Bob Hartley Announced as Flames Head Coach

The coaching candidate pool in Montreal took a blow today as the Calgary Flames announced that Bob Hartley will be the team's next Head Coach.

Hartley was considered a frontrunner for the Montreal job, though we may never know if GM Marc Bergevin opted for another candidate, or if it was Hartley who turned down the Canadiens interest to join the Flames.  Many fake Twitter insiders took an educated guess that Hartley would be Bergevin's man, announcing it as fact over the internet during the past week, which should be a lesson to many in trusting certain sources.  It seems Hockey Insider 101 has become make a pre-emptive announcement then hope it comes true so you can claim yourself an insider.  If it doesn't, just say your sources were wrong or some parameter changed.  Appears to be a great recipe for gaining followers, but not one this site or Twitter account will ever endorse.

With Hartley out of the equation (and reportedly Patrick Roy out of consideration as well), that leaves Guy Carbonneau, Michel Therrien, and Marc Crawford as the most widely-discussed Montreal coaching candidates.  Other bilingual names mentioned include Martin Raymond and Benoit Groulx, though many hope an unheralded candidate ends up winning out, unimpressed by these names.

Bob McKenzie appears to believe it's down to Therrien and Crawford for the job:

UPDATES: A few tidbits from Hartley's press conference in Calgary this afternoon.

- Yes, he had met with the Canadiens, and had several phone conversations with them.
- When Alex Tanguay was with the Habs, and the team was looking for a coach, Tanguay phoned Hartley (the two had been together in Colorado) to say that he'd appreciate if Bob came to Montreal, as he was the type of coach he needed.
- Hartley had a meeting scheduled with the Canadiens for "later this week," but phoned Marc Bergevin this morning to inform him he'd opted to take a deal with Calgary.  Bergevin was quoted as wishing Hartley good luck, indicating that while they had spoken, he wasn't ready to name a coach just yet.

So from this, we can gather that Hartley was one of Bergevin's final candidates.  It remains to be seen what he'll do now that Hartley is out of the running.

13/10/11: Calgary 4, Montreal 1; defense? we talkin' bout defense?

Ouch. That's about the best word I have to describe the Montreal Canadiens getting burnt by the Calgary Flames in the home opener at the Bell Centre last night. In a game that resembled the inverse of the Winnipeg Jets' home opener last Sunday, the Habs had chances but severely lacked killer instinct when it came to finishing around the net. The bigger problem, however, was the team's play in its own end which ranged from passable to atrocious. They looked to take play in their own end about as seriously as Allen Iverson takes practice.

Start with P.K. Subban, whose -1 rating was actually flattering to the way he played on the night (just because 2 of Calgary's goals came on the powerplay). He was hesitant with the puck, was regularly caught out of position, and couldn't get anything going in the offensive zone. After weak performances in the first two road games, Subban needed to step it up at home, but instead delved deeper into his slump. He may not believe in the sophomore slump, but unless he gets back to the basics of his game, he's going to be hearing that term very frequently. Perhaps he should have been in bed early the night before rather than hitting the Montreal club scene.

Raphael Diaz and Alexei Emelin looked like the rookies that they are, though Emelin did have a couple of good sequences to go with the bad. Hal Gill looks slow as he usually does at this time of year. The problem is, he's being counted on to play on a top pairing with Subban. Anyone that thinks the Canadiens can be a contending - or even playoff - team with a Gill-Subban top duo is dreaming in technicolour right now. If Andrei Markov is indeed going to be out long-term, the blueline needs help and fast.

As for the forwards, Lars Eller was likely the team's best on this night - sad when you consider it was his first game back from injury. He showed good speed, nice hands, and a willingness to throw some good hits. I'm a big Eller fan, and he looks poised for a good season, but needs to improve his finish around the net. I've said it many times but will reaffirm it now: Eller plays the game like Peter Forsberg. Of course, I'm not saying he'll be anywhere near as good as the amazing talent Forsberg was, but he plays in the same style with many of the same moves. That's a huge compliment to the young Dane.

