The Montreal Canadiens are in 1st…

The Montreal Canadiens are leading the Eastern Conference standing after 16 games.

Coach Michel Therrien has the team playing well together.

It was a great move to play his younger players. Alex Galchenyuk and Bredan Gallagher are playing well together–bringing skill, speed and exuberance to the team. They have 10 and 8 points respectively.

P.K. Subban is playing 20 minutes and Andrei Markov is playing 24 minutes per a game on defense. No Matter who they are paired with the puck doesn’t spend much time in their zone because of their great ability to skate, move the puck and shoot it.

Carey Price is showing why he is considered a top 5-goalie in the NHL right now.

The injury toBredan Gallagher may affect the team speed for a while.

The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Montreal Canadiens on the score board and physically beat up on them. The Canadiens’ lack of size will become an issue because the NHL referees stop calling penalties as the season gets closer to the playoffs.

The Pittsburgh Penguins and the Boston Bruins will regain their number 1 and 2 seeds. The Boston Bruins have played 3 less games than the Canadiens.

I believe they will make the playoffs as long as their big 3–that is, Carey Price, Andrei Markov, and P. K. Subban–don’t get hurt.

Enjoy the early season success.

 

No more Subban and Price celebration…

Michel Therrien the Montreal Canadiens coach has banned the triple low-five between Carey Price and P.K. Subban after wins.

The Canadiens organization is just taking away the fun from the players. The triple low-five is only performed after wins. They have fun doing it. The team has skated off the ice by the time Price and Subban do their thing.

I don’t believe they ban their teammates from participating in the celebration. They are just young players having fun.

This is just one more way to try to tone Subban down. Why do you want to take away player’s right to have fun? I believe it has to with Subban being a black athlete in a predominantly white male sport. They have many unwritten rules about respect for the game and being straight laced.

Subban has been harassed about his goal scoring celebrations and now he can’t do the triple low-five after wins with Price. What is next? Subban will have to tone down his answers to media questons.

Coach Therrien wants the team to meet at center ice and wave to the crowd.  He wants a team celebration. That is what they are calling this cancellation of a fun celebration for players and fans.

I hope for Subban’s sake that he will not be part of the Canadiens organization for too many more years.

Are the Canadiens trying too hard to control Subban?

Enjoy your day!

The Montreal Canadiens season will be…

The Montreal Canadiens started the training camp well by telling Scott Gomez to stay home. Marc Bergevin deserves kudos for this move. The next step is to sign P.K. Subban to his big contract. Don’t make this a long drawn-out affair. If the Canadiens try to paly hardball then their season will be a disaster.

The big decision they will have to make will be the status of Alex Galchenyuk. He played on the World Junior Champions USA squad. He played very well and seems to be ready for the NHL. I believe they have no choice but to play him to show the fans that the Canadiens organization have a future star.

The Canadiens added size and grit to their team. So what? The value of size and grit is only important when the team is very talented. The talented players would have the gritty players on the ice to protect them against any abuse. Unfortunately for the Canadiens they don’t have many talented players.

The Canadiens would be wise to bring up Jared Tinordi and Nathan Beaulieu. They should make the team and play as pair. Tinordi is a big physical stay-at-home defensemen while Nathan Beaulieu is a smooth-skating, offensive-minded defenseman. Then you would have P.K. Subban pair with Josh Georges. This would leave 2 spots. One spot would go to Andrei Markov, and the other to someone else. Instead, they left Nathan Beaulieu with the Hamilton Buldogs.

The Canadiens forwards are a bunch of over-priced, marginal players who won’t do much this year in terms of scoring or checking. Tomas Plekanec’s health will be a key. He was hurt while playing in Europe.

Coach Michel Therrien will bring energy and an attitude to the team. He is a no holds barred, straight talker. It will be interesting to see how long before he loses his cool with players and the media.

No playoffs for the Canadiens.

Do you think the Canadiens will make the playoffs?

Enjoy your day!