Clouding judgment?

It's pretty hard to be negative after the Habs swept three games this week from very hot Canucks and Flyers teams before topping it off with a victory over the top team in the league in the Sharks, but I'm wondering if these three victories have clouded the judgment of Bob Gainey and his managment team looking toward Wednesday's trade deadline.

Because it's clear, at least to me and I would imagine a lot of you, that the Canadiens defence corps is not one that will take this team far into the playoffs.

Mike Komisarek was dropped onto a pairing with Josh Gorges halfway through this skin-of-your teeth 3-2 victory, making him the team's fifth defenceman. Frankly, the way he's been playing of late, he's only that high on the depth chart by default. Same goes for his old partner Roman Hamrlik, and Patrice Brisebois should not playing nearly as many minutes as he is right now.

If it weren;t for another brilliant performance by Jaroslav Halak, this game would have been a blowout by the Sharks after it looked like Montreal would run away with it with a 3-0 first intermission lead.

Part of the reason why the Sharks came back in the game and thoroughly dominated the final 40 minutes is Guy Carbonneau's insistence on sitting on leads with that dreadful 1-2-2 trap system, the NHL equivalent of a prevent defence. But another major reason is the Habs defence simply has trouble handling the puck and dealing with anyone who comes after them with speed.

Don't get me wrong, beating the Sharks was a huge step for this team, but it shouldn't cloud the fact that there are serious issues that remain and they need to be addressed by Wednesday.