Montreal Canadiens

Good Morning Addicts! Alexei Emelin tore a ligament in his left knee after bouncing off of Bruins forwards Milan Lucic in April. When Alexel Emelin tore a ligment in his left knee after a hit on Boston Bruins forward Milan Lucic went wrong in April, it became evident just how important the hard hitting Habs defenseman was to the team. The absence of Emelin created a void on the blue line... Visit HabsAddict.com for more...

The 2013 Montreal Canadiens were not favoured to do much of anything. Speculated to miss the playoffs by many pundits, or just scrape in (as I had predicted for them), they surprised with a dominant run over the Eastern Conference, finishing 2nd only to Pittsburgh. They showed a promising future and delivered the concept that perhaps the best was yet to come, rather than that they were merely overachieving such as in 2008. The playoff exit was a bitter pill to swallow, but there is much to be excited about. The Six Best of 2013 With that in mind, we will examine the team’s six best players over the course of the 2013 season. Given that I have also gained a reputation as a pessimist, I would be remiss if I did not also share my concerns about the future of six members of the team who are on next season’s roster. No. 11 Brendan Gallagher Games Played Goals Assists PIM Regular Season 44 15 13 21 Playoffs 5 2 0 5 Brendan Gallagher was doubted from the moment he was drafted by many observers, citing the size issue as an impediment to his chances to playing in the NHL. The actual result of his NHL debut silenced his critics and surprised even his supporters as his rookie campaign stole headlines in Montreal. Gallagher’s 15 goals this season tied with Pacioretty for the team lead (not including Ryder's combined total), which is a notable accomplishment for a rookie playing under 14 minutes a game. He was not only one of the team’s best sources of offense, but a player who often helped define the game when he was on the ice. A fearless attitude around the net saw him earn the ire of about every defensemen and goaltender he played against this past season and allowed him to draw a number of penalties. It was observed in the later points of the season that the best player on the line of Pacioretty-Desharnais-Gallagher was Gallagher himself, and his veteran linemates seemed to look to him to spark things. His playoff debut was just as impressive as his regular season play as well, collecting two goals in his first two playoff games. It is not hard to argue that after Pacioretty, he is the team’s best natural goal-scorer under contract. One does have to worry about Gallagher’s durability in the NHL over the long term. He missed three games recovering from a concussion and there were more than a few attempts to take his head off this season by opposing players. No doubt he will be become better at protecting himself and being aware on the ice, but the league’s tendency to ignore hits to the head that do not cause massive injuries is not going to be good for Gallagher’s long term safety on the ice. Right now, the only way for Gallagher to go is up. He is responsible at both ends of the ice, he is fearless and has a natural scoring instinct. With two years remaining on his rookie contract, the Canadiens have arguably one of the best bargains in the NHL. No. 14 Tomas Plekanec Games Played Goals Assists PIM Regular Season 47 14 19 24 Playoffs 5 0 4 2 He is the man who can never quite get his due in Montreal or in the NHL at large. Tomas Plekanec has been Montreal’s de factor number one centre since Saku Koivu was let go in 2009 and for the moment, the job is his by the merit of his skill and drive. While Plekanec began the season shooting the lights out with 15 points in his first 15 games, he predictably slowed down as that level of production is outside of his regular pace especially with his defensive responsibilities. He continues to be the team's leading centre for top matchups and that is of much more value than most appreciate. Tomas Plekanec also marked five straight 20-goal seasons in the NHL before the 2011-12 team collapse, and was paced for a 6th 20-goal season over a full season in 2013. As was demonstrated by the injury to Eller in the post-season, Canadiens are in need of at leas

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Tonight at 7:30 the Pittsburgh Penguins will begin the 5th and final game of their second round victory over the Ottawa Senators. We talked to Daniel Alfredsson about the game tonight: EOTP: "Hey Alfie, can the Sens win this game?" Alfie: "Probably not" EOTP: "Do you think the Sens will get this far in the playoffs next year?" Alfie: "Probably not" EOTP: "Do you think you guys deserved to even get this far?" Alfie: "Probably not" EOTP: "Do you think you're going to retire this offseason?" Alfie: "Probably not" EOTP: "Oh really? I'm surprised! Do you think you'll want to continue playing for the Senators?" Alfie: "Probably not" EOTP: "Oh, the old trade to a cup contender, eh? Do you think many teams will be interested?" Alfie: "Probably not" He sounds a bit depressed. Follow @AndrewBerkshire Follow @HabsEOTP

