Message to Bob Gainey: GET A GOON!

Following Saturday night's 7-4 massacre of the Boston Bruins on home ice, the Montreal Canadiens had plenty to be proud of, but their lack of a quality fighter to defend those star players is evident.

Games against the B's are always intense, leading to a few fights, notably Tom Kostopoulos dropping the mits twice, Andrei Kostitsyn learning a lesson a hard way to the hands of Mark Stuart, and Guillaume Latendresse taking a few swings at the monstrous Zdeno Chara.

Besides Kostitsyn's newfound fondness of dropping the gloves at an unexpected time (just kidding) and Kostopoulos getting slapped with a 1-game suspension for instigating a fight in the final minutes of the games, Latendresse showed Habs managment they need size and they need it now.

Taking on Chara is a big feat, someting your average player wouldn't dare image to attempt in his most twisted dreams, but when the antagonist attempts to concuss Alex Kovalev, who ducked out of the way near the end of the 3rd period along the right wing boads with Chara deliberately trying to make a sandwich out of his head and the glass, and you got a sophomore like Latendresse coming to his defence, it's sending a strong message to Mr Gainey up in his posh pressbox.

GET A GOON!

I'm not a big fan of what I call useless fighters, such as former duds like Aaron Downey and Garth Murray, but rather for the Habs picking up some muscle to defend their star players, in this case Kovalev.

Sure no one really wants to get a piece of Zdeno Chara, but in the end, when a guy like Jeremy Reich, who played a total of 4:10, is sent out onto the ice with a mission to knock down Carey Price, you need to have a goon there to show him who's boss.

GET A GOON!

Pick up Todd Fedoruk, who has just been waived by new co-GM's Brett Hull and Les Jackson in Dallas, to add some punch to the puzzle on what is poised (barring another December 23rd meltdown) to be a fine Canadiens campaign, and perhaps one for the ages.

On a side note, The "Big Bird", Larry Robinson, is getting his number retired tonight by the Habs en route to their centennial 2009 season...congratulations to him!

Until next time with your biased Montreal Canadiens post,

-BBeR

Rumor: Did A Briere - Drury Lockeroom Fight Occur?

First off, I am a Sabres fan, this may look like a Habs blog, but there are many writers on here and I am the Sabres writer, just to get that out of the way so you can know that this isn't biased like some of you may think.

Many of you may have possibly heard rumours of an altercation between Sabres' co-captains Chris Drury and Daniel Briere.
I have been provided information by a source associated with the Sabres that an altercation did occur, but that it occurred during the Sabres - Senators series after the Game 2 loss in Buffalo. It appears to have occurred after the morning skate the following day.
This source has given me positive information on the logo change and has informed me of the alleged agreement between Drury and the Sabres. He has also given me heads up on Sabres trade activity that has borne out through the years including Donald Audette and Danny Briere coming to town.

What I am saying is when he talks I tend to believe it is true.


From what I have been told Daniel Briere was sitting with an unnamed Sabre in the lockeroom talking about possible places he may be playing next season.
At this time Chris Drury and Drew Stafford walked through that area of the room and overheard the conversation.
Apparently there had been some strife over the earlier reports, especially after a Philadelphia press interview with Martin Biron, that Briere has talked openly about leaving previously and that it had a negative effect on the room. When confronted by Drury on the comments Briere, allegedly, made reference to the rumour, which I have previously reported, that Drury had already reached a handshake deal and that he, and the team, were hiding it.
Allegedly, Briere also made a reference that Drury was favored in Buffalo because he was an American and that is why he got all of the credit.

According to my source it escalated from there and some blows, though none damaging, were thrown and they had to be separated by teammates.
The Sabres immediately followed this brush-up with possibly the worst performance by the team all year in Game 3. Interestingly after Briere tied game 2 with video clearly shows Drury skating right by Briere without even congratulating him. also in a off day press conference Joe Corvo of the Senators made reference of how it was tough for the Sabres to focus on the Sens when "they are fighting themselves".

Is it an interesting set of coincidences?

Maybe, maybe not.

The Sabres aren't talking and worked quickly to dispel the rumour around town.
All I know for sure is that the Chemistry and team play the Sabres lived on all year seems to have disappeared.
Is it a divided lockeroom or just a totally superior Ottawa team?

In the meantime, Drury and Briere have had a full fledged love in, especially Briere, about each other since the season ended.
Each can't say enough of how much they still want to play on each others team.
Interestingly, Drury came out and admitted that he and the Sabres had negotiations during the season on an extension.
Briere, on the other hand, was told there would be no negotiations due to policy.
If this is true, at the very least, the Sabres botched the handling of their two leaders and maybe lost their best shot at the cup. Granted, you expect Briere and Drury to conduct themselves as professionals all the time, but when feelings, emotion and money mix, the results are seldom positive.

I will keep an eye on the story and report an further information that arises.

