By Stevo, AllHabs.net
MONTREAL, QC. — “Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are were there yet? Are we there yet?” We all remember our parents or siblings telling us stories about how we used to scream this from the back seat of the car, on our way to Aunt Betsy’s or Uncle Johnny’s. If you have kids of your own, you probably have to deal with this on a regular basis yourselves. Stick tap to you.
The hockey community acts a little like these kids during the NHL off season, but with a few minor differences. The “Are we there yet?” is replaced by “Is it October yet?”, but we all know October doesn’t really mean October. It means whatever day the NHL regular season calendar begins, and in this year’s case, that is today.
Are we there yet? Yes we are. We have arrived! It’s October.
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Warm Up Shot
The Montreal Canadiens acquire Blair Betts.
- I Betts you he won’t last the season with the Canadiens.
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While we’re on the subject, let’s start with Blair Betts. The acquisition is interesting to me because I find myself in a small group of people who are not all that enthusiastic about the acquisition made just yesterday by Pierre Gauthier, one day prior to the start of the regular season calendar.
Those who like the acquisition will tell you he’s a good fourth line defensive player, who’s great on the faceoff and penalty kill. Fine.
I don’t anticipate he’ll play much more than 6-8 minutes per game, and I see his overall impact on the team marginal at best. He won’t be any better than Jeff Halpern was defensively, but he won’t be better offensively, and he’s considered damaged goods with a long history of injuries.
What worries me more about this acquisition, touches on the same reasons I wasn’t a fan of the Chris Campoli acquisition, who I must say has played rather well in the preseason. What I don’t like is that these acquisitions are being made, because the Montreal Canadiens’s American Hockey League (AHL) players, at least in the eyes of the team management, are not developing at the pace they should. In one case, you can argue that an unforeseen length in injury recovery has played into the equation.
In the end, Betts has been brought in because Andreas Engqvist didn’t come prepared to camp, the same way Campoli was acquired because Yannick Weber, in the eyes of the Montreal Canadiens’ management, has himself not come prepared to camp. Myself, I don’t believe he played worse than any other defenseman during the preseason, barring maybe Josh Gorges.
All of this said, if they both play well within the ridiculous system employed by Jacques Martin, and don’t negatively affect the team chemistry, they might turn out to be good acquisitions. Time will tell.
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A lot of predictions are being made about where each team will finish in the standings, at the conclusion of the upcoming season. Some have the Montreal Canadiens as high as fifth overall, while some have them missing the playoffs, being edged out by none other than the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Personally, I find it difficult to imagine them being higher in the standings this season than they were last season. Although on paper, they are improved, I still believe teams like the Capitals, Penguins, Flyers, Bruins and Lightning will finish ahead of them. Then you have a team like the Sabres who are very much improved, and the Devils who were the best team in the NHL in the second part of last season, so it would come as no surprise to see them near the top at season’s end.
A couple of things have bothered me over the past week, as the Habs are about to embark into a new season. Most notably, what seems to be a preference to have Rafael Diaz play ahead of Alexei Yemelin, and Erik Cole, who in practice, has been excluded from the power-play.
In the case of Diaz and Yemelin, I disagree with those who say Diaz has been great and Yemelin has struggled during the pre-season. Personally, I find they both at times looked completely lost on the ice, and at other times showed signs of why the Canadiens went after them. Diaz is very similar to Weber in style of play, both being small-size defencemen with rockets from the points.
Yemelin on the other hand brings a physical dimension that is very much missing on this Canadiens’ roster. I fail to understand what appears to be a lack of patience in his direction.
In the case of Cole, this one blows my mind. Why this guy wasn’t practicing on the power play makes absolutely no sense to me.
A little note on the goaltending, it seems Peter Budaj has lost all support. With what could be considered a poor preseason showing in his Montreal debut, it seems the majority of people are now expecting Carey Price to play as many games this season as he did last season. So much for that plan to get a goaltender who could carry a bit more load.
I believe the Habs, when it comes down to a few games remaining in the regular season, will find themselves in a very similar situation to last season. I do believe they will make the playoffs (can’t say the same for the Leafs for many reasons,) however, I believe it will be a fight until the end, with teams breathing down their neck.
No matter which way the season goes, I’ll be there to support and make fun of them all the way to the end.
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(Video posted at NHL.com)