Written by Steven Ellis, AllHabs.net
OAKVILLE, ON — The beginning of the 2011-2012 season was one of the worst Canadiens fans have had to endure in many years. Management issues, injuries and poor play from key players all contributed to this disappointment, but we did see the return of Max Pacioretty, and every single Habs fan can be happy about this. Today I finish off the 3 part year in review series, from August to December. Here is Part One and Part two if you’ve missed them.
August – The summer is always a quiet one in the hockey world. The biggest thing that happened in Habsland was the signing of defenseman Jeff Woywitka to a one-year, two-way contract, but his time was very short in Montreal. Merely seven hours before Montreal’s first game of the season against Toronto, Woywitka was claimed off of waivers by the New York Rangers. Many critics did not like his play in the pre-season, stating that he lacks defensive polish and isn’t nearly physical enough for his size.
September – To help bolster the Hamilton Bulldogs defense core, the Bulldogs signed defenceman Zack FitzGerald to a one-year, one-way American Hockey League contract. In 2010-2011, FitzGerald played in 76 games with the Charlotte Checkers recording eight assists and leading the team in penalty minutes with 229.
As the pre-season was drawing near, the Canadiens opened up their training camp to a total of 64 players. The list of players that were invited to training camp included six goaltenders, 23 defensemen and 35 forwards. According to Rick Stephens of All Habs, ” (Alexi) Yemelin was quick, mobile and hit everything that moved. Not the Max Lapierre type of rattle-the-boards checks but solid hits that punish and stop players in their tracks.” His performance in training camp earned him a spot on the Canadiens for the upcoming season. After impressive training camps, the Bulldogs signed forward Philip DeSimone and defenseman Olivier Dame-Malka to one-year two-way contracts (AHL/ECHL). Both players were at the Montreal Canadiens training camp on a try-out basis. The Habs also signed Chris Campoli to a one-year deal, but he would end up getting injured in the first game of the season, against Toronto.
September also saw the start of the NHL pre-season, which allowed us to see some very talented newcomers shine with the Canadiens. Peter Budaj, Nathan Lawson, Erik Cole, Jeff Woywitka, Louis Leblanc, Rafael Diaz, Alexi Emelin, Jarred Tinordi and Brendan Gallagher were among some of the new faces in bleu, blanc et rouge. Tinordi, and Gallagher were returned to junior, and Leblanc began the season in Hamilton but would end up seeing time with the Canadiens later in the year. Montreal would finish the pre-season with only two wins and six losses.
The top story of the pre-season was the return of forward Max Pacioretty. The 6’2”, 205 lb left wing was returning from a broken vertebrae as a result of the Zdeno Chara incident that happened on March 8th, 2011. The 22 year-Pacioretty had to miss the remainder of the season and the first round of the playoffs. So far, he has been one of the few high points for the Canadiens this season.
October – On October 6th, the Habs picked up depth center Blair Betts on waivers, but would return him to the Philadelphia Flyers, with the league ruling that he was damaged goods. Montreal would get shut out later that night against the Toronto Maple Leafs 2-0, a game where goaltending was huge for both teams, with Carey Price and James Reimer. A few days later, The Habs took on the new Winnipeg Jets in their first game back since being moved to Phoenix in 1995. Despite the support from the crowd, the Jets were unable to defeat the Canadiens, making the Jets return bittersweet. Michael Cammalleri would have his leg cut from a skate, forcing him to miss the next two weeks. Montreal would finish October an unpleasant 4-5-2. Not the start anyone was looking for.
There were reports in Montreal that the Canadiens and Coyotes were close to a big deal, and the first thing that people thought were Scott Gomez for RFA Kyle Turris. Well, this was not the case. Pierre Gauthier announced on October 23rd the acquisition of forward Petteri Nokelainen and defenseman Garrett Stafford from the Phoenix Coyotes, in return for forward Brock Trotter and a 7th-round draft pick in 2012. Nokelainen would go on to play on the fourth line with Montreal, while Stafford would report to the Hamilton Bulldogs. This deal angered fans, hoping that maybe all the talk of a big deal on the horizon would be true. Turris would get traded to Ottawa on December 17th, while Gomez is still a Canadien.
