SLAM! Sports
SLAM! Hockey
[an error occurred while processing this directive]
COLUMNS
NHL
The Teams
Full Schedule
Monthly Schedule
Standings
Statistics
Rosters
Injury list
Movement
Trades
Hits Gallery
INTERACTIVE
JUNIOR
MORE HOCKEY
ALSO ON SLAM!
Friday, October 8, 1999
Habby days over
Ten years ago, the Montreal Canadiens and Calgary Flames battled for the Stanley Cup.
Aye, perchance to dream ...
The Patrick Roy-led Habs were the league's best defensive team. Calgary scored an amazing 354 goals that year with the No. 2 offence in the entire NHL.
The Flames went into Montreal, where three years earlier they lost the league title, and won the franchise's only Stanley Cup.
Fast forward ... 1995 ... 1997 ... 1999.
Awake to tonight.
Both teams are winless in their first two games. Neither made the playoffs last season. In fact, Calgary hasn't won a playoff round since they beat the Habs in 1989.
Both franchises have fallen on hard times. Perhaps rock bottom.
Tonight, a once proud rivalry features what could be the worst Montreal Canadiens team in the modern era.
The Flames, well, a couple of years ago they were the worst in franchise history and they're not much better now. But improving.
As disheartening as the Flames' fall from grace has been, the dismantling of the Habs has been downright sad. For all of hockey.
A once proud franchise has been reduced, through business reasons as much as hockey, to an also-ran.
No need to explain that in Calgary, where even that understanding doesn't make mediocrity any easier of a bitter pill to swallow.
Montreal was an already thinly-talented team, and then a string of injuries has decimated any realistic hopes they had of not missing the playoffs for only the third time in the last 30 years.
Make no mistake, this Habs team is simply playing out the string in an Eastern Conference where a mere .500 record isn't nearly good enough to qualify for the playoffs.
The simple truth is that the Habs were bad last year. And they're worse now.
Underachieving regulars Mark Recchi, Vincent Damphousse and Stephane Quintal are all gone. Instead they add enigmatic veteran Trevor Linden and defenceman Barry Richter from the N.Y. Islanders, and a supporting cast of no-names. Improving with castoffs from Long Island is like asking for a financial bailout from John Spano.
Regardless, Linden is the team's highest goal scorer. He had 18 last season.
Of the returning Habs, Martin Rucinsky led the team with 17, Saku Koivu had a whopping 14. Montreal was the only NHL team without a 20-goal scorer, their 184 goals second fewest in the NHL.
Off the ice, team president Ronald Corey promised everyone after last season the team would spend money to improve.
Then Corey quit.
Team owners Molson has seen its profits dry up. There's now rumours the team could be sold, or additional owners brought in. Presumably, their purchase price will qualify as a charitable donation.
And then to start the season, Patrice Brisebois and Benoit Brunet went down with back injuries. Then the coup de grace -- team leader Vladimir Malakhov was lost in the pre-season to a knee injury. He's gone for the season.
And so are the Habs.
Oh there's still talent. Goalie Jeff Hackett has proven himself a very capable starter under difficult circumstances in Montreal.
There's Koivu coming off knee surgery, Shayne Corson battling colitis, Brian Savage looking to regain a scoring touch ...
But there is a general malaise that has even affected the team's loyal media.
"This may be the worst team ever," muttered one veteran scribe.
"They'll be lucky to get 25 wins," predicted another respected observer.
And so it is with such grandiose billing that two teams who found themselves battling for league supremacy now find themselves with much more of a challenge.
A decade ago, wins were taken for granted.
Tonight, just three games into the schedule, neither team can afford to lose to the other.
Because when this season is done, unlike 10 years ago, there will be no Stanley Cup to battle over. That's what hockey has been reduced to in the modern NHL for Canadian teams.
There is no '1989' in the future for Calgary or Montreal. That's just an economic reality.
So tonight is about salvaging some pride.
And saying, 'At least we're not as bad as they are.'
What a difference a decade makes ...
 Bert's back on blades Blue Jays boot game Bombers drop Peterson Felicien rebuilds race | Visit our Polls Archive |