Montreal Canadiens

[ericdaoust]

If Gionta is out for any extended time, that spot will go to Gomez upon his return. If Gomez isn't ready look for Louis Leblanc to be called back up.

[ericdaoust]

A nice breakdown on the team situation at practice today:

http://canadiens.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=611136

[habs83]

Gionta will miss at least the next three games.

http://www.985sports.ca/hockey/nouve...hs-118741.html (in french)

[ericdaoust]

Gionta will miss at least the next three games.

http://www.985sports.ca/hockey/nouve...hs-118741.html (in french)

IR is minimum 3 games so that's what's going on. Louis Leblanc is hardly a downgrade at this point.

[habs83]

When he talked to the journalists after practice today, Cammalleri complained about the losing attitude of the team, the fact that the team is scared to make a mistake, his ice time and other things.

By the tone of his answers, it seemed like he would welcome a change of scenery soon. When he was asked directly, his answer was: "You can read between the lines".

Here is the article (in french) by Francois Gagnon from La Presse;

http://www.cyberpresse.ca/sports/hoc...8_section_POS1

[ericdaoust]

When he talked to the journalists after practice today, Cammalleri complained about the losing attitude of the team, the fact that the team is scared to make a mistake, his ice time and other things.

By the tone of his answers, it seemed like he would welcome a change of scenery soon. When he was asked directly, his answer was: "You can read between the lines".

Here is the article (in french) by Francois Gagnon from La Presse;

http://www.cyberpresse.ca/sports/hoc...8_section_POS1

Thanks for the article! Tons of stuff there to talk about, which I will do tonight after work. Cammy asks us to read between the lines so I will do just that!

Even though IMO the Habs' season is already lost, the time between now and next training camp is going to be very fascinating to see. Being in seller mode at the trade deadline might be the best thing for this franchise long-term.

[habs83]

Just re-read the article, and Cammy wasn't ask directly about the change of scenery. He just finish his rant by adding "Icould say more, but you can read between the lines". Change the perception a bit, but not that much.

[ericdaoust]

Not feeling great right now so I'll put the Cammy article on the backburner for tonight. But in other significant news Brian Gionta has a torn bicep and is out indefinitely.

[ericdaoust]

Back to the Cammalleri comments, which have gone mainstream by now...

I actually think he's going into business for himself to try to increase his own trade value. Most people who watch the games will point out that Cammalleri himself has contributed as much as anyone to the team's losing attitude. He plays lazy, plain and simple. He sits in the slot and waits for his teammates to dig the puck out of the corners and feed it to him. If he had his usual ice time, he might have 10-11 goals instead of nine, but regardless it would still be a poor season.

It's a long shot, but putting his name out there with those comments could spark the team or also make other GMs feel sympathy towards him. Who knows. If it helps get him out of town, that would be best for both parties. The Habs need to free up some money and re-invest it elsewhere to build the team properly.

[ericdaoust]

Yannick Weber will play tonight, which I assume will be at forward. it kind of feels weird going with 10 forwards and eight dmen. It's not like using 12 forwards has worked great either.

[ross10019]

Back to the Cammalleri comments, which have gone mainstream by now...

I actually think he's going into business for himself to try to increase his own trade value. Most people who watch the games will point out that Cammalleri himself has contributed as much as anyone to the team's losing attitude. He plays lazy, plain and simple. He sits in the slot and waits for his teammates to dig the puck out of the corners and feed it to him. If he had his usual ice time, he might have 10-11 goals instead of nine, but regardless it would still be a poor season.

It's a long shot, but putting his name out there with those comments could spark the team or also make other GMs feel sympathy towards him. Who knows. If it helps get him out of town, that would be best for both parties. The Habs need to free up some money and re-invest it elsewhere to build the team properly.

I agree that he's angling for a trade, maybe to a contender. So does Eric Engels, according to this article comparing it to the Havlat/Walsh Minny situation:



"Cammalleri's Comments Reinforce his Image as a Selfish Player

January 12, 2012, 9:21 AM ET [158 Comments] Share |

Eric Engels
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • RSS • Archive • CONTACT


Take it for what it's worth.

Mike Cammalleri came to the Canadiens with a reputation of being selfish. It preceded him in Calgary, as he came over from an L.A. Kings team that had had enough with him. And surely, it impacted the Flames' decision to let him walk to unrestricted free agency three summers ago.

But we welcomed him to Montreal with open arms. We were refreshed by his unique take in post-practice/post-game interviews, excited by the prospect of adding a shoot-first player to a team that hadn't had one in a decade, and his performance reinforced that excitement in year one.

