Dennis Kane’s Excellent Montreal Canadiens Blog

It should be really interesting to see how the Canadiens rebound from their less-than-stellar performance against Anaheim when the Carolina Hurricanes blow into town.

The Hurricanes are no slouches so far this season, but they’re not setting the world on fire either. Led by Ray Whitney, Eric Staal, and Rob Brind’Amour, this team has so far garnered a 4-2-1 record for nine points. Montreal stands at 5-1-1 for 11 points, so they haven’t exactly left the Canes in their dust.

However, the Canes have a special weapon, like so many great teams in the past have had. Boston had Orr, Edmonton, Gretzky. Detroit, Yzerman, Chicago, Bobby Hull etc. etc.

Carolina has Sergei Samsonov.

You can’t really look at the numbers. Okay, so he has no points and is minus 3 after seven games. But I’ll just bet, by the time the season has wound down, this Russian forward will have accumulated probably four goals and two assists!   

You know, there was a time when Samsonov was a real player - when he was a fresh-faced newcomer in Boston. He had been a primo Junior star in Russia, and in his first year in Boston, he won rookie of the year. But it all went away, never to be seen again, like dinosaurs, or Milli Vanilli.

Samsonov was soon dealt to Edmonton where they paid this underachiever 7.05 million over two years, and of course, he underachieved. From Edmonton it became Chicago, then the minors, and now Carolina, where they’re giving the guy 7.6 million over three years.

Every good young player in the minors, and those in the NHL making much less than Samsonov, must wonder what kind of Houdini tricks this guy knows.

Samsonov was the ultimate failure in Montreal too. In his year there, 2006-07, he notched nine goals and 17 assists in 63 games. He had become the new Vladimir Krutov, which certainly would give Canucks fans something to shudder about.  However, there’s no word on Samsonov’s hot dog eating abilities, which Krutov was a force to be reckoned with during his short stay in Vancouver in 1989. He was labelled Vladimir Crouton.

Montreal really needs this game on Tuesday. Get back to their winning ways. Get back on track. Don’t let Samsonov score.

And I’d like to see Alex Kovalev explode. It’s time. He needs to have a big season, like last year.

Now that the dust has sort of settled on getting the season underway, it’s a little disturbing to see the Buffalo Sabres playing so well. They have the same record as Montreal - 4 wins and a shootout loss for nine points, for goodness sakes. Even with those George Jetson jerseys.

The Sabres will come back down to earth shortly. I’m sure they will.

There’s good news, though, and the good news is that the Philadelphia Flyers, the team Steve Downey plays for, hasn’t won yet in five games. It doesn’t get much better than that!

The Florida Panthers are in Montreal Monday night to play the Habs. I know I say every game that the two points that night are extra important for the Canadiens,  so I’ll just say it again. These two points are extra important for the Canadiens. Gotta catch those Rangers.

Florida should be in Hamilton. Or Halifax, or Winnipeg, or Saskatoon, or Quebec City.

Why is there hockey in Miami, Florida?

I know there’s lots of snowbirds in Florida who are big hockey fans, but that’s not good enough. The team’s drawing only around 12,000 a game, and so now they’re giving away a pair of free tickets as long as you can show a Florida driving license. Miami people need to be at dog races and jai alai tournaments. Not hockey games.

Also interesting in the standings is Tampa Bay’s start. They’re winless after five games. And this with two new owners, the firing of coach John Tortorella, and the hiring of Barry Melrose. So it’s not going well for all concerned except Tortorella, who’s now providing reasonable thoughts on TSN. (Except for his prediction of who will win the Cup.)

Montreal sits in second place in the east with those bastard Buffalonians, with the Rangers leading with 13. But New York has played several more games than anyone else so the standings are slightly cockeyed. And there’s a handful of teams just behind Montreal and Buffalo, like New Jersey, Pittsburgh, and Washington.

San Jose’s leading the west with St. Louis, Minnesota, and Edmonton hot on the trail. Both Edmonton and Minnesota are undefeated at 4-0.

And John Tortorella thinks San Jose will win the Cup.

When I decided to move out west in 1990, one of the things I thought about was that I may never see the Habs play live again. I was used to seeing them several times a year, as I lived in Ottawa and various other places within driving distance of Montreal, and the Forum was only a couple of hours or so away.

I saw them play a few times in Calgary, and once each in Edmonton and Vancouver, but I’ve never been back to Montreal, where the atmosphere and magic of watching hockey certainly must be in a league of its own.

I was at a playoff game at the Forum once when the boys stormed back from being behind and beat Boston. The crowd was in a frenzy, the noise was deafening, and it felt like the roof was going to blow off the Forum and scatter pieces down Ste. Catherines Street.

I miss this type of thing so much.

And Wednesday night, with the Bruins in town, the Bell Centre will have it’s own electricity, as the Habs open the season with a team that could win it all, and I feel that diehard fans haven’t been this excited in years.

I know I haven’t been.

I wish I could be there, to soak it all up, to watch my team, and to relive old and glorious memories.

And to see the Canadiens beat the shit out of the Boston Bruins. 

Every good Habs fan hates the Leafs. It’s normal, like breathing, or liking Playboy magazine. The Leafs smell. They damaged the lining of our noses last year and the year before and the years before that. And nothing’s going to change this year or the next. Because they’re the Leafs.

Unfortunately, they often play well against Montreal, for whatever reason. Probably the only time they look like a team is when they play the Canadiens.

Maybe Charles Darwin, if alive, could explain it.

Then there’s the Vancouver Canucks. I live up the coast from Vancouver, in the heart of Canucks fanland, and the Canucks are another team that disappoints their fans most years. Lately they’ve been non-factors in any playoffs they’re involved in. They go through coaches, there’s been infighting with past and present ownership, and there’s the lingering odour of the Bertuzzi incident. The hockey has been boring for the faithful. Heck, even Mark Messier playing there was a non-event.

And I know from growing up back east that the Vancouver Canucks mean very little to many easterners. The games are usually on too late. Canucks players are generally not on the minds of eastern hockey fans. And people are busy hating the Leafs.

Other western teams have fared better with eastern fans. Edmonton had the Gretzky and Messier years, and Calgary had a couple of Stanley Cup finals with Montreal, losing to Patrick Roy and the boys in 1986, but winning in 1989. And so we came to know Calgary players a little more, like Al McInnes, Mike Vernon, Jim Peplinski, Tim Hunter, Theoren Fleury et al.

And they had that ‘Red Mile’ thing going when they made it to the finals again in 2004.

The Canucks have had none of the kinds of things Edmonton and Calgary have had, although they did make it interesting in 1994 when they came within a goal of winning the Cup that year against the Rangers.

So my question is; If the Leafs and the Canucks somehow by magic ended up in the Stanley Cup final, who would you cheer for? One team is despised, the other means very little to you. 

I say you have to go for the Canucks, only because they’re not the Leafs.  

Or you could go camping instead.