Power outage

Many of us on press row were laughing Saturday after Jacques Martin provided this assessment of Carey Price's play in a 4-2 loss to the Senators at the Bell Centre: "Our goalie was excellent. You look at the winning goal and it was tipped by one of our own players. He had no chance. The difference in this game was the special teams, not the goaltending."

The word "excellent" was still ringing in everyone's ears as we walked out of the press conference, and I was wondering which goalie Martin was referring to. Price was weak on the first two goals, plain and simple, and it was clear Martin didn't want to call him out. Price didn't speak to reporters after the game, which is generally a a requirement for that night's starter in goal.

This was the second straight game Price gave up two goals to put his team in a hole. Thursday night the Habs power play bailed him out. Saturday night, it didn't.

That's why, even though Martin was clearly sugar-coating his goalie's performance, I agree with his assessment that the bigger story was the futility of the power play, missing out on six chances and giving up a shorthanded goal. And what's an even bigger story is that Andrei Markov - as frank and honest a player as there is in the Habs room - felt the Canadiens just didn't bring their lunch pails for a game that had pretty heavy consequences on the conference standings.

If the Canadiens would have won this game, they'd be sixth in the conference right now. Instead, they're ninth.

“We were not working enough," Markov said. "We need to move the puck quick, we need traffic in front of the net and we need the shots. Tonight, I don’t know what happened, but we need more.”

When asked by veteran reporter Marc De Foy how Markov could explain a lack of effort like that in a game that was so important, Markov stopped and thought about it, a rarity from an athlete. He thought about it for a good five seconds before saying: “Actually I can’t explain that. Everybody knew that was a huge game for us, and we just lost the game. They were better, they outworked us, and there’s no excuse for us.”

The lack of power play success Saturday is a byproduct of a far more dire issue for the Habs, and that is the lack of depth of talent up front. With one key player injured in Andrei Kostitsyn, the Tomas Plekanec line is in disarray because Matt D'Agostini has been dragging his new linemates down to his level, or at least it seems that way.

Perhaps Sergei Kostitsyn will work once he returns from his ankle injury, which appears to be far more serious than the team is letting on, but he's done nothing this season to suggest he will be able to give that line a little more punch.

While Carey Price was spotting the Senatirs two freebie goals tonight, the guy sitting on the bench was again a topic of discussion. ESPN.com's Pierre LeBrun mentioned on the Satellite Hot Stove that Bob Gainey has been discussing Halak with the Dallas Stars for the past two weeks, and RDS's Renaud Lavoie followed that up by confirming the information and adding that Marty Turco might be the guy coming back in the deal.

I don't particularly see the point of doing that, since Turco is a UFA at the end of the season and makes about $5 million more per season than Halak does, but I think what has become clear since Gainey began shopping Halak is that he will not find a top-six forward coming back. I'm not even sure he could get a top-nine forward out of any trade.

The only possibility I could envision with Dallas would be Fabian Brunnstrom, whom the Canadiens were interested in signing when he was at the centre of a Jonas Gustavsson-like free agent frenzy two years ago. The Stars recently called Brunnstrom back from a two-week "conditioning" stint in the AHL, where he had five points in six games, but he wasn't in the lineup Thursday night against Montreal. You would have to imagine if he was someone being discussed in Halak talks, he probably would have played in that game.

In 79 games with Dallas over the last two years, Brunnstrom has 18 goals and 18 assists. Not bad totals, but perhaps not what the Stars were expecting when they signed him to a two-year, $4.45 million contract. And Brunnstrom, like Halak, is a restricted free agent at the end of the year. If the Stars have already decided they won't sign him, then trading him for a goalie they would be interested in keeping long-term would make perfect sense.

Amazing what support can do

I was pretty stunned to learn earlier today that Carey Price was going to get the start in goal against the Dallas Stars at the Bell Centre. I just didn't see the logic of sitting Jaroslav Halak after allowing only one goal against the New Jersey Devils and stealing a point in the standings.

When Price allowed a no-look to get by him on a 2-on-1 early and then looked to be pretty deep in his crease when Steve Ott tipped one past him on the Stars' 12th shot of the game, I couldn't help but think Jacques Martin's decision to start Price might cost his team two points against a reeling team.

But Price woke up at that point, stopping all but one of the final 24 shots he faced while his teammates scored five goals on Marty Turco at the other end, one more than they had scored against the four previous goaltenders they had faced.

On a night when everyone's attention was geared towards Georges Laraque scoring his first goal in a Habs uniform and playing 7:42, his highest ice time since the Centennial game over a month ago, the most important thing to happen in this game was that the Habs won without relying 100 per cent on their goalie stealing one.

Price was pretty sharp after those first two goals and gave his team a chance to light it up at the other end, but under normal circumstances, those first two bad goals would have been enough to ensure a Habs loss. But that didn't happen.

Instead, the Canadiens rolled up their sleeves and had their offence do the heavy lifting for a change, again led by the trio of Scott Gomez, Brian Gionta and Benoit Pouliot with three goals between them, including two by Gionta on Montreal's only two power plays of the game.

However, I thought Tomas Plekanec had his best game of the New Year, despite being kept off the scoreboard, and it's probably no coincidence it came coming off a four-day break and also a game where he played a shade under 18 minutes. That's a far more manageable workload for him, and I think we saw a refreshed player out there compared to the sleepwalking zombie of the past two weeks.

If only Martin were able to find someone to play opposite Mike Cammalleri on that line in the Kostitsyn brothers' absence, it would make the Habs top two lines pretty formidable. As it stands, Travis Moen started the game in that spot and Maxim Lapierre finished it, but neither of those players are ideal.

Speaking of Cammalleri, it was clearly wearing on him not scoring for four games, and he did something about it. His goal reminded me of Michael Jordan's bread and butter move during his championship years, when he would post up a defender, fake a spin one way and then spin back aroound to his strong side for the shot. I don't think I've ever really seen that move in hockey, and though it took an eternity for Cammalleri to pull off, it worked. And it was pretty.

This was a good game to build off for the Habs, and an ideal way to kick off this 16-game drive toward the Olympic break. But the most important aspect of it was not that an enforcer who is watching his ancestral land lie in ruin scoring his first goal as a member of the team, it was that the team finally picked up the goalie and bailed him out for not being perfect.

If they can do that a couple more times this weekend, I wouldn't be surprised to see a couple more wins.

Goalie controversies are fun, aren't they?

This was quite predictable, no?

The Canadiens go on media blackout mode for two days with no practice, and the city's sports talk lines are buzzing with talk of Jaro v. Carey.

There are several other possible topics of conversation for people to get passionate about, such as the Habs utter lack of scoring in the New Year, for instance. With four goals against NHL goaltending over the past four games (not counting the empty-netter against Florida), the Canadiens are proving once again that they just can't get their entire game together at once.

When the puck's going in the net, the defence is allowing 40-plus shots a night. When the defence finally figures it out and tightens up, the scoring goes dry. It could simply be that the team is not good enough to do both at once, or it could be a question of circumstances, but either way it's a worrying stretch of four games that would definitely merit some discussion.

But perhaps that lack of scoring or porous defence - whatever happens to be the Habs mood or number of healthy bodies in that given week - are two things that point the spotlight on the Habs net, seeing as Jaroslav Halak and Carey Price become the lone determining factor between a win and a loss under those trying conditions.

I went to play my weekly game of lazy, old man basketball tonight, and on my way I was tuned into Ron Fournier's popular evening call-in show on CKAC. I listened to Marc Denis talk about what he would do with the goaltending situation in Montreal. He felt that the Habs should keep both guys because that's what will give them the best chances of making the playoffs, but at some point they will need to pick a No. 1 guy for the playoffs and ride him. That's kind of my reason for feeling Halak should be traded, seeing as a No. 1 guy has to be designated at some point, but that's just me.

Two hours later, I returned to my car after huffing and wheezing my way through a game that could barely be described as basketball, and when the radio came on they were still talking about the same thing. Two hours of radio is an eternity, and I'm sure Ron had no shortage of callers over that time who wanted to weigh in on the situation.

This is simply what people do in this city, and if you take it like good, clean fun, then that's all it is. But if you take debates like this one and label it a controversy, then I feel it's going too far. There is no controversy here. Both goalies know the situation: you play well, you stay in. Perhaps Price takes this as an affront to his status as franchise saviour, or Halak sees it as an impediment towards his ultimate goal of being a starter in the NHL, but that matters little in the grand scheme of things. At least not for the time being.

I think Bob Gainey has been pretty clear on this that no goalie will be traded prior to the Olympics because the schedule is pretty jam packed until then. But when he does decide to trade a goalie, or if, then it's also pretty clear it will be Halak. You can love that position or you can hate it, but that's the reality of the situation. Bob Gainey will not trade Carey Price, and I'm with him on this one.

Why? Well, I continue to stand by my belief that Price is only 22, and there are few goalies in NHL history who have done what he's done at his age. I'm not going to pull out the numbers on Roy and Brodeur and Luongo and whoever else at age 22.

But I will say that I'm pretty sure the Pittsburgh Penguins are happy they didn't give up on Marc-Andre Fleury when he was 22 and he was stopping fewer than nine out of 10 pucks sent on goal and allowing 3.25 goals per game. Two years later he was in the Stanley Cup final, and a year after that he won it. Before you go there, I'm not saying Price will do the same thing. Obviously he doesn't have Crosby, Malkin, Staal et al supporting his bid to be a champion. My point is that goalies take time, and Fleury at the same age was considered a bust who was unlikely to fulfill his tremendous potential. Now he's on the Canadian Olympic team and a Cup champion.

