Game Sixty-Four: Habs vs. Ducks

Shootout:

- Tokarski really tossed into the deep pool, overmatched for this shoutout. Good luck, kid. Godspeed.

- Ducks haven't done this shootout sideshow since December 3. Hope they're rusty. Very rusty.

- Hoo boy. That. Was. Bad.

- Wild, wild shootout here. Both netminders struggling.

- Wow. Habs might win this. Gallagher???

- Nope. Dang.

- Ducks goal, dang. Wait. No. It isn't. Woah.

- Insane shootout. Insane.

- MARKOV. What a win. 

Overtime

- So will we see more Murray overtime shifts tonight. Stay tuned.

- Tokarski with a statement start tonight. Solid unexpectedly good performances continue to bless this hockey team.

- Habs seem to be playing for the shootout. Due respect to Tokarski's fine start tonight, but that strategy is folly.

- Galchenyuk not one, but two OT shifts. Progress!!!

Third Period:

- Gallagher didn't even argue the high stick. Close though - standing up he's barely taller than the crossbar.

- Murray defending on that 2-on-1 Ducks break .... I don't think I've seen it done worse by anyone...ever.

- Tinorid and Murray have been paired the past two nights, and they've been a total adventure just about every shift.

- Bourque, with another classic lazy Bourque hook. Don't move your feet, you get burned.

- Good speed and puck control by Desharnais draws a hook by Saku Koivu. Habs to the PP with 5 left, and a significant opportunity to regain the lead late in regulation.

- A point is a point, Habs with bulk of great scoring chances in the 3rd, but luck continued to play in the Ducks' favor. Nothing to be ashamed about the Canadiens' effort tonight, win or lose.

Second Period

- And ... I've joined and see the Habs had a most excellent first. I wonder if the Vanek acquisition has given this team an emotional bolster. 

- Habs driving the net, Ducks defense looks really complacent in their zone.

- Rene Bourque looks good - really good. Perhaps he's resigned to having to play in Montreal, and is making the best of the situation?

- Habs send out 4th line with Murray, and Jackman snaps one past a slightly screened Tokarski. Burned.

- First penalty on Emelin for the hold was legit - but that tripping call was absurd. Anaheim aims to tie this up.

- Bad luck, Tokarski who's played fine, but gets burned as Beaucimen shoots one in from centre that takes a crazy redeflect off the glass divider and in. Not bad luck, actually. Terrible luck. Game tied.

- Tokarski tossed into the deepest of deep ends, looks pretty danged solid out there tonight.

- The Emelin/Gorges as the 2nd line PP unit is ridiculous, and utterly useless.

- All the breaks going Anaheim's way in the second. And I mean ALL the breaks.

- Brenden Gallagher, showing guys like Eller and Bourque how this game is played and goals are scored. Tie game.

- Mini-disasterous 2nd for the Habs, not assisted much by the luck gods. But they come out tied, and given the effort on display, stand just as good a chance of winning this as their opponet. That's a good position to be in considering their opponent,

First Period:

- Not at my laptop right now, but let me say this about the Habs in the first: I approve. Posession has been excellent. 

GAMEDAY GOO:

Oh yeah. There's a game tonight. And it's against the best team in the League. IKES!

So what's going on? Any stupid moves by our coach?? Let's see ...

- Ahh ... hmmm ... so up against the best team in the League, and Therrien will scratch newly acquired Mike Weaver and Lars Eller, to make way for ... George Parros and ... Doug Murray.

Okay, then. Okay.

Let's just go back to thinking about Vanek. Ahhh ... much better ....



TRADE DAY UPDATE:

OHMYGOD: Habs got Vanek, for 2nd and a prospect?!?!? WOW.

CONFIRMED. It's Sebastien Collberg and a 2nd. WOWWWZZ.

Marc ... all is forgiven. Fine deal, which might become an excellent deal if Vanek is resigned.

