“On Remplace des Québécois par des Franco-Ontariens”

* That, my dear friends, are the words of wisdom from CKAC host Jean-Charles Lajoie. Another Quebecois gone. I wish I could say this is a fringe element of the media, but it’s not. CKAC is an extremely popular station. And a lot of people read Rejean Tremblay and Bertrand Raymond, in La Presse and Ruefrontenac.com (formerly Journal de Montreal).True, there is good analysis to be had from Francois Gagnon, Jacques Demers, and Yvon Pedneault, among others, so maybe all is not lost, but I can’t help thinking that slowly, surely, the radicals are taking over.

Eric and I have gone over this territory in our podcasts already – but it bears repeating. Some members of the “pure laine” mainstream media are acting like Sarah Palin / Tea Party extremists. Their narrow agenda is not being met, and therefore, they are acting crazy. How long before Bob Gainey gets a Hitler mustache painted on his picture?

Okay, okay, I’ll calm down. Final word goes to Sean Gordon, whose magnificent post on this subject can be found right here.

* Tonight’s projected lines:

Michael Cammalleri – Tomas Plekanec – Andrei Kostitsyn

Max Pacioretty – Glen Metropolit – Travis Moen

Tom Pyatt – Maxim Lapierre – Ryan White

Sergei Kostitsyn – Kyle Chipchura -James T Wyman.

Notice something? Due to injuries (Pouliot is indeed injured), the Habs have a 2nd line, a 4th line, and basically, two Hamilton lines. Oh, and Spacek is out too! Yikes!!

* Brother Sergei: I am very curious to see how SK-74 responds to his call up. Will he sulk at the lack of playing time, or be a help to his big brother and the rest of his team? Something tells me Bob and Jacques did not want to call up Sergei, but were leftwithout any other realistic options. I hope Sergei takes this golden opportunity and skates with it. He certainly has the talent.

* Carey Price: If he starts tonight, does Halak start tomorrow? Interesting question: Does Jacques feel he has proved his point with Carey, or is this a simple matter of coach riding the hot hand? Tune in later for the answer.

*Fearless prediction: Habs 3, Columbus 2.