For further information on this debate, I will defer to Chris Boyle. If you haven't read his stuff over at Robert Lefebvre's Habs Eyes on the Prize blog, you should immediately. Not only is the statistical analysis mind-bogglingly exhaustive, but his preface to this month's entry sums up my thoughts on this debate perfectly. Too many people have made up their mind both on Price and Halak, while the fact is there are huge question marks still surrounding both of them. Does Price have the work ethic and discipline to make it as an elite netminder? Could Halak ever carry a team and play 50 or 60 games in a season? We don't know the answers to either of those questions, so we probably shouldn't be acting like we do.

Still, Halak's expressed desire for increased playing time makes this a topic that needs to be discussed, and people are doing just that. Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun, in his weekly round-up of rumours, states that Halak would still interest the Philadelphia Flyers, while Thursday's Bell Centre visitors the Dallas Stars could also be intrigued based on Marty Turco's impending UFA status.

I would have to guess the Stars will get a very good look at Halak on Thursday, because I can't see how Jacques Martin can go with Price at this point. But that decision, and the ones that come in the games following it, have little bearing on the goaltending "controversy" in Montreal. It just shows that, for now, the one and only position where the Canadiens are among the most talented teams in the league is in goal.

Scoreboard watching

Scott Gomez, when discussing the four-day break between games the Habs just began, figured one of the more positive aspects of it will be that it will allow their Eastern Conference rivals to catch up in the games played department.

That way, Gomez figured, the Canadiens would have a better idea of where they stand.

"It'll be nice to see after everyone catches up instead of always looking at the board and seeing they have all these games in hand," he said after Saturday night's overtime loss to the Devils.

Well, Scott, I don't know if you'll be entirely satisfied come Thursday, because most of the teams in the hunt for the final four playoff spots will have only played one game by the time the Canadiens face the Stars.

Two of the eight other teams in contention played Sunday, with Ottawa losing 4-1 to Carolina and Tampa Bay finishing a 4-2 win over New Jersey that began Friday night. By Thursday night's games, only the Senators and the New York Islanders will match the Canadiens 47 games played this season.

Here, then, is a little scoreboard-watching guide for the next couple of days:

Boston: playing 45th game Wednesday at Anaheim.

NY Rangers: playing 46th game Tuesday against New Jersey

Ottawa: playing 47th game Tuesday at Atlanta

Philadelphia: playing 45th game Tuesday against Dallas

NY Islanders: playing 47th game Tuesday against Detroit

Atlanta: playing 45th game Tuesday against Ottawa

Tampa Bay: playing 45th game Tuesday against Washington

Florida: playing 46th game Wednesday against Washington

A changing of the guard

The Canadiens probably deserved better than the single point they got in their 2-1 overtime loss to the Devils on Saturday night, but when Martin Brodeur is on his game, that point has to be considered a bonus.

I have to admit, I thought Jacques Martin would call on Carey Price to start this game based on his history against the Devils (2-3-1, 2.17 GAA and .932 SP in his career), but Jaroslav Halak really proved something in going toe-to-toe with a living legend in the other net.

However, that is not the changing of the guard I'm referring to in my headline, because Price will get his chance again and the pendulum will likely swing back in his direction at some point this season.

No, the change is the status of the Habs top line now falls on the shoulders of Scott Gomez, who was expected to fill that slot this season to begin with.

His line with Brian Gionta and Benoit Pouliot has been the Habs most dangerous for four games now, and Gomez has four goals and 15 assists in his last 20 games after scoring Montreal's only goal tonight.

“It still can improve," Gomez said of his line's play. "We’re getting chances, but we’re still a couple of miscues off. That’s going to come, but as a line you judge yourself on whether you’re getting chances are not and with Benny and Brian, they’re goal scorers and they’ll start putting them in. I’m not worried about that.”

No, there isn't any reason to worry about that, but the play of Tomas Plekanec of late has to be at least a cause for a little concern. His pointless streak has now hit a season-high four games, and he looks exhausted out there. I can't really blame him, with the double duty he's been pulling as a top-line centre and top penalty killer so far this season.

People will say that it's the injury to Andrei Kostitsyn that's caused this little mini-slump for Plekanec, but I don't buy it. Plekanec had a different set of wingers every game at the start of the season, and he still managed to put points on the board. No, this is a case of a guy who is tired, plain and simple.

So if there is one person this four-day break in the schedule should benefit, I would think it would be him. But what will be the effect on the rest of the team, which is playing some of its best hockey right now?

“We can play with anyone when we’re all healthy," Gomez said. "It’s too bad we’ve got the week off with the way we’re playing, but at the same time guys will get refreshed.”

The Habs don't practice for two straight days and then get two days of practice before hosting the Dallas Stars on Thursday. That's four days for this city to stew over who will get the start in goal, four days to hypothesize and analyze this team to bits.

But as far as I can see, hitting that break coming off an effort like the one they put in against the Devils should benefit the Habs. Because if they had any doubts as to their ability to compete with the league's elite teams, those should be erased now.

The Centennial Curse?

With the news yesterday that Andrei Kostitsyn would be lost for approximately six weeks after undergoing knee surgery, it's time to ask the question whether or not there is indeed some sort of curse that has hit the franchise ever since it decided to make it's 100th birthday an incredibly long, drawn out, self indulgent love-in.

Let's count the number of debilitating injuries the team has suffered since the beginning of last season, the Canadiens' 100th. There was Mike Komisarek's shoulder injury after being beat down by Milan Lucic in Boston, costing him 16 games and a chunk of his self-esteem. Then Carey Price got a groin injury that people began speculating was in fact a trip to re-hab (followed by his utter meltdown after the All-Star break).

After that, Chris Higgins was lost for 19 games, Saku Koivu for 17, Mathieu Dandenault for 24, Alex Tanguay for 28 and the playoffs, Guillaume Latendresse for 18, Robert Lang for the final 32 of the season and the playoffs, Francis Bouillon the final 22 and the playoffs, Andrei Markov the final four and the playoffs.

Jump ahead to this season, and we have Markov going down in Game 1 and ultimately missing 35, Ryan O'Byrne missing 19, Brian Gionta missing 21, Hal Gill out for 14 and various other minor ailments along the way to Scott Gomez, Glen Metropolit, Sergei Kostitsyn, Georges Laraque, Jaroslav Spacek and Paul Mara.

And now this.

The Olympic break should provide the elder Kostitsyn enough time to get back for the final stretch run, but the Habs will only have 19 games left on the schedule by that point. We all saw what it was like when the Canadiens had two dangerous scoring lines for other teams to contend with, but that glimpse was all too brief, and we may have to wait until March to see it again.

I feel it bears mentioning that the Habs have played all of two games, Dec. 30 and 31, with the lineup we expected to see in training camp. It's no coincidence the Habs won both those games, and they even won one where their goalie was not the team's best player.

So, who fills Kostitsyn's spot in his absence?

Jacques Martin can say all he wants about how Matt D'Agostini has the talent to fill in on the line with Tomas Plekanec and Mike Cammalleri, but I don't buy it. Other than his first 10 games with the team, D'Agostini hasn't shown a whole lot of that talent. And as far as hockey sense goes, I wouldn't call the guy a Rhodes Scholar.

I would give Sergei Kostitsyn a shot there for a few games, and not a few shifts, because I feel he does in fact have the talent to play there. It just remains to be seen if he has the work ethic, but I believe if you place him in prominent role on the team he'll respond to the challenge.

A suggestion I received via Twitter after Thursday's game and also mentioned by Marc-Antoine Godin in La Presse of using Marc-Andre Bergeron in that spot is intriguing, and definitely worth a shot. With Sergei due to miss at least the next couple of games, that's what I would try tonight against the Devils.

And if that doesn't work, I'd go with Travis Moen. He knows his role, his size would create space for his two smaller linemates, and he knows how to take up real estate in front of a net.

Finally, voting closes in thenhlarena.com Habs blog off final on Sunday. I'm sitting four votes behind Dennis Kane right now, so I could use a hand. Of course, losing this thing would not cause me to lose much sleep, but it would be fun to win. So, if you like, you can vote here.

I'm covering the game tonight for CP, so check back for an update, or you can follow my Twitter feed for in-game thoughts.

An apology could be in order

Or maybe a couple of them, in fact, based on last night's performance in a hard-fought 2-0 win over the Florida Panthers.

Aside from the fact Benoit Pouliot is making the Habs pro scouting department look quite astute these days, something I underlined in my game story last night, there were two other guys who maybe turned a page in what has been considered a difficult season up to this point: Scott Gomez and Maxim Lapierre.

Gomez basically single-handedly created Pouliot's difference-maker in the dying seconds of the first, skating the puck out from deep in his territory to the Panthers end before feeding Pouliot in stride for his seeing-eye wrister to the top corner. Gomez also drew an assist on Brian Gionta's empty-net insurance marker in much the same way, taking an outlet pass from Roman Hamrlik and finding Gionta alone in space.

For those who have lost count, or who simply stopped counting out of sheer rage, Gomez now has three goals and 15 assists in his last 18 games. Since Gionta's return, it's been six assists in six games. And since his return from injury Dec. 1, Gomez only has three fewer points than Tomas Plekanec, who has four goals and 17 assists over that span.

I'm not going to say I saw this coming, but Gomez's autumn lull has been a predictable trend over his career, as I pointed out back in November while he was in the midst of it. Now that we have this autumn's results to add to the database, Gomez went six straight games without a point between Nov. 10 and Dec. 1, sitting four games out with an injury in the middle of that stretch. It was the second-longest regular season point drought of his career, but the end of that slump was the start of his current hot streak.

