Will he stay or will he go?

Now that the Canadiens' season is officially over, and the Habs are staring at an enormous amount of free agents (and a team with lots of needs), off-season moves are being discussed ad nauseam. Mathieu is one of the 10 unrestricted free agents.

Here are some "he will go" thoughts:

"Montreal GM Bob Gainey is expected to try and re-sign just three of the 10 UFAs. Saku Koivu, Alex Tanguay and Mike Komisarek sit atop the Habs' list of players they want to bring back next season, which means Alex Kovalev, Robert Lang, Mathieu Schneider, Patrice Brisebois, Tom Kostopoulos, Mathieu Dandenault and Francis Bouillon aren't likely to return." (from The Fourth Period)

Reasons Montreal may not resign Mathieu include, but may not be limited to:

• age: if you haven't heard already *insert eyeroll here*, he'll be 40 this summer


• injury: surgery is still mentioned as something he may undergo this summer


• cost: he's got a HUGE contract; no way Montreal will be in any position to offer anything close to what he's got now

Reasons Mathieu may not resign with Montreal include, but may not be limited to:

• huge pay cut: personally, I think he's going to have to accept a giant cut to sign anywhere, but Montreal may be requiring a bigger cut than others may offer.


• more mentoring: Mathieu has been mentioned as a key mentor for youngster Yannick Weber. Not a bad thing, as he enjoyed that role with youngster Zach Bogosian in Atlanta. But he also wants to, and is capable, of playing himself. His stats in Atlanta were atrocious for him and he's capable of better if he's allowed to play.
  


• the family: His and Shannon's kids are getting older (and almost all school aged) and they are all very tired of moving. California is home, and Montreal is very far from the Golden State.


• it's Montreal: that team has so much drama going on right now.

Here are some "he will stay" thoughts:

"Even though Schneider was brought in as a rental player, the Canadiens might consider keeping him if the price is right, especially if they lose Komisarek and another defenseman or two." (from Kevin Allen / USA Today)

Reasons Montreal may resign Mathieu include, but may not be limited to:

• more mentoring: Yannick Weber is going to need to veteran help.
  


• down a defenseman or two: if Komisarek does go, they'll be down at least one D. Weber is ready to come up, but he's a newbie.


• good power play: Um, if you didn't notice, Mathieu was quite successful at helping the Montreal power play, which struggled since they lost Mark Streit.


• he's still good: Again, his numbers with Montreal were on pace to best his previous seasons. His offense is still there. Montreal could use all the offense they can get.

Reasons Mathieu may resign with Montreal include, but may not be limited to:

• more mentoring: He liked working with Zach Bogosian, and has mentioned that it means a lot to him to help the younger players break in.


• he knows his role: He's a special teams player, and he is able to do that with Montreal. He knows the system (and plays well in it).
  


• he likes Montreal: Despite being a pressure cooker, he's been in it before, and I think he's personally able tune most of the media craziness out. If anything, he, too, has got to be tired of moving.
  

These are all my opinions, taken from media reports and what I have long known about decisions Mathieu has made in regards to where he has played. I could be totally off on all of it. I guess we will see sometime this summer what happens...

Habs out and Mathieu slightly slandered

I'm late to this, and everyone knows by now that the Habs were officially eliminated after 4 games. Mathieu only played two games, missing the final two due to injuring (presumably the shoulder injury).

Lots of drama coming out of Montreal, and I prefer to steer clear of it all. I feel bad enough my team is tanking, I don't want to be utterly depressed by the craziness of the Montreal media. I mean, this garbage was quite enough to turn me off for awhile:

"I think it was just a snowball effect. They (Schneider & Tanguay) said, 'Whoa, what happened to Bouillon here? I don't want to be put in that situation. I'm a free agent. I wanna sign.'" (quote via All Habs; it was a radio interview in French, so I'm depending on the dependable folks at that blog for a translation)

That was former coach and now commentator Jacques Demers insinuating that Mathieu and fellow injured Canadien Alex Tanguay were sitting out to better there chances of signing next year. Whether is was taken out of context, or just not what Demers really meant, I don't know. But to question Mathieu's injury (and Alex, too) and his commitment to his team is ludicrous and insulting. They both deserve an apology, but I doubt that will be forthcoming.

Alex Tanguay was none to happy with the insinuation, saying bluntly "if I was healthy, I would have played," (via Ottawa Citizen), but Mathieu has had no public response. Then again, no sense wasting his time on such idiocy. What, why did I waste my time?

