Author: Dose

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Top-2: Sidney Crosby lays down the gloves for the 10th time in his career

It was a very quiet Friday night in the National Hockey League yesterday, with only two games on the schedule.

The Winnipeg Jets visited the Pittsburgh Penguins, while the Buffalo Sabres were in Anaheim to take on the Ducks.

Here’s what caught the eye in both games.

1. Things are so bad in Pittsburgh that Sidney Crosby throws down the gloves

The Pittsburgh Penguins have had a very bad first quarter of the season, and that doesn’t look set to change for the rest of the campaign.

Indeed, the Penguins are last in the Metropolitan Division and 26ᵉ in the NHL with a 7-11-4 record in 22 games, giving them the third-worst points percentage in the NHL at .409.

Things are really going badly for the Penguins, which is quite the opposite of yesterday’s opponent, the Winnipeg Jets, who are in first place in the NHL.

The Jets were in Pittsburgh last night, and won easily, 4-1, in a game in which the Penguins took just 18 shots on net.

What caught the eye in this game, however, was the fact that Penguins captain Sidney Crosby threw down the gloves against Kyle Connor.

Indeed, the two talented players came to blows in an unusual fight.

This is only the 10ᵉ time in his career that Crosby has thrown down the gloves, and it speaks volumes about his level of frustration this season.

In short, the Penguins are going straight to the wall, and will ultimately have no choice but to rebuild.

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2. Sabres comeback sparked by Jiri Kulich’s overtime winner

Jiri Kulich is a name that probably rings a bell.

He has often been mentioned on this site, and my colleague Tony Patoine has always liked and defended him, especially compared to Filip Mesar, selected two spots higher by the Canadiens.

Indeed, Kulich was drafted 28ᵉ in 2022 by the Sabres, and since then has been following a very nice development curve, which hurts Habs fans who wanted him at 26ᵉ instead of Filip Mesar, whose development is more difficult.

This season, at 20, Kulich has made his way into the NHL, as he has played 11 games so far, alternating between the stands and the Sabres’ bottom-6.

Last night, he scored a very important goal, as he gave the Sabres an overtime win to complete the comeback against the Ducks.

It was his second goal and point of the season.

Meanwhile, Mesar is injured, which is a real shame because he was off to a great start with five points in five games.

Overtime

– Evgeni Nabokov is still in top form and showed it in the San Jose Sharks All-Star Game.

– Here are yesterday’s results.

– Here are yesterday’s top scorers.

(Credit: NHL.com)

– Today’s NHL schedule: 15 games.

(Credit: Google/NHL)
(Credit: Google/NHL)
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Back from suspension, Jacob Fowler earns another shutout

ST. PAUL, MN - APRIL 13: Boston College Eagles goaltender Jacob Fowler (1) skates on the ice before the men's Frozen Four championship game between the Boston College Eagles and the Denver Pioneers on April 13th, 2024, in St. Paul, Minnesota. (Photo by Bailey Hillesheim/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

The more the days go by, the more the idea of Jacob Fowler defending the Habs cage makes Habs fans salivate. He is absolutely dominant in the NCAA with the Boston College Eagles.

Tonight, he recorded his fourth shutout of the season, this one with 28 saves to help his university defeat Northeastern.

What’s special is that he was making his return to action after serving a one-game suspension for striking a Penn State player with his shield last week.

He was back on his game pretty quickly and it was once again Washington Capitals forward Ryan Leonard who took care of the offense with two goals in a 3-0 win.

I really like what we’ve seen from Jacob Fowler over the past year. He’s calm in front of the net, very athletic and shows “dog” too. It’s clear that you don’t want to see the kind of moves he made last week too often, but it’s proof to me that he’s not letting himself be pushed around and that he’s taking his place.

Boston College will play Northeastern again tomorrow night.

Michael Hage still dominant

Another Habs prospect enjoying a fine NCAA season is Michael Hage. He scored two goals on Friday against Penn State, bringing his total to 7 so far this campaign.

His second goal, which he scored around the net, was the game-winner for Michigan, who eventually prevailed 6-5.

Hage is really in control at Michigan. He’s his team’s spark plug offensively and demonstrates game after game why the Habs drafted him in the first round.

Overtime

– David Jiricek continues to be the talk of the town.

– Defeat for the Rocket.

– Rafael Harvey-Pinard will also play tomorrow for the Rocket.

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Fighting and a toxic dressing room: Nashville and Anaheim make bad news

As we reach the quarter-way point of the National Hockey League season, tempers are already flaring for some struggling teams.

