It's Time for Andrei Kostitsyn and the Canadiens to Part Ways
I like to think of myself as a fan who doesn't call for rash decisions to be made when certain issues arise with the Montreal Canadiens. If Carey Price lets in a bad goal, I won't call for a mulligan on the Jaroslav Halak trade. If Jacques Martin makes a coaching decision I disagree with, I won't call for sneaking into Tampa Bay's facility in the middle of the night, knocking Steve Yzerman out with a billy club and stealing Guy Boucher back. However, after yet another issue relating to Andrei Kostitsyn's effort level has now reared its ugly head, leading to his benching in the third period against Colorado and a seat in the press box in Dallas, it's time for the Canadiens to cut bait and send the former 10th overall pick packing.
This isn't necessarily a criticism of Kostitsyn, whose talent and vast array of skills I've touted several times in the past. At the same time, this isn't necessarily a criticism of Jacques Martin, whose coaching style and system I've unpopularly defended. This is just a case of trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. This just isn't a marriage that's worked or will work and the window is closing rapidly for the Canadiens to turn this negative situation into a positive. Jacques Martin's system calls for each player on the roster to be a responsible two-way player while Kostitsyn is generally only happy freelancing around the offensive zone. You'd like to see Kostitsyn be able to adapt but enough time has been given to him that if he hasn't received the message by now, he just isn't interested in receiving it.
Kostitsyn's status as a developing player isn't necessarily accurate anymore. While he is only 25 years old and should have at least a good ten years left in his career, he's at the age where a lot of players his age are reaping the benefits of their prime. The NHL is now a league where Sidney Crosby and Steven Stamkos are having 50+ goal seasons while they're still being carded to get into bars. It's become a young man's game whereas in past eras, players only hit their prime at 28 or 29 years old. I don't need to go over the list of players the Habs could have drafted instead of the Zach Parises and Mike Richards' of the league but a lot of them have figured out the pro game, adapted to styles that satisfy their coaches and have taken their rightful places as the faces of the league. Kostitsyn's development has been stalled for too long now.
Kostitsyn will succeed where ever he goes, I have no doubt of that. Too many players have thrived once leaving Montreal because they simply don't fit into Montreal's style of play. Whether the coaching staff is at fault for that is another blog for another day. Whoever would deal for Kostitsyn will have a system that caters to his offensive attributes, can hide his defensive deficiencies and can tolerate his questionable desire.
Kostitsyn's departure would surely leave a hole on the wing the top two lines, a position the Habs are already thin at. However, considering the abundance of cap space that is available to Pierre Gauthier, acquiring a player who would be a better fit for Martin's system shouldn't be all that difficult or costly. Tomas Plekanec also seems to have a knack for being able to make almost any player he plays alongside with look better than he is.
Many factors should enhance Kostitsyn's trade value and ensure the Canadiens get decent value in return. Kostitsyn is in the final year of his contract and headed towards cost-controlled restricted free agency and he's shown enough of his size and skill to still have at least a few general managers still lusting after him.
In a perfect world, Kostitsyn would make the beautiful music he made playing with Tomas Plekanec at the beginning of the season all year long but the consistency issues that have plagued Kostitsyn his entire career have continued yet again. In a perfect world, he would have made me look like a genius for predicting he would score 35 goals this year. He might still, but it won't be in a Canadiens uniform.
This isn't necessarily a criticism of Kostitsyn, whose talent and vast array of skills I've touted several times in the past. At the same time, this isn't necessarily a criticism of Jacques Martin, whose coaching style and system I've unpopularly defended. This is just a case of trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. This just isn't a marriage that's worked or will work and the window is closing rapidly for the Canadiens to turn this negative situation into a positive. Jacques Martin's system calls for each player on the roster to be a responsible two-way player while Kostitsyn is generally only happy freelancing around the offensive zone. You'd like to see Kostitsyn be able to adapt but enough time has been given to him that if he hasn't received the message by now, he just isn't interested in receiving it.
Kostitsyn's status as a developing player isn't necessarily accurate anymore. While he is only 25 years old and should have at least a good ten years left in his career, he's at the age where a lot of players his age are reaping the benefits of their prime. The NHL is now a league where Sidney Crosby and Steven Stamkos are having 50+ goal seasons while they're still being carded to get into bars. It's become a young man's game whereas in past eras, players only hit their prime at 28 or 29 years old. I don't need to go over the list of players the Habs could have drafted instead of the Zach Parises and Mike Richards' of the league but a lot of them have figured out the pro game, adapted to styles that satisfy their coaches and have taken their rightful places as the faces of the league. Kostitsyn's development has been stalled for too long now.
