For the second year in a row, the Canadiens came out with a strong start and jumped up the standings, as high as top 5 in the league for a short while. Then, same as last year, the “Slump”.
Why do we seem so strong at firsts and then crumble?
Some people think we don’t have the right players to win. I don’t. Clearly, we have proven more than a few times that we can compete against the best teams in the league. What we lack, though, in my opinion, is adjustability and long-run strategy.
To illustrate my point, let me use a boxing analogy. If you use the same punch over and over on a punching bag, it will not react and eventually there will be a dent in the punching bag. If you use the same punching combos in boxing against another experienced boxer, he will see your pattern and quickly find the way to hit you. Our team is like a strong boxer, that keeps hitting in the same spot for 12 rounds against a human opponent. It might work the first round, but to hope the same combos work for 12 rounds is foolish. That’s why there’s a coach in each corner, to see clearly what’s going on and give advice on how to adapt and win the fight. Without the coach, the boxer might miss subtle patterns and subtle flaws of his opponent and knowing how to work on those might help him win the fight.
I think what is happening in our case, since the last two years is that we are like a boxer without a coach. We are stuck with a one-system, one strategy minded coach. If we say, hypothetically, that overall, the coach can have an impact (positive or negative) on his team’s success between 10-20% (surely debatable, but whatever). Looking back to many of our losses, where we lost by only small margins, I think it is fair to say that some of those losses could have been avoided by the coach’s influence on the game. Look how Lindy Ruff turned the situation around. It took time, but somehow his team got back on track. Even though Boston still sucks, Julien had some effect on the team, and they are doing better this year with the same roster. I could go on with examples like this.
The Canadiens have very talented players. But after a while (i.e. 20-30 games) most other good teams figure out the flaws and strengths of other teams and adapt their play according to their capabilities, while we are stuck to the narrow-minded, frustrating Carbonneau system (”just outskate them” doesn’t work 82 games - Kostopolous and Begin can skate around all they want…). We become simply outcoached. Just look at it, most of the games we have a chance to win, and except a few losses like in New Jersey, we lose by a small margin of 1 or 2 goals.
In other cities coaches pull out their goalies, give more or less ice time to the right elements according to situation, adapt the system, call a timeout or pull up a goalie to change momentum, etc. Clearly a coach that gives 10-12 mins per game to his 3rd-4th line while we lack scoring upfront, who puts defensemen (Breez-By) or players (Kostopolous) known to make turnovers when we lead by 1 at the end of the game, doesn’t call timeouts, is lost. Overall, I agree with people who say Carbo has improved since last year, but has he yet improved enough to make an impact and to keep his team’s slumps from overextending? That’s what we’ll see in the next year. He did improve, but this is the NHL, not a kindergarden for rookie coaches, so maybe Gainey’s patience with Carbo shouldn’t be eternal. Boivin’s patience with Gainey shouldn’t be too long, as well as Gillet’s patience with all of the above. But that’s just me having fantasies again. Gillett is busy cheering for his soccer team, Boivin is eating poutine with (or at?) Lafleur’s, Gainey is…nobody knows what the hell he is doing and Carbo is just doing what he excels at doing, crying and looking pissed during post-game conferences.
Whatever… Any thoughts? Or anyone know a good hitman for hire?
[Topic via HFBoards.com]
Digg - StumbleUpon - Reddit - Del.icio.us - Technorati - Email - Etc...
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
First Option:
Call up Lapierre to solidify, energize and make your fourth line really tough to play against..
Higgins / Koivu / Latendresse
Kostitsyn / Plekanec / Kovalev
Begin / Chipchura / Ryder
Kostopoulos / Lapierre / Dandeneault
Big guys throwing their bodys around making the other teams feel their presence
Second Option:
You call up your best forward from Hamilton to get a more offensive punch
Higgins / Koivu / Kovalev
Latendresse / Plekanec / Ryder
A.Kostitsyn / Grabovski / S.Kostitsyn
Kostopoulos / Chipchura / Dandeneault
Begin get the short end of the stick, but that’s the law of the jungle…
[Idea via HFBoards.com]
Digg - StumbleUpon - Reddit - Del.icio.us - Technorati - Email - Etc...
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
Jacques Demers stated on RDS that part of the solution is to “replace veterans that have been here long, and haven’t made the team better.” (Article at RDS.ca)
He said he wouldn’t name any players, and that we can draw our own conclusions.
As far as I’m concerned, Demers is talking about Koivu… mainly…
The Breakdown:
“The ones who have been here long”
I mean, pretty much everybody on this team is quite new… Koivu has been here 12 years. Bouillon follows with 8 years… so maybe he would include him as well… who knows… Markov has been here 7 years but made the team better, and got better along the way. Brisebois has been here 15 years with an exodus to Colorado… maybe he was adding him to the mix, but really, he has no trade value.
“The rest”
Kovalev has been here 4 years which is not long, just had 2 points and was +1 in the game prior to his article.
Everybody else has been here 4 years or less.
Where it becomes more obvious that he’s pointing the finger at Koivu… Demers says that our problem is with the offense, and that our teams first need is an offensive center that could help Ryder produce!
