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They may have played better at times, but the
result was still the same this week for the Habs as they once again went
winless.  Fortunately for the Bulldogs, the opposite occurred as they went
2-0. Hoping the Habs make some moves sooner than later?  Past history
suggests you shouldn’t get your hopes up.  This week’s Final Thought
involves the latest Hab killer, Alexei Kovalev, plus the weekly power rankings,
in the Recap.

 Power
Rankings

The PPR’s are on a cumulative basis with
added bias towards the current week.  For example, if say Scott Gomez has
an awful week, he won’t drop 15 spots in the rankings, but he will drop at least 3 or 4. 
Players who come back from injury will be slotted approximately where they were
last ranked prior to the injury.


Rk
Player
LW
Comments

1		 Tomas Plekanec 3 Looking more and more like the
Plekanec of 2 seasons ago.
2 Roman Hamrlik 8 If he can
keep this up, the defence has a fighting chance to succeed.

3		 Mike Cammalleri 4 Aside from Plekanec, probably
the best offensive threat this week.
4 Carey Price 2 He’s playing
fairly well, lack of offence is killing his W-L record.

5		 Brian Gionta 1 A very surprisingly quiet week
from the diminutive forward.
6 Scott Gomez 5 Didn’t play
poorly, but more is required from a #1 centre.

7		 Josh Gorges 10 Slowly looking like the
defenceman that earned a regular spot last year.
8 Travis Moen 6 Played on
every line this week and to his credit held his own.

9		 Paul Mara 7 Steady yet unspectacular, not
a bad thing compared to some.
10 Andrei Kostitsyn 16 Much better,
there was a clearly improved edge in his game.

11		 Max Pacioretty 14 Played his best game of the
season, needs to build on it now.
12 Jaroslav Spacek 12 A broken
record already, not bad, but he needs to produce more.

13		 Guillaume Latendresse 9 Can we stop with the budding
30-goal scorer talk already?
14 Shawn Belle – The own goal
notwithstanding, he had a pair of decent games.

15		 Maxim Lapierre 13 Needs to watch his game film
from last year, figure out what’s missing.
16 Hal Gill 15 When he
keeps it simple, he plays well, but that’s not often enough.

17		 Kyle Chipchura 17 Not really hurting his
long-term chances, but not helping either.
18 Georges Laraque 18 For $1.5 M,
invisible is not the word that should be associated with him.
19 Matt D’Agostini 20 Offensively
minded but producing no offence.  Cap hit is saving him.

Dropped from the rankings: Jaroslav Halak
(11) and Gregory Stewart (20) who both did not play, Yannick Weber (19) as he
was demoted to Hamilton.

 The Dog
Pound

A solid week for the Bulldogs as they won their
first road game of the season over Peoria and followed it up with a victory over
the Chicago Wolves.

 Results:

October 16
1		 2 3 OT
Tot
PP
SOG
Hamilton 1 1 1 1 4 1/5 32
Peoria 1 1 1 0 3 1/2 23

Attendance:  3,204
3 Stars:  1) Darche – HAM  2) Stastny – PEO  3) Sanford –
HAM

October 17
1		 2 3
Tot
PP
SOG
Hamilton 2 3 0 5 0/5 27
Chicago 1 2 1 4 2/6 34

Attendance:  7,313
3 Stars:  1) Kostitsyn – HAM  2) Kozek – CHI  3) Russell –
HAM

Stats:

Marc-Andre Bergeron’s second stint in Hamilton
came to an end this past weekend, but he certainly went out with a bang.

