Im all over the web today.
Dave has pricked the ballooning consensus on Bertuzzi over at his place. I think Bert sucks, Dave disagrees, the discussion ensues in the comments. We'll see whom Sore Thumb vindicates this evening.
There's also some back-and-forth going on over at Four Habs Fans. The virtual fisticuffs were provoked by HFF33's "10 things I hate about the Flames" post. Clearly he's still bitter about the '89 series. Feel free to help me parry the ripostes in the comments - or just go to watch me get inevitably buried. Either way.
in addition, Chris from Lions in Winter sent me some questions re: the Flames which should be posted at his site at some point today. I responded in kind with questions of my own and will update this post with his answers once they arrive.
Anyways, according to Inside the Flames, Calgary will be facing Jaroslav Halak tonight. Sometimes seeing a back-up is good news, but not this time: Halak has been excellent in both the AHL and NHL during his short professional career and could probably be a capable starter in the league. No favors there.
Also, the club's practice lines correspond almost exactly with what I proposed in the previous post - except with Bert playing with Iginla and Lombardi on the second (rather than the third) line.
Sigh.
As promised, here's my Q&A with Chris:
1.) Some of Montreal's offensive leaders from last season have come back down to earth (Kovalev, Kostitsyns, Plekanec). Is there some concern in town that the team might not be as potent as was once thought?
Yes and no. There is certainly concern about Kovalev and Plekanec. But lately most people have been optimistic about Andrei Kostitsyn. Plekanec and Andrei both started slowly last year too, and Plekanec the year before that; so there is precedent for them to improve as the season progresses. But the real reason there's less concern is that Tnaguay and Koivu have picked up the mantle. Robert Lang also gives us scoring from a 3rd centre - something we haven't had in recent memory.
2.) Bertuzzi is getting the gears from a lot of people around here (mostly me, actually). Who are the punching bags in Montreal this year? Excepting the unfortunate Ryan O'Byrne, of course.
Mostly Kovalev, actually. A lot is expected of him, and not many of his shots are turning into goals. He is setting up goals at even strength, which is a bonus. But until he scores and on the PP, people will fret. Other than Alex, the coach as usual gets a hard time and Georges Laraque has been outed for what he is: a waste of a roster place.
3.) How have the Canadiens fans received Alex Tanguay? Love? Hate? Ambivalent?
Love. He is the first French Canadian (super)star to skate for the Canadiens (not goaltend) in quite some time. Ribeiro may be a big scorer now, but he was 65 points at his best here and second fiddle by a long shot. I go back to Vincent Damphousse for someone of Tanguay's calibre. I was sceptical once he stopped racking up the goals, but watching him is to witness occasional feats of pure brilliance. Like many offensive creatives he doesn't leave you feeling like he's going to be sore the next morning, though.
4.) Is this D'Agostini kid for real?
That depends what you mean by for real. He is NHL calibre. He is not going to score 50 goals. Nor do i think he'll score 30 just yet. He has speed, hunger and sense so is an upgrade over Latendresse. I feel he'll get points if he stays with Kostitsyn and Koivu, but he should be the accessory on that line, given more time for the points to spread around, rather than the focus.
5.) Would Mats Sundin make the Canadiens a real contender? Who gets pushed off the roster if he signs in Montreal?
As you speculated, who wouldn't want Sundin. What gets overlooked as he is so big is that he can play. He can play as well as nearly anyone over the past 15 years and I definitely think he'd make any team that signed him better - including the Habs.
At the beginning of the year, we all thought Plekanec would resume number one line duty. As he hasn't, he could be pushed down, moved to the wing or whatever. But salary has to go in all likelihood too. My fear is that Koivu would ultimately have to be the one. If it's Saku for Mats, I don't make the move, because I've seen Saku in the playoffs.
Good stuff. Check out Lions for Winter for some of my reponses to Chris'questions:
1.) We look at your team as foreign fans and think Iginla, Kiprusoff, Phaneuf... Can you tell us from a Flames perspective who the players to look for tonight will be?
Kent: The stars are the obvious ones, although the Flames have some support guys making waves this year as well. Keep an eye on Glencross, Moss, Bourque and Boyd (who returns from injury tonight). On the back-end, watch the contentious sophomore Mark Giordano.
