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Montreal Canadiens 2013/2014 Season

The Montreal Canadiens won their division last season but by the slimmest of margins. Unfortunately for the Habs, their stellar season was in a tailspin going into the playoffs and they got a 1st round team in the Ottawa Senators which were fairly hot going into the playoffs. Not much was expected from the Habs last year after tanking the season before. Now the team seems to have a culture of winning with general manager Marc Bergevin putting together a winning team and adding Michel Therien as the coach. 

2012-2013 Recap

Well the team previously had a horrible general manager that was arrogant and was replaced with Bergevin who has earned a reputation of being a hard worker and winning. They got rid of cry baby Erik Cole who complained the whole time during the lockout and seemed to lose the respect of his teammates. He was traded for former Habs player Michael Ryder who had a decent season. The Habs enjoyed a healthy Andrei Markov which was a rare site. 

Habs signed PK Subban to a 2 year deal and he proved he was worth the money he was asking for and after winning the Norris trophy, he will probably get it and now the ball is back in his court.

Rookies Gallagher and Galchenyuk

Last season they had 2 impressive rookies Brendan Gallagher and Alex Galchenyuk. Both were young and cracked the linedup and produced throughout the season. Both were Calder candidates and with confidence under their belt, more is expected from both of them. 

Brendan Prust was a key acquisition last season as well and proved to be well worth his salary. Prust left a strong New York Rangers team and without him, they seemed to plummet down the conference standings while the Habs rocketed to the top. 

This season more is expected from the Habs. With the Olympics on the horizon, some players might have extra focus this season especially Carey Price who wants to suit up for team Canada and show that the pressure of playing in Montreal has hardened him to be the go to guy for Canada. 

It seems the team has what it takes to go to the next level and the benchmark for this new season will be to get past the first round of playoffs. 

Matt Cooke cuts Erik Karlsson was it intentional?

Matt Cooke is considered one of the dirtiest players currently playing in the NHL. He recently cut Norris trophy winner Erik Karlsson and ended his season in 2013. Was this hit intention?

Matt Cooke denies it but he has to if he wants to avoid any suspensions which of course would cost him a lot of money. If you watch the reply of the video his leg comes up high on Karlsson's leg and drivers forward. There is no reason for this forward thursting motion unless you wanted to drive your skate blade in that direction. If this was just an accidental play it would happen more often but it doesn't. Just look at the balance of Matt Cooke and you can clearly see that he has to exert a lot of energy to get his leg in that position and also to thrust it forward. You can see at the end he kicks downward which isn't used to balance himself at all, he has his weight on his right skate and his center of gravity is near his right leg. At any point his body doesn't move forward.

So how could Brendan Shanahan not catch this? If this was any player other than Matt Cooke then it is probably a hockey play and an accident. Matt Cooke has played his entire NHL career going after players. All you have to do is watch all of his videos and it is a surprise that this player is still in the league. 

Matt Cooke deserves to be suspended for his play on Karlsson. Just see what all the hockey news networks have to say about this and if this wasn't Matt Cooke then the story is about the accident. Since it does feature Matt Cooke, hockey analysts are going to ask, did Matt Cooke intentionally do this?

 

The video speaks for itself. Cooke gets his skate up yet he is fully balance on his right skate, he quickly slams his skate into Karlsson's leg. This is a careless play and he probably wanted to hurt Karlsson but didn't mean to hurt him so bad as to end his season. Watch Cooke speak about the play and his body language looks to be a mixture of guilty with a hint of embarrassment. Dear NHL if you want fans to come back to the game, get rid of losers like Matt Cooke. He isn't a good hockey player and he has spent his career injuring others and talented players that fans actually want to do. Good luck finding any good videos of Cooke doing any hits or scoring nice goals. Search for Matt Cooke into google or youtube and look at the suggestions that come up: dirty player, 10 dirty NHL players, Matt Cooke elbow and now we can add skate laceration. Heck look at his history of cheap shot videos, there is one of him kicking his skate towards a goalie's head.

Is Dion Phaneuf the most overrated player in the NHL?

Sports Illustrated (they still exist?) has conducted a poll of 161 NHL players who could vote in secret for the player they think is the most overrated in the NHL.

So who was #1? Dion Phaneuf.

It is truly hard to believe that other players didn't make it over him for being the most overrated. Just think of the list of these players that clearly take the cake in terms of their reputation and skill. Try these NHL players for size:

Jarome Iginla, Alex Ovechkin, Alexander Semin, Mike Richards, Ryan Kessler, Alex Burrows, Jeff Carter, Jason Spezza, Scott Gomez, Carey Price, James Reimer, Ilya Kovalchuk, Vincent Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis, Ryan Malone, 

From the top 15 players that don't deserve to be on that list include Dany Heatley and Chris Pronger. These are 2 great players, Heatley is always scoring goals and has a knack for playing on winning teams, mind you they don't win the cup. Chris Pronger only has one downside which is bad luck that has caused him so many injuries it isn't funny. When healthy, give me a team that doesn't want him besides Edmonton or rather he doesn't want them. These players are not overrated but rather players don't like playing against them.

