Tag: Colour Commentary

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Colour Commentary: The Rocky State of the NBA in China

Remember when the NBA’s biggest storylines during the off-season involved tampering, trade requests, and Lebron’s “Taco Tuesday” trademark denial? Now, America’s most progressive sports league faces its biggest challenge since the Donald Sterling scandals of 2014.

On Oct. 4, Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey tweeted an image in support of the protests taking place in Hong Kong that read, “Fight for Freedom. Stand with Hong Kong.” Morey deleted the tweet shortly after but had failed in avoiding conflict with China.

The NBA’s initial statement acknowledged the tweet as offensive to Chinese friends and fans, but ultimately created more confusion as it failed in representing a definitive stance. On Oct. 8, NBA commissioner Adam Silver cleared the air when he specified the NBA would not regulate what its employees and owners say, supporting Morey’s right to freedom of expression.

In response, China Central Television, CCTV, showed immense dissatisfaction, saying “remarks that challenge national sovereignty and social stability are not within the scope of freedom of speech.” In addition, the company suspended all NBA broadcasting. Rights holder of the NBA in China, Tencent, blacklisted Daryl Morey and the Houston Rockets. Sponsors were forced to cut ties with the team and its players to avoid potential blowback.

The NBA-China rift is an ongoing process that is showing no signs of faltering. A single tweet derailed a Chinese partnership that generated millions in yearly revenue for the NBA, unequivocally one of its largest international markets.

The bottom line is prominent figures need to provide unsolicited content frequently to appease the public interests, often resulting in posts that are imprudent.  Morey’s tweet shows the volatility a post can possess and stresses the importance of taking precaution when sharing online in a society that encourages spontaneity, with consumers who are obsessed with immediate satisfaction.

This notion was emphasized in the backlash received by coach of the Golden State Warriors, Steve Kerr, when he was asked about the topic. Kerr has been outspoken to the media on American political issues in the past but admitted he did not have enough knowledge to formulate an opinion on Chinese politics.

Kerr was criticized by fans and was called out by President Donald Trump in a hearing on Oct 9, who labelled Kerr a hypocrite that “was like a scared little boy”. The Warriors’ coach effectively showed self-awareness in wanting to think before he speaks, which is unfortunately an ostracized attitude in 2019.

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Colour Commentary: Antonio Brown saga turns ugly

The biggest, most interesting, and now horrifying storyline in the NFL this year is without a doubt the Antonio Brown saga.

From his disgusting foot injury suffered in a cryogenic lab due to his own negligence, to his injunction appeals with the NFL over his helmet. Things couldn’t possibly get more ridiculous, right?

After being fined for missing a couple of practices and posting said fine on Instagram, Brown had a run-in with Raiders general manager Mike Mayock where Brown reportedly needed to be held back after threatening to punch his boss in the face.

Things seemed to be over for Brown in Oakland. However, he gave an emotional apology to his teammates in the days leading up to their season opener against the Broncos. He also released another video on his YouTube page of a conversation held between him and head coach Jon Gruden.

Mayock and the Raiders would then send Brown another fine of over $200,000, which voided the guaranteed money in his contract. Brown would later ask for his release by, you guessed it, an Instagram post.

He would later sign for the New England Patriots who looked poised to win another Super Bowl after the signing, as they had their most talented offence since the 2007 campaign when they went undefeated in the regular season.

But this is where it gets horrifying. A few days after the Patriots sign him, Brown had been accused of rape and sexual assault on three separate occasions by his former personal trainer, Britney Taylor.

Once the case is settled, Brown should face major disciplinary action, charged or not. However, it’ll likely be nothing too major for him. Kareem Hunt got only an eight-game suspension for kicking his girlfriend on tape. Tyreek Hill didn’t even get a slap on the wrist for punching his pregnant girlfriend in the stomach.

The NFL needs to realize that young kids all over the world are watching their product and see these athletes as role models. What kind of precedent are they setting by allowing sexual assailants, abusers and rapists represent their company?

If this happened to someone working for most companies, they would not have the luxury of going to work on Monday. I understand that Antonio Brown brings in millions of dollars in revenue on his own but where does the NFL draw the line?

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Colour Commentary

Summer is over. As much as we’d like to deny it, we all hear the back to school ads on the radio, see the commercials on TV and our friends on social media asking about easy electives to take.

