NHL, What the Hell?

I'm sure your familiar with the hit that has had the hockey world up in arms. Of course I'm talking about the hit delivered by the Boston Bruins' Zdeno Chara that sent Montreal Canadiens' forward Max Pacioretty to the hospital with a severe concussion and a fractured vertebrae.
To make matters worse, the NHL saw nothing wrong with the hit and did not punish Chara at all.

This decision sent the Habs fan base into a frenzy. Protest rallies have been planned to voice their displeasure with the NHL's decision. Habs fans are not the only groups unhappy with the NHL, sponsors such as Air Canada have threatened to withdraw their sponsorship.

But here are some of the things that bug me about this whole decision:

1. The NHL is focusing on head shots, and suspending players who delivers a check when the other player's head is targeted.That being said, If the force of Chara's elbow on Pacioretty's head caused his head to crash into the turnbuckle, then why is that not a head shot?

2. The puck was already in the opposite end when the hit was made, making it a completly unnecessary hit and an interference (which was called on the play). Chara said he just meant to rub him out, but when rubbing someone out all that is needed is to get in the opponents way, which Chara had no intention of doing.

3. The final beef I have, is Zdeno Chara. In his post-game interview he said nothing about being sorry about what happened nor did he show any sign of remorse. Another thing that theories are being formed around would be the fact that Chara said that he "will get him back". Chara said this after Pacioretty scored the winning goal in OT and gave Zdeno a small nudge afterward in a game in January.

The NHL had a chance to show that they do not condone these types of hits that cause serious injuries, and they blew it. Even just a 2 game suspension would have been acceptable just based on how unnecessary the hit was. I'm still pretty rattled about the whole thing and collecting all of my thoughts and writing them down is hard for me, especially with this topic, when there are so many perspectives and opinions regarding it.

My thoughts go out to Max and I hope that one day he can make a full and successful recovery.




Until next time.... Follow me on Twitter! @ JScaresHabs

Uh Oh....Should The Habs Have Made A Move?

Pierre, You may have made Habs Nation pretty mad....

He's been busy in recent weeks reaching out to fill holes on defence because of season-ending knee surgery to Andrei Markov and Josh Gorges. Now it's reached the point where Paul Mara was a healthy scratch for Saturday's 4-3 win over Carolina after only two games. He was quiet on Deadline day. The only move he did was trade Defenceman Brett Fersterling to Atlanta for Depth goalie Drew MacIntyre. Some people said Montreal has enough goalies. Being a Huge Goalie Freak, I agree. Signing Alex Auld was a huge mistake, as Curtis Sanford belongs in the NHL.

Montreal needs a forward. Jason Arnott, JP Dumont, Dustin Penner and Stephen Weiss all seemed close to becoming Habs.

But what happened?

Only GM Pierre Gauthier knows for sure. Is he confident of the Canadiens, because most fans are not. They have struggled since the All-Star Break. They lost 4-0 in the Heritage Classic to Calgary.... They just can't seem to win. Price is not the problem. The forwards are. And of course the amount of Defence injuries does not help.

They need size and skill. Arnott brings that..... But the Caps got him... The 6ft 5 Canadian would have helped alot. The Habs..... Not Sure what they were thinking not getting someone.

I know it may be too early to figure out if being silent was a good idea or not, but come playoff time, it may be too late..........

What Happened Northeast!?

Last night I was looking at the NHL standings, trying to figure out the possible outcomes for the Habs, but instead I realized how the teams in the Northeast had substantially less points (on average) than the rest of the divisions in the NHL. This sparked an investigation. So I dug up some stats from the year before the lockout (2003-2004). Here's what I found; *Stats from this year are dated for 5/3/2011* **Also the number given is an average of the team points in the division** ***One last thing, I started writing this before some of the games on the west coast were finished, so those teams point total may not be up to date to 5/3/2011, therefore affecting their divisions average***

