The offence continued to dominate for the Habs
this week, scoring 10 goals en route to earning a win and overtime loss.
Meanwhile, the Bulldogs, despite a terrible schedule, won 4 of 5 games this
week, despite missing some key players. We’ll look at the stats from the
World Juniors prospects, while the Final Thought this week discusses the salary
cap, including to-date figures for Montreal. This, plus the weekly grades,
in the Recap.
|
Player |
The ratings:
8.5 – 10: Player has exceeded
expectations for the week, very strong contributions.
6.5 – 8: Player has met expectations
for the week, play has helped or at worse, not hurt the lineup.
5 – 6: Player has performed below
expectations for the week, play has at best not hurt the team, but likely has
had a negative affect.
Under 4.5: Player has had a week to
forget, questions should soon be arising about his future with the organization.
|
Goalies: |
#39 – Cristobal Huet: 7.0
He wasn’t bad vs Tampa Bay, but it was far from his best effort to say the least. (Season Average:
7.88)
#31 – Carey Price: 5.5
Was it an ugly outing? Sure, but all goalies have them from time to time,
especially rookies – it was bound to happen sometime. (Season Average:
7.54)
|
Defence: |
#44 – Roman Hamrlik: 8.0 At
least for this week, his contract looked justified, very solid on both ends of
the ice.
(Season Average: 7.43)
#79 – Andrei Markov: 7.5
With the All-Star balloting closing this week, he didn’t do anything to hurt his
standing in terms of being voted a starter. (Season Average:
7.43)
#51 – Francis Bouillon: 7.5
Made the right read in the defensive end on almost every occasion, this is more
like the Bouillon that earned the multi-year deal.
(Season Average: 6.92)
#8 – Mike Komisarek: 7.0
I’ll be honest, I didn’t see a whole lot of him this week, and given his role,
that’s not the greatest. (Season Average:
7.46)
#26 – Josh Gorges: 7.0
With Brisebois breathing down his neck to get back in, I was hoping to see a
little more, but a quality week regardless.
(Season Average: 6.88)
#32 – Mark Streit: 7.0
His time spent at forward seems to have him using his speed more effectively at
least.
(Season Average: 6.96)
|
Forwards: |
#14 – Tomas Plekanec: 8.0 The
second straight week in which he has been the offensive catalyst for the Habs;
that whole line has been impressive.
(Season Average: 7.57)
#21 – Chris Higgins: 8.0
The team’s biggest offensive threat this week (not the first time), but didn’t
capitalize on several chances (not the first time.) (Season Average:
7.82)
#46 – Andrei Kostitsyn: 8.0
We’re starting to see why he was selected high in his draft class, his goals and
handling skills were quiet strong. (Season Average:
7.11)
#27 – Alexei Kovalev: 8.0 Similar
effort to previous weeks, but down went the giveaways, so up went the ranking
this go-round.
(Season Average: 7.68)
#11 – Saku Koivu: 7.0 He wasn’t
putting up much on the scoresheet this week, how much of that is due to his
linemates though? (Season Average:
7.39)
#74 – Sergei Kostitsyn: 7.0
Nothing overly wrong with his play, but nothing overly great about it either, he
should be producing more alongside Koivu. (Season Average:
7.25)
#73 – Michael Ryder: 7.0
At least for one game, he looked like the 30-goal Ryder over the 3-goal one
we’ve seen most of the season until recently. (Season
Average: 6.68)
#84 – Guillaume Latendresse: 6.5
He can finish the play when he’s in the right spot, but making a play
happen? Not so much. (Season Average:
6.61)
#6 – Tom Kostopoulos: 6.5
His play wasn’t hurting the team any, but he didn’t do much of anything to begin
with – where was the aggression?
(Season Average: 6.82)
#40 – Maxim Lapierre: 6.5 He’s not
hitting or winning draws, but he still complements his linemates well in the
offensive end. (Season Average:
6.70)
#28 – Kyle Chipchura: 6.5 His lack
of faceoff prowess is starting to hurt the team; if he’s to be the checking
centre next season, this better improve soon. (Season
Average: 7.19)
#25 – Mathieu Dandenault: 6.5
Complacency is settling in here, he seems quite content with just being in the
lineup, and it’s showed lately.
(Season Average: 7.00)
|
The Dog |
Despite having a terrible schedule (5 games in
7 days with 4 on the road), the Bulldogs thrived, going 4-1, led by goalie
Jaroslav Halak who had a .966 SV% in his 4 games.
|
Results: |
Games 31-35 of the season.
| December 31 | 1 |
2 | 3 | Tot |
PP |
SOG |
| Hamilton | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1/3 | 33 |
| Grand Rapids | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0/3 | 22 |
Attendance: 7,701
3 Stars: 1) Lahti – HAM 2) Howard – GR 3) Halak
– HAM
| January 2 | 1 |
2 | 3 | Tot |
PP |
SOG |
| Hamilton | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0/2 | 18 |
| Rockford | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0/4 | 36 |
Attendance: 1,945
3 Stars: 1) Halak – HAM 2) D’Agostini – HAM 3) Carle
– HAM
| January 4 | 1 |
2 | 3 | Tot |
PP |
SOG |
| Grand Rapids | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0/2 | 25 |
| Hamilton | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 0/0 | 29 |
Attendance: 3,641
3 Stars: 1) Locke – HAM 2) Milroy – HAM 3) Halak
– HAM
| January 5 | 1 |
2 | 3 | Tot |
PP |
SOG |
| Hamilton | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1/3 | 15 |
| Toronto | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0/2 | 34 |
Attendance: 6,423
3 Stars: 1) Earl – TOR 2) Halak – HAM 3) Williams
– TOR
| January 6 | 1 |
2 | 3 | Tot |
PP |
SOG |
| Hamilton | 0 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 2/3 | 28 |
| Lake Erie | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0/3 | 23 |
Attendance: 7,012
3 Stars: 1) Manlow – HAM 2) D’Agostini – HAM 3) Locke
– HAM
|
Stats: |
Despite being without Mathieu Biron, Joel Bouchard, and Mikhail Grabovski, the
team put forth strong efforts in 4 of their 5 contests.