With every new academic year comes new challenges for everyone. The day I walked into Concordia, I knew I wanted to be a sports broadcaster. I did everything in my power to hone my skills and become great at that – and I still have a ways to go.

However, in that endeavor, I pitted myself into becoming a one trick pony; and that just doesn’t work in today’s media landscape. Journalists nowadays have to be able to do everything.

Every year around December, I like to reflect on the year that was and how I could grow from it. Every year I promised myself that I would take on more writing projects. Everyone who knows me, knows I do not lie; and when I do, I feel terrible about it. Well, I lied to myself for three years because I never really took that promise, or writing, seriously.

However, this year is different. This year I have a responsibility as sports editor of this amazing newspaper only to myself, but also the amazing team of writers that work hard to churn out stories every week; I have a responsibility to you, our readers.

I am honored and privileged to be able to hold the position of sports editor and I do not take it lightly. This year I promise to give this paper everything I have and will do my utmost best to make this section the best that it can be.

Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoy the ride.

 

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Colour commentary: Learning what it’s like to work for a student newspaper

Sports Editor Nicholas Di Giovanni gives his take on his latest in sports with his weekly Colour Commentary

Valuable lessons gained in two years as Sports Editor

Two years ago, when I started as the Sports Editor of The Concordian, I really didn’t know what to expect. I had just finished my first year in journalism and didn’t have much experience with handling a publication. I also didn’t know what it was like to write for a newspaper, which is a declining industry.

Two years later, as I’m writing my final Colour Commentary, I can safely say my experience in this role has been surreal, and I learned quite a bit while doing it. Sure, people don’t pick up physical newspapers as much, but we’re still trying to put our best content out there.

The biggest thing I learned was time management, and how to roll with the punches. I remember before my first issue in August 2017, I sat in front of my computer trying to figure out how to get everything done. When the stories I wanted in that first issue had setbacks, I panicked. I kept questioning how I would have my section ready in time or how I was supposed to do this for the rest of the year.

Each week during the first year, I learned how to deal with those problems. A dozen issues in, I got the hang of it; I planned my content in advance, and always had stories prepared. That’s the challenge of working with a weekly newspaper—stories might be timely, but you need to get things done.

Having other student journalists write stories also taught me how to be patient and how to deal with people. I always felt like the writers and I were part of a sports section team, so I wanted to treat everyone properly. It can be intimidating, especially for first-year students, to approach the student media, so I hope they felt welcomed.

Publishing a newspaper is a team effort, and I’ve been lucky enough to work with some of the best teammates anyone could ask for. I see how hard the other section editors work, making their pages look fantastic every week. Each editor brought a different style, but all together, the paper was second-to-none.

We definitely wouldn’t have had such fantastic teams the past two years without our Editor-in-Chiefs, Katya Teague then Maggie Hope, and our Managing Editors Alex Cole and Candice Pye. Of course, our Production Editor Loreanna Lastoria made everything look so great.

I want to thank Mackenzie Lad, Alex Hutchins, Kirubel Mehari, Hannah Ewen, and Gabe Chevalier for spending countless hours at games taking breathtaking photos. I wouldn’t have published anything without those. Without our copy editors the past two years—Valeria Cori-Manocchio, Katerina Gang, Kylee Ross, Rebecca Luger, Victoria Lewin, Katelyn Thomas, Juliet Booker, and Kayla-Marie Turriciano—our articles wouldn’t have been so easy to read. I also have to thank the copy team for making me a better writer.

The Concordian teams of 2017-18 and 2018-19 absolutely killed it, and I’m looking forward to what this paper will do in the future.  

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Colour commentary: Carey Price not appreciated enough

Sports Editor Nicholas Di Giovanni gives his take on his latest in sports with his weekly Colour Commentary

Canadiens goalie record-setting win is another accomplishment in great career

I remember the first time I watched Carey Price on TV; Canada was playing the United States at the 2007 World Junior Championships, and the semi-final game went to a shootout. The shootout lasted seven rounds but Price made three huge saves, including the last on Peter Mueller, to send Canada to the final, which they won. I remember thinking, “Wow, this guy is a Montreal Canadiens prospect.”

Fast forward 12 years, and Price is more than just a Montreal Canadiens player. On March 5, he tied Jacques Plante for most wins in franchise history, with 314. In a franchise that’s been around for 110 years, with its many legends and all-time greats, Price is now number one for wins.