One thing I really noticed about Gomez last night is how much attention he attracts from opposing defencemen. It is very rare that Gomez has the luxury of time and space on the side boards, where he does his best work. Some may say that shows a lack of elusiveness in his game, but I would counter that when defencemen are focused on him they are not necessarily paying attention to his linemates, like Benoit Pouliot, for instance.

As for Lapierre, he looked a lot more like the player that last season served as a spark plug for a team that too often didn't even have a pulse. In the second half of the season, Lapierre was usually the lone bright spot on the Canadiens, a player whose energy and will to compete should have picked up the whole team and inspired it to greatness.

I don't know why Lapierre can't seem to do that prior to Jan 1, but earlier this season he was a shell of his former self, aimlessly forechecking with no purpose, reacting to contact instead of initiating it. But last night, Lapierre skated. He hit. He created chances. He drew a big penalty by driving the net.

Habs coach Jacques Martin rewarded, uhhh, recognized? No, that's not the right word. Ignored that effort by giving Lapierre 11:33 of ice time. Granted, Martin said he wanted to acknowledge the strong play of certain players by shuffling his bottom two lines in the second period, putting Travis Moen alongside Lapierre and Marc-Andre Bergeron and placing the shackles of Georges Laraque on Glen Metropolit and Max Pacioretty.

If Lapierre continues to show the same things Saturday night against the powerhouse New Jersey Devils and onward, I'm sure that ice time will increase with time as he slowly earns the trust of Martin, which is something he's never had.

"I think it was Maxim Lapierre’s best game since I’ve been here," Martin said after the game, without anyone asking him specifically about Lapierre's performance. "I liked his intensity and his speed created things, he spent a lot of time in the offensive end."

Mike Cammalleri was also an interested observer of Lapierre's game, noticing a certain je ne sais quoi in his effort.

“Did you see that one breakout? I mean, he broke it out by himself, he almost went end to end. I haven’t done that since pee-wee," Cammalleri said, almost in awe. "Whatever he did today, he’s got to do that again."

If Lapierre can indeed do it again, and again, it would be a huge boost for this team. Eventually, if Martin believes he can get the job done, it might even allow him to take away some penalty killing minutes from Tomas Plekanec, who has looked somewhat sluggish in going pointless the last three games.

Of course, Plekanec and the rest of the penalty-killers didn't have much work to do last night because the Habs only allowed a single power play, only the fourth time this season they've done that. Interestingly, it was their first win in those four games after a 4-3 loss in Calgary on Oct. 6, a 3-1 loss to the Wild on Dec. 17 and a 1-0 loss to Buffalo on Sunday.

Still, the residual effect of staying out of the box is that Martin can roll his lines at his leisure, and guys like Cammalleri don't get pinned to the bench for two minutes at a time.

“That’s probably one of the reasons we were able to sustain our momentum tonight," Cammalleri said of the team's disciplined play. "Even with a one-goal lead, we didn’t play a hang-on style. We still played with some assertiveness and with some push to our game. One of the main reasons is that you can keep that flow going with a lot more consistency when you’re not killing penalties."

Indeed, and it's something the Habs have been doing much better of late. Last night's game marked the fifth straight where the Canadiens allowed fewer than five power play chances. They only did that three times in the previous 13 games, and Martin seems to know why there's been such a drastic reversal in this area.

"I think lately we’ve been a lot better, our number of penalties have reduced, which is a good sign," he said. "Part of that is probably having more of a full roster, we’ve been spending more time in the opposition’s end. Guys are starting to use our speed better and getting better position. It’s about time we start taking less penalties when you look at our hockey club."

Indeed, this five-game run of reduced penalty time coincides with the return of Gionta and the emergence of Pouliot, giving the team two solid lines capable of spending extended stretches in the offensive end. And everyone knows you are far less likely to take a penalty there than you are if you're constantly within 20 feet of your own net.

Oh Captain, my Captain?

So, it turns out that Andrei Markov wouldn't be all that averse to serving as the Montreal Canadiens captain after all.

When asked at the team's Brossard training facility today whether or not he would be interested in wearing the "C" in Montreal, Markov surprised everyone when he said, "Nobody’s asked me that. If they ask me that, I’m going to think about it."

Uhh, wait a second. Nobody's asked you? How is that possible? As the team's best player, it's longest-serving player, it's heart and soul and backbone all rolled into one, no one thought to ask Andrei Markov if he would be interested in the Habs captaincy? How can this be?

So, seeing as no asked him, he was asked by us stupid reporters if he would be the least bit interested in taking on the heavy burden of serving as the team's 28th captain, seeing as he would be the most obvious candidate for the job.

"Yeah, I think so," he said. "Obviously it’s a big responsibility. It’s not easy to be a captain in this city."

So am I the only one wondering why exactly Markov wasn't named captain sometime in July, shortly after Saku Koivu officially signed with the Anaheim Ducks? Is there any reason why he wouldn't be considered an appropriate choice? And don't start talking to me about Markov's quiet nature. Joe Sakic was not one known for his gift of gab, either with teammates or reporters, and no one would suggest he was a poor captain because he took care of his leadership responsibilities where it counts - on the ice.

Hell, the GM of the team was a strong silent type, but Bob Gainey's hold on the Canadiens during his time as captain was unquestioned.

And when it comes to dealing with reporters, I can tell you that Markov has embraced that part of the job over the past couple of years. On Wednesday, for instance, the Habs didn't practice and instead held some off ice workouts. The Canadiens PR staff made four players available to the approximately 20 media members on hand: Georges Laraque, Mike Cammalleri, Benoit Pouliot and Markov. Not only did Markov tolerate us, he hung around and welcomed wave after wave of reporters for about 20 minutes.

He's a different breed of athlete when it comes to dealing with the media because he doesn't simply throw out stock answers learned in media school during training camp. He actually thinks about the question posed to him and answers it.

But really, I feel the media responsibilities of the captain are overblown by the media, because we have a tendency to believe we're far more important than we actually are. Just look at what I wrote about Markov's graciousness today. He spent 20 minutes talking to reporters, and that was an eternity. Most of the time, interviews take about five minutes, and you're done. No big deal. Admittedly, I could see how doing that every day might get annoying, but to the point where you would turn down the captaincy of the Montreal Canadiens? I don't think so.

The most important people when it comes to picking a captain are not the members of the media, but rather the members of the team. And in that regard, if Cammalleri is to be believed, Markov's choice as captain would be a slam dunk in the Habs room.

“His leadership capabilities are evident whether or not he has a letter on his chest," said Cammalleri, who might not make such a bad choice himself. "He definitely leads by example and his play is inspiring for anybody on this team.”

Early in the season, it was reported that Markov had turned down the captaincy, something he denied at the time and continues to deny today. I just wanted to make sure I heard him correctly and that he wasn't joking when he said he would be interested in the job, and when given a chance to speak without a thousand microphones in his face, Markov said something that convinced me he is captain material.

"Right now it's not that important to pick a captain," he said. "Right now, what's important is our game. We need to play better and move up the standings."

If that's not captain material, what is?

Though Markov's revelation stole the show on a very quiet day in Brossard today, I was actually there hoping I would get to speak to Tomas Plekanec regarding Gainey's comments on his impending free agency and the ability of the team to sign him. Plekanec, through the Habs PR department, declined the offer to discuss his contract. Still, I managed to write something about his free agent status anyway, which is a skill you learn after a few years on this job. You can read what I wrote here, but what I couldn't write on a mainstream forum was my interpretation of what Gainey told reporters amid the security of downtown Washington D.C. Tuesday night.

When discussing the ability to fit Plekanec under the cap, Gainey had this to say: "We see the cap in terms of hard numbers, but things shift, whether it’s the cap going up or the cap going down, whether it’s a player leaving through a different fashion that opens up space or acquiring a player that closes up space. It’s a shifting target."

Did you see that, or am I the only one? That bit about "leaving through a different fashion" sounded, to my ears at least, like "leaving via buyout." Because let's be honest, Gainey will have to be very creative to find a way to get both Plekanec and Carey Price under contract while filling out the rest of the roster as well.

I don't think it's a stretch at this point to assume that Georges Laraque will fall prey to the buyout hatchet, but who else? If you're guessing Hall Gill, I would say you're guessing wrong because his value as a penalty-kill specialist is pretty valuable. It would have to be someone that could be considered expendable and who makes a significant amount of money, and the one person who fits that bill would be Roman Hamrlik.

With one year left on his contract once this season comes to a close, Hamrlik could actually be traded. But I doubt too many teams out there are seeking a 36-year-old defenceman, no matter how capable, making $5.5 million. If he were to be bought out, it would knock roughly $3.7 million off of Montreal's cap figure for next year, which wouldn't cover all of Plekanec's contract but probably enough to make sure both he and Price would fit.

Question is, what will the Habs blue line look like without Hamrlik there? Probably a lot better than the front line would without Plekanec.

Nonsensical

Let me get this straight.

The Habs have an 8-8-0 record this season when they register at least 30 shots on goal, as they did in Sunday's 1-0 loss to the Buffalo Sabres. When they don't reach that magic mark, it's 13-12-3. Does that make any sense to you?

Back when the Habs were stealing games left and right thanks to Jaroslav Halak, who was getting pelted with well over 40 shots a game, I joked that Jacques Martin had finally found a winning game plan. Well, maybe it wasn't such a joke after all. Maybe the Habs need to be outshot badly to actually win a game.

While they're at it, why not simply play the rest of their games on the road as well? Sunday afternoon's loss dropped Montreal's record at the Bell Centre to 9-10-2, while it's 12-10-1 on enemy rinks. Why is that? I remember Mike Cammalleri once admitting that perhaps the Canadiens were so intent on giving their loyal fans a good show at home that they diverted from their game plan. But that definitely wasn't the case Sunday because that was a horribly un-entertaining contest, yet the Habs still lost.

