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Habs Rumors, and Key Leaders |
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1) Conveniently, rumors are flying that Scott Gomez and Jaroslav Spacek will be traded at some point.
In other news, they really are making their very best efforts to fix the streets of Montreal, the bridges--Mercier and Champlain, and the backlog of mail is all coming to your box today.
2) No one should be worried about Josh Gorges signing a new contract. It's imminent. And the figures won't be a far stretch from what everyone has estimated. He'll be playing for the Canadiens for the next 4-6 seasons, and he'll be making between 2.8-3.5 mil/season.
The question is, how will he play this year? Returning from injury isn't something Gorges has had to do on many occasions in his career, but more troublesome is the fact--dare I say--that he didn't play altogether well last season.
Sufficed to say, the ten-year injury he was sporting certainly had an influence on his play, and some other issues with that same knee had him really struggling before the Canadiens pulled the plug.
But none of that will dull the Canadiens' expectations, and once he signs, the fans will expect to see the Gorges of the '09-10 playoff Habs. Here's hoping he can be that guy early on in the season.
3) When you think about it, Hal Gill could've walked away from the one-year deal the Canadiens offered him in the final week of May. He might have, had he only received the offer a week from unrestricted free agency, like Roman Hamrlik did.
The difference between the two: both of them really wanted to stay in Montreal, but one of them fits so well on the team he couldn't refuse the one-year deal, even if it was in his best interest to push for two.
I think Hal Gill believes he could win here, and it could happen as early as this season. That's a guy you want on your team.
4) Gill's play with the Canadiens has been great. I thought his breed would be extinct after the lockout, but his season and a half with Pittsburgh and the two in Montreal could be considered the best of his career.
Gill is also the perfect example of why +/- is a completely overblown statistic. In his two seasons with the Canadiens, he's a combined -19. In both their playoff runs, he was a combined -4.
But ask his competition how easy it was to play against him...
5) Even as someone who is granted access to the room, it's hard to fathom how tough the emotional peaks and valleys of a season are. It's such a grind.
It's one thing for these guys to hit the road for six games straight, but it's rarely taken into account that they have lives outside of hockey.
Any person who leaves town for two weeks has things to catch up on when they get home. That can be a lot to handle, especially when you're never expected to lose at home--especially in Montreal.
So, picture a two-week road trip in December that has your team go 0-6 or 1-5. How much longer does that make your year?
6) That's why it's so important for the Canadiens to have players like Hal Gill. As all the players have acknowledged, he does as much for the team off the ice as he does on it.
This much is very clear from my vantage point; my brief and daily interaction with the players.
It's probably clear from yours too...
7) Coming back to Gorges, he too shares some of the intangibles that describe Gill. But the biggest reason Gorges will receive his pay-day: he's fearless, and he'll do anything for a teammate.
And that's not something you would say about him 99% of the time. With Gorges, it's 100%.
8) How much does a healthy year mean to Andrei Markov and the Canadiens? I'd say everything.
I think it's the difference between 6, 7, 8 and home-ice advantage.
I think it's the difference between an active trade deadline day and a passive one for the Habs.
I think it's the difference between a top-10 powerplay and the best powerplay.
Markov, Gorges, Gill and Subban. Pretty exceptional foursome in the East. They may not be the toughest, or the strongest, but they are so well-balanced it's hard to find a top-four that rival them.
9) Looking at the East, there are a couple of foursomes to be feared.
Buffalo: Myers, Leopold, Erhoff, Regehr (most improved).
Boston: Chara, Seidenberg, Boychuk and Corvo (not the most balanced, but they certainly have the nastiness department covered. And Corvo will fit much better than Kaberle did.)
Philly: Pronger, Timmonen, Coburn, Carle (deep, skilled, but not the fastest).
Pittsburgh: Martin, Letang, Michalek, Orpik (easily the most underrated--not just in the East, but perhaps in the league).
Under the radar, Washington: Green, Wideman (edit, forgot about big John Carlson--silly, I know), Schultz, Hamrlik. Don't forget, the Caps finished fourth in GAA, league-wide last season.
10) Habs still have work to do. Penalty kill won't get better with the departures of Halpern, Pyatt and Hamrlik.
One way to bridge the gap: take less penalties.
On average, the Habs had to kill 13.4 penalty minutes/game. That was the tenth highest average in the league last season.
In '09-10, the Habs were the eighth best team in average penalty minutes/game. They came in at 11.4.
Bigger problem last season: They took 363 minor penalties-- only second to Pittsburgh's 374.
P.K. Subban's minor penalty tally on the year: league-leading 42.
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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