Such is the case with the Anaheim Ducks and Nashville Predators, who are not doing so well at the moment.

On the Nashville side, we were treated to the first skirmish at a Preds practice between forwards Luke Evangelista and former Habs star Michael McCarron.

Teammates quickly intervened to separate the two men. The Predators are currently last in the NHL with just 15 points so far this campaign. Expectations were high at the start of the season and the team simply isn’t living up to them, especially considering the additions of veteran Jonathan Marchessault and Steven Stamkos.

On the Anaheim side, it’s the dressing room that’s all crooked right now. The Ducks have a respectable 8-8-2 record, but can’t seem to take the next step in their rebuild.

According to Ryan Whitney, former NHL player and host of the Spittin Chicklets podcast, head coach Greg Cronin is at the root of the problems.

“I hear rumors that Cronin is absolutely hated by the Ducks players. I think he creates an atmosphere that can be like hell on earth for those guys,” he said.

We know there are some pretty strong personalities in the Ducks locker room, but that wouldn’t even be the players’ fault. Whitney even called it the most dysfunctional locker room in the NHL. Will this eventually cost Cronin his job? We’ll have to wait and see.

One thing’s for sure, when we compare ourselves, we take comfort in the Habs’ point of view. Clearly, the results could be better, but there’s definitely more harmony than elsewhere.

Overtime

– He’s performing much better.

– Back to square one in Laval.

– The Jets are dominant.

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Controversial goal in Chicoutimi, fans throw beer cans on the ice rink

In the “unusual scene” category, it’s hard to beat what happened last night in the QMJHL during a game involving the Chicoutimi Saguenéens and Moncton Wildcats at Centre Georges-Vézina.

The score was 3-3 when Moncton forward Riley Sampson hit the post before play was eventually stopped. So far so good, except that the referees were asked to review the sequence and awarded a completely invisible goal.

Fans in attendance were appalled by the situation when they saw the video replay and began throwing objects on the rink, including beer cans.

Fortunately, the story had a happy ending for the fans as the referees reviewed the footage again and obviously realized the error.

They cancelled the goal and the Saguenéens ended up winning the game.

Mikaël Lalancette clarified the facts following the information he received.

It was a supervisor who called the referees to point out that he had an angle from which he could clearly tell there was a goal.

It’s a crazy sequence of events that’s hard to explain. How could a supervisor look at the restart and say without a doubt that there was a goal?

Let’s bet that the QMJHL will take action to prevent this from happening again.

Then there’s the reaction of the fans in the arena. I’m one of those people who believes that throwing objects like beer cans on the ice is not the right way to complain.

It’s just a bad image that this sequence gives off, despite the fact that the decision is clearly wrong.

Overtime

– An interesting question to ask.

– What a start for the Rocket!

– The end of an era in Toronto.

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The Blue Jackets organize a “Russian Heritage Evening”.

COLUMBUS, OHIO - JANUARY 6: Kent Johnson #91 of the Columbus Blue Jackets skates after the puck during the game against the Minnesota Wild at Nationwide Arena on January 6, 2024 in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Kirk Irwin/NHLI via Getty Images)

December 12 will be a “special” evening in Columbus.

The club has announced an event that will allow some to receive a gift from the organization, in addition to being able to meet Kirill Marchenko after the game on the ice.

The problem? The Blue Jackets have named the evening “Russian Heritage Night”.

Of course, this makes it easy to believe that the Jackets have really dropped the ball.

After all, we know that Russia is at war with Ukraine, that anything to do with Russia is controversial lately… And let’s just say that the timing of this announcement is far from ideal.

Check out the comments under former sports journalist Slava Malamud’s Twitter post:

It’s, how can I put this… Quite special.

It’s logical to believe that it’s a rather significant lack of judgment under the circumstances, and it’s also logical to believe that it won’t please all Blue Jackets fans.

Because in doing so… it looks like the Blue Jackets simply want to get themselves into trouble. And that’s not necessarily complicated to understand, we agree.

At least, I don’t know who thought of it on the Columbus side, but it’s a miss.

Tickets for the evening are available by clicking on the link right here… But on digging around, I realized that the Blue Jackets haven’t made any announcement yet about the evening.

It’s funny, but I have a feeling they’re better off avoiding it to avoid getting into trouble.

Although, the damage has already been done…

Overtime

– I like it.

– Good old Tyler Seguin.

– Bedard is not satisfied with his start to the season.

– They’re certainly surprising.