Perhaps a power play goal might have helped, but that too shows little respect for reason. The Habs went 0-for-2 on Sunday, and for only the 10th time this season Montreal had more power plays than the opposition. Over the seven-game road trip, when the power play hummed along at a 50 per cent clip, two power plays would have statistically been enough to produce a goal. Yet at home that dominant power play becomes downright pedestrian, producing a goal only 16.4 per cent of the time, good for 24th in the NHL. Again, does anyone have any reasonable explanation for this?

Then there's Carey Price, who for the sixth time this season allowed only one goal in a game with 29 saves. Yet he lost for the fifth time in his last six starts, playing just good enough to not win, again. His record dropped to 10-14-3 on the season, and many of those losses could be filed under the category "Not his fault, but..." Jaroslav Halak, meanwhile, has an 11-6-0 record. Their other numbers are nearly identical, with Price holding a minor edge in GAA at 2.62 to 2.64, while Halak has an equally slim lead in save percentage at .922 to .916. Those stats tell a story of a battle for the number one job, but the statistic that counts most, wins and losses, has a clear leader.

The positive for the Canadiens in this game is that they had a clear advantage in scoring chances over an elite team in the Conference, one that makes a habit of winning games like this. They came out for the start of the game with guns blazing, spending nearly the entire first four minutes in the Sabres zone to draw a penalty. But no goal came despite a number of good chances on that power play, and it appeared to deflate the Habs.

"I think our energy tapered off after that," said Mike Cammalleri after the game. "In the first period we took the game to them, we had a lot of energy, that sense of desperation that seems to be so key for us. In the second and third, for whatever reason, it didn't continue that way."

Tuesday night in Washington, the Habs will need to find a way to make it continue. The emergence of a legitimate second line should help in that regard, as the trio of Scott Gomez, Brian Gionta and Benoit Pouliot was consistently dangerous all night. Pouliot in particular had two fantastic opportunities for a goal in his first Bell Centre game, but he couldn't beat Miller.

All his teammates told the same story.

One final vote and thoughts on Habs (non) Olympians

Hi everyone, I just wanted to ask one last time to go check out the Habs blog-off over at thenhlarena.com.

I've reached the final round and am up against Dennis Kane and Four Habs Fans. Once again, I'm not quite sure what the prize is for winning, other than some bragging rights in the Habs blogosphere, but it would be fun if I did.

Should you feel so inclined, you can vote here, just know in advance that you will need to register with the site in order to cast a ballot. I'm trailing Dennis Kane by a fair margin right now, but I would imagine it's pretty early in the process, to use a favourite word of Jacques Martin's.

While on the subject of elections, I thought I would also note just how lucky the Canadiens were in the naming of Olympic team rosters. In my eyes, the four players who were in the running for Olympic spots but who could probably use the rest are the four guys who were snubbed.

Roman Hamrlik and Jaroslav Spacek were playing far more than what was expected of them this season because of Andrei Markov's injury, and the two weeks off will likely do them some good, though I have no idea how Hamrlik was ignored when you look at the Czech defencemen who made the team.

Meanwhile, neither Scott Gomez nor Brian Gionta made the U.S. team announced after the Winter Classic on New Year's Day. Perhaps Gionta could have benefited from the experience, seeing as he missed 21 games, but Gomez may want to get a break so he can re-charge his batteries and start the season over. Besides, I don't think Gomez really deserved a spot, while Gionta probably did.

On the other side of the coin, I feel being the top centre for the Czechs should do wonders for Tomas Plekanec's preparation for the playoff stretch run, as he'll be playing the most intense hockey of his life. Jaroslav Halak will either improve his trade value just ahead of the deadline or sharpen his skills to take a run at Carey Price for the playoff starting job while playing for Slovakia. And the Kostitsyns will get all the ice time they can handle playing for Belarus, though I'm wondering if Sergei will be able to resist decking Mikhail Grabovski in practice.

Finally, there's Andrei Markov playing for a stacked Russian squad. I would say the Olympics should allow Markov to compensate for all the time he missed in the first half of the season, but really, could he be any more sharp than he is right now? Still, Markov should come back from Vancouver a better player, if that's possible, and if the Russians manage to win gold for the first time since 1992 it could light a fire under him to try and lead Montreal to another championship in the spring.

Stranger things have happened.

The "policy" put to the test

Yes, this is New Year's Day, but most importantly in the eyes of many Canadiens fans this is the first day GM Bob Gainey is allowed to negotiate a new contract with Tomas Plekanec, should he feel so inclined.

When Plekanec signed his one-year contract for $2.75 million back on July 21, I titled my story "Plekanec to play for his payday" because the one year on his deal got him to unrestricted free agency. Some were baffled as to how a 39-point season could translate into such a generous salary, though I thought at the time that Gainey only slightly overpaid to keep Plekanec away from arbitration.

In retrospect it's a good thing he did, because there's no way Plekanec would be the least bit inclined to give the Habs a hometown discount if that arbitration hearing had gone ahead as planned nine days after his signing. And I think everyone has to come to the realization that if Plekanec is going to be re-signed, it will have to come at a pretty significant discount to what he could fetch on the open market.

Plekanec said in Florida this week that he likes it in Montreal, that he considers it a second home and that he would love to stay here. His agent Rick Curran told ESPN.com's Pierre LeBrun on Boxing Day that he had no idea if Gainey would be picking up a phone to trigger negotiations this week, but he did note that Gainey has always been a big supporter of his client's (I'm assuming he means other than that time he decided to make Plekanec a healthy scratch in Game 2 of last year's playoff sweep against the Bruins. But I digress).

However, one thing that jumped out to me in Curran's comments was his use of the word "policy" to describe Gainey's willingness to talk contract during the season. Gainey himself was directly asked about this about a month ago when discussing the Guillaume Latendresse trade (which is starting to look pretty darned good with the way Benoit Pouliot is playing. Could you ever imagine seeing #84 on the PK? But again, I digress).

Gainey refuted the suggestion that he had a hard and fast rule against negotiating contracts mid-season, saying he only decided to handle things that way last season when half his team was looking for new contracts. That made sense then to avoid conflicts inside the room, but it wouldn't make that much sense now seeing as Plekanec is the only significant unrestricted free agent on the team (no offence to Glen Metropolit). He noted that he did talk contract with a previous free agent during the season, surely alluding to Mark Streit, and he did not deny that he might do the same with Plekanec. The only thing he made absolutely clear was that he would not be negotiating through the media, which is how some other GMs choose to operate (hello Don Waddell, that one was pointed at you).

As Plekanec continues showing no signs of relenting, pulling no-look OT winners out from under his hat, you have to start wondering whether or not he would even want to sign a contract before July 1. I don't know Curran at all, never spoken to him in my life. But I have to assume the guy is no dummy, and he can see a perfect storm brewing for he and his client this summer.

To give you an idea of what free agency may hold for Plekanec, consider this: he is the leading scorer among impending unrestricted free agents this summer. Yes, Ilya Kovalchuk would definitely command more money and years, but among the forwards hitting the market, I'm not sure anyone else would be more sought after than Plekanec. Patrick Marleau could be, if he keeps this up through the playoffs and has a strong Olympics, but otherwise you have Olli Jokinen, Alexander Frolov, Alex Tanguay, Colby Armstrong and the Maple Leafs trio of Lee Stempniak, Alexei Ponikarovsky and Matt Stajan as the rest of the impact forwards available who are under 35 years of age. And I realize I am stretching the definition of the word "impact" in a big way.

Among that group, would Plekanec not be in line for a huge payday on July 1, especially when you consider his dual role as an elite playmaker and penalty-killer? Plekanec has to know this, and in case he doesn't, he needn't look far for an example of what happens to a player who hits the market at the right time.

Sitting way on the opposite end of the Habs locker room from Plekanec's stall is one Scott Gomez, currently in year three of a seven-year, $51.5 million deal signed by the New York Rangers in the summer of 2007. One look at that fabled 2007 free agent class will give you an idea why Gomez was able to land such a ridiculous deal in the first place.

Joining Gomez on the free agent front that summer were Buffalo co-captains Daniel Briere and Chris Drury, and it was instantly determined that these were the top three centres available. Combined, they managed to pull in nearly $139 million on Canada Day (eight years, $52 million for Briere, and five years, $35.25 million for Drury).

I'm no economist, far from it, but I believe this is the nature of supply and demand in a free market economy. When there is little supply of high end talent, and said talent is willing to go to the highest bidder, prices will naturally increase. Those left grasping at the straws left behind at the centre position in 2007 included the Los Angeles Kings who gave Michal Handzus a four-year deal worth $16 million, and the Washington Capitals who gave Michael Nylander a four-year, $19.5 million contract.

Considering all five of the contracts listed here are seen as crippling errors today, you might be thinking that GMs have learned from their mistakes and will not repeat the same ones in 2010, when the free agent pickings will be far slimmer than they were three years earlier. If you believe that to be true, then you are truly delusional.

So, where does that leave us with Plekanec's value, or even in determining a starting point for discussions should either side choose to engage in them? Nowhere, because there are very few players Plekanec can be compared to. He sits fourth in the NHL in shorthanded time on ice, and among the leaders there are a few people who have a comparable skill set in the offensive end. Jordan Staal, eighth in SH ice time, is making $4 million for the next four years, but he was a restricted free agent when he signed that contract. There's Drury, whose ninth in the league, and there's Marleau who sits 22nd. Marleau is the bargain of the two at $6.3 million in the final year of his contract.

