Could Gainey Lend A Hand To Burke?

Anaheim GM Brian Burke is in a pickle. Needing to clear a roster spot for the soon to return Scott Niedermayer, the Duck's GM has a plate full of scenario's from which too choose from. He will likely pull the trigger before the Christmas trade freeze that goes into effect in one week.

And no, there isn't a current freeze on trades, it just appears so!

Two of the names mentioned as possible player moves include Mathieu Schneider and Francois Beauchemin, both coincidently former Habs.

What Burke will be attempting to land in return will not involve other team's baggage as he cannot take on salary. Essentially, Anaheim is seeking draft picks or good minor league prospects that will not cut into the Ducks budget for some time.

Now Bob Gainey should be all ears as both these former Habs rearguards could help the team big time.

Schneider would help ignite a dormant five on five game and Beauchemin would bolster a defense that needs to toughening up.

Fitting Schneider, who is set to earn 5.625 M for 2 years, under the Habs cap would be tricky, and would have to involve moving another asset.

Beauchemin is not as pricey at 1.65 M for this year and another.

With Niedermayer earning a million more than Schneider, the Ducks payroll would bump up to 47.5 M.

Oddly, the Canadiens are paying out more, sitting at 49 M - which would make the Beauchemin aquisition the more likely one.

Recently, Burke had such difficulty moving goalie Ilya Bryzgalov, that he simply folded the tent and placed the netminder on waivers - Phoenix bound. As the goalie was cheap as far as starters go - 1.1 M - Burke may find it even tougher to dispatch an asset with a higher price tag.

He can add Niedermayer and remain under the cap, but that move would make a possible Teemu Selanne return unlikely in Anaheim. Burke sure would love to brag about a backline that includes Niedermayer, Schneider, and Pronger, but icetime may be an issue for the remaining 3 defencemen.

Montreal's defense wouldn't look too shabby either with Markov, Hamrlik, Schneider / Beauchemin, and Komisarek as it's top four.

It might take nothing more than Ryan O'Byrne, a Burke type if there ever was one, to get talks to heat up.

Net Losses

James Mirtle has a great post this morning (nothing new with that!) debating the unwarranted criticism that Habs GM Bob Gainey has taken in the press for not going out and getting a starting goalie to replace the injured Cristobal Huet down the stretch. In a piece titled "Crease Conumdrum", Mirtle difuses what has been said by many in the media of late on the decision.

I wonder if James has heard any of the Montreal sports talk radio shows, where gainey has been shellacked worse than an outhouse toilet seat!

Admittedly, the move, or lack of one by Gainey, left many people scratching their heads.
Among them, is Mirtle cohort, of sorts, at the Globe And Mail, Stephen Brunt, who mused:

"This year, with his team struggling at the trade deadline, with a clear problem to solve and with two obvious alternatives available on the rental market, Curtis Joseph and Eddie Belfour, Gainey chose to pass. He didn't speak on deadline day — he has said almost nothing publicly since his daughter's tragic death at sea in December — so any suggestions as to his thought process are pure speculation. But since he had an obvious short-term problem to solve, and his best goaltending assets (injured Huet and first-round pick Carey Price) were both long-term propositions, he must have simply balked at the price."

Now admire Brunt, who wrote the awesome "Searching For Bobby Orr", but this this little rant on Gainey has annoyed and irritated me since I first came across it days ago. The same thoughts and musings, the same misrepresentation of facts, were seen and heard in other parts before Brunt latched onto them - namely TSN, a fine example of things Hab-itually misinformed.

On one hand, what he writes is factually incorrect, as Ed Belfour was not made available by the Florida Panthers. Not at a respectable price to anyone interested, in any regard.


Jaroslav Halak -Habs best shot until Huet returns.

















On the other hand, has Curtis Joseph, who it was said could be had for a song, played any better than David Aebischer?

(In my book, my daughter's Pee Wee team backup goaltender has showed more poise than Aebischer, but that's an old rant!)

In another matter, why does Brunt bring up the tragic death of Gainey daughter, in a National paper no less, and then question his mental capacity?

Talk about harsh!

I'll call it what it is - a total lack of professional tact, scruples and respect towards a man who has given his entire adult life to the game of hockey.

