Did the AHL snub Habs Prospect P.K. Subban?

Hamilton Bulldogs P.K. Subban surprisingly missed out on American Hockey League’s  Rookie of the Year  award– Pellerins Photography

Tyler Ennis over P.K. Subban for the Dudley Garrett Award as AHL Rookie of the Year, really?

With absolutely no disrespect to the Buffalo Sabres first-round pick in 2008, how did that happen?

Both players had great seasons, as the stats below attest. Ennis’s just don’t appear as dominant, as a center, despite leading all rookies in scoring. By comparison the Worcester Sharks Logan Couture had 53 points in 42 games before being called up to San Jose.

Subban’s numbers as a defenceman drastically dominate across the board. He was third amongst rookie scoring (the top defenseman) and ranked third overall in scoring amongst all AHL blueliners.

	GP	G	A	PTS	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	SOG
Ennis	69	23	42	65	-1	12	9	0	184
Subban	75	18	35	53	+47	82	11	1	185

Both players were named to the AHL All-Rookie Team.

The Bulldogs rearguard was also named to the AHL’s First-Team All-Star squad, while Ennis made neither First nor Second Team.

Ennis is now up with the injury riddled Sabres (7GP-3G-5A) while Subban will finish the season in Hamilton, barring any emergency call-ups during the Canadiens playoff run.

Voting for the Garrett Award is voted on by voted by AHL coaches, players and media in each of the league’s 29 member cities. It was either a real close vote, or the voters were looking elsewhere when their respective teams played Hamilton.

The Canadiens Weekend of Woe

Two games, two losses for the Montreal Canadiens. This team really knows how to start it’s fans  week off on a good note, eh?

Had these games been at least close, or against a top-four team, one could say “A for effort”, or “at least we stayed in it”.

In the case of these two games, it certainly wasn’t the case.

Last I checked, a regulation NHL hockey game is played in three twenty-minute periods. Maybe the Canadiens were erroneously given a rule change contrary to that fact, twice!

In Saturday’s 4-2 loss to the Ottawa Senators, I’d say they were there for maybe half of it, and I’m being generous.

Carey Price’s performance was clearly not his best, in light of what coach Jacques Martin said post-game. What was essentially brushing off the media, after the loss, was also clearly not the actions of a number-one goaltender, win or lose.

Martin was right on one thing, they were beaten on special teams.

Benoit Pouliot’s cough-up with the Man advantage to an all-time Habs killer (Daniel Alfredsson) was a mistake more commonly seen in a beer league game, believe me I know, and should not happen at the NHL level.

Ottawa played an effective game for 60 minutes, blocking shots, shutting down the open lanes and throwing out hits. Not to mention Mike Brodeur played like distant cousin Marty.

Montreal, in the meantime, must have thought they were bakers, making 30 turnovers in the game.

It was a game where the Senators wanted the win, and the Canadiens clearly did not, and when you see that Georges Laraque logged over nine minutes for Montreal, you know there’s a problem.

Moving on to Sunday’s game against the Rangers.

I’ll be honest, I was away from the tube on Sunday, so I relied on updates off my Blackberry and replays later that evening.

Before the game, I tweeted the following, “#gohabsgo Need a solid 60 out of the #Habs tonight.”

After checking the score after 20 minutes, it appeared they were off to a solid start, 2-0 Habs.

But after 40 minutes, 3-2 Rangers with yet another shorthanded goal in the mess. That’s two shorthanded goals in two games, equaling their total allowed in the first 48 of the season.

If that wasn’t bad enough, the Rangers outshot the Canadiens 15-2 in the second period, and Montreal was held to just four over a 26 minute span.

A too-many men penalty didn’t help things either, and can someone tell me why Pouliot and Josh Georges were out there fighting?

Final score, 6-2. A game dominated by the Rangers in every almost facet of the game, notably the faceoff circle (31-20). Six New York players were +3.

At least the Habs’ bakery took the night off, just two turnovers.

Martin summed it up this way post-game, and my comments are in parenthesis.

"We played a strong first period, and then we gave it away (Ya think?). We had turnovers (well not really, just 2) and a lot of bad play selection (Yeah I’d drop the giveaway play on the PP, not working). I think it’s a matter of us playing the type of hockey we are capable of (tick tock tick tock). If we play like we did in the first period for all three periods, we’d be alright. (Heard that before, Jacques)"

So two straight four point games, against the kind of teams Habs GM Bob Gainey said they had to take head-on and two losses. The team walked away with nothing to show for it, not even a shred of dignity, and currently sitting in ninth place.

