My reactions to free agent signings, expressed using stills from Arrested Development

This is how I felt about Jonathan Ericsson re-signing with the Wings, 

after so many people told me he'd make a great Hab:

This is how I felt about Benoit Pouliot signing with the Boston Bruins:

This is how I felt about Brock Trotter returning to

 the Canadiens organization after a year in the KHL:

This is how I felt upon learning that Erik Cole became a Canadien:

This is how I felt about Peter Budaj becoming

 the Habs' new backup goalie:

This is how I felt about the Kings trading Simmonds and Schenn

 to the Flyers for Mike Richards:

This is how I felt when Andrei Markov signed a new contract:

This is how I felt about J.T. Wyman signing with the Lightning:

And I think this expresses Matt D'Agostini staying in St. Louis:

Plus/Minus: Second verse, same as the first

The Canadiens have played their first home game. It's officially too late for your pre-opener Bell Centre shopping trip. (I had to make my trip all by myself for the first time ever this year. I was indecisive and trying to stick to a budget. It wasn't my finest hour.)
It was a pretty good week for the team. Most of them, that is. I can't necessarily say the same for people who do not play for the Montreal Canadiens.


PLUS

+ This is a very general plus: winning. 5 out of a potential 6 points is not too shabby.
+ Is this the resurgence of Andrei Kostitsyn? Or does he have a sense of humour, and wanted to take advantage of the "Frère Andrei" puns?
+ Carey Price. I happened to see someone I know over the weekend who is a huge (and I mean huge) Price-hater. He didn't have anything to say about the goalie. Thank you so much for shutting him up, Carey. It means more to me than I can say.
+ The Carey Price-PK Subban postgame celebration. Someone on Youtube dubbed it a "triple low 5" which makes sense. I like it.
+ It was a very simple introduction, nothing really out of the ordinary for Montreal, but I really liked the home opener ceremony. It may not have been as regal as the LA Kings' home opener ceremony, for instance, but the Bell Centre treats every game like it's a big deal.
+ Good to hear that former Habs, Glen Metropolit and Matt D'Agostini, are putting up points for their new teams.


MINUS

FAIL

- The Lightning beat the Canadiens during their home opener, but get pummeled by the Panthers? The PANTHERS, really? Why couldn't Dan Ellis have been in net on Wednesday night?
- The Buffalo Sabres really pulled out all the stops for their 40th anniversary! And their fans were excited beyond belief!
- The men on RDS commenting on the relative lameness of the Sabres' anniversary celebration. Those of us at home, who are not on camera, can say whatever we want. If you're on TV, it might be nice to show just an ounce of professionalism.
- 3 The Canadiens organization told us they had three big announcements, but none of them are really that great.
First, fans can vote for the game's three stars, which is a nice initiative, but incredibly flawed.
Second, they launch a smartphone app, which is supposed to be news, even though pretty much anyone who's anyone already has an app on the market. Not to mention that it's not compatible with many smartphones - Android is the world's top-selling smartphone operating system, and yet the app is only compatible with two Android phones. TWO. Neither of which is the phone that both Czechtacular and I are using. But whatever, you get all the news (and more!) by following Dave Stubbs and All Habs on Twitter.
Third, a Bell exclusive Canadiens reality show. A few years ago, I might have thought this was a good idea. But I know better now. Nearly everyone in Montreal will recognize their favourite Canadien if they see him on the street or out shopping. We live in one of the biggest NHL cities. A reality show seems superfluous. If this show had never been filmed, I'd be okay with that. (I might watch it, but I probably won't enjoy it.)

There's no Canadiens game until Wednesday Thursday. What on earth will I talk about on Tuesday night's Game Points?
No, fate, that was not a challenge.

Plus/Minus: about a team that's got more energy than I do

This Plus/Minus is a little bit late and a little bit low-fi, and you readers deserve much better than that, but LA happened, then Continental Airlines happened with their red-eye flights and insanely boring inflight movie that bored me nearly to the point of sleep (but not quite, unfortunately), then jetlag happened, then sleep-deprived 18-hour days including work and workouts happened, then daylight savings time happened, costing me more sleep, and now I'm quite sure I have a cold.
So be forewarned, there are no colours, and I haven't proofread. It's like improv! Unscripted! Like Twitter, only longer!
... Nope, there's no way to make it sound fun. Please don't hate me.


PLUS

I had no choice but to yoink this from Habs I/O, as it's just the cutest thing ever aside from kittens

+ 6: Habs winning = happy Montreal.

+ to the gentleman who coined "KilimanJaro": my favourite pun right now.

