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Both the Habs and Bulldogs continued their
winning ways this week as each team only lost one game.  As a result, the
Habs are back in a playoff spot while Hamilton is once again atop the division. 
With the World Juniors underway, we look at Montreal’s prospects from the last
draft to see how they’re doing this season.  The Habs passed the midway
point this week so the Final Thought grades Montreal’s free agent signings so
far, plus the Power Rankings, in the Recap.

Power Rankings

The PPR’s are on a cumulative basis with
some bias towards the current week.  The prev. column represents the last
ranking for the player; players not on last week’s list will be slotted back
where they were when returning from injury/benching/recall (italicized numbers). 
Thus, multiple players may have the same previous ranking.

Rk	Player	Prev.	Comments
1	Tomas Plekanec	1	Now he’s displaying a scorer’s touch to go along with his passing abilities.
2	Mike Cammalleri	3	For all his alleged struggles on the road, he scored in 2 of the 3 games.
3	Carey Price	3	Misses nearly 2 weeks and comes back with a strong effort in Tampa.
4	Brian Gionta	3	Misses 6 weeks then picks up a point in each of the 3 games this week.
5	Andrei Markov	7	The points just keep accumulating, the D is so much better with him.
6	Jaroslav Halak	2	Came back to earth this week but still managed to pull off a win.
7	Scott Gomez	5	Quietly has 9 points in his last 5 GP and looks great with Gionta back.
8	Andrei Kostitsyn	4	Weakest of the 3 on the top line, struggled getting his shot off.
9	Glen Metropolit	6	Very quiet for most of the week as his line was shuffled in each game.
10	Roman Hamrlik	8	Looked a little rusty in his return to the lineup but didn’t play poorly.
11	Benoit Pouliot	11	Complements Gomez and Gionta very well, had the GWG in Florida.
12	Hal Gill	9	Apparently he does know how to shoot once in a while.
13	Josh Gorges	8	Made some very poor decisions, didn’t look comfortable at all.
14	Marc-Andre Bergeron	11	Showed why he has the reputation of being a shooter and not a passer.
15	Sergei Kostitsyn	10	Looked at his best when he played with D’Agostini and Lapierre.
16	Matt D’Agostini	17	Showed that he could still generate some offense from the checking line.
17	Travis Moen	13	Isn’t bringing enough aggression and physical play to warrant his salary.
18	Jaroslav Spacek	15	Is it just me or does he still look out of shape despite being in midseason?
19	Max Pacioretty	14	Barring injuries, it’s time for him to spend some time with the Bulldogs.
20	Maxim Lapierre	19	Showing some steps that he may be turning it around, albeit slowly.
21	Ryan O’Byrne	18	Hasn’t looked comfortable with whoever he’s paired with lately.

Dropped from the rankings: Paul Mara (16 – injured) and
Georges Laraque (20 – DNP).

The Dog Pound

The Bulldogs had an offensive explosion to
start the week which helped lead to a 3-1 record and back to the top of the
North Division.

Results:

December 28	1	2	3	Tot	PP	SOG
Toronto	1	1	0	2	1/2	22
Hamilton	1	2	2	5	3/7	41

Attendance:  7,619
3 Stars:  1) Desharnais – HAM  2) Subban – HAM  3) Conboy –
HAM

December 30	1	2	3	Tot	PP	SOG
Rochester	0	1	0	1	1/6	25
Hamilton	2	1	1	4	1/5	24

Attendance:  5,510
3 Stars:  1) Desjardins – HAM  2) Wyman – HAM  3) Johansson –
HAM

December 31	1	2	3	Tot	PP	SOG
Hamilton	1	6	0	7	0/2	38
Grand Rapids	2	0	1	3	1/2	27

Attendance:  7,865
3 Stars:  1) Darche – HAM  2) Pyatt – HAM  3) Subban – HAM

January 2	1	2	3	Tot	PP	SOG
Lake Erie	1	0	2	3	0/4	17
Hamilton	0	0	2	2	0/5	33

Attendance:  2,917
3 Stars:  1) Ford – LE  2) Mercier – LE  3) Weiman – LE

Stats:

P.K. Subban had a strong week in terms of the
+/- department as his +8 rating not only was Hamilton’s highest of the season
but also rocketed him to the top of the league in that statistical category.