In terms of age and abilities, I feel the best comparison may be Patrick Sharp of the Chicago Blackhawks. He, like Plekanec, was 27 when he signed a four-year, $15.6 million contract in 2008 coming off a career-best 36-goal, 62-point season. Ottawa's Mike Fisher was 28 that same year when he signed a five-year, $21 million deal. Both those players have a nice mix of offensive upside and defensive awareness that could serve as ways to keep Plekanec's contract down a bit, because if he were to sign for $4.5 million a year it would have to be considered a huge bargain.

When you delve a little deeper into Plekanec's 46 points through 43 games, it becomes even clearer how valuable a player he is becoming. He is one of only nine centres in the NHL to be averaging a point a game or better, and of those only one, Marleau, is a free agent this summer. His 18 points on the power play ranks tied for fifth in the NHL, but his 28 even strength points place him 11th in the league, showing he is not a one-trick pony like a certain #27 we all used to know and love. He has more points on the road (26) than he does at home (20), and only Joe Thornton (30) and Alex Ovechkin (27) have more points on enemy ice than Plekanec.

Whether or not Plekanec can maintain this throughout the season remains to be seen, but he's shown nothing to this point that says he won't. His longest pointless streak so far this season has been three games, and he's only done that once. Three other times Plekanec went as many as two games without a point. That kind of consistency generally doesn't come from a flash in the pan type of player.

So, with all this working in his favour, can anyone find any reason whatsoever why Curran would advise his client to sign a contract offer from Gainey before the end of the season? Well, there are a few reasons out there. First of all, if Plekanec genuinely loves the city and the organization, there is something to be said for that. It's possible he would never succeed anywhere else, like legions of free agent departures before him, starting with the guy sitting in that stall at the opposite end of his own locker room. So maybe Plekanec would be willing to sacrifice a few million dollars for the security of continuity, but how many millions could he stomach leaving on the table?

The biggest factor for me would be to get his name on a long-term deal before the playoffs, or even the stretch drive when the games become more competitive and physically intense. Plekanec had nine points in 12 playoff games two years ago, which is when he gave his now infamous "I'm playing like a little girl out there" quote. Not a bad performance when looking at the numbers, but he had four of those points in the final three games, showing it took some time for him to adjust to the intensity level of the post-season. Last year, he was shutout in his three games, but that was just a fitting end to a nightmare season for both he and his teammates.

A reputation as a playoff underachiever is sometimes handed out a bit unfairly, but once it is attached to you, it is a hard one to shake. I don't think Plekanec has that reputation right now, but if his performance were to dip in the postseason this year it may become a question GMs will start asking themselves.

Finally, one more reason why he might want to grab the money early from Montreal is the cap situation around the league. Over half the teams in the league, 16 to be exact, have already committed in excess of $40 million to next season's payroll. They are the Bruins ($44.6 million for 12 players), Sabres ($44 million, 14 players), Flames ($44.9 million, 15 players), Hurricanes ($42 million, 14 players), Blackhawks ($60.7 million, 15 players), Blue Jackets ($47.6 million, 18 players), Red Wings ($40.7 million, 13 players), Oilers ($44.2 million, 13 players), Panthers ($45.3 million, 15 players), Kings ($46.1 million, 18 players), Canadiens ($44.9 million, 13 players), Devils ($44 million, 15 players), Rangers ($48.6 million, 15 players), Senators ($48.9 million, 15 players), Flyers ($47.1 million, 14 players) and Penguins ($41 million, 13 players).

There are other teams out there, like the Thrashers, Coyotes and Predators, to name a few, who have no intention of ever getting near the cap and work under an internal budget. Some of the team listed above are in good shape because they have a lot of their key players signed, and therefore could afford to spend some money on free agents this summer. But others will want to keep some wiggle room to deal with some of their own future free agents, such as the Kings who will be looking at Drew Doughty entering the final year of his entry level deal.

So in this financial landscape, Curran and Plekanec may want to hedge their bets and take the sure thing from Montreal, even if it is as much as $2 million a year less than what could be out there come July 1. The question is, of course, whether or not Gainey will reach out to his star player to get him signed, and whether or not Gainey believes that star player to be Plekanec or Carey Price.

The other question is whether or not Gainey feels he can sign both Plekanec and Price, which is why I've been saying for some time now that perhaps it is time to start exploring the trade market to see what Plekanec is worth. Others, like Ken Campbell of The Hockey News, may feel it would be a good time to trade Price and sign Plekanec, which is fair. I just don't see Gainey abandoning his "thoroughbred" like that, and I still believe Price's ceiling is way higher than either Plekanec or Jaroslav Halak.

But whether Plekanec is traded or not, it is becoming increasingly clear that he is going to hit the jackpot at some point this year. I'm just wondering if he is another Gomez in the making, hitting the unrestricted free agent market at just the right time.

Everything's backwards

Scott Gomez, after the Habs had allowed a staggering 94 shot attempts to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Boxing Day, half jokingly told reporters that he feared how Jaroslav Halak would react if they ever allowed fewer than 40 shots.

I'm not blaming Halak for Monday's 4-2 loss to the Ottawa Senators, far from it, but I think we got our answer to that hypothesis. The Canadiens played their best collective team game in weeks in front of Halak on Monday night, meaning that for the first time in a long while he didn't need to be super human to get a win.

Montreal held Ottawa to only 50 shot attempts in the game, which is an indication of how much more the Canadiens had the puck and how often it was at the other end of the ice. That gives a goalie time to breathe, time to recuperate mentally, time to...lose his edge? Maybe in Halak's case, but generally speaking, the Habs will win a lot more games than they lose if they play the way they did in Kanata.

Again, I am not blaming Halak for the loss, I want that to be crystal clear, but he was merely good in this game. Not great, but good enough to win, if it weren't for the other goalie playing an outstanding game in his own right.

There were a lot of positives that came out of this loss, a lot more than came out of the four previous wins combined. But the one habit the Habs couldn't break was their propensity to take penalties in bunches.

After playing perhaps their best first period of the season (at least it feels that way), the Habs began their penalty parade with one minute left in the opening frame when Andrei Markov was called for interference, then went on to take another three in the second, and another in the opening minutes of the third. We all know what the residual effects of those penalties are, and the result was that when the Habs needed a goal in the third the great offensive rhythm they'd established in the first was long forgotten.

Another interesting note was that the Glen Metropolit line did not have a single shift in the second half of the third period. I didn't really catch their transgression, other than the fact they were on the ice for the winning goal, but I thought the blame on that one would have been placed at the feet of Marc-Andre Bergeron more than anyone else.

Finally, the Habs have to get better in the faceoff circle. Tomas Plekanec was 4-for-20 and Scott Gomez was 9-for-23 in the game, which explains why Mike Cammalleri took the draw with the goalie pulled at the end. Plekanec was 6-for-19, Gomez 5-for-14 in Toronto the other night, and those guys simply have to be better because in order to be a puck possession team, it helps to possess the puck.

On the positive side of things, we can now remember just how impressive Brian Gionta was to start this season. This guy just has something about him and that appears to have a very tangible effect on his teammates. Scott Gomez continued his strong run of games and Benoit Pouliot scored his first in a Habs uniform, the line accounted for 14 of the team's 31 shots on goal and a good number of the scoring chances as well.

The trickle down effect of Gionta's return had many streams. First, it takes pressure off the Tomas Plekanec line to produce not only goals, but time in the offensive zone. It causes a bit of a quandary for opposing coaches as to who they will use their top defence pairing against. And finally, it makes the Habs fourth line a pretty effective one with Maxim Lapierre, Sergei Kostitsyn and Matt D'Agostini.

If Roman Hamrlik can indeed come back into the fold in Florida, we might finally see the Canadiens team we expected back in training camp, one that hasn't played at full strength since Game One of the season. And if they bring what they showed in Ottawa down to sunny Florida, that reunion of sorts risks being a pretty joyous one.

Some good game planning

Let's try and delve into the mind of Jacques Martin and figure out what he told his team prior to this 5-1 obliteration of the Carolina Hurricanes on Wednesday night, quite possibly the most deceiving score we have seen in some time.

"O.K. team, this is a process," Martin surely began in his pre-game address to the team. "The process will start with us scoring a bunch of goals against a goalie who couldn't stop a beach ball, then we'll allow the worst team in hockey to bombard our own goalie with shots so we can increase his trade value, and we'll be 3-for-3 on this interminable road trip of ours. Sound good? Alright, let's go out there and do it!"

Honestly, the Habs earned their 2-0 lead in this game, nearly pissed it away when Scott Gomez decided to mouth off the ref and got an extra two minutes for it, and then took advantage of a very weak Cam Ward and an even weaker Manny Legace to rise out the win.

In the meantime, Jaroslav Halak made save after saved in the Habs net, stopping 46 of 47 shots, running his total to 133 out of 137 shots in his last three games. Does anyone in this room honestly believe the Habs would have even won one of the last three games without Halak? Didn't think so.

This, of course, begs the question as to Halak's value right now. The Flyers remain desperate for a goalie who can steal a game, something they haven't really had since Ron Hextall. Cristobal Huet, just days after being named the NHL's first star of the week for his stellar play, totally blew it in Chicago's biggest game of the year to lose 3-2 to the Sharks, despite the 'Hawks winning the shot count 47-14. And Detroit, well, they're just a mess dealing with a far more severe injury situation than the one facing your Habs, and a goalie like this could help them stem the tide until the Franzens and Kronwalls and Zetterbergs return.