Although Price has often been criticized, Canadiens fans of this generation are so lucky to have him. I don’t think we truly appreciate just how good Price is.

With a career 314-220-67 record, Price also has a career .918 save percentage and 2.47 goals-against average (GAA). Since becoming the Canadiens’s full-time starter in 2010-11, he’s only had two seasons with a GAA higher than 2.50: 2.59 in 2012-13, when he played 39 games, and 3.11 last season when the Canadiens finished third to last in the league.

We definitely can’t forget about Price’s 44-win 2014-15 season, in which he had a career-best 1.96 GAA, which is just mind-blowing. It’s a no-brainer that he won the Hart Trophy as the league’s best player that year.

There is one thing missing from Price’s trophy cabinet, and that’s a Stanley Cup. Pessimistic fans will be quick to criticize Price’s career with the Canadiens for this reason, since Plante and Ken Dryden won six, while Patrick Roy won two with the Habs and two more with the Colorado Avalanche.

However, these Hall of Fame goalies had Hall of Fame players in front of them. Price doesn’t, except for a potential Hall of Famer in Shea Weber—who’s only been with the Habs since 2016. Plante played on the 1950s dynasty team, which included 12 Hall of Fame members from Jean Beliveau to Maurice Richard. Dryden’s team in the 1970s had 11 members in the Hall of Fame.

It’s a shame Price couldn’t have played on better Canadiens teams. They came close in 2014, as he carried them to the Conference Final before getting injured. This season, he’s helped carry the Habs past expectations as they continue to fight for a spot in the playoffs. We can only hope this young team will improve and Carey Price will finally win his Stanley Cup.

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Colour commentary: Ego gets in the way in sports

Sports Editor Nicholas Di Giovanni gives his take on his latest in sports with his weekly Colour Commentary

Kepa Arrizabalaga just another example of player-first mentality

Sports fans around the world witnessed one of the most outrageous incidents in a soccer game on Feb. 24. In the Carabao Cup final—one of England’s cup tournaments—between Chelsea and Manchester City at Wembley Stadium, Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri wanted to substitute his goalkeeper, Kepa Arrizabalaga, for back-up Willy Caballero.

The game was tied 0-0 in the 120th minute and set to go to penalties. Sarri saw Kepa cramping up, and wanted to take him off before the penalty shootout. Instead, when the coach signalled to his goalie to change, Kepa, who signed for a world-record fee of over US$75 million last summer, simply refused. The keeper told Sarri he would stay on the pitch.

This is Sarri’s first season managing the club, and earlier that week, he was already unsure about his future with Chelsea. Once the goalie refused to change, Sarri lost his temper, started yelling at his staff and players on the bench, and walked towards the door, as if he was lquitting his job, but ultimately returned to the bench.

Kepa won the argument with the manager to stay on, but then his team lost in penalties, 4-3.

It’s understandable why Sarri lost his temper like that. The coach is the head of the team, and no player should ever make, or refuse, a coach’s decision. Of course Kepa wants to help his team win in penalties, and with the money they paid for him, why wouldn’t he? But he has to help his team win by sitting on the bench.

Ego is often too involved in sports now, and some of these athletes forget about the bigger picture: it’s a team sport. I guess these players were never told “no” growing up either.

Kepa also demonstrated that he doesn’t care about his team, his coach, or even his fans. He made an embarrassing decision, which cost his team the game. Luckily for him, Sarri didn’t throw him under the bus in the post-game press conference. Sarri called it a misunderstanding, but responded properly by benching Kepa the next game.

Athletes are role models for kids, and if they see their favourite player disobeying their coach, it’s a toxic influence. These kids will start ignoring their parent’s orders, then their teacher’s, then their boss’s, until we have a world of egomaniacs refusing all rules.

Team sports are all about working with others, and respecting those around you, to achieve a greater goal. If Kepa, or any athlete, refuses to play nice with anyone around him, he should probably play darts.

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Colour commentary: Athletes contracts are too high

Sports Editor Nicholas Di Giovanni gives his take on his latest in sports with his weekly Colour Commentary

Anthony Davis is the next player in line for a big pay day

I was listening to TSN 690 a few weeks ago on the drive to school, only half paying attention to stats and opinions about sports I don’t always understand. Then, I hear “US$240 million” and “five years” in the same sentence.