Phaneuf is a player who doesn't belong on that list of 15. This season he is one of the league leaders in defenceman in points and Toronto players better with him than without. 

http://www.thestar.com/sports/article/1114135--leafs-dion-phaneuf-voted-most-overrated-in-the-nhl-brian-burke-not-amused?bn=1

Tampa Bay Lightning advance to conference finals

The Tampa Bay Lightning have punched their tickets for the conference finals and will face the Boston Bruins who have raced to a 3-0 series lead with little doubt they would make the same mistake they did last year and become the 3rd team in NHL history to blow a 3-0 series lead.

Tampa Bay took out a strong Pittsburgh Penguins team in 7 games in round 1. Against the #1 ranked Washington Capitals they were embarassed and swept them off the ice with the broom. Washington which is usually a strong team will probably have their team ripped apart and maybe they didn't deserve it however their performance against the lightning will put their coach, captain and other star players into question if this is a team built to win the Stanley Cup or not.

Tampa Bay right now is on fire: Vincent Lecavalier is basically leading the playoffs in scoring. Martin St-Louis is having another MVP year just like in 2004 when he won the Hart trophy. Steve Stamkos is looking stronger as the playoffs carry on and he is starting to snipe a few goals. Dominic Moore is stepping up huge and Steve Yzerman looks like a genius as a result. Sean Bergenheim is providing excellent secondary scoring and his timely goals just zapped the Caps of any sort of confidence.

Last but not least, Dwayne Roloson is 41 but has robbed the Capitals of sure goals and is proving he is definitely the real deal. Not only a great pickup but another mastermind play from general manager Steve Yzerman that has this team feeling like they can win the cup this year.

Boston Bruins vs Montreal Canadians playoffs

The first round of the NHL playoffs begins soon with one rivalry heating up as the #3 seed Boston Bruins take on the #6 seed Montreal Canadiens. Boston finished the season ahead of Montreal by just 7 points but won their last game and completely embarassed the Habs. As the series starts people will be talking about the Max Pacioretty hit that has left him with possibly a concussion and a broken neck.

The edge has to go to Boston on this series. Cary Price has had a very good year but that doesn't even compare to what Tim Thomas has done for the Boston Bruins. The goalie edge goes there. In terms of forwards Boston has a bigger lineup and players that can all put the puck in the net. You can't exactly say the same for the Habs who are struggling with players like Pouliot and Scott Gomez. Gomez is probably preventing the team from achieving bigger heights with a lot of money going towards the players who has the worst plus/minus on the team. If they didn't have so many top injured defenceman they would be a tough team to play against.

Series prediction: Boston wins in 6 games. This series will be dictated not by the goalies but more by the 3 solid lines of scoring that Boston have.

Matt Cooke gets suspension for elbow headshot

Matt Cooke has in person hearing with Colin Campbell which is a guaranteed suspension. Mario Lemieux asked the league to deliver tougher punishment for headshots and he got his wish as Matt Cooke is getting suspended for his headshot and dirty elbow on New York Rangers defenceman Ryan McDonagh. It is poetic justice that Mario Lemieux cries to the league because his star player is injured from a concussion yet he has one of the cheapest dirties players in the game on his team in Matt Cooke, the same player who received a 4 game suspension earlier this year for another dirty dangerous play: a hit from behind.

Matt Cooke is famously known for being a dirty player and has a reputation of being someone who goes for headshots. Just ask Marc Savard, the league did nothing about that cheap hit that has nearly ruined his career. It is a crime that these players risk having to retire due to serious injury while Matt Cooke gets a free ticket. 

All of this drama comes after a general manager summit to discuss headshots which was just after the Chara hit on Pacioretty. 

 

Matt Cooke elbow on Ryan McDonagh

Matt Cooke's career on cheapshots

Is Zdeno Chara hit Max Pacioretty a conflict of interest with the NHL?

Zdeno Chara absolutely destroyed Max Pacioretty and what did the NHL do about it? Absolutely nothing. It is very tough to argue if Chara intentionally went after Pacioretty and there is a good chance he did this in retaliation to the previous game they played where Pacioretty scored the overtime game winner then shoved Chara in the back which caused a scuffle as the game had ended. 

 

Now the video above you can tell that Chara already has a problem with Max Pacioretty and the next game Chara seems to get his revenge. The next video shows the Chara hit and if you watch the video in slow motion you see Chara push his elbow out at the last minute to ram Pacioretty's head into the partition.

