Deadline had passed and I had a few hours to absorb the day and I decided that Bob Gainey's move to pick up Mathieu Schneider a good tweak to fix the powerplay.
I had thought over what exactly the Canadiens would give up for players that they actually wanted to fit into the lineup.
The team does have a dynamic. If you send Chris Higgins away, which was a likely trade bait it's likely that Mike Komisarek would follow in the off-season. And Komisarek is a playoff performer. He's a checking and shot-blocking specialist. It's in the Canadiens interests to keep Komisarek. Bob Gainey said he likes his team.
So I was sitting there rationalizing things about team chemistry that only someone on the inside can truly know.
And then the Canadiens/Sabres game came on TSN.
And the Canadiens dominated the first period. They had 16 shots on net. Had some near misses.
And I almost started writing.
And then the goals started coming. 1... 2.... 3.... 4... oh did Carey Price realllllly just let that one in? .... sigh.... 5.
Not a good first "post-trade-deadline" game.
Did someone do a roll-call on the team plane when they arrived in Atlanta? Carbo looked so mad it's quite possible he may have murdered one of the players.
It's not panic time yet. And it's possible Gainey is right not to shake up the entire team (like the Rangers). But they definitely can't keep dropping games 5-1 to teams like the Buffalo Sabres.
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