John Kordic, as you know, was a rough and tough enforcer for the Habs in the latter part of the 1980s, and would eventually die at just 27 years old from a drug overdose and a scuffle with nine police at a motel in the Quebec City suburb of L’Ancienne-Lorette. A violent ending to a man who earned his living by being violent. We’ve seen issues before with guys whose roles it was to mainly fight, such as Derek Boogaard, and Kordic, like Boogaard, had issues. My banker was a friend of Kordic’s in Edmonton, from childhood through to adulthood, and he said that although Kordic had a dad who pushed him hard and always expected more, the real problems didn’t begin until Kordic made the NHL. Kordic admitted that it started when the Habs would go on road trips to Los Angeles, where parties and drugs can crop up at the snap of a finger, especially for young, rich, and famous athletes. So unfortunately, it began with the Habs. My question is, how do Kings players avoid this type of thing? Ultimately, Kordic became addicted to cocaine, and in the link I provide at the bottom of this page, Kordic revealed that cocaine was in use with some of the Habs back then, and if it’s true, it’s tremendously disturbing. Kordic wasn’t blessed with an abundance of hockey talent, although he enjoyed a decent junior career, beginning as a defenceman in junior in Portland before switching to forward as the years went by, but the need for fighters, or goons, in the NHL, became his ticket to fame and fortune. It also became crystal clear that if he wanted to stay gainfully employed in the bigs, he needed to be as strong and as fast as he possibly could, and so the pressure was on. Which meant drugs like cocaine to ease the mind, and steroids to thicken the muscles. Kordic would come home to Edmonton in the off-season with stretch marks on his neck from steroid-induced rapid muscle growth. I was told that Kordic drove a Corvette when he came back home to Edmonton, and when he would leave, he simply gave the keys to his buddies and they bombed around the city in the flashy car. Kordic also had no sense of money responsibilities, and would ask to borrow cash from his friends even though he earned so much more than them. “Really John?” they would ask, but that was the way it was. Kordic won a Stanley Cup with the Habs in 1986, and also toiled for the Leafs, Capitals, and Nordiques during his rocky and violent career. He once told my banker that it was great when he was with Toronto because it meant he, “didn’t have to backcheck, or forecheck, he just had to cash cheques. In the end, it all got away from him, and a man described as just a truly nice guy and a great friend to many, let it get the best of him. An excellent and somewhat disturbing 1992 Sports Illustrated story about John Kordic and be seen here Death of a Goon. Below, Kordic and Torrie Robertson go at it.

MONTREAL – With a great season of hockey in the bank and a new northeast division banner to add to the collection, we took a look at a few current Habs who won titles, hoisted trophies and became champions long before taking their first strides in...