Remember, this is only a rumor.

Ever thought about this...Sean Avery and Chris Neil?

Oh, and sorry for my lack of posting recently, I've been busy.

I was thinking about this last night, as a matter of fact, wouldn't it be interesting if Chris Neil faced off against Sean Avery?

Actually, no, have you realized the similarity between these players.

Their styles of play are both the same, if not nearly identical.
They both can score, although Avery had 20 more points than Neil this season (and most of those came after he was dealt to the Rangers) and are probably the most annoying players any team can face?

Yes, but you'll counter that Avery's more popular.

True, Avery is the more popular one, but consider these career stats.
Avery and Neil had virtually the same number of penalty minutes, and are up there in certain career stats, heck, Neil is +41 and Avery +6!

Sean Avery (NYR) : 322 GP, 50 G, 80 A, 184 P, +6, 913 PIM, 8 GWG, 20 PPG, .077 %
Chris Neil (OTT): 383 GP, 52 G, 52 A, 104 P, +41, 953 PIM, 4 GWG, 12 PPG, .113 %

At a glance, you can see that Avery is the superior offensive player, even if Neil has more career goals.
Avery's the better playmaker, as 30 of his 48 points were assists, 18 of them goals.

Neil and Avery alike, can play on the powerplay and are efficient in making Ryan Smyth like plays by bothering goalies.
Neil actually has nearly 200 less shots than Avery in his career, and he's played 61 more games!
That tells you something else: Avery's been on a scoring line his entire career, especially with the Kings.
Neil's essentially been a 3rd-4th line winger with a surplus of ice-time in the past few seasons, more than a checking player usually gets.

What else does that stat tell you?

The .113% versus Avery's .077% also indicates that Neil has the better shooting percentage, and that he could potentially have done more damage had he shot more than he does now.
But he can't shoot more if he's not a top 6 forward.

Neil and Avery are both players you want on your team, they may have, according to some ignorant fans, cheap-shotted your favourite players or called your goalie names, but that's what you need in the new NHL: an enforcer than can be a top-6 forward with more than just limited physical ability.
Scoring ability counts in the new NHL, and that's why players like Aaron Downey are becoming a rare commodity that teams don't need to bother with.

Oh, and we must not forget their fights so far this year.

Avery has fought 4 times, and has been declared winner 3 of the 4 (he took a nice little beating courtesy of Ian Laperierre and all this courtesy of hockeyfights.com); Neil has been involved in a more controversial situation this year, it came against the Buffalo Sabres when he upped Chris Drury, who had his head turned away at full speed.

Drury, the Sabres' captain, was laying on the ice with blood dripping from his face.
Stafford dropped the gloves and went at it with Neil and there was a whole "Slap-Shot" like scum, with the crop of the fight arriving once Martin Biron and Ray Emery exchanged a few punches.

Neil fought twice against the Canadiens this season, one that you can't really call a fight in which Neil and then-Hab Aaron Downey dropped the gloves and just circled at centre ice, this was early in the year.

Mike Komisarek got into a little scum with Neil as well, but the refs didn't really let them go...too bad, Komi would've kicked some Senators butt!

Oh, but, it may be to Neil's account here that this is unfair, but Avery wins this one for me, even if he wasn't drafted, because he was able to draft certain Elisha Cuthbert into his life.

The Rangers trail the Sabres 2-1, and I have yet to see how Avery will punish the Sabres like he promised, the Sens shut out the Devils yesterday to take a 2-1 lead in their series against New Jersey.

Even if they do meet later on, highly doubtful though (sorry Rangers fans), Neil would never play against Sean Avery, unless Avery wants to give TSN SportsCentre a new topic for their "Top 10" feature.

And to finish this off:

Chris Neil/Sens vs. Drew Stafford/Sabres


Sean Avery vs. Darcy Tucker

Tonight's Sabres-Rangers game should be interesting, as Lindy Ruff (who went overboard at the end of Game 2) promised it will be dirty.

Hope the 'Nucks win, so I can take a lead in my local hockey pool (no, not the blogger one )

Predators played some real hockey last night...

Wow, just wow, if you tuned into TSN to watch the Preds and Sharks like I suggested, you'll have found that it was a great suggestion.

From the opening faceoff, you could feel the tension between Barry Trotz and Ron Wilson, both standing on opposite sides of their team's benches.

This is playoff hockey.

Bonecrushing hits, penalties, power plays and just great team chemistry.

From the start, Dan Marouelli and Kelly Sutherland went to warn Barry Trotz and Ron Wilson about the crap that was going on after the whistle was blown, shoving, basically the Sharks wanted to get the Predators off their game.

And he showed the coaches he wasn't bluffing, and sent off Bill Guerin and Vern Fiddler for "jousting" as Gord Miller called it at the faceoff circle.

Barry Trotz believed the Sharks were looking for payback after the Hartnell-Cheechoo collision.