Kostitsyn will succeed where ever he goes, I have no doubt of that. Too many players have thrived once leaving Montreal because they simply don't fit into Montreal's style of play. Whether the coaching staff is at fault for that is another blog for another day. Whoever would deal for Kostitsyn will have a system that caters to his offensive attributes, can hide his defensive deficiencies and can tolerate his questionable desire.
Kostitsyn's departure would surely leave a hole on the wing the top two lines, a position the Habs are already thin at. However, considering the abundance of cap space that is available to Pierre Gauthier, acquiring a player who would be a better fit for Martin's system shouldn't be all that difficult or costly. Tomas Plekanec also seems to have a knack for being able to make almost any player he plays alongside with look better than he is.
Many factors should enhance Kostitsyn's trade value and ensure the Canadiens get decent value in return. Kostitsyn is in the final year of his contract and headed towards cost-controlled restricted free agency and he's shown enough of his size and skill to still have at least a few general managers still lusting after him.
In a perfect world, Kostitsyn would make the beautiful music he made playing with Tomas Plekanec at the beginning of the season all year long but the consistency issues that have plagued Kostitsyn his entire career have continued yet again. In a perfect world, he would have made me look like a genius for predicting he would score 35 goals this year. He might still, but it won't be in a Canadiens uniform.
About Will Martinez
Will Martinez runs the 'Hey, My Name is Will' blog and is a contributor for TheFranchise.ca. You can follow Will on Twitter @heymynameiswill
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I totally agree with you Will, as i was actually preaching for the Habs to buy him out last summer (would have been at only 1/3 the salary since he was under 26, 541k hit on the cap for this year and next).
But unfortunately, we only got rid of his little brother.
Andrei somewhat reminds me of Malakhov, he has all the tools : speed, slapshot, wrister, body strenght... but the will isn't there. Seriously, the guy is getting paid 3,25M $, and he's pulling an Alexandre Daigle on Pierre Gauthier, he doesn't seem to enjoy playing hockey most of the time.
I really don't know what is value might be, but sometimes you just need to accept the fact that you made a bad decision, admit it publicly, and find a plan B. Same as with the subprime mortgages. Get rid of the toxic stuff.
And the same might apply to Benoit Pouliot in the future. I would give him an extra year, he's had bright spots on the 3rd line this year, but he's a floater as well. He's currently one of the best 3rd-line player in the league points-wise, if he could only be more consistent and accept to go in the dirty spots like Darche...
But unfortunately, we only got rid of his little brother.
Andrei somewhat reminds me of Malakhov, he has all the tools : speed, slapshot, wrister, body strenght... but the will isn't there. Seriously, the guy is getting paid 3,25M $, and he's pulling an Alexandre Daigle on Pierre Gauthier, he doesn't seem to enjoy playing hockey most of the time.
I really don't know what is value might be, but sometimes you just need to accept the fact that you made a bad decision, admit it publicly, and find a plan B. Same as with the subprime mortgages. Get rid of the toxic stuff.
And the same might apply to Benoit Pouliot in the future. I would give him an extra year, he's had bright spots on the 3rd line this year, but he's a floater as well. He's currently one of the best 3rd-line player in the league points-wise, if he could only be more consistent and accept to go in the dirty spots like Darche...
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December 24, 2010
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I actually agree that it's time to cut ties with AK46. Even though I had named him my breakout player of the year, it is clear that, as in the past, he is at best, a streaky player whol only is streaky when he puts in the seffort. thios is the final year of his contract and if his goal was to play himself out of Montreal, mission accomplished. He can't always pick and choose who he wants to play with and pout or not perform when you don't get your way.. Not too convinced LONG TERM he will be any different on another team. YES, in the begining he will make all Montreal media go nuts with the "we shoulda kept him" talk, but like Halak (remember him??) that will pass.
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December 22, 2010
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I wanted to put a disclaimer right in the article...this is absolutely not my opinion. Martin needs to adapt his system to the talent he has on his roster. His Panthers never did anything because he wanted a team to do his bidding. Great coaches let great players play the game. It`s like being a parent. You may want to control every step your kids take, but the only thing you can really do is just hope to nudge them in the right direction, and pick them up when they fall. shipping Andrei is not the answer. Martin is the one getting in the way of this team progressing.
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December 22, 2010
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