by Marc Lescoutre , Vodcast Producer, All Habs Hockey Magazine
OTTAWA, ON — After a long summer, the Habs Banter crew is back. Look out for the first Video Podcast of the season in the coming weeks, but until then, you can read our ramblings here in the Duel, where we take on the (sometimes) hard hitting questions about the Montreal Canadiens.
Let us know in the comments below, on Facebook, or Twitter who you agree with, or if you think we’re both crazy. Here we go!
Who’s the first player to find his way into Michel Therrien’s dog house?
We all know it’s inevitable.
Corey: Michel’s doghouse is a place that should scare us all. It sure as hell scares me. It’s a place where many of my favourite players have frequented, including Alex Galchenyuk and former Habs P.K. Subban and Lars Eller. Michel essentially uses his doghouse as parents use “timeouts” for their kids. You know, when you ate your sisters bowl of Kraft Dinner and you were told to face the wall for fifteen minutes. Or the time you took a marker to the back of your bedroom door…I did neither of these by the way.
Anyway, Michel flat out picks on players. But with Alex Galchenyuk seemingly graduating to the first line centre roll and both Subban and Eller out of town, Marc and I started wondering who will be Therrien’s next target? Ladies and gentleman I present you Nathan Beaulieu.
He’s young, he’s offensive, he’s edgy and a risk taker. Basically, he is all of the things Michel Therrien dislikes about hockey players. Many fans are calling for Beaulieu to be paired with Shea Weber. I don’t think Nathan is a top-two defender at this point in his career. I am not saying he can’t be, I just don’t think he is right now. Regardless, playing on the top pair is a nice opportunity for him to be mentored by one of the best.
With more ice-time and learning opportunities comes growing pains and mistakes, neither of which Michel deals with very well. I will set the over/under at three games until Beaulieu rides pine, what do you think?
Marc: With P.K. Subban gone, the “No Vacancy” sign has been removed from Therrien’s Dog House. Without a obvious veteran for Therrien to direct his frustrations, I could see rookie Artturi Lehkonen, should he make the squad out of camp, find his way into the dog house.
While the young Finn should be fighting for one of the top-six wing spots, which is a glaring hole in the Canadiens line-up, Therrien has never been known to put a lot of trust in rookies. Any defensive lapses early on could get the talented winger a spot on the forth line or even the press box.
At only 21 years old, Lehkonen is sure to have his growing pains this year, but hopefully Therrien shows some new-found patience and allows his young players to learn from their mistakes and provide them a chance to flourish on the ice in situations that allow them to succeed.
Name a player you love to hate, who might just impress you this year.
Corey: There are two players I so obviously dislike on this team that it’s not even funny but I am going to shy away from picking either because I know Marc will pick one. I am going to go with Brian Flynn, not because I don’t like the guy as a person, I just don’t necessarily like his game. If I had to pick one word, okay, two words to describe his game I would choose boring and safe. Those aren’t necessarily bad things, I just think he is average at both.
Flynn struggled last season through an injury riddled year. He didn’t see the ice much and will be looking to make a statement come training camp. As we all know, the Habs have an abundance of bottom six forwards and many young players that are hoping to crack the lineup full-time. Flynn, at 28 and heading into the final year of his contract will be looking to make a push for a full-time gig in hopes of finding work beyond this season.
Michel Therrien values versatility in a hockey player and I think he sees versatility in Brian. Michel uses Flynn in a variety of situations including the penalty kill and key defensive zone face-offs. With a tough task ahead of him , Brian should have a lot left in the tank in his prime years to push for a spot on the roster. A little healthy competition may be all he needs.
Marc: Those who follow me on twitter and tune in Habs Banter will know I love to rag on David Desharnais, but not all of my gripes about DD can be blamed on him. A big problem with Desharnais has been his usage by Michel Therrien, seeing time as the Habs number one centre at times last year, as well as seeing ample action on the power play despite struggling for most of the year (33 games in a row without a powerplay point, five PPP all season). A quick look at the stat sheet shows that Desharnais numbers have been steadily declining ever since he tallied a career-best 60 points in 2011-12.
Having said all that, a change in roles for Desharnais may be just the ticket in a contract year for the veteran Hab.
Let’s face it: Alex Galchenyuk seems to have finally locked down the top-line role, and Tomas Plekanec is firmly entrenched on the second line. Given Desharnais’ defensive deficiencies, a 3rd-line role doesn’t exactly play to his strengths. I move to the wing might be the only way for Desharnais to get regular ice time, and re-inventing himself could lead to a come-back season for the diminutive Desharnais.
Nobody can question’s Desharnais’ work ethic—he’s known as one of the hardest workers on the team—and while I’ve been known to be hard on him for the last few seasons, If Michel Therrien is looking for scoring help in the top six (which he should be), a short-term solution may very well be found in-house.
Which Montreal Canadiens player is most likely to crush arena hot dogs?
Corey: Daniel Carr. Just look at his face and you can tell he loves hot dogs. He puts hot dogs on everything; pizza, pasta, and he even folds a piece of bread around the things (a big hot dog faux-pas). I love the kid and his style of play, I just have this feeling in my stomach (pun intended) that every hot dog opportunity that arises, Danny snatches it with no regrets. God bless you, Daniel.
Marc: I’m going to go off the board a little bit here and instead of choosing a player, I’ll go with Vice President of Player Personnel Trevor Timmins. The internet made noise over the summer when Timmins presented the Prospect Cup to Nikita Sherbak at this summer’s development camp. Needless to say, the dude is jacked. I’m not too sure what his stance is on leg days, but the guy’s rips bicep curls all day and night. What does a guy who spends most of his year in hockey rinks eat? It’s gotta be hot dogs. At least six per game.
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