Big Ted - (Ted H)

Member since February 13, 2010

Habs fan since: 1985
Favorite current player: PK Subban, Ryan White, Mathieu Darche
All-time favorite player: Saku Koivu, Oleg Petrov, Lyle Odelein

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Recent Comments

• Comment on Liveblog: Canadiens drop another one to Sabres
  Second time this week that a phantom penalty call against P.K. Subban directly led to a goal in a one-goal Buffalo win. Tough pill to swallow when you know you were the better team tonight.
• Comment on Liveblog: Canadiens break open tight one, beat Carolina 3-0
  Therrien has the team playing well, but I don't think he's anywhere close to Jack Adams territory. Frankly, there was nowhere for him to go but up and much of the success he's had can be attributed to simply not having the bad luck we had last year. He's gotten Markov back, which has significantly helped the PP, compared to last year when our PP stank and we lost a ton of 1-goal games. He has Gionta back so that Plekanec actually has wingers who can score and isn't playing with Moen and Blunden half the time. He has Prust and Galchenyuk and Gallagher to give him secondary scoring and energy in place of where Cunneyworth had White, Nokelainen, Blunden, and Leblanc. And while he's gotten Bourque back on track, we can note that Cole, Pacioretty, and Desharnais are all playing worse than last year. We're still undisciplined and we're horrid in the face-off circle. So while Therrien is clearly a better coach than Cunneyworth was last year, he's also simply riding a wave of fewer injuries, a favorable home schedule, and better depth. He's done as well as could be hoped for, but this isn't a Jack Adams performance, this is to me, an expected regression to the mean that would have been achievable with most other coaches we could have hired. He gets some of the credit but I think most of our improvement has to do with how bad a situation we had last year and not how great we are this season. Let's wait until we see better opposition and play more road games before we throw Therrien's name into the Adams talk. I'm more impressed with the coaching jobs that are being done in Toronto, NJ, Boston, Chicago, St. Louis, Carolina, Anaheim, Nashville, and Dallas to be honest.
• Comment on Pacioretty out 3 to 4 weeks following surgery to remove appendix
  Dr. Recchi says it's just constipation. We'll agree with the actual doctors. Get well soon, Max.
• Comment on Markov creates controversy by playing in KHL game
  Leblanc is more likely to stick. It doesn't mean he deserves it more, but Gallagher really needs to play in the top 6, and it'll be hard to find him a spot there with Desharnais and Gionta already playing there and lacking size. Leblanc could play the 2nd or 3rd line, so it would make it easier to find a spot for him. That said, I'm not sure either guy will make the team out of camp. I'd like to see Gallagher make it, but I think they're fighting for the first call-up.
• Comment on Habs players talk about the shortened season that awaits them
  And P.K. could say he wants out of Montreal because he's been put down by management several times, most recently by Bergevin dishing out long-term deals to the likes of Price, Gorges, Pacioretty, Prust, and Moen, but not wanting to give Subban a multi-year deal. Now I'm hoping that was just M.B. banking on getting a better deal post-lockout, but then why not do that with other guys too? Why sign Eller pre-lockout and not P.K.? We've always had the feeling the coaches and G.M.'s had something against Subban, rightly or wrongly. But we've seen it too many times with guys deemed to be troubled athletes here going on to have great success elsewhere. Subban is not Sergei Kostitsyn and he's not Shayne Corson or Chris Chelios; so far as we can tell, his only fault is being too flamboyant for our conservative coaching style (which has gotten us nowhere frankly). I'm not saying P.K.'s going to hold out to play with Malcolm (or Jordan when he comes along), but if he's being pushed out the door, all I'm saying is that there's precedence for brothers wanting to play together. Saku's come out on record saying he'd love to have played with Mikko, but didn't want to infringe on his having built up his own identity there. Jordan may be playing second fiddle to Sid and Geno in Pittsburgh, but that line-up's been tinkered many times and Jordan's had plenty of opportunity to play the top two lines when one of those was shifted to the wing AND with all the injuries those other two have had the past few years. In Carolina, he'll still be sitting behind his brother on the depth chart. No matter what percentage of the decision you attribute to ice time or to brotherly love, it was a factor in his decision and a major reason Pit had little bargaining power in the trade, as other teams knew he would bolt to Carolina once a free agent anyways.
• Comment on Habs players talk about the shortened season that awaits them
  Sometimes it's a factor, sometimes it isn't. Jordan Staal refused to sign with Pittsburgh because he wanted to go and play with Eric in Carolina, so it happens from time to time. I don't see P.K. jumping ship to the Bruins, I think it's more just a question of Marc Bergevin not making him feel welcome here to date. I like some of the things Bergevin has done, but if he lets P.K. get away, he should be fired the same day.
• Comment on Therrien reaction mixed
  There's no doubt in my mind either that Bertrand Raymond is racist and values hiring someone who speaks French above all else. Good on Tony Marinaro for calling him out on it. With people like Raymond and Chantelois and Brunet pressuring the team publicly to put language first, it's no wonder we start out at a disadvantage in terms of options. Then the very same people chastise the team for not winning, when their own bigotry and impatience are what direct us their in the first place. Give me Houde, Lavoie, Damphousse, Denis, etc. any day, but someone needs to put a muzzle on those other idiots doing their best to put politics ahead of winning.