But, are the Canadiens not a better team with Halak than without him? That's what a lot of you must be thinking right now, and I don't blame you. But if his value reaches a point where Bob Gainey can legitimately fill another hole on the team, then he has to trade him. Simple as that. If all that's coming back is a draft pick, then he can't trade him. You can trade him for a pick at the end of the year.

Aside from Halak, Tomas Plekanec has continued his skyrocketing climb into the NHL's stratosphere with three assists, giving him 43 points on the season, one behind Alex Ovechkin and ahead of guys like Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, Zach Parise and Ilya Kovalchuk. Pretty impressive stuff, I can't say it enough.

That's it for now, as I'm about to head on the air for Hump Night on the Team 990 with my partner in crime Dave McGimpsey. But I'll leave you with this: how many teams win consistently while allowing 45.7 shots per game, as the Habs have the past three games? Not too many. Something has to change.

A tale of three free agents

There's a common thread between the three players most responsible for Monday night's improbable overtime win in Atlanta. With all the players Bob Gainey locked up to long-term contracts this summer, all three of the stars from Monday's game are impending free agents.

Tomas Plekanec, with his goal and three assists, hit the 40-point mark in his 38th game of the season. He had 39 points all of last season. Even his career year of 2007-08 was only 69 points, and he's now on pace to obliterate that. In case you haven't been paying attention, he's an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season.

The guy on the receiving end of Plekanec's perfect saucer pass in OT was Marc-Andre Bergeron, scoring his second of the night and ninth of the season. Bergeron is only on this team because Andrei Markov is injured AND because his agent is pro-active and reached out to the Habs to remind them his client was available. Bergeron got the tying goal with the goalie pulled, and scored the winner on a beauty deke after taking that seeing-eye pass from Plekanec. He too is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season, and he's currently making a little over half what Georges Laraque makes.

Then there's Jaroslav Halak, the only reason this game didn't become an absolute joke after one period, when the Thrashers outshot the Habs 18-3 yet only led 1-0. Halak stopped 47 shots on the night, including a game-saver in overtime just before Bergeron's fourth game-winner of the season. He's stopped 87 of 90 shots over the past TWO games to give his team two wins they probably didn't deserve. Halak now has an 8-5-0 record with a .916 save percentage, good for 16th in the league, tied with Roberto Luongo, Cristobal Huet and Jimmy Howard. He is a restricted free agent with arbitration rights, and you've got to believe he'd have a pretty good case in arbitration. He's also expressed a desire to play, and if that won't happen in Montreal then he wants a chance elsewhere. Can't say I blame him.

My point here is to shed light on where this team would be without these three guys, and how likely is it that any of them will be back next season?

But that's a discussion for another day, because right now there's a lot of things that need fixing on these Canadiens. Two glaring trends stand out to me - their horrible first periods and their brutal lack of discipline.

The Habs have been outscored 37-20 in the first period this season, and outshot by a staggering margin of 384-289. They have led at the first intermission only 13 times in 38 games, and have an 8-4-1 record in those games. Just imagine what their record would be if they led after 20 minutes more often?

I keep trying to figure out reasons why this is, and none jump out at me other than pointing the finger at the coaching staff. If you take away the first period this season, the Habs have outscored their opponents 73-68 the rest of the game. So if they can do that in the second and third periods, why not the first?

The lack of discipline has reached a preposterous level. Montreal gave Atlanta six chances on the power play Monday night, meaning the Habs have been shorthanded a whopping 169 times this season. That's the highest total in the league, higher than Anaheim, a franchise that prides itself on stupid penalties. The Habs are also second in the league in minor penalties, after the Flyers. Yet they are in the middle of the pack when it comes to penalty minutes per game. That's because the Canadiens generally don't fight, or take anyone with them to the penalty box for that matter.

Even though the Habs kill penalties with the best of them (more on that in a bit), the effect of taking so many penalties are varied, and crippling. First of all, it keeps players like Mike Cammalleri and Andrei Kostitsyn on the bench, preventing them from establishing some rhythm. It forces Jacques Martin to overuse players like Josh Gorges and Hal Gill, who are at their best when they're playing no more than 18 minutes or so. Of course, I'm saying that as if I know, but I don't because they've been forced to play far more than that every night due to their PK duties. Finally, Plekanec winds up having ridiculous nights like he did Monday, when he played 25:02, including 7:18 while short a man. Is that really what you want your leading point-getter spending so much energy on night after night? Blocking shots and running after players in his own end?

OK, I know, the Habs won and I'm being nothing but negative. So here is some positivity to end things on a high note. After Monday's game, the Habs have the best combined special teams in the league.

The power play, dismal only a month ago, is now third in the NHL with a 23 per cent efficiency rating. Over the first 29 games of the season, Montreal was 14-for-86 with the man advantage, a 16.3 per cent clip. But over the past nine games, the Canadiens power play has hit on 12 of 27 chances, a ridiculous 44.4 per cent success rate. The arrival of Andrei Markov can only help in that area.

Meanwhile, the penalty killing unit is defying the odds and sits seventh in the NHL at 84 per cent. To just put that in perspective, if the Habs were merely average penalty killers and saw their efficiency drop only four points to 80, they would have allowed eight more power play goals so far this season. The Canadiens played their 22nd one-goal game on Monday night, winning for the 10th time. How many of those wins do you think would have turned into losses thanks to those eight extra power play goals against?

The quality of a team's special teams units is generally measured by adding the success rate of the power play to that of the penalty killers. If the number equals more than 100, you're in pretty good shape. The Canadiens number is now 107, tied with the New York Rangers for tops in the NHL.

But, as Habs fans probably know better than anyone, any team that relies too much on special teams is not bound to go very far come spring time. Martin loves saying games are often decided by goaltending and special teams. Problem is, his team has had little else going for it of late.

Let the dominoes fall

Friday's announcement that Andrei Markov will be back in the Canadiens lineup in Long Island on Saturday night probably shouldn't have been too much of a surprise, because Jacques Martin strongly hinted at it a night earlier.

Though Martin was asked directly about Markov's visit with team doctor David Mulder, he skirted the question, clearly adhering to a PR strategy stating that Friday was the day to spoon feed the Markov news to the Montreal media.

But for the first time of the season, Martin voluntarily brought up the notion of injured players returning not once, but twice. And he did so without even being asked directly. Clearly, he knew then what we all know now, and I think something he said that night is probably the most important chain reaction of Markov's early return.

He spoke of returning players allowing him to "classify" other players in their proper slots.

We won't see that Saturday night if Roman Hamrlik is unable to play, and Markov won't likely be playing the same kind of minutes he would normally in case.

But when he is, and when Hamrlik returns, Montreal's defence will be exponentially improved.

Right now, certain people are playing far more than they are used to. Josh Gorges is logging 21:42 per night, over a minute and a half more than last year. Hal Gill is at 19:43 per game, his highest level since he played 20:42 with the Leafs two years ago. Paul Mara's 20:18 per game is his highest since three years ago.

In fact, the only two defenceman aside from Markov who are accustomed to playing over 20 minutes a game are Hamrlik and Jaroslav Spacek, which means two thirds of Montreal's defence corps is playing outside its comfort zone.

There are 120 minutes available for defencemen to play in a regulation hockey game. When Markov is back to full speed, he should take up about 24 minutes, while Hamrlik and Spacek will probably be pared down to 21 or 22 minutes a game. Whoever eventually plays with Markov or Hamrlik ( it looks like it might be Ryan O'Byrne with Markov on Saturday, but I doubt that will last) will likely be called on to play 20 minutes as well.

That leaves a little over 30 minutes for the last pair to play, and I don't see Martin breaking up the Gill-Gorges pairing, so they'll likely get knocked down at least two or three minutes a night in ice time. Gorges spends much of the game battling for position in front of the net and taking a beating while doing it. Gill appears to collapse a lung every time he has to retreat into his zone to collect a dump-in. I would have to think a reduced workload will make them both extremely more effective.

Hamrlik, meanwhile, won't be facing the opposing team's best forwards on a nightly basis, a job he's been doing very well thus far. So let's say the Habs are playing the Capitals, and suddenly, instead of checking Alex Ovechkin all night you're suddenly called on to watch Tomas Fleischmann. With all due respect to Fleischmann, that's a far less taxing assignment for Hamrlik, which should make him a much better player as well.

Let's suppose that O'Byrne actually winds up sticking as Markov's partner, though I think it will probably wind up being Mara eventually. But if it's O'Byrne, just imagine what that pairing could do for him. We saw it with Mike Komisarek before, maybe we'll see the same Markov effect on O'Byrne. And if not him, then maybe the effect will work on Mara.

Then there's Marc-Andre Bergeron, who will be lining up at forward Saturday, but will still be on the point opposite Markov on the power play. Teams have been cheating over to Bergeron to take away his shot from the point, but with the power play flowing through Markov on the other side teams won't be able to do that quite so much, which should allow MAB some more time to get some shots to the net. And we've already seen evidence that when that happens, the power play works.

The domino effect is that if the defence is more effective, the Canadiens should spend less time in their own end, whether Markov is on the ice or not. That should allow the Habs to have an improved transition game, which won't be very hard to do because the bar is very low in that department right now. Improved transition can lead to an increase in attack zone time, which often times leads to drawing more penalties from the opposition, which leads to goals for and prevents goals against in one fell swoop.

So while Canadiens fans shouldn't be expecting too much out of Markov on Saturday in Long Island, it's not overstating things to say that Markov's arrival will have an impact on a whole slew of players, perhaps half the team.

I've been writing it for two months now that if the Habs can remain within striking distance of aplayoff spot, hovering around the .500 mark, then Markov will give them a shot. Well, after Friday night's games, the Habs are in a virtual four-way tie for ninth in the east with 33 points. But technically, the Canadiens are 12th because they've played the most games of the four teams.

