It was not a week to remember for both the
Montreal Canadiens and Hamilton Bulldogs as combined, the two teams won a total
of one game (the Habs’ win over Dallas). As a result, the Power Rankings
and Bulldogs StatPack aren’t particularly encouraging to say the least.
Could a trade be in store? History shows that the organization has made a
few notable deals in the past decade in January, while the Final Thought takes a
different look at the Pouliot-Latendresse deal in the Recap.
|
Power |
The PPR’s are on a cumulative basis with
some bias towards the current week. The prev. column represents the last
ranking for the player; players not on last week’s list will be slotted back
where they were when returning from injury/benching/recall (italicized numbers).
Thus, multiple players may have the same previous ranking.
Rk |
Player |
Prev. |
Comments |
1 |
Brian Gionta |
3 | The only player to produce at least a point in each of the 3 games. |
| 2 | Tomas Plekanec | 1 | Still struggling a bit but has shown signs that he’s turning it around. |
3 |
Mike Cammalleri | 6 | Like Plekanec, starting to turn it around with a pair of goals this week. |
| 4 | Carey Price | 2 | Strong rebound effort vs Florida and had a strong game against the Devils. |
5 |
Scott Gomez | 7 | Sputtered a bit offensively but aside from Gionta was the most dangerous. |
| 6 | Jaroslav Halak | 4 | 6 GA isn’t helping the cause; in his defence, the team didn’t help him. |
7 |
Benoit Pouliot | 8 | Saw a bit of everything from him this week including an undisciplined side. |
| 8 | Andrei Markov | 5 | The initial rush of returning to the lineup appears to have worn off. |
9 |
Roman Hamrlik | 9 | Brought the offensive game to the table more often this week. |
| 10 | Josh Gorges | 10 | Full props to stepping up to protect Markov against the Rangers. |
11 |
Glen Metropolit | 11 | Of the players on the ‘checking’ line, he was the most consistent. |
| 12 | Travis Moen | 14 | Got in some faces this week and played well on the penalty kill. |
13 |
Marc-Andre Bergeron | 12 | Picked up a couple of helpers on the powerplay but brought little else. |
| 14 | Hal Gill | 13 | Being partnered with Mara seems to bring out the worst in him. |
15 |
Jaroslav Spacek | 16 | Saw some glimpses (albeit few) that justified the 3-year deal he received. |
| 16 | Paul Mara | 15 | If he’s still with the Habs in 6 weeks, I’ll be very surprised. |
17 |
Max Pacioretty | 18 | If nothing else, he’s generating chances though not cashing on them. |
| 18 | Maxim Lapierre | 19 | Forget trying to get ‘yours’ (points), just go out and give the team a lift. |
| 19 | Georges Laraque | 21 | He finally scored a goal, he simply couldn’t be last again in the rankings. |
| 20 | Matt D’Agostini | 17 | The ‘scorer’ who plays with other good scorers and simply can’t score. |
Dropped from the rankings: Ryan White (20 –
DNP).
|
The Dog |
Hamilton was also bit by the ‘lack of offence’
bug as they lost all 4 of their games heading into the All-Star break.
|
Results: |
| January 11 | 1 |
2 | 3 | OT | Tot |
PP |
SOG |
| Lake Erie | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2/6 | 30 |
| Hamilton | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2/7 | 29 |
Attendance: 2,380
3 Stars: 1) Stoa – LE 2) Trotter – HAM 3) Sertich – LE
| January 13 | 1 |
2 | 3 | Tot |
PP |
SOG |
| Lake Erie | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 3/4 | 23 |
| Hamilton | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 1/4 | 44 |
Attendance: 2,144
3 Stars: 1) Willsie – LE 2) Weiman – LE 3) Benoit – HAM
| January 15 | 1 |
2 | 3 | OT | SO | Tot |
PP |
SOG |
| Rochester | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 2/4 | 38 |
| Hamilton | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1/3 | 32 |
Attendance: 7,120
3 Stars: 1) Taffe – ROC 2) Trotter – HAM 3) Matthias – ROC
| January 16 | 1 |
2 | 3 | Tot |
PP |
SOG |
| Hamilton | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0/4 | 40 |
| Grand Rapids | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0/2 | 25 |
Attendance: 6,859
3 Stars: 1) Larsson – GR 2) Pare – GR 3) White – HAM
|
Stats: |
Brock Trotter continues his hot pace and now
has 12 points in the last 6 games. Messaging Canadiens management, perhaps
he’s a player that could help the Habs’ struggling offence?