Tomas Plekanec was ok, except for at the point on the powerplay, where he looks completely out of place. When can this experiment end already? He has NEVER looked good there this year, going back to preseason and through the first 3 games. A Subban - Yannick Weber duo on the first unit clearly makes the most sense, with 2 shooters resembling the game the team played with Subban and James Wisniewski last year. Admittedly, this leaves the second unit thin, but you can focus more on the forwards in that case if the top unit fails to score. Play Diaz with Emelin or Gorges... at least ice one completely good unit instead of two dysfunctional ones. Plus, Plekanec was one of the team's best face-off men in the first 2 games, so I don't understand why you wouldn't have him taking the draw!

Erik Cole has been a huge disappointment in the first 3 games, and while I advocated for him to get more minutes on the top line, he certainly hasn't deserved them. Whereas in preseason he was effective at stealing the puck away from opposing players in their own end, through 3 games he himself has been a turnover machine in the Montreal end. He also seems to be knocked off the puck far too easily in the offensive end. He is at least throwing some hits, but the Canadiens aren't paying him to be a fourth line grinder; he's here to produce offensively, and he looks far from being capable of that at the moment. Hopefully it will just require an adjustment period to Jacques Martin's system and his new teammates.

Brian Gionta has looked off his game through the first three as well. The penalty calls against him last night were quite questionable, so I won't fault him there, but he needs to begin generating some offense. He has had little in the way of quality scoring chances, and when he does get them, he has frequently fanned on his shots or missed the net.

And lastly, the one we all know but are afraid to admit: Max Pacioretty isn't the same player as he was before the Zdeno Chara hit. Now I'm not saying he's playing particularly poorly; I love Max and he has shown his great combination of size, speed, and hands. But the player we saw last year charged the net fearlessly, kind of like Brendan Gallagher did in preseason. He would challenge any defender in his way in trying to go around or right through them. This season's Max - again, still a great skill player - stays to the outside far more frequently, opting to just take his shots from weaker angles rather than head into the danger/traffic zones. If he's going to realize his full potential, he will need to get over this shyness (which may happen in time anyway) and get back to playing like he did when he was perhaps the team's most dangerous forward.

So that's it for now. Carey Price will have to wait at least one more night to earn his 100th career win. Don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting it's time to panic. We're only 3 games into a very long and tough NHL season. However, with the degree of parity and number of quality clubs in the league's Eastern Conference, all the points lost now could and will come back to haunt Montreal in March and April. It is important for the team to start the year off strong, even if the hope is that they find their game midseason and carry that momentum into the playoffs. Pierre Gauthier has frequently shown he isn't afraid to make a move, so if the team doesn't wake up and play up to their potential in the near future, we should expect some changes to come.

UPDATE: - As an aside, anyone who considers themselves a Montreal Canadiens fan should read this article:

http://fr.canoe.ca/sports/nouvelles/hockey/lnh/archives/2011/10/20111014-034538.html

It's an interview in French with Patrice Brisebois. For those that don't speak la langue de Moliere, Brisebois talks about how big of an impact all of the booing and nasty comments had on him. He says he would often cry in his car after games and it made him isolate himself from others. It severely hurt his confidence and depressed him. Come on Habs fans, we're better than that. May no other player have to go through what Breeze did. We need to encourage our players to be at their best, and while the occasional boo from a paying customer is not a problem, the regular harassment of one of our own can do only harm.

Montreal, Get Ready to Rock!

For the first time of the 2011-12 NHL regular season, the Montreal Canadiens will take to the Bell Centre ice this evening as they host the Calgary Flames. The roof is sure to be rocking, though as per the Canadiens' Facebook account yesterday, some tickets still remain for the game! In fact, when I checked last night, there were even some pairs left in the more expensive sections. If you're looking for tickets, try here:

http://canadiens.nhl.com/club/page.htm?id=56633

It's the home opener! Anything less than a sellout is unacceptable!

- Habs line-up for tonight:

Max Pacioretty - Scott Gomez - Brian Gionta

Travis Moen - Tomas Plekanec - Erik Cole

Mathieu Darche - David Desharnais - Andrei Kostitsyn

Lars Eller - Andreas Engqvist - Aaron Palushaj

Hal Gill - P.K. Subban

Josh Gorges - Raphael Diaz

Alexei Emelin - Yannick Weber

Carey Price

Let's hope for a strong performance from the injury-depleted boys, because what is certain is that unlike Winnipeg, if Montreal is down 5-1 in the final minute, Habs' fans will definitely not be giving a standing ovation to the team.