"You could see from the opening whistle that was their intent," he said.

The San Jose Sharks had a 5 minute powerplay after Alexander Radulov went elbow-first into Steve Bernier along the boards.
Radulov, the young sensation who had scored yet another goal for the Predators earlier in the game and in Game 1(twice), was ejected and awarded a 5 minute major.

At that point, the score was 2-1 Nashville, and the Sharks had a golden opportunity to tie the game, I was almost certain that Patrick Marleau, Joe Thornton, Scott Hannan, Ryane Clowe, Craig Rivet, the one-legged Jonathan Cheechoo and Bill Guerin would put up something with this huge man advantage.

It turns out they didn't.

Amazingly, the Sharks failed to capitalize on a 5 minute powerplay, although, they spent a lot of time in Nashville's zone but it seemed like they just couldn't complete any play, you have Barry Trotz's great coaching and the Preds' defencemen to thank for that.
They didn't leave Ron Wilson's squad any room to maneuver in the high slot and there were no good scoring chances or scrambles around Tomas Vokoun, who, after allowing Craig Rivet to score on his on rebound in the first period, rebounded and made a few fine saves.

And to add insult to injury, Ryan Suter (one of those many defensively-sound Nashvillians) went off for roughing, and the Sharks would have a 2-man advantage for a little under a minute, still enough to cause serious damage to an indisciplined Predators team.
Ron Wilson, realizing that his team wasn't producing anything on the powerplay, called a time out in hope of getting his guys back in the game and setting them up for a goal.
You could read the exasperated coache's lips: "MOVE THE PUCK." is exactly what he shouted to his team, and he was right, the Sharks weren't getting many great chances because they didn't have good control of the puck or where it was going, their passes were often intercepted and their plays seemed pathetic.

As it turns out, the timeout was wasted and the Sharks had just missed out on 6 consecutive minutes of powerplay.

Streaking out of the box was Jordin Tootoo, serving Radulov's penalty, he chipped the puck ahead to JP Dumont, who rushed in along the right wings boards with Tootoo placed perfectly in front of the net.
Craig Rivet did his best to block the pass but it was all for none, as the veteran defenceman fell for Dumont's fake and sniped the puck low glove side on a surprised Evgeni Nabokov, who didn't look like a happy camper after he allowed that 3rd marker.

What really pissed me off was the officials' plain stupidity, late in the second, Bill Guerin comes up behind Peter Forsberg in the neutral zone and pulls him down, Guerin goes off for interference and to Trotz' anger, Forsberg goes off for diving.

He didn't stop yelling for two full minutes, Marouelli told him to stop or he would end up with a penalty too, Forsberg couldn't believe the call and he grudgingly went to the penalty box.

I didn't like the Bill Guerin played, he played dirtily like most of the Sharks players played late last night, he limited his offensive production to zero and he ended up with a whole new rash of penalty minutes, giving the Preds powerplays that they converted once on eight chances.

JP Dumont made it 4-1 when he scored on a pretty passing play on the powerplay.

In the 3rd, especially near the end, things got dirty.

Ryane Clowe scored to make it 4-2 with about 8 minutes remaining and gave the Sharks a little hope of coming back.

And from there on out, the "street brawl" began.

Mike Grier, Ryane Clowe and Scott Hannan each received fighting majors and misconducts near the end of the game, while Smithson, Tootoo and Hartnell received the same.

Ryane Clowe said he wanted to fight Hartnell to "avenge" the hit on Cheechoo.

"I'm sure he knows what he did, obviously, just common sense that somebody is going to stand up for your teammate, and that's what I did," Clowe said. "We stuck together, and that's the main thing."

Barry Trotz thought otherwise and said he Clowe instigated Hartnell to fight.

Ron Wilson said he had no comment after the game, and I don't blame him, Barry Trotz had one nice comment to add.

"We came here to play hockey tonight," Nashville coach Barry Trotz said. "We knew it was an important game, and they turn it into a street brawl."

The series is tied 1-1 and who knows how much better this is going to get!

"I think Colin Campbell has a job, and his job is to review these plays," Joe Thornton said. "I'm sure if he wants us to play this way, we can play this way. It's in his hands, and we'll see what happens."

Habs great Savard speaks out on fighting

''It's 2007, and when I hear (NHL commissioner Gary) Bettman say fighting is part of the game, that's the way people were thinking 30 years ago,'' Savard said. ''I like Bettman, but I'm disappointed to hear that. I didn't expect a comment like that after all those rule changes.
''(The league is) going backward. With the new rules, I really thought we were going forward.'' Savard never accepted the philosophy that hockey has as much to do with intimidation and violence as it does speed and skill.
''I've always been against violence (in the game), against fighting,'' he said. ''Bettman comes out this week and says fighting is part of the game. Well, that depends (on what you want to do with your game. We're the only sport that allows it.'' -TSN

This is what started it all.