The first week of comparing Kessel to Cammelleri

As I said I would do way back in late September, I'll be comparing Phil Kessel to Michael Cammalleri all year. I've spent the last month learning how to spell "Cammalleri" and it's time to begin. I'll be doing one of these once every week or two weeks, depending on how creative i feel, and at the end of each month I'll see who "won" the month.

I'd love to point out that Cammalleri has 14 points to Kessel's 3, someone would likely point out that comparing one player to another when one spent a month doing nothing is only legitimate when the player doing nothing is actually on the ice, and as this comparison has nothing to do with Jason Blake, we can only look back to Nov 2 for the comparison.

Kessel has three points since then including a game winner; though do game winners really count when your team wins by four goals? Meanwhile Cammalleri has been trying an experiment called "secondary scoring" where his line puts up very few points hoping that Thomas Plekanec is ready for a lot of work. Meanwhile there's the sensation that Cammalleri is actually focused on working with his teammates as he's assisted on goals and clearly can score himself as his shootout winner proved. That said, it might be because Cammalleri actually has NHL quality linemates as opposed to an AHL centre and a creepy albino guy who's patented skills include "going fast", "wrist shot from the blue line", and "ruining my team's cap situation for the foreseeable future"

I won't be declaring a 'winner' this week, it's more that it's good to see the party has begun for this comparison. Besides both players are at basically a point per game pace anyway so they're theoretically neck and neck.

First hockey trending topic on twitter

Well we finally have our first trending topic on twitter of the NHL season and it's....

#KyleWellwoodIsSoFat.

Seriously

Everyone is contributing gems (led by DownGoesBrown and Pension Plan Puppets) and it's a riot.


I contributed (from my twitter account _neverender) #KyleWellwoodisSOfat that he chased Ray Emery assuming he was carrying icing sugar

Kovalevelled

Well Kovalev had a good night setting up the gamewinner as well as adding a second goal last night. The Habs made defensive mistakes but not many. I think our biggest problem now is finish; we need to get pucks in the net - we've only scored more than twice in a game vs Toronto and that's nothing to brag about.

The first seven minutes of last night's game are the best I've seen the habs. Not best I've seen them since early last season, not best I've seen them since we won the conference, best I've seen them period (this of course, coming from someone who was in grade school during the Patrick Roy era, and was more interested in pogs than trying to find a channel carrying the Habs). It's unfortunate that this tempo and ability came off faster than a Jiri Tlusty outfit. While pundits claim "the effort wasn't there", I disagree. What wasn't there was aim, and clever shooting. If a point shot doesn't work the third time you try it, it's still not going to work the ninth time you try it.

Plekanec looked solid all game, and tragically missed a wraparound with an open net. I feel bad for him, but he works damn hard so I'm sure he's in for a good season.

Also I don't think anyone else noticed, but for a brief moment in the first period, Latendresse was.. IN FRONT OF THE NET! For the rest of the game we played Where's Waldo trying to figure out where he actually was on the ice, but for a brief moment he actually looked like he was doing what he was supposed to. In other strange news, Gorges Laraque put in a firm offensive effort, and I think he may actually get a goal or two this season, and thats not one of my half-assed attempts at humour.

We're up against the Atlanta Thrashers on Tuesday, and while my gut tells me that the Thrashers are supposed to be a terrible team, some strange source tells me they're actually second in their division and have only lost once. Lets hope we end our five game losing skid soon. Every team we've faced has had a fairly good goalie so maybe this could be some light at the end of the tunnel. And, at the very least, at least Boston is losing a fair bit, though at this point I'm not sure losing to Hamilton Phoenix is an embarrassment to any team these days.

In other hockey news, both Alexander Ovechkin and the Nashville Predators scored two goals last night, keeping them neck in neck for who will score more goals this season (Ovechkin currently has nine goals to the Predator's 10).

Wake me up when September ends

A few thoughts as Theo Fleury entertains multiple job offers from teams less likely to respect him than his Calgary fanbase, and I drown myself for using a Green Day song as a blog title.


Oft-injured and now vegan Gorges Laraque is now the Habs rep in the NHLPA, succeeding Mike "I Got the Brains of a Dinosaur Too" Komisarek. He plans to defend the wages of his coworkers, and tearing the face off of anyone who offers him a cheeseburger. This is great news for anyone scared of any NHLPA meetings passing motions like this


I think a good question to raise before the season starts is who's the winner in the Kessel sweeps, Toronto or... Montreal.
Simply put, Toronto's need for Kessel is predicated entirely on Toronto being unable to sign a 35+ goal scorer in the free agency period. As much as Burke's trip to Sweden was almost certainly not just to rouse the Monster, Cammelleri was likely a second pick behind the untampered twins still playing for the Canucks. Because of this there's a little bit of subtext between the two teams that isn't really apparent. Did we beat Toronto concisely, stealing one of their home-town boys, or did we save them from some short dude, allowing them to bid their future on Phil "Totally not the next Dany Heatley in terms of Attitude Problems" Kessel. Because of this, and because I pretend to occasionally have journalistic integrity, I'll be comparing the two often this season; both every few weeks to see how their doing, and more specifically I'll be comparing the two when they face each other to see how confrontation goes.
... I have a sinking feeling Cammelleri is going to perform better than Kessel will on Oct 1.