Anthony Davis, who’s played basketball with the New Orleans Pelicans since 2012, was offered a supermax deal worth US$240 million over five years and could be a free agent next summer. According to ESPN, he turned it down because he wants to be traded.

Now, I don’t really care about basketball. But what I do care about is how much money athletes are paid. If you think Davis’s contract sounds ludacris, it’s not even that extreme. He’s only the 24th best-paid NBA player and the 34th highest-paid athlete in 2018, according to Forbes. And for what? To run a court and shoot a ball in a basket?

But it isn’t just Davis or the NBA. The whole sports world makes no sense. An NBA player’s average annual salary is US$7.77 million; a MLB player’s is US$4.51 million; an NHL player can see US$2.78 million. But for what? To shoot, hit, kick, or throw a ball?

Why do these people need to be paid so much? Sure, they’ve probably spent every day since they were six practising and playing, working hard to get better, all with the dream of going pro. Then one day they achieve their dream, and are now making millions a year.

Professional athletes aren’t the only ones working hard to earn a living and make the best of their lives. It’s not like they’re saving lives or necessarily helping people, which would warrant, at least in my eyes, a much bigger paycheck than someone playing a sport.

It’s the entertainment aspect of the sports industry that’s the problem. The contracts to televise these events are so extravagant and unnecessary. Fans keep watching, which contributes to the problem. The more people watch, the higher the prices for tickets or merchandise is, and the cycle of too much money being invested into a sport is continued.

Just an example: Floyd Mayweather was the world’s highest paid athlete in 2018, according to Forbes, with US$285 million. Most of this was for his one fight against Conor McGregor; the match generated 4.3 million pay-per-view buys. For what? To avoid getting beaten by a UFC fighter with an attitude?

All of this to say that, while professional athletes do put all their blood, sweat and tears into their sport, and while they have made and continue to make sacrifices, at the end of the day, no one is worth that much money.

Colour commentary: NHL needs more division games

Sports Editor Nicholas Di Giovanni gives his take on his latest in sports with his weekly Colour Commentary

The NHL needs to restructure its regular season schedule if it wants to have more appeal late in the season. Currently, most teams play their division opponents four times each, with three games against teams in the opposing division in the same conference. Each team also plays every team from the opposite conference twice: once on the road and once at home.

The league changed its divisions and season structure in 2013 and wanted to make sure each NHL team plays in every arena. That way, fans in every city have the chance to see all teams, whereas before, Eastern teams would only play a team from the West once a year, with the host rotating each year.

It’s a great structure for fans, especially if you support a team outside of your hometown. A San Jose Sharks fan in Montreal gets the opportunity to see their team play every season. Although good for ticket sales, this format is not good for the standings.

The NHL uses a division-based playoff system, with the top-three teams in each division making the playoffs—two extra teams from each conference qualify through wild card spots. So teams are in a tight battle with their division rivals all season long, but only get to play them four times.

This season, the Montreal Canadiens are in a close playoff race with their two main rivals, the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Boston Bruins. They already played the Bruins four times, with their last game on Jan. 14. It’s an injustice that these two teams won’t meet again this season. The Canadiens didn’t play the Leafs from opening night on Oct. 3 until last Saturday—that’s a four-month break.

It just doesn’t make sense that fans see these great rivalries only two more times than a game against a team from the opposite conference. In reality, interconference games are useless for the standings, and there should be more intradivision games.

In 2005, the NHL had teams playing their own division eight times, which led to some crazy games between the Habs and Leafs. We need to see more of that now.

When Seattle joins the NHL in 2021 and evens out the divisions to eight teams each, the league should adapt a new schedule. In an 82-game season, it would make sense to play your division six times each (42 games total), opposing division three times each (24 games) and once against opposite-conference teams (16 games).

It’s also much easier to market Montreal-Boston six times a season for TV ratings than Montreal-Arizona for two games.

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Colour commentary: Coyne Schofield another trailblazer for women’s hockey

Sports Editor Nicholas Di Giovanni gives his take on his latest in sports with his weekly Colour Commentary

American gold medalist’s skate inspired young girls to play hockey

Kendall Coyne Schofield became a trailblazer for women’s hockey with her skate at the NHL Skills Competition on Jan. 25 in San Jose. She replaced Colorado Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon in the fastest skater competition because he was out with a foot injury, becoming the first woman to officially compete in the skills competition.

