A summary of performances by Habs at the Olympics followed by your responses to the All Habs Poll of the Week.
Sergei Kostitsyn – Kostitsyn was superb and had the most productive Olympics of any Canadiens player. Kostitsyn had five points in four games with two goals, three assists and was a plus two playing for an undermanned Belarus team. Offensive weapons Andrei Kostitsyn and Mikhail Grabovski were missing from the lineup with injuries.
Tomas Plekanec – Plekanec had a very good tournament with two goals and one assist. He was the number one center and saw extensive playing time on special teams. Plekanec was also the go-to faceoff man for the Czech Republic.
Jaroslav Halak – Halak went into the Olympics struggling in his last three NHL starts. Halak had mixed performances at the Olympics while part of the Cinderella Slovakian team who finished a surprising fourth place. Halak was the beneficiary of a five man defensive unit that didn’t stray too far from their own end and did their scoring on the power play.
With 12 hockey teams at the Olympics, the IIHF ranked Halak’s performance as eighth best in the tournament just behind Andrei Mezin of Belarus. Halak finished the tournament with 2.41 goals against average and .910 save percentage. While Halak had a dreadful outing against Norway and was shaky against Finland, he was a standout in the shootout against Russia.
Yannick Weber – Weber was one of a small number of AHL players to participate in the Olympics. He looked good at times while otherwise was overmatched, much like his team. Weber and Lucas Sbisa will likely lead the Swiss blueline at the 2014 Olympics (if NHL players are permitted to participate).
Andrei Markov – Markov did not have the expected impact on his Olympic team. It was a puzzling for fans to see Markov at practise for the Russian team only days after missing two straight games for the Habs against the Philadelphia Flyers. Markov played in all four games for Russia but registered only two assists and was a minus one. Reports circulating in Montreal are that Markov is not yet 100% recovered from his injury. From a Canadiens perspective one wonders if it would have been better for Markov to skip the Olympics to get healthy.
The best news from the Olympics may be the recovery time that it afforded Canadiens’ injured players. Andrei Kostitsyn and Benoit Pouliot will be in uniform against the Bruins for the Habs’ first game back after the break.
All Habs Poll of the Week
Who will make the biggest impact at the Vancouver Olympics?
Andrei Markov (Russia) 29%
Tomas Plekanec (Czech Republic) 19%
Jaroslav Halak (Slovakia) 45%
Sergei Kostitsyn (Belarus) 4%
Yannick Weber (Switzerland) 1%