Ooh, baby, the puck has dropped: The Habs went 1-1 in their first week, losing a squeaker in Toronto before pulling out a comeback in Pittsburgh. They were missing key players, including sniper extraordinaire Mike “Ferrari” Cammalleri, but there’s lots to be happy about, like the solid play of Carey Price. Eric, Pat and Tal experiment with a new and improved format for the latest podcast. We discuss our take on les Merveilleux’ play so far and give great nicknames to some of our favorites. We agree the team needs to score more goals but can’t agree on how. One thing’s for sure, we love the play of PK “Prime Time” Subban – no matter what Don Cherry says.
Ah training camp. The one time in the hockey season where the individual performances are actually more important than the final score. It’s in that spirit that we’ve come together once more to record another Habs podcast.
Just an hour before Pierre Gauthier and Jacques Martin made their first round of cuts, the three sages (Pat, Eric, and Tal) came together to discuss what they have seen so far and what they expect in the near future. In typical Tal fashion, Aaron Palushaj was cut by the Habs barely an hour after T. Pinch predicted he would push for a final roster spot. So you might want to ignore his advice the next time you play the stock market.
Nevertheless, this pre-season has already been ripe with intrigue. So just two weeks before opening night, les boys come together with plenty of discussion and a whole lot of booing. And not all of it for Carey Price.
It’s about that time, people. That post-Labor Day period when anyone with a pair of shinpads suddenly starts chiming in with their prediction for what will happen in the upcoming NHL season. And why should we be any different?
Predicting what the Habs would ultimately do last season was next to impossible. Especially with half a roster’s worth of new players coming into le Centre Bell. This year should be less difficult to predict, but no less intriguing. With wunderboy Carey Price now entrenched as the team’s number-one keeper, the season could hinge on the play of one of the most-hyped players in franchise history. Throw in the unknown intangibles surrounding young players like Lars Eller, PK Subban, and Dustin Boyd and the 2010-11 season has all kinds of intrigue.
As usual, each of the three gentlemen behind the latest HabsRadio podcast have divergent opinions on where les Habitants will end up this season. Listen to their thoughts on the season and be sure to chime in with your own thoughts on how les boys in bleu, blanc, et rouge do this season.
For our first official Playoff Podcast, we turn up the intensity a few notches and are pretty much at each other’s throats for most of the show. You gotta hear it to believe it. Somehow amidst the fire, we manage to delve into how the Habs lost control of the series so suddenly, who starts in nets for game 4, and who starts on D: O’Byrne, Bergeron, or … Subban?
* Great and SUSTAINED forechecking, greatly assisted by…
* Hamrlik, Markov and Spacek joining the rush. I was surprised by this, seeing how conservative Coach likes to play things, but those three were VERY aggressive in New Jersey’s zone, setting up passes, getting to the net and almost acting like a 4th forward. And they skated back HARD at the first sign of trouble. Whatever mistakes they did make (and there were a few), were committed in their own end.
* Gomez played what seemed like 56 minutes, and boy was he on mission.
* Halak returned with a solid start, making lightening-quick saves when a Devil was left open in front (though this win was a total team effort, everyone credited Halak with the win – interesting, no?)
Les Boys deserved this one. And for a change, coach’s ad-nauseam mantra of pock possession was on full display.
Pleky, Cammi, Gionta and Gomez (and Metro) are the only guys scoring. Here are the forwards who aren’t: AK-46, Latendresse, Lapierre, Pacioretty, D’Agostini (before the hit), and for good measure, brother Sergei.
Notice something? NONE of the forwards from last year are playing well this year except the veterans, Pleky and Metro. So why aren’t they performing?
Let’s look at what our slumping forwards have in common: Good size, speed, experience on a variety of lines….but MOST importantly I think…all are 24 and under (very young), all of them were drafted by the Habs to play a certain way, their head coaches were basically only Don Lever or Guy Carbonneau and beloved Saku was their captain.
None of that is true anymore. Now it’s a new system. New coach. New players. New linemates. No captain.
Taking all this into account, of course the young guys are going to have more trouble adjusting than the old guys. Plus, Jacques Martin is a perfectionist. He gets upset when he doesn’t get what he wants and starts frantically switching lines – this too will be tougher on the young guys.
The young folks are suffering from career-low confidence right now. We would love for them to be pros, to suck it up and grow a thicker skin, but it seems to me like they need patience and consistency, otherwise this season is in the toilet.
In our tightest episode yet (if I do say so myself) we talk about the Habs’ (mis?) handling of Carey Price, Gomez vs Koivu, and … oh yeah, why hasn’t Jacques Martin named a captain already?
