Thoughts: Feb.25

Habs Are Tough to Figure Out

The Habs have been a collective Jekyll and Hyde this season. It could be in the middle of a game, the middle of a shift, the middle of the season, and suddenly something changes; they become this painful thing to watch, like a car accident or bad plastic surgery. It's been well documented. Starting off to the best season in franchise history and then floundering to historical proportions, the roster that is assembled and the players that show up to play each night are two different things. Jekyll and Hyde. When they Habs show up to play, like really actually play, they can play. For 53 minutes last night, they made Washington look average. Then, suddenly, Condon lets in a questionable goal and there was just enough time left for the Habs to screw things up. With the number of blown leads the Habs have, there can never be a large enough gap on the scoreboard. And so both Jekyll and Hyde made an appearance last night, as they have almost all season long. The Habs beat Tampa Bay, then squander away games against Buffalo and Columbus. It's a schizophrenia that Michel Therrien has yet to solve and likely won't. He's lost this team to Jekyll and Hyde. The fact that it's time for a new therapist is old news, but perhaps some new patients sitting on the couch isn't. Time for change in Montreal, big changes. Washington has 60% turnover from their roster in the last 2 seasons, and now they have a gem of a team. The Habs should take notice, if they didn't already last night when they almost blew a 3 goal lead in the third period.

Oilers Are In For A Needed Shakeup

Based on Peter Chiarelli's comments before the Oilers lost to the Sens and Todd McClellan's afterwards, it's clear that there are some major changes coming to Etown, which is music to Oiler fans ears. Individually, the Oilers have some great talent. Eberle's hands could steal the underwear off a Finnish ski soldier, Taylor Hall plays with reckless abandonment that is just crazy enough to be awesome and Connor McDavid, well, what can you say about him? He's amazing. But collectively, the Oilers still suck. They still sit last place in the NHL and much to the ire of hockey fans, have pretty good odds at getting the first overall pick...again. It seems obvious that things need to change in Edmonton, and it's no longer just in the offices overlooking the ice. The Oilers have a losing culture and, despite one glorious run in 2006, that culture has been in place since the mid-90s. It's not so easy to change, and to change it you need to bring in winners, not players like Benoit Pouliot or Nikita Nikitin. It's not working in Edmonton. Change needs to happen. Players need to be moved. If they get the first overall pick again, all the power to them. Why it's such a big deal that a team can suck this bad is beyond me. The Oilers were poorly managed for years, hi-lighted by MacT insisting he wouldn't trade any young talent. Well that was then and that was wrong. This new regime has been in place for a year. Let's see what they can do now that they've had a season to assess the individual and the collective. The trade deadline should see some players moved out of Edmonton, but big moves will probably happen in the summer....like maybe at the draft?

Joey Bats is Flippin' The Hundred Dollar Bills

With reports surfacing that Jose Bautista is looking for more than $150million spread out over more than 5 years, reaction was fierce. At 36, not sure the Jays want to pick up those demands. While his play has yet to decline, father time will ensure it will, and at 36, it's likely to happen sooner rather than later. Putting the spotlight on himself rather than his team on the opening day of camp, the optics of Jose's demands are bad, let alone the fact that he will not negotiate or consider a "home-town" discount. Little consideration is given to the fact that when he signed his original deal in 2010, the Jays were taking as much as a gamble on his one year of success as Bautista was benefitting from it. He could have been horrible and made out just as well. It seems baseball is getting greedier and greedier and loyalty, unless your a senior citizen like Bartolo Colon, is a thing of the past. I know it's not always about the money but "what the money says," but how much money does one person need? Yoenis Cespedes hi-lights this with his parade of cars that could get a small third world country out of debt as his daily commute to the ball diamond. I mean, c'mon!