Montreal Canadiens

[ericdaoust]

The Canadiens made one minor league depth swap, dealing D Brett Festerling to the Thrashers for G Drew MacIntyre. Don't know a lot about either player, but it appears MacIntyre is a better AHL-level producer given his solid stats over the last few seasons. I want to see Goldman's analysis - maybe he could be in contention for a backup job next year, although he is a UFA this summer.

It's not the spark a lot of people wanted to see, but it is what it is. Making trades is not like ordering dinner, trades have to be agreed upon and based on everything I've seen today it just wasn't in the cards.

Edit: Curtis Sanford is currently injured in Hamilton so that explains the minor league swap.

[ericdaoust]

Final thoughts on the trade deadline day in the Canadiens' camp:

It was very uneventful and usually that's not a bad thing. Based on the quality of players that did move I didn't see any good fits that would have moved the needle in terms of giving this team a serious chance to win in the playoffs.

I am however disappointed that they did not play the waiver wire. Marco Sturm and Ty Conklin come to mind. I am not 100% sure how a waiver claim works in terms of the remaining cap space. Capgeek.com says the Canadiens had 1.8M free coming into today and it's possible that they would have had to absorb all of Sturm's 3.5M cap hit.

Auld kinda scares me in goal and although he's probably been a good teammate, he has looked shaky in goal and that only leads to more work load for Price. I thought Conklin's 1.3M cap hit would be a good fit as all of it can be absorbed into the remaining cap space.

All in all I think this team will qualify for the postseason. They should be able to maintain the 6th or 7th position in the East. This team has a lot of issues but most teams have some issues. In the cap world it's nearly impossible to put together a completely balanced team.

[ericdaoust]

RDS news of the day:

-Carey Price will be back in goal tonight as the Habs face the Thrashers.

-Jaro Spacek should be back for the playoffs.

[ericdaoust]

Paul Mara is back in the lineup tonight while Yannick Weber sits this one out. I wonder if Weber or Picard get sent down since they both have contracts that can be demoted...

Just some food for thought. Weber has been struggling the last handful of games. I'll be back later tonight with a game report. Go Habs go!!!

[ericdaoust]

Game Notes:

-The final shots were 41-22 in favor of the Thrashers. If that does not give away the MVP of the game, you're on crack.

-Carey Price was awesome once again picking up his 29th win of the season. He made 40 saves on 41 shots (.976). He would have had the shutout had it not been for the Habs going into a shell after taking a 2-0 lead earlier in the game.

-Overall this was not a good game for the Canadiens. They did not generate many chances and I dislike seeing them protect leads. Nothing wrong with continuing to press for more when you have Price on his game.

-Once again lack of discipline really hurt the Canadiens. Tomas Plekanec and Andrei Kostitsyn negated power plays with dumb penalties. There were also a pair of too-many-men penalties. All season forwards have had a tendency to skate slowly back to the bench after shifts and this has done them a lot of harm. This game should have been blown wide open but the little things kept the game close.

-James Wisniewski is back on the board with a power-play goal. Struggling forwards Andrei Kostitsyn and David Desharnais registered assists on this goal.

-Max Pacioretty had a goal and an assist but most importantly he was all over the ice today. He had a pair of breakaways in the third which he failed to convert but was still buzzing all night.

-On the Thrashers side, Evander Kane is a beast. He looks like a star. Absolutely looks like a top-five draft pick. He was dominating along the boards and registered six shots.

[Dean Youngblood]

Any idea what PK Subban played only 25 seconds with the man advantage?

[ericdaoust]

Any idea what PK Subban played only 25 seconds with the man advantage?

A lot of it is coincidence. Power plays on both sides were cut short all night so it was really fragmented play and it was probably Wisniewski's turn by coincidence. Here's what I remember specifically:

-Twice they had power plays cut short by Plekanec and Kostitsyn
-Twice they had reduced 4-on-3 PPs with three forwards and Wisniewski at the point

It was a weird game in that sense but Subban still had 22:37 of ice time and spent 4+ minutes on the penalty kill. I highly doubt he is being punished in any way.

