All Habs Headlines: Friday July 15, 2016 |
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On this day in hockey history… 2005 — Mike Babcock kicks off a new era in Hockeytown when he’s introduced as the coach of the Detroit Red Wings. 1994 — Just 31 days after coaching the New York Rangers to their first Stanley Cup championship in 54 years, Mike Keenan quits his job, saying at a news conference in Toronto that he’s leaving with four years remaining on his contract because of a “breach of contractual obligations.” 1998 — Free agent goaltender Curtis Joseph signs with the Toronto Maple Leafs. |
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► Markov Is the Standard of Leadership
- The most interesting part of the recent P.K. Subban interview by Sportnet’s Eric Engels was when the conversation turned to defensive partner Andrei Markov.
- Subban told the story of being called out in the dressing room by Markov for selfish play after a game. Markov followed that up by taking P.K. for a long drive in his car telling him lessons that he had learned from growing up to the NHL.
- Subban spoke volumes about the impact of Andrei on his career saying, “Marky has been such a huge influence on my career.” P.K. continued calling Markov “the standard of leadership for me.”
► Changes to the Habs Analytics Department
- Speculation has run rampant over the past day or so regarding Matt Pfeffer’s contract not being renewed by the Canadiens. Pfeffer, part of the Habs’ analytics staff, issued a statement to clarify the situation.
- Pfeffer gave his side of the story to Eric Engels of Sportsnet, “Prior to the trade, I submitted a report comparing both players (Shea Weber and P.K. Subban.) I made a passionate case in favour of P.K. Subban. There was never a meeting with management.”
- As was widely speculated at the time of the transaction, it seems that management was basing their decision on a comprehensive set of information including intangibles rather than narrowly-focused on analytics. “Ultimately, this is the nature of this kind of work,” said Pfeffer.
- “Management makes their decision based on a variety of criteria. Their evaluation may have been different in this case, but there was consensus on other decisions through my time with the team,” he said in the Sportsnet article.
- Pfeffer was grateful to the organization saying, “The Canadiens treated me with the utmost respect. They are a world class organization. I understand that they desired to go in a different direction. I was thankful to be a part of their team.”
- According to Engels, the Habs still appear to be be involved in analytics, looking to bolster that department as this offseason carries on.
► Name Our Team, But Only if You Live Nearby
- The Canadiens have a substantial marketing operation that has had both hits and misses in the past.
- No one can forget the disaster that occurred when the Habs allowed fans to put their Twitter names on the backs of jerseys to celebrate one million follows. Unfortunately, without the proper filters in place, some fans engaged in mischief resulting in offensive names on the jerseys.
- Now it appears that the Canadiens have stepped in it again. Both Twitter and Facebook users were upset that more than a million fans will be excluded from the contest to name the new AHL franchise in Laval. Entries are restricted to “residents of Quebec” only.
- The Canadiens official Twitter account explained that they couldn’t include fans outside of Quebec because they are offering a particular prize. Wouldn’t it have been wiser to reason that they shouldn’t offer a particular prize because they didn’t want to exclude any of their fans?
- The response, the fact that the press conference was exclusively in French and the design of the contest seem to speak volumes about the mindset of the organization, its values and its priorities.
Contest rules limitations. Also, the prize is season tickets for the new team. ^ER
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) July 12, 2016
► Scrivens Signs In The KHL
- Ben Scrivens’ experience as a member of the Montreal Canadiens was largely a negative one sprinkled with spurts of brilliance. Now the former Edmonton Oilers goaltender is on his way to Russia.
- According to journalist Aivis Kalnins, Scrivens signed a one-year deal with Dinamo Minsk, of which the financial terms were not disclosed to the media.
- During his tenure as a Habs player, the unorthodox backstop won five games, dropping eight in regulation, posting a .906 save percentage and a 3.08 goals against average.
- Near the latter part of his time with Montreal, Scrivens was superceded by college netminder Charles Lindgren, who won his one and only start in the NHL against the Carolina Hurricanes.
- The Spruce Grove, Alberta native saw his shining moment as an NHL’er when with the Los Angeles Kings where he posted a .931 save percentage and 1.97 goals against average in 19 games in which the goaltender went 7-5-4.
► McPhee Ready To Win Now
- The ambitious project undertaken by former Washington Capitals general manager George McPhee is off to a roaring start with the Las Vegas GM looking to have early-franchise success.
- During his introductory press conference with the Vegas franchise (not yet team-named) McPhee mentioned he wasn’t looking to have to be a bottom-dweller for the foreseeable future.
- “A real good team fast … an opportunity, that other teams didn’t have in the past, to get better quicker,” said McPhee. “[And to] play a brand of hockey that people will enjoy.”
- The former Alex Ovechkin benefactor is credited with producing one of the most enticing products in the modern day era, with that rambunctious style never being conducive to a Stanley Cup championship.
► Miller, Rangers Avoid Arbitration
- On a team with ubiquitous question marks, the New York Rangers have secured forward J.T. Miller under contract for the next pair of seasons at a cap hit of $2.75 million annually.
- Miller, who was originally drafted 15th overall by the Rangers in the 2011 draft, experienced his breakout season in 2015-16, reaching the 20-goal plateau for the first time in his career and recording 43 points in 82 games.
- The 23-year old will look for an increased role this upcoming season in New York. With an aging core that promises to have their fate determined during this offseason.
- With the East Palestine, Ohio native under contract for the next pair of seasons the Rangers’ attention now turns towards Chris Kreider, whom it seems increasingly likely they go to arbitration with.
► “Why Don’t They Give Him An Offer Sheet?”
- It’s common knowledge that retaliatory offer sheets are often the bi-product of submitting an offer sheet to an RFA, which is still prevalent according to Pierre LeBrun.
- According to the RDS/ESPN/TSN insider, an anonymous general manager told the him that should another GM sign one of his players to an offer sheet that this GM would, “Sign one of their players to an offer sheet for the next ten years.”
- It was reported during this offseason that the reason that the Chicago Blackhawks dealt forward Brandon Saad to Columbus was due to an impending offer sheet from the Canadiens.
- With multiple high profile restricted free agents on the market, such as the likes of Tyson Barrie, Jacob Trouba and the aforementioned Chris Kreider, the potential for this statement to come into play looms.
- The Canadiens’ prize restricted free agent Alex Galchenyuk is set to need a new contract come the end of the 2016-17 season, it is yet to be seen if Geoff Molson will sign him, just to be dealt some years later.
► Oh, Thank God!
- Sabres fans have been subjected to some heavy situations regarding some of their top flight talent this offseason and coupled with losing out on Stamkos it’s been difficult, so the team finally got some good news on this week, although marginal.
- Buffalo has signed forward Marcus Foligno to a one-year deal worth $2.25 million, reaching a deal prior to arbitration.
- The bottom-six forward had a career season in 2015-16, scoring a career-high 10 goals and a career-high 23 points although those totals were not career-highs in terms of goals and points per game.
- The former fourth round pick in the 2009 NHL entry draft, provides solid value for the team’s bottom-six, with a spot open in the team’s top-six potentially to be filled by Jimmy Vesey.
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