Meet Alex Galchenyuk, superstar

Well this is what’s called a silver lining to the Habs’ bitter exit from the playoffs.

Did you see Alex Galchenyuk’s heroics Sunday for Team U.S.A.? The Habs rookie scored the goal to tie the shoot-out and then went and scored the winning goal, to give the U.S. the bronze medal at the World Championship, with a 3-2 win over Finland.

Check it out. And look forward to seeing this superstar-to-be playing for the Canadiens for years to come. And wonder why kindly ol’ coach Michel Therrien never had the confidence to play Chucky late in tight games, as my Twitter pal Rich Thorpe underlined.

- Brendan

http://video.tsn.ca/?dl=pipe42/latest/1/0/929918/clip/0

 

Marc-André Grondin suggests it might be time for Carey Price to shave his head and grow a curly moustache

Jay Baruchel, Marc-Andre Grondin and the Stanley Cup. That’s a shaved head under that toque if you’re wondering! Top Shelf photo by Brendan Kelly.

Marc-André Grondin and I have been having a good-natured argument about Carey Price for a couple of years now. As you know, I’m a #Halak kind of guy. And Grondin – one of Canada’s better actors – is a Price man.

Well the whole Price debate was re-ignited in recent days, both by the goalie’s inconsistent performance in the Senators series and the already-famous ‘hobbit in a hole’ comments.

On the weekend, after the Sens sent the Habs to an early summer vacation, Price talked about the pressures of playing in Montreal.

‘I don’t even go the grocery store anymore,’ said Price. ‘I hardly do anything anymore. I’m like a hobbit in a hole. I just don’t do anything anymore.’

I was talking to Grondin – whose film credits include C.R.A.Z.Y., Goon and L’homme qui rit – about how tough it is to play that position for the Habs and I was opining that Carey needs to learn to deal with the pressure.

‘I think he just cannot relax,’ said Grondin. ‘It’s really bad.’

Grondin thinks the team’s management should be making sure their star goalie is doing okay off the ice.

‘If a guy has a drug problem, they take care of him,’ said Grondin. ‘Well they should do the same with a guy who needs a little more liberty.’

I said I thought – from Monday’s presser – that Habs GM Marc Bergevin is sensitive to Price’s dilemma and he’ll likely try to do something about it. I can see Bergevin talking Price out to dinner for a heart-to-heart, something that is not even imaginable with previous GM Pierre Gauthier.

‘If I had one thing to say to Carey Price, it would be shave your head and grow a curly moustache,’ said Grondin. ‘And no one will recognize you. It worked for me.’

Grondin dealt with his own stardom issues by shaving his head and growing a curly moustache!

Marc Bergevin shows character

The best thing about the Marc Bergevin end-of-year press conference was the fact it was Marc Bergevin talking and not either Bob Gainey or Pierre Gauthier. Yes the G&G era is over. Yes there is a God.

Now I really like Marc Bergevin – as does every self-respecting Habs fan – but let’s be honest here. The jury is out on this dashing man – where does he buy his pink ties? – who is one of three finalists for the General Manager of the Year award in the National Hockey League. (As Warren Zevon put it in a very different context – I believe he was talking about a werewolf – ‘I’d like to meet his tailor!’)

The journeyman player, who underlined that he was never a finalist for anything in the more than two decades he toiled in the League as a player, is up for that hardware because he took one of the worst teams from last season and brought them to the No. 2 spot in the Eastern Conference.

But the way the season ended tarnished that achievement. The last couple of weeks of the regular season was a disaster for the Habs and losing to the No. 7 seed in five games is pretty damn bad. Bergevin made some great moves, notably bringing in a solid management team, snaring the great Brandon Prust, bringing back the heroic Francis Bouillon, and sending Scott Gomez packing.

But he made some major mistakes too – most notably signing wee David Desharnais to a four-year $14 million contract in the middle of the season (effectively sending DD on summer vacation a couple of months early), signing the sleepy Travis Moen to a big deal, and reaching out to bring in the useless Colby Armstrong. All bad moves.

Still early to make the ruling on Bergy – but I’m betting he’ll do us all proud. What I liked the most Monday is he made it clear he was not satisfied with that quick first-round exit. There was none of the crap we had to put up with every season-end in the G&G era where the underachieving bosses would make every excuse to explain the team’s mediocrity.

Bergevin doesn’t just want to make the playoffs. He wants this team to go all the way. He talked about Brendan Gallagher’s character. But the boss is showing some character too and I like that.

- Brendan

Who are Habs fans gonna cheer for?

