regular season game for the glorious Montreal Canadiens. I can't wait to hear his quotes, see his end to end rushes, and celebrate his (hopefully) many goals at the Bell Centre.