Montreal fired assistant coach Perry Pearn prior to facing the Philadelphia Flyers on October 26th. Pearn was a long-time assistant under coach Jacques Martin,and Gauthier said when he informed his coach of his decision – and it was Gauthier’s decision – Martin tried to talk his general manager out of it. But as Gauthier explained to Martin,the decision to fire Pearn was part of what he described as an organizational shift in the way they operate.
November- Montreal’s struggling season continued, with six wins and eight losses, for an overall record of 10-12-3. The two biggest losses were against the Islanders on November 17th, when New York Goalie Evgeni Nabokov got injured during the second period, resulting in oft-injured netminder Rick Dipietro to finish the game. Even on a cold goaltender, Montreal was unable to win. But the biggest blow to the Canadiens was the loss to Pittsburgh on November 26th. Kris Letang left the game due to a Pacioretty head shot, but came back and got the game winning goal in overtime. Pacioretty would later be suspended for three games due to this incident. Yes, the Habs still got one point, but the way the Canadiens lost was the reason this game made fans angry, as Carey Price clearly covered the puck, but Letang took it out of his glove and scored. The referees left the ice as quickly as possible.
The injury bug started to really strike the Canadiens, as Mike Cammalleri, Ryan White, Jaroslav Spacek, Lars Eller, Hal Gill, Max Pacioretty, Andreas Engqvist and Andrei Markov have all been out at various times. Markov and White have yet to see game action this season. Injuries hurt (pun intended) the Canadiens last year, and it has definitely contributed this season.
The Canadiens organization was deeply saddened to learn that former Head Equipment Manager Eddy Palchak passed away after a long illness. His hard work and dedication earned him to join the Canadiens as assistant to veteran trainer Larry Aubut. Throughout his 31-year career with the Canadiens, Palchak etched his name on the Stanley Cup 10 times, an NHL record for a member of the support staff in NHL history. In 1998, he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in the Professional Hockey Athletic Trainers Society (P.H.A.T.S.) for his contribution to the game. Palchak was 71.
December – Andrei Markov underwent successful arthroscopic surgery in early December to remove debris in his right knee. In case you are unaware of the whole situation, and you shouldn’t be after reading “Rookie’s” post , Markov has been out since November 13, 2010 due to a knee injury. GM Pierre Gauthier said he would be out for only a month, but in Markov’s case, this could be longer.
On December 9th, Frederic St. Denis was sent down to the AHL prior to a game between the Bulldogs and Toronto Marlies. OK, what’s going on? To a mixed reaction, defenseman Jaroslav Spacek was traded to Carolina for former star defenseman Tomas Kaberle. This deal would have been amazing about three years ago, but now it was just an average deal.
The World Junior Championships started this year, with Nathan Beaulieu, Michaël Bournival, Brendan Gallagher, Jarred Tinordi and Daniel Přibyl all playing big roles for their respective countries. Beaulieu, Bournival and Gallagher would all end up winning a bronze medal with Team Canada. Just prior to the junior tournament, the Canadiens signed Michaël Bournival to a three-year contract.
On December 17th, Montreal fans were treated with a great early Christmas present, when Jacques Martin was relieved of his duties. He would finish his career in Montreal with 96 wins and 75 losses. Nothing whatsoever was working, and he made many moves that just confused people (using Mathieu Darche on the power-play). Randy Cunneyworth, an English speaking coach, would take over as interim.
Montreal would finish December with a 4-7-3 record, and a 14-19-6 overall record in the 2011 portion of the 2011-2012 season. Not a season any fan would like to remember. Let’s hope for a better 2012!
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