Recrutes

Recrutes: Hockey scouting from a professional perspective from Grant McCagg and Habs coverage from a 33 year veteran covering the NHL from Brian Wilde.

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McLean’s Pub Call of the Wilde: The Hunger Games

November 4, 2017

By Brian Wilde

Wilde Horses

– I feared for the health of Andrew Shaw heading into this season. He was suffering from concussions and it was looking very bad considering it took him from April to September to feel better. He most definitely now feels better. Shaw is playing in the same manner as he did when he was a key figure in the Hawks Cup runs. It is a fact and not an opinion to dispute that Shaw played with Jonathan Toews on one of the Hawks’ Cups runs and therefore was important. Shaw in the first period drew a penalty and then scored on that power play. Second period and it’s Shaw again in front of the net and he smartly waits it out to score his second of the night. He has been one of the better Habs players this season. I did not see that coming. As someone who feels so horribly when these players suffer concussions, I’m so pleased for this.

– Jonathan Drouin as a quarterback on the power play totally works for me. Drouin on the right side with Weber on the left is the set up that opens up all of the options. Drouin has the vision to find them all. He can also choose to fire a shot by buying some space for himself too.  Now if they would put Pacioretty in the slot and Galchenyuk on the right side, they’d really be in business. The one timer on passes from Drouin to Galchenyuk . . . I am absolutely certain would be a thing. Drouin was shooting more on the point which he needs to do more of because it sets up the other options if the penalty killers actually think he will also shoot.

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About Brian Wilde

Brian Wilde has worked in hockey since he was 20. He was the rink side host for the Edmonton Oilers at CTV and Ottawa Senators for Sportsnet. He was also lead reporter on the Montreal Canadiens for 17 years at CTV Montreal.

View all posts by Brian Wilde

  • Cj Angel says

    Wow! I love your writing. Win or lose I can always depend on your balanced analysis. So far this year Recrutes.ca is the best part of the Habs season.

    I feel the Habs are headed for another season for “draft purgatory” – not good enough to win but not bad enough to get a needed high draft pick.

    My biggest fear now is MB trading talented youth for patch jobs.

    Thanks for your time!

  • Marco Mannarino says

    Great piece.
    The comments about the Montreal media articulate very eloquently what many are thinking.

  • lamoroso says

    Yes! About time someone other than the fans call out the media. Well done, Brian! The defense core worries me too. Hopefully Schlemko’s return balances things out a little.

  • Jean Sévigny says

    Love this analysis, again!
    One thing I am wondering about: why is Benn playing on left side where he makes all his mistakes! I think he played one game on the right and played very well… I don’t like second guessing coaching but, that is what I see!
    You?

  • Serge Levy says

    Habs are about to enter the “fun” part of the schedule. Once they end this road trip, they will play 14 of the next 17 at home. Things will look way different by december. What will the doomsayers say then? We have seen the perfect storm: tough schedule (10 of 15 on the road), abnormally bad goaltending, bad luck, historically awful shooting %. Its starting to turn around already.
    Habs need a top4 D for sure. We all know it, MB knows it, CJ knows it.
    If Price is hurt, can Lindgren do the job? If not GET A GOALIE NOW! Pay the price. Average goaltending will be sufficient for playoffs.

  • Mona Parent says

    Always a good balanced read. I agree about the Montreal media… so much speculation, so many opinions, so much negativity, so much stalking traded players… Sometimes I wonder why ‘their management’ doesn’t rebuild. We need fairer, more balanced coverage.

  • Brian Wilde says

    I am going to say it again to be clear because of what Rob Hing said publicly because we have a respectful discourse here with a level of maturity that is excellent ….. this media comment I made is about non hockey related commentary focused around personal speculation about the players that the media members make. This is not in any way a comment by me about the way these media people see hockey. Like you and you and you, I respect their rights to see hockey right and wrong, to be good and bad at breaking down hockey.