That is the question. Who are we supposed to cheer for now that our Habs are on the golf course? This Bruins-Leafs series has presented quite the dilemma for us Habs fans. Here are our two most-hated teams battling it out in what I have to admit is one tremendous series.So who do you back here? I didn’t really know until I started watching the series and strangely, without reflection, I suddenly found myself rooting for the Bruins. I know, I know, we’re supposed to hate the big bad Bs and i will start hating them again – once they finish off the Leafs.

It suddenly dawned on me that I hate the Leafs more than I hate the Bruins. First off, Boston is the better team. That’s not even up for debate. But also we just live with a lot more resentment towards the Leafs because we live in a media universe – hello Hockey Night in Canada, hi there Toronto Sports Network – that just can’t control its Leafs boosterism.

Did you watch the Leafs-Bruins game Sunday night on Hockey Night in Canada? I mean the boys on the show couldn’t control their enthusiasm, waxing eloquent about James Reimer – who was amazing, I’ll grant you – and losing themselves in poetic reveries about their beloved Leafs. Don Cherry appeared in a blue-and-white Leafs wig – I swear, I’m not making this up! – and predicted that “WE” would win 3-2.

Now when I noted this on Twitter, some defended Grapes saying we all know this is part of his routine but c’mon man. Just imagine this happening in the States. That John Madden while working a Super Bowl broadcast takes sides in the game. Exactly. It’s unthinkable.

So I’m pulling for the Bruins just to p— of all the Leafs fans in the Toronto media. But once the Bruins finish off the Leafs – which they will Monday night, mark my words – I’ll be back to hoping they’re humiliated by whoever they face next.

Then I’m moving back to the team I loved as a kid in the ’70s in Montreal – the mighty Chicago Blackhawks. I’ll be cheering on the Hawks – along with great Scottish novelist Irvine Welsh, who is one of the Blackhawks’ most vocal fans.

But for today, it’s – Go Bruins Go!

The dream is over

Okay I know the Habs were never going to be competing for the Cup this year but you gotta admit that’s a brutal way to go out. 6-1 to the Senators and pretty darn close to a sweep in the series.

So the dream is over. You remember that blog from a few weeks back when Montreal went off the rails – after they made the playoffs – and I suggested that maybe the first 35 games were “all just an illusion to me now” Well that’s ringing truer than ever now.

The Canadiens have not played with any kind of consistency since they clinched a playoff berth with that win in Buffalo. They were playing above their talent level all year and once they made the post-season, they just had nothing left in the tank. And yes they were more like last year’s team than we ever thought.

There were some great additions this year. Short version? The kids are alright. Brendan Gallagher, of course, was the sensation and that’s why he’s up for the Calder. Alex Galchenyuk is going to be amazing, probably as early as next year. And what do you say about P.K. Subban. Well you say what I said when Marc Bergevin was playing hardball with him during those negotiations – he’s a superstar and you better sign him up for as long as you can.

Bergevin made a mistake refusing to sign him for more than two years and I’m pretty sure he’ll correct that mistake by inking a rich long-term deal with the Norris finalist this summer.

The other major plus was Brandon Prust. This guy is the team’s real leader and I’d give him the ‘C’ in a heartbeat.

That’s the good news. Then there’s the rest of the team. The sad-sack regular-season end and even-worse playoffs does not reflect well on a bunch of guys. David Desharnais hasn’t played a good game since he signed that big deal. He should be ashamed of himself.

The only silver lining with Michael Ryder is he’s no longer under contract with the Canadiens. He looked bored over the past month. Now you get why teams don’t hang on to Ryder. Travis Moen? See the comment about Desharnais above. Colby Armstrong? See comment about Ryder above.

Then there’s my bete noire, Carey Price. Look he’s not the main reason Montreal lost the series. Montreal lost because our forwards were worse than the Senators’ forwards.

But Price wasn’t good enough in this series. Again. The guy in the mask at the other end delivered a truly great performance. Price was inconsistent. Again. How long are you going to keep saying next year will be his year?

But maybe the most depressing thing about the series was how Paul MacLean out-coached Michel Therrien from game-one on. The Walrus played Therrien and Therrien never seemed to understand he was being played. Take the famous end-of-game time-out that so enraged Therrien. Mr. Walrus did that to upset Therrien and get him off his game, and it worked a charm.

Instead of looking long and hard at how to make his team better, Therrien got hot under the collar about MacLean. That was the idea. The Walrus got inside Therrien’s head.

So sure it was a surprisingly good season in some ways. The team finished second in the conference. But it was at least partly an illusion. They weren’t really a second-seed team, a fact proved by their whacking at the hands of the seventh-seed in this series.

And yes there are lots of positives. For the first time in years, there’s a core of young stars in Gallagher, Galchenyuk and Subban. But Bergevin has his work cut out for him in the summer. And guess what? The most important piece of the puzzle missing is a big, strong talented first or second-line centre. Sound familiar? Bergevin is facing the same problem that’s dogged Habs GMs for 20 years.

