The Montreal Canadiens completed the seemingly
impossible this past week, actually winning one of their games, and really
didn’t lose all that much more ground in the East. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs
are the model of consistency, putting up the same results as the past two weeks.
Our prospect feature this week looks at Jimmy Bonneau, plus a final thought on
the Kovalev saga, in the Recap.
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Player |
No grades last week, so no comparatives.
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Goalies: |
David Aebischer:
B- Decent mop-up game vs. Atlanta,
adequate vs. St. Louis, a significant improvement over recent weeks.
Jaroslav Halak:
D- The time for experimenting with him
has come and gone. He is not ready just yet.
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Defence: |
Mark Streit: B
One game each at different positions in the same week, that in itself is
something.
Andrei Markov:
B- He seems to be displaying some more
confidence, although scoring once every 6 weeks is a little hard to take.
Mike Komisarek: B-
Nothing flashy, certainly didn’t hurt the cause as often as some others.
Josh Gorges: C+ He
can play 18 minutes a game in San Jose, and seldom cracks Montreal’s lineup?
Needs to play more to get a real accurate assessment.
Francis Bouillon: C+
Not sure the benching was fully merited, but so-so in the game he did play.
Mathieu Dandenault: C+
Scrambled more often than normal, but then again, who really didn’t?
Sheldon Souray: C-
Just imagine what he’d get on the market if he could actually play the position
as originally set up.
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Forwards: |
Steve Begin:
A- Look what he’s doing, quite impressive given the injury
he’s playing through.
Guillaume Latendresse: A-
Finally had some energy going, rewarded with a key goal vs. the Blues.
Maxim Lapierre: B Beauty
shorty against St. Louis, still looks snakebitten when getting his shots off
though.
Tomas Plekanec: B Creating
lots of opportunities, now he’s starting to show why Ribeiro was expendable (at
least for the on-ice reasons.)
Garth Murray: B Seems to fit
in well on the checking line with Johnson and Bonk.
Saku Koivu: B- Only one
major gaffe, seems to be lacking the drive he had in recent weeks.
Chris Higgins: B- The
effort and the hustle are there, which is more than what some are doing.
Radek Bonk: B- Had a rocket
of a goal vs. the Thrashers, if only he’d shoot like that a little more.
Mike Johnson: B- Out
of nowhere, has become 7th in team scoring from the checking line. Maybe
that’s why he’s been promoted again.
Michael Ryder: C Back to the
non-producing ways fans are becoming so accustomed to.
Andrei Kostitsyn: C
Interesting selection to be scratched with the Kovalev saga, wasn’t good or bad
in his one game.
Alexei Kovalev: D
After what he allegedly said, I expected a lot more from the Russian.
Sergei Samsonov: F
Single-handedly coughed up the first 2 vs. Atlanta in what’s looking like his
final game with the Habs.
|
The Dog |
The Bulldogs had the exact same week as they
had the past two: 3 points in as many games.
|
Game-by-Game: |
Friday,
March 9, 2007 – Milwaukee 3,
Hamilton 2
Hamilton Goals:
Urquhart (4), Biron (8)
Shots: 29-26 Milwaukee
PP: 0-3 PK:
1-2
Saturday,
March 10, 2007 – Hamilton 1, Toronto 0
Hamilton Goal: Chipchura (10)
Shots: 31-28 Toronto
PP: 0-5 PK:
5-5
Sunday,
March 11, 2007 – Toronto 2, Hamilton 1
(OT)
Hamilton Goal:
Ferland (18)
Shots: 40-29 Hamilton
PP: 1-7 PK:
4-5
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3 Key Notes: |
1)
Yann Danis made his first start since getting hurt last month, the 3-2 loss to
the Admirals.
2) Anyone notice the Bulldogs still don’t have a full-fledged
captain game to game?
3) For those of you who follow the Bulldogs, the newest Dog, Troy
Bodie, is a 9th round pick of the Edmonton Oilers, not a newly-signed Hab
prospect.
|
In the |
By Jason Brisebois
Jimmy Bonneau:
This week we’ll be covering tough guy Jimmy Bonneau. Bonneau, a
native of Baie-Comeau was drafted in 2003, 241st overall. He is a fairly
big guy at 6’3" and weighing 220 pounds. He plays left wing and also
shoots left.
Jimmy is a typical enforcer, and he does it well. He is a big guy, and
uses his size well to intimidate his opponents. He can lay fairly good
hits and is not the least bit afraid to drop the gloves. As previously
mentioned though, he is an enforcer. He is a weak skater, and needs to
work hard to improve that portion if his game. He is not offensively
gifted, and really struggles to put up numbers (other then penalty minutes.)
Improving those area may prove difficult, however, as he receives very limited
ice time.
Jimmy is playing in his 2nd professional season, mostly with the ECHL’s
Cincinnati Cyclones, though making several cameos in the AHL. He has shown
all-around improvement since his arrival, which is certainly a positive sign.
In 44 games with the Cyclones this season, he has notched 6 points and 89
penalty minutes. Meanwhile, in 8 games with the Bulldogs, he has scored no
points, but has recorded an amazing 59 penalty minutes, or 7.4 per game.
What makes that unbelievable is the fact that he usually doesn’t see that much
ice time in a typical game. Look for Bonneau to remain in the minor
leagues for the large part of his career. He currently fills a position
which is slowly being phased out in a new and quicker NHL. Though, if he
really works on his fundamental skills, anything is possible.
|
Final |
Did he say it, or was it a fabrication of the
media? That is the question that many Hab fans have been pondering lately.
The easy answer, and the one I happen to believe as well, is that the answer
lies somewhere in between. He likely said some of the things (I really
believe he said the slacking off after a goal and Carbonneau is anti-Russian
ones myself.) Why? Simply put, Kovalev hasn’t been too bright at
times with his decision making on the ice this year, and off the ice in previous
years, it’s not overly far fetched to think he vented a little frustration.
However, it’s not even the things he allegedly said, it’s what he said after
this whole issue came about that has me the most upset.
He talks about how he’s contemplated asking for a trade, and may still do that.
With the team in the state it is now, Kovalev picks this time to go public with
how he doesn’t like how things are going…how does this help team morale?
Oh, and this comes after he pulled himself out of the lineup with a shoulder
problem that likely got aggravated after he threw a tantrum after a game in
which he was benched for a lack of effort, the one thing that the coaching staff
won’t tolerate. For a team that is allegedly short on leadership, he
certainly isn’t helping the cause, and it’s even worse when he’s one of the
veterans who players will look up to. If this keeps up, it won’t matter if
Kovalev wants to stay or not, he’ll quickly be gone, as the organization cannot
stand to have one of their allegedly top player consistently moan and groan (one
is enough with Samsonov.)