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A 7th rebuilding season in 8 years… A cause for celebration

Faithful and attentive readers know what I think of the Habs’ communication/marketing strategy of trying to get it into our heads with a lot of media hype, and even TV series (!), that we’re in year three (four in 2024-2025?) of the rebuild.

Pure delirium. An Orwellian rewriting of history!

“How many fingers do you see, Winston?”

To that end, I was very, very happy to hear the always lucid and pertinent Martin Leclerc on the Tellement hockey podcast very clearly remind us at the 37th minute that there had already been quite a bit of rebuilding work… before the rebuilding!

Finally, someone else who says it, who dares to talk about it, who deconstructs the myth, who understands that it’s not because you repeat a false idea that it becomes true!

Thank you Martin Leclerc, thank you! Hallelujah!

In fact, if you have ten fingers (or close to it), can count just a little better than the crows and go back to the 2017-2018 season – which ended with a3rd-place selection (Kotkaniemi) – you’ll see that we’re in exactly the seventh rebuilding season in the last eight!

2017-2018: The Habs trade Plekanec to the Leafs, draft 3rd, then trade Pacioretty for Suzuki in September. There’s no photo, these are all rebuilding moves.

2018-2019: The team only wants to be competitive, but surprises in season with 96 points and misses the playoffs in a cruelly competitive Eastern Association. The Habs were in the mix against all odds. The players have remained healthy and many have had the season of their career or close to it. Caufield was drafted 15th overall, a pick that many had expected to be a top-10 pick. Caufield quickly became a key part of the reset on the fly. A strange rebuilding year. A year the Habs would no doubt have liked to have had this season…

2019-2020: The Habs campaign isn’t going anywhere. It’s cracking up everywhere. With 11 games to go, Montreal has the 9th-worst record in the NHL – 24th in the standings – when the season comes to a halt in March. Now, Bettman invents a bizarre summer tournament to make a quick buck. Montreal, a big market, took part, surprising Pittsburgh before losing in the first round to Philadelphia. They drafted Guhle 16th, but would normally have entered the lottery for Lafrenière! Clearly a year of rebuilding somewhat thwarted by, let’s say , uh, Fate?

2020-2021: Last year of Bergevin’s contract, filling his club with veterans and muscle: Anderson, Perry, Toffoli, Edmundson, Chiarot and Staal. Clearly not a rebuilding season in the GM’s mind. The 56-game “COVID” season begins in January. This is the year of the “Canadian Division”. The Habs, 18th overall, once again make the playoffs through a quirk of fate and, to everyone’s surprise, make it all the way to the Stanley Cup Final. But what 99.8% of people have forgotten is that the Rangers and Stars, who missed the playoffs, seemed to have better clubs than the Habs this season…

(Credit: Screenshot nhl.com)

We all know the rest. Bergevin leaves. Gorton and Hughes take over. We trade a bunch of valuable players and tank, tank and tank some more.

2021-2022: Slafkovsky at the top. Trade for Dach. Mesar. Beck. Hutson at end of 2nd.

2022-2023: Reinbacher in 5th position.

2023-2024: Demidov 5th.

2024-2025: We talk about the “mix” almost like a marketing slogan, we hope with our lips, but everything points to a top-10 draft, and top-5 is really not that unlikely once again!

So, how many fingers do you see, Winston? how many rebuilding seasons have you counted in the last eight, including the current one, dear informed and attentive readers?

Yes, 7 in 8!

So, in reality, dear Winston, we’re in year 7 of 8 of the rebuild… and there may be one more before the submarine rises to the surface.

That’s a lot less marketing than “we’re in year three”!

But marketing, as in Mad Men, is exactly that: illusions, make-believe, half-truths…

A goatshow, in French.

Despite one of the most bizarre and unexpected Stanley Cup finals in history in 2021, a final that’s becoming a bit like the tree that hides the forest, the traces of thereset on the fly, Marc Bergevin’s mini-reconstruction, are still very tangible.

Many of the team’s young pillars come directly from this phase!

So where does this collective amnesia come from? Where does this collective blindness come from?

If, say, the Habs had drafted Quinn Hughes or Brady Tkachuk instead of KK, would we be so hesitant to set the start of the rebuild in the spring of 2018?

Don’t think so.

If, say, the Habs hadn’t slightly overperformed in 2018-2019, drafting him Cole Caufield at #15, would we be as hesitant to include him in the rebuild?

Think not.

Then, if, say, the Habs had drafted 8thin 2020, as they were set to do, would there be as much hesitation in setting the start of the rebuild before 2022?