With a time of 14.346 seconds, Coyne Schofield finished seventh out of eight skaters, ahead of the Arizona Coyotes’s Clayton Keller. She finished a second behind Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers, who’s won the event three years in a row.

The most impressive part of her skate was how she kept her feet moving all the way around the rink, and didn’t glide at all. Coyne Schofield is 5’2”, so she doesn’t have the same stride length that the 6’1” McDavid has. Any youth hockey coach should show their players Coyne Schofield’s skate to demonstrate what the perfect skating form looks like.

What Coyne Schofield did was more than just compete in a skating competition. She pushed the growth of women’s professional hockey a step further. The women’s hockey Olympic final is one of the most-watched hockey games in a calendar year—over 3.7 million Americans watched last year’s final, more than most NHL playoff games in 2017. Yet, the sport is almost forgotten in the years between Olympics.

Now, hopefully that will change. People are finally talking about women’s hockey outside the Olympics. Coyne Schofield’s skate also inspired girls watching, including one five-year-old who told her dad she wanted to do that.

Having role models to look up to is so important for the growth of women’s hockey. We just don’t hear enough about these hockey players, so when a girl sees one on TV and becomes inspired, it can make a world of difference.

There’s a lot more that needs to be done to expand women’s professional hockey to its full potential, such as merging the National Women’s Hockey League and Canadian Women’s Hockey League. Big TV companies also need to start broadcasting more games, or at least showing highlights on the morning sports shows, and there’s always the need to have more fans at games. NBC also had Coyne Schofield as an analyst during a broadcast on Jan. 30, which in itself could do wonders.

Women’s hockey still needs to get the recognition it deserves, but this is a start.

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Colour commentary: Baseball Hall of Fame should be reserved for only the elite

Sports Editor Nicholas Di Giovanni gives his take on his latest in sports with his weekly Colour Commentary

Why the Hockey Hall of Fame should replicate its baseball counterpart

To make the hall of fame in any given sport, an athlete needs to have a greatness and elite talent not many others have. In many cases, the hall of fame has abandoned the vision of the very best, and has become the hall of the very good.

This is evident with the Hockey Hall of Fame (HHOF). Since 1959, the HHOF has inducted new members every year, including some controversial figures like Eric Lindros in 2016 and Paul Kariya in 2017. While both were fantastic hockey players throughout their respective careers, some argue they didn’t produce Hall-of-Fame-worthy numbers. Granted, both were plagued by many injuries. Despite their setbacks, Lindros and Kariya are two of the few forwards, not known for their defensive play, who did not reach 1,000 points in their careers.

In contrast, the National Baseball Hall of Fame (BBHOF) has been much more selective when inducting players. The Baseball Writers’ Association of America submits their votes every year, and a player is only inducted if he receives 75 per cent of votes. Since the first class of members in 1936, which included Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb, the BBHOF has generally been reserved for the best. Cooperstown, New York, the home of the Hall of Fame, has over 300 inductees added throughout its nearly 83 year existence, and as the game has changed, so have the standards for induction.

Granted, the BBHOF has been mired in controversy surrounding the absence of several noticed stars of the game, like all-time home run leader Barry Bonds, as well as Sammy Sosa and Roger Clemens for their alleged use of performance enhancing drugs. This proves the BBHOF will typically only induct players who’ve truly earned their spots as legends. With the most recent class featuring Harold Baines and Lee Smith, the standards remain the same.

The HHOF usually has a class of two to five NHL players each year, with the 2018 class featuring Willie O’Ree, Martin Brodeur, and Martin St-Louis. The BBHOF has had year-long stretches when no members have been inducted, specifically because there have been no worthy players up for induction.

The 2019 BBHOF class has several worthy members up for induction, such as all-time saves leader Mariano Rivera, and the late former Blue Jay and two time Cy Young Award winner Roy Halladay. The BBHOF must maintain its standards, and the HHOF would be wise to alter their standards of admission. The hall of fame in any sport is reserved for the best of the best, and it must be kept that way.

