Time for Canadiens to Undergo Complete Revamp
Despite a remarkable run in the post season two years ago, Montreal haven't exactly been Cup contenders for some time now. But the franchise hit a new low this season as it finished bottom of the East, 28th overall.
The club was less having an 'off year', more a 'black hole' for anyone associated with the team.
Mike Cammalleri was traded mid-game after criticising what he saw as a 'losing attitude' within the club. Assistant coaches were removed at the '11th hour' and eventually Jacques Martin lost his job as Head Coach as well; which in turn led to another fine mess as interim Head Coach Randy Cunneyworth's lack of French enraged much of the local fan base.
It one of the least surprising moves of the season, Pierre Gauthtier was finally removed from his position as team General Manager following the clubs dismal finish to the season.
With Luc Robitaille, Ron Hextall and Patrick Roy all in the frame for the vacant GM post (the latter is also pegged as a possible Head Coach), the franchise has an opportunity to make sweeping changes across the board.
Yep, I am talking about blowing up the entire roster here. A total overhaul!
Carey Price is an elite talent - the Canadiens must hold on to him at all costs. He is, in my humble opinion anyway, a top 3 netminder in the NHL; at the very least he is top 5.
The rest, well, I don't think the team can really refuse any good offer.
I'm not sure Max Pacioretty's stock will get much higher, and there will surely come a time when Andrei Markov's history of injuries curtail interest in the Russian to the point of 'no return' (i.e. they won't get squat for him). The same might be said of Erik Cole...
Tomas Plekanec had an off year and is usual a reliable performer, but is by no means irreplaceable. Likewise captain Brian Gionta saw his production slump as a result of 51 games on the sidelines - at 33, the former Devils forward has some miles left on the clock but might serve the Habs better as trade bait rather than their Captain.
I won't even mention Scott Gomez - it would be cruel to take further jibes at the Alaska native after the year he has endured.
It's not all doom and gloom - whilst I don't believe PK Subban should be deemed 'untouchable', he does have his upside in both ability and entertainment value. Blake Geoffrion and Lars Eller are solid youngsters.
It's just that there isn't a great deal to suggest the Habs are going to bounce back in a big way. Or that the team will be a serious competitor in the near to mid future.
So if they are going to change the top brass, why not change the on ice elements as well? Whether that is by trading up at the draft, trading playing staff or biding their time and allowing some youngsters to develop.
Whatever the answer, 'doing nothing' clearly is not an option and 'doing a little bit' is just as bad really.
Time to change it up in Montreal, lock, stock and barrel!
Nabokov a Solid Move
I've long been a big supporter of Garth Snow. Supporter maybe isn’t the right word, but I’ve certainly not given him the crap that many others have. Snow has made some good moves for the young Islanders team, and re-signing veteran goaltender Evgeni Nabokov is a great example of a simple, clean and efficient move.
It’s a move that you could never have seen coming at the start of this season. We all remember the waivers incident. Nabokov has since said that he didn’t want to play for the Islanders because he felt he wasn’t in shape to be a number one goalie. He believes that Jimmy Howard gave him a chance to be a backup tender in Detroit. Whilst that may well be true, it was still a bold move to not report to the Islanders. Oh how things change, but credit where it's due. Neither side let the past get dragged up. Snow and Nabby have shown great professionalism with this contract.
It’s been said before that Long Island is a great place to play hockey because of the beauty that surrounds it, coupled with the practicality of housing and schools etc. It could be that Nabokov likes that, or more likely, Nabokov has bonded with that young team. He’s taken on that veteran role and is enjoying his time with the team. With a GAA of 2.55 and a SV% of .914, Nabokov’s play isn’t too shabby at all. The islanders will be glad to have him back for another year.
With talks of an ‘Amnesty Clause’ coming in the upcoming CBA, you’d have to believe that the Islanders would dispose of DiPietro’s contract faster than you can spell DiPietro. Even with him on the books, Nabokov has probably been assured the starting role. The Isles have young goalies waiting to come up and Nabokov not only gives them more time to progress and grow, but also gives them a mentor should they be playing with the big team.
Most important thing to note about this deal is the fact that it happened before Nabokov hits free agency. It’s clear that Old Man Nabby’ wanted to stay with this team, and Snow gave him the option. A one-year $2.75 million dollar deal works for both sides. It’s not a massive cap hit for a solid goalie, and it’s a one-year deal, so it doesn’t tie Nabby down if he fancies a move during the off-season.