This recent five-game swoon has left Montreal four points out of eighth, but only six points out of fifth. With 46 games left on the schedule, those are not insurmountable deficits, but the climb back will have to start on this seven-game road trip that begins Saturday night. Each and every one of those games is winnable, but none are guaranteed simply because the Habs are not nearly good enough to be able to mail it in and win.

But I think it's safe to say that Markov's mere presence, even if he himself is not his usual dominant self, will make this team a whole hell of a lot better.

Time to vote...again

I know, this is getting tiresome, but I've made Round 3 of the NHL Blog-off over at thenhlarena.com. It's now down to the top five and three of us will make it to Round 4, which I hope is the final round of the competition, or pageant, or whatever it is.

My competition is pretty elite, with All Habs, Dennis Kane, Four Habs Fans, and The H Does Not Stand For Habs representing the upper crust of the Habs blogosphere. I'm pretty honoured to be in such a company, and I encourage any of you who haven't read those blogs to check them out because they are truly remarkable.

That being said, I'd appreciate it if you voted for me here, even if you like those blogs better than mine. Right now it's a dog fight, with six votes separating all five blogs. I'm in second with 13 votes, three back of Dennis. I'm still holding out hope that I'll win a new toaster oven or ice cream machine if I come out on top of this thing, but I'm starting to think that's a pipe dream.

I'll be back a little later tonight with my thoughts on the Markov Miracle and what it means to the Habs, but for now, get out there and vote.

Mixed messages

The Canadiens did a few good things in their 3-1 loss to the Wild Thursday night, starting with outshooting their opponents and getting more power plays than their opponents for the first time in 10 games.

When a team has lost five games in a row, sometimes those are the things you need to look at to avoid a downward spiral of misery.

But when I brought it up with Mike Cammalleri after the game, he didn't share the same viewpoint at all.

“I was waiting for someone to bring that up," Cammalleri began by saying. "Moral victories suck in this business, I’m not going to sugar coat it. It’s a results-driven business, all out fans and all the people who care so much about this team want to see it win and so do we. When you talk about the process and working towards a goal, they’re things that we can look at. But they don’t really hold much weight as far as I’m concerned.”

Power to Cammalleri for calling like it is, because he's 100 per cent right. Moral victories do suck, because they are only brought up when you lose. And losing, by its very nature, sucks royally.

Except the man guiding this ship doesn't appear to feel the same way. Jacques Martin watched the same game we all did, and yes, the Habs got some shots and stayed out of the penalty box. But really, did they play all that well? I would say no, but not Martin.

"It was a hotly contested game," Martin said. "We worked better than we did over the last four or five games and created more chances to score."

Hotly contested? Really? Maybe it was contested, but I wouldn't go so far as to call it hot. Neither team looked like it had much gas in the tank, to be honest. The Wild were playing their fourth in seven nights, the Habs their third in four nights, and it showed. Just not to Martin.

"I thought our intensity was better tonight," he said. "We still have things to work on, but it was better."

The Habs play their next seven games on the road, a trip broken in two by the Christmas break. And in discussing the defeat, Martin finally evoked how badly some of the injured players are missed, which would have to mean Andrei Markov because he's really the only injured player that's close to a return. I ran into Roman Hamrlik after the game, and he said he was day to day, nothing more.

"With the return of certain players," Martin said, "it should allow us to classify players in their proper place."

Cammalleri was asked the same question earlier, whether the team was kind of waiting around for some of the injured guys to get back.

“We’ve had success with a lineup that was more depleted than the one we have right now," he said. "So I think we’re more looking within and looking in the mirror right now.”

Isn't that how it should be? Is it ever healthy to be using injuries as an excuse, no matter how valid an excuse it might be? Is it not strange that a player is saying all the right things and a coach is saying all the wrong ones?

I leave the answer to that question up to you.

I can't write about this game without mentioning poor old Guillaume Latendresse, who had a bit of rough one in his return to Montreal. He admitted afterwards that he was overly nervous at the start of the game, and he never quite recovered. But he made it clear that no matter how badly he thought he played, he got everything he wanted out of his return visit to the Bell Centre.

“Satisfied? I must have had no shots and maybe three hits (he actually was credited with five)," Latendresse said. "But the important thing is that we got two points even though we didn’t play well tonight. We’re a better team than that. But the only thing that was important to me tonight was to beat the Canadiens at home.”

Good for you Guillaume, you got what you wanted, but the boo birds that greeted him clearly hit home a bit. He told Mathias Brunet of La Presse last week that he would be hurt if he got booed, and it happened, though it wasn't all that vicious (a pocket of fans in the cheap seats took to chanting "Ann-ie Ville-neuve," his pop starlet girlfriend he left behind in Quebec).

“The positive is that I must have had an impact of some sort over my time here, so I’m not too worried about it.”

I highly doubt that, but he was right about one thing. There's no better way to stick it to a team than by beating them on their home rink. I'm sure Guillaume is still smiling over that.

The sky must be falling

Why? Because Habs GM Bob Gainey has actually weighed in on a rumour concerning his team.

He told Hall of Fame journalist Bertrand Raymond of ruefrontenac.com (while locked out by his employer Le Journal de Montreal) that he contacted the Flyers to let them know Jaroslav Halak was available should they require his services.

This, my friends, means the chase to trade Halak is in full force. Gainey also told Raymond that he called other teams to inquire whether they would be interested in his backup goaltender, without specifying who those teams were. Furthermore, when asked to respond to the rumour that he would be seeking a top-six forward in return, Gainey did just that. I'm stunned.

"Let's be realistic," Gainey told Raymond. "I got a second round pick from the Washington Capitals for Cristobal Huet. The Philadelphia Flyers gave a second round pick to Buffalo for Martin Biron."

Of course, the difference here is that both those goalies were unrestricted free agents at the end of the season, while Halak will be restricted at the end of the season, and won't likely cost that much to re-sign. A team could probably have him for $1 million a year on a two or three-year deal.

Gainey said the Flyers reaction, and I would imagine he's referring to GM Paul Holmgren, to the news that Halak was available was, "Oh."

"And they didn't tell me if they'd be getting back to me," he added. "It was a brief discussion. We didn't get into details."

There is still some question as to whether or not Halak would withstand the rigours of being a starting goalie, but I would think Halak is a good risk to take. And most importantly, this is something Halak wants.

"The main reason I'm doing this is because Jaroslav wants a chance," Gainey told Raymond. "He feels he's ready to play a more important role and he's right to feel that way."

The way Halak has behaved himself over the past few years, I too feel he's earned his shot. He didn't say a peep when Carey Price sped by him on the organizational depth chart, and when everyone could plainly see that Halak deserved to take over the starting role last season while Price struggled, he didn't say a word.

But, this is no time for Gainey to be doing anyone any favours. If he's going to trade Halak, he needs to get more than a pick in return. He's trading a young, cheap and capable goalie here, and that has some value. Probably not as much as some people seem to think, but more than a second round pick.

So, Gainey at least admitted he's made Halak available to some other teams, and I think an educated guess can lead us to who those teams are.

The Detroit Red Wings had a scout at last night's Habs-Sabres game, and the Wings don't play Montreal again this year while they don't face the Sabres until March. I doubt the Wings sent someone to the Bell Centre to scout anyone other than Halak, but I guess anything's possible.

As I noted (very late) last night, I thought Halak was pretty ordinary in that loss to the Sabres. He made a number of solid saves, but I felt his rebound control wasn't up to snuff and despite being screened he probably should have had that point shot by Andrej Sekera. One thing's for sure, he wasn't a factor in the game in either sense. If you're a team looking at acquiring a goalie, you would like to at least notice him during a game.

But Halak's track record is pretty strong and I don't think any team will make a decision on him one way or the other based on one game.

I like Halak, always have. But he's a luxury item, insurance in case the guy you have clearly tabbed as your franchise player falters. I think everyone would agree hat this a team that can't afford luxury items right now.

Furthermore, while Curtis Sanford was likely signed in the offseason with the idea of replacing Halak in the event of a trade or injury, Cedrick Desjardins is burning it up in Hamilton and is one of the best goalies in the AHL right now. The 24-year-old is in his fourth season with Hamilton and is continuing the steady progression he showed over the first three, posting a 1.45 GAA and .944 save percentage in 14 games.

Numbers like that make Halak that much more of a luxury.

UPDATE (1:32 p.m.) - Halak confirmed that he has indeed requested a trade.

The other side of stupid penalties

The Canadiens buried themselves with undisciplined play yet again Monday night, with yet another parade to the penalty box likely costing them at least a point in a 4-3 loss to the Sabres.

The consequences of those penalties are blatantly obvious when a 5-on-3 power play results and the opposing team scores the winning goal, but I want to look at what isn't so obvious.

During Monday's game, two of Montreal's most dangerous players were Mike Cammalleri and Andrei Kostitysn. Neither of them play on the penalty kill, and even if they did, it wouldn't be a situation where they can best exploit their skills.

Cammalleri played 17:47 on the night, or 91 seconds fewer than Travis Moen. Kostitsyn was on the ice for 16:46, or just under a minute less than his younger brother Sergei, who had an excellent game but still is not quite as dynamic an offensive force as Andrei. Josh Gorges led all Habs defencemen in ice time with 24:29, and while he's a noble player who always puts in a solid effort, Montreal is in trouble when he's your top minute-muncher on defence.

The point I'm trying to make is the Habs are a team with very little firepower, especially the way it is currently composed, and when they continuously take penalty after penalty they are preventing what little firepower they do have from getting out on the playing surface.