Northeast|2010-2011(5/3/2011)-70.6(on pace)-88.8|2003-2004-97.4

Atlantic |2010-2011(5/3/2011)-72.6(on pace)-90.6|2003-2004-83.8

Southeast |2010-2011(5/3/2011)-71.4(on pace)-89.6|2003-2004-78.8

Central |2010-2011(5/3/2011)-74.8(on pace)-94|2003-2004-82.4

Pacific |2010-2011(5/3/2011)-76.8(on pace)-96.8|2003-2004-85.2

Northwest |2010-2011(5/3/2011)-70.8(on pace) -88.6|2003-2004-93.4

Okay, now that you've seen the facts, the only appropriate thing to do is: analyze them!
In the Western conference there are 4 points separating 5th from 11th. Five of the seven teams in this race are in the Central and Pacific. This accounts for the high averages in both of these divisions. Personally, I think the biggest stat from all of this is the decline in points average for the Northeast division (Montreal, Boston, Ottawa, Buffalo and Toronto). In 2003 - 2004 This division was the most competitive division in the league. When the regular season was finished, 4 of the teams had clinched a playoff berth while Buffalo finished one spot away in 9th, 3 teams finished with over 100 points, and this was also the year the Maple leafs had more points than the Habs. Wait... What!?! Success and Leafs? Together? Impossible. I know, I was extremely shocked by that as well. But on the upside, the Habs and Leafs made it to the same point in the playoffs until they were both knocked out in the second round.

By now, you're probably wondering "What does this all have to do with the Habs?" This affects the Habs because with teams like Ottawa, Toronto and to a certain extent, Buffalo; all in the rebuilding phase, all Montreal has to do is compete with Boston, and they have a guaranteed playoff spot. 99% if not 100% of Habs fans would chose this option over competing with Boston, Ottawa and Toronto for a playoff spot, like it was in 2003-2004. Lets just hope that Ottawa and Buffalo stay out of the playoff picture to make way for the mighty force that is the Montreal Canandiens. As for Toronto, I honestly hope they find a way into the playoffs in the upcoming years, just to try to see a Habs vs. Leafs playoff series and seeing the Leafs getting stomped on by us.



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Scott Gomez: Is he worth it?

Scott Gomez: 7 goals, 24 assists in 62 games this year. Average numbers for an NHL player, but it would be expected that a player who makes 7.34 million a year would be far beyond these numbers. It would also be fair to expect that he wouldn't be minus-17 on the year. But holding back your teammates is absolutely unacceptable for a player being paid more than the Sedin twins. (6.1m/year) You may be asking yourself: "Wait, What? Scott Gomez makes more per year than the Sedin twins?" Yep. That frightful fact may have overshadowed what I mentioned before when I said that Scott Gomez was holding his teammates back, none the less, true. Here is some proof:

Recently, Andrei Kostitsyn was taken off of Gomez's line. Over the 10 games that the two of them were line mates, Kostitsyn was minus-8, On Feb. 9 their line was benched mid way through the third period for having a minus-4 record in the first two periods alone! Also the Belgian forward put up only two points In all ten games. In all the games prior, Kostitsyn has recorded a combined plus-12 record!

Since then, Kostitsyn has played three games without Scott Gomez as his centre. In the most recent game against the Panthers, Andrei had himself a 2 point, plus-3 game. During this 3 game stretch, Kostitsyn has recorded 5 points and has gone plus-2.

I am not trying to say that Scott Gomez is completely useless, but a common and rather acceptable theory, Gomez's playing style has low compatibility with Martin's defensive 'dump and chase' coaching style. He could prosper more with a different team/coach, That being said, Any GM would crazy to acquire his extremely excessive contract through trade. So if the Montreal Canadiens' franchise somehow stumbled upon this "article" and say "Well what do we do with him" (I know/pray to the gods that would never be said by anyone in the organization.) My opinion would to wait out the remaining 2 and a bit seasons left in his contract and let him walk as a free agent or resign him for maximum 3 -3.5 million/year.

to read more Check out this: http://montreal.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20110226/mtl_habshub_habit_freed_110226/20110226/?hub=MontrealSports