Canadiens roster rounding into form

With the arrival of penalty killing and faceoff specialist Blair Betts today, the Canadiens roster is begining to round into form. At the same time, the Canadiens sent Engqvist to Hamilton, meaning that they have now demoted Palushaj,Blunden, Engqvist, and Woywitka in the past few days. Picking up Betts is a clear sign that management does not believe that the youngsters were up the task of playing in the NHL this year.

The Canadiens now have 24 players on the roster when everyone is healthy, an unlikely scenario, and might have to clear a spot on their roster at some point this year. The only players who don't need to pass through waivers or won't leave for Russia are Diaz and Subban. I think it is safe to say that, barring a trade, the Habs will send Diaz down if they need to make space on the roster once Markov is healthy.

With the first game of the season so close, I will post both my hope for the opening night lineup and for the long-term lineup when everyone is healthy.

Lineup for the opening night

Left		Center		Right
Cammalleri		Plekanec		Cole
Pacioretty		Gomez		Gionta
Darche		Desharnais		Kostitsyn
Moen		Betts		Weber
Injured: Eller, White
Left Defence			Right Defence
Gill			Subban
Campoli			Gorges
Spacek			Diaz
Extras: Yemelin Inj: Markov
Goaltender
Price
Budaj

Lineup once everyone is healthy

Left		Center		Right
Cammalleri		Plekanec		Cole
Pacioretty		Gomez		Gionta
Desharnais		Eller		Kostitsyn
Moen		Betts		White
Extras:  Darche, Weber
Left Defence			Right Defence
Markov			Gorges
Gill			Subban
Campoli			Spacek
Extras:  Diaz, Yemelin
Goaltender
Price
Budaj

The question I am left with is what will the Canadiens do with Yemelin long term? He clearly needs game time to adjust to the small ice surface and he will not get that being a healthy scratch. If the Habs don't try and develop him or frequently scratch him, then they run the risk that he will go back to the KHL. My solution would be to platoon him with Diaz to start the season to make sure the gets as much game time as possible. It is not everyday that the Habs have a 6'2 d-prospect who can hit and skate.

Lets hope that the Habs have a good year as they have far more forward depth then they have had in a long time. I am expecting a breakout year from Eller, Desharnais, and Kostitsyn with at least 40 points from each player.

Go Habs Go!

Shanahan backtracking from hot start?

Last week, I was planning on writing a post on what a good job Brendan Shanahan was doing as the new chief disciplinarian and head of player safety with the NHL. I enjoyed that he would put out detailed videos explaining the infraction and the factors that contributed to the length of the suspensions. The fact that he was suspending players more frequently and for longer periods of time made it seem like the NHL was serious about ridding the game of dirty play.

The four suspensions that caught my eye were Shelley, Letourneau-Leblond, Wisniewski, and Jacques. I was surprised at the length of the Shelley and Wisniewski suspensions and that Jacques and Letourneau-Leblond were suspended at all. In the past, the league has not taking a strong stance against late game retribution and chippyness. The had introduced a one game suspension for instigating a fight in the final five minutes but the refs seemed afraid to call an instigator penalty in these situations. Case in point, are the two videos below between the Habs and Bruins where fights were started by one side, but no instigator was called.

McQuaid attack Pacioretty without a fight or instigator being called

 Thorton fighting Hamrlik, Campbell fighting Pyatt, Boychuck fighting Spacek

 

Jacques jumping Duco - a play similar to the fights above

However, by suspending Shelley and Wisniewski, and Jacques the league signalled that they would discipline players rather than have the discipline happen on the ice - the norm in the NHL for that past number of years. The Jacques suspension, in particular, is an act that we have become accustom to seeing regularly at the end of games in recent years. I was extremely happy that Jacques was suspended because this is the type of thuggery and bullying that doesn't belong in a professional sport. As for the Letourneau-Leblond suspension, normally the NHL has not suspended a player for boarding if the player receiving the check is not seriously hurt and/or the player does not hit the boards in an awkward manner. In all the suspensions, the common denominator was that the suspended player targeted the head of an opponent and attempted to injure them.

The first sign of backtracking from this new mandate was the Sestito hit on Devaux. It would have been very easy to suspend Sestito, a player who was not expected to be in the NHL this year and is a goon, for a long time because he targeted the head of an opponent and charged across the ice to deliver the blow to them. However, Sestito was only suspended for the rest of the preseason and 2 regular season games. He was even put on waivers, with the intention of being assigned to the minor league club, before the suspension was handed down.

Malone on Campoli

This brings us to the Malone hit on Campoli. Both after seeing the hit at full speed and after the replay, this was a dirty hit that warranted a suspension under the NHL guidelines. Malone hit Campoli directly in the head. In Shanahan's statement, he said that Campoli had bent over just prior to being hit and after Malone had engaged in the check. While I agree that Campoli did bend over prior to being hit, he did so with enough time for Malone to minimize the amount of damage that he inflicted on a defenseless player, a consideration that is used on the boarding suspensions. the other major factor against Malone was the fact that he did not hit Campoli's body, which had not changed course as his head changed position, instead Malone drove through Campoli's head in a reckless manner. This hit should have been a suspension if the NHL is serious about shifting some of the responsibility to the hitting player, as Campoli never had a chance to defend himself.

From the response of the media and some players, it seems like fans are not the only ones left scratching their heads about Shanahan's decision.