The Habs and Canes swapped Czech defensemen today as Jaroslav Spacek was sent packing to Carolina for the used-to-be-Brian-Burke's-favorite-question- Tomas Kaberle.
The Habs are sitting next to last in the NHL on the power play at a horrid 11%. Andrei Markov is out till humans find a way to populate that Earth 2.0 planet everybody's been raving about all week. The oft-injured Spacek, a free agent at the end of the year, was not going to be re-signed. And the general consensus is that a shakeup was needed.
So of course, the best thing Gauthier can think of is bring the most under-performing albatross in the NHL not named Scott Gomez for another 2 years.
Look, it's simple. If the Habs got the defenseman the Leafs were reluctant to trade for years, then it's a great move and even a bargain. However, everything points to Kaberle having lost his way. Why he would suddenly retrieve his talent in Montreal where everyone else is also struggling with the same issue under a system that has asphyxiated the offense and flair out of the team is beyond us.
The Habs now shelter 2 players making a combined 12 million dollars for the next 2 years whose careers have been utterly derailed. And the worst thing is that the Habs brass in both cases has taken on these contracts AFTER the derailment.
What this also means is assuming Markov will play this year, PK Subban's role on the power play is now significantly impacted. You're not leaving 4.25 million on the bench during the first wave. Is this slowing PK's development on the team?
Montreal, forget the Boom thing. Show some real protest. At 7pm tonight, everybody get out of your cars, stop everything you're doing, put the forks and spoons back on the table...and scratch your heads.
