Will the Habs Gamble or Fold the Season?

Written by Habsterix, AllHabs.net

Pierre Gauthier is like a poker player with a pocket pair of 10’s in his hands and nothing good on the table, and he must make a decision before the dealer flips “the river” card. Should he bet, should he check, or should he fold?

PENTICTON, BC. — According to Fearthefin.com, the odds for the Canadiens to make the playoffs sit at only 17.1% during this All Star break. The team has some good assets scheduled to become unrestricted free agents on July 1st, assets that could help a contending team.

In my humble opinion, it’s time Gauthier folds instead of doing what this team has been doing for the last 10-15 years. While not impossible, the odds are against the team to even reach the playoffs. They would have to be playing playoff hockey from now on, likely only to be eliminated in the first round (if they even make it.) In order to do this, the Canadiens’ GM would likely have to do like the team has done in recent years, by giving up some future for rental players, like Dominic Moore, Brent Sopel and James Wizniewski, just to name a few, only to get further from a good draft ranking this coming June.

If I’m Geoff Molson, I bite the bullet this year, taking advantage of a tough season on the injury front, and tell my GM to do the following:

• Put Hal Gill, Travis Moen, Andrei Kostitsyn and Chris Campoli on the open market, and trade them to the highest bidder, no matter the team.

• As replacements, I would call up Frederic St-Denis, Aaron Palushaj, Andreas Engqvist, Gabriel Dumont and/or Ian Schultz, possibly on a rotation basis, to see where they’re at in their development and to better judge if they will or not be able to help in the long term. Note that I would not call up (at least not permanently) Louis Leblanc as we know that he will make the NHL, possibly as early as next year.

• Start playing Peter Budaj once a week, or every third game or so.

• Rotate four lines for the rest of the season, and run some tests both on the power-play and on the penalty-kill, to see who will be able to step his game up amongst the young guys.

• While I don’t think the team would do this, I would even go further by putting the name of Tomas Plekanec out there just to see what kind of response I’d be getting. If nothing good is being offered, I would keep him but if a team comes with an offer that would improve this team, I’d definitely consider it.

The hope in doing all of this is to watch the young prospects perform, getting the opportunity to see where they are in their development. It also gives the organisation a chance to test some of them in key situations at the NHL level, knowing that if they make mistakes and cost games, it will be okay. Playing Budaj more will minimize the risk of injuring Carey Price, and see if the backup can handle a bigger workload. With the prospects and/or picks they would get for the pending unrestricted free agents, the Habs could try moving up at the June draft to get an even better pick.

The hick? Pierre Gauthier and, to a lesser extent, Randy Cunneyworth. What GM in his right mind, if he feels his job is on the line, would agree to sacrifice a season, even with his President’s blessing? What coach with some ambition would want to run some tests at the risk of losing games? Unless both get some sort of security for next year, it’s hard to imagine that both men would want to go that route.

Regardless, there is simply too much on the line to up the ante or even to check Mr. Gauthier. It’s time to fold as there is too much to lose.