SKATERS

#	Player	GP	G	A	+/-	SH	PIMS
5	Alex Henry	4	0	1	+2	3	5
6	Chad Anderson	1	0	0	E	2	0
7	Yannick Weber	4	1	2	E	8	2
10	J.T. Wyman	4	2	2	+2	9	2
12	Andrew Conboy	3	1	0	+1	9	5
15	Mike Glumac	4	0	0	-1	10	4
16	Gregory Stewart	4	0	1	+3	3	12
19	Brock Trotter	3	2	0	E	4	0
20	Ryan Russell	4	1	1	+3	7	0
21	Mathieu Darche	4	1	4	E	15	0
25	Ryan White	4	1	0	+4	4	15
26	Grant Stevenson	2	0	0	E	6	0
27	Tom Pyatt	4	1	5	+4	8	0
29	Eric Neilson	1	0	0	E	0	2
32	Frederic St. Denis	1	1	0	E	3	0
44	Shawn Belle	3	0	1	-1	2	5
51	David Desharnais	4	2	3	+2	10	0
61	Andre Benoit	4	1	1	+6	5	4
72	Mathieu Carle	3	0	2	+1	6	10
76	P.K. Subban	4	2	4	+8	12	5
85	Mikael Johansson	3	1	2	+2	2	2
91	Ben Maxwell	4	1	2	+2	8	2

GOALIES

#	Player	Record	SV%	GAA
1	Curtis Sanford	0-0-0	.846	8.99
30	Cedrick Desjardins	3-1-0	.922	1.60

Leaders:

Goals: Darche/Desharnais
(13)
Assists: Maxwell/Trotter (17)
Points: Brock Trotter (28)
+/-: P.K. Subban (+23)
PIMS: Eric Neilson (83)
Shots: Mike Glumac (102)

This Week:

January 6: Chicago vs Hamilton
January 8: Lake Erie vs Hamilton
January 9: Grand Rapids vs Hamilton

Hamilton has another game on Sunday, these stats will be added to next week’s
Recap.

In the System

With the focus on the World Juniors this week,
I thought it might be worthwhile to look at how Montreal’s recent draft picks
have fared so far this season.  Here is how each pick from the 2009 draft
is doing this year (sorted by draft spot):

Player	Team	GP	G/W-L	A/GAA	P/SV%	PIM/SO
Louis Leblanc	Harvard (NCAA)	9	3	6	9	22
Joonas Nattinen	Blues (SM-Liiga)	18	0	3	3	4
	Blues U-20 (SM-Liiga)	7	6	3	9	2
Mac Bennett	Cedar Rapids (USHL)	21	4	7	11	6
Alexander Avtsyn	Dynamo Moskva (KHL)	21	2	4	6	8
	MHC Dynamo (MHL)	12	4	3	7	18
Gabriel Dumont	Drummondville (QMJHL)	31	20	23	43	71
Dustin Walsh	Dartmouth (NCAA)	11	4	2	6	2
Michael Cichy	North Dakota (NCAA)	14	1	2	3	2
Petteri Simila	Niagara (OHL)	11	1-4-3	4.14	.891	0

Final Thought

With the season at the midway point now, we can
now really start to evaluate the team’s free agent signings.  With that in
mind, here’s the midseason grades for the players acquired via unrestricted free
agency:

Mike Cammalleri: A Got off to a slow start but lately has hit it off with
Plekanec.  Finally, a true goalscorer on the team. 

Marc-Andre Bergeron: A- Yes, his defensive mishaps are tough to swallow
but with 10 goals already, he’s easily the biggest bargain signing out of the
bunch.

Brian Gionta: A- Had he not been injured, this likely would have been an
A as his play has been strong and consistent for most of the season.

Hal Gill: C+ Was the easy target of fans early on but lately has stepped
it up, particularly on the penalty kill where he has helped to lead the
resurrection.

Travis Moen: C Got off to a strong start on the offensive end but really
has tailed off as of late.  Needs to get back to the basics which quite
frankly was what he was brought in to provide.

Paul Mara: C Strong veteran presence defensively but has been prone to
take untimely (and costly) penalties.  Also hasn’t provided the secondary
offence from the defence like many hoped.

Jaroslav Spacek: C- Yes, he’s playing his wrong side but some of the
misreads he’s made are simply mind-boggling.  Add to that the fact that
he’s not contributing on the offensive end and he has many dreading the fact
that there’s 2 years left on his deal.

Overall: B The big two brought in via the UFA market have done what they
were supposed to which is big considering the financial commitment made to them. 
Bergeron at less than a million has turned out to be a huge coup but the rest of
the depth players all have left things to be desired at various times so far
this season.  However, considering the injuries the team has had this year,
having these players as added depth has come in handy at least.

As always, if you have a question regarding this article or the
capsheet,
please feel free to drop me a line at
[email protected].