One of the pillars of success in the salary cap era has been the reliance on young stars on entry level, or “bridge” contracts. Teams with Stanley Cup aspirations use their elite young talent to produce at seasoned-veteran levels to achieve their goals: 2005-06 Hurricanes had Eric Staal and Cam Ward 2006-07 Ducks had Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf 2007-08 Red Wings yeah, well…. 2008-09 Penguins had Malkin, Staal and Letang on entry deals 2009-10 Blackhawks had Toews, Kane, Byfuglien, Keith, Niemi and Ladd, 2010-11 Bruins had Marchand, Krejci and Seguin 2011-12 Kings had Quick Ok, so the Wings and Kings didn’t have many raw rookies as key contributors but we know that Detroit has been an exception to the rule for 20 years now. The Kings, however, had Conn Smythe winner Jonathan Quick. You could probably insert other names and you could probably test the seaworthiness of the above claim, but by and large recent Cup winners have won by leveraging a burgeoning contingent of cheap, young, high-end talent. A core of highly paid veterans do (or should do) the real heavy lifting, while complimentary pieces round out the mix. This year the Habs got massive contributions from their growing youth core. Down the stretch, and in to a brief playoff series, the Habs best players were the blossoming Lars Eller, the as-advertised Alex Galchenyuk, Calder candidate Brendan Gallagher and Norris candidate PK Subban (the Habs real season MVP). All four players are being paid a mere pittance of what their contributions indicate they ought to be paid. There are those Habs fans who believe that considering the 28th place overall finish from just one year ago, that simply making the playoffs this season was more than enough of a step forward and olive branch to make up for last year’s gong show. That the team managed to finish second in the conference, and first in the Northeast division was at extra hot fudge sauce with five cherries on top. All told, the playoffs were a bonus, and win or lose, whatever happened, happened. When you lump in the widely-assumed belief that the Canadiens ‘Stanley Cup window’ is not quite yet open, then this season was just a five-month glimpse in to a very bright future. The glass half-empty view is that you need to strike when opportunity presents itself, and as a second-ranked home seed, they failed. Assuming that they will be a contending team in the future is a mug’s game, despite the widely held assumption that the Habs are a team on the rise. If you’re glass-half-empty, the Canadiens overachieved, caught teams off-guard and need to treat this year’s success as an aberration more than a new benchmark. Would taking a step back make more sense for the team’s long-term future. There are those who believe that to be the case. Whatever side of the fence you live on, you had to be pleasantly surprised by the emergence of Alex Galchenyuk and Brendan Gallagher, who is up for the rookie of the year. You had to be blown away at how P.K. Subban took his game to yet another level, earning himself a Norris nomination. You had to be impressed with Therrien’s rebirth as a coach, and how Bergevin brought respect, credibility and fun back to the Habs in such a short time. We also saw that the defensive pipeline in Hamilton is preparing talent for the NHL, and the fruits of those labors will show themselves in Montreal sooner rather than later. In Montreal, the goal is always the Stanley Cup. Even if we take in to account the last 15 years where marketing led us all to believe that 8th place was good enough, fans with long enough memories remember the one true goal. If the Habs want to take advantage of what’s left of the “cheap” end of their elite youth to reach that promised land, the veterans that get paid the big bucks need to produce to expectations not only through the regular season, but in to the playoffs as well. That means that Tomas Plekanec no longer gets the “defensive

If the Blackhawks and Penguins move on to the conference finals, the Montreal Canadiens will enter the NHL Entry draft with the 25th, 34th, 36th, and 55th picks in the first two rounds. That's a wealth of high mid-range picks, to add to the wealth of mid-range prospects the Canadiens already have due to excellent picks by Trevor Timmins. But the Canadiens are on the verge of contender status, and a high impact player next year or the year after is likely worth a lot more to the organization than a bunch of mid to high impact players 4-5 years from now. With that in mind, it seems that the Canadiens are in the unique spot of having a lot of assets to move up at the right time. But should they? The brilliant Eric Tulsky at Broad Street Hockey wrote just under a month ago about what it costs to move up on draft day. Using 46 trades between the 2006 and 2012 drafts, Eric found relative values for each pick in the draft as general managers value them. Using his table, we can see that the 1st overall pick has a value of 100, while the 2nd overall is valued at 69.9. Using Eric's methodology, we can add together the Habs' top 4 picks and see where it gets them on draft day. Package Relative Value Equivalent Pick in 2013 MTL 1st 17.8 25th MTL 1st, NSH 2nd 29.7 15th MTL 1st, NSH 2nd, CGY 2nd 40.6 8th MTL 1st, NSH 2nd, CGY 2nd, MTL 2nd 45.3 6th Moving into the top 10 is is actually possible with this package of picks, even just outside the lottery is possible. Make no mistake though, this would be a heavy cost. You're sacrificing future depth for a potential star, so you have to be completely sure. There are also other options, like trading all three 2nd round picks to move up to 16th overall and keeping the 25th overall, or trading the two high second round picks for 20th overall. There are all kinds of options to move up. It also comes during a draft that is hailed as being particularly deep, similar to last year. Then again, basically every draft is talked about as "the next 2003". Is this gamble worthwhile? Just for kicks, some names that could be available in the 6th or 8th spot should the Canadiens choose to go that way: Aleksander Barkov, Valeri Nichushkin, Elias Lindholm, Sean Monahan, Rasmus Ristolainen, Nikita Zadorov, Hunter Shinkaruk, Darnell Nurse, or Max Domi. Follow @AndrewBerkshire Follow @HabsEOTP Poll What would you be willing to part with to move up? Montreal's 1st and Nashiville's 2nd for 15th Montreal's 1st, Nashville and Calgary's 2nds for 8th Montreal's 1st and all three 2nds for 6th All three 2nds for 16th Nashville and Calgary's 2nd for 20th I don't want to trade any picks 15 votes | Results