So even though the power play is producing at a ridiculous rate these days, 7-for-16 over the last five games, it's overshadowed by the fact Montreal is spending 10-12 minutes a game killing penalties. Even if the penalty kill continues to shine, that kind of frequency prevents the team from creating any kind of offensive rhythm, which leads to an inability to sustain pressure, which leads to an inability to draw penalties from the other team, which puts pressure on your goalie, and so on, and so on.

This team has a lot of limitations, but playing with discipline is something the Canadiens can control. Granted, often times the Habs are taking penalties as a result of extended periods pinned in their own end, but you would think that after the same pattern repeating itself over so many games the message would get through to pay extra careful attention to what you're doing with your stick or your hands.

Obviously, the message is not getting through, and head coach Jacques Martin says he'll soon be in a position to do something about it.

"Right now, we have 20 healthy players. We basically played with 11 forwards tonight," Martin said after the game, when asked when he will start to impose consequences to the players who are showing a consistent lack of discipline at key moments. "But we'll have some players coming back eventually."

So for now, his hands are tied. But if he could, you have to figure Glen Metropolit would be due for a punishment after back-to-back games of taking penalties that cost his team the game. I love Metropolit for everything he brings to the table, but these penalties the last two games have been inexcusable.

A final note before I pass out for the night on Jaroslav Halak. First off, let me say that I don't believe in showcasing players, and I'm not sure NHL teams do either. Trades are usually made after weeks, if not months of scouting, and I have trouble believing a team will base its decision on a given player based on a single game seen live.

However, having said that, it's clear that Halak has been a subject of discussion lately, and rightly so. At his salary, practically every team in the league could add him to their puzzle without suffering severe cap consequences, and he's a very capable goalie. I was expecting to see scouts from the some of the usual suspects who have been linked to him of late, but the only one that caught my eye was a Detroit Red Wings scout.

The Red Wings don't play the Habs again this year and they play Buffalo three months from now, so the presence of the scout could not be explained by simple advanced scouting. While I don't blame Halak for Monday's loss, I can't imagine that scout was overly impressed.

Get out and vote, round two

Hi everyone, just a quick post to let you know that I made round two of this blog-off competition over at theNHLarena.com, an attempt at establishing the No. 1 favourite Habs blog among fans.

I'm up against some pretty stiff competition as it's the cream of the crop that have made the second round, and I can use a hand. Right now, I'm in a three-way tie for sixth out of nine teams, which can also be spun to say that I'm in a three-way tie for second-to-last. The top five blogs will advance to the third round, and I'm only two votes away from being in third as I'm writing this.

If you feel like it, you can vote for my blog here. You have to register for the site to vote, which makes it a bit of a pain, but I leave it up to you whether or not you want to bother. Thanks if you do, and thanks if you don't as well. Just so you know, I haven't voted once, so don't feel guilty if you don't feel like it.

An early Christmas miracle?

Andrei Markov skated hard for close to an hour in Brossard today, and he will be travelling to Atlanta with the team.

Good news, to be sure, but the team said he would not be in the lineup against the Thrashers. Markov was to meet with doctors early next week, which could have been an occasion for him to get the green light to play.

That, in and of itself, is not a miracle, though Markov's rapid progress from a devastating injury is definitely a great dose of good fortune for a team that hasn't had a lot of it this year.

But then, at 1:43 p.m., I got an e-mail from the team stating that Yannick Weber had been sent down to the Hamilton Bulldogs, two days after he'd been called up, and without playing a game. His call up was seemingly as insurance in case Jaroslav Spacek couldn't play against the Penguins on Thursday.

So Spacek finally wound up playing, but in my eyes, his performance was far from reassuring as far as his health is concerned. I would think that under the circumstances, having Weber around in Atlanta would give Jacques Martin the option of dressing seven defencemen in case Spacek was still a step too slow to keep up, which certainly appeared to be the case Thursday night.

I don't want to start any rumours, but sending Weber down today shortly after revealing that Markov is making the trip to Atlanta is definitely some ripe material for speculation. So that's all I'm doing here, speculating.

In all likelihood, Markov won't play in Atlanta. I just find it curious that Montreal would first say that Weber will be joining the team on the trip and then, less that two hours later, announce that Weber was being sent back to Hamilton.

That's all I'm saying.

The plan finally failed

The Canadiens followed their recent formula for winning games perfectly on Thursday night against the defending Stanley Cup champs.

Get badly outshot? Check.

Give up gobs of scoring chances? Check.

Get superb goaltending to bail us out? Check.

Take a ton of penalties, and kill them all off? Check.

Get a power play goal with limited chances? Check.

So, how on earth did this not result in a Habs victory? Because it's not a very sound plan for winning hockey games. Montreal has gotten away with it on more than a few occasions, but you just knew it would come back to bite them at some point.

This is a luxury you have when you have otherwordly goaltending, as the Habs have been getting from Carey Price. But even he has his limits, and when a rather innocuous looking shot from Pascal Dupuis was fired towards him in the third, he finally flinched.

Jacques Martin mentioned it in his post-game press conference, good things happen when you shoot the puck, and ultimately the deserving team won the game.

What I find unfortunate is that the brutally horrendous whistle from Chris Lee that negated what would have been Scott Gomez's tying goal is likely going to mask the fact the Habs are playing with fire every night. I, like all of you, am still in shock every time I see that Lee is working an NHL game. I only have his experience with the Canadiens to go on, but it just seems like every time Lee is working a Habs game, something happens where he draws attention to himself.

This time, with Lee hogging the spotlight for all the wrong reasons, I fear people will be thinking of how the Habs were robbed of a point. Instead, what people should be thinking is how the Pens managed to outshoot the Canadiens 41-21, or how they directed 80 pucks towards the net compared to Montreal's 46, or how the Habs had only two power plays to Pittsburgh's five? If this were a one-off anomaly, then it would be unreasonable to blame the Canadiens for all those things when facing such a formidable opponent. But this was not an isolated incident. Far from it.

The Habs have been outshot by at least 10 shots a dozen times this season, but they have done the same to the opposition only three times. Thursday's game was the second time this season Montreal's given up 20 more shots than it took, but twice more the margin was 19 and another time it was 17. I realize shots on goal can sometimes be misleading, but not all the time.

It seems like a lifetime ago, but how many of you remember that five-game stretch where the Canadiens allowed no more than 23 shots in a game? That was way back in October, when it appeared that Martin's puck possession system was really starting to take hold. In the 23 games since, the Habs have kept opponents under 30 shots only five times, and they now find themselves 24th in the league with 31.6 shots against per game.

OK, those who come here regularly know that I try, whenever possible, to draw at least one positive from the game. The penalty killing is an obvious choice, as the streak has now hit 27 straight games, while the power play goal scored by Roman Hamrlik came as a result of some of the quickest puck movement I've seen from the Canadiens all year. Then there's Price, who was a shining light for the entire organization once again. He's brought his save percentage up to .914 with his last five weeks of work, but if you exclude his two worst games of the season (in Vancouver and at home to Atlanta) Price has a mark of .924 in all his other games. That is a pretty elite number.

But the most important number in my eyes remains .500, and that is where the Canadiens still find themselves today. Will they still be there when Andrei Markov gets back? Difficult to say. If we take the best case scenario and say Markov will play on Dec. 30 in Tampa, that leaves nine games between now and then, in a span of only 20 days. Seven of those are on the road, and five are against teams that are ahead of them in the standings as of right now. So, if the Habs win the four games against the teams below them (Minnesota, Islanders, Carolina and Toronto), then they will only be one game under .500 when Markov returns, and probably still well within striking distance for a playoff spot.

Anyone who says they could have seen that coming back on Oct. 1 is lying.

Very interesting radio

I was attempting to navigate the city this afternoon when I caught CKAC's Martin McGuire giving his daily update on the goings on in Habs land. While his take on the day's news is always interesting, I must say today's hit was really ear-catching.

First, McGuire talked about Andrei Markov's spin around the ice during today's scrimmage in Brossard, where he was paired with Roman Hamrlik. Afterwards, Markov was asked if he had a date in mind for his return.

"Yeah, I have a date in mind," Markov said.

Do you want to tell us?

"No."

McGuire, without any proof or confirmation, said he has a hunch that Markov is shooting for the holiday trip to Florida, which starts Dec. 30, or 11 games from now. That would bring us to one game past the halfway mark of the season.

Now I wasn't there today and I have no expertise in the interpretation of body language, but the way Markov answered that question, I would have to say maybe Martin is on to something here.

Later in his little report, McGuire also noted - again without confirmation - that the Habs have begun preliminary contract explorations with Tomas Plekanec and his agent Rick Curran. If indeed that's the case (the morality of reporting things on the air without confirming it first is a topic for another day, but since it was reported I felt an obligation to tell you all about it), then I would do anything to be a fly on the wall to hear what each side is looking for.

My contention that Plekanec needs to be traded while his value is at its highest has been the subject of much debate here, as well it should, because he looks to be rounding into form right about now. How much of a reward he is seeking for that development, and how much revenge he may want to exact for the Canadiens refusal to offer him anything more than a one-year deal in the summer, will go a long way to determining whether or not he can be fit into next year's cap structure.

Finally, I thought I should way in on all this Ryan White business, and I've got to say it doesn't look very good for Bob Gainey and Julien BriseBois. If indeed each of them thought the other had informed the league of the call-up, then maybe they should assign that menial task to someone else in the office. That way, at least they would be sure the call would be made, or the e-mail sent, or whatever.

All I know is that I got the press release just after 12:30 on game day. You would think a simple CC to the NHL would do it.