+ to the Bell Centre DJ's sense of humour: playing the Tragically Hip's "Courage" as injured Tomas Plekanec made his way off the ice during the Tampa game... somehow, the lyrics "It couldn't come at a worse time" seemed to fit pretty well.

+ Andrei Markov, in general.

+ For the next week or so, I say we call #31 "Big Haircut." I'm so happy I could cry.

+ Kathryn Bigelow has finally proven, once and for all, that ladies can play with the big boys. And that's what this blog is about: reminding people that girls kick ass. (Also, hockey.) So suck it, James Cameron. (I'm putting a minus within this plus for Alec Baldwin, who I'm a huge fan of, but if he really for some reason felt the need to congratulate Kathryn Bigelow by smacking her ass, he could've at least waited until the telecast ended.)

MINUS

- I usually hate people who whine after a player gets traded, but there aren't as many people lamenting Matt D'Agostini as there should be, so here's my two cents: I'm going to miss 36 because his trade (to the Blues, no less, one of the more forgettable teams in the league, no?) marks another step in the dissolution of a boys club that I happened to love. Dags, Kyle Chipchura, Greg Stewart, and Carey Price won the Calder Cup together and brought some much-needed rookie energy to the Habs last season and the year before. They were all good friends off the ice, and the fact that they're the same age as me made them seem relatable, I guess kind of like the way that francophones like seeing Habs that are quebecois pure laine. They were a little group that I could root for within my favourite team, and while I don't like it when teams are broken up into cliques that eventually lead to conflicts, it was kind of nice to have a little core of guys that I could relate to, that would've been at my elementary school if we were all born in the same city. But now that little group is gone, leaving only Carey. Don't get me wrong, both he and I love the players that are on the Habs' roster right now, but it's not quite the same as it used to be for me. (Not to mention that people complained about D'Agostini's productivity this season, somehow forgetting that he was gone for over a month and suffered a pretty serious concussion... everyone remembers that Andrei Kostitsyn wasn't so dynamite after his head injury last season, and everyone knows how he's doing now, a year later. So if D'Agostini happens to tear it up next season in St. Louis, I'll hate to say I told you so.)

- Did Maxim Lapierre really deserve a four-game suspension for his hit? It warranted punishment, definitely, but four games seems like an awful lot when compared to other nasty hits and their accompanying sanctions. Looking at you, Aaron Ward. And you, Mike Richards, who almost killed a dude (but I guess a lifetime of playing for the Flyers is punishment enough). Sure, Ovechkin got punished for a hit that turned out to be a lot more damaging than he meant to, but it's just further proof that

- To the wonderfully classy and intelligent gentlemen who showed up to the Oilers game in blackface and Afro wigs, with "Subbanator" written on their jerseys. Words cannot describe their stupidity, and I'm glad I'm not the only person who thinks they need to wear blackface a little more often so than passersby can throw eggs and other objects at them. (Props to Mike Boone for this gem: "Either bar those schmucks from the building or rename it the Jolson Centre.")

- What's with that suit jacket, Mike Cammalleri?

Blood in the water: Game Preview 3-4-10

It's no secret that the Sharks have been true to to their name this season. Well. Pretty close to it, anyway. Sitting at 89 points in 63 games, they reign over the sea of the Western Conference with only the Chicago Blackhawks in their way of top seed (same amount of points, but Chicago has two more wins). Not to mention they have about half of Team Canada's gold-medal winning roster in their ranks. The Canadiens, in addition to their usual western roadtrip habits, have not been able to win at the hp pavilion this decade (may I just take this opportunity to point out that a 21 year old Marco Sturm was in that November 23rd, 1999 game).

I had to.

However, both teams are 5-4-1 in their last ten games and there are no wild cards at play since neither team made changes (aside from Matt D'Agostini's departure, good luck, Dags) at yesterday's trade deadline. If there was a time for our beloved Tricolore to pull out a surprise win, tonight's matchup would be it.

The two teams last met a year ago, and Jaroslav Halak stood on his head as the Canadiens took the Bell Centre meeting 3-2. No word on a starting goaltender as of yet, but indicators might point to Carey Price making a second straight appearance as he wasn't too shabby in the 4-1 win against Boston on Tuesday and Halak is still recovering from his Olympics.

Bigger leads are better against the Sharks, as they nearly pulled out a win (or at least a point) against New Jersey after being down 4-0, a.k.a. defensive hockey won't cut it here tonight.