Aaron Palushaj and Lars Eller will both make their season debuts tonight, while Yannick Weber will start on defense for the first time after finishing both of the first two games on the blueline.

I've advocated for the moving of Weber to the top powerplay unit alongside P.K. Subban which would give the team 2 point shots like with Subban and James Wisniewski last year, but as per practice, the Tomas Plekanec experiment is not yet over. He'll man the blueline with Subban on the top unit, while Raphael Diaz and Weber play on the 2nd wave.

- Carey Price's next win (hopefully tonight) will be the 100th of his career. He will become only the 13th goaltender in NHL history to reach that mark by age 24.

- Per awesome French site Dans Les Coulisses, P.K. Subban was out at Santos supper club last night, along with Yannick Weber and Chris Campoli. The article questions whether this is appropriate behaviour on the eve of the home opener, though in the players' defense, they've had quite a few days off to rest and thus should be well prepared for tonight regardless of having a few drinks. It is perhaps concerning since Subban is not off to a great start to the season and Weber had just a few days ago all but lost his spot in the line-up, meaning the team needs more from these guys with no distractions, but they are human and should have their privacy respected on occasion so long as it doesn't translate to on-ice mishaps.

- As we had posted to Twitter yesterday, prospect defenseman Darren Dietz's Saskatoon Blades will be hosting the 2013 Memorial Cup. Since Dietz has one more year in juniors before he can be signed to play in the AHL, this should be a great experience for him.

- Expected Calgary Flames line-up:

Alex Tanguay - David Moss - Jarome Iginla

Curtis Glencross - Olli Jokinen - Lee Stempniak

Niklas Hagman - Roman Horak - Rene Bourque

Toms Kostopoulos - Matt Stajan - Tim Jackman

Chris Butler - Jay Bouwmeester

Mark Giordano - Scott Hannan

Derek Smith - Cory Sarich

Miikka Kiprusoff

2011/12 NHL Preview - Northwest Division

We've covered the Central and the Pacific, so today we round out the Western Conference with a preview of the Northwest.

CALGARY FLAMES

Projected depth chart / lines:

Alex Tanguay - Olli Jokinen - Jarome Iginla

Rene Bourque - Brendan Morrison - Curtis Glencross

Niklas Hagman - Mikael Backlund - Lee Stempniak

David Moss - Matthew Stajan - Tom Kostopoulos

Jay Bouwmeester - Mark Giordano

Cory Sarich - Scott Hannan

Anton Babchuk - Chris Butler

Miikka Kiprusoff

Henrik Karlsson

Traditionally, the Flames had been criticized for leaning too much on a single line - that of captain Jarome Iginla - to produce the vast majority of their offense. Well, quietly, Calgary has amassed an extremely deep group of talented forwards with 10 guys who easily have 40+ point potential (this is not to say they will hit that mark, of course...). Mikael Backlund looks poised for a breakout year at age 22, and the recent addition of Lee Stempniak ensures he'll have two offensively inclined wingers to play with. Rene Bourque and Curtis Glencross both had 2010-11 campaigns that cemented their credentials as top 6 wingers, and while many mocked the club's "experiments" of last off-season bringing in Olli Jokinen, Alex Tanguay, and Brendan Morrison, all produced well above expectations with successful years they will look to build on.

To make room for all the new talent up front, the Flames had to do a bit of gutting of what was arguably the league's best defense. Jay Bouwmeester has not lived up to the hype since being acquired from the Florida Panthers, but fortunately Mark Giordano has been a pleasant surprise in picking up some of the offense-from-the-blueline slack. In fact, Giordano looks to be a much better pick for your fantasy hockey drafts than the bigger name Bouwmeester. For the bargain basement price of $1,000,000, Scott Hannan was a great signing to round out the group; those of you who have read this site regularly know that I was a major advocate of the Habs picking him up for added depth.

