Random Thoughts
June 26, 2009, by Homme De Sept-Iles
The Draft
Why would we spend time and energy analysing an event that we won’t know the results of for several years? Why not just break down all the failed 2001 draft grading by ESPN, The Score, TSN and the rest? F
Jacques Martin
It’s too easy to characterize a coach by his teams. It’s too simple to say someone is “defensively oriented” and then spend the energy in forcing that story-line. When Don Shula had Kiick, Morris and Csonka he was characterized as a running coach. When he had Marino, he was characterized as a passing coach. Some forget that he had Earl Morrall and Johnny Unitas in the sixties. Those were passing teams. And he was thought of as a coach who favoured the pass then. So which is he?
Jacques Martin’s Senators teams have ranked first in goal-scoring through a single season. He’s had great defensive numbers in other years. So which is he?
A coach adjusts his game-planning around the talent he has. Martin’s emphasis on disciplined teams that don’t turn the puck over will address Montreal’s very high giveaway rate (304, 8th-highest in 2008-09). It will also lead to more and not less goals. Possession, as in football, is nine tenths of the scoring laws.
Vincent Lecavalier
He is two years past his best season. His contract is too large and he probably doesn’t want to deal with the Montreal media and fan frenzy. That said, if Bob Gainey can engineer a lopsided trade, a Lecavalier acquisition would be worth it.
Francis Bouillon
Bouillon may have misunderstood Gainey’s message to him in a recent conversation. Gainey took ownership saying that he might not have been clear enough in explaining that team management would have to wait til the dust settles on the draft and the July 1st free agent deadline before making moves to process certain remaining free agents.
Age
The Canadiens have high numbers of both the very young and the very old, in NHL terms. It’s a good bet that they will try and add two players who are in their NHL prime (age 26-30) before the first week of July is through.
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