With just 32 games to go, the Montreal Canadiens are now in a shape-up, or book your late April tee-times now situation.

The good thing for the Bleu-Blanc-Rouge is that they play in the Eastern Conference, as The Hockey News’ Ryan Dixon points out.

James Mirtle of the Globe and Mail has set the bar for the Eastern Conference playoff seeds at a very generous 89 points. That said, the Canadiens would have to go 19-12-1 the rest of the way to clinch a spot.

Of the remaining 32 games, all but six are against Eastern Conference teams. Twenty-two of those games are against the top thirteen teams with five of them against the top-four.

With 5th to 13th separated by just eight points, that leaves 17 very crucial one-to-one matchups against teams still in contention for the NHL’s second season.

If The Canadiens work ethic from this past weekend is any indication however, season over at around 9:35 EST on April 10, barring an OT and shootout.

Photos: Getty Images/HabsInsideOut.com

Master Plan Failure?: CJAD’s Abe Hefter thinks Bob Gainey’s master plan is lacking consistency.

The Gods Are Angry: Apparently the Montreal Hockey Gods are not impressed by the weekend’s performance, taking their toll on Canada’s west coast, as attested to by Hockey54’s Dennis Kane.

Underachieving Numbers: A nice compilation by HIO regular “Chuck” who came up with this:

“Just finished doing some number crunching with goal-scoring for all teams, through January 17th (722 games played x 2 teams/game = 1444 team games)

• A team scoring 4 or more goals in a game: .681 win% (326 wins in 478 times that it's happened)
• A team scoring exactly 3 goals in a game: .597 win% (200 wins in 335 times that it's happened)
• A team scoring exactly 2 goals in a game: .294 win% (96 wins in 326 times that it's happened)
• A team scoring exactly 1 goal in a game:  .057 win% (13 wins in 225 times that it's happened)

And of course, if you score 0 goals your win% = .000 (0 wins in 80 times that it's happened)

Average it out, and if you score under 4 goals in a game, the league-wide win% is only .319 (309 wins in 966 times that it's happened)

As for the Habs:

• Scoring 4+ goals in a game: 12 wins in 13 games = .923 win% (vs. .681 league average)
• Scoring 3 goals in a game: 6 wins in 10 games = .600 win% (vs. .597 league average)
• Scoring 2 goals in a game: 5 wins in 15 games = .333 win% (vs. .294 league average)
• Scoring 1 goal in a game: 0 wins in 8 games = .000 win% (vs. .057 league average)
• Scoring 0 goals in a game: 0 wins in 4 games = .000 win%

In other words, the Habs have just a .297 win% when scoring fewer than 4 goals in a game (vs. the .319 league average). However, they outperform the rest of the league's winning percentage when they score 2 or more goals per game. The main problem is that they've scored 1 or fewer goals in 12 of 51 games (23.5%) while the league as a whole has scored 1 or fewer goals in 305 of 1444 team games (21.1%)

Our problem really isn't goaltending. What the Habs need to do is cut down on the number of games where they score 1 or fewer goals.

Of course, the other (unreasonable) alternative is to expect the goalies to start racking up the shutouts.”

 

Third Star for Latendresse: Ex-Hab Guillaume Latendresse was named the NHL’s Third Star of the week. He had a four-point night earlier in the week, and a hat-trick Saturday night. Latendresse was left off the score sheet in the Wild’s other game, as they were shut out by Second Star Steve Mason of the St. Louis Blues.

AHL All-Stars Show They Got Skilz: The AHL All-Star Skills challenge goes Monday night in Portland, (TSN), with the game going on Tuesday. Habs prospects P.K. Subban and Cedrick Desjardins will represent the Canadian AHL All-Stars.

In Case You Missed It: Habs news and Blogger Views for Oct. 23

It’s been a while since I’ve had a chance to highlight some of the daily best from my fellow bloggers, journalists, etc. so here goes.

The Fan590 (Toronto) talked to Habs forward Brian Gionta on Friday afternoon.

Free AHL streaming tonight: Thanks to On Frozen Blog for picking up on this. The AHL will offer free online steaming of all thirteen of tonight’s games, including Hamilton at San Antonio. Click here for details.

Canadiens president Pierre Boivin spoke Thursday on looking into improving the development of hockey players in Quebec.

Carey Price has updated his website, with an offer to attend a function to meet him and Alexander Ovechkin. Price will reportedly be adding a video blog to his site shortly.