|
SKATERS |
| # | Player | GP | G | A | +/- | SH | PIMS |
| 5 | Alex Henry | 4 | 0 | 0 | -2 | 7 | 2 |
| 6 | Chad Anderson | 2 | 0 | 0 | E | 2 | 0 |
| 7 | Yannick Weber | 4 | 0 | 3 | -3 | 8 | 2 |
| 10 | J.T. Wyman | 4 | 0 | 0 | E | 5 | 0 |
| 12 | Andrew Conboy | 1 | 0 | 0 | E | 2 | 0 |
| 15 | Mike Glumac | 3 | 1 | 0 | -1 | 3 | 2 |
| 16 | Gregory Stewart | 4 | 0 | 0 | E | 2 | 0 |
| 19 | Brock Trotter | 4 | 3 | 3 | E | 10 | 2 |
| 20 | Ryan Russell | 4 | 0 | 1 | +2 | 8 | 0 |
| 21 | Mathieu Darche | 4 | 1 | 0 | -3 | 21 | 0 |
| 25 | Ryan White | 4 | 2 | 1 | -1 | 12 | 11 |
| 26 | Grant Stevenson | 4 | 0 | 0 | E | 9 | 0 |
| 27 | Tom Pyatt | 4 | 0 | 1 | -2 | 5 | 0 |
| 32 | Frederic St. Denis | 1 | 0 | 0 | -2 | 2 | 0 |
| 44 | Shawn Belle | 4 | 0 | 2 | E | 5 | 6 |
| 51 | David Desharnais | 4 | 0 | 6 | -1 | 8 | 2 |
| 61 | Andre Benoit | 4 | 1 | 2 | +3 | 10 | 13 |
| 72 | Mathieu Carle | 1 | 0 | 0 | E | 1 | 0 |
| 76 | P.K. Subban | 4 | 0 | 1 | E | 12 | 5 |
| 85 | Mikael Johansson | 4 | 1 | 0 | E | 8 | 0 |
| 91 | Ben Maxwell | 4 | 2 | 1 | -3 | 5 | 0 |
|
GOALIES |
| # | Player | Record | SV% | GAA |
| 1 | Curtis Sanford | 0-2-0 | .870 | 3.04 |
| 30 | Cedrick Desjardins | 0-0-2 | .881 | 3.73 |
|
SHOOTOUT |
| # | Player | G/ATT |
| 15 | Mike Glumac | 0/1 |
| 19 | Brock Trotter | 1/1 |
| 21 | Mathieu Darche | 0/1 |
| 51 | David Desharnais | 0/1 |
| 91 | Ben Maxwell | 1/1 |
|
SHOOTOUT |
| # | Player | SVS/ATT |
| 30 | Cedrick Desjardins | 1/4 |
|
Leaders: |
Goals: Brock Trotter
(18)
Assists: Desharnais/Trotter (24)
Points: Brock Trotter (42)
+/-: P.K. Subban (+22)
PIMS: Eric Neilson (85)
Shots: Mathieu Darche (127)
|
This Week: |
January 18: AHL Skills Competition
January 19: AHL All-Star Game
January 22: Hamilton vs Rochester
January 23: Hamilton vs Toronto
|
A Decade |
Continuing with the series of deals by month
over the last decade, here’s the top-3 biggest deals for January. For
once, there’s actually more than 3 to choose from.
1) January 22, 2003: Habs acquire Niklas Sundstrom and a 2004 3rd
rounder (later traded as part of the Radek Bonk deal) from San Jose in exchange
for Jeff Hackett.
A deal to clear up the goalie glutton, boy doesn’t this seem familiar.
Hackett of course never did play for the Sharks as a result of this trade as he
was immediately shipped to Boston. Sundstrom played 2.5 steady but
unspectacular seasons with the Habs as a checker before heading home. He’s
spent the last 4 seasons (including this one) playing for MoDo in the SEL.
2) January 24, 2002: Habs acquire Sergei Berezin from Phoenix in
exchange for Brian Savage, a 3rd round pick in either 2002 or 2003 (Phoenix
selected Matt Jones in 2002) and future considerations (never exercised).
Simply put, this was a salary dump as Savage was not living up to his new
deal signed in the offseason. He played parts of 3 unspectacular seasons
with Phoenix before moving to Philadelphia with minimal success. Berezin
meanwhile is best remembered for scoring the 10,000th home goal in Canadiens
history as that’s about the only notable accomplishment he had. That
offseason, he was dealt to Chicago for a 4th round pick in 2004 (J.T. Wyman).
3) January 29, 2003: Habs acquire a 2nd round pick in 2003 (Maxim
Lapierre) from Philadelphia in exchange for Eric Chouinard.
Another deal where the Habs essentially dealt away a bust 1st round pick and
salvaged what they could from it. Despite his struggles this year, picking
up Lapierre in this trade actually made Montreal win this one, as Chouinard
continued to struggle mightily, spending 3 partial seasons in the NHL after the
trade before heading overseas to Switzerland and now Germany where he plays for
Nuremberg.
|
Final |
For the last 2 weeks, all that ever seems to be
talked about is who won the Montreal-Minnesota deal that saw the Habs pick up
Benoit Pouliot? Heck, it’s even getting discussed amongst the national
media all of a sudden. Why all the hype? I seem to have a different
way of assessing deals than most people, one where both teams can win a deal.
Rather than comparing Latendresse and Pouliot’s production with their new teams,
why not compare it to how the other did on their old team? Sounds a little
confusing but look at it this way:
Is Benoit Pouliot outperforming what Guillaume Latendresse brought to the Habs
this year and likely what he would’ve brought moving forward? Yes.
Is Guillaume Latendresse outperforming what Benoit Pouliot brought to the Wild
this year and likely what he would’ve brought moving forward? Yes.
Thus, both teams win. Frankly, who cares who wins more in this deal?
It’s not like we’re going to see Latendresse haunting the Bell Centre on a
regular basis – somewhere in the 2012-13 season will be his next visit so if he
keeps lighting it up in Minnesota, good on him. Let’s face it, Latendresse
simply wasn’t going to succeed in Montreal and everyone has a part in the blame
from him to management to the fans. So far, Pouliot is fitting in quite
nicely, shouldn’t that be all we as fans care about? The Habs are better
off as a result of this deal, so for once, let’s all not be so fickle and
actually be happy about this, especially when there’s not a whole lot to be
happy about right now.
As always, if you have a question regarding this article or the
capsheet,
please feel free to drop me a line at
b.larose@habsworld.net.