 
- OH CRAP OH CRAP. Bergevin has traded for Devin Dubnyk ... yeah ... the guy who's probably having the worst year amongst all NHL players, has been acquired from the Preds, in return for future considerations. So ... this ... trade ... means Price is what ... done for the season? Oh crap oh crap oh crap. UPDATE: Apparently the Preds are taking a chunk of Dubnyk's salary, and they only were holding the bag for half of what he had signed with the Oilers, so unless the "futures" is something insanely low, one might consider this trade to be a freebee. Nashville wanted to clear some salary, the Habs some available, etc., etc. Nonetheless, the real concern behind this deal is Price's health. Just how seriously injured is he??!

ONE MORE THOUGHT: Because the Habs acquired Dubnyk via trade rather than waivers, they can (as I understand the rules) send him down to Hamilton when Price returns, without affecting the cap. SOooo ... (if I've got my rules right), the acquisition makes a bit more sense.

DUBNYK UPDATE: A Habs official says that Dubnyk will be assigned to Hamilton, which means this pickup was primarily designed to bolster the Bulldogs, not the Habs. Which means that Price might not be as injured as we previously were panicking about? Okay. Breathing easier now.


- Habs making a puch for Vanek? UT-OH. Don't do it Marc, just DON'T DO IT. Word is this a.m. that Bergevin has been talking o'plenty with the Islanders, with Lars Eller and/or Patrick Bordeleau. Vanek is UFA at season's end, which means that unless the Habs can be guaranteed of keeping him around, the Habs would be foolish, very foolish, to pull that kind of trigger. PLUS, this deal would go totally against the current organizational philosophy of not sacrificing futures to aquire assets, in particular, temporary assets.


P.M. EVENING UPDATE: BOURQUE NEXT?

- More chatter tonight that a deal involving Rene Bourque is nearly done, involving either the Kings or the Ducks. Stay tuned.

P.M. UPDATE: TRADE DONE? 

- Lots of chatter that the Habs are going to announce they've acquired defensemen Mike Weaver from the Panthers, which I guess makes up for losing Raphael Diaz? Asset management confounds. Let's see what happens.

UPDATE: Yup. Now reported that Weaver has been acquired, for picks. Um ... picks? Hoping it's nothing higher than a 3rd. It had better not be.

CONFIRMED: Weaver and his 35 year old legs, acquired from Florida for a 5th round pick (2015). He shoots right. Otherwise, I have no idea what Bergevin's thinking was in making this trade.


A.M. UPDATE: HAPPY TRADE DEADLINE!!!

-While there's plenty to mull over following last night's coaching debacle courtesy Mr. Therrien, we'll be following all the hype and circumstance surrounding tomorrow (Wednesday's) trade deadline. Will the Habs make a big move for a defensemen? Who'll be moved? Rene Bourque? Lars Eller? Doug Murray (oh please oh please oh please MAKE THAT SO).

Anyway, stay tuned. It could get interesting! Actually, in all probability, hardly anything will happen and then we'll all laugh about how everybody gets so excited over this non event (the fools!) and go on our merry way until the trade deadline next year when the hype is ramped up again.

NON-TRADE UPDATE:

- Reports coming out this morning via Forth Period that Andrei Markov and Brian Gionta are close to signing extensions with the team. If that's true, the terms should be interesting to chew over, nevermind the premise that Gionta is someone worth keeping around another season(s). Update: Fourth Period is now denying that Gionta has been offered an extension (two years).

Game Sixty-Four: Habs v Lightening

Happy Monday! Happy trade deadline day! Well, hold that happy thought, because there's been plenty of talk last night and this morning that the Habs might be a very active team today, which makes me very, very nervous.

And for good reason. Some of the names being bantered around as trade bait include the usual (Kostitsyn, Campoli, Moen) ... the illogical (Plekanec) and the downright crazy (Gomez to Edmonton ... whaaa?).

The most concerning of the speculation is about Subban. I'm not sure what the heck is going on there (hopefully nothing), but if this franchise were to deal off a foundation piece for ... well ... anything else, it would be a mistake of ridiculous proportions.

So we sit ... and wait ... and twitch ... and hope that no incredibly stupid or self-destructive decisions are made in the next four or so hours.