It's inconceivable that a writer of Brunt's stature would sink so godamn low! What is he, a blogger now?

The good James Mirtle, while hardly tip-toeing around the Habs most glaring woes, rationalizes Gainey's position with the usual Mirtle clarity. He adds:

"Now, if you're Gainey, and your team is suddenly on the upswing after a long fall down the standings — one that continued unabated regardless of who was in goal — do you make a move to shore up your goaltending?"

Mirtle goes on to make very valid points in defense of Gainey's perceived non-actions at the trade deadline.

My own comments in his post gave birth, in a sense, to mine here.

In any Habs fans wildest dreams, this is far from a Cup year by any means. You cannot plan on or gamble assets on being a long shot Cup contender, even in light of what the Oilers and Flames accomplished the last two playoffs.

Gainey is taking a relative beating, but he did well to sit still. Adding a first round pick and a young defenseman for Craig Rivet fits the plan perfectly.

Mirtle mentions that the youth on the team that has been playing well of late, and I believe that Gainey has resided with letting this present group take it upon themselves to make the playoffs.

The patient Gainey's motto might well be that Rome was not built it a day. Hence, the Stanley Cup will not be won off the backs of goaltenders pushing 40.

Much of the criticism aimed at Gainey's stance stems from the published trade deadline musings of Brian Burke. If you recall, the Anaheim GM was a little perturbed that he didn't get his mits on Rivet, and mentioned that he called Gainey to take him to task on it.

Most people seem to have forgotten that Burke spoke loud and clear before the deadline ended in saying he would surrender no youth or draft picks for the short term.

So just what did Burke have to whine about anyway?

Much of where the Canadiens went afoul after a surprising first 40 games had little to do with Gainey's game plan. A series of blindsided events derailed what was already an imperfect team.

The tension and pressure became a combustable to the team concept. Questions arose, the number one goalie went down, are here they sit.

Never mind the temporary distractions that have been added to the stew - tossing the blueprint at this point in time is ill advised in respect to those setbacks.

I see a young nucleus of a team with a bright future.

Gainey is on the ball. So is Mirtle.

Unfortunately, Brunt was way off course. Rightly, I paid him on online visit and let him have it good.

Mirtle won't thank me!

A Weekend Of The Best Kind Of Hockey Fun

Poke Check, a.k.a. Crystal L, first from the right.

Just a quick note to regular readers wondering why the content has gotten thin over the weekend.

I'm off in Brantford as of now for Poke Check's trip to the 26th annual Walter Gretzky Tournament. Her team, the Cornwall Pee Wee B Typhoons won this baby last year and we we're hoping to meet the Great One's Dad, but lucked out. Wally had just returned, slightly pooped and tired, from a disappointing Olympic experience with Wayne and made only a brief appearance. We're hoping this year that things will work out again and maybe, just maybe, the kids'll get to share a laugh and a picture or two with Mr.Gretzky.

For some fun reading, down below, I'll post my game summary that I do for the team's website and the local paper. We have a little 10 year old star, two years younger and a foot shorter than every other girl on the team, who had one wicked game!

That 6-0 win put our team into the Provincials tournament next month. It was nice that Poke Check banged in the game's opening goal to get the run started.

I'll soon be undertaking a major project here at EOTP. Since there are, give or take, 110 days until a new Stanley Cup winner is championed, I thought I would go just ballistic and try to post a different Cup winner for each year, every day, leading up to the day in early June when it's won again.

It should be quite the task. I have already begun to collect information for those posts, to get this marathon underway. You'll notice in my sidebar, that there are 6 done so far. The latest are the first Cup wins in 1893 and 1894 by the Montreal AAA. Others have included the 1907 Kenora Thistles, the 1915 Vancouver Millionaires, and legendary Leafs and Wings teams.

If any readers have any suggestions as to how they'd like to see me proceed with this, feel free to drop ideas in the comment box. I'm wondering if I should start chronologically from 1893 and bring it to the present, or randomly jump around from era to era. Anyone having a link to pertinent content for a given year can send that along also - I'd be quite happy to add it into the post at any time.

On occasion I like to pass a plug along for other blogs that I find of interest and three that always keep me coming back for more are Joe's Pelletier's Legends Network, E's Theory Of Ice, and Current Habs History And Opinion.

