Montreal Canadiens Plus/Minus: Kaberle and the Fans

It has been a busy week or so in Hab-land, hasn't it?

The team was assigned a new conference, Andrei Markov's absence was prolonged and, most interestingly, Pierre Gauthier shipped Jaroslav Spacek to Carolina in exchange for Tomas Kaberle.

In this week's edition of Montreal Canadiens Plus/Minus, we take a look at the acquisition of Tomas Kaberle, fan and media reaction to the move and also discuss the play of Alexei Emelin.

Plus

Kaberle's Cool Under Pressure: Much has been made of the Tomas Kaberle move over the last few days. One thing that has gone largely unmentionned, though, is that Tomas Kaberle has always been very cool under the pressure of the bright, Canadian spotlight.

Since 1999-2000, he had seven seasons of 40+ points while never falling below the 30 point plateau. All of this in spite the incessant trade rumors and constant media spotlight of his final seasons in Toronto.

His playoff numbers are not as gaudy, totalling 39 points in 102 contests. Nonetheless, the Czech blueliner has managed to collect a Stanley Cup , a World Championship and an Olympic Bronze Medal along the way.

His baggage in one of the toughest hockey markets in the world and his experience in winning environments should be most welcome additions in Montreal. That, and he moves the puck pretty well.

Alexei Emelin's Control: Coming to North America with the reputation of being a very physical defenceman, Alexei Emelin has also surprised with his control and discipline.

Typically accumulating anywhere between 75 and 198 penalty minutes per season in Russia, it seeemed reasonable to expect him to be a much nastier player.

However, the blueliner is on pace for only a meager 33 minutes this year while also on pace for a staggering 265 hits.

Emelin, while physical, has been keeping his game simple and clean. He has not shown the tendencies of a headhunter and does not get involved in any pointless post-whistle scrums. He plays his game, nothing more.

So far, comparisons to Darius Kasparitis seem a tad unwarranted. After all, the former Penguin accumulated over 1300 penalty minutes and played a far dirtier game.    

Minus

Fan and Media Reaction: When it was revealed that Tomas Kaberle was acquired in exchange for Jaroslav Spacek, you would almost think the second coming of Vladimir Malakhov had been announced. That is how negative some of the reaction to the deal was.

After all, Tomas Kaberle has been having a horrible time since he left Toronto and is clearly on the tail end of his career. Never mind that, just last season, he accumulated 47 points and hoisted the Stanley Cup.

But he did nothing to help the Bruins' dismal power play and was goalless with them. Conveniently, this ignores that, in the playoffs, he led Boston with five power play points and finished the post-season with a very respectable 11 points and +8 differential.

He was having a dismal year with Carolina. Who isn't it? Eric Staal is a whopping -18. Would you refuse to have him on your team because of it? Bad seasons on bad teams, it happens.

His contract is prohibitive and the team needs to re-sign Carey Price, P.K Subban and Josh Gorges at season's end. Never mind that many were more than willing to offer similar money to Roman Hamrlik or James Wisniewski this summer, it is true that Kaberle's contract may pose problems down the road.

But, being the General Manager of the Canadiens and all, one has to think that Pierre Gauthier possesses the ability to read and count. He, like the rest of us, knows what is on his plate.
What we do not know, however, is what the actual status of Andrei Markov's health. We also know nothing of Geoff Molson's willingness to bury a bad contract.

And no one knows what the salary cap and CBA will resemble next season.

In spite of this massive dearth in our collective knowledge, many are quick to point out that Kaberle and his contract are duds.

As a current Canadiens goaltender once suggested, perhaps we need to "chill out".


What are your thoughts? Is Emelin a dirty player? Do you like the Kaberle trade?



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Louis is an Associate Editor at HabsAddict.com and an Editor at HabsWorld.net. Louis was born in Chicago but grew up in Quebec City where he earned Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration from Université Laval. He currently lives in Ottawa and works for the Coaching Association of Canada. He can be reached at l.moustakas@habsworld.net

(Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images North America)

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