FIRST BIG TRADE: And herrrrrrrre we go. Kostitsyn, as has been widely speculated about for weeks, has been traded to Nashville. No word on the returns (yet).

KOSTITSYN TRADE RETURNS: 2nd round pick ('13) and we also get the conditional pick back from the Gill trade.

That's it. A second rounder. This probably means that management had already decided that the team wouldn't pursue a contract extension with AK46, and the deal was "let's take what we can get instead of nothing." I can't argue with the logic, but given the choice between a pick and negotiating rights to Radulov, the later would have been the obvious choice.

I'm assuming the Preds wouldn't go for that offer, assuming it was ever on the table.

CAMPOLI UPDATE: Apparently for either 5th round (offer) or 4th round (request) pick. Not sure if it's this year or next year's draft. Reputed deal might be sealed if one of the two teams bends.

Campoli for anything would suit me just fine. So yeah ... worse comes to worse, take the 5th.

- It's now about three hours to deadline, no confirmation either way about Campoli. With Moen's injury woes, I'm pretty resigned that he probably won't be taken. Still nervous that Habs might do something really goofy involving either Plekanec or Subban.

MAJOR PLAYER ACQUISITION UPDATE: We got Brad Staubitz! For free! Who? Yeah .. me too, but here you go [player profile]. Staubitz' salary will count a grand total of $60,000 against the cap, according to CapGeek. Heh.

Seriously, Staubitz is a journeyman fighter - which makes him part of the dying breed. The Hockey News notes that Staubitz has more fights this year (9) than he does goal in his entire NHL career (8) comprised of 196 games. So there you go.

CAMPOLI NO-GO: That's the latest. He's stayin'.

At least nobody *really* important was dealt. So .... it could have been worse?

That's your trade deadline! As usual, the biggest deals were in the days leading up to the deadline, not on the day itself. Still doesn't halt the silly media feeding frenzy. Gotta fill those broadcast hours with content. Me? I'd rather watch a replay of the World Lumberjack Championships.

WHAT COULD-HAVE-BEEN UPDATE: The general original reaction to the Kostitsyn trade was that the Habs got fair return. I very much begged to differ - a dependable 20 goal scorer on a dysfunctional hockey team is still a 20 goal scorer on a dysfunctional hockey team, and deserved greater returns than the 50+ overall pick.

So while the merits of whether we got shafted were debated, news came over the wire about this deal.

That's right - the Preds give up their 1st and 4th round picks - and get back a 12 goal-scoring forward.

Sigh.

KOSTITSYN EPILOGUE: It's been pointed out to me that Detroit was also a suitor for  Gaustad, which presupposed that there was a bidding war between the Wings and Preds for the Sabres' forward.

But as Pierre LeBrun pointed out today, the Sabers were steadfast that they would only accept a first round draft pick, something that the Wings don't have. So if there was a "bidding war", the Wings showed up without a gun.

Here's the deal. The Preds were basically going all in today - trading many futures to fill some remaining gaps. The Habs almost certainly could have had a prospect tossed in with the 2nd rounder, but Habs management probably rushed the trade because they were highly motivated to move Kostitsyn out of town for the first "reasonable" offer.

Well a 2nd round pick isn't unreasonable, but it's definitely undervalued.

HAPPY GAME DAY UPDATE: Like the title says, happy game day!  Just one more and we're SO done with Florida. What is the Habs record during these little Florida swings anyway? I think it's something like 1 win and 94 losses. Sure seems like it.

Speaking of losing ... do you remember that little dust up between Gomez and Habs Assistant "coach" (all Habs coaches now require a parenthesis since they're not going to be around much longer) Randy Ladouceur during a morning practice in Brassard? Remember how Ladouceur was all, like ... yelling at Gomez and Gomez was all like ... yelling at Ladouceur right in front of the entire team and all the media and all the people watching in the stands? AWKWARD!

Then remember how after the fight Cunneyworth was all ... like ... "we're mad at Gomez 'cause he can't do a simple drill and he's worthless because we play this North/South game thing and he doesn't know what it is" and then he ordered the Habs bus driver to just keep moving after Gomez was tossed under? Remember that?