A trio of pieces related to this week’s Sergei Kostitsyn saga:

• Scott Gomez speaks on the alleged confrontation between him and Sergei Kostitsyn.
• On the topic, The H Does Not Stand for Habs got the exclusive on the Wednesday meeting between Bob Gainey and Sergei.
• The Kostitsyn debacle was misinterpreted on several fronts. The Daily Hab-It has this article on Journalism in the Internet Age.

Chelios turned down Rangers AHL offer: ESPN reports that former Hab Chris Chelios turned down an offer to join the Rangers AHL affiliate Hartford Wolfpack, choosing to play in Chicago to be closer to his parents.

An interesting article on MSN on ownership in pro sports in today’s economy.

Puck Daddy reports that Sean Avery will be joining the blogging world through his website.

Keane on hockey: Former Canadiens captain is still playing in the pros at 42

Last Wednesday, the Manitoba Moose (AHL) announced the re-signing of their captain, Mike Keane, to a one-year contract.

Yes, the same Mike Keane who briefly held the captaincy of the Montreal Canadiens from April of 1995 (after Kirk Muller was traded) to December 1995 when he was traded, along with a guy named Patrick Roy, to the Colorado Avalanche.

Keane will be in his fifth season with the Moose. He signed with his hometown team, as a free agent, after the NHL lockout.

At the age of 42, Keane shows no signs of quitting the game of hockey.

In fact, Keane had his best offensive season with Manitoba in 2008-09 (28 points in 74 games, along with 11 points in 22 playoff games).

The Moose came up two games shy of winning a Calder Cup last season.

A veteran of just under 1400 NHL games (regular and post season), he is one of just five players in NHL history (nine in total) to win a Stanley Cup with three different teams (Montreal, Colorado and Dallas).

He talked to the Winnipeg Sun last week about the signing, the Calder Cup and the fact that retirement never crossed his mind.

"It would be crazy not to take advantage of this opportunity. A lot of players don't get a chance to play in front of their family and friends.

Hopefully, we can go as far as we can and continue on from the great run we had last year.

As soon as we lost last year, I took a week off and (retiring) didn't cross my mind.

Sometimes you have to lose to learn how to win.

We have a lot of guys coming back. We've got a real good foundation and we'll make sure we do everything we can to get back there.”

"We're going to have to throw his equipment in the river to get him to quit," Moose coach Scott Arniel joked in a telephone interview with the Sun.

"He came in handy when times were tough. We have him for that reason. He wants to come back and battle again and prove that he has lots left in the tank."

Despite only recording 470 points (160 goals) in the NHL, Keane is known for his aggressive play and his defensive, and penalty killing, abilities as a right winger.

Keane in a scrap with Vancouver’s Scott Walker

His “no quit” attitude feeds his longevity.

ESPN’s Lindsay Berra had a great article, from three years back, entitled “The Man who Can’t Stop Skating” on his passion for the game.

Keane began his NHL career, with the Canadiens, after signing as an undrafted free agent in 1985.

In the 1988-89 season played in 69 games as a rookie and came close to winning a Stanley Cup. The Calgary Flames defeated Montreal in six games in the Final that season.

The 1992-93 season was Keane’s most productive offensively (60 points in 70 games, plus 29) in his NHL career.

In the same year, he also attained a career high in playoff points (15 in 19 games) and won his first Stanley Cup.

Mike Keane on the Patrick Roy trade (from the Winnipeg Sun)

Keane said no one around the club was surprised when the trade went down.

“It just escalated so fast, there wasn’t much anyone could do,” he recalled.

“During the game, we (players) were on the bench wondering what was going on, why is Patrick still in there, but there was nothing said. It just took a life of its own and everyone knew it was big.

“As for me, I wasn’t really shocked (about being a part of the deal). You could kind of see it coming. There were rumours and rumblings about me for a while.”

Keane laughed when asked if Roy apologized to him for the collateral damage inflicted from his last days in Montreal.

“No, but it’s funny, ” the 41-year-old began. “We were teammates in Montreal but we never became friends until we got traded. We bought houses beside each other in Denver.”

And won a Stanley Cup, too.

Other Mike Keane notes:

• Was a member of the Canadian Junior team in 1987 which is infamous for the “Punchout at Piestany” during the gold medal game.
• MileHighHockey ranks him as the 16th greatest Avs player of all time
• Played with five NHL teams (Montreal, Colorado, New York, Dallas, St. Louis and Vancouver)
• Played 506 regular season games for the Canadiens
• Despite being an aggressive player (and not afraid to drop the gloves), he only logged 881 penalty minutes in his career.
• Flew to Montreal, after a Moose game, to attend Patrick Roy’s jersey retirement at the Bell Centre.