And no there will be no 20th anniversary Cup. Sigh.

Well that was special…..or how the Habs are ruining my life

I’ve always said there’s never a dull moment with our Habs and that was proved again tonight. After a humiliating defeat Sunday, the Canadiens stormed back Tuesday to take a 2-0 lead with goals from the “kids”, thanks to two just-beautiful shots from P.K. Subban and Alex Galchenyuk, both Top Shelf by the way.

Then the refs decide it’s okay to kick in a puck on the first Senators goal and when things get tight in last couple of minutes, the same officials call two straight bogus icing calls on the Habs. Then Ottawa ties it up. Carey Price gets injured and those same Sens win it in overtime with a blooper goal.

But I’m not going to lay the blame on the refs for this one. They were crap but they’ve been crap this entire series. No the real goat is the Habs and just maybe Habs coach Michel Therrien. They sat on that 2-zip lead throughout the third and that’s just nonsensical Jacques Martin-style hockey.

You know Montreal can easily blow a two-goal lead. Just ask Ted Bird about the dreaded two-goal lead. So you gotta go for that third goal. And they didn’t.

Was that Therrien’s call? Or the players’? If I was Marc Bergevin right now, I’d like to know the answer to that question. Because that decision has likely ended the team’s season.

Bad calls, bad luck, whatever. It’s 3-1 Ottawa and if that’s the case, it’s cos they’ve been the better team. If you ask me, the biggest factor here has been the coaching. Paul MacLean has out-coached Therrien. He did it again tonight.

Look, on paper, Montreal is the better team. And that better team is going back to Montreal facing elimination. So who you gonna blame?

This is a heartbreaker. One of the toughest losses for Habs fans in a couple of decades. I’m just devastated. Gobsmacked. Effed. I even used the F word on Twitter.

You know what this proves? Life is not fair. Maybe you knew that already. Well I didn’t.

So I’m furious with the bad calls, upset about the injuries to our team but mostly I’m just totally and utterly depressed.

Not Michel Therrien’s finest hour

Michel Therrien. Courtesy of RDS.

There’s been a lot of talk about just how ugly the Habs made the game Sunday night in Ottawa.

But isn’t it odd how few people are pointing the finger at kindly ol’ coach Michel Therrien? ‘Cause if things degenerated – and they most certainly did – it was “thanks” to Therrien.

As Arpon Basu points out in his nhl.com piece, Therrien sent out Ryan White, Colby Armstrong, Travis Moen, Francis Bouillon and Jarred Tinordi for that fateful face-off in the third, throwing down the gauntlet to Sens coach Paul MacLean. So it was Therrien who set the scene for the dumb goony brawl.

It was a bone-headed move and not just because the Montreal guys lost all the fights. (Eds. note: Of course they did. They are not a team of fighters!) That’s not Montreal Canadiens hockey. That’s the kind of crap you expect from the Bruins or Leafs.

It was a huge mistake. And it was Therrien’s mistake. He obviously wanted a full-on brawl and you have to wonder why. What’s the strategy here? I don’t think there was any strategy. It was an emotional move from a coach who lives with the knock that he’s too emotional.

Then things got out of control. Now did Therrien want that? If so, that’s an even bigger mistake. If he didn’t want that, the only other conclusion is he lost control of his players. It’s hard to think which hypothesis is worse.

Either he lost his cool and ordered his guys to go out and punch it up. Or his players went rogue on him. Neither scenario makes me feel very good about the coach or the team.

But……and it’s the biggest ‘but’ of the season, this series ain’t over. Like what’s with Montreal fans today (Monday)? It was full-on panic. It was as if people here forgot what it’s like to be in a playoff series.

I mean I’m the Nabob of Negativity, the Habs Homer of Doom and Gloom, and even I found the Habs’ fans despair nonsensical. Yeah it was a horrible game Sunday – see above – but it’s only 2-1 Ottawa. As CBC sports reporter Doug Gelevan pointed out in our tweet exchange, everyone was saying, pre-series, that it was going to go to seven, so that means the Sens have to win three games.

So it’s far from finished and the Habs are far from finished. But they need to up their game significantly from game three. Ryder, Pacioretty, Desharnais (!!!!), Gorges…..all have to be better. Heck they have to show up.

But Therrien also has to take back control of his team and the series. He’s been out-coached since game one by Paul ‘I am the walrus’ MacLean. Therrien has to start acting rather than (emotionally) reacting.

Oh yeah and Carey Price has to bring his A game Tuesday, not his aw-shucks-I-let-in-six-goals game.

So it’s not over. At least I hope it’s not over. As Aislin memorably put it – Everyone take a valium!