I don’t think so.

In short, if we go back to the summer of 2018 with KK and Suzuki, see Caufield as a top-10 in 2019, count 2020 as another top-10 (without COVID), and then anticipate another top-10/top-5 in a few months, we’ll then be at our 7th top-10 or top-10-equivalentdraft in the last eight seasons.

Doesn’t that give us a MUCH more accurate picture of the Habs rebuild as a whole?

No shame in that, it’s NORMAL and it’s SO MUCH BETTER!

But, let’s face it, it’s a picture he shouldn’t be ashamed of, because it’s a normal process for anyone who isn’t drafting Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin along the way…

Five, six years are record rebuilds, especially when they culminate in a Stanley Cup.

It takes what it takes, and SO MUCH the better if we’re in year 7 of 8 of the rebuild!

That means the plants are growing and it’s harvest time.

If we were only in year three or four, we’d still be spreading manure…

The norm for a reasonably successful rebuild is between 8 and 14 years, with no guarantee of a Stanley Cup, as we’re seeing with the Oilers, 9 years after the McDavid draft and over 13 years after the Ryan Nugent-Hopkins draft.

In other words, it often takes the first players in your rebuild to become the deans of the dressing room before you see the real fruits of your patient labor.

You only need to reread Bill Armstrong, former employee of the St. Louis Blues, winners in 2019, 11 years after Alex Pietrangelo was drafted4th overall, to convince yourself of this…

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Potential deal: “There’s a reason to tie the Canadiens to the Penguins”.

MONTREAL, QC - JULY 07: Montreal Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes addresses the crowd during the first round of the 2022 NHL Entry Draft on July 07, 2022 at Bell Centre in Montreal, QC (Photo by David Kirouac/Icon Sportswire)

In recent weeks, we’ve heard from a couple of informants that Kent Hughes was looking to add a player to his roster.

The Canadiens’ GM hasn’t budged… But just because it hasn’t happened doesn’t mean we should write it off.

Especially in light of Darren Dreger’s recent comments.

Dreger was on TSN 690 earlier this morning, and while he didn’t say there’s a deal in the works, he did link the Canadiens to the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Because if the Pens disappoint, they could be looking to improve, and it’s perhaps no coincidence that Kyle Dubas has been seen a few times at the Bell Centre this season (even if he has to do his job as a leader for Team Canada).

In Montreal, there will be a surplus of forwards when Laine and Harvey-Pinard return, which could prompt Kent Hughes to make a move :

I think there’s a reason to link Montreal and Pittsburgh even if there’s nothing imminent. But the fact that the Canadiens are healthy, maybe the time to move with Pittsburgh or someone else will come soon. – Darren Dreger

Dreger went on to say that the Penguins have some interesting players… But that these players could be traded with a sweetener for a trade to take place if the players in question don’t interest Kent Hughes.

That said, Pittsburgh has holes all over the lineup.

I really wonder which Canadiens players could help the Penguins… Especially since we know that Kent Hughes isn’t going to part with a guy who can help the Canadiens right now.

(Credit: Daily Faecoff)

Here again, we have to be careful.

Darren Dreger didn’t say a trade was going to happen tomorrow: he simply brought up the idea because, on paper, it does make sense.

The Penguins(who are impossible to rebuild) want to allow Sidney Crosby to have a competitive club… And knowing that the Habs will soon have too many forwards in town, that’s where Kent Hughes could benefit.

Overtime

– The boys!

– Things are bad in Ottawa.

– Logical.

– It would be a big contract.

– He has given proud service to the Montreal organization.

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Lysanne Richard’s Instagram: DMs from former players and d*** picks

What a week it has been!

Recording of the Stanley25 podcast on Monday…

Substitution of friend Stéphane Gonzalez alongside chum Georges (BPM Sports) on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday…

Big news coverage from CF Montreal…

Meeting with my partners at DLC Média Inc, Olivier Primeau and the guys from H et L Média Wednesday evening at Place Bell…

Coaching…

Transfer of all my financial assets to Disnat…

In short, I’m not angry that it’ s already Friday.

Lysanne Richard and the d*** pics
This week, Jean Trudel and I unveiled the sixth episode of Stanley25 Season 2. Season 2 has only four short weeks left…

In the first segment, we discussed alpha males, the Kirby Dach problem, Patrik Laine’s imminent return to the game, Martin St-Louis’ hard-coaching and leadership, Alex Newhook’s new condo, Montreal players’ cruising methods, French among streamers, paparazzi and BlueSky.

