Tank you, Hed, and bless me, Fodder, for a couple of weeks ago I was pretty close to committing the sin of despair, looking at what was left of la Sainte Flannelle as training camp started. Max Pacioretty is gone, traded to Las Vegas, and I wish him well. Without ever having played alongside a topline centre, he did his best, and deserved better from the team. Alex Galchenyuk and his father are gone -- no bad thing, but did we get a 20-goal scorer in return? Errr, no. Shea Weber is on the injured list and not likely to be back at work until December. And did Marc Bergevin listen to me and invite the Russians -- Markov and Emelin -- to return from Siberia? Again, no.
What was left was about four dozen AHL-quality players (including a handful who played with the big team last year because there was no-one else), a couple of nice pickups acquired in the trades, and a few promising prospects and rookies. The chances of putting together a team that could get as far as the playoffs looked pretty slim.
Last night the Habs' B-team (missing Price, Drouin, Gallagher, Petry, Plekanec) took on the Toronto Maple Leafs' equivalent (read: the Toronto Marlies) and beat them 5-1 without hardly breaking a sweat. D-man Xavier Ouellet, an NHL vet in training camp with a two-way contract, helped his chances of making the opening-night NHL roster by scoring two goals. Artturi Lehkonen, one of those whose future with les Glorieux was in question, got two, and Charles Hudon, one of the AHLers, had one. Antii Niemi was solid in goal and the Habs' first-round draft pick, Jesper Kotkaniemi sparkled.
But, before we start planning the Stanley Cup parade down the Main, let's remember that the real point of the exercise was to thin out the roster and make some decisions about which Canadien wannabes are surplus to requirements. The team announced this morning that Mike McCarron, Byron Froese, Brett Lernout, Rinat Valiev and Hunter Shinkaruk were all put on waivers. McCarron and Froese can't complain that they didn't have a chance. Both were in uniform several times last season, and simply didn't perform.
Forward Nick Suzuki showed promise, but has been sent back to his junior team, the Owen Sound Attack, to get bigger and better. The same should happen to Kotkaniemi, but it will be hard to resist the temptation to keep him in Montréal to give the fans a Great White Hope to talk about.
With the dead wood and tender buds pruned out, here's how the lines and defence pairings looked at today's practice:
Forwards: Tatar – Danault – Gallagher; Drouin – Domi – Armia; Byron – Kotkaniemi – Lehkonen; Hudon – Plekanec – Scherbak; D'Agostino – de la Rose – Chaput
Poor Len sez: Hudon, Scherbak and De La Rose should go back to Laval. I didn't see enough of D'Agostino and Chaput to form an opinion.
Defence: Mete – Juulsen; Reilly – Petry; Benn – Schlemko; Alzner – Despres; Ouellet
Poor Len sez: This is where the rebuild/reset/whatever has to happen. Both Benn and Alzner are candidates for the mercy buy-out. I have no confidence in Schlemko and haven't seen anything great from Juulsen but at least he's young. Like Ouellet a lot! The big question is whether Shea Weber will ever play again at the level he used to.
Goalies: Price; Niemi; Lindgren
Poor Len sez: What to do with Lindgren? The more I see him, the more contrast I see between him and Carey Price. Price is cool in the net. Lindgren is hot! He's constantly jumping around, doing acrobatics and, IMHO, trying too hard. Not good. Niemi has earned the backup position (best seat in the arena!) so let him have it. Trade Lindgren to a team which likes his style. And if something should (God forbid!) happen to Carey Price? There's a fine young prospect, Michael McNiven, who can be brought up from Laval to backstop Niemi. Sorry, Charlie, but bye-bye.
That's all from the sports desk. J'vous verrai prochainement!
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