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.

Less than a month until I run out of excuses for not updating

Well, I'm sure all six of my loyal readers are as let down as Brian Gionta learning he couldn't ride the rollercoasters when the carnival is in town, but I'm getting ready to buckle down and write blogs with actual content and not just jokes gleaned from hockeybuzz comments and DownGoesBrown articles.


I'm not well-connected enough to have the scoop on prospect events and training camp, I'll leave that for people who are actually connected, have real contacts, or pretend to and ask for people to give them money to avoid autoplay videos. That said, we're less than a month away from the season so it's time to see how the conference may play out.

I won't give a seeded rank, I'll just say whether a team will likely be in the postseason or not.

Boston - Boston had an outstanding run last year! They managed to make both Tim Thomas and Paul Maurice look good in one season, which is an outstanding goal. I think though, they'll do what Montreal did last season and drop from first to middle of the pack. Their competition is tougher, their backup is less solid, it's unlikely they'll still have Kessel, they're broke, and Milan Lucic may get serious arm strain after six more thrashings of Mike Komisarek. Expect them middle of the post-season pack. Which, by the way, is where Montreal will be. Here we go again.


Washington - Doing all they can to prove you can win without ever actually using a goaltender, expect Washington to be just as strong as last year. Jose Theodore suffered a terrible loss which will likely effect his playing time. Expect Washington to do better than last season.


New Jersey - Their talented goaltender is aging, their offense that wasnt there is now.. less there.. their coach is more defensive without a whole lot of real defensive tract. Expect them to fall faster than Marty Turco after making a dramatic save.


Pittsburg - They still have Crosby and Malkin. They have less defensemen. Expect them to either finish embarassingly out of the playoffs as it seemed last season and to do their best Carolina Hurricanes impression, or to shock no one and still be a contender.


Philidelphia - If Chelios doesn't resign anywhere, these guys will likely be where I direct aging-defensemen jokes all season. That said it's not as if they've really changed more than that except for adding a goalie with a suspiciously runny nose. Will make the playoffs for sure.


Carolina - Paul Maurice will remember he's actually a bad coach, Cam Ward will realize again he's not good enough to hold a lackluster team afloat. Martin Broduer will cry.


New York Rangers - They lost a playmaking centre and added two wingers; one of which couldn't score on a shootout with an empty net the other is professionally imitating Samuel L Jackson from the movie Unbreakable. Don't expect a long playoff run.


Montreal - Our forwards can get points but can't get on rides at an amusment park. Our defense is tall and slow. Plan the parade. We'll make the post-season in the middle of the pack


Florida - Florida gave up a good D-man for an average one and a good goalie for nothing. Which is exactly what they can expect from this season outside of a high draft pick.


Ottawa - Currently employing two wingers who'd rather be playing elsewhere (thanks for the shout-out by the way, Alex), they nonetheless have at least three players who can light the lamp, and a goaltender who is solid when he's not hanging out with Marian Gaborik and Rick Dipietro in a hospital ward. I honestly can't predict how they'll do considering how different their results with the same group of players are.


Toronto - Proud employer of half the defensemen in the conference, Toronto will be a pain in the ass to face assuming you're a team without a goalie. Look out Washington! Expect them to injure the rest of the division, helpng every other team make the playoffs.


Atlanta - Now with the more threatening additions of Pavel Kubina and Nik Antropov, Atlanta looks to for the first time in recent memory, finish tenth overall.


Tampa Bay - Improved all around, but still have too many question marks for me to assess or come up with something witty about. How is Tanguay making less than Plekanec/


Kansas New York Islanders - Have a star of the future and more backup goalies than anyone should rightly need. Expect them to finish 14th overall to find a winger for Tavares

Zherdev, unsubstantiated rumors, and Olympic camp

So Nikolai Zherdev is on the market. Apparently 3.9 million dollars is too much for 60 points a season... these are the same people who set up Scott Gomez's contract right? Seeing as he's 6'2 however, I doubt Gainey would be interested even if we could afford him.

Apparently there's a three way trade being set up with San Jose, ignoring the fact we cant fit any player that would be useful to us under the cap and don't have a lot to offer, of course.

Aside from the fact that there are plenty of aging UFAs available (including a large swedish man that thankfully no one is talking about right now), the main news seems to stem largely on the olympics, with many embracing the potential of Crosby and Nash working together. I'm curious if Stills and Young will be working the blue line. Beyond that everyone who isn't Canadian is hoping Cam Ward gets the nod for Canada.

Pickups part two: The Big D, Moen, some Swedish dude, and a bag of chips that isn't being sniped by Kyle Wellwood

Time to look at the defense, as our fearless GM plans to add truculence, belligerence.. wait, that's Brian Burke. That said, Burke and Gainey both seem to be playing the "Who can make a bigger splash in Free Agency" game of one-upping each other.

Both also seem to think that having a dozen defensemen is a good idea.

