Posts Tagged ‘Jacques Martin’

Montreal sacks Georges Laraque

January 22nd, 2010

In case you didn’t hear, the Montreal Canadiens decided to part ways with Georges Laraque this week. Canadiens GM Bob Gainey broke the news to Laraque on Thursday, basically telling him that their coach, Jacques Martin, had no confidence in him. Ouch! According to Gainey, Laraque will not play another game with the Habs this year, and will be bought out of the final year of his 3 year contract this summer (that final year would’ve been next season).

Here are a few thoughts that came to mind when I first learned of this news…

  • Didn’t Jacques Martin learn anything in Ottawa? If by some miracle Montreal do qualify for the playoffs, they’re going to get roughed up and there isn’t much they can do about it. Finally, Habs fans can share something in common with Sens fans: an early first round exit.
  • Also, Habs fans and Sens fans can unite and celebrate the frustration of cheering for an undersized team with no muscle. We know what that’s all about. Martin disputed the notion that he doesn’t believe in toughness but admitted that he did not think that a team needed an enforcer to be successful.
  • Montreal must fire Bob Gainey. Wasn’t the Laraque signing one of their most “high profile” signings of the 2008 offseason? Didn’t they sign him to add some toughness to their lineup because they were easily outmuscled in the 2008 playoffs? Doesn’t Gainey remember how much trouble they had handling Milan Lucic?
  • Given that Laraque’s parents were both born in Haiti, could this decision not have been delayed? I mean, since Montreal are going to pay him regardless, why not make him a healthy scratch for a few more weeks? Why dump another problem on his lap now? This doesn’t sound very classy to me…
  • Is Georges Laraque’s value so low that they couldn’t even find a single team in a 30 team league willing to trade for him? I wonder if Bob Gainey even explored this alternative. My initial thought is no, despite him saying otherwise.
  • On Thursday, Jacques Martin described the situation by saying, “It’s a hockey decision. We felt that he was not helping our team to win games.” Maybe, but isn’t that true of virtually every player on Montreal’s team this season? Names like Scott Gomez, Sergei Kostitsyn, and Carey Price come to mind.
  • Another thought on Martin’s quote from above. Can you really say that Montreal’s 23-23-5 record is all Laraque’s fault? The guy averages between 6-8 minutes per game. The fact that the Habs have given up 12 more goals than they’ve scored this season suggests that perhaps the goal scorers could do more to help the team win games or the goalies could give up fewer goals.
  • And finally, I find the timing of this decision to be pretty ironic and amusing. The day following Carey Price’s decision to ‘drop the gloves’ against Buffalo, the Habs go and sack their resident tough guy. Ha – I bet nobody saw that coming. I guess this settles Montreal’s goaltending debate once and for all. With this in mind, I guess Montreal have to keep Price and trade Halak, right?

I get the feeling that perhaps there is more to this situation than what’s been reported in the media. The timing of this decision is bizarre, as there wasn’t a single, defining incident that led to Laraque’s banishment from his team. It’s also strange because while Laraque may have played his last game as a Montreal Canadian, he’ll still collect a regular pay cheque for the rest of the season. Aren’t we in the midst of slowly recovering from one of the deepest recessions in recent history? Where can I sign up for this kind of deal?

Since Montreal have played roughly 60% of their season, this decision means they are willing to pay Laraque 40% of his salary (close to $600,000) to stay away from the team for the rest of the season, and another million or so for next year’s bought out season. I’ve never really been a big fan of Georges Laraque, but everything about this strikes me as unusual. The only question I have for Montreal, is what could Georges have possibly done that was so bad that the best solution was to immediately kick him off the team?

Your Reporter in the Field,

Fantana

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Hockey Jersey Code and faux pas tips

September 29th, 2009

I’ve never understood why some fans wear jerseys at hockey games that bare no relevance to the two particular teams playing. It’s not that I’m neurotic or anything, but it’s a hockey faux pas that has no place in the game – similar to headshots or Steve Downie.

Dictionary.com elaborates for those of you who aren’t familiar with the term.

Faux pas
-non, plural faux pas [foh pahz; Fr. foh pah]
a slip or blunder in etiquette, manners, or conduct; an embarrassing social blunder or indescretion.

Not a classy jersey; not within The Code.
Not a classy jersey; not within The Code.

When it comes to wearing jerseys, there’s an etiquette… A Code, if you will.

For example, the Calgary Flames come into town and you wear a classic Theo Fleury jersey. That’s in line with The Code. Or maybe the Pittsburgh Penguins play the Ottawa Senators and someone wears a Los Angeles Kings jersey with a Scuderi name plate. It’s a stretch, but it makes sense. The Code is still intact. It’s not embarrassing, nor is a blunder to the great game of hockey.

But when someone wears a Sidney Crosby/Penguins jersey to a Minnesota Wild/Anaheim Ducks game, that’s a flat out violation of Hockey Jersey Code. This demonstrates a slip in etiquette, bad conduct and poor taste.

