Thursday, January 19, 2012

Once Proud

Bill Clinton was sworn in as President, Czechoslovakia broke into the Czech Republic and Slovakia, the Toronto Blue Jays won the World Series. Sound like ages ago? The year was 1993 and it was the also the last time the Stanley Cup belonged to the Montreal Canadiens. (It was the last time any Canadian team had the Cup, but that's beside the point.) The NHL club with the most Stanley Cup championship appearances and wins (34 and 24 respectively) looks these days to be far from the proud franchise it was in the past.

These days, rather than concerning themselves with ending the franchise's longer Cup-drought, Les Habitants find themselves bickering over the fact that their interim coach doesn't speak French and removing players that broadcast the real reason that their team has struggled as of late.

After a poor start to the season, the Habs did what any franchise would do, they canned the man behind the bench, Jacques Martin. Rather than scrape around trying to find a replacement from the few available candidates, the Canadiens promoted assistant coach, Randy Cunneyworth. Not a bad move, considering Dan Bylsma replaced Michel Therrien as head coach in 2009 before he led them to a Stanley Cup championship. However, Montreal would have you believe that GM Pierre Gauthier had just made Jackie Moon coach. The problem? He doesn't speak French.

To most people, judging people on anything other than their character is called discrimination. In Montreal, it's called "culture". Read this comment from a Canadian on an ESPN article regarding Gauthier's apology (yes, apology) to fans for promoting a coach who did not speak French:

I agree that people in Quebec should be upset by the Canadien's decision to not hire a French-speaking coach. C'est tres dommage! The people in Quebec are very proud of their culture, tradition, and mannerisms, all of which contribute to a unique identity that is the Quebec province. Jeers, criticism, ignorance aside, it takes spending time in "la ville" to truly understand and appreciate why fans there are so upset. While I agree fans everywhere, including in Montreal, can be quite fickle and that it's trivial to pass up on good coaches simply because they do not speak fluent French, it is also imperative that people seek to comprehend that, for Habs fans, it may mean so much more than that.


Apparently, I have to reside within the city limits of Montreal to learn the nuances of acceptable bigotry and arrogance. Maybe then I would understand why every Montrealer seems to think they are culturally superior to the rest of Canada and the US. Once I understood their cultural superiority, then I would definitely be able to understand why Quebec is trying to secede from Canada. Alas, I don't live in an insane asylum, so I'll never get the chance.

However, Mike Cammalleri identified another possible cause of the problem in Montreal, rather than the fact that Coach Cunneyworth doesn't speak French.

"I can't accept that we will display a losing attitude as we're doing this year. We prepare for our games like losers. We play like losers. So it's no wonder why we lose."

It's also no wonder that the Canadiens promptly discarded Cammalleri via an embarrassing trade to Calgary shortly thereafter in the middle of a game.

Was the trade the consequence for Cammalleri's comments? Montreal says no, but reports from ESPN would suggest otherwise. Flames’ GM Jay Feaster claims that the Cammalleri for Bourque trade was a long time in the works, but as Scott Burnside of ESPN wondered, why would Cammalleri be allowed to play that night if the deal was really that close? ESPN colleague Pierre LeBrun noted that two NHL GMs told him that if Cammalleri was shopped around, they hadn’t heard a thing about it, which would make one think that Cammalleri wasn’t actually shopped for long. Sounds more like the whole thing was hurried to me.

So, with Cammalleri gone and the promise of a new, French-speaking coach next year, are the Habs lined up for a return to pride? Rather, I think it's pride that's keeping Montreal from returning to prominence. It's pride (pronounced "arrogance") that makes a group of people reject a potentially good coach before giving him a chance. It's pride that sends a team leader packing when he speaks the truth. If Montreal wants to return to being a proud franchise, humility must come first.