 

Aug 8, 1992: John Kordic’s death was another for Club 27

On this day in 1992, police were called to the Motel Maxim in L'Ancienne-Lorette, Quebec.

Upon their arrival, nine police officers found pro hockey player John Kordic, apparently under the influence of cocaine, trashing a room in the motel.

The officers were forced to wrestle the enforcer to the ground to make an arrest.

An ambulance was called in as Kordic lost consciousness.

He subsequently died of heart failure and a collapsed lung due to lack of oxygen.

John Kordic was just 27 years old at the time of his death.

A coroner’s inquest was made due to the police involvement where Dr. Georges Miller found that no excessive force by police or incompetence on the part of the ambulance attendants resulted in his death. There was speculation that the ambulance workers did not administer oxygen soon enough.

Kordic had 0.1 milligrams of cocaine in his system, which according to to Dr. Miller, was the most cocaine he had ever seen in a person's blood in his twenty years of practice.

There was also speculation that Kordic was using steroids in training and that the mix of that along with cocaine and alcohol put him over the final brink.

Kordic’s drug and alcohol problems were no secret to NHL fans, with numerous suspensions and issues with teammates and coaches.

He was also awaiting a preliminary court hearing for an assault charge, filed by his fiancée Nancy Masse, scheduled for August 11.

Hockeydraftcentral.com has this write up on Kordic leading up to his death.

Kordic's coaches and teammates often accused him of being so selfish that he never worried about team concerns, and toward the end of his career, he was sent home from the minor leagues because he was said to be infecting young players with his bad attitude.

Nevertheless, it was a shock and a tragedy when Kordic's addiction finally brought about his death at age 27 in August 1992. In the two weeks before his life ended, Kordic knew he was in danger of drinking himself to death.

In late July 1992, he phoned James Fearing, his Minneapolis based addiction counselor, and asked Fearing to visit him in Quebec City, where he was preparing for a training-camp tryout with Edmonton.

While working out with his friend Tony Twist, Kordic began to worry that he was falling off the wagon, and he told Fearing that despite all of his efforts he did not think he could defeat his addiction.

Fearing agreed to come to Quebec in mid-August 1992, but that would prove to be too late

Kordic always had a reputation as a tough guy in hockey but was a winner in his early career.

After winning a Memorial Cup Championship with the Portland Winter Hawks in 1983, Kordic was drafted in the fourth round my the Montreal Canadiens.

He would contribute to the Sherbrooke Canadiens’ Calder Cup team in 1985 and appear in 18 playoff games for the NHL club during their 1986 Stanley Cup Championship.

Kordic would be traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs in the now famous Russ Courtnall deal in November 1988.

Having two seasons in Toronto later, he played just ten games for the Leafs and Washington Capitals in 1990-91 before being signed as a free agent in October 1991 by the Quebec Nordiques.

Kordic vs. Lynden Byers

Though lesser known on a worldwide level, Kordic’s death at age 27 puts him in a group of well known individuals who have lost their lives under bizarre or tragic circumstances.

Most notably are “Club 27” members made up of musicians the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain, Rolling Stone’s guitarist Brian Jones and blues pioneer Robert Johnson.

Amongst sports stars, ex-NFLer/soldier Pat Tillman is the most recent well known tragedy, followed by MLB pitcher Steve Olin and “own goal” soccer murder victim Andres Escobar.

Hockey Hall of Fame Part Two: Awards and history in every corner!

 

Just a few weeks back, I did a write-up on the tremendous array of Montreal Canadiens exhibits that I discovered during my visit to the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto.

Clearly there is much more to behold.

Before you even have to pay admission, I found myself in the entrance foyer admiring the huge Wall of Pucks, Mask Columns and the New Acquisitions display that offers a sneak peak at the newest additions to the Hall.

A small sampling in the “New Aquisitions” display in the entrance foyer

You then pay your admission and immediately get drawn to the nine foot statues of Fred “Cyclone” Taylor and Ken Dryden that guard the NHL Zone and NHL Legends area.

The Canadiens Centennial Exhibit occupies the centre of the NHL Zone but the perimeter area hosts a variety of exhibits including features on, most notably, Wayne Gretzky, Gordie Howe and Bobby Orr.

The newest inductees are also featured, as well as some of the great moments in hockey are featured.