Some Jaws-related pun that I can't think of at the moment

• Ottawa native Dan Boyle is a sneaky little playmaking defenseman, responsible for 12 points, mostly assists (but you know he can score), against the Canadiens over the course of his career.
• Russian backstop Evgeni Nabokov is looking to rebound from the last two weeks he spent in Vancouver. Sharks' coach Todd McLellan was recently quoted as saying the team's confidence in their goaltender hasn't faltered, and you can bet he'll be ready to prove them right.
• Devin Setoguchi manned the near-comeback against New Jersey with two goals.
• In the "predicting who will score for Team Canada" mission I inadvertently gave myself, Dany Heatley was always the one who kept me from being right 100% of the time (I had a ridiculous accuracy rate going for the round robin).
• Of course there's also Jumbo Joe Thornton, but don't forget little Joe Pavelski either.
• At this rate, there should probably be a bullet point for the entire team.

My contribution for this week

Another headline-worthy tidbit of today after Brian Burke put Sunday Morning Trade Apocalypse 101 in session is that Matt D'Agostini is the latest user of the tag "Hamilton-Montreal transit".



My suspicions point to Guy Boucher's magic (with pretty mixed feelings on not being the only one using that phrase anymore). No numbers can tell enough of a story from just a three-game stay, but if the cliche of injury to one turning into opportunity for another has to be used at all I can't really think of a more relevant example.

Things I learned during tonight's game

Apparently Martin St. Louis and Vincent Lecavalier were NOT announced as part of the Team Canada roster today. Did you know? I would have had no idea if it weren't for Jacques Demers telling me every two seconds. Because Joel Bouchard didn't mention it, and neither did any of the other guys on RDS, and there was no mention of it on Info Sports. And it surely won't be in any French newspapers tomorrow.
It's a snub so disappointing that not even Tampa Bay's ice girls were able to dance with conviction, acting as if they were useless, overstyled human Barbie dolls with the most pointless job in the universe.

He's clearly an excellent dresser! His knit cardigan skills would be much more useful in international sports competition than Joe Thornton's lousy goal-scoring.

Vinny's exclusion from Team Canada was clearly a bigger story than the unfortunate exclusion of Montreal Canadien Mike Cammalleri, and obviously more important than the fact that this season's star Tomas Plekanec will be helping out Team Czech in a big way.

(He also helped the Habs a bit tonight, but his OT game-winner will be overlooked quickly as soon as someone thinks of another French guy who's not going to the Olympics.)

No love from RDS for the guys who actually play in this province, but I feel for Cammy and Hamrlik and Spacek, who probably would have made great additions to their national teams but them's the breaks I guess. They'll get two weeks off to train on their own, with less risk of injury. It's not much of a reward, I know.

As for the game itself, because yes, there was a game today, which St. Louis and Lecavalier apparently played in between tirades by angry journalists:
I'm very, very happy to have Brian Gionta back, and Matt D'Agostini's efforts merit a mention. He's been getting a lot of grief lately for not producing since his return from injury but he had some good shots on goal tonight, as did Benoit Pouliot.

Ready to Rumble? Game Preview 12-1-09

(photo: habsinsideout.com)

Still not used to the fact that this is happening on a Tuesday. Luckily (or not), the Habs have had their rest since Saturday night's shootout loss against the Caps, whereas the Leafs are on the mend after a 3-0 loss against the Sabres last night. (Preview inside a preview: The Habs will visit those same Sabres for a head-to-head Thursday night, just before the much-awaited 100th anniversary game).

It's the third game between the two teams this season--the second at the Bell Centre. Both games were won by the Habs... in extra time. Scott Gomez and Matt D'Agostini return tonight while Carey Price gets his 9th start in a row--also count on seeing another familiar face on the other side, as Mike Komisarek plays in his second game since his recent injury.

Time for bullet points

• Niklas Hagman. Seriously. He may not like Slayer, but he's just as scary with 13 goals of 17 points this season. He also has one goal for every three shots in his last five games.
• Alexei Ponikarovsky has four points in the last two games.
• Doomed-to-be-division-rival Phil Kessel always likes to mix things up against the Habs.
• And how about those ex-Habs? Komisarek may have jumped to the position of public enemy number one, but let's not forget that Mikhail Grabovski is just as dangerous. In the most ironic fashion, it's been the guys who used to wear Bleu-Blanc-Rouge that have propelled the Habs-Leafs rivalry back into what it should be...
  

Plus Minus: Tricks and treats

Another week of taking the good with the bad, of getting chased after by Scary New Komo but beating his team in the end, of being terrified that Jacques Martin knows so much foul language but knowing that he uses it for our own good.

(homemade screencap by my co-blogger, whose name explains why she made it)

PLUS

+ Roman Hamrlik had a heck of a week, and we like it when he has good weeks. Being credited with that goal against the Leafs and then reacting like he just won a million dollars on Christmas would have been enough for a plus. And then I remembered his game-winning goal from Monday (what? it was a long time ago) and yeah, we should pretty much buy him a cake or something.

