Photo credit: André Ringuette, NHLI via Getty Images
That being said, Guy Carbonneau’s experimentation should be limited to the above mentioned reason only and shouldn’t be a longer term situation.
All three players have their strengths, but being offensively gifted isn’t necessarily one of them. The recent success of the PP in the last five games (7 of 28 or 25%) has come mostly from players like Lang, the Kostitsyns, Kovalev and Markov for the most part. During that span, the Lapierre trio haven’t recorded a single point.
With Christopher Higgins, Saku Koivu and eventually Alex Tanguay returning from injuries, the Lapierre experiment will cease and the powerplay world as we know it will return to its set ways!
To Hit or Not Hit!
Understandably, the NHL All-Star game is a wide open affair without barely a hint of contact.
Without Jeremy Roenick’s participation, there needs to be someone who will step up and make a symbolic hip check to get the juices flowing, that’s where Mike Komisarek comes into play.
Komy will have his hands full with so many skilled players and a wide open style of game to deal with. There have been many All-Star moments when the best of NHL defensemen have looked downright terrible and Komisarek will have those moments, it’s only normal……..just remember to make that hit and everybody will forget about the other mishap(s)!!
Odd Man Out
With the Canadiens getting healthier by the day, Guy Carbonneau has some decisions to make, some will be easier than others.
When Saku Koivu and Christopher Higgins return to the line-up, Carbo will have the easy decision to send Greg Stewart and Kyle Chipchura back to Hamilton, but it gets a little harder when Alex Tanguay and Georges Laraque are healthy.
Tanguay’s return is a no brainer, he’s a solid contributor but where do you place Big Georges in the line-up? Upon the return of Koivu, Higgins and Tanguay, the lines will pretty well be set with the following potential line combinations:
Kovalev – Plekanec – Pacioretty/D’Agostini
Tanguay – Koivu – Higgins
Latendresse – Lapierre – Kostopoulos
Kostitsyn – Lang – Kostitsyn
The last two lines can’t/shouldn’t be disturbed due to their strong play the last few games. The Plekanec line can be altered as could the Koivu line if Carbo wanted to tinker (and we all know how he likes to do that!!), so where does the disappointing Laraque get inserted into the equation.
Simply put, he’s not part of the equation, at least not until someone from the fourth line slumps or gets injured so,……………enjoy your seat in the press box with Steve Begin, BG, as it could be a while before you see the ice.
If doctors cleared him, he’s ready to be back in action. The All-Star game is a lot less hard work than a full game so I really don’t understand the whole craziness over Price being back too soon. The doctors sure as hell aren’t going to rush him for the All-Star game and they decided he could play today, not him.
I hope Komi doesn’t hit anybody, or at least nothing more than a little playful shove. He’s already labelled by some as a guy who shouldn’t be there, let’s not give them more arguments.
When Tanguay comes back, Dandenault will be back too. Which means you can forget about Pacioretty and D’agostini. They’re going back to Hamilton with a “see you next year” card. They impressed enough to make Bob Gainey decide to sign one less player this off season, which is good. But they are still going back down. Personnally, I’d put Lats with Plek and Kovy and Dandenault with Lapierre and Kostopoulos. I think Guillaume can work well with an offensive line, he’s doing better positionning himself on the powerplay these days, and Dandy is a fast skater that could give a different dimension to the Lapierre line.
As for Max on the powerplay, I don’t have much problem with that. It wasn’t working before and it is recently. If it gets the message and can work once in a blue moon, I’m all for it.
Everyone underrates Komisarek’s puck skills. I think he is more likely to do an end to end dangle than throw a gratuitous hit. Big Mike can skate, and handles the puck well. The Habs just don’t allow him to exercise those skills much, because they have all sorts of smaller puck handling defensemen, but no one else who can supply the physical dimension.
The main concern from a Canadiens stand point is the skills/shootout competition, not the actual 20 minutes of All-Star game action.
Knowing how competitive Carey Price can be and how the goalies try their best gumby imitations by bending in all direction to make the save, I’m glad he isn’t competing in the skills competitions (with or without a doctor’s clearance).
BB, please don’t tell me that the return of Dandenault will mean the demotion of either D’Agostini or Pacioretty.
I don’t think both of them will remain with the Habs but one of them will.
Frankly, I would much rather Carbo sit Brisebois’ sorry butt in the press box and return Dandy to the blueline where he was playing really well with Bouillon before he broke his arm.
The Komy hit thing is just a symbolic gesture…..a way of continuing the Roenick tradition.
Rob, I don’t necessarily disagree with your assessment of Komisarek’s potential game.
He can skate well enough and did have a good offensive year in his last NCAA season at Michigan (GP-39 30 points). He also had a good production in his only AHL season when he had 30 points in 56 games.
I guess his defensive game just stands out and he is playing along side a great offensive player like Markov so he doesn’t have to produce offensively.
Hey, I could be wrong about sending D’ags and Max Pac down, but I’m confident it will happen. Both guys can easily be sent down to work on their game.
Carbo could (and if I was him, I would) sit Dandy, Breezer and Bouillon, switching every game. I would have no problem. But my prediction is as followed: By the time every injured player comes back, they’ll send down every forward they can and bring back Ryan so that he can get as much experience as possible, even if it’s just sitting with a team making a run for the playoffs. Not saying it’s the best move ever, but it’s my bet for now.
As for Komi going all the way to score a goal, it could happen in an All-Star game. Who’s going to hit him? Who wants to take that chance? He’s not unable to carry the puck, each and every single NHL player has talent. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be in the NHL. It’s just that his role with the Habs is to be the safety in case Markov get caught too deep in the offensive zone (like the second Ottawa goal last game). See! That time it was Gorges and it ended up in our own net
I think Komo won the hardest shot competition in the AHL in his first season. Maybe that will be his contribution.
I am very disturbed by the so-called ‘story’ that Carey Price is putting personal ambitions ahead of team by playing in the All-Star game.
Habster, I hope that you aren’t being drawn in to such nonsense.
This would not have been a story at all except for the IDIOTIC behaviour of Guy Carbonneau.
Carbo said: “I don’t see why he would play in this game”
Please assure me that Carbonneau is NOT this stupid.
A good coach protects his players from the media, not throw them under the media bus. Carbonneau didn’t defend Price as he should but instead Carbo manufactured this story.
Carbonneau should have said: ‘I completely understand why Price would want to play in his first All-Star game especially starting in Montreal, but Im sure he will consult with our medical staf to make the right decision. Im confident that Carey will take our season into consideration in his decision to play.’
And then if Carbo had any concerns, he could have had a chat with Price in private.
That is what a good coach would do. This is just addiional evidence that Carbonneau is not a good coach.
Price was then left to defend himself to the vultures of the media. You could see that Carey was visibly upset in the media scrum. Whe asked if he was coming back just for personal glory, he called such questions disrespectful.
In fact, it was Carbonneau who was disrespectful and irresponsible to create this friendly fire incident.
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