 

The big issue is that the NHL declined to give Chara a suspension but this might be a big mistake that is already hurting the NHL. Even if Chara didn't intentionally try to hurt Pacioretty the right thing to do is to give Chara some suspension to send a message to players that they have a responsibility on the ice. Hits to the head is already ripping the NHL apart  and players know they can get away with it. 

Gary Bettman gives Boston Bruins preferential treatment

Joe Thornton recently announced that he feels the Boston Bruins organization gets preferential treatment. You can read that here where he said it is strange that Chara gets no suspension and that Milan Lucic cross check to the head of another player, he got away without a suspension and of course the VP Colin Campbell's son Gregory Campbell players on that team as well.

http://www.prosportsdaily.com/articles/joe-thorton-says-bruins-get-favorable-rulings-from-nhl-disciplinary-committee-on-regular-basis-474034.html

Boston Bruins owner gets Gary Bettman a new contract

Boston Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs is the biggest backer of helping Gary Bettman get a new 5 year contract as the NHL president who is making a whopping $7.2 million per year. 

It is obvious that Gary Bettman has some ties with the Boston Bruins and it does explain why Boston's Zdeno Chara got away without any suspension. 

So Gary Bettman spends too much time trying to help failing southern NHL franchises while neglecting what is happening in Canada. Bettman is going to be the NHL boss for another 5 years getting $35 million. He is a lawyer that probably has never skated in his life and it is sad that he is driving the NHL into the ground. If you want to make your vote heard boycott the NHL and ask for change.

Did Zdeno Chara have bad intentions and try to get even with Max Pacioretty? This pictures speaks for itself

Pittsburgh Penguins injuries Crosby Malkin

Pittsburgh's season is in jeopardy all because their top 2 star players Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are both injured. Malkin is done for the season with a torn acl and Crosby has no timetable to return due to his concussion he received at the classic outdoor game against Washington.

Mark Letestu is also injured and out for probably 6 weeks and this means expect Pittsburgh to go on a bit of a losing streak and hope to survive for a playoff position.

Meanwhile Matt Cooke is suspended after injuring more players. It is surprising that this guy is still allowed to march around the league with dangerous hits to the head. Marc Savard's career might be over thanks to Cooke and who knows who will be his next victim.

Stamkos versus Crosby for MVP

Who will be the NHL MVP this year to end the 2011 NHL season? The only 2 choices worth considering are clearly Sidney Crosby and Steven Stamkos. Going into the All-star game both players were nearly tied with goals and points. Perhaps what is most surprising is that Steven Stamkos is having a great season and he is only in his 3rd NHL season.

The same could be said for Sidney Crosby as he had a 25 game point streak in the middle of the season which was the longest since Mats Sundin back in 1993. Crosby has helped his Pittsburgh Penguins overcome a slow start to the season and now become one of the toughest teams to play against. He has been getting better almost every year since he broke out into the NHL.

Steven Stamkos started the season with a goal per game average but now looks like he will finish the season somewhere around 60 goals total. Sidney Crosby also appears to be on pace for the magical 60 mark which is reserved for truly elite players.

Kovalchuk and Devils bad - Atlanta Thrashers good

Ilya Kovalchuk is a player that plays only for money, not for the love of hockey. Unfortunately for the New Jersey Devils they have been considered one of the most consistent teams since 1995. Last season they finished the regular season strong but now they are challenging for last place in the NHL. If it wasn't for worse management with the New York Islanders than the New Jersey Devils would be in sole possession of last place.

So Atlanta Thrashers don't resign Ilya Kovalchuk then the tables would be turned. However Atlanta now sits 2nd in the Eastern Conference and is 21 points ahead of New Jersey in the conference standings. The Devils signed Kovalchuk to sell seats and to increase scoring, yet New Jersey is last in the NHL in goals for with a horrible 58. The last place New York Islanders have 65.

It makes you wonder how the lockerroom is in New Jersey now. If I was Martin Brodeur I would demand a trade of a team that has not only made the worst acquisition in it's history but they are going to suffer long term salary cap problems that will prevent them from winning a Stanley Cup as long as Kovalchuk is still being paid a salary. This is the same problem the New York Islanders had years ago signing Alexei Yashin to a stupid large contract. Now John Tavares has no real players to play with as salary cap money is going towards players like Yashin and Rick DiPietro who has essentially guaranteed money and might not play in the NHL for very long with his knee problems.

In conclusion, Ilya Kovalchuk has just sunk one of the greatest teams in the East but you can't blame him. Management can only be blamed for this. I think the LA Kings are happy they lost out on the Kovalchuk sweepstakes