I expect a good season from Nabokov next year, and I’m prepared to pencil him in for a GAA of 2.25 and a SV% of at least .910/.915. He is clearly having fun on the Island. Now, if only Snow could get his hands on a top-2 defenseman…
Aaron Stoops is a Co-Founder, Editor and Podcaster for Pucks Across the Pond.
Doing the Hockey Cokey
It’s getting to that time of the year where we’re not quite done with the grinding regular season, but not quite at the playoffs. Every season I go through the same cycle with hockey, and this is the part of the year I've learnt to love an awful lot.
When the season ends, I mean really ends, the cup is lifted and you feel almost as tired as many of the players look. You've been through that grind with your team, and normally during the off-season, you’ll adopt another team if your team doesn't get through, so you've lived the playoffs, too. It can take an emotional toll on you. Being a fan from Europe, the time difference leaves you shattered after every game you stay up for, but you wouldn't change it for the world. Your regret it when your alarm goes off at 7am, but later that night, or the night after, you’re fully prepared to do it all over again.
After that moment when you see the cup hoisted and you’re watching the celebrations, a stark realisation tends to hit you pretty hard. That’s it, no hockey for months. During this part of the year, you look at teams that you picked to do well, teams you picked to fail, moves you expect from teams, moves you want your team to make. Ultimately, that’s nothing but a distraction until the time comes, months from then for the season to start again.
As the months begin to come in, you get pumped for hockey again. Not that you need any pumping, it’s just best to remind yourself it’s a while off to save needless pain. You’re sleeping at regular times again, and you’re eager to see if that new addition to your squad will give you the edge you lacked in the previous season. All you want is to see hockey. Then, slowly but surely, the pre-season comes and you usually get a chance to see some of your draft picks and acquisitions play a few games. You can feel your sleeping pattern is slipping back again, to suit the North American regular season. You get that little alarm going off in your head before face-off saying, “Bad idea. You’re going to be a robot in work”.You do it anyway, and love it. This is when the suspense gets too much to handle.
Once the pre-season has passed, you make predictions for teams including your own, but by the end of the season, at least one will probably have been way off. You've got to love hockey.
It’s finally here and the puck is dropped in what you hope will be a season better than the last for your team, for the fans of the sport, for the league and for the players. As much as you love hockey, this part of the year, and maybe even a few weeks previous can be struggle. It’s not monotony, it’s just the desire for the playoffs to start. But this part of the season is one I've learned to love.
For two or three weeks now, you can see that playoff picture transforming into something more rigid, something more beautiful. You can see that Team ‘A’ is six points below the 8th seed. You can see that team ‘B’ is six points above team ‘A’, but they play each other twice. You can start to see the fixtures that are going to either make or break a teams’ season. Teams can literally make the playoffs on the last day of the season and teams can fall out of the playoff picture with one bad loss. It has been seen before, and you can bet your bottom dollar that you will see it again. With the suspense of the playoffs looming, it’s more difficult to actually appreciate the beauty of what’s going on.
Teams that have busted their balls the whole year, giving their best may be seeing their work amount to little more than a pat on the back. It’s the teams that aren't absolutely loaded with depth that I feel bad for. Teams that just don’t yet have the manpower like Winnipeg, teams that are too young like Edmonton and teams that are just a train-wreck like Columbus. For these teams, they know their seasons are over, and that the grind has amounted to nothing. A paycheck, I hear you say? Ok, I’ll give you that, but many players play to win with the money being a bonus.
The pain of covering thousands of miles, losing gallons of sweat and playing your heart out all across North American, to still miss out on the playoffs is something that money probably can’t take away. That’s why I love this time of the year. You see the fight that teams have. Teams and players giving everything that they have got to scrape in to the playoffs. The only thing more exciting really is the playoff atmosphere that blasts out of your television like a missile. That’s all to come soon. Until then, do the math, see who is mathematically in the race and just enjoy the best NHL games you’ll get outside the playoffs.
Aaron Stoops is a Co-Founder, Editor and Podcaster for Pucks Across the Pond.
Blast from the Past – Kevin Conway
Originally posted on Banners On The Wall, I recently got the opportunity to speak to British Ice Hockey Hall of Fame inductee, former Great Britain international and former OHL standout Kevin Conway. Conway is arguably one the of most highly skilled and most successful forwards to ever come to Britain from Canada and his impact remains with all who saw him. Having grown up in Ontario, played in the OHL and then having become a legend of ice hockey in the UK, Conway is very much in the spirit of Pucks Across the Pond. Hope you enjoy, Anthony
I enjoy watching the Basingstoke Bison, it’s a lot of fun and since I started watching British ice hockey in late 2005 I’ve watched some of the great and good of our sport be it in Bison colours or others grace the ice. The obvious one I think of is Tony Redmond, a person who will be a banner on the wall of the Basingstoke Arena when he finally decides it’s time to hang up his skates.