Well since that time, the Habs have gone 1-5.

Just sayin'.

Carey Price will start tonight. Shocking, but true.

JEAN BELIVEAU: You get better, okay? We want you around for at least one more parade.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “When we got Sergei, I heard nothing but bad things about Sergei — that he couldn’t do this, he couldn’t do that, he couldn’t do this, he’s not going to help you, all those types of things.”

“They’re wrong, we’re right — Sergei is one of the best things. We virtually gave up nothing and got our first-line left-winger. … He’s a good player. I expect the same thing of Andrei. I know he’s a terrific talent, and he can play.”

- Barry Trotz, pushing the dagger a little deeper into the chest of Habs fans.

HALF-SEASON STELLAR COACHING RECORD UPDATE: Since Randy Cunneyworth was brought in behind the bench, the Habs have been burning up the League, posting a blistering 11-17-3 record. That's 10 games short of exactly one half of one season. Translated into a full season, at that pace, this team would finish with 74 points.

74 points will probably earn you 14th, maybe 13th place in a 15 team Conference.

How much of this well bear on whether Cunneyworth still has a job after game 82, we'll have to see.

First Period:

- Habs off to a relatively decent start, puck possession is good. But how long can this possibly last?

- Answer: Not long. Stamkos making Subban look not good. Bolts 1-0.

- Habs really are creating quality offensive chances, Garon with a hot hand (so far).

- Desharnais with tremendous speed and (FINALLY!) elects to take the shot - nice one at that, to even the game. Tampa defense preoccupied with Cole on that rush, giving Desharnais the open ice.

- Pretty even period, Habs keeping mistakes to a minimum, Garon playing well for Tampa. The question as usual, can they maintain competitiveness over 60 minutes?


Second Period:

- Simple mistakes are killing this team. Emelin gets caught way out of position, leaving Hall unprotected for the easy goal.

- Eller doing all the hard work, setting Bourque up pretty in the slot, and he wiffs on the shot. Bourque continues to look ... well ... bad.

- White with a goal-scorer's fake on Garon, but can't quite slip it past Garon's desperate paddle save. So close.

- Emelin really struggling tonight, having trouble keeping his head up, and he's getting hammered for it.

- Malone absolutely furious with Emelin, and I'm not sure why. But he's livid.

- Still not sure what the heck happened, but Habs end up with a 5 minute powerplay. Watch them blow it, of course.

- Too many low-percentage cross-zone passes on the man advantage, Tampa having little difficulty intercepting and clearing. Habs are indeed going to blow this.

- Canadiens getting plenty of powerplay practice tonight. If they don't score soon, they'll drop back to 30th place in that category.

- Setup is terrible. Basically impossible shots from easily blocked locations. They have no chance of scoring, really.

- Garon making some really remarkable saves tonight. Habs can't win for losing.

- Habs powerplay a disaster tonight - more so than usual. Kaberle is a mess (more so than usual). I still can't figure out after almost an entire schedule of one season's games how the specialty unit has not improved an inch.  Monumental organizational fail.


Third Period:

- Habs have only won once this year after trailing headed to the third. Doubt things will change tonight.

- The new guy Staubitz in a fight with Labrie. And it's a marathon.

- Gorges a tremendous play to stop Stamkos driving to Price. Keeps his team in the game. For now.

- Ryan White has had some ridiculously good chances tonight - he's working hard, really ought to be rewarded.

- Weber, very clunky penalty. Out of position, he uses his stick and it's an easy hooking call for the officials. Poor execution, poor discipline.

- Gomez, another ineffective outing, very depleted ice time tonight. Only Staubitz has less.

- Tampa really shutting it down in their zone, passes aren't connecting, and shots aren't getting through. Habs forwards are being kept to the parameter. Not looking good.

- Pretty listless finish, you'd never know this team was just a goal from tying. No desperation, no push.

- Something of a push with a minute left, but it's too little, too late. Another loss.