Round 3- Game 1 Preview: Who's Got Richards?

Key matchup: Mike Richards vs. Anybody

Will the Canadiens be able to match up anybody effectively against Mike Richards? During the Boston series Richards contained Marc Savard, took out David Krejci, and frustrated Zdeno Chara.  If Montreal can find someone to keep Richards busy, will Daniel Briere, Simon Gagne or Claude Giroux bust loose?

Key Stats:  1.55 GAA, .943 SV%

Michael Leighton hasn't had anyhere close to the workload that Jaroslav Halak has, but his average numbers are actually better when compared with Halak's 2.42 GAA and .930 SV%.

Injuries:

Canadiens: D Andrei Markov (knee), D Paul Mara (shoulder)

Flyers: G Brian Boucher (knee), C Jeff Carter (foot), G Ray Emery (hip), RW Ian Laperriere (conncussion)

Notable:

Bob Gainey's plan to put together a team that knows how to win in the playoffs could become even more apparent in this series.  The Habs have a combined 5 cup rings on their roster (Scott Gomez (2), Brian Gionta, Travis Moen, Hal Gill) compared to only Chris Pronger's ring for the Flyers.

Quote:
"In your face, ugly and obnoxious" – Gill on the Flyers.

One Hole Filled...

No matter who the new owners are, they're gonna need a coach. So before he starts on attracting players for next year, Bob Gainey has hired Jacques Martin as Montreal's 29th head coach.

So the best we can hope for is a team that racks up 100+ point seasons, like Martin's Senators did. And the worst we could get is a team that chokes repeatedly in the playoffs, like Martin's Senators did.

One appearance in the Eastern Conference final is the current peak of Martin's playoff performance, but Jacques can shuffle lines with the best of them during the regular season. His 517 wins put him 10th on the all-time list. Ask Mike Keenan (4th all-time) if that helps your job security after 1st round losses.

A lot can be said about Martin's defensive system and the lack of excitement it produces. Although Ottawa did fill nets, he has been criticized for being too safe and boring. To me, the style of play Martin employs is irrelevant as long as it wins games, and then wins the important games.

Jacques Martin coming on board does raise some other questions though:

1. Can he give the Canadiens an inside track on any free agents? Marian Hossa, Martin Havlat, and Jay Bouwmeester have all played three or more seasons under Martin, and the Habs would love to land any one of them.
2. Who are the other coaches next year? Rollie Melanson is already gone, and Kirk Muller was Carbo's pick. Doug Jarvis is close with Gainey, so he may stick around. Don Lever will hopefully get an opportunity with an organization that places more importance on ability than language. Rumours have immediately started to swirl about the return of Mario Tremblay and Jacques Lemaire.
3. Does the hiring of a defensive coach mean that Gainey is about to drag the club through a rebuilding phase focused on Price and Markov? With the goaltending coach gone and a new defensive system, nobody will be affected more than Carey Price by the coaching changes. Markov will also benefit greatly from not having to do almost everything by himself to get the puck to the red line.

Offseason Update

In an interview at the combine with La Presse today, Bob Gainey shed some light on his offseason activity so far this summer. That being that there is no activity, and that not much should be expected until the club is sold.

Gainey said that he has been in touch with Montreal's pending free agents, but that actual negotiations have not taken place with any of those players. This would appear to conflict with reports of Kovalev receiving a ludicrous contract offer for next year.

When asked about the Canadiens being in different hands next season, Gainey replied, "It is my understanding that there will be new owners." The Habs GM acknowledged that having new ownership may influence what direction the club takes when signing free agents and deciding on a new head coach.

$6 Million And The "C"!?!

Reports out of Russia are saying Saku Koivu is definitely out, and Montreal is offering Alexei Kovalev $6 million and the captaincy for the 2009-2010 season. Koivu may very well be done with the Canadiens, and Kovalev hopefully will be back, but there are a few things wrong with this picture.

First of all, $6 million, are you freakin' kidding me! No chance. Kovalev is an amazing talent, but he's gonna be 37 soon, and if NHL players were stocks, he'd be far and away the most volatile thing on the market.

Secondly, the captaincy has traditionally been voted on by the players, not used as ammo in contract negotiations. I'm not saying Kovalev shouldn't be the captain next year if Koivu leaves. He played some of his best games wearing the "C" when Koivu was out last year, but I highly doubt Bob Gainey would include it in a contract.

Thirdly, teams that are up for sale tend not to make huge risky contract offers to UFAs. Prospective owners could frown upon large contracts being offered to aging, enigmatic, one-dimensional players, who can be invisible on the ice some nights.

Kovalev's stats for 2008-2009: 26 goals, 65 points, -5.

Would anyone offer these guys $6 million? Probably not.

Devin Setoguchi- 31 goals, 65 points, +16

Derek Roy- 28 goals, 70 points, -5

Alex Ponikarovsky- 23 goals, 61 points, +5