The pre-season is over for Montreal, which means we can get back to figuring out who our captain will be; I'm waiting intently as I don't want to get the letter wrong when I buy a jersey this season. Despite my scared reaction to one of our losses, we played pretty good, though special teams need some work. Training camp won't feature Sergei Kostitsyn, but that's okay as last season he proved all he was good for was irritating Mikhail Grabovski, which while admirable, I'd rather it be done by someone who can actually inflict pain upon him.

Something about a rivalry

So as Brian Burke decides mortaging two first rounders is apparently worth a sixty point player... when playing next to the number one setup guy in the league, it's effectively hockey time.

Last night's game resembled a PR stunt for Bob Gainey; his new pickups got points, Carey Price looked good, and Curtis Sanford looked like a sieve showing why we can't trade Halak. At time of writing we're losing to the Senators so maybe this propaganda is illsuited... except that 2/3s of the Big Three and Price are not dressed.


Back on topic of Sir Truculent, one thing I'm looking for this season, even more than a post-season position or the competition between Pascal Leclaire and Marian Gaborik on who can play the most games, is a hopeful revival of the habs / leafs rivalry. Sure roughing up Grabo was fun and all, especially when he decides to retaliate against his fierce opponent, the NHL linesman, but really this year I think will be the most exciting series between the two teams. And lets face it, if we're not fighting, the Leafs need to pretend the Battle of Ontario has relevance, and no one wants that.

So here's why the Leafs / Habs rivalry may actually pick up again this year

Size vs Skill: While the Habs aren't nearly as small as we'd like every other team in the league to pretend, we very much are a quick, agile team, next to the pugnastic assault of the Leafs. Our speedy forwards dancing around theirs only to be then rocked by three checking lines will be fun as hell to watch, and is a legitimately different dynamic.

We both actually have players that can fight: Laraque being the de-facto heavyweight is standard by now, but adding Travis Moen is useful if BGL's crippling vegetarianism or back problems stop him from dropping the gloves against Colton Orr, as well as deflecting fists from Grabovski away from the officiating staff. If that fails, at least we can dazzle them with Mara's beard?

Burke and Gainey's UFA pissing contest: Didn't the entire month of July feel like Burke and Gainey moving to grab attention? Be it Burke's microphone magnetism or Gainey's "he seriously signed gionta?" moves, it seemed like the entire off-season was them changing their dynamic and making people think "Those guys are going to suck". Ignoring the negative reaction to team changes depending on where you live, it's kept both the Leafs and the Habs in the limelight all summer, with The Big Three drama, Komisarek deciding one Belarussian mobster teammate was enough, Moen, Mara, and Gill crouching to get in team pictures with Cammalleri and Gionta, and this whole Kessel traded for the Leafs foreseeable future drama, these two teams have not faded. Means that opening night they both get to strut so much more than everyone else.

Komisarek is a backstabbing dick with no tact, who's mouth emits a constant array of untrustworthy bile: Also bears shit in the woods

Montreal's best french player can actually take the body: Though Guilliame is also likely Montreal's ONLY french player, I'm sure this matters when he erases whatever AHL callup winds up in the neutral zone with his head down.

They'll both be fighting for second in the division: Ottawa's yo-yoing positioning notwithstanding, their division is tight, and that means all six meetings actually matter for once, instead of being a curbstomp battle by the conference leader and everyone else middle of the pack, the rest of the conference is likely going to be deflecting much of eastern Canada from the playoffs, making every loss to a divisional rival that much more frustrating... and more fun to watch




We'll find out Oct 1


... Oh and good for theo fleury on the shootout winner. I hate to admit it but that may be his last big moment in the NHL and at least it was in front of thousands of fans who love him.

Dany, Pleks vs Saks, and Laziness

The dog days of summer are where most hockey bloggers dig through their extensive resources to come up with something deep or introspective... and completely irrelevant. I'm sure we're all concerned as to why Gorges Laraque wasn't at Lapierre's golf tournament (ignoring the racial subtext maybe he didn't feel like chumming around with skinny white guys he has nothing in common with and instead was more focused on his own charities) or that Patrice Brisebois is racing in a NASCAR-esque race, I'd rather be posting something directly about the team with my failed attempts at being witty or not be posting at all.


So on the note of talking about my team, how about..er... Dany Heatley. Why is everyone so agitated at this dude? I mean, he said he wanted a trade; he has every right to do that. Sure he pulled a dick move saying "I don't want to go to edmonton", but really, it doesn't change the fact there's a 50-goal scorer on the market who has tons of proven experience at lighting up the World Championships.

Here's something to think about. Saku Koivu is playing for 3.25 million dollars. Thomas Plekanec is playing for 2.75 million dollars. Anyone else think the habs desperately need that $500 000? Or rather, Saku's 54 points in 65 games vs Plekanec's 39 points in 80 games?