SKATERS
# Player GP G A +/- SH PIMS
6 Chad Anderson 1 0 0 E 0 0
7 Yannick Weber 2 0 1 E 2 6
8 Maxime Lacroix 1 0 0 E 0 0
10 J.T. Wyman 2 0 1 E 7 0
12 Andrew Conboy 2 0 0 -1 0 4
15 Mike Glumac 2 0 1 E 6 0
19 Brock Trotter 2 1 1 +3 4 0
20 Ryan Russell 2 1 2 +1 5 0
21 Mathieu Darche 2 2 1 +4 9 0
25 Ryan White 2 0 0 -1 2 5
27 Tom Pyatt 2 1 1 +3 2 2
29 Eric Neilson 2 0 0 E 0 5
32 Frederic St. Denis 2 0 0 E 2 0
47 Marc-Andre Bergeron 2 0 4 +5 5 0
61 Andre Benoit 2 0 1 +2 3 0
72 Mathieu Carle 2 0 0 +1 2 0
74 Sergei Kostitsyn 2 2 2 +1 6 0
76 P.K. Subban 2 0 1 E 0 4
91 Ben Maxwell 2 2 0 E 4 0

GOALIES
# Player Record SV% GAA
1 Curtis Sanford 1-0-0 .870 2.99
30 Cedrick Desjardins 1-0-0 .882 4.00

Leaders:

Goals: 5 tied with 2
Assists: Marc-Andre Bergeron (6) [Active Leader: 4 tied with (2)]
Points: Marc-Andre Bergeron (6) [Active Leader: Sergei Kostitsyn (4)]
+/-: Marc-Andre Bergeron (+6) [Active Leader: Mathieu Darche (+4)]
PIMS: Eric Neilson (12)

This Week:

October 19: Manitoba vs
Hamilton
October 20: Manitoba vs Hamilton
October 23: Hamilton vs San Antonio
October 24: Hamilton vs Texas


A decade of moves

With the Habs in the midst of a 5-game losing
streak, talk now turns to what can be brought in to improve the roster. 
Historically speaking though, this doesn’t happen a whole lot – heck, you could
make a case that Marc-Andre Bergeron’s signing 2 weeks ago is the most important
of the decade.  With that in mind, here’s the top-3 notable transactions
for the month of October over the past decade (aside from this season):

1) October 5, 2001 – Doug Gilmour signed to a 1 year deal + a team
option.  With Saku Koivu’s diagnosis of cancer a month earlier, there was a
void to fill up front.  Though he struggled at first, Gilmour had a pair of
decent seasons with the team including a strong 01-02 playoffs.

2) October 5, 2000 – Alain Vigneault signs a 1 year extension as head
coach.  Finally, there was to be some stability behind the bench…or not. 
6 weeks later, he was out as coach.

3) October 4, 2002 – The Habs lose a pair of defencemen in the waiver
draft, Francis Bouillon to Nashville and Stephane Robidas to Atlanta (later
traded to Dallas).  Bouillon rejoined the team later in the month while
Robidas went on to be an All-Star last season. 

Final
Thought

This past week, former Hab Alexei Kovalev
rolled into town and with it the inevitable circus I certainly could have lived
without having to sit through.  Of course, the talk surrounded his
statement from earlier in the offseason where he stated he wanted to finish his
career in Montreal, this before ever putting on a Senators uniform.  Here’s
what gets me, people actually believe him.  I certainly don’t.  He had
his chance to stay in Montreal, a 2 year deal between $8.8 and $9.2 million
depending on the various reports, and opted to sit down and think about it –
also known as hold out for more money.  The Habs wisely moved on to someone
who actually knew they wanted to come to Montreal, that being Brian Gionta. 
Yet a month later, he claims he never wanted to leave and all but reiterated it
this past week.  If he really wanted to stay, he would have as he was one
of only 2 the Habs wanted to re-sign.  To me, this whole thing reeks of a
hastily put together PR move to save face and really nothing of any substance. 
We’ll find out in the summer of 2011 if he actually means it, will he, for lack
of a better term, put his money where his mouth is?

Did You
Know?

Having seen all sorts of discussion regarding
what Andrei Markov’s injury could save the Habs on the cap via LTIR, I figured
that I should note that currently, the correct answer is a whopping $0.  As
of Sunday, he has not been placed on it meaning there are no savings whatsoever
at the moment.  If and when it happens, you’ll see it listed on the Habs
capsheet. 
If you have any questions regarding the capsheet or this article, feel free to
drop me a line at
[email protected].