Everyone has a player (or number of players) that never seem to do right in their eyes. We all seem to think “Why the hell are they still around?” or “What does the team see in this bum?”

I wrote an article about Carey Price a few months back, just shortly after the Habs made their exit in the playoffs. People were jumping on his back and calling for a trade and all this mumbo jumbo about how terrible he was and that he was no longer the star of the future and so on and so forth. (You can read it here at Associated Content)

Jeez… gimme a break. The kid is in his second year, under the media spotlight and in one of the worst cities for public criticism in hockey. If that wouldn’t make you collapse, I don’t know what will. It would be enough to drive me to drink, or do something stupid. Either way, if Price was the problem, he would have been shipped out by now. But he hasn’t, and he won’t for a while. He’s a highly regarded prospect in Gainey’s eyes and knowing him as well as we do now – we know he has absolutely no patience for guys who dog it and don’t chip in. I can relate to that, and  I agree with his stance. So this is the focus of today’s post – players who have been in MY doghouse from years past.

I promise I won't shit on the rug again.

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Remember these guys? Currently they’ve all been relieved (thankfully) of their duties with the bleu. blanc et rouge.

Mike Ribeiro -This lazy forward with the biggest lips in hockey were sent packing (ahem.. diving) to Dallas.
Sheldon Souray – The cement footed defenseman was left to walk after finally pulling his pants up from around his ankles.
Jose Theodore – After years of pulling his hair out over letting in bad goal after bad goal, he was shipped off to the lowest bidder.
Alexander Perezhogin – Mr. “I’m worth more in Russia” should have considered taking up baseball for more of a lucrative payday.
Michael Ryder – When this big dumb Newf figured out how to score, he was already on another team (looks like his career as a garbage man is really taking off.)
Mikhail Grabovski – Third line talent with first line mentality – I thought this was reserved for players who were past their prime and couldn’t let the sport go?
Patrice Brisebois – Bruce Springsteen wrote ‘Glory Days’ for this guy - they past him by just like opposing skaters did nightly.

Currently, there’s a few dogs on the team right now that I’d like to see put down (I think I’m going to regret using that metaphor later…)

Ryan O’Byrne – People who know me personally know how much I dislike him. He’s a younger, less intelligent version of Hal Gill. If you’ve ever had Gill on your team, you understand my frustration.

which leads me to:

Hal Gill – I’m not exactly sure where this guy fits in to the system. We replaced all our power forwards and energy line guys with 30 goal scorers, which would mean we’re looking for speed and mobility, and then we bring down the average by signing this lumbering redwood tree. My guess is they’re going to place Gill behind Carey Price to force him not to play so deep in the net, and as insurance to stop errant pucks from going in. (He’s our Mr. Sieve)

Georges Laraque - Sure he’s tough, sure he’s French, but he’s NOT a contributor to the play or an energy line guy. I love the guy when he’s fighting and banging, but I don’t like when he’s wheeling aroud the net looking for garbage goals. I’m worried that his personal attempts to become a rehabilitated scrapper may soften his hands and his style, and negate the main reason why we have him out there in the first place. He was given a gift – and that gift is to break faces, not score goals.

Now things could change this season and some of these guys may not be in the dog house for much longer. We’ll have a follow up post (a series) as the season goes on. There will probably be some additions to the doghouse, and there may be some strays set free. In a perfect world, all these dogs would be purebreds – but when the expectations are as high as they are in Montreal, there’s a fat chance of that happening.

I may be in the dog house now, but I'll punch my way out if I have to.