|
SKATERS |
| # | Player | GP | G | A | +/- | SH | PIMS |
| 4 | Marvin Degon | 5 | 0 | 0 | +1 | 7 | 4 |
| 5 | Jon Gleed | 1 | 0 | 0 | E | 1 | 0 |
| 6 | Conrad Martin | 4 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 2 | 0 |
| 7 | Eric Manlow | 5 | 1 | 3 | +2 | 6 | 2 |
| 12 | Jean-Phillipe Cote | 5 | 1 | 0 | +3 | 6 | 2 |
| 15 | Daniel Corso | 3 | 0 | 1 | E | 3 | 0 |
| 16 | Ryan Russell | 5 | 0 | 1 | +1 | 6 | 0 |
| 19 | Duncan Milroy | 5 | 0 | 1 | E | 10 | 4 |
| 21 | Jonathan Ferland | 5 | 1 | 1 | +2 | 12 | 2 |
| 22 | Matt D’Agostini | 5 | 1 | 4 | +3 | 9 | 2 |
| 24 | Francis Lemieux | 2 | 0 | 0 | E | 5 | 5 |
| 25 | Pavel Valentenko | 5 | 0 | 2 | +2 | 4 | 0 |
| 27 | Janne Lahti | 5 | 1 | 2 | -2 | 7 | 2 |
| 32 | Ajay Baines | 5 | 2 | 0 | +2 | 7 | 6 |
| 41 | Mathieu Aubin | 5 | 0 | 1 | +1 | 10 | 0 |
| 44 | Jimmy Bonneau | 1 | 0 | 0 | E | 0 | 0 |
| 55 | Andrew Archer | 5 | 0 | 1 | E | 4 | 0 |
| 72 | Mathieu Carle | 5 | 1 | 4 | +2 | 4 | 0 |
| 76 | Greg Stewart | 5 | 1 | 0 | E | 6 | 6 |
| 84 | Corey Locke | 4 | 4 | 1 | +2 | 6 | 2 |
|
GOALIES |
| # | Player | MINS | SF | SVS | GA |
| 30 | Jaroslav Halak | 239 | 117 | 113 | 4 |
| 35 | Yann Danis | 60 | 23 | 22 | 1 |
Season Leaders:
Goals: Locke (12)
Assists: D’Agostini/Kostitsyn/Locke (16)
Points: Locke (28)
+/-: Milroy/ (+7)
PIMS: Stewart (67)
|
|
January 9: Binghamton vs Hamilton
January 11: Syracuse vs Hamilton
January 12: Rochester vs Hamilton
|
Stats |
A new year, a new feature for the Recap. Here, we’ll be looking at, you
guessed it, stats. Some weeks, we’ll feature team leaders in certain
categories, streaks, and so on. This week, with both the World Juniors
ending, we figured we’d show the stats from the Habs playing over in that
tournament.
|
|
Player |
Team |
# |
GP |
G |
A |
PTS |
PIM |
+/- |
SOG |
| Yannick Weber | SUI | 7 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 14 | -2 | 27 |
| Max Pacioretty | USA | 17 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | -2 | 13 |
| P.K. Subban | CAN | 23 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | E | 3 |
Bolded figures represent the team lead in
that category.
In the Spengler Cup, UFA Salavat Yulaev forward Alexander Perezhogin was the
tournament’s leading scorer with 2 goals and 3 assists in 5 games.
|
Final |
In this, the salary-cap era, the discussion of
players’ salaries in contrast to their roles are aplenty. Fans want
overpriced players sent away so that the team can have cap space to potentially
add players later on. But how much space does a team need? To refer
to a Montreal case, Mathieu Dandenault is one of these players, a 4th liner
making over $1.7 million. The frequently stated opinion is that he needs
to go, to free up cap space. Considering who’s realistically available on
the trade market and free agency, is there really a whole lot of higher priced
talent that can be acquired anyways? Other than Selanne, a UFA who’s not
sure if he wants to come back, there isn’t a whole lot. Come trade
deadline time, it helps to have some space to be used, and believe it or not,
the Habs already have plenty to pick up a player down the stretch. As of
January 6th, the Habs (by my calculations) have spent a little more than $24.4
million, and by the deadline, that number will just under $36 mil. What
does it mean in terms of space? As it stands now, the team is pegged to
have over $2.5 million in space over the season, or about $1.9 on deadline day,
which is more than enough to add a high priced player. So, the Habs don’t
need to be making any cost cutting moves to upgrade later on, which means expect
status quo for now, as much as people may fear that.