Montreal Canadiens

[Bighabfan]

is Darche nailing Martin's daughter or something? Naked pics? he's gotta have something on him to get more icetime than guys who are scoring. I like the guy and all but c'mon.........

and BTW, you are really going to have to change your projected line-ups to have Cole-Desharnais-Pacioretty listed as the first line.

[ericdaoust]

Jacques Martin fired, Randy Cunneyworth interim coach for the rest of the season. I'll have more on this after the noon press conference if I get to see it.

[ericdaoust]

On the Martin firing:

The writing had been on the wall for a long time. I've stated my thoughts on his tenure a few times in this thread so I won't ramble too long. Bottom line is that his blind loyalty to veterans and his lack of passion while standing behind the bench did him in. A lot of people talked about how the team had tuned out the coach. When having veteran status means automatic minutes I can see how that is possible.

Also worth noting is how often the team has blown late leads this season. A defensive-minded coach that constantly gives away leads looks pretty stupid.

On Randy Cunneyworth

Cunneyworth was a defensive minded forward who also fought often. This likely means the defence-first approach will stay in place. He is very competitive and vocal which will be a welcome addition.

I am hoping for a few things from him:
-Establish the concept that hard work is rewarded and that dogging it will result in a loss of ice time, regardless of salary.
-Make the team continue pushing even if they have a lead. Whatever they did to get the lead, they should continue. Sitting back only leads to bad things.
-More logical line-juggling. It's not necessary to change all lines to accommodate for one injury. And give it more than one period before changing every line. Put the onus on the players to find ways to produce.
-Let PK Subban play his game, and get him to stop flopping like a fish all over the ice.

[ericdaoust]

This was the first game under new coach Randy Cunneyworth and the end result was more of the same. The team played alright to start but after the Devils tied it 3-3 the Habs fell apart. The third period was atrocious. There was no sense of urgency whatsoever and they spent most of the period in their own end despite being down in the game. There was no sense of urgency.

Check out this link for the ice time breakdown (http://www.nhl.com/ice/boxscore.htm?id=2011020468). A few things to note in game one under the new coach:

1) Mathieu Darche played 19:46. He had a strong game but this high number is primarily due to playing over 5 minutes on the PK.
2) Mike Cammalleri lost his spot on the PK next to Plekanec.
3) Louis Leblanc played 13:29 which is more appropriate for a player in development.
4) Lars Eller was up to 18:25.

Erik Cole had a rough night with three minor penalties. I much prefer his over-aggressive penalties over some of the lazy hooking minors that we tend to see every night from others. However one hit I did not like which was the one he delivered to the head of Adam Larsson. Regarding any additional punishment from Brendan Shanahan, given the lack of consistency lately your guess is as good as mine.

I thought Carey Price was rather average. Not bad, but average. He had a slump around this time last year. I would hope the team gives a couple additional games to Budaj over the holidays so that Price doesn't get burnt out. It's a long season and they need to plan ahead for the games in March and April.

Chris Campoli had a goal and looked pretty comfortable in the offensive zone.

Hal Gill had a rough night with turnovers.

Lars Eller had a goal after a great screen from Darche.

PK Subban scored a goal but was a roller-coaster for most of the night. He needs to stop flopping all over the ice trying to make heroic plays.

[habs83]

Was at the game tonight. Here are a few thoughts:

Before the third, the Gill-Campoli pair was playing a great game...until that unforgivable turnover by Campoli. But Gill played a great game.

Cammalleri lacks intensity in every facet of his game.

Emelin looks lost on the right side, his timing is not good at all.

PK needs to stop trying to go for end-to-end rushes on line changes... he is killing the play and gives the puck to the other team.

Boy that 3rd period was tough to watch...

[ericdaoust]

Article with tons of relevance to tonight's game:

http://www.hockeyinsideout.com/news/...o-have-hearing

Cole will not be suspended and Lucic will talk to Shanny today. Video footage of both plays can be found in the article. I doubt anything happens with Lucic. That's just the way things are.

