Greetings Habs Nation,
Bye Bye, Budaj
Peter Budaj moves on to Winnipeg along with prospect Patrick
Holland in exchange for Eric Tangradi.
There's no doubt that the main headline in Montreal Sunday was the trade between the Canadiens and the Winnipeg Jets that sent back-up goalie Peter Budaj and prospect Patrick Holland to the Jets for forward Eric Tangradi.
It would be silly to have an article without at least touching on it and so I will do so, however for a deeper look into the trade, check out Dan Beaulieu's trade analysis.
To me, the deal makes sense. Marc Bergevin is making room for the team's youth by shipping out Budaj and giving the back-up responsibilities to Dustin Tokarski. It shouldn't come as a surprise that it was reported soon after the trade that Peter Budaj had requested a trade after being ignored in the playoffs. It wasn't a shock to see some fans question Budaj's reputation as a good teammate after learning about his request, but that's just unfair. Budaj did what he could to help the team when called upon and when the team was in a dire situation, he was looked over and kept on the bench. It was clear the Canadiens were headed in another direction so why wouldn't he want to move on?
Patrick Holland, whom the Habs acquired as part of the deal that saw Mike Cammalleri off to Calgary, has not done much to impress since the trade. In 126 games with the Hamilton Bulldogs, Holland managed only 45 points (16 goals and 29 helpers) and in his five NHL appearances with the Canadiens he put up goose eggs on the score sheet. With numbers like that and prospects like Nikita Scherbak, Sven Andrighetto, Jacob De La Rose, Christian Thomas etc. ahead of him, there was no chance he'd ever crack the line-up.
As for Eric Tangradi, he's a bonus to what really was just a trade that gave our former back-up what he deserved, a shot to land more ice time, and a salary dump that saved the Habs roughly $800,000 by giving the job to Tokarski. It doesn't hurt that Tangradi stands at 6"4' 221 lbs, but he'll be starting the year in Hamilton.
Something I like to do each year is take a look at the schedule and talk about which games should not be missed. Due to the fact that my access to a computer is limited these days I'm late to the dance and the games you'll need to catch have already been covered by our own Nick Malofy.
However, going into the 2014-15 season, there are a few games I'm looking forward to for different reasons. I usually point out the first game of the season between the Habs and the Bruins or Leafs strictly because of the rivalries. Or games against former teammates just because they used to play with us or even games against superstars. This year I have different reasons to look forward to certain games.
I'm not personally going to circle any games between the Penguins or Capitals because I've been watching Crosby and Ovechkin for years. I won't get too excited about a match up against the Leafs because, well let's face it... rivalry or no rivalry the Leafs have become pretty irrelevant. So much so that the league may even give the city another team, kind of a "do-over".
So here are the match up's I'm going to be sure to watch this season.
Milan Lucic vs. Dale Weise/Alexei Emelin
Thursday, October 16th 2014
The Boston Bruins and Montreal Canadiens always put on a hell of a show. The fact that the Habs ousted the heavily favorited Bruins in the seventh game of last year's Eastern Conference semi-final will add some excitement to this game. However, as I mentioned there is more to it than a simple rematch or an added game to on of the most storied rivalries in all of sports.
What everybody remembers most about the match-up last spring was the end of series handshake when Bruins jacka... forward, Milan Lucic said something along the lines of "I'm going to f*cking kill you" to Canadiens forward Dale Weise. Some not so loving words were also shared with Canadiens defenseman Alexei Emelin. With these two teams already hating each other and more than likely heading into a season where they will fight for the division title, some added death threats should add to the excitement.
*I feel as if the word "allegedly" should have been thrown in there.
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| Tomas Plekanec is hated most by the NHL's most hated player, Brad Marchand. |
Just a little more fuel the fire.
Montreal Canadiens vs. Chris Kreider
Saturday, October 25th 2014
Chris Kreider of the New York Rangers is not the most loved player in Montreal since taking Habs goaltender Carey Price out of the playoffs last spring on route to the Rangers six game series win in the Eastern Conference finals. I'm not going to re-open the case to discuss whether or not it was on purpose. The fact is the fans haven't forgotten and you can sure as hell bet the players haven't either.
Players are professional and the Canadiens have more than likely put the incident behind them. I wouldn't be surprised to see the game end without Kreider receiving any kind of punishment from the Canadiens, but on the off chance that I'm wrong... I'll be watching. That's not to say that fights will get me to watch (to be completely honest you could take fighting out of the game and I couldn't care less), but just the energy in the building after seeing a player who an entire city blames for their lack of a 25th Stanley Cup being reprimanded... has to be electrifying.
For the record, in my opinion Tokarski played great, Lundqvist played better and I've still yet to be sold by opinion or video evidence that Kreider did it intentionally.
Brendan Gallagher vs. Josh Gorges
Wednesday, November 5th 2014
This is so much more than just a player facing off against his former team, you can tell by the fact that I left out Brian Gionta. Players play their former teams all the time, get over it. What attracts me towards this one is the opportunity to watch a pesky net crashing Gallagher battle in the blue paint against Josh Gorges, the man who plays a solid shut down role and who also happened to take Gallagher into his home when the young pest first joined the league.
Whether it was in interviews or the two jabbing at each other via Twitter, you could see that Gorges and Gallagher were close. After being taken under his wing you could always see just how much Gallagher respected Gorges. What adds to the match-up is their respective style of play, Gorges is a stay at home defenseman whose job it is to keep players like Gallagher out of the blue paint and it's Gallagher's job to get under the skin of the opposition's d-man. Should be an entertaining battle in front of the net.
It's tempting to add the Habs vs Peter Budaj simply because of the recent transaction, but that would be quite hypocritical, wouldn't it? Instead I'll add one last match-up that doesn't even include the Canadiens.
Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Josh Gorges
Thursday, October 28th
Hahaha... Gorges was asked to waive his no-trade clause to go to the Leafs and he declined because he hates them hahaha.
Ok, ok that's enough. While that is fantastic for Habs fans because of the love for Gorges and the hate aimed at the Leafs, it is a very reasonable reason. That's not a jab at the Leafs. If any player who had played for the Leafs for as long as Gorges wore the "CH" was willing to just up and join the Habs without a second thought you'd have to question his dedication to his team.
Gorges simply didn't want to play for a team he had grown to hate over the years because of the bitter rivalry stating that there was no way his heart would be in it. That's quite reasonable if you ask me. Even Brendan Shanahan, president of the Maple Leafs, went on record as saying that if Gorges had accepted right away he would have questioned whether or not he was the type of player the Leafs wanted.
Either way, respectable reason or not it's safe to say that decision and reasoning will more than likely upset the Leafs fan base (yes, they have one) and the reception Gorges will get at the Air Canada Center on the 28th of October is one that I'm hoping to see.
Would you take offence if a player refused to play for your city's team?
Will the Habs target Kreider in October or leave the incident in the past?
Is there anyone easier to hate than Marchand?
And finally, does the parting of Budaj really mean that much or was too big of a deal made over the situation of a back up goalie?
Let me know your thoughts.
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