Joe's topics have branched out alot lately. I always never ( ! ) know what I'll find there on my daily visits. Today I learned how how a trip to the dump can change one's life. Joe had a thought to turn his hockey altering life moment into a blogger tag - not a bad idea. I may just tag along when I get back home.

Mine, has to do with Guy Lafleur.

E at Theory Of Ice wrote about the trade deadline with a more human perspective than any blogger you'll find. The posts there are so well thought out and introspective, that one learns just as much about oneself, as they do of the topic, when reading it. That's a feat few can accomplish! The site is deep in that way. You might actually find yourself going back to read something over again, as I often do. Be sure to check out "What We Could And Couldn't Do" and "The Soul Of Nowhere". E will one day write a best seller on hockey that will be compared to Dryden's best work, I am convinced!

For the end all on Habs content, Matt's Current Habs History And Opinion has got it. This young journalist shares his Canadiens insights with readers on a very personal level. He's just suffered some blows as his favorite players have taken hits, and gotten traded. He's actually even taken a hit himself, of the fender bender variety. He also has his hand in at Habs World where even more content is linked to. Within a year Matt will have the best Habs blog going - check him out!
















Other interesting reads I stumbled across today were Zanstorm's joke at Waiting For Stanley - absolutely hilarious! There's an article on Anaheim GM Brian Burke's trade diary that sheds some light on the inner workings of a GM at the deadline. Precious and funny stuff - if you think like Burke. Finally, a piece I was happy to read, on Sheldon Souray's summertime decision on the Habs resigning him. I call this good news, and you can learn more about his complicated relationship with actress Angelica Bridges that could make or break his stay in Montreal.












Finally, my hometown of Cornwall has earned a Kraft Hockeyville prize. A nifty $10,000 bonus comes with being given the Family Merit Award. I wish I were able to link to the city's submitted clip, as Poke Check's class is in it at the very end shouting "Cornwall is Hockeyville." I was in class at the time, filming with my digicam, and may be uploading that clip here in the near future.

Hopefully, in my technicolour dreams, I'll return to town to read much on the Canadiens back to back wins over the weekend. Now is catching RDS west of the Big Smoke a pipe dream?

Enjoy the reads, all. Have a good weekend!

Here is the Cornwall Typhoons piece from my local paper, the Standard-Freeholder.

TYPHOONS QUALIFY FOR PROVINCIALS

The Cornwall Pee Wee B Typhoons are off to the Ontario Provincials!

After back to back wins against the Russell Invaders, the Typhoons took care of the Napanee Crunch, winning two games and tying the other in the best of three format to cement their place in Ontario's biggest tournament. In a nailbitter of a scenario, the Typhoons took care of the Crunch in high flying fashion, posting a 6-0 shutout win.

Edging Napanee 3-2 in the Cornwall opener, the Typhoons came from behind to get a 1-1 draw in game two in Napanee. As familiarity with an opponant breeds a more precise game plan, the Typhoons executed perfectly in sweeping to victory.

The Typhoons started early when Jenna Merpaw spotted Katryne Villeneuve, alone behind the Napanee goal. Villeneuve fed Crystal Lefebvre at the edge of the crease and the winger popped it five hole for the early lead. Minutes later, a pretty give and go from Taylor Samson to Villeneuve and back, gave the Typhoons a 2 goal margin. Before the period was out, Lefebvre hit Villeneuve with a pass and her rising shot rolled over the Crunch goalie's shoulder. Merpaw was "Johnny on the spot" to tap in the rebound and put the game out of reach.

Villeneuve added three goals to her three assists to round out the scoring. On the first, she intercepted a mid ice pass to burst in and deke a helpless goaltender. She added two more in the third period for the hat trick.

Playing with the comfortable lead, a total Typhoons team effort was needed to shut down a Crunch team that wouldn't quit. The Napanee squad features several backliners capable of blistering slapshots and a bevy of sleek offensive moves. Typhoons forwards Caitlin Champagne and Allison Boots, both quality penalty killers, spent the game blocking point shots and turning chances up ice. Goalie Bianka Emmell was rarely left alone with shooters, and foiled the Crunch's best chances at every turn.