It's no secret who Calgary's man in net will be, but Miikka Kiprusoff's game has shown kinks as he's aged (now 34). While his numbers haven't been poor, three of his last four seasons have seen GAAs above 2.60 and save percentages below .910, so it will be something to watch. Henrik Karlsson proved to be an adequate back-up after joining the Flames straight out of the Swedish Elite League last year, but at age 27 already, it is unclear whether he'll ever be more than that.

YourCanadiens Verdict: Bubble playoff team.

COLORADO AVALANCHE

Projected depth chart / lines:

Peter Mueller - Paul Stastny - Milan Hejduk

Gabriel Landeskog - Matt Duchene - David Jones

Brandon Yip - Kevin Porter - Ryan O'Reilly

Chuck Kobasew - Jay McClement - Cody McLeod

Erik Johnson - Jan Hejda

Kyle Quincey - Ryan O'Byrne

Matt Hunwick - Shane O'Brien

Semyon Varlamov

Jean-Sebastien Giguere

Over the past year, the Avs have made a number of controversial deals which critics were quite vocal about. This trend continued into the summer with the dealing of a couple of high draft picks to the Washington Capitals for young goaltender Semyon Varlamov whose days in that organization seemed numbered at best to begin with. Certainly there will be a lot of pressure on the 23 year old former first round selection, who set a career high in games played at the NHL level last season... but it was still just 27! In fact, Varlamov's career high for games at the AMERICAN LEAGUE level is also just 27, so despite good numbers wherever he has played, he is not yet a proven NHL #1 and represents another intriguing storyline for the upcoming season.

Varlamov will need to be on his game for the Avalanche to make any noise as, though the team has a stocked cupboard of young talent, their offense remains shallow and inexperienced. At times during the last 2 seasons, Brandon Yip, Ryan O'Reilly, and/or David Jones have emerged from nowhere as pleasant surprises, but their inexperience makes it tough to predict how they will perform in 2011-12. The lack of top end talent means we should see Gabriel Landeskog's NHL debut this year as a compliment to young stars Paul Stastny and/or Matt Duchene, making him one of the top options for a rookie in your pool.

On the blueline, Colorado paid a hefty price to acquire Erik Johnson last season, so they will expect a lot out of him in leading a group that leaves much to be desired. Still, he represents a building block on D that they severely lacked and should be a cornerstone to the team the organization is trying to put together - something that can't really be said about any of the other 5 starters, despite the fresh four year deal handed to Jan Hejda.

YourCanadiens Verdict: Out of the playoffs.

EDMONTON OILERS

Projected depth chart / lines:

Taylor Hall - Shawn Horcoff - Ales Hemsky

Ryan Smyth - Ryan Nugent-Hopkins - Jordan Eberle

Magnus Paajarvi-Svensson - Eric Belanger - Linus Omark

Ryan Jones - Sam Gagner - Ben Eager

Ryan Whitney - Tom Gilbert

Andy Sutton - Ladislav Smid

Theo Peckham - Cam Barker

Devan Dubnyk

Nikolai Khabibulin

The Oilers' offense looks perhaps scarier than the Pittsburgh Penguins team when Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Jordan Staal were all just breaking into the league. Four lines deep, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins should make his NHL debut, adding to Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle, Magnuss Paajarvi-Svensson, and more... a veritable "who's who" of top NHL prospects. This summer's addition of Ryan Smyth will bring a sound veteran presence to the locker room and on the ice, and will shelter some more inexperienced rookies from some difficult minutes.

But offense hasn't been this team's true problem. Their defensive and goaltending situations have not been addressed for the short term, and could be what keeps the club out of the post-season. Ryan Whitney and Tom Gilbert are mobile, two-way blueliners that any team would be happy with, but there is a big drop-off after them. Theo Peckham was a nice find last season as a tough guy on the back end who could slot in as an everyday player, but the club still desperately needs to improve its top 4 in order to reach "contender" status.

The situation in goal is even more precarious, with Nikolai Khabibulin's legal issues raising almost as many concerns as his deteriorating play with his age (38) and health. Devan Dubnyk showed some of the potential that many once saw in him last season, posting solid numbers and undoubtedly positioning him to push Khabibulin for ice time. The Oilers added depth by bringing former Canadien Yan Danis back from Russia, though if Khabibulin can play, he may start out in the AHL.