Out tonight

Looks like Mathieu will be out for tonight's game. GM/coach Bob Gainey says he's not ready to go, so reports the Montreal Gazette.

Oh, and for what it's worth (and I'll have something more substantive to say later), I'll say this much for now: we haven't seen the last of Mathieu. Even if the Habs lose tonight and are eliminated from the playoffs, and even though his contract expires with this season, I have no doubts that Mathieu will be returning next year. Surgery or not, 40th birthday or not, he's not done yet. He'll have to take a huge pay cut no doubt, and I have no idea if Montreal will be interested in retaining him, but he'll catch on somewhere.

Questionable

Questionable is how Mathieu's status for the next game is being described.

It is also an apt description for anything I might attempt to write right now. Mother Nature is having total issues right now and seems to forgotten that it is April in the San Francisco Bay Area. Temps in the mid-90s (and temps that just don't seem to break at night) have made me a miserable lump.

Oh, and the Sharks are tanking and the Habs are facing elimintation. Not exactly the happiest of times.

But to make myself feel better, here is a totally hot picture of today's birthday boy: Vinny Lecavalier.

Out with "upper body injury"

Mathieu did not play in the game tonight, as he was scratched with an "upper body injury." Um, yeah, ya think? I'm sure everyone would be happier if he was in the line-up, but I'm not sure he's the answer to all that ails Montreal now anyway. But maybe being home and shaking things up a bit will help the team. Who kows. I've given up pretending that anyone (self included) can predict what will happen in the playoffs.

One day at a time...

Some compliments

To balance out the hatin' from the last post, Mike Boone had some nice things to say about Mathieu:

"There's no quit in the Captain or in a veteran like Mathieu Schneider, who had to play 19-plus minutes because the ill-advised decision to dress Francis Bouillon blew up in Bob Gainey's face."

Well, that's nice. And Boone didn't call him a geezer.

Some hatin'

We here at the Unofficial Mathieu Schneider Homepage pride ourselves on being fair and balanced. And truly so, not in the Fox News we-say-we-are-balanced-but-really-we-are-just-tools kind of way. We seek out alternative viewpoints, and bring them to light rather than bury them as if they never existed. Here are two such viewpoints:

Here's something from Ken Socrates:

Mathieu Schneider aka The NHL’s Most Effeminate Defenseman. No one seems to have notice his attempted spear on Marc Savard near the end of the last game, though you may have noticed Savvy’s willingness to drop the gloves and Schneiders shrieking, womanly fear of doing so. You’d think a veteran like that would have been in a scrum or two in his life and not have to resort to using his stick to keep himself safe. I dunno, I guess you do what you have to when a monster like Savard is coming at you. A girl’s gotta protect herself in a situation like that.

Normally, I'd read that and say, "yup, sounds like Mathieu." But this time, not so much. I actually saw that play (I won't brag about that because it was via an illegal feed before it went belly up), and while there may have been some stickwork from Mathieu (I didn't see any, but I wouldn't doubt it; he's resorted to stickwork rather than glove dropping many more times than not in his career), he didn't run shrieking. I know this because I sat slack-jawed at my computer thinking "WTF, is that Mathieu having to be held back? Does he realize he'd get killed?" I was amazed at what I was seeing. I don't think I'd seen him riled up like that in ages. Usually he starts scrums, and then wiggles free and skates away whistling when other players push and shove.

Then there is this from general borschevsky:

Mathieu Schneider is the only ex-Maple Leaf who creeps me out as much as Glenn Anderson. Maybe it's his rat-face, or his rat-like tendencies on the ice, or the fact that in his 3 seasons as a Leaf, they missed the playoffs twice and the one year they did make it, they lost in the first round to St. Louis and Schneider had twice as many penalty minutes(8) as points(4). I'll give him this - he's been in the league for a long, long time. Since 1989-90 he's played for 8 different teams and is back for his second go round with Montreal. He makes me want to puke. I hope they get demolished. In the opener against Boston, Schneider had zero points and was a minus 2.

Personally, I think he looks more like a ferret, but I can concede that his Toronto years were not his best years. They were some of his worst actually. In many ways. Not much more to say than that.

So there ya go, some hatin' for your Sunday.

April 18, 2009; playoffs round 1, game 2

Again, the game was on Versus, plus I was out celebrating my birthday, so I didn't see the game. Sounded pretty ugly. Boston's Milan Lucic was assessed a match penalty after hitting a Canadiens player in the face with his stick, with the scrum starting after Mathieu hit