Gainey: Lucky or Calculating???
Cristobal Huet shut out his seventh egg last night, one behind Kipper for the league lead. His GAA and save % are now the best the league’s netminders have to offer.
Radek Bonk has turned his season around in the second half; even if his recent flurry of offense is still modest for an earner of 2.7 mil, he has been the rock on the PK that he was supposed to be and contributes as much on D as Begin or Higgins.
Now look at the season Mattieu Garon, who was traded for the two before the lockout, has had, and ask yourself: is Gainey lucky or did he pull a fast one on us all?
In addition consider this. Last night Garth Murray scored both goals and dropped the gloves in a 2-0 win over the Bruins. He has now cemented his role on the fourth line as an energy player with quickness, toughness, and the occaisonal scoring touch.
Now look at way Marcel Hossa, who’s unceremonious dumping to the Rangers in exchange for Murray raised a few eyebrows in September, has crapped out his season in the same way that he did season after season in Montreal, and ask yourself the same question.
Finally, the deal that has yet to be proven. Like the other deals listed above, it looks a little sketchy on paper: David Aebischer a sometimes-good-sometimes-not goalie who has been a number one for only a couple seasons, for Jose Theodore, a normally very good, recently horrible, former Vezina winner.
As I say, we have yet to see. But my hunch is with two solid goaltending prospects lined up in Yann Danis and Carey Price, Gainey has acquired Aebischer to possibly use in trade packages in the off season. Wether or not that is true, the question remains: have these deals worked out for Gainey and the Habs because of expertise, or because of luck?
My call is a bit of both, even if that sounds like a cop-out.