Hockey Trade Rumors

These are hard times for the Montreal Canadiens and their fans. After a fairy tale 1ST half for rookie head coach Guy Carbonneau, one which saw the Habs competing for top seed in the eastern conference, the wheels seem to have completely fallen off. Now, the Canadiens find themselves fighting for their playoff lives and the way things are going, there’s no guarantee they will be among the top 8 come April. What has happened and what are the potential solutions?

The truth is that everything the Canadiens built their success on in the first half, special teams, stellar goaltending and team chemistry is what has been their undoing since December. The Canadiens ranked #1 in PK efficiency through December and now sit at #10. Their powerplay, also ranked #1 in the NHL through December, has dropped off as well, although they still rank #2. But the differential between goals against while on the PK and goals for on the PP, is widening and that differential is losing them alot of hockey games lately. Don’t forget that this is a team that is 2nd worst in the NHL playing 5 on 5 so if the power play is struggling and the PK is struggling…well, you do the math.

In the case of goaltending, Christobal Huet picked up where he left off last season sporting a G.A.A. of 2.23 and a save percentage of .932 through mid December. Those numbers and stellar play earned him a trip to the All-Star game last month in Dallas. Since December 23rd, Huet has a G.A.A. well over 3.00 and a save percentage hovering in the .870 range. He has lost 10 of his last 15 starts and is under a constant barrage which routinely sees the Canadiens giving up upwards of 38-40 shots per game. With a team as deficient as the Canadiens are when it comes to scoring goals, that’s an awful lot of pressure to be putting on your goaltenders shoulders night in, night out. That may be one reason Huet looks slow and tired nowadays.

Earlier this season, several of the teams key veterans Souray, Rivet, Koivu, stated that this 2006-07 version of the Montreal Canadiens was the best group they had been together with since arriving in Montreal. Team chemistry was high, everyone seemed to be getting along and seemed to be on the same page. Clearly the passion and energy brought in by the young and dynamic new head coach and coaching staff, and the quick start the team got off to contributed volumes to team morale, or chemistry. Over the last 6 weeks, team chemistry has deteriorated dramatically. Little examples keep rearing their heads such as linemates Michael Ryder and Chris Higgins not standing up for captain Saku Koivu in Pittsburgh after being levelled by Colby Armstrong. Huet constantly getting roughed up in his crease without anyone coming in to challenge opposing forwards and of course, the Sergei Samsonov saga. In a classic case of under achieving, Samsanov has seen his ice time diminish to the point he has has now been a healthy scratch 4 times this season. Instead of taking the high road and determining to do whatever is necessary to help the team, Samsanov resorted to using the media to vent his dissatisfaction. Unfortunately, that approach has only served to undermine the coach, and polarize the Russian faction (Kovalev, Markov, Perezhogin, and Samsonov) from the rest of the team. Add to the mix the uncertain short term fate of some of the teams impending UFA’S, particularly Rivet, Souray, Markov and you have an extremely fragile team psyche right now. I have no doubt that Gainey and Carbonneau will ultimately clean up the room but at this point in time, it is clearly affecting the cohesiveness of the team.

So what’s the solution? A trade could provide the spark this team so badly needs. However, bringing in the right players will be the key. A change for the sake of a change very rarely works. After all, 4 quarters and a dollar is the same thing. Then again, The temptation to take the longer term approach and exercise patience may ultimately be the smartest way to go. The Canadiens today are not yet true Stanley Cup contenders. They are in a measured rebuilding mode. With 6 UFA’s at seasons end, the Canadiens will have lots of dollars to shop with come this summer and it is always preferrable to add players to your roster through free agency rather than trading away potential assets. For now, let’s look at the players linked to the Canadiens in trade rumors and which of them would make the biggest impact. Also. we’ll look at the UFA’s set to become available that may interest the Habs.

Trades:

Biggest Impact:

1) Peter Forsberg. His ability, experience, grit and leadership together with his stature in the game, would make him the best possible impact player the Habs could acquire, provided he is healthy. Him and Kovalev on the same line would be downright scarey. Rumored deal is a mid level prospect (Perezhogin) and a conditional draft pick.

2) Adrain Aucoin and Bryan Smolinski. If healthy, Aucoin provides the Canadiens with another major weapon on the powerplay, a physical presence on the blue line and leadership, not to mention insurance should the team lose Sheldon Souray to free agency. Smolinski, a nifty playmaker and face-off man, would immediately step in as the teams #2 centre. Immediate benefits could be to light a fire under the often disinterested Alexi Kovalev as well as taking pressure off of 1st line centre Saku Koivu. Rumored deal is Sergei Samsonov and Craig Rivet.

3) Ladislav Nagy. At 27 years of age Nagy, is entering the prime of his career. He would immediately become either a first line winger or a partner to Kovalev and whoever centres the 2nd line. His natural scoring ability and mean streak would be a welcome addition to a team that sorely lacks in both of those areas. Rumored deal is an offensive prospect (Perezhogin, Kostitsyn)

A larger version of this deal has been rumored as well. It included, Nagy, Perreault and Derek Morris for Markov, Ryder and Perezhogin. Although this version addresses all of the Canadiens needs in one fell swoop, I highly doubt the Habs would part with Markov unless he has indicated that he will absolutely not re-sign with Montreal. However, throw in Rivet instead of Markov and this may be the best of the rumored deals so far.

4) Brian Rolston, Mikko Koivu, Kim Johnsson. This was a deal rumored to be in the works about a month ago when Minnesota head scout Blair MacKasey was seen at several Canadiens games as well as huddled up with Bob Gainey. At the time, Minnesota was bordering between being a seller or buyer at the trade deadline. Since then, their play has picked up and they have clearly become buyers so parting with 3 assets no longer seems likely. The names rumored in this deal were Perezhogin or Kostitsyn, Ryder, Markov and a draft pick.

Other notable names linked to the Habs in trade rumors:

Jokinen
Bertuzzi
Guerin
Zherdev

One thing seems crystal clear from comments made by Guy Carbonneau and from the murmurs heard by insiders “close” to Gainey. The Canadiens would love to swing an impact deal or 2 in order to change the face of this team. The question remains whether they will do it entirely through the trade market or whether they will add a piece now and try to complete the puzzle with the coming crop of UFA’s this summer some of whom include: Daniel Briere, Pavel Datsyuk, Scott Gomez, Teemu Selanne, Fredrik Modin, Shane Doan, Nagy, Darryl Sydor, Brian Rafalski, Chris Phillips, Vitaly Vishnevski Scott Hannan, Eric Brewer. Stay tuned, folks. The coming days will answer, at the very least, some of these questions.