HabsWorld.net --
The Habs started the week off terribly but
finished strong with a convincing win in the Centennial Game on Friday night.
In Hamilton, the shutout streak came to an end, but the team still picked up 3
of 4 points. With shutouts in mind, we take a closer look at how the 7
netminders in the organization are faring this year in the Goalie Zone, while
the Final Thought assesses how Scott Gomez’s deal isn’t as difficult to trade as
some may think. This, plus the Power Rankings, 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 |
Carey Price |
1 | The undisputed #1 goalie now…until he has a bad start at least. |
| 2 | Mike Cammalleri | 3 | Started the week in a bit of a slump but ended it on a hot streak. |
3 |
Tomas Plekanec | 2 | Lost something in his game while he was the top C, needs to rebound. |
| 4 | Roman Hamrlik | 4 | If he keeps this up, he’ll be the highest paid "unsung hero" ever. |
5 |
Glen Metropolit | 6 | Just when you think he’s cooled off for good, he goes and gets 2 points. |
| 6 | Scott Gomez | 9 | Struggled vs Toronto but was a force vs Buffalo and Boston with 3 points. |
7 |
Josh Gorges | 7 | Brought some offence to the table while blocking anything in sight. |
| 8 | Andrei Kostitsyn | 5 | Didn’t play poorly, but clearly was the weak element on his line this week. |
9 |
Max Pacioretty | 9 | I won’t say he’s arrived (too early), but he’s been great the last while. |
| 10 | Jaroslav Spacek | 8 | Looks more comfortable out there lately, it shows in his offensive game. |
11 |
Jaroslav Halak | 6 | Sure he was rusty, but there’s no way to sugarcoat how bad he was. |
| 12 | Travis Moen | 10 | The spark in his game has been lacking for a while now. |
13 |
Hal Gill | 14 | Showed why he was brought in as a defensive specialist against the B’s. |
| 14 | Sergei Kostitsyn | 17 | Second straight good week, he gives the team 2 decent offensive lines. |
15 |
Ryan O’Byrne | 12 | A couple of shaky moments, but continues to play reasonably well. |
| 16 | Tom Pyatt | 16 | One of these days he’s going to have to find a way to get a point or two. |
17 |
Paul Mara | 13 | For a d-man with some offensive pop, we’ve yet to see it so far this year. |
| 18 | Ryan White | 11 | Struggled a bit, hopefully the trip to Hamilton gets him going again. |
| 19 | Marc-Andre Bergeron | 14 | Hopefully he’s found a permanent home as a 4th line winger. |
| 20 | Matt D’Agostini | 20 | Looks like the player from last year than the D’Agostini of last season. |
| 21 | Maxim Lapierre | 15 | Already reverting back to the poor performing Lapierre of last month. |
| 22 | Georges Laraque | 22 | Didn’t do anything to help, but he finally didn’t hurt the team either. |
| 23 | Kyle Chipchura | 20 | What an underwhelming sendoff game, -2 in less than 2 minutes. |
Dropped from the rankings: Jay Leach (18 –
waivers-SJ), David Desharnais (19 – minors), and J.T. Wyman (21 – minors).
|
The Dog |
Though Hamilton’s shutout streak came to an end
on Saturday, Cedrick Desjardins has a personal streak going of roughly 158
minutes.
|
Results: |
| December 4 | 1 |
2 | 3 | Tot |
PP |
SOG |
| Toronto | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0/4 | 15 |
| Hamilton | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0/4 | 31 |
Attendance: 6,092
3 Stars: 1) Desjardins – HAM 2) Trotter – HAM 3) Subban – HAM
| December 5 | 1 |
2 | 3 | 3 | Tot |
PP |
SOG |
| Hamilton | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 1/3 | 47 |
| Toronto | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 1/3 | 27 |
Attendance: 3,266
3 Stars: 1) Deveaux – TOR 2) Stalberg – TOR 3) Scott – TOR
|
Stats: |
As the Habs slowly return to health, the
Bulldogs are starting to get some players back; both Ryan White and J.T. Wyman
rejoined the club this week.
