HabsWorld.net --
The memorable season is now over for both the Habs and
Bulldogs as they both lost their respective conference finals this past week.
With it being such a great season, the Final Thought looks at the top moments,
while hits, a staple of playoff hockey, is the focus looking inside the numbers.
This, plus the power rankings, in the final Recap for 2009-10.
Power |
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. These power
rankings are carried forward from the regular season, no new ones will be started.
Rk |
Player |
Prev. |
Comments |
1 |
Brian Gionta |
2 | One of the few who found another gear to take it to in Game 5. |
2 | Jaroslav Halak | 1 | Didn’t have his best game Monday but had a stellar overall postseason. |
3 |
Mike Cammalleri | 3 | Was neutralized in Round 3, just couldn’t get to his sweet spots. |
4 | Tomas Plekanec | 4 | How much (if any) will his contract drop after a so-so playoff? |
5 |
Scott Gomez | 6 | Arguably his best game of the playoffs, came at the right time too. |
6 | Dominic Moore | 5 | It’ll be interesting to see if he overprices himself again this year. |
7 |
Josh Gorges | 7 | Being overused during the first two rounds took its toll on him vs Philly. |
8 | Roman Hamrlik | 9 | Is the fact he plays best with Markov out a reason in itself to keep him? |
9 | P.K. Subban | 10 | Struggled early in Game 5 but had a stellar second half in that contest. |
10 |
Maxim Lapierre | 8 | Quietly had the most hits in the final 2 games…who’d have guessed that? |
11 | Jaroslav Spacek |
15 |
A strong playoffs after a less than quality regular season. |
12 |
Hal Gill | 12 | Wasn’t able to be as effective this round, in part due to his leg injury. |
13 | Travis Moen | 13 | Didn’t bring the physical play needed to be a factor against the Flyers. |
14 |
Andrei Kostitsyn | 14 | He was more of a factor this round which sadly says very little. |
15 | Marc-Andre Bergeron | 16 | Showed why he’s most effective when he sees limited minutes. |
16 |
Ryan O’Byrne | 15 | Didn’t play all that bad but the problem is, he barely played at all. |
17 | Benoit Pouliot | 17 | Played better this series but like Kostitsyn, that didn’t take much. |
18 | Mathieu Darche | 19 | Complemented the Gomez/Gionta line well…because he didn’t mess up. |
19 | Glen Metropolit | 18 | His late season injury derailed his chances of staying with the Habs. |
Dropped from the rankings: Tom Pyatt (11 –
injured) and Sergei Kostitsyn (21 – DNP).
The Dog |
Despite having lost only one home playoff game
so far, home ice advantage wasn’t enough to lift the Bulldogs to a series
victory in either of their two games this week ending their season.
Results: |
May 24 | 1 |
2 | 3 | OT | Tot |
PP |
SOG |
Texas | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1/1 | 38 |
Hamilton | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1/2 | 53 |
Attendance: 2,613
3 Stars: 1) Gagnon – TEX 2) Belle – HAM 3)
Climie – TEX
May 26 | 1 |
2 | 3 | Tot |
PP |
SOG |
Texas | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 0/0 | 20 |
Hamilton | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0/3 | 43 |
Attendance: 5,121
3 Stars: 1) Lindgren – TEX 2) Subban – HAM 3) Climie – TEX
Stats: |
The one positive that came from the Game 7 loss
was the return of Mathieu Carle, a player originally thought to be out for the
season. Unfortunately, he along with the additions from the Habs weren’t
able to lift them into the finals.
SKATERS |
# | Player | GP | G | A | +/- | SH | PIMS |
4 | Michael Vernace | 2 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 3 | 0 |
5 | Alex Henry | 2 | 0 | 0 | +1 | 0 | 0 |
6 | Chad Anderson | 1 | 0 | 0 | E | 0 | 2 |
10 | J.T. Wyman | 2 | 0 | 1 | -2 | 6 | 0 |
12 | Andrew Conboy | 2 | 0 | 0 | -2 | 3 | 0 |
15 | Mike Glumac | 2 | 0 | 0 | E | 12 | 0 |
19 | Brock Trotter | 2 | 0 | 2 | -1 | 6 | 0 |
20 | Ryan Russell | 2 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 8 | 0 |
23 | Max Pacioretty | 2 | 1 | 0 | +1 | 8 | 0 |
25 | Ryan White | 2 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 7 | 0 |
26 | Grant Stevenson | 2 | 0 | 0 | E | 4 | 0 |
28 | Aaron Palushaj | 2 | 0 | 1 | E | 9 | 0 |
32 | Frederic St. Denis | 2 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 4 | 0 |
42 | Hunter Bishop | 1 | 0 | 1 | E | 1 | 0 |
44 | Shawn Belle | 2 | 1 | 0 | -4 | 7 | 0 |
51 | David Desharnais | 2 | 1 | 1 | -2 | 5 | 0 |
61 | Andre Benoit | 2 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 4 | 0 |
72 | Mathieu Carle | 1 | 0 | 0 | E | 2 | 0 |
76 | P.K. Subban | 1 | 0 | 1 | E | 5 | 0 |
82 | Gabriel Dumont | 1 | 1 | 0 | E | 1 | 0 |
91 | Ben Maxwell | 1 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 1 | 0 |
GOALIES |
# | Player | Record | SV% | GAA |
1 | Curtis Sanford | 0-2-0 | .879 | 3.06 |
Leaders: |
Goals: Mike Glumac (11)
Assists: David Desharnais (13)
Points: David Desharnais (23) (franchise record)
+/-: Shawn Belle (+6)
PIMS: Ryan White (47)
Shots: Mike Glumac (68)
Next |
The
signing
of free agent D Kyle Klubertanz marked the beginning of what will likely be a
very busy offseason for Hamilton. Follow their moves with HW’s Bulldogs
Offseason
Tracker.