Then, we welcomed Lysanne Richard – who is making a comeback at the age of 43 – to the set of 9millions and chatted Stanley25-style with her.

What’s it like to have the Real Madrid guys as fans?

How much does Big Brother make?

How do you see the phenomenon of transgender athletes in women’s sport?

How unpleasant is it to miss a high-flying dive? Spoiler alert: it’s REALLY unpleasant…

Towards the end, Lysanne confessed to us that she receives a lot of DMs from Cole Caufield, former Canadiens players, athletes and media people… even adding that people sometimes send her around 30 photos of p*nis a week in her private messages.

I don’t know what to tell you, guys…

Why do you think : yeah, I feel it, I’ll send my gr**** bandaged to Lysanne?

What do you expect when you take a picture of your contraption and send it to a girl (whether you know her or not)?

It fascinates me (in a bad way)…

I invite you to check out this week’s podcast; there’s some really good stock.

Georges Laraque and the gift of creating incredible radio moments
I’ve only replaced Gonzo for three days, and I could put together a top 10 list of radio moments I’ve experienced… radio moments that can only happen with Big Georges at the mic.

On Tuesday, we talked to Martin Dubreuil, a Québécois actor…

On Wednesday, Syd Fowo was forced to admit that he liked white wrestlers when he was young. Probably my funniest radio moment of the week…

And yesterday, a listener called in… and told Georges that she likes to get “picked up” once in a while!

Please note that the three extracts I’m talking about start automatically when you click on play. They are placed.

Ayoye!

What a week it has been…

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Patrik Laine: in better shape than yesterday in practice

Patrik Laine will always be Patrik Laine: the guy will always have a nonchalant skating stroke.

But he’ll also always be Patrik Laine for the right reasons. When he’s healthy, there are few players in the National Hockey League more talented than him.

And this morning at practice, that’s just what we saw.

Our colleague Marc-Olivier Cook, who was on site, filmed Laine practicing, once again, before the others. He also took part in regular practice – wearing a non-contact shirt.

What jumped out at him when I chatted?

He looks better than he did at yesterday’s practice. – Marc-Olivier Cook

Laine, as you can see from colleague Cook’s videos, was making tight turns before practice started. So, clearly, he’s really improved.

The turns he was making couldn’t have been done without putting weight on his knees. So he’s doing better.

Obviously, we still don’t know when he’ll rejoin the regular lineup. We’ll have to give the Finn time, since there’s no rush and he’s not exactly ready to return.

This morning, he wasn’t on a regular line-up. Neither was Michael Pezzetta… and he must have a lot on his plate.

We can expect to see this lineup against the Golden Knights tomorrow night (because yes, one day, the Habs will play again), but nothing is confirmed yet, of course.

Remember that tonight, Rafaël Harvey-Pinard will play his second fitness game with the Laval Rocket.

Overtime

– Karel St-Laurent was still at Habs practice.

– Will Mike Sullivan lose his job?[NYT]

– Who will go after him?

– It’s not that simple.

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The impossible reconstruction of the Pittsburgh Penguins

The Penguins are in trouble in the standings. There’s no doubt about it.

Apart from the Canadiens, no other team in the East has a worse points percentage than the Penguins. It doesn’t look good for Pittsburgh in the short term.

But who could have predicted such an outcome… except everyone?

At some point, the club will have to do what should have been done at least a year ago: launch a proper rebuilding process to rebuild a powerful team.

But that’s impossible to do over there.

For one thing, the owners don’t want it to happen right away. They seem to want to offer Sidney Crosby a competitive team as long as he’s with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

He has two years left on his contract… after this season.

If Crosby doesn’t want to go, he’s not going. And reading Josh Yohe’s piece on The Athletic, it seems clear that the same thing is happening with Evgeni Malkin.

Malkin will be as free as a bird in a year and a half.

Then there’s the Kristopher Letang case. While Josh Yohe doesn’t see him as untouchable and opens the door to a trade, he doesn’t see him being traded this season.

And let’s just say that the door isn’t wide open. It’s just that it’s not locked…

The Penguins won’t easily be able to get rid of Letang’s contract ($6.1 million until 2028)… or Erik Karlsson’s ($10 million on the club’s books until 2027)… or Bryan Rust’s… or- I think we get the picture.

The club has no youth and doesn’t seem able/willing to trade its quality pieces. It’s going to take a while before the rebuilding starts, and when it does, it won’t be a retool on the fly: it’ll be painfully long.

Overtime

– Coming up.

– Really?

– Good listening.