|
SKATERS |
| # | Player | GP | G | A | +/- | SH | PIMS |
| 5 | Alex Henry | 2 | 0 | 3 | +2 | 4 | 10 |
| 6 | Chad Anderson | 2 | 0 | 0 | E | 5 | 2 |
| 7 | Yannick Weber | 2 | 0 | 1 | +1 | 7 | 2 |
| 10 | J.T. Wyman | 2 | 1 | 1 | +1 | 3 | 0 |
| 12 | Andrew Conboy | 2 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 2 | 5 |
| 15 | Mike Glumac | 2 | 1 | 0 | E | 5 | 2 |
| 16 | Gregory Stewart | 2 | 0 | 1 | +1 | 0 | 7 |
| 19 | Brock Trotter | 2 | 1 | 0 | -1 | 8 | 0 |
| 20 | Ryan Russell | 2 | 1 | 0 | +1 | 3 | 0 |
| 25 | Ryan White | 1 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 3 | 7 |
| 26 | Grant Stevenson | 2 | 0 | 0 | +1 | 2 | 4 |
| 29 | Eric Neilson | 2 | 1 | 0 | +1 | 2 | 7 |
| 32 | Frederic St. Denis | 1 | 0 | 0 | E | 1 | 0 |
| 51 | David Desharnais | 2 | 1 | 1 | +1 | 9 | 0 |
| 54 | Ryan Murphy | 2 | 0 | 0 | +1 | 3 | 0 |
| 61 | Andre Benoit | 2 | 0 | 1 | E | 2 | 0 |
| 72 | Mathieu Carle | 2 | 0 | 1 | +1 | 6 | 2 |
| 76 | P.K. Subban | 2 | 2 | 1 | +2 | 8 | 2 |
| 91 | Ben Maxwell | 2 | 0 | 1 | E | 5 | 0 |
|
GOALIES |
| # | Player | Record | SV% | GAA |
| 1 | Curtis Sanford | 0-1-0 | .778 | 5.61 |
| 30 | Cedrick Desjardins | 1-0-0 | 1.000 | 0.00 |
|
Leaders: |
Goals: Mathieu Darche (7)
Assists: Brock Trotter (14)
Points: Brock Trotter (20)
+/-: P.K. Subban (+9)
PIMS: Eric Neilson (70)
Shots: Mike Glumac (79)
|
This Week: |
December 9:
Abbotsford vs Hamilton
December 13: Abbotsford vs Hamilton
|
Goalie |
With Carey Price stepping it up for the Habs
and Cedrick Desjardins on a hot streak for Hamilton, let’s look a little deeper
at the organization’s goalies and see how each one is doing so far this season.
Player |
League |
Record |
GA |
SF |
SVS |
SO |
GAA |
SV% |
| Carey Price | NHL | 8-10-2 | 57 | 653 | 596 | 0 | 2.77 | .913 |
| Jaroslav Halak |
NHL | 5-4-0 | 27 | 255 | 228 | 0 | 3.00 |
.894 |
| Cedrick Desjardins | AHL | 6-4-1 | 17 | 271 | 254 | 3 | 1.63 | .937 |
| Curtis Sanford |
AHL | 8-4-2 | 32 | 406 | 374 | 2 | 2.14 |
.921 |
| Robert Mayer | ECHL | 5-4-0 | 30 | 230 | 200 | 0 | 3.36 | .870 |
| Jason Missiaen |
OHL | 14-12-2 | 103 | 1,077 | 974 | 0 | 3.89 |
.904 |
| Petteri Simila | OHL | 1-4-3 | 38 | 350 | 312 | 0 | 4.14 | .891 |
Desjardins and Sanford also have a shared
shutout from a game last week.
|
Final |
With Scott Gomez’s struggles this season
(though not so much this week), talk has inevitably shifted to the debate of why
the Habs opted to acquire him, handcuffing the team salary cap wise in the
process. Looking at his salary situation, I’m not so convinced that his
deal is as bad of an albatross as some people make it out to be. Confused?
Here’s how – let’s look at the remaining breakdown of his deal first:
Year |
Salary |
Cap Hit (rounded) |
| 2009-10 | 8,000,000 | 7,357,143 |
| 2010-11 | 8,000,000 | 7,357,143 |
| 2011-12 | 7,500,000 | 7,357,143 |
| 2012-13 | 5,500,000 |
7,357,143 |
| 2013-14 | 4,500,000 | 7,357,143 |
In particular, I look to the last 2 years of
the deal as being a good contract to trade rather than a bad one. In an
era of escalating salaries, small market teams are struggling to spend to the
cap floor. Gomez’s (and other front loaded) deals will soon begin to serve
as opportunities for these teams to help get to the cap floor without not
actually spending that much in actual salary. Let’s use Nashville as an
example, a team that only barely spends to the floor and complains about having
to spend that much. If they were to acquire Gomez in the final year of his
contract, they’d essentially be saving roughly $2.8 million in actual money
assuming they continue to be a floor team. This is something that’d be
valuable to them which means that the Habs may actually be able to get something
for him – perhaps not a lot, but it would free them from his cap hit obligations
earlier. In fact, there’s 2 years where this applies – as a fan, could you
live with Gomez for 2 more seasons? All of a sudden, it doesn’t seem quite
so bad.
A quick note on the
capsheet –
updates will be limited until the middle of the month, my apologies in advance
for the inconvenience. In the meantime, if you have a question regarding this article,
please feel free to
drop me a line at
[email protected].
Note: The Recap will return to its regular Sunday publication slot next week.
