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Friday, November 5, 1999
Habs having trouble stringing together W's
OTTAWA -- It has come to this for the once great, now late, Montreal Canadiens dynasty:
Q: Why can't the Montreal Canadiens surf the Internet?
A: Because they can't string three "W's" together.
That was the winning joke on a radio station here as it staged a contest as the Habs, the last-place-in-the-NHL Habs, limped into the nation's capital for Saturday night's meeting with the Senators.
The sad truth for Canadiens fans is the joke is too kind.
The team that used to string three Stanley Cup titles together with no problem now can't even string one "W" together these days.
They are winless in their last seven games and have blown leads in their last two losses, including a heartbreaker in overtime Thursday night. That loss allowed the New York Islanders to jump over them and out of last spot in the standings.
It's been 64 years (1935-36) since the Canadiens were last in the league this deep into the season. They've been under .500 only four times through 14 games since 1967, according to Roger Leblond, the statistician for Le Journal de Montreal.
But like a guy who has fallen down the hole in an outhouse, the Habs know there's nowhere to look but up.
"We're four points out of a playoff spot. That's the way we're looking at it," said Trevor Linden, the Canadiens big off-season acquisition who has struggled so far with just one goal. "That's what we're looking at now. Things are always darkest before the dawn. We need a couple of wins and our whole attitude will shift around.
"If we're in last, we are, but we don't keep our eye on that."
While the 3-10-1-1 Canadiens are tied with four other clubs with just eight points, the Habs are last in the league in winning percentage.
The scary thing is Canadiens coach Alain Vigneault has been getting a good effort from his players, but the word around the league now is if you can match the Canadiens' work ethic on any given night, you will beat them because their skill level is not good. They have trouble scoring and when they do get a lead, can't hold onto it.
"We've got to stop beating ourselves with turnovers," said goaltender Jeff Hackett. "We just have to find a way to win. This is no fun."
They've got about $12 million worth of talent out of the lineup right now with captain Saku Koivu (shoulder), winger Ben Brunet (back) and defencemen Vladimir Malakhov (knee), Patrice Brisebois (back), Craig Rivet (virus) and Igor Ulanov (broken foot) on the shelf. They've already lost about 80 man-games to injury.
What little success they've had this year has been because of performances from three players: Hackett, sniper Brian (Monsieur Octobre) Savage and defenceman Eric Weinrich.
On most nights, they have to dress inexperienced youngsters like teenage centre Mike Ribeiro, defencemen Miloslav Guren and Francis Bouillon.
What happened to the once-proud Habs? They hadn't gone more than seven years since 1979 without winning a Cup. The last one was in 1993, if you hadn't noticed.
They definitely have a Y2K problem.
There have been years of bad drafts with a number of well-documented first-round flops like Jose Charbonneau, Mark Pederson, Eric Charron, Lindsay Vallis, Brent Bilodeau, David Wilkie and Terry Ryan.
General manager Rejean Houle, who took over four years ago, has diminished the club's talent level with his deals, some of which were forced by personality conflicts or economic concerns.
There is no excuse for having absolutely nothing to show for Valeri Bure, traded away in Feb. 1998 and now one of the league's goal-scoring leaders.
He has only Shayne Corson, struggling with injuries, to show for Pierre Turgeon and Craig Conroy.
Superstar goaltender Patrick Roy was shipped out after a dispute with then-coach Mario Tremblay.
Lyle Odelein, one of the league's toughest defencemen, was traded for flaky Stephane Richer.
With the club's development system in need of restocking, Houle traded he club's top pick in last summer's draft to the Islanders for Linden and then tied up a good chunk of the budget signing him to a four-year, $15-million deal.
The one deal he did win was acquiring Hackett, Weinrich, Alain Nasreddine and a draft pick from Chicago for Jocelyn Thibault, Dave Manson and Brad Brown.
The new economic realities of the NHL have had impact as well with the Canadiens unable to afford and having to say goodbye to stars like Vincent Damphousse, now playing on the best highest-scoring line in the league in San Jose, and Mark Recchi, third in the league in scoring going into last night's games.
"That's pro sport in the '90s. Things change drastically," said Vigneault, who held a 15-minute talk with his players in a corner of the Corel Centre rink Friday afternoon. "Look at the (National Football League). The top four teams from last year are having a tough time. Things change quickly in pro sports."
That's exactly what the Canadiens are hoping.
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