Habs Look to Bring Passion Back to Montreal
With the Montreal Canadiens continuing their centennial celebration this year, but the team looks quite a bit different from the 99th year in the franchise’s history. With a season that left many Montreal fans without much passion for their home club, the Habs are looking to put the past behind them and move full steam ahead into a year with excitement, energy and renewal as primary goals.
Behind the bench, Jacques Martin will look to get things headed in the right direction again. Brought in on June 1 to stoke the fires and get the show on the road in Montreal, Martin has his work cut out for him with a throng of new players on the ice.
Montreal GM Bob Gainey had as busy a summer as anyone, flirting with several big trade ideas and making moves to improve the club. The Vincent Lecavalier rumours never quite died down, but there was some eventual finality on that front and Gainey’s ability to move on from it should be applauded. In signing a small crowd of free agents, he made the right decisions to progress his team.
Of course, the new Habs will be without some old favourites: Saku Koivu and Alex Kovalev. The two forwards were moved in the off-season. Forwards Scott Gomez, Brian Gionta and Mike Cammalleri were brought in as replacements, adding a new core group to the Habs that shrinks the team down in size but adds a bit more spark in the energy column.
The problem for the Canadiens up front probably lies down the middle, with Gomez being the strongest of the bunch at the pivot position and the rest of the team lacking. Gomez will be called upon to do an awful lot in his first season in Montreal, but if he proves up to the task the Habs will enjoy a good year. Unfortunately, he’s coming off one of his worst seasons ever since 2002-2003 and will have to work hard to get back up to a reliable level of play.
Cammalleri, on the other hand, is coming off a career-best season. He’s the expected partner-in-crime for Gomez and the one-two punch should be solid enough. Add Gionta to the mix on the second line or possibly as a top line winger with former teammate Gomez and fortunes are looking brighter.
Defensively, Montreal’s overhaul is fully evident. Three of the club’s top six defenders were signed over the summer, so it’s up to Andrei Markov to lead the charge out of the gate. He’ll be called upon to do an awful lot in the 2009-2010 season, with calls of a potential captaincy even floating around the rumour mills.
Defenceman Jaroslav Spacek will be a great help for Markov and Roman Hamrlik on the blueline. Spacek was brought in to help give a boost to the supporting cast’s offensive production and should do well in the role, coming off a career-high 45-point season in Buffalo last year. Add Hal Gill’s size and Paul Mara’s grit to the mix and the Habs have replaced the departed Mike Komisarek nicely.
Carey Price will be expected to be The Man in goal. With Roberto Luongo’s former backup Curtis Sanford brought in as support, Price will be logging some major minutes. He didn’t have much of a year last season, playing some pretty poor hockey in his sophomore slump. Price will be looking for revenge after being swept by the Bruins in the post-season, too, so look for a motivated goaltender come the start of the season in Montreal.
Overall, it’s hard not to be a little bit concerned if you’re a Montreal Canadien fan. Things look really, really different on the ice at this point and it could be challenging to build lasting chemistry in that room. The size issue could be a problem this year, too, and the team looks thinner up front than it has in quite some time. Even so, there are a lot of high energy players in the mix. A lot hinges on the performances of Price and Gomez over the long haul, but most aren’t betting on much this year in Montreal.
Posted by Jordan Richardson.
Tags: andrei markov, brian gionta, carey price, jacques martin, Montreal Canadiens, scott gomez