By Avi Goldberg, Featured Writer,  All Habs Hockey Magazine MONTREAL, QC. — It’s two hours after a Montreal Canadiens victory and only minutes after midnight in the early morning of what will become opening day for the Toronto Blue Jays. With the Arkells’ song, “Deadlines,” having heightened the collective energy of those present in the studio, Dave Kaufman, host of the The Kaufman Show on TSN 690 radio in Montreal, is interviewing Toronto Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos shortly after his plane landed in Toronto fresh from spring training. It’s unclear whether Montreal sports fans can really embrace Major League Baseball, let alone the Toronto Blue Jays, after suffering through the loss of their beloved Expos. Kaufman, a lover of the game, knows the dilemma his listeners are surely living. When Anthopoulos endorsed a plan for Expos fans to converge at a Blue Jays home game this July by remarking that the Rogers Centre was a great environment compared to the Olympic Stadium, Kaufman delivered a shot on behalf of those whose backs may have gotten up over the not-so-subtle diss delivered by the former Montrealer and Expos employee. “Another way that the Rogers Centre has it all over the Olympic Stadium, Alex,” Kaufman retorted, “is that there’s no more baseball at the Olympic Stadium.” The two men shared a hearty laugh, and the GM of the team that was favored by many to play in the World Series understood Kaufman’s move to set the record straight. Toronto has the team, the downtown ballpark, and the resources to build a contender, but none of that strips value from Montreal and the city’s relationship with baseball. Speaking the truth about sports and life is in The Kaufman Show’s DNA. Dave Kaufman and his co-host, Jay Farrar, wouldn’t think of having it any other way. A Journalist Meets An Entertainer In addition to hosting, Dave Kaufman, 32, is the creator, producer, and music programmer of The Kaufman Show. Kaufman grew up in Montreal as a sports fan. He loved the Montreal Canadiens, and he vividly remembers the pull of the atmosphere that permeated games played at the famous Forum. The Montreal Expos, and the game of baseball, were also vital to Kaufman throughout his youth. Kaufman recalls what led him to attend so many Expos games in the painful final years of the franchise’s existence in Montreal. “I took it for granted that the Expos would always be a constant in my life,” Kaufman said. “When I realized that wouldn’t be the case, I wanted to be there to document the end. I went and I cheered as loud as I could. I showed up, and when they left, I knew that I couldn’t have done any more as a fan. I knew that that was what I had to do.” The inclination to capture the scene was always there, but Kaufman’s goal of working in sports media came to him not very long ago. After earning a degree in history from the University of Western Ontario in 2004, Kaufman begged Montreal radio legend, Mitch Melnick, to give him an internship on the Team 990’s Melnick in the Afternoon. After interning with Melnick, and hoping that more education would help land him a media gig, Kaufman completed a Graduate Diploma in Journalism at Concordia University. A stint in the business world, followed by a whirlwind experience working in logistics at the Vancouver Winter Olympics, confirmed to Kaufman that sports radio was where he wanted to be. He returned to the Team 990 in 2010 wanting to run a show of his own. After helping out with different shows, Kaufman’s shot came in the summer of 2011. On Saturday afternoons, from July until the end of the World Series, Kaufman, and an alternating roster of co-hosts, delivered Balls the Baseball Show. Kaufman moved Balls to Monday nights after the playoffs, started talking sports other than baseball, and renamed it The Kaufman Show. July will mark two years that Kaufman will have been hosting his own show on what is now TSN 690. Kaufman’s radio partner, Jay Farrar, is a full time Manager

After an obscene, Torontonian collapse at the end of Game 2, the Sharks looked to be perfect prey for a sweep. Two wins at home has them looking like the favourites in this series now. Jumbo Joe Thornton has been ridiculously dominant, so has Logan Couture, and Antti Niemi seems to have rebounded after a weak first couple games. The Kings on the other hand, by far the most dominant Fenwick team in the NHL this year, are -22 Fenwick in the series, not a good sign. Either way, I think this one goes seven games. Follow @AndrewBerkshire Follow @HabsEOTP