Feb 14, 2015
Thumbs up to tank-busting Habs
In Saturday's edition, TSN's Dave Hodge has his thumbs up to the Montreal Canadiens for keeping teams trying to tank honest and they're up for the Jets-Sabres blockbuster from earlier this week.
By Dave Hodge
Thumbs up to the NHL's solution to the threat of teams losing on purpose to gain improved draft lottery odds. The antidote to tanking is known as the Montreal Canadiens.
Take a team at the bottom of the standings--the Buffalo Sabres, for example--and put them on the ice against the Habs--the first-place Habs, mind you--and the Sabres can't lose for winning. They've beaten Montreal three times. However, the Sabres don't play the Canadiens often enough to let that matchup spoil their 30th-place standing.
Even if they did, there would be no catching the Edmonton Oilers, because they, too, play the Canadiens, and have handled them to the tune of a 2-0 record this season.
Farther up the standings are the Arizona Coyotes, who would be a spot lower if they hadn't beaten the Canadiens, and the same goes for the Ottawa Senators.
What of the Toronto Maple Leafs, whose supporters are urging a lowest-possible finish to aid the post-demolition recovery plan? The Leafs haven't beaten anyone other than Edmonton lately, but they play the Canadiens tonight.
So it has come to this--Leaf fans have found a Montreal game they'd rather not win, but the Habs might give them no choice.
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Thumbs up to the Buffalo-Winnipeg trade for being the most interesting part of the NHL's February dog days. Until Evander Kane was given a new place to shower and Tyler Myers got moved to the Western Conference where he was immediately greeted by a Shea Weber snapshot, the best you could say about NHL games this month was that they were a welcome break from the trade rumours. The most attractive thing about February was that it would be followed by March and almost immediately by March 2.
An earlier trade deadline would be an excellent way to combat the tedium that often sets in after the All-Star break. However, the buyers don't like that because they might become sellers or vice versa. This year, though, they basically know what they are and many have known for a long time.
So apart from analyzing the Sabres-Jets trade as a positive development for the NHL, which team should smile widest after making it? This scorecard has Buffalo winning decisively. Winnipeg GM Kevin Cheveldayoff vowed he would get full value for Kane, never mind the circumstances that made it necessary to trade the unpopular and injured winger. He obviously found a trade he was willing to make, but I don't think that's the same as fulfilling that vow.