Koivu is currently in a slump… he has 6 points in 14 games, and is -7. He went through something similar last year… when he went for 6 points in 20 games, and was -13…. this really hurts the team, as he is supposed to be our leader, and first line center…
Maybe Demers is right… Koivu needs to get Ryder and the players around him scoring… and maybe Koivu isn’t designed for the new NHL and struggles with the long and draining season.
OR maybe Demers is a giant illiterate loudmouth (Article - Jacques Demers admits he’s illiterate) … Lets us know what you think.
[Topicvia HFBoards.com]
Digg - StumbleUpon - Reddit - Del.icio.us - Technorati - Email - Etc...
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
[Stats and Topic via NHLTopShelf.com]
We are now a few years removed from the lockout, what is the comparison of salaries at the end of the 2003/04 season as compared to today’s projected 2006/07 salaries?
2003/04 - 1.33 Billion approx
2007/08 - 1.38 Billion approx (Projected)
Top 10 spending teams in 2003/04:
Detroit Red Wings - $ 77,856,109
New York Rangers - $ 76,488,716
Dallas Stars - $ 68,578,885
Philadelphia Flyers - $ 68,175,247
Colorado Avalanche - $ 63,382,458
Toronto Maple Leafs - $ 62,458,140
St. Louis Blues - $ 61,675,000
Los Angeles Kings - $ 53,833,800
Anaheim Ducks - $ 53,296,750
Washington Capitals - $ 50,895,750
Top 10 lowest spending teams in 2003/04:
Tampa Bay Lightning - $ 34,065,379
Columbus Blue Jackets - $ 34,000,000
Edmonton Oilers - $ 33,375,000
Buffalo Sabres - $ 32,954,250
Chicago Blackhawks - $ 30,867,502
Atlanta Thrashers - $ 28,547,500
Minnesota Wild - $ 27,200,500
Florida Panthers - $ 26,127,500
Pittsburgh Penguins - $ 23,400,000
Nashville Predators - $ 21,932,500
2007/08 projected salary pay-outs:
Anaheim - 50,590,926
Atlanta - 45,375,514
Boston - 49,653,488
Buffalo - 46,528,166
Carolina - 46,671,236
Columbus - 42,542,261
Calgary - 48,234,022
Chicago - 49,301,509
Colorado - 45,820,275
Dallas - 48,393,005
Detroit - 47,284,439
Edmonton - 48,760,704
Florida - 44,817,082
Los Angeles - 45,344,111
Minnesota - 48,776,075
Montreal - 47,805,212
New Jersey - 47,168,018
Nashville - 35,433,900
NY Islanders - 42,444,381
NY Rangers - 51,387,965
Ottawa - 47,265,033
Philadelphia - 49,979,398
Phoenix - 36,606,243
Pittsburgh - 42,214,644
San Jose - 42,506,602
St. Louis - 49,899,861
Tampa Bay - 45,492,268
Toronto - 50,009,103 <—– That’s odd, they still suck.
Vancouver - 48,228,280
Washington - 39,300,501
Here are the 50 highest paid NHLers in 2003/04:
Forsberg - $11,000,000.00
Jagr - $11,000,000.00
Fedorov - $10,000,000.00
P. Bure - $10,000,000.00
Lidstrom - $10,000,000.00
Tkachuk - $10,000,000.00
Sakic - $9,880,939.00
Pronger - $9,500,000.00
Blake - $9,326,519.00
LeClair - $9,000,000.00
Modano, - $9,000,000.00
Sundin - $9,000,000.00
Guerin - $8,866,445.31
Holik - $8,850,000.00
Weight - $8,500,000.00
Yashin - $8,400,000.00
Joseph - $8,000,000.00
Allison - $8,000,000.00
Turgeon - $7,500,000.00
Iginla - $7,500,000.00
Roenick - $7,500,000.00
Palffy - $7,000,000.00
Belfour - $7,000,000.00
Stevens - $6,916,747.25
Brodeur - $6,891,103.13
Bertuzzi -$6,800,000.00
Kovalev - $6,600,000.00
Leetch - $6,600,000.00
Demitra - $6,500,000.00
Prospal - $6,500,000.00
Nolan - $6,500,000.00
Shanahan - $6,500,000.00
Kolzig - $6,250,000.00
MacInnis - $6,000,000.00
Hasek - $6,000,000.00
Zubov - $6,000,000.00
Chelios - $5,936,286.00
Yzerman - $5,849,823.00
Amonte - $5,846,914.00
Selanne - $5,800,000.00
Thornton - $5,500,000.00
Theodore - $5,500,000.00 <—– Makes me laugh.
Ozolinsh - $5,500,000.00
Lapointe - $5,500,000.00
Mogilny - $5,500,000.00
Lemieux - $5,250,000.00
Naslund - $5,225,000.00
Alfredsson - $5,050,000.00
Lang - $5,000,000.00
Hatcher - $5,000,000.00
Hull - $5,000,000.00
Primeau - $5,000,000.00
Brind’Amour - $5,000,000.00
Recchi - $5,000,000.00
Digg - StumbleUpon - Reddit - Del.icio.us - Technorati - Email - Etc...
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