I'm going to be forward - I like the Habs defense this season more than last. While we lost the uppity traitor who isn't worthy of a second of our excuse me we lost the towering presence of Mike Komisarek (who occasionally has given the puck to his teammates and not the opposition, I've heard), we've gained the second biggest player in the league, and unlike most Toronto Maple Leafs players, was actually introduced to this strange foreign concept called "the Cup"; plus we grabbed someone with a hell of a shot, as well as a guy who can move, shoot, and grow an amazing beard.

Oh and Travis Moen, who doesn't play defense, but he can run people over, so it's close enough.

Also a lot of people are pointing out that everyone is a left-handed shot. Who cares? I don't think this will be truly adverse as the main time the D is attacking is on the powerplay anyway, and that slight adjustment wont lead to a huge defensive liability.

Gill - I'm not ashamed to admit this, but I've always been a Hal Gill fan. You don't hear much about him, but doesn't that just mean he's doing his job well? He's slow, but that's less relevant when one stride takes you halfway across the rink. I also can't see him turtling on the ground after a random encounter with a wild Lucic. On his own he's not really a Komisarek replacement, but people wouldn't be criticizing our GM for wasting all our money if he hadn't actually spent all our money

Spacek - Ignoring the fact that I desperately want to call him Sissy, Spacey put up 45 points last season. Sure it's not Striet or Souray numbers, but is realistically only ten behind that. He fills the role of helping make the puck go behind the goalie on powerplays, and is hardly a burden on even strength. Good pickup.

Mara - Man that guy has an awesome beard. I won't lie, I don' know what this guy does. He has 21 points so he can clearly help us there, but that's not jump-out amazing numbers. I don't have anything witty or clever to say so instead I'll just leave the same beard comment every other blogger and commentator has made and move on with my life.

These acquisitions are a lot better than they look, while they dont have the brand power of Brian Burke's pickups, the fact that the Leafs opponent's biggest challenge will be stopping Jason Blake is hardly a cause for concern. It's clear to see what role Gill and Spacek fill, and Mara can hopefully do a bit of both of those roles to clear the inconsistancy and the fact that Gill is about as quick as Kyle Wellwood* getting ready to train.

We put some size up front too though

Travis Moen - Hey another cup ring! And he was on corner gas! Moen is a big player to abuse people who try to obstruct... the big three (see previous entry). This sets up great fights for fourth line positions, but I like him on Line 3 working with Lapierre and Latendress. That line has some real talent and will most certainly be giving out some serious bruises.

Engqvist - Unknown quantity. We have him for three years. He's a huge centre, but, as said, unknown quantity. And who knows where he fits on our depth chart? Excluding Cammalleri (who is in reality a centre), our centres are Scott Gomez, TradebaitTomas Plekanec, Maxim Lapierre, Glenn Metropolit, Kyle Chipchura, TooLazytoGoogleYourFirstName Enqvist, and any other random prospect we run into who is BIG CENTRE. Which leads to the signing I'm both happy and confused about

Chipchura - I love Kyle Chipchura. He's a strong leader, he helps keep the Bulldogs in line, and we have him, likely at most for one more year. The problem is he's played like, a dozen games in the NHL, tops. When talking big centres we really should be giving him more of a chance. He can't replace Pleks if he gets moved either, and Lapierre is way too strong to open that up, so hey, lets put him on a wing, trade Metropolit, something. Let Chips out there - Hell, last time he played in an important role was at the world juniors and maybe that might be a kick in the pants to motivate another certain WJC alum who really needs bloggers (and Bob Cole) to stop making comparisons between his name and a Bob Barker Drew Carey hosted show.



So we're big [outside of the first line] with new aquisitions, and overextended at centre. But there's another problem. We're overextended at D as well

Markov was our leading scorer before he missed three games at the end of the season. He's firmly in
Mara, Gil and Spacek will play. They're new, and high paid.
Hamrlik while having rough patches is still very much a strong part of this team
Gorges is fairly talented, and I don't see why we'd shun competence

But here's the problem:
We have Janik Weber, PK Subban, and Ryan Obyrne as well.
Subban should be invalidated right away. Let him play in the AHL at least a while to gain a level of professional exposure. That said, he should be up sooner than later.

Obyrne is incompetent, but he still has that RIGHT HANDED SHOT... and is, recurring theme here, huge. If he worked with Hal Gill we may have the slowest yet largest D pairing in the league. We cant just shun him.

Weber is pretty much good on every level, and is actually ready to play for us. But where do we PUT HIM?

This is an organizational nightmare, and now there's talk about bringing back Matthieu Schneider too; because that totally makes sense. I love Schneider, and think he'd be a great leader, but we really cant have eleven players fighting for six positions. Luckily Eklund reported it so I'm sure it wont happen. Till next time.














* Yes, I know Kyle Wellwood jokes are popularized by down goes brown; great blog, I suggest you all read it. That said I'm sure everyone was making them before reading them there, and I don't plan on stopping.