YourCanadiens Verdict: Bubble playoff team.

MINNESOTA WILD

Projected depth chart / lines:

Dany Heatley - Mikko Koivu - Devin Setoguchi

Pierre-Marc Bouchard - Matt Cullen - Guillaume Latendresse

Kyle Brodziak - Eric Nystrom - Cal Clutterbuck

Casey Wellman - Darrell Powe - Colton Gilles

Marek Zidlicky - Nick Schultz

Greg Zanon - Chay Genoway

Mike Lundin - Clayton Stoner

Niklas Backstrom

Josh Harding

The Wild shook up their offense this summer thanks to a couple of trades with the San Jose Sharks, and now present a very respectable top 6. Look for a strong year from ex-Hab Guillaume Latendresse as he returns from injuries that sidelined him most of last season. If Dany Heatley is to be believed, he should be highly motivated to bounce back from a career-worst points-per-game season that saw him finish with just 64 in 80 contests. Given that he may have some skilled new linemates, snatch up center Mikko Koivu quickly in your pools, as he should get back above the 70 point mark. Still, the offense is thin outside of two lines (and even those have some question marks).

The Wild's defense ranks in the lower half of the league, but one interesting player to watch will be NCAA signing Chay Genoway. Never drafted because of his size (5'9", 165 lbs), the 24 year old finished his college career on a high note with an over a point-per-game season, leading to an NHL bidding war for his services.

In goal, Niklas Backstrom has shown he can be a top 5 or 8 'tender in the league when he's on his game, but Josh Harding has also shown he may be ready for starting duties. With Harding a pending UFA next summer, look for the club to try to upgrade the back-end at some point with a deal.

YourCanadiens Verdict: Out of the playoffs.

VANCOUVER CANUCKS

Projected depth chart / lines:

Daniel Sedin - Henrik Sedin - Alexandre Burrows

Mason Raymond - Ryan Kesler - Mikael Samuelsson

Chris Higgins - Manny Malhotra - Marco Sturm

Jannik Hansen - Cody Hodgson - Maxim Lapierre

Dan Hamhuis - Kevin Bieksa

Alexander Elder - Sami Salo

Keith Ballard - Andrew Alberts

Roberto Luongo

Corey Schneider

There was lots of criticism up and down the Canucks roster after the team came oh so close to winning their first Stanley Cup in franchise history, but failed to close the deal. It is hard to argue with the regular season numbers of Daniel and Henrik Sedin, but many question their ability to win the big game come post-season. With three straight seasons above the 25 goal mark, Alex Burrows has proven that his success was no fluke, and the Canucks will be very happy to bolster their offense through the return of a healthy Mikael Samuelsson. The team managed to retain trade deadline acquisitions Chris Higgins and Maxim Lapierre, both of whom played large roles in the playoff run, but there were no real significant acquisitions (no offense intended to Marco Sturm, but he appears to be on the downside of his career).

Vancouver's defense - despite being ravaged by injuries all year long - was amongst the league's best last year, and they still present a formidable group despite the loss of Christian Ehrhoff. Other than the eternal question of Sami Salo's health, the other one to watch will be how the team handles Keith Ballard. Considered a steal of an acquisition when he was brought over from the Florida Panthers, Ballard began last season with injury issues and never regained his form. He fought for ice time on the club's blueline and was even often a healthy scratch. With 4 years remaining on his deal at $4.2M per season, the team will have to do what they can to extract the best value out of him starting this year.

I don't think it's time for Vancouver to push the panic button on Roberto Luongo's post-season struggles, as he did put up several big money performances. Still, he has not yet shown himself to be a big game goalie, and those who point to the 2010 Vancouver Olympics forget that he was quite poor in the gold medal game, and Team Canada won almost in spite of his play. The question becomes, with Corey Schneider's emergence as a solid NHL netminder, how will the club split games? This is certainly still Luongo's team, but perhaps we will see a larger role for his back-up in 2011/12.

YourCanadiens Verdict: (Regular Season) Conference contender.

Thanks for reading. Tomorrow we switch over to the Eastern Conference and hit the Southeast Division!