AGRI Biz

Going into the 2009-2010 season, no one knew what to make of a Canadiens roster that had seen a major overhaul over the course of the season. Much of the uncertainty arose from the fact that it was not clear whether the team was better off with its new crop of players, or just...different. Through the first 20 games of the regular season, the team is not only different. It's worse. Guillaume Latendresse, ...

Tomas Plekanec seemed to have hit rock bottom during the 2008-09 season, being his own biggest critic, he described his play as that of 'a little girl'. While that may have been slightly exaggerated on his part, the young centre had certainly stooped to the lowest point of his career. Often times, it seemed like he was never quite sure what he wanted to do with the puck, or that he simply ...

In the third period of Saturday night's 3-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning, Canadiens coach Jacques Martin benched his third and fourth lines. For the majority of the period, Mike Cammalleri, Scott Gomez and Brian Gionta were on the ice. This trio have been Montreal's best players since the beginning of the season, exactly what was expected of them. Right now, there are only five forwards that are contributing on the ...

In Thursday night's shootout win against the Boston Bruins, we saw the very best of what Carey Price is capable of doing. When Price is on top of his game, he can win games on his own, as was shown in a 42-save winning effort against the rival Bruins, which marked the 50th win in his young career. What was more encouraging though on the whole was that Price's demeanor and emotions ...

After two consecutive losses against the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Chicago Blackhawks, it has become painstakingly clear that the Montreal Canadiens do not have enough offensive depth to compete with the NHL's top-flight teams. Once past the big first line, Tomas Plekanec, and Andrei Kostitsyn, what true offensive weapons do the Canadiens' possess?á I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a fan of fan-favorite Maxim Lapierre, but he hasn't looked that ...

Andrei Kostitsyn has been placed in a bad situation by his coach and by the media that covers his team. His coach has demoted him to the fourth line and benches him with regularity. Benoit Brunet, color commentator of the Canadiens on RDS, regularly lambastes Kostitsyn's work ethic and attitude. In other words, things are not going well for the 10th overall pick of the 2003 draft, one of the deepest ...

For the past four games, the Montreal Canadiens have played, all wins, Jaroslav Halak has been in net and has provided some of the most stellar goaltending that has been seen in Montreal since well...the last time "Jaro" won four games in a row last year. Last year, Halak had to beat top-flight teams where he had to basically have the game of his life four games in a row. This time ...

It's always a daunting task when a team faces one of the hottest squads in the league, but this was an even greater challenge for a Canadiens team that has been described as fragile in its first nine games. But the Canadiens were ready, as Mike Cammalleri netted his third goal of the season after a brilliant play by Brian Gionta who was tripped up while streaming in, but managed to ...

The Montreal Canadien's early season five-game skid finally came to an end on Tuesday night in a hard-fought shootout win against the Atlanta Thrashers. Had Ondrej Pavelec not been extraordinary for the Thrashers, the Canadiens might have won the game by more than two shootout goals. While a victory was nice, what should be duly noted is the strong play of Jaroslav Halak. For too long now, it appears that the coaching staff ...

In the midst of a five-game losing streak, many fans and analysts in Montreal have already hit the ''panic'' button.á With five straight losses, any fan base should be worried about their team. But in this early stage of the season, proclaimingáMax Pacioretty as a bust andácasting off Bob Gainey's moves as terribleáisástupid, simply put. Excluding the blowout in Vancouver, the Habs have been involved in fouráhard-fought games where they generally ...