Sunday, January 8, 2012

Mid-Season Awards

Midseason Report

Most Surprising Team: I'll address it more in detail in the next section, but it seems the only acquisition the Blues really made tis offseason is one of the biggest reasons they're in such great shape. NHL analysts have praised the young talent of the Blues and have predicted how good this team will be in the future. In seasons past, though, their young talent hasn't produced or they haven't stayed healthy enough to be effective. This year, the Blues seem comparatively healthier than other seasons and add to the mix some real, quality goaltending from Brian Elliott (a seemingly insignificant acquisition this summer, which has proven to be clutch). Lastly, the replacement of Davis Payne with former Jackets' head coach, Ken Hitchcock has proven significantly more valuable than most people would have guessed. As I write this, the Blues sit atop the Central Division. How many people predicted that at the beginning of the season?
Most Surprising Player: Brian Elliott was less than an afterthought this offseason. He was more like a non-thought. After struggling with the basement-dwelling Senators and being replaced by Craig Anderson, it seemed that Elliott was either destined to play out his days as a backup or else was finished in the NHL. Without much interest from other teams, Elliott was signed by the Blues to back up last offseason's major acquisition, Jaroslav Halak. After Halak backstopped the Habs all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals in the 2010 Playoffs, the Blues made Halak a $3.75M cap hit for the next 4 seasons. However, Halak has not been nearly as impressive in St. Louis as he was in Montreal. That made it that much easier to name Brian Elliott the starter as he's posted incredible numbers this season (.940 SV%, 1.62 GAA; both 2nd-best in the league). The reason for the difference may be in dispute, but there's no arguing that Elliott's play has been a welcome surprise in St. Louis.

Most Disappointing Team: This is a pretty easy decision. The Anaheim Ducks have gone from Playoff team to basement dweller quite rapidly with little change in personnel. Corey Perry, Ryan Getzlaf, and Bobby Ryan are all still on the roster, but it seems that without Perry on pace for 50 again, the Ducks struggle to score. With only 92 goals as a team this year, they have the third fewest in the league (Kings-88, Isles-91) and their 28 standings points is the second worst in the league (Columbus-27). However, this is not just a one-phase failure for the Ducks. Jonas Hiller hasn't been putting up starter-caliber numbers and the defense only sports one man with a positive +/- (and even then, it's not a regular starter and he's only a +1). The rapid decline of the Ducks has caused management to not only fire Randy Carlyle and replace him with former Caps' coach Bruce Boudreau, but they have also put their three big stars on the trading block in order to shake things up. With the rest of the division sniffing the playoffs, the Ducks might as well start rebuilding for next year.

Honorable mention/runner-up: Tampa Bay Lightning

Most Disappointing player: This has to be a two-way tie between Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby. These two have largely been considered the best two players in the NHL over the past 4-5 years. This season, however, they are nearly invisible. In 39 games, Ovechkin has only posted 17 goals, putting him on pace for roughly 36. This isn't a terrible number, but considering his past as a 4-time 50+ goal scorer, it seems that Ovechkin is not what he used to be. Part of this might be blamed on the coaching shake-up in Washington, but Ovi's less-than-normal production was documented before Boudreau was fired. The reign of Alexander the Great might be over.

Crosby's absence hasn't been his fault, but most NHL fans have to admit that not having Crosby around is very disappointing. This not only because Sid is a major face of the NHL and a very exciting player to watch, but also because it highlights the NHL's seemingly increasing problems with concussions. Watching a high-profile player like Crosby spend nearly an entire year off the ice due to concussion has to make every hockey fan tremble at the though of the same thing happening to their favorite star. It was scary to see Crosby come back after nearly a year off the ice and then leave with concussion symptoms once more without having sustained any contact to the head. Additionally, it is disappointing to not know what Crosby COULD have done had he been healthy his whole career (or, unfortunately, had he finished his career).

Hart Trophy: Not only has Jonathan Toews posted 22G and 22A, but he has also won 58.21% of his faceoffs. Toews also deserves recognition as the leader of a great team. If the league's MVP is supposed to be the most valuable to his team, then Toews fits the profile. The Blackhawks have found themselves behind in many more of their games than I can ever remember, yet they have won many of those games. His own direct contributions, plus his leadership have been the main factors in those comeback efforts. Consider, also, the fact that Toews' 22 goals puts him only 3 away from his season total during the Cup-winning 2009-10 season and on-pace for a career high.

ROY: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins will join the ranks of 1st overall picks that have won the Calder Memorial Trophy. In the past 1o years, only Alex Ovechkin and Patrick Kane have done so. Hopkins' impact was immediate as he posted his first NHL hat trick in his 3rd NHL game. Currently, the Nuge leads rookies in points (35) and is tied for the lead in goals among rookies (13). It's not like RNH doesn't have competition. Adam Henrique and Matt Read also have 13 goals and Henrique is only one assist behind Hopkins. However, Hopkins' status as an overall threat and the fact that he plays in Canada will definitely boost his reputation.