Habs Watch - Desperation Alley

Stardate 5503.2

After getting bumped into 9th spot, and out of a playoff berth on tuesday, the Habs had best start playing with a little more emotion and perhaps desperation. The trade deadline saw what many called a surprise blockbuster deal, moving Theodore and his $4.5 million salary to Colorado, for David Aebischer... So far, Aebischer has played as good as Theodore at one third the price.

The lack of emotion and effort can be evidenced when playing against teams like Pittsburgh and even the Islanders... These teams are either lower than the Habs in the standings or at the bottom. These should be two point games for a team struggling to cling to the last playoff berth.

Tonight, Montreal does battle against Toronto, who is only 3 points behind them in tenth. Toronto leads the season series 4-2-1. This is another issue I have with the new NHL scheduling format. Do teams in the same division seriously need to play each other 8 times? That leaves very little competition with other divisions, never mind the other conference. Again, I think this is an example of how the league being too large has altered the game for the worse. 30 teams is too many, and now, there is no time left in a season to play all of the teams...

So with only 14 games left, it's time for a little of that old Kirk Muller heart and soul...