The Habs start moving

I knew it had to start at some point.

As many may know (and if you didn’t, you do now), I have been raised to be a fan of the greatest hockey franchise in the history of the NHL, the Montreal Canadiens. The Habs (known as such thanks to the shortening of the French version of their former name) have won 24 Stanley Cups in their 100-year history, and have made no mistake that in this, their centennial year, they intend to make it 25.

Well, all’s nice in theory. They went out and got Alex Tanguay and Robert Lang and Georges Laraque, and expected great things from Alex Kovalev again, as well as a maturation of some of the good, young talent, like Sergei Kostitsyn.

Tanguay and Lang will finish the season with more games on the IR than on the ice. Koivu missed a ton of time, as did Higgins. Kovalev went AWOL for a while, and Kostitsyn and his brother, Andrei, along with Roman Hamrlik are affiliated with the mob.

Add that to a sex scandal involving Tanguay, Higgins and Price, and it’s a mess. After being within striking distance of the amazing Bruins for a while, the Habs have fallen way off the pace, and will need a strong surge to get back to the No. 4 position for home-ice in the first round.

To help alleviate some of the pressure, the team is starting to make some small moves, hopefully as precursors to some bigger moves.

Steve Begin, a grinder who’d recently questionned his role on the squad, has been shipped to Dallas. Mathieu Dandenault wants out, and in what appears to be a precursor to THAT, the Habs claimed former Pirate and Bruin Glen Metropolit off waivers from Philadelphia. Metro was in the Canadiens’ lineup Friday night against – yup – Philly.

Things are starting to move, like I said, but this team needs more than that. Carey Price is starting to look like crap, for the first time I’ve seen in his young career. That’s great for one of the mosr underrated goalies in the league, Jaroslav Halak, a former Lewiston Maineiac. But not good for the team’s Cup hopes.

Oh, almost forgot, the team also recently acquired veteran defenseman Mathieu Schneider from Atlanta. Since they got him, the Habs’ PP has been remarkably better. Small steps, I suppose.

Hopefully, the other shoe(s) will drop soon. The NHL’s trade deadline is Wednesday, March 4.