    I do not in any way respect TMZ style non related rumour mongering about off ice activities and off ice difficulties. This is the reason players don’t want to be here. It isn’t because player x is told by the media that he is playing badly, it is because player x is rumoured to be having an affair or doing heroine or has marital issues or hits his dog or visits prostitutes. I know you all got that but I want to make sure 100 percent that you all got that. It is not my job nor my business to tell reporters to evaluate hockey differently. Knock yourselves out as reporters evaluating hockey and do it 100 percent differently than I, it’s not my issue or my business. But if you’re a hockey journalist then be a journalist talking about hockey, not spreading speculations about personal things. Here has been the motto of my journalistic journey …. if the police and law aren’t interested nor involved then neither am I.

    Thanks for reading my long winded explanation. I want no confusion here. I don’t have any issue at all with hockey reporters covering hockey.

  • Jonathan says

    It’s curious why many in the media decide to attack the team as they do when its struggling. It seems as they have personal agendas to do so, but for the life of me I can’t figure what they are. Is it contempt towards MB, Mr Molson, the team in general? I don’t know. Good on you to talk about it Brian.

  • Scott Murray says

    Love it Brian. Well put as usual. When I was at the Concordia, our motto was Get the Facts. That’s precisely why you and the site got my first paid subscription for content. NYT, GlobeandMail etc. are still waiting. Cheers!

  • Adrian Geary says

    A great read as usual. Don’t let the posers get you down, Brian. It can be hard to listen to on a daily basis, but us real fans know the difference between reporting and gossiping. That’s why most of us come here, reporting.

    Sadly the D core has got you typing unflattering stuff. But real reporting can’t be all sunshine, can it? The truth hurts sometimes. Unless we get some help on our defense, it will be a long year. But win or lose, I’ll be continuing to rely on Recrutes for all my Habs news. Keep up the great work Brian and Grant.

  • Dave Brodbeck says

    ‘Can we all stick to hockey and not be Entertainment Tonight? It’s embarrassing. You’re not frustrated fans – you’re professionals who report on hockey.’
    That Brian is gold.

  • Stephen Ogden says

    Strong analysis, especially the numericsl comparison of Pacioretty & Desharnais in the PP: very interesting.

    Price is broken down after the five year shift upon shift, period upon period, game upon game, season upon season, onslaught under the imbecility of what is only nominally “coaching” from Therrien.

    (Without the superhuman goaltending of Price, even Bergevin’s perverse fidelity would not have enabled Therrien to last two inept seasons. As it was, Therrien would wreck the Habs with his personality problems for five destructive seasons.)

    Now we do have a proper coach but Price is a broken resource. And because of this, Bergevin’s failure as GM no longer can be covered. His stupidity in trades has left us with a non-NHL-calibre defense, and this no ability to cover Price.

    Markov, Subban, Sergachev, Mete: this what the Habs, not should but *would* have been on defence if only Bergevin had just done nothing instead of making immature and unintelligent trades.

    A defense the envy of the NHL, and sport for the sad broken Price, if only Bergevin had not, to the ruination of the present generation of the team, been catastrophically mis-hired.

  • Don Cattani says

    Hard to quantify this, but the last few games (even the loss in Minnesota) have been much more watchable. Earlier in the season it was pretty clear after watching a few minutes that it would be tedious viewing. Now at least there is stuff happening. Really miss Markov though.

  • Curtis Traverse says

    Agree 100% with all of your points here Brian. Especially the note about the media handling of losses. It is downright embarrassing at times. I love your no nonsense approach to dealing with the highs and lows of a season

  • Trevor Birtch says

    Nick Kypreos is paid to create story’s, i dont think he’s ever been right on any of his “predictions.” I take everything he says with a grain of salt.

    Did you see the amount of 1 timers Chucky was throwing at the net on the PP2 unit? having him and weber together on opposite sides would just be deadly!