Hello my fellow HabAddicts.
Watching the Sens/Habs game with me the other night was my son who has been a Habs fan since the late nineties. I was really frustrated watching the game because the Habs were playing poorly. So as I usually do during a Habs game, I voiced my opinion towards the TV. I stated rather loudly that these damn Habs are just an average team and will not go far in the playoffs. That is when my son retorted and said to me that I had to be kidding. This Canadiens team is in the top three in the league!! With the best goalie in the league!!! And the best defense in the league!! I chuckled.
Well that is when I had to enlighten my son who did not have the pleasure to watch the Canadien teams that were assembled in the 60's and 70's. I began by telling him about the Big Three who made sure no one came near Roggie Vachon and Ken Dryden back in the 60's and 70's. No one would dare run our goalie when Larry Robinson, Serge Savard and Guy Lapointe were on the ice. Something which is sorely lacking on our defensive line-up today. Our toughest defenseman is Alexei Emelin and compared to the big three he is a marshmallow. Man would Carey Price love to have those three in their prime in front of him today.
Today's team is small and soft with one big offensive weapon, Max Pac, and pray he does not get hurt. And looking at the farm team, there really is no big, tough, talented players who can come up and make an impact on the team. I went on to tell my son about when the Canadiens called up Doug Risebrough and Mario Tremblay just before the playoffs and they went on to make huge contributions to the team with their toughness, hustle and goal scoring. And this was the Canadiens 4th line at that time. Look at our fourth line today. When was the last time they scored a goal or challenged an opposing goon. Speaking of goons, Ottawa exposed a big weakness the Canadiens have that will prevent them from winning a Cup until they address it. The Senators were just hitting and smacking around every Canadien player that came near them. It was ridiculous to watch, it was like watching a Pee-Wee team trying to take on a AAA team. The Sens did what ever they wanted and Montreal could not respond because they are just too small and lack toughness. Besides Brandon Prust and Dale Weise which Hab could step up and turn that abuse around? None. This would have never happened back in the 70s.
That is when I introduced my son to the Canadiens/Flyers Stanley Cup final of 1976. The Big Bad Broad Street Bullies who had just won two straight Stanley Cups by intimidating the opposition were now facing the Habs. The Flyers were big, mean, tough, SOBs who could score. They thought they were going to just run over the Habs (like the Senators did other night). Well, guys like Risebrough, Tremblay, Chartraw, Bouchard,Wilson, Lambert, were not going to be pushed around. The Habs went on to spank the Bullies in four straight games to take the first of four cups. No one on today's roster comes anywhere close to those warriors Montreal had in their line-up back in the 70's. I respect Prust, and Weise but they are not heavy weights and they are the only "tough guy" Montreal has. In the 70's Montreal's tough guys were tough but could also score. Risebrough, Tremblay and Lambert combined for 64 goals; and they were a fourth line. Guys like Lafleur, Shutt, Lemaire , Gainey, Mahovlich were taking all the top spots on those 70's teams.
Look what happened the last couple of times the Canadiens got close to the cup. In 2010 they beat out skilled teams like Pittsburgh and Washington; but then against a physical team like the Flyers they got their butts kicked. Then last year against the Rangers, Kreider runs over Price and our season is over. Now back when the Big Three were watching the blue line Kreider would have never came near our goalie. If he did get lucky and did touch our netminder, he would face the wrath of the whole team. He would be lucky to get off the ice in one piece. Last year, Kreider just walked away smiling knowing that he just killed the Habs playoff chances with no payback, shameful!!
Bergevin has a lot of work to do. He needs to make our team bigger and tougher to play against, and get some scoring punch out of that line-up. So, hopefully through a combination of trades and good drafts we will get there.
So then my son tells me we have Max Pac, Plekanec, Gallagher, etc. We have Subban and Markov on defense. And of course we have Price in net. We are a great team. We will compete for the cup, We have beaten the Bruins, Rangers, Islanders, Penguins. We are a top team!! I am just too spoiled by the great teams of the 70's. Unfortunately I have to disagree with my son.
So what do you think? Who wins this argument me or my son? Am I spoiled as a Habs fan of the 70's? Let me know?