 The Wayne Gretzky and Bobby Orr exhibits

Current NHL hockey is also featured in the NHL Today area that offers a cabinet area for each of the current NHL divisions, ensuring that even recent events by current players are being chronicled.

The NHL Retro area highlights defunct NHL teams as well as the early leagues pre-NHL and defunct teams and leagues.

 

Defunct teams and leagues (including the WHA)

History buffs will enjoy perusing through the pre-NHL displays

The NHL Milestones area highlights great the greatest moments in NHL history, including Wayne Gretzky’s 802nd career goal.

 The net, puck, stick and gloves from Gretzky’s 802nd goal

The Stanley Cup Dynasty are encapsulates the greatest dynasties in NHL history. I don’t need to tell you which ones drew my attention.

I was even amazed to see that trainers in the NHL are honored for their service by the Professional Hockey Athletic Trainers Society (PHATS) with an area honoring 16 former trainers to date, including the Canadiens’ Eddy Palchuk.

I’m off into the Panasonic Hometown Hockey area, where each of the 30 NHL teams has a cabinet with a brief team history and mention of their minor league affiliates.

You also find a collection of hardware awarded to different leagues (past and present). On display are the Allan Cup, Memorial Cup, Calder Cup and Avco Cup to name a few.

Memorial Cup (top) and Calder Cup displays

Interactive display consoles are about where users could find a player by name, team or town.

In the heart of this area is the most popular of the interactive areas, the NHLPA Be A Player Zone.

Here fans of all ages can see if they can stop a Wayne Gretzky slapshot or get a goal past Ed Belfour on lifesize simulators.

I went four for five on the All-Star level between the pipes.  No flash photos were allowed as to not offset the sensors so you’ll have to take my word.

Off into the corner, the Upper Deck Collectors corner offers a tremendous display of hockey cards and memorabilia.

Cards depiciting the Conn Smythe Trophy Winners (some rookie cards) 

2K Sports even had a zone where fans could try their hand at NHL 2K9.

In back, a huge wall chronicled the history of broadcasting in hockey.

I took a video of it and it is quite impressive. It also includes an interactive Broadcast Museum where you can look back at historical broadcast clips.

Upstairs is the TSN/RDS area. Here fans can recreate a variety of momentous goals in hockey history. The ‘72 Henderson seemed to be the one of choice.

There’s also a TSN Production area, where fans can create their own highlight reel and play the role of TSN director/producer.

Back downstairs to and I made my way back across the Hall and up the stairs to the Great Hall is located.

I snapped a shot of this large shot of the Penguins Cup winning team on the way up the stairs.

This is the area where the Stanley Cup, Hart Trophy, Art Ross, Vezina, etc. are showcased as well as the numerous plaques that honor the members of the Hall.

Off to one side is Lord Stanley’s vault, which houses the original Stanley Cup, retired bands and other artifacts.

  In the center if the Great Hall is the Stanley Cup itself.

The Hart and Conn Smythe Trophies

The NHL Awards had just concluded a few days prior to my visit, so the signs next to the individual awards had yet to be updated.

The Selke and Vezina Trophies

I worked my way over to the huge walls that adorn the names of the players and builders of this great game. Spotting familiar faces as I worked my way around.

One area has blanked spaces for future members. A man and his son were looking through the names. “Who is going there?,”the boy asked. His dad was unsure and I spoke up as I pointed to four blank spaces, “Steve Yzerman, Brain Leetch, Brett Hull and Luc Robitaille.”

Three days later, the Hall of Fame confirmed my predictions.

IN one corner of the Great Hall is a book signed by the members if the Hall of Fame. It’s a thick one too. Encased in glass it would be a thrill to one day get a chance to turn through the pages.

For those who need to sit and rest there feet while touring the Hall, you can relax in the wing-backed chairs of the Members Lounge.

If that doesn’t relax you, the Esso Theatre runs a rotation of archival video and film footage to sit and enjoy or you can visit the Hartland Molson Theatre, which was running The 2008 Cup Final edition of the film The Stanley Cup Odyssey on my visit.

If there’s one thing I cannot stress enough if you visit the Hockey Hall of Fame, is to look everywhere; up, down over your shoulder left and right.

There’s so much to see and you don’t want to miss a thing, like this mural of a vintage hockey game below that was tucked in a corner.

Plan for lots of time too, and enjoy it!

I’ve added the two other photo albums of pics that I took on on these two links:

Album One (Stanley Cup and trophies)

Album Two (Everything Else)

Did I miss anything on here? International Hockey maybe? That my readers is an installment on it’s own that will be up in another week or so.