Inside |
One of the staples of playoff hockey is
stepping up the physical side of the game. For some Habs, I think people
would settle for simply having one let alone stepping it up. Here’s
how each Hab fared in terms of hits per game (HPG) in both the regular season
and playoffs; the final column (+/-) shows the improvement or decline in the
postseason relative to regular season play.
Hit Comparisons | Regular Season | Playoffs | |||||
Player | GP | Hits | HPG | GP | Hits | HPG | +/- |
Brian Gionta | 61 | 36 | 0.590 | 19 | 26 | 1.368 | 0.778 |
Roman Hamrlik | 75 | 59 | 0.787 | 19 | 28 | 1.474 | 0.687 |
Benoit Pouliot | 53 | 61 | 1.151 | 18 | 29 | 1.611 | 0.460 |
Scott Gomez | 78 | 30 | 0.385 | 19 | 16 | 0.842 | 0.457 |
Maxim Lapierre | 76 | 164 | 2.158 | 19 | 49 | 2.579 | 0.421 |
Dominic Moore | 69 | 57 | 0.826 | 19 | 23 | 1.211 | 0.384 |
Jaroslav Spacek | 74 | 54 | 0.730 | 10 | 11 | 1.100 | 0.370 |
P.K. Subban | 2 | 1 | 0.500 | 14 | 12 | 0.857 | 0.357 |
Travis Moen | 81 | 161 | 1.988 | 19 | 44 | 2.316 | 0.328 |
Ryan O’Byrne | 55 | 119 | 2.164 | 13 | 32 | 2.462 | 0.298 |
Josh Gorges | 82 | 85 | 1.037 | 19 | 25 | 1.316 | 0.279 |
Mike Cammalleri | 65 | 18 | 0.277 | 19 | 8 | 0.421 | 0.144 |
Marc-Andre Bergeron | 60 | 57 | 0.950 | 19 | 19 | 1.000 | 0.050 |
Tomas Plekanec | 82 | 51 | 0.622 | 19 | 12 | 0.632 | 0.010 |
Glen Metropolit | 69 | 32 | 0.464 | 16 | 6 | 0.375 | -0.089 |
Tom Pyatt | 40 | 27 | 0.675 | 18 | 10 | 0.556 | -0.119 |
Sergei Kostitsyn | 47 | 26 | 0.553 | 5 | 2 | 0.400 | -0.153 |
Andrei Markov | 45 | 47 | 1.044 | 8 | 6 | 0.750 | -0.294 |
Ben Maxwell | 13 | 4 | 0.308 | 1 | 0 | 0.000 | -0.308 |
Andrei Kostitsyn | 59 | 102 | 1.729 | 19 | 25 | 1.316 | -0.413 |
Hal Gill | 68 | 82 | 1.206 | 18 | 12 | 0.667 | -0.539 |
Mathieu Darche | 29 | 39 | 1.345 | 11 | 6 | 0.545 | -0.799 |
The comparison I find most interesting is that
of the two struggling wingers, Andrei Kostitsyn and Benoit Pouliot.
Kostitsyn was in the top-5 in team hits during the season but saw his physical
play decrease in the postseason. Pouliot on the other hand moved into the
top-5 in hitting in the postseason which was one of the lone bright spots of his
playoffs. Aside from that, it was nice to see that the majority (14/22 –
63.6%) of the players saw increases in their per game physical play. Of
course, this does not factor in ice time per game which could skew the above
results but this gives the overall picture in general.
Final |
What a year it was for the Habs, there’s no way
that can be denied. The team that some thought would miss the playoffs
wound up making the final 3. They’ve given us plenty of memories, mostly
of the good variety. With that in mind, here are my top-3 storylines from
the 2009-10 campaign:
1) Upset city: We all thought the Habs matched up reasonably well vs
Washington but realistically, how many expected that they could beat them in a 7
game series? Then came the Pens, a team Montreal didn’t match up as well
against and yet the same result happened. Forget the 3rd round and just
think about what the Habs accomplished knocking off the top team in the NHL
during the regular season and the defending champions. Something tells me
both the Blackhawks and Flyers are quite appreciative of this as well…
2) A new era: 2009-10 ushered in a new era for the Habs (and a new
century too). The offseason spending spree brought forth new proven
players such as Mike Cammalleri, Brian Gionta, and Scott Gomez that helped
reshape this roster from top to bottom. Better still (if you like this
core), the aforementioned trio are all signed for 4 more years giving the
playing roster a sense of stability not seen for several years now.
3) The emergence: All year, the goaltending controversy continued but by
the end, a leader emerged in Jaroslav Halak. His heroics stole the series
vs Washington and he was a key reason the Habs eliminated the Penguins as well.
Despite this, the controversy will continue into the offseason, largely for
financial reasons. I’ll give an honourable mention to Tomas Plekanec for
his bounce back season, thrusting him towards the top of a fairly shallow UFA
class.
And with that, this concludes ‘Season 5’ of the HW Recap. Keep checking
HabsWorld in the coming days and weeks for final grades for the Habs and
Bulldogs, a closer look at the cap situation and free agents, and of course our
annual draft coverage. Be sure to follow HW’s
Twitter feed
for any breaking news and tidbits as well.
If you have a question regarding
this article or are interested in joining our writing team,
please feel free to drop me a line at
[email protected].