If the 26 goals were a big step down from the 39 he had notched with Calgary the year prior, then surely the 13 he scored in 19 playoff games made up for it.

But last year, it was 19 goals in 67 games. And it became clear that it wasn't just the injuries he dealt with that hampered his success.

And we didn't need to sift through the scathing comments he uttered to Francois Gagnon and Arpon Basu, yesterday after practice, to know that Cammalleri's decline has been long-building in Montreal.

Cammalleri's assessment, in referring to the team's losing attitude amounting to more losses; in referring to the team's insistence on following the plan to the letter without giving an afterthought to playing and adapting as the situation requires may not have been intended to be shots at his teammates and coaches, but how else would you interpret it?

His accountability lacks despite his marginal attempt to own up to a poor personal performance against the Blues, and his lament over sparse ice-time under the new coaching staff is another case of finger pointing that doesn't wash well with Canadiens fans, nor should it in this season in which he's accounted for 8% of the team's 108 goals.

But the crux of the conversation comes at the very end, in which Cammalleri tells Gagnon and Basu to "read between the lines" regarding his commitment to the team, and hints at his willingness to accept a trade if he's approached by the general manager.

There are a lot of things you can say that cross the threshold of what's commonly acceptable, but that last one isn't just over the line, it's well past.

Last season, super agent Allan Walsh went to the newspapers to sing a Cammalleri cover song about how his client, Martin Havlat, was being looked to, to provide top-line scoring even if the Wild were unwilling to give him top-line minutes.

Here's what he said:

“When Chuck reached out to Marty Havlat two summers ago after he led Chicago to the conference finals while leading the team in points in the regular season and playoffs, he shared a vision of building an up-tempo offensive team with Marty as a pillar to this strategy,” Walsh said in an e-mail to the Star Tribune. “That’s why he signed with the Wild.

“Since that time, Marty has been used in a purely secondary role. Look at this season, he’s played four straight games at about 14 minutes of ice time, he’s used on the second power-play unit, he sits for long stretches, he’s not used in the shootouts. At a certain point in time, one has to ask, ‘Why is he here?’ One has to ask, ‘Why pay this guy $30 million to not play?’

“It’s like we are in a time warp and the coach has totally ignored or chooses to ignore what Marty has done offensively over the course of his entire career. People say the Wild don’t have a star player. The Wild have a dynamic offensive player right under their nose and yet choose not to use him to their advantage. Look around the league, what other team has a player like Marty Havlat wilting on the vine like this?”



After Walsh spoke up, Havlat started breaking the 20-minute mark regularly.

It was highly controversial for Havlat's agent to go straight to the papers instead of consulting the GM about his client's discontent, but it worked. Havlat became the top-used forward, and he also led the Wild in scoring from that point forward.

But it came as no surprise that Havlat was moved in the off-season.

We'll see if the Canadiens play to lose tonight.

We'll see if Cammalleri is part of the solution instead of being at the very heart of the problem.

We'll monitor his ice-time very closely, to see if he breaches the 20-minute mark, and if it amounts to goals.

We'll see if Cammalleri can boost his value between now and the deadline.

As for the notion that if a performer like Erik Cole had spoken in the same manner as Cammalleri did yesterday, it would've been interpreted as pride. He had that opportunity earlier in the year, when the Canadiens were losing and he wasn't even being used on the powerplay or for more than 14-minutes per game.

His response was to continue to work hard until he was adequately rewarded.

He played 27+ minutes in a game last week...

In worse news, Brian Gionta had successful surgery to repair something in one of his Biceps.

Naturally, without the insight a detailed report would provide, all we have are preliminary indications that he could be out for the remainder of the regular season.

We have no idea whether or not it was surgery to repair a torn Bicep muscle, or to re-attach torn tendons within the Bicep area. Both have serious implications, the latter of which could be career-threatening if nerves near the tendon are damaged during surgery.

Let's all hope that all is clear in Gionta's case.

Scott Gomez could be returning to action tonight. Yannick Weber will take a spot on the Canadiens top powerplay unit as well."

[ericdaoust]

It's the century season all over again in terms of how much the team has become a circus.

[ericdaoust]

In refreshing news, I got a chuckle when I read Gionta's player news update in my CBS league and it specified that his surgery was successful.

[ericdaoust]

Alright, screw the game report. There are more important matters to discuss. During the second intermission Mike Cammalleri was traded to the Calgary Flames. Here is the full trade breakdown:

To Flames: Mike Cammalleri, Karri Ramo, 5th round pick
To Canadiens: Rene Bourque, Patrick Holland, 2nd round pick

There has been a lot of negative talk about this trade and I seriously don't understand why. On one hand, there has been a lot of blind support for Cammalleri. Why? In two and a half seasons in Montreal, his play has ranged from average to terrible. Sure, he produced in the playoffs, but you have to get there to take advantage of that production. This team is not a playoff team. Period.