If you look at the 2 names we have up there, one is Don Yewchin whose jersey was retired before the infamous 12-0 thumping of the Bees in the Bison’s first EPL season. The other is a literal legend in British ice hockey; that man is #10 Kevin Conway.
The Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario native is well known across British hockey and in 2005 was inducted into the British hockey hall of fame. In the 20 years from1983 to 2003 Conway averaged 3.54 points a game and 1.84 goals a game. If you averaged 3.54 points and 1.84 goals a game in today’s EPL you’d score 99 goals and 191 points. Conway scored 753 points in 274 games for the Beavers and Bison making him far and away the club’s most potent forward of all time. Conway also famously scored 252 points in 29 games for Telford Tigers in the old British Division 1 back in 1987-88. At 8.68 points per game that’s essentially a point every 7-8 minutes!
Now residing in Florida, the Basingstoke hockey legend took a few moments to answer some of my questions as well as some of yours.
NOTE: Kevin’s answers have been tidied up for grammar but have not been edited.
You were born in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario which is proper hockey country. What was it like growing up in that part of the world?
It is what your use to so you know no different until you are living some where else. I enjoyed it.
You first appeared in the OHL with Oshawa but how did it feel to take to the ice for the hometown Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds?
It felt different because now you are playing in front of your friends an family so you don't want to screw up.
You played 175 games in the OHL, went over a point a game and won the 1984 Most Sportsmanlike Player award; what is your fondest memory of your days in junior hockey?
Scoring 5 goals in one game 1 shy of tying the record. Then talking to my dad the next day an he was telling me he was at the Soo Greyhound game an they were telling everyone over the tanoid what was going on in Kingston.
You played in the International Hockey League for a season and a half and then made your way to Britain in 1985 to play for Ayr. How did that come about?
Tim Salmon asked me if I wanted to come over with him to play with him.
Over the following 6 years with Ayr, Durham, Telford and Cleveland you played 169 games and scored 1039 points including 252 points in 29 games in part of a season with Telford. All these years later is it any easier to get your head around those kinds of numbers?
No because even today people keep mentioning it to me.
In 1991 you left the north of Britain for the Basingstoke Beavers, what prompted the change to move so far south?
Tim Salmon again.
That first season in Basingstoke saw you score 175 points and earn a call up to the Great Britain national side as they played in Hull for the World Championships pool C. What do you remember of that season for club and country?
It was a great year in Basingstoke. The national team I remember when they told me I was the MVP of the tournament. I was glad in being a last minute acquisition that I helped the team win.
After 5 seasons with the Beavers, the club joined the newly formed Superleague and changed its name to Bison; did you like the name change?
Yes
You had the opportunity to play more for GB over time; do you have a favourite moment for the national side?
Scoring a goal against team Canada and scoring against team Russia in Italy
Your totals in Basingstoke are 274 games played, 377 goals + 376 assists for 753 points which is beyond impressive but given a choice, give us you favourite goal or assist in the 7 years you played in Hampshire.
They all were the same.
Why do you think you stayed in Basingstoke so long and what finally prompted you to leave?
I enjoyed the city, I was treated right, it was a good place to bring up a family. I left because Rich Strachan the new coach at the time didn't give me what I wanted an other teams did.
Your last season in the Superleague was with Newcastle, how did that go for you?
It was fun
Hull, Chelmsford and Solihull followed. When you dropped into the English Premier League as it was then, your points totals rose again. What led you to leave the Barons at the end of 2003/04?
The team as a business was struggling and couldn't afford to pay like a lot of teams do.
You returned to league hockey for two seasons with Solway in the Scottish National League, what led to the comeback?
Kevin Docherty
What do you think the legacy you've left in British hockey is?
All good I hope.
What do you remember about your jersey retirement night in Basingstoke?
The unavailing of the jersey.
Fan questions:
Icewolf asks: “How is your son getting on (with hockey) and what level is he playing at now?”
He is playing for Victory Honda Major Midgets (U18) in Detroit. He has a lot of teams asking about him so lets hope he moves to the next level.
Fragility asks: “What is your proudest hockey achievement?”
