MONTREAL, QC.– The online Montreal Canadiens community is always brimming with information, one of the most active in sports. News, opinions and rumours are shared via the mainstream folks, blogs and social media. It’s a valuable way to keep in touch with the Habs, no matter where you are.
There are dangers of this type of open, unfiltered communication and we all have to do our best to scrutinize the information we initiate and pass on. We’ve all heard the phrase “If you tell a lie often enough, and loudly enough, it will eventually be adopted as the truth.”
We won’t delve too deeply across the line into the realm of propaganda, but instead examine some commonly held beliefs in the online world of the Montreal Canadiens.
Internet says: Kirk Muller will remain as an assistant coach in Montreal.
When the Ottawa Senators hired Paul MacLean as their new head coach, a collective sigh of relief went up among Habs fans. Soon messages began popping up, that having lost out on the Senators position, Kirk Muller would be remaining with the Canadiens. Unfortunately, many forgot that there was more than one vacant head coaching postion available in the NHL.
It is true that some of those doors are starting to close to Muller in addition to Ottawa. Minnesota has hired former Penguin assistant Mike Yeo as their new head coach. The Stars are expected to promote Glen Gulutzan from their AHL affiliate to the top coaching job in Dallas — Muller was considered by many to be a strong candidate.
The Winnipeg Free Press reported that Muller will be meeting with Winnipeg GM Kevin Cheveldayoff as part of their search for a head coach. Craig McTavish is thought to be the leading candidate for the Manitoba job but former Thrashers Rick Dudley and Craig Ramsay have already been sent packing. Could it be that the Winnipeg brain trust is looking for the fresh, player-friendly approach that Muller could provide?
“[Muller] is an excellent communicator, motivator and an outstanding strategist credited for turning the Montreal Canadiens penalty kill into a dominant unit.
And, to top it all off, the man looks damn good in a suit.” — Ed Tait, Winnipeg Free Press
New Jersey is the other vacancy where Muller will have a shot. His ties run deep with the Devils organization having been their first round pick in 1984, second overall in the NHL Entry Draft to Mario Lemieux. Muller played seven seasons in New Jersey.
The possibility remains that Muller won’t be successful this season in his bid to become a coach in the NHL. One thing is clear, the Canadiens don’t sound like they are expecting him back. Coach Jacques Martin gave a rather odd response when asked about Muller at the Canadiens’ development camp
“Kirk has contributed enormously to the success of our team in recent seasons,” said Martin. ”He has done a good job for us and I think he is ready.”
My grandmother would characterize a statement like that as, “Here’s your hat, what’s your hurry?” Muller is the only assistant not hired by Martin. The two have polar opposite styles with Muller favoring a more aggressive puck pressure system.
Conclusion: It is not a certainty that Muller will be returning as an assistant coach with the Canadiens. In fact, it appears likely that he will move on.
***
Internet says: The Montreal Canadiens overpaid when the re-signed Andrei Kostitsyn to a one-year contract at $3.25 million.
Andrei Kostitsyn has been fitted with a bulls-eye by the media ever since he arrived in Montreal. He didn’t speak French, not much English either. In fact, he wasn’t all that enthralled with the contrived post-game dance practised in North-American sports venues: media asks a question they think is clever; athlete pretends to look interested and spouts off a canned meaningless answer.
Instead Kostitsyn prefers to be on the ice playing the game he loves and performing the job he is being paid to do: score goals. In the season before last when Kostitsyn got a hat-trick, two newspaper hacks bemoaned the fact that they had to interview the game’s first star. They didn’t seem the least bit shy to share their bigoted remarks.
On the ice, Kostitsyn is a sniper. He needs ice-time, and consistent linemates who compliment his style of play. All pure goal-scorers need time to get into a groove and once they do, to be left alone.
In 2010-11, Kostitsyn had a successful season ranking third in goals and fourth in points on the team. He was tied for first with six game-winning goals and was third in power-play goals with five. Those are exactly the kind of rankings that one might expect from a top-six forward.
Some falsely claim that Kostitsyn is a lazy player. That’s hardly the case given that he led the team in hits with 140. He delivered punishment on the forecheck that often led to turnovers.
But what about the claim that Kostitsyn was overpaid by signing a $3.25M contract (the same as he was paid in 2010-11.) Let’s first look at the salaries of players with the same point totals.
Forwards with 45 points in 2010-11
Dustin Penner, Kings $4.25M
Andrei Kostitsyn, Canadiens $3.25M
James Neal, Penguins $2.875M (RFA, not yet signed)
The salary listed for James Neal is from 2010-11 — he is a restricted free agent and will likely see his salary bumped up when re-signed by the Pittsburgh Penguins. Kostitsyn’s salary doesn’t seem out of line here at all.
It is also somewhat misleading to compare point totals from any Canadiens player to one on another team. They play in a system that stifles offense — for the past two seasons, Montreal has been at the bottom of the league in even-strength goals.
So let’s take a look at how Kostitsyn compares to his teammates (we’ll leave Scott Gomez out of this as it’s clear that he had a terrible season.)
Mike Cammalleri and Brian Gionta had similar numbers to Kostitsyn with 47 and 46 points respectively. Yet, they are both paid substantially more at $5.0M per year each.
Next we can look at players with salaries between $3.375 and 3.65 million, slightly higher than Kostitsyn. With the Canadiens sniper scoring 20 goals, how did he compare to other players?
Goal production by forwards with similar salaries (2010-11)
Justin Williams 22G $3.65M
Alexander Steen 20G $3.567M
Valtteri Filppula 16G $3.5M
Dainius Zubrus 13G $3.40M
Dave Bolland 15G $3.375M
It seems that Kostitsyn compares very favorably. Once you factor in that the other players all play in more offense-minded systems, his value is enhanced.
It’s often mentioned that Kostitsyn is a streaky player — most scorers are. But let’s not forget that three times during the season when he was on a hot streak that inexplicably his line was dismantled. Coach Martin left Kostitsyn and Eller for far too long when it was blatantly obvious that Gomez was an anchor, and the cause of the trio’s lack of offense (Eller and Kostitsyn showed great chemistry when paired with a winger.)
Kostitsyn is a player who isn’t afraid to use his size on a team so often accused of being easy to play against. He is fulfilling the expectation of being a Canadiens top-six forward despite being bounced around the line-up, and playing in a system that handcuffs the forwards.
Arpon Basu made a case for re-signing Kostitsyn in a piece he wrote in May.
Conclusion: There’s no evidence to support the notion that Andrei Kostitsyn is overpaid.
***
Would you like us to challenge a commonly held belief? Let us know!