On the other hand, some people are acting like the Habs traded Cammalleri for Colton Orr. Rene Bourque is a good player. In fact, the last three seasons he has outscored Cammy. He may not be a consistent player, but neither was Cammalleri. But he has size and plays around the net. I have not seen him play often over the years so perhaps he is not as good of a player as I think. I am open-minded here.

The Habs also lose Karri Ramo, who is a very good goaltender overseas but had no interest in coming to Montreal to back up Carey Price. Now his chances of signing with his NHL club increase dramatically because he could easily become the future #1 in Calgary. In Montreal he had no such chance to climb up the depth chart.

Patrick Holland is a prospect that I do not know about, but from what I have read he is a solid all-around player sort of like Michael Bournival.

The swap of a 2nd for a 5th is a nice gain as well.

All in all I don't see what is so wrong with this trade, other than fans picking on the convenient whipping boy (Pierre Gauthier). Cammalleri was not going to fetch a major return because of his salary and because of poor play. Removing his salary enables the team to invest this cash into its core.

I'll leave it to the regular readers of this thread - what do you guys think?

[habs83]

Pacioretty-(Plekanec)-(Cole)
xx-Desharnais-Gallagher
xx-Eller-Leblanc
xx-Bournival-White

Subban-Gorges
Tinordi-Beaulieu
xx-xx


Price
xx

Plenty of players will be auditioning for the xx spots
Forwards: Avtsin, Kristo, Quailer
Defense: Diaz, Weber, Ellis, Bennett, Pateryn, Emelin

Plekanec and Cole are between brackets because they will have one more year on their contract at that point.

There is no concern over the back-up goaler and fourth line xx.

Some points to highlight:
1) I kind of love the D prospects that are coming soon to maturity. Even if they don't all pan out, the Habs blueline seems in pretty good shape, only with the homegrown talent. I fully wish and expect Gorges to remain a Hab for the remaining of his career. I don't know what to expect from Emelin long term, that is why I did not included his name on the regular line-up. He would be more than welcome if his progression continues the way it is right now.

2) Price in nets for years to come...no problem there.

3) Forwards. Or lack thereof. The minute you remove Plekanec and Cole from that line-up, You have a lot of spots to fill in the top 9, and not a lot of prospects, let alone great propects. It also reaches what ddp stated in his latest post about drafting D-men in the first round. I know that drafting according to organisation needs against drafting the best player available is debatable. But at some point, you have to recognise that there is a glaring weakness there, and that you need to stockpile a quantity of prospects at that position to hope for one or two to breakthrough (a la Claude Giroux).

4) Money. When all these contracts will expire, the Habs should have plenty of cash left. We still don't know what will be in the next CBA, but I don't expect the salary cap to go. Spend wisely, this cap space could help lend an impact player to play on the first line, and to fill the complimentary holes.

I thought about the Cammalleri trade and I remembered this discusison we had a short while ago about what this team would look like in two seasons when all the bad contracts would be out of the books. We all knew that the Habs were not a true Cup contender for the next two seasons, and if this deal is an acknowledgement of this, more trades are to be expected.

I would like to update this future roster as the trades come down and analyse the implications two years down the road.

Pacioretty-(Plekanec)-(Cole)
xx-Desharnais-Gallagher
Bourque-Eller-Leblanc
xx-Bournival-White

Subban-Gorges
Tinordi-Beaulieu
xx-xx


Price
xx

1) Since the last time we took a look at this, the Habs signed Gorges to a 6 year extension, which is a good thing. Hefty price tag, but this guy is the future captain of this team.

2) The Habs traded a guy that wasn't on this line-up for a guy that will. At worst, Bourque is a 3rd liner who can chip in 20 goals. At best, he's a physical 2nd liner who can score 30. Given the lack of depth at the forward position in the minors, I don't think that getting a big winger who can score is a bad thing.

3) Money. Probably the key of this deal. This trade give flexibility to the organization to re-sign Subban and Price, two cornerstones of the future line-up.

4) 2nd round pick in a deep draft. With this pick, the Habs could land a component that could be added to this core in the years to come.

In summary, The Habs gave away the best player in that deal, no question about that. But I like all the other ramifications of the deal. I would call this trade a wash, since Calgary will probably benefit from the deal now, and the Habs will see the dividends in a couple of years.

I would like to hear what you guys think of this!!