Habs notes: Kovalev will hear "Vertigo" again tonight...

[...] that is...if the Canadiens do score tonight as they host the Toronto Maple Leafs in another battle for the ages...

Alex Kovalev will indeed play tonight against the Toronto Maple Leafs as the Canadiens host T.O at the Bell Centre according to RDS.

Kovalev has been suffering from vertigo which has caused him to miss one week of action, but there's no telling how much longer it will plague him.

Kovalev did not fly to Pittsburgh on Thursday night and instead remained in Montreal, where he practiced hard and alone on the Bell Centre ice.

The Kommander has been in a funk all season and he will hopefully regain consistency and beging helping the Canadiens as they slowly fall out of playoff contention.

Rookie Jaroslav Halak, in spite of my willingness to give Michael Leighton a chance, will get the nod in goal as he hopes to put an end to the Canadiens' recent embarrassing goaltending situation.

Guy Carbonneau's response to a reporter of this decision was: "Do I really have a choice?"
Good answer Guy, it's not as if you have a choice, you're stuck with a bunch of no-shows for goalies, particularly David Aebsicher, blech.

• Because of the three-headed monster of David Aebischer, Jaroslav Halak and Michael Leighton, forced me to look this up...
  

As always, this is...

The story never ends for Kovalev...

Alex Kovalev (above) is suffering from vertigo.

Barely 2 weeks after the Russian radio saga, in which he alledgedly said "bad things" about his teammates, coach and certain players in particular, Alex Kovalev's still got another chapter in his long book to write:

"Vertigo"

Vertigo, from U2, is also the Canadiens' goal song in the Bell Centre, and it is also what Kovalev is suffering from. It's not something you can just brush off like a cold.

Kovalev said he got up in the middle of the night and all was spinning and he was "scared".
He missed Tuesday's game against the Islanders in which the Habs won 5-3 with "diziness" and that it was flu-related.

And diziness is what it is, vertigo has been known to end many players careers including most recently, ex-Canadiens goaltender Jeff Hackett in 2004, however, what Kovalev has is a light form of vertigo and it is not as serious as Hackett's but he still calls it "career-threatening"

According to a recent TSN report, Kovalev is "feeling better" and that he does not wish this upon anyone. He says his vertigo makes him face a labyrinth and that it worries him.

Oh god, please no Kovy!

He must be getting better as he did skate alone yesterday and drove his car to the Bell Centre.

Good luck Alex!
He is also questionable for tomorrow's game in Pittsburgh and it will be determined today whether or not he takes the trip there.

Mike Ribeiro sex scandal got him traded from Montreal?

From Francois Gagnon's blog, a respected Montreal journalist, translated from French.

When Mike Ribeiro made a 'dishonest' (probably sex) proposal to a girl of a member of the upper staff of the Canadiens, he was traded away. In his case, it was perhaps the last straw... But that doens't explain why the the Canadiens gave away their second line center for a defenceman who is not able to play regularly with a team desperate on defense...

Very interesting, though, a little exaggerated I find. No way Ribeiro was traded only for that, if he even was or maybe this is just a load of crap, but Ribeiro's soft play during the previous season, his inconsitency and his bad attitude cost him his job in Montreal. Gagnon is also exaggerating about the trade, as Montreal was lucky to get a player in return for Ribeiro, rather than a draft choice. Janne Niinimaa may not be the defenceman he was in New York, Philadelphia and Edmonton with Dallas, but Bob Gainey knew what he was doing.
He was dumping a whining, underachieving and fan-frustrating forward in exchange for a veteran defenceman, who's maybe lost his hockey sense after a potentialy drastic surgery he endured.

But anyhow, Janne Niinimaa is a good guy, and when he plays, he tries his best; I'm not saying he's played well this year, far from that, but he's helped Montreal when needed during injuries to Mathieu Dandenault, Francis Bouillon, and Andrei Markov.
The bottom line is: Janne Niinimaa is a different player than Mike Ribeiro; he tries hard, something Ribeiro NEVER did, and he's a good guy in the lockeroom, certainly not Ribeiro's style either.

I'm not convinced that's what happened though...

Bleu, Blanc et Rouge.