Winning at Wembley, playing against Team Canada and Russia
Matt asks: “Would you ever like to get involved in hockey in Basingstoke again?”
Sure I would love to coach them
And the last one: any closing comments to Britain's hockey fans and Bison fans in particular?
You're the greatest
Anthony Russell is a contributor to Pucks Across the Pond and runs Banners On The Wall (http://bannersonthewall.wordpress.com) a blog about the Basingstoke Bison.
Banners On The Road – Rostocker EC Piranhas vs IceFighters Leipzig 26/2/12
As I mentioned on Ep39 of the Pucks Across the Pond podcast, I was heading to Rostock in Germany and would be going back to where I watched my first ever game of live ice hockey. I've always stressed that hockey is so much bigger than the NHL, hopefully you'll enjoy this little look at hockey away from the spotlight of "the show". This report originally appeared on my blog Banners On The Wall, hope you enjoy. Anthony
Rostock Piranhas 3-2 IceFighters Leipzig
Marsall Vrba
Stratmann Müller
Sulcik
The story so far: Many of you know of my love of Germany, in particular the city of Rostock where I worked during my year abroad as part of my university course. It was the city I first watched live hockey in and I’ve never stopped following the Rostock Piranhas ever since.
Rostock play in the 3rd tier of German hockey, the Oberliga which is divided into 4 regional league; Nord (north), Süd (south), Ost (east) and West (err…west). Rostock have played in the Oberliga Nord since this structural change 3 years ago and have won the league 3 years in a row.
The only problem with the Oberliga Nord is it’s a lot weaker than the other 3 leagues. The way the playoffs and promotion to the second division work is a complicated mess where teams from the Nord, Ost and West leagues playoff for the right to face the teams from the Süd and that decides promotion to the 2nd division. The Oberliga Nord has been a cakewalk for Rostock for 3 years but they couldn’t compete with teams from the other leagues in the playoffs. Winning games 24-0 and 17-0 was no preparation for teams like old rivals Halle Saale Bulls or Rote Teufel Bad Nauheim. The goal this season was to make a real push for the 2nd round of the playoffs and the right to properly challenge for promotion.
Leipzig play in the Oberliga Ost which is, on the whole a more competitive league than the Oberliga Nord. The IceFighters finished 2nd in the Oberliga Ost, securing their place in the post season on the last day of the regular season.
Rostock and Leipzig faced each other in the 3rd/4th place playoff in the Nord/Ost Cup, a competition thrown together to flesh out the fixture list. It was a highly competitive but violent 2 legged affair. The 2nd leg in Leipzig saw the game abandoned close to the end when Rostock claimed they didn’t have enough fit players to continue. In protest at the “thuggish” actions of the Leipzig players, Rostock coach Wolfgang Wünsche pulled the team from the ice. Let’s just say there was a teeny bit of bad blood heading into this game.
Pre-game:
I’d not made the walk in a long time. From my friend Mirko’s flat where I was staying, you walk up the Karl Marx Strasse then hang a right onto the Schillingallee and walk straight up the road, past the hospital until you hit the rink. The Eishalle Rostock was built in 1972 during the communist era but has been modernised to a degree since then.
The concourse just inside the doors has been modernised a fair bit with various food stands, a bar and a merchandise stand with one end behind the goal having it’s own bar and sponsors die Futter Kutter, a local fish eatery, having their own stall.
You go up one of the flights of stairs to get to the seats and see the ice. There are no actual seats per se, just long wooden benches. The side with the team benches nearest the changing room has no seating at all but behind both goals and the other long side with the officials’ box and penalty boxes hosts the main bulk of the fans. It’s a bit like Swindon’s Link Centre in that respect only with the penalty boxes opposite the benches rather than next to them.
Outside I met up with Sprotte (his actual name is Stefan but everyone calls him Sprotte) and the other members of Ostseepower which is the fanclub I belong to and headed inside. I was having a swift beer with Mirko and Heino when Sprotte re-appeared. “Come with me, we have a surprise for you.”
As I was standing with the other Ostseepower members having a chat for 30 seconds suddenly a voice appears. It was Ecco, the rink announcer suddenly announcing that Emily and I were there. I was motioned to head towards the back of block D around centre ice where Torsten, the club’s spokesman presented me with the club’s t-shirt celebrating the 3 back to back league titles. Suitably embarrassed in front of 1000 people, I was asked to say a few words and then headed back to block C for the introductions and the start of the game.
Game on: The game itself had a real playoff atmosphere for 60 minutes and was a really good game of hockey. It had that tightness that a really good playoff game should have.
