Brandon Sutter spoils Brodeur’s shutout.
The Habs were ROBBED! That goal should never have been disallowed - this game should be in overtime right now! Fucking zebras.
I can’t believe there isn’t any procedure in place for reviewing bullshit calls by the refs.
As was seen in last months NHL thread (;)), Detroit lost another player to injury when Jonathan Ericsson went down last night. That brings the list to Franzen, Cleary, Kronwall, Filppula, Williams, Helm, and Ericsson. I remember saying that the Wings depth would be tested. I didn’t think they’d be fielding the entirety of the Grand Rapids Griffins.
As much as I’d like to blame the injuries for the Wings struggles (comparative struggles. Kind of a change to not be in first :(;)), I’m not thinking that it’s the whole story. The Wings offense still looks tepid and predictable. Last night was the first time in at least a half dozen games where the power play didn’t consist of one at the net, two at mid zone, and two on the blue line with noone moving and all the shots coming from Lidstrom’s stick. Offense comes from motion: spread the defense and get the goalie moving. Standing still makes it easy for the defense to block passing lanes and for the goalie to get in position and make the save. Obviously you need Homer in front of the net and Lidstrom/Rafalski on point, but there’s no reason for players like Zetterberg and Datsyuk to be glued in one place.
Defensively (and this has been a problem since last year), they’ve been sloppier than a team with Nick Lidstrom should be. Rebounds aren’t getting cleared with any consistency and opposing forwards aren’t being well covered in front of the Detroit net. It doesn’t help that both goalies have been “challenging the shooter” at bad times. When there are three forwards in your defensive zone, it’s not a great idea to be at the top of your crease. You cut off one shooter but leave the other two with a wide open net. If the defense doesn’t pick up both forwards, a bad rebound winds up as an easy goal.
Is there still any gas left in Lidstrom’s tank? I just noticed he only has one goal and 11 points in 33 games; which if kept up, would be his worst offensive season ever. He’s going to be 40 on April 28th, and this is his 18th season in the league. He’s never played fewer than 76 games in any one season (not counting the 94-95 lockout). He’s had extensive international competition.
He’s been great forever. I just wonder how much he’s got left.
I’d say so. The goal scoring is great, but the reason he’s viewed as one of the best is that he just doesn’t make mistakes very often. He commits few penalties. His positioning is solid. He’s spent an obscenely small amount of time in the injured reserve list, which is the reason for the large games per season numbers. As long as he’s still the same dependable defenseman that he’s always been, you keep him and take any goals he’s scored as gravy.
More specifically on the goals, Detroit as a whole has been strugging offensively. IIRC, Detroit was fifteen minutes away from setting a team record for time without scoring about two weeks ago. St. Louis beat them 1-0. I’d be more concerned about his totals if the team was scoring and he wasn’t.
I’m reading about lots of trade rumors surrounding Jaroslav Halák, Does it make sense for Montreal to trade him? I guess they have Curtis Sanford in the AHL, but I’d be in no hurry to trade Halák. The Canadiens got only a 2nd round pick for Huet and I bet they wish they hadn’t done that deal.
Penguins are continuing to roll. Scarily, they look better this year than last. Going to be tough for anyone this year. So glad I paid for Center Ice this season.
Huet was going to be a free agent and Price was awesome in his rookie season. They would have lost Huet for nothing (they made no attempts at all to negotiate during the season.) It wasn’t forseen that Price would struggle last season and (sometimes) this one. Huet struggled in Chicago last year, enough that they couldn’t trade Khabibulin, and ended up losing him for nothing to free agency.
Price is still considered the future in Montreal. He’s only 22, so we may not see his peak for another five, seven or even ten years. Halak has proven he has the ability to be a number 1 NHL goalie, and he is only 24. I (and Canadiens brass) feel that Price’s upside is higher; when one goalie is drafted 5th overall and the other is drafted 271st, that’s a pretty good indication of who’s expected to carry the mail.
So does it make sense to trade Halak? Yes, kind of. A potential number 1 goalie with his best years in front of him should command significant value on the trade market. Would I trade him right now? I think I’d hold on to him for a little bit longer. The playoff races are still fairly tight right now, but if a team falls away from the pack and wishes to hold a fire sale, I’d definitely see what I could get.
That seems to be the consensus in a lot of articles I’ve been reading and on l’Antichambre… it makes sense to trade him, but Gainey needs to get something good in return, not just a draft pick. The thing is, Halak is still kind of unproven as a #1 (he hasn’t played all that many games since he’s always been behind Huet or Price), and so he doesn’t have that much actual value, just potential value. That top-six forward the city is clamouring for won’t arrive on the strength of Halak alone, so who do you package with him?
There’s also some doubt as to whether Sandford or Déjardins can back up Price well enough for Price to continue developing or if he gets injured.
Ay, there’s the rub. You don’t trade Halak until Price has proven he can play the bulk of the schedule with a consistent level of success. And you have to get something back that can help the team right now, in other words, a top six forward, like mnemosyne said.
In my opinion, the best match for a trading partner would be a team who has decided to punt this season and retool for next season with a good young goaltender. Looking at the standings though, I can’t really see a team that is, a) out of it, and b) needs a long-term goalie solution. The St. Louis Blues, who are second-last in the West (though still only six points out of 8th) and have a pair of 30-plus goalies in Chris Mason and Ty Conklin, might be willing. But they have the second fewest goals in the league, and their leading scorer is a defenseman. I can’t see St. Louis willing to trade David Perron or T.J. Oshie, two young guys they’d presumably like to keep around. Keith Tkachuk and Paul Kariya are past 35 years of age. David Backes is intriguing; he’s only 25, 6’2 and 216 lbs, and he scored 31 goals last year, but only seven so far this year, and before last year he had scored only 23 in a season and a half. Brad Boyes is similar, except two years older and not quite as big. He scored 43 and 33 times the last two years, but only eight so far this year.
I sense that until there’s a clearer picture of who’s in and who’s out, the Halak trade talk will remain just talk.
ETA: As to who might Montreal include with Halak; maybe Pacioretty or D’Agostini, young guys who are NHL ready. They’d likely have to include their first round pick in there as well.
Gionta skated before the last game with Minnesota, so he could be back soon.
That’s good - we need him! Gomez needs him!
I hope Hamrlik isn’t out for long, too. I also am beginning to think that Pouliot is a myth. There is no such player, and so we’ll never see him in Montreal!
Some better news for the Habs, as Markov will play tomorrow against the Islanders.
confetti, party horns, etc.
And some worse news for the Red Wings. Henrik Zetterberg out for two weeks after suffering a separated shoulder last night. Is there a way we can make a uniform out of bubble wrap for Pavel Datsyuk and Nick Lidstrom? Have snipers on hand to take out anyone even thinking about checking a Red Wing? Apologize to whatever gypsy Ken Holland pissed off?
YAY!!! And just in time for his 31st birthday on Sunday!
Bergeron will become a forward again - I like that.
Crazy store about the Minnesota Wild’s equipment getting burned in a fire. Story.
This sounds like something I’d hear about in the minor leagues or back from the 1950s.
Halak in goal tonight for Montreal against the Islanders. Florida destroyed the Islanders 7-1 and I think the Habs will do the same.
Dallas has a day game against the Red Wings. I love these matinee games. Not sure why they’re playing in the day since there is nothing else scheduled at the AAC at night. Hoping the Stars start Auld over Turco this afternoon.
grumblegrumble*havetotakebackwhatIsaidaboutBertuzzisuckingbecausewithouthimwewouldbein12thplacebutIstillhatethebastard.grumble
Et c’est le BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUT!! Andrei Markov!!!
Didn’t need to worry. Howard went back to giving up downy soft goals by playing top of his crease with opposing forwards circling. He had no chance to make the saves because he was so far out of position on the rebounds/passes. Dallas had plenty of time and plenty of net to place the puck. Howard wasted a great game by Holmstrom/Datsyuk/Bertuzzi