[Dean Youngblood]

Thanks.

You re-affirmed what I thought might have happened (cutting short). I wasn't able to watch any of the game tonight.

[ericdaoust]

Thanks.

You re-affirmed what I thought might have happened (cutting short). I wasn't able to watch any of the game tonight.

Over at habsinsideout.com they mentioned something that was not obvious during the game because of the short power plays - Tomas Plekanec is working the point next to Wisniewski. That means Subban is down to the second unit. The coach tries to be a chemist with his lines so I don't expect this to last long but in the short term the points might be a bit more sparse. It didn't affect his overall ice time though.

[ericdaoust]

Game Notes:

-This was a solid rebound effort after the lackluster game in Atlanta. The execution was a lot better and the team attacked the opposing goal all night. They did not sit back after taking the lead which was a joy to see.

-Carey Price picked up shutout #7 tonight with 30 saves. He was not busy early in the game but made several important saves late in the second period and during the third to avoid giving life to the Panthers. I really like seeing him maintain total focus when the shot totals are low early in the game.

-I enjoy watching Sergei Samsonov play, but only because it re-affirms that he is NOT in a Canadiens' uniform. All kidding aside he was one of the more effective Panthers tonight.

-Hal Gill scored his first goal of the season and finished plus-three. Extra credit to Max Pacioretty for an excellent screen on the goal.

-Speaking of Pacioretty, he needs to learn how to not get hit by pucks. A few weeks ago he was nearly killed by a Wisniewski shot, and tonight a shot by a dman hit him directly in the groin.

-James Wisniewski was excellent tonight. He had a pair of assists and was plus-two. He still gets caught with turnovers from time to time but you really can't argue with the production. Offensively he is thriving in Montreal.

-Lars Eller is a much improved player of late and had two points (one goal) tonight. This has certainly been helped by the resurgence of Andrei Kostitsyn but it's nice to see the young guy come out of his shell after being buried in the depth chart all season. I still think he's a good keeper league option but you will have to wait for consistent numbers.

-David Desharnais is a lot stronger than his size indicates. When he lays a hit he is able to move defensemen off the puck. His efforts were rewarded with a second period goal.

[ericdaoust]

Scott Gomez missed practice today for treatments. In case someone thinks he's been bothered by something, it's possible but I doubt it. Most teams give older players rest down the stretch as their endurance and durability isn't the same as it was when they were 25.

On a side note, I'm really digging the balanced minutes handed to the dmen. They are nine points ahead of 9th place Buffalo and are well on their way to securing a playoff spot so it's a good idea to get a few guys rested for when the games count, especially older guys like Hamrlik and Gill.

[ericdaoust]

Jaroslav Spacek had "successful" surgery on his knee. Anyone who reads this site knows that this only means he successfully woke up after the surgery was over. We'll know in a week or two if the surgery was actually successful.

I took a visit to HabsInsideOut and they pointed out to what extent the Habs' lack of discipline has been a problem this season - they have been shorthanded 259 times this season, second most in the league. For a non-physical team this is a major problem because you know these penalties aren't coming from over-committing to body checks. Hats off to Carey Price for making this issue far less apparent.

[lusshouse]

Nice article from MA Godin in "La Presse", using Dobber's Frozen Pool section to showcase Scott Gomez's struggles + his linemates' struggles.

http://www.cyberpresse.ca/sports/hoc...7_accueil_POS3

It's in French, unfortunately for the ones who can't read much of it.

[ericdaoust]

Nice article from MA Godin in "La Presse", using Dobber's Frozen Pool section to showcase Scott Gomez's struggles + his linemates' struggles.

http://www.cyberpresse.ca/sports/hoc...7_accueil_POS3

It's in French, unfortunately for the ones who can't read much of it.

Thanks for the link! It really helps to quantify the complaints of fans. The proof is in the pudding.

[ridinryan44]

Price is ****ing awesome!