On defense, the Typhoons rearguards make few mistakes in limiting the Napanee opportunities. Lauren Seguin and Myriam Lefebvre kept all Crunch attacks on the outside. Josee Daze handled one on one's with expertise. Chantal Quenneville was a physical presence in the corners and along the boards. All four played poised positional play, handing their forwards well timed passes that gave the game its fast pace.

Rounding out the points for the 3 Napanee games were a pair of markers from Villeneuve, with a single to Seguin, 2 assists to Bianca Lemire, and one each for Crystal Lefebvre, Myriam Lefebvre, Daze, Champagne, Merpaw and Villeneuve.

Achieving the Provincials is quite an accomplishment for the Typhoons who have had their fair share of hard luck earlier in the season. The team is currently on a 8-2-1 roll since making the finals in the Nepean tourney. Full credit to coach Dave Merpaw and assistants for their work and dedication.

The Typhoons next adventure is the 26th annual Walter Gretzky tournament in Brantford starting March 1st.

A Victory For The Hockey Purist

The NHL's 30 GM's have given a resounding thumbs down to the idea of awarding teams 3 points for a win.

I for one, applaud the common sense of the decision.

"Because it's a terrible idea," Anaheim general manager Brian Burke said Wednesday as three days of GM meetings wrapped up. "That's why it didn't have any support."

The league's GMs liked the idea enough at the February 2004 meetings in Henderson, Nev., to include three-point wins on a list of recommendations for the board of governors. The NHL lockout put everything on hold and when hockey resumed with drastic changes, such as the shootout and the elimination of the centre red line for two-line passes, the three-point win didn't make the cut.

Whatever support that existed for it three years ago is now gone.

It might have alot to do with only 37 fans supporting it!

"I was actually a proponent of the 3-2-1 points system a few years ago," said Detroit Red Wings GM Ken Holland, meaning three points for a win in regulation time, two points for an overtime/shootout win and one point for an overtime/shootout loss.

"But since then we've seen these great races and I think it's working just fine the way it is now. Our fans like it."

To be honest, the way it is now, doesn't seem all that right to me either. The point given for overtime and shootout losses, just blurs the actual standings of teams and gives the illusion of parity.








Colin Campbell, the NHL's director of hockey operations, says the game needs a breather from the constant change.

"It's time to establish continuity, you can't keep making changes," he said. "Let' s not confuse the fans."

No kidding Colin, what was your first clue?

The original idea of going to three points came from European soccer, which adopted the three-point win system in the 1980s and credited it with opening up the game. That's a notion Burke, for one, rejected Wednesday.

All hockey fans who follow European soccer, raise your hand. Okay Boris, you can put your hand down now!

"They tried this in British soccer and everything I've heard is that it didn't make a difference," Burke argued. "Teams would get ahead and then would shut it down.

"I think our system is pretty darn good," he added. "I think our game is good, I think our points system is good, our fans are just finally learning to understand it. And now we're going to change it? It's just dumb for me, it's just dumb."

In fact, aside from tweaking the instigator rule on Tuesday and making modifications to video replay, this week's meetings were more about philosophical discussion about the game than actual change.

"I think we've had too much change of late," said Devils GM Lou Lamoriello. "It's a good game, let's enjoy it,"

Said Burke: "We made some radical changes when we came back from the work stoppage. The game is faster, the game is better, and the game is more entertaining. If something ain't broke, there's no reason to try and fix it."


What falls under the category of "Ain't Broke" is just getting harder and harder to define. I think the accent has to be on the officiating once more. Without a major announcement claiming that a shift of focus has occured, I have found that in this present season, officiating has been terribly inconsistant. it is almost as if a secretive mandate was passed without notifying certain majot principals, including half the officiating crew of the league.

Infractions that seemed to be called obstruction during the 2005-06 season, are now being given leniency. A tolerance by period protocol has re-entered the games, confusing players to no end. In certain games, the officiating is deftly strict in the first 20 minutes, only to slip and give way to free for all's by the game's end.

The bottom line is that officials are consistantly inconsistant from game to game, and fans are in the dark as to the proper standards of infractions.

It's time the NHL drops all facades and tells fans exactly where the bear shits!

Source NHL.com, opinion EOTP.