It can be tough picking out a new jersey while trying to adhere to The Code. In an effort to help, I’ve compiled a few tips and FYI’s to help you avoid breaking The Code and keeping things cool amongst the hockey gods. Here they are:

  • Avoid getting your name stitched onto your favorite team’s jersey. The Code doesn’t like cheese.
  • Never buy a Marian Hossa jersey. Chances are it will outdate itself within a year and then you’ll risk breaking The Code with irrelevance.
  • Don’t have any Ottawa Senator goalie name etched onto a Sens jersey. They just don’t last in Ottawa.
  • Purchasing a Dany Heatley jersey comes with a “no remove” clause and is subject to be worn forever.
  • Due to recent indecision, Mats Sundin jersey’s feature no colors or logos. As such, they are irrelevant to any NHL game.
  • Pyjama’s are not to be confused with NHL jerseys and are to be worn in bed only, Montreal Canadiens (see above). One could argue they support Jacques Martin’s boring defense first style, but I digress…
  • Just because Zdeno Chara fits into an XXXXXL sized jersey and looks cool, doesn’t mean you will. Ever. The Code requires fans to wear jerseys that fit properly. It’s a conduct thing.
  • Wearing a Patrick Kane jersey outside of an NHL arena could result in an unwanted fighting scandal. This is less about The Code and more of an FYI.
  • Only put names of players who officially play in the NHL on your jerseys. Having names like Jiri Tlusty or Nazem Kadri violates this rule.

Stay classy, hockey jersey wearers.

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Stayclassy puts their money where their mouth is (Part 2)

July 1st, 2009

After a disappointing result in Game 1, the StayClassy team faced a difficult decision – Should they go suit shopping or should they hit up BJ’s (Booster Juice)? Given the manliness of our team, we elected for BJ’s. As Mantooth pointed out in part 1 of this story, Burgundy, Fantana, Mantooth and Scott all got awesome Terminator Smoothies with power boosts. Meanwhile, after unsuccessfully championing for team wheat shots, Ken (a.k.a Corningstone) got a Pomegranate Punch Smoothie. Weak Ken…

Here were some of the topics we discussed during our post game meeting at BJ’s:

  • Next year, we’ll definitely have more subs
  • The Ron Burgundy School of Driving should be avoided at all costs
  • Our team decided to employ a dump ‘n chase strategy for the remainder of the tournament, with the chase part of the strategy being optional
  • After sharing a few laughs with another under-manned team (Hicks with Sticks), the team decided to go across the Centrum parking lot to Wal-Mart. We drove there.
  • While at Wal-Mart, several critical debates ensued, including one about which kind of Gatorade we should buy (G or G2). Suffice to say, G2 won because its label clearly indicated that it could recharge our electrolytes, whereas G could not. This was critical for our team and especially so for Ken, who would go on to consume a whopping 7 G2’s during the day.
  • Burgundy began creating excuses, saying things like, “I think I need a new stick” and “My stick sucks and that’s why I only scored one goal again that Pontiac team”. However, Burgundy did not purchase a new stick prior to game 2.

Game 2 – StayClassy v.s. The Minute Men

Our second game of the day was at noon and the overcast clouds were starting to clear. This wasn’t good news because that meant it was about to get much hotter. We were playing the Minute Men, which upon arrival to the rink, looked like a bunch of wimps. This delighted the StayClassy goonsquad.

With our new Jacques Martin defensive strategy worked out, all that was left was its execution. The game started and StayClassy quickly found themselves in the lead. As it turned out, The Minute Men weren’t very swift because they couldn’t figure out how we’d basically just ice the ball to a cherry-picking forward and score. After the first half, StayClassy were up 6-4, despite being outworked by a younger Minute Men team.

Things were looking good, but our energy was running low. We attributed the lead to our brilliant strategy and to the G2. However, things took a turn for the worse in the second half. As our energy levels dropped, The Minute Men’s increased. Soon, our defensive strategy mutated into an even lazier strategy of standing in front of the net and blocking passes out front. We barely chased them in the corners or behind the net.

Then, the unthinkable happened.

The earlier reference to Jacques Martin was truly appropriate and was very fitting given that we were playing in the ScotiaBank parking lot. Still not following? We choked. Yeah, that’s right, we choked. Our two-goal lead vanished and they scored a number of garbage goals that deflected off of our own team.

Highlights of the game included Scott making some great saves, especially in the second half when the forwards were too tired to do anything. Mantooth had a few good elbows out there and kept us laughing by declaring “News team assemble!” Burgundy and Ken each scored two goals, while Fantana had a hattrick. In fact, on his third goal of the game, he screamed “Hattrick!” to the crowd but nobody appeared to understand what he said. The TSN Turning Point of the game was a 2-on-0 for StayClassy early in the second half that saw Burgundy make a perfect pass to Fantana. Fantana got too cute and was poke-checked by the goaltender… ouch! So to recap, a 2-on-0 didn’t even generate a shot on goal.

The Minute Men won the game 11-9 and Burgundy banged his stick several times. Overall, it was a tight game and The Minute Men weren’t more skilled than StayClassy, with the exception of the guy with the red blade… he wasn’t bad and probably scored 5 or 6 goals on us alone. What a heart-breaker and the loss brought StayClassy’s record to 0-2. We thought this was supposed to be a beginner’s league? What gives?