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Colour commentary: The NHL has to stop rewarding losses

Sports Editor Nicholas Di Giovanni gives his take on his latest in sports with his weekly Colour Commentary

Seeing teams tank just isn’t good for the league

The Montreal Canadiens aren’t that bad of a team this year. They have a 25-17-5 record, sitting in seventh place in the Eastern Conference with 55 points. Despite this, there are still fans who believe the Habs should lose in order to get a better draft pick. Yes, more than halfway through the season, and in a playoff spot, Canadiens fans want their team to lose.

Sure, most people including myself did not see the Habs as a playoff team at the beginning of the season. But here they are, fighting for a playoff spot and looking like a good team. The only reason people are suggesting them to tank is because the structure of the NHL season allows them to.

At the end of the season, the 15 non-playoff teams enter the NHL Draft Lottery for a chance to win a top-three pick in the upcoming draft in June. The worst team in the league has an 18.5 per cent chance of picking first, with the odds decreasing until the best team remaining has a one per cent chance. Logically, losing means a better shot at securing the league’s next big star in the draft.

Past teams like the 2014-15 Buffalo Sabres or the 2015-16 Toronto Maple Leafs tanked in order to get generational talent in the draft, but that stuff isn’t good for the league.

In simple terms, you play sports to win, not lose. Sports at a professional level should also act as a role model for young fans, so the NHL has to put an end to this mentality because losing should never be rewarded.

I understand the NHL, like most other North American sports leagues that use a draft lottery system, wants to have parity in the league. That’s why it only makes sense to make weak teams stronger through the draft. But the NHL needs to come up with a way to have teams competitive all-year long.

One system I’ve seen suggested is eliminated-teams standings where teams fight for a higher draft pick. Once a team is mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, they start accumulating points for these draft-pick standings. For example, if the Philadelphia Flyers get eliminated with 20 games left, they will have to battle hard in that final stretch to finish first in a fight for the number-one pick. It still gives them a better chance of earning points than a hockey team that is eliminated on the final day of the regular season, and can’t collect points. This way, it keeps fans entertained all season long, and ensures that teams stay competitive.

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Colour commentary: Habs defence needs to be better

Sports Editor Nicholas Di Giovanni gives his take on his latest in sports with his weekly Colour Commentary

Montreal Canadiens offence is clicking, but they’re still losing

The Montreal Canadiens’s start to the season has been a promising one: they have an 11-7-4 record and sit in eighth place in the Eastern Conference. Not many people, including myself, expected the Habs to be this good this season, so it’s been a pleasant surprise.

One particular stand-out is forward Max Domi. When the Canadiens acquired him in June for Alex Galchenyuk, fans were outraged, mainly because Domi scored nine goals last season with the Arizona Coyotes. Now, he has 26 points in 24 games, and had an 11-game point streak until the Habs’s loss on Nov. 23 against Buffalo.

New acquisition Tomáš Tatar is impressing fans with his work ethic and scoring ability, while Jonathan Drouin is finally becoming the player people expected him to be. 18-year-old rookie sensation Jesperi Kotkaniemi doesn’t look out of place either.

Despite all the promise they have offensively, the biggest worry for the Habs in this young season is their defence. They’ve allowed the fifth-most goals in the NHL, with 81, and no other team in a playoff spot has allowed more than 75. They’re lucky their 74 goals for is one shy of the top-10 in the league, which explains why they’ve been winning games.

The Habs defence is to blame for allowing so many goals—not goalie Carey Price. When looking at the Habs defence, players like David Schlemko, and Jordie Benn just aren’t good enough for today’s fast NHL. Even a young player like Victor Mete, who had the potential to be a first-pairing defenceman, struggles to defend bigger players. At this point, Jeff Petry carries the defence, as he averages 24:57 ice time per game, which is the second-most in the Atlantic Division.

This Habs defence core is really missing captain Shea Weber, who will be returning from an injury as early as Nov. 27. Weber brings a style of play that is both physical and calm—he knows when to pick up the tempo or slow it down. There’s no other defenceman who can do that right now.

Still, even with Weber back, Price will still need a good defenceman on the left side. Too many times this season have the Canadiens allowed a player open on the left side to score. I think the Habs are one good left-handed defenceman away from being a strong team, but for now, they will struggle to hold the fort defensively.

Until the defence can improve, the Habs have to rely on Price to stand on his head and bail his team out. But you can’t expect him to bake a cake without eggs or milk.

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