By Stevo, AllHabs.net

“Bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla” – Jacques Martin

MONTREAL, QC.-  Although Jacques Martin has never actually been quoted as per the above, he might as well be answering this to the media every time he answers questions, since we rarely ever get an interesting answer out of the Montreal Canadiens head coach.

After the Canadiens lost 0-3 to the Blue Jackets in Columbus, Jacques Martin was faced with three questions in the “point de presse” following the game.

Question #1:  “The offense has struggled lately, tonight, it looked ever worse then the last game?”

Jacques Martin: “I think that the first period was well divided, but we didn’t score, their goalie made strong saves, we made a couple errors and they were able to capitalize.  They dominated the second.   In the third, we came back but weren’t able to score, but we created good scoring chances.”

Great recap Jacques, but you totally avoided the question which had to do with the Habs lack of scoring.

Question #2:  “They (Columbus) did what you coaches call, “little things” to help them get the win, Garon yes, but they blocked more then 15 shots, do you think this was a turning point in the game?”

Jacques Martin: “For sure, i think that if i look at what we retain from tonight’s game, the third period was our best period because we were more direct, we shot more at the opposing net, we executed more rapidly then in the first two periods.”

Jacques kinda goes into answering the question with the “for sure” but the master that he is, he then deflects the answer and avoids even trying to explain why the Habs were unsuccessful in getting shots through.  He again went into recap mode and explained his views on the third period.

Question #3:  “Is it because of the line changes that you had this sudden jump of energy in the third period?”

Jacques Martin:  “I don’t know, we will need to analyze the game, and try to bring solutions to Friday’s game.”

Here’s a funny one, the only time Jacques Martin didn’t go off into a recap was this question, and he basically said that he had no idea why his team did well in the third period.  Cause for concern?  I was already concerned…

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The Montreal Canadiens have now lost their past two games but is it too early to panic?  After twelve games, the Montreal Canadiens not only have the worst power play in the league, they are simply not scoring – period.  It’s not just the power play, the Habs have only scored 29 goals so far this season, that’s less than the Buffalo Sabres (32) and the Edmonton Oilers (31) who are both last place in the standings in each of their respective conferences.

What’s Jacques Martin’s solution? By all appearances, he has decided to break-up the top line (Kostitsyn, Plekanec, Cammalleri), which is the only line that is really producing on a regular basis, and the duo of Scott Gomez and Brian Gionta which is the real cause for concern will remain intact.  Eller will be placed at the wing on the top line.  Personally, I just don’t get it.  Thoughts of “If it’s not broken, don’t fix it” are clouding my mind.

You could argue that Andrei Kostitsyn has been the Montreal Canadiens best player this season, and that he might be in the best position to get the other two going, but it should not cost you a great first line, to get a second line going, I refuse to buy into that.  What if Kostitsyn loses his stride by being removed from Plekanec’s wing, how good of a move will that have turned out to be?  Time will tell.

*****

Put all my frustrations in regards to Jacques Martin together, and it brings me to the purpose of this article, the Jacques Martin push-pin board.  It’s more of an image then a board.  You can place it on top of your board, or you can do like me and simply pin it on your cubicle wall at work, and drive pins into him all day.  If you get bored with Jacques, you can simply take someone else’s head and place it on top.  Simply download the image below.
(Right click, Save Image As…Print!)