Stay tuned for the post-game meeting, which would see some dramatic transformations to our strategy, as well as the from game 3.

Your reporter in the field,

Fantana

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Look at the problems you've caused, Jacques Martin!

June 2nd, 2009

My buddy, Tambland usually writes the humorous blogs.  He’s pretty funny like that.  I’m not as funny as him though.  Refering to [Justin] Abdelkader as Dominik Hasek’s abductor muscle is pretty good.  And if Tambland would help me with a Jacques Martin joke, I might be able to consider this blog at his level!

Speaking of Jacques Martin, the Montreal Canadiens announced him as their new head coach yesterday, in a press conference called by GM Bob Gainey.  So with this news, there are two things to wonder for Canadiens fans and Florida Panthers fans.

Florida Panthers Questions
It’s interesting the Florida Panthers let Martin, their General Manager, walk away from the organization with three years left on his contract and weeks because the 2009 NHL Entry Draft and July 1st – Unrestricted Free Agents hit the open market.  Following a dissapointing stretch that saw the Panthers miss the playoffs, some big decisions need to be made, but as of writing this, there’s no GM in place to do so.  Yet.  The questions start with Jay Boumeester but don’t finish there.  Other notable players the Panthers need to resign (or replace) are David Booth, Nick Boyton and Karlis Skrastins to name a few.  With Florida’s uncertain financial situation, it might be a tough sell to bring in new blood to the Panthers organization, too.  Clearly, the Panthers need a GM and quickly!  They cannot go to the NHL Entry draft or approach unrestricted free agency without a GM.  Although Brett Hull might be looking for a GM job… kidding.

Montreal Canadiens Questions
Everyone knows Jacques Martin is a successful NHL coach with a flare for defensive play.  Wait – does that even make sense?  Anyways, take my warning: it could be stifflingly boring!  A harsh comment, but as an Ottawa Senators fan, some of the early 2000 teams didn’t play terribly exciting hockey and looking at today’s top flight teams; not many of them put defense first.  Hiring Martin could be an indication of how the Canadiens plan to rebuild following their dissapointing Centennial season.  And maybe it’s not a bad plan.  With Andrei Markov and Roman Hamrlik locked into long term deals and PK Suban coming up soon, this might work.  Add a resigned Mike Komisarek to the mix and yeah, it might be a good foundation (who am I kidding, he’ll probably sign with the Islanders).  The real questions surround the forwards – who of the unrestricted free agents would and could come back in Martin’s system?  Which players in the Canadiens development system are ready for the jump to the NHL?  And finally, which free agents would be attracted to Montreal because of the coaching structure?

 

Bottom line, the Montreal Canadiens hired themselves a solid and experienced coach in Jacques Martin and he’s French-Canadian too.  Whether you disagree about the choice of coach (Patrick Roy would of been cool…), atleast the coaching issue is resolved prior to this summer’s draft… which more appropriately than ever, is in Montreal.

 

Stay classy, Jacques Martin

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What would you do?

April 29th, 2009

 There’s a very famous game called Who Would You Do?  The premise is pretty simple.  Given a choice, decide who you would do.

Your choices: Jason Spezza or Joe Thornton.

Now before you break into song about who you would pick, let’s have a look at a few figures.  Let’s called it the STD discussion before you jump into bed.  Sometimes the grass isn’t actually that green on the other side.

Jason Spezza: 25 years old
Joe Thornton: 29 years old 
Let’s give this one to Spezza, given that those four years will mean a big difference in only a few more seasons.

 
Jason Spezza: Drafted 2nd overall
Joe Thornton: Drafted 1st overall
Let’s call this a wash.  The difference in draft selection is miniscule. 


Thornton’s first full season in the NHL: 16 goals, 25 assists, 41 points.
Spezza’s first full season in the NHL: 22 goals, 33 assists, 55 points.
Considering Spezza’s first season was played under a stifling defensive system of Jacques Martin, I have to give Spezza a bit more credit here. 

Spezza’s current contract: 7 year, $49 million (averages $7 million a season, going into the second year of the deal)
Thornton’s current contract: 3 year, $21.6 million (averages $7.2 million a season, going into the second year of the deal)
Money-wise, it’s a wash.  This one probably goes to Thornton given that it is a shorter contract. But put it this way.  Thornton will be 33 years old when he finishes his contract.  Spezza will be 32 years old when he finishes his.
Look at it another way.  Thornton’s career totals increased each year  when he was 25, 26, and 27 years old.  His totals are now declining.  Spezza hasn’t even played at that age category yet. Look for better numbers over the next 3 seasons.

 
Thornton’s career playoff totals: 70 GP, 11 G, 37 A, 48 Pts- Average points per game: 0.6 
Spezza’s career playoff totals: 40 GP, 13 G, 26 A, 39 Pts- Average points per game: 0.9 
Have to give this to Spezza again.  Numbers are too good.  That’s so close to a point a game, it’s not even funny.


Number of Stanley Cup Finals GP
Spezza- 5
Thornton- 0
‘Nough said.

 

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