On season-premiere night in the NHL, fans will get an original six matchup between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Montreal Canadiens, but the decades of resentment, hatred, and blood spilt between the two teams will take a backseat to several other more interesting, more current storylines.
For instance: Habs goalie Carey Price has come down with a sudden case of the flu, as if to say: “That’s weird, my allergies to winning usually only flare up in the spring.” Normally, many might take this opportunity to question Price’s integrity and assume he’s feigning sickness out of fear of facing the Leafs, which is ludicrous... no one is afraid of the Leafs. But he may indeed be afraid of something else. Pick your poison:
1) Afraid of being the Habs’ go-to guy when the only thing he’s proved himself competent of over the past few years is being a whipping boy for fans and media types alike.
2) Afraid of the mounting pressure of having to carry the weight of an entire hockey-mad city on his back when he’s collapsed under far less dire circumstances, like onto his bed following a long night of partying.
3) Afraid of eventually losing his job to defenseman Josh Gorges.
Meanwhile, the Maple Leafs, fresh off stripping blue-liner Tomas Kaberle of his alternate captaincy, continue to force themselves into mitigating their apparent organization-wide lack of class and self-made public-relations disasters. It’s not that Francois Beauchemin and Mike Komisarek don’t make fine alternate captains. It’s that Kaberle has been one since before the lockout, he’s the longest-serving Leaf, and he deserves some kind of acknowledgement for having to put up with head coach Ron Wilson and his delusional paranoia year-in, year-out. The media isn’t out to get you, Mr. Wilson. You do that well enough on your own.
This will no doubt be Kaberle’s last season as a Leaf – this latest incident likely won’t turn him around into thinking that he’s actually valued by the organization, that is if the 100 or so attempts to trade him over the past few years weren’t enough of a hint. Still, the Leafs shouldn’t be doing their best players foul like this. Not only is it a huge sign of disrespect, but it sends a bad message to free agents in the future. The only good thing to come out of this would be a general lack of stars getting in line to sign no-trade clauses with Toronto, but only as a side-effect of a general lack of stars getting in line to sign with Toronto in the first place.
Kaberle may say publicly that having an “A” on a jersey doesn’t matter and that’s true, only if you’ve never been handed one and then stripped of it. Wilson may also say that Kaberle is the next one in line should any of the other three leaders on the team go down with injury, which will no doubt happen sooner or later with Komisarek leading the charge. If he steers clear of the Boston Bruins’ Milan Lucic, his shoulder should at least be alright though... now that’s just leading by example. However, in such a scenario it’s some consolation prize for a player that has stuck with the Leafs through thick and thin over his entire 11-year career.
Finally, there’s the fact that the Habs top scorer in Mike Cammalleri will be missing the season opener in his hometown of Toronto, after being served with a one-game suspension for his slash on the New York Islanders’ Nino Niederreiter, taking exception to the fact that he was arguably blindsided by the rookie in an exhibition game. Unfortunately for Leafs fans, it’s hardly the same as Phil Kessel missing a game. As great as he is, Cammalleri doesn’t really account for 60% of his team’s scoring.
As a result, look for the game to be close, but for the Habs to eek this one out in a shootout. After all, even though reports have surfaced that Price will get the start, he might relapse giving Alex Auld the chance in nets.
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| "Why are you hugging me? O'Byrne's the one who scored." |
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