[Akkei]

Purely hypothetical subject here.

I wonder at what point Gauthier would consider that the Habs will not be making the playoffs and consider trading some of his assets. The reason why I question this is that, with the apparent resurgence of Kaberle, maybe Gauthier could trade him for a package (prospect and/or draft pick) by the trading deadline. The Habs would then get rid of his contract and would have turned Spacek into gold. I'm probably dreaming here...

[habs83]

Subban is sick and missed the morning skate...he will be a game-time decision

Here are the pairings for tonight if Subban can't go:

Alexei Emelin-Josh Gorges
Chris Campoli-Tomas Kaberle
Hal Gill-Raphael Diaz

[habs83]

And the forwards lines:

Michael Cammalleri-Tomas Plekanec-Travis Moen
Max Pacioretty-David Desharnais-Erik Cole
Andrei Kostitsyn-Lars Eller-Louis Leblanc
Mike Blunden-Petteri Nokelainen-Mathieu Darche

AK46 is back with Eller. Moen is back in the line-up and will play with Plekanec and Cammalleri.

[ericdaoust]

Purely hypothetical subject here.

I wonder at what point Gauthier would consider that the Habs will not be making the playoffs and consider trading some of his assets. The reason why I question this is that, with the apparent resurgence of Kaberle, maybe Gauthier could trade him for a package (prospect and/or draft pick) by the trading deadline. The Habs would then get rid of his contract and would have turned Spacek into gold. I'm probably dreaming here...

That is always a possibility if the team is below 10th place come deadline day. But there's always the question of finding a buyer. Granted, teams are more generous at that time but certain players still can't be moved. It'll be interesting to see how it all plays out.

Subban is sick and missed the morning skate...he will be a game-time decision

Here are the pairings for tonight if Subban can't go:

Alexei Emelin-Josh Gorges
Chris Campoli-Tomas Kaberle
Hal Gill-Raphael Diaz

The one thing I like about the overpopulation of dmen... short injuries and illnesses are not a problem.

And the forwards lines:

Michael Cammalleri-Tomas Plekanec-Travis Moen
Max Pacioretty-David Desharnais-Erik Cole
Andrei Kostitsyn-Lars Eller-Louis Leblanc
Mike Blunden-Petteri Nokelainen-Mathieu Darche

AK46 is back with Eller. Moen is back in the line-up and will play with Plekanec and Cammalleri.

Two things stand out here: Good to see Moen back and it's also nice to see Leblanc continue getting a decent role. As long as he's not buried with 5 minutes of ice time then it's a positive experience for him.

[bondon]

Just thought this would interest all you Habs fans

Patrick Roy indicating possible interest in taking Habs coaching job after this season.

[habs83]

Two things stand out here: Good to see Moen back and it's also nice to see Leblanc continue getting a decent role. As long as he's not buried with 5 minutes of ice time then it's a positive experience for him.

Absolutely...if Leblanc does not see decent ice time, the best thing to do is to send him to the AHL. The kid played half a season last year and have missed significant time this season...he just need to play. He also needs to get stronger, especially with his style of play. He is pushed around too easily right now.

[ericdaoust]

Just thought this would interest all you Habs fans

Patrick Roy indicating possible interest in taking Habs coaching job after this season.

If Roy was coach I suppose they would have a safe option should they ever have to go the "emergency goalie" route.

I don't think Roy is a great coach but that one moment of seeing him with equipment on would be epic.

[ddp]

Boston Bruins get their first suspension in years! 1 game!

[ericdaoust]

http://canadiens.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=607258

Geoff Molson on the coaching situation. I didn't like the part where he said that speaking both languages will be important when selecting a permanent coach. Basically saying Cunneyworth might be a lame duck right now if they eventually want to hire a french-speaking guy like Bob Hartley.