+ Cammalleri, Gomez, and Halak saving the Leafs game in a shootout.

+ Dave Stubbs, for including multiple Jay-Z references in an article this weekend. I could have only hoped to write something as creative (if only because my Halloween puns got awfully tired, but don't worry, that time of year is over).

+ Our friend Ava wrote a great blog post on the language issue and how the francophone community is relating it to the NHL - it's funny, passionate, and level-headed, unlike many people arguing in this debate. (You'll have to scroll down a little for "La langue francaise & le CH") Oh, and she also designed the wicked title graphic you see before you, so yeah, we owe her a lot.

MINUS

- Thanks, Sidney Crosby. (That was sarcasm, by the way.)

- 2 for injuries to Matt D'Agostini and apparently as of today Hal Gill (say what you want about that one, but I for one am not happy about losing another player, especially on D). Also Georges Laraque's back is acting up again, and if those vertebrae were a person I'd yell at them.

- I may have just mentioned the D'Agostini injury, but Andrew Ladd still sucks for hitting him and I'm giving him a minus in lieu of a verbal thrashing, and he only gets a hypothetical verbal thrashing because he's bigger than me and I can't throw a good punch.

I'm not a girly girl, but a fashion plus/minus is in order:

+ to the guy in Chicago who went to the game in his Naslund sweater, clearly a cherished childhood item that he squeezed into out of love for the game... and maybe its too-short sleeves.

- to Alain Crete for the tan suede jacket which looks alright, I guess, on L'Antichambre, but which czechtacular and I decided is just a bit too heinous for any kind of serious sports journalism.

And in closing, here's hoping that tomorrow's game against the Thrashers is another nailbiter (even though it's up against the premiere of V, which sci-fi fans have only been talking about for eons) because my sister gets to go to the game... no, she's not bringing me, but that's okay. (She's getting her revenge because I didn't let her come to last year's Habs-Flames shoutfest with my friends she doesn't regularly speak to.)

Two games in two days? Spooky...

The Habs were in Chicago last night, and they play again tonight. (Something tells me that Joel Bouchard will talk into the camera tonight as if it's the team and tell the players to eat a powerbar. But it's Halloween, so I say chocolate is acceptable.) Last night's game was exciting at times, and if the Habs can keep their energy level up I think that being on home ice against the Leafs might make the difference and win this game. (Also because the Leafs suck, obviously.)

On to last night's game. I'm starting to worry a little bit about games on the road, to be honest. I know that in part it might just be because Pittsburgh and Chicago are solid teams who didn't undergo as many roster changes as we have lately, so we got outplayed, but I'm still a little worried about whether we can keep things together.

That being said, last night's game was a big one for the younger players. Kyle Chipchura continued his trend of improved play. He's been playing with a lot of heart lately... now if only one of those shots could actually get in the net and shut everyone up about him. (Also thank you for getting into a fight and sticking up for your boy.) Max Pacioretty played one of his best games of the season so far. Guillaume Latendresse also had a decent game.

Goaltending was pretty good, and I'm not the only one who thinks so. And thus, I'd like to take this opportunity to say something in case there are still people who need this to be crystal clear: Carey Price does not suck. Sometimes athletes have bad games, yes. But they make it to the major leagues because they don't suck. I can go on, but I won't because it's not worth it.

And finally we get to Matt D'Agostini, who suffered a pretty disgusting hit to the head early in the game, didn't return to the ice, probably has a concussion, and that's all I know. Dear Chicago: You just lost YOUR CAPTAIN to a malicious head shot. Wouldn't that make you more familiar with what happens to a player after a hit like that, and how much the world hates the moron who hit him? No? Okay, then, Andrew Ladd, congratulations. You're an idiot. Thanks for injuring another one of our players, you know, because we can afford it. We have many other words for you, so if you'd like to know where we think you should go, contact us and we'll gladly give you a piece of our minds.

(Then to add insult to injury, Chicago won 3-2, meaning that we had to hear the world's most annoying goal song three times in one night. Good luck getting it out of your head.)

In any case, here's hoping that the team got enough rest since last night, since Mike Komisarek apparently expects to get booed (he's not a moron, you know) and we're guessing that losing to his old team a month ago has only made him angrier.

Tonight also marks the return of the old-school striped jerseys, which look a little dizzying on TV but would make awesome T-shirts, so get on it, merchandise people.

And finally, your bloggers would like to extend the biggest of Happy Birthdays to Tomas Plekanec!