Todd: Give thanks, Canadiens faithful, that you're not Canucks fans

You’ll should forgive your Habs fan pals, people. They’re feeling a bit of whiplashed in the present day.

One minute, the Canadiens are the best factor since sliced pizza. The subsequent minute, they’re awfuller than terrible. Sooner or later, their goalies can’t cease a seaside ball. The subsequent day, they’ll catch a BB at midnight.

And so forth. Because the weekend drew to a detailed and the smoke cleared,

your

Montreal Canadiens had simply taken on Sidney Crosby and the recent Penguins with six rookies within the lineup, failed to carry a three-goal lead at Madison Sq. Backyard however escaped with some extent, and shut down the high-flying Edmonton Oilers again on the Bell Centre lower than 24 hours later.

The sweetest a part of the win over the Oil is that now Joe Veleno (a.okay.a. Max Pacioretty’s youthful brother) will get to inform his grandkids that he as soon as scored a aim off a candy move from Connor McDavid.

Are they up? Are they down? What day is it? They performed what Martin St. Louis mentioned was their finest sport of the season at some point after a sloppy mess at Madison Sq. Backyard. “Marty was clearly actually pissed,” Veleno mentioned.

As he must be — however you possibly can’t get pissed at these guys for lengthy. They’re down 4 key regulars long-term. They’re so younger they’ll get by way of a street journey sharing one razor. They’re the 2025-26 Canadiens, and God bless ‘em — simply thank your fortunate stars they’re

not

the Vancouver Canucks.

Whereas the Habs are finishing a mannequin rebuild, the Canucks are deep right into a de-build with the commerce that despatched Quinn Hughes to Minnesota.

I spent all the month of March 2024 with an outdated good friend in Coquitlam, B.C., the gentleman who acquired me into hockey in the course of the Canadiens’ Miracle Cup run of 1971. We watched each sport the Canucks performed that month. I stored an eye fixed on Hughes as a result of the Canadiens had drafted a smallish defenceman in Lane Hutson. Was it doable that Hutson may additionally develop into a star in a league identified for measurement and brute pressure?

We noticed no purpose to doubt that we have been watching a Canucks workforce that was on its means. Vancouver would end the season with a 50-23-9 report and 109 factors, good for first within the Pacific Division and third within the Western Convention. Up entrance, that they had two high-scoring centremen, J.T. Miller and Elias Pettersson. Hughes was cruising to a 17-goal, 92-point season and a Norris Trophy.

True, that they had let captain and 30-goal scorer Bo Horvat get away in a take care of the New York Islanders, however that they had parlayed the first-rounder from that commerce into an trade with the Pink Wings that introduced defenceman Filip Hronek to Vancouver. Absolutely, it was solely a matter of time — proper?

Right now, following the commerce of the sad Hughes, the Canucks’ debuild is nearly full. Miller was traded again to the Rangers final season, an admission that the festering chilly conflict between Miller and Pettersson was destroying the workforce from inside. Miller’s departure didn’t assist Pettersson’s sport — he grew to become probably the most overpaid black gap within the league, with 15 targets and 45 factors final season in trade for his US$11.6-million cap hit by way of the 2031-32 season.

The Canucks are the worst workforce within the NHL, with no sign of ending. Sure, you possibly can argue that they didn’t lose the Horvat commerce, or the Miller commerce, or the Hughes commerce — however taken collectively, Vancouver’s piecemeal, scattergun strategy to team-building has been an abject failure, the polar reverse of the Canadiens’ cohesive, complete technique for constructing a contender.

Astonishingly, the Canucks fan base doesn’t look like screeching for the scalps of all the administration workforce. If this disaster occurred in Montreal, president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford and GM Patrik Allvin could be on their technique to the airport with their tails on hearth.

Be blissful for what you might have as the vacations strategy, O followers of the mighty Habs. In case your up-and-down workforce is driving you nuts, simply keep in mind: you could possibly be a Canucks fan.

The passing of boon companions:

It’s been a tough December for outdated execs. In my circle of the sports activities media world, we misplaced longtime Gazette editor and reporter Paul “Father” Carbray and legendary TSN reporter Michael Whalen.

Carbray helped ease my re-entry into newspapers after 15 years out of the enterprise. Whelan helped ease on daily basis we have been protecting both the Canadiens or the Expos — however particularly the latter. An urbane, well-read, cosmopolitan generalist and grasp storyteller, Whelan and his cameraman/sidekick Glen Koshurba may at all times information you to the closest attention-grabbing spot for dinner or spin yarns by way of the longest of rain delays.

Pleased trails, Paul and Mike. They don’t make ‘em such as you anymore.

Heroes:

Jakub Dobes, Juraj Slafkovsky, Lane Hutson, Ivan Demidov, Alexandre Texier, Cole Caufield, Nick Suzuki, Naomi Urness, Alice Robinson, Michael Whalen, Paul “Father” Carbray, Bobby Rousseau &&&& final however not least, Jacob Fowler.

Zeros:

NFL accidents, Mike Matheson’s sticks, FanDuel, Sherrone Moore, Jim Harbaugh, Dillon Brooks, Wayne Gretzky, Bud Selig Jr., Claude Brochu, David Samson &&&& final however not least, Jeffrey Loria.

Now and endlessly.

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