Rostock came out the harder of the two sides and looked the better for it. They had the more chances going forward and came close on a number of occasions early on. Leipzig seemed to have come out rather flat but Erik Reukauf in the IceFighters net appeared to be on stellar form even if his team mates didn’t seem at the races. At the other end, Leipzig did have chances but Rostock’s goalie Tobias John (pronounced Yon) was equal to them. Rostock kept the pressure on but you wondered if their inability to convert good chances would lead them to be frustrated and make mistakes but with time ticking down in the first period, the home side got their deserved breakthrough. With the Piranhas putting pressure on the net down low, top scorer Peter Sulcik fed the puck out to the point where Max Janke blasted a shot goalwards. Reukauf couldn’t hold the rebound and Toni Marsall appeared in the doorstep to poke the puck home to give Rostock the lead at the first break.
The second period started much in the same way as the first, the only difference being that I'd bought myself a new Piranhas hat. It was a case of Rostock making the running but slowly, more and more Leipzig came into the period and looked more and more dangerous. Their attacks looked more potent and it seemed they were troubling Tobias John more and more. From my vantage point the Piranhas were letting their guests back into the game too much. As Rostock started to put their foot down a bit more, disaster struck. Former Piranha Kevin Nighbert forced a turnover at the blueline which let Lars Müller and Tomas Vrba sprint away 2 on 1 with Vrba firing into the net to tie the score with 4:30 to play in the second.
The third period was more like the first. The Piranhas it seemed, hadn't let the goal bother them and went out all guns blazing but it seemed that Reukauf was going to frustrate them. Sulcik, Bartanus and the others kept firing and Leipzig kept playing their road game and trying to hit on the counter.
As the game entered the last 10 minutes the atmosphere was getting tense. In Germany, wins in regulation get you 3 points and OT or penalty wins get you 2 points. It helps you more to win inside the 60 minutes and the home crowd were desperate for the win. With 8 minutes to go Chris Schimming and Peter Sulcik got the cycle going down low and the puck was bouncing off the back of the net and fell to Piranhas legend Paul Stratmann. The club's record appearance maker walked out from behind the net, paused, picked the top corner and fired it too fast for Reukauf to get his glove to. The crowd erupted and Stratmann celebrated his effort by tossing his stick across the ice towards his own bench like he was trying out for the hammer at the Olympics.
The crowd was trying to buoy the team home. Leipzig called their timeout with 2:23 to play and kept looking for the right moment to pull the goalie but never really got the chance to get the extra attacker on. Vitali Blank set Peter Sulcik away who took the blueline, dangle round the defenceman and shot high glove to make it 3-1 with 23 seconds to play and the crowd went nuts. They went so nuts they didn't even notice Leipzig running down the other end and Lars Müller scoring with 16 seconds to play. Time wound down and the rink exploded with noise. The illusive playoff win had finally come.
Overall: Now that was playoff hockey ladies and gentlemen. We had a real goalie battle between two netminders who were both really on their game. The home team tried to go all guns blazing and raise the crowd and the road team tried to play sensible counter attacking hockey. The crowd were a factor as they really, really got behind their team which obviously meant a lot to the players at the end in the celebrations.
For my first game back in Rostock I couldn't have been more delighted. Where I stand is the place with all the songs and all the drumming so it's loud, raucous fun from start to finish. I did find myself switching between English and German during the game which confused a few people around me but I did explain some of what I was saying.
The real difference there is that the game isn't as physical there. On a couple of occasions some really good open ice hits people thought were overly rough but were no different to anything I see in the EPL week in, week out. That's not to say there wasn't an element of physicality in the game but there aren't those bone crunching hits you see from time to time.
The league has 2 imports in but the standard was probably akin to that of EPL hockey on that one game. Oberliga Nord, as I mentioned is around that sort of level but would you pay to watch 17-0 games? Probably not but this playoff game was an excellent example of what to expect at that level. For 10€ entry on the night you can't really go wrong. Personally, I was just happy to be back.
Anthony Russell is a contributor to Pucks Across the Pond and also runs Banners On The Wall (http://bannersonthewall.wordpress.com) about the Basingstoke Bison. Auf gehts Rostock, kämpfen und siegen!
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- Time for Canadiens to Undergo Complete Revamp
- Nabokov a Solid Move
- Doing the Hockey Cokey
- Blast from the Past – Kevin Conway
- Banners On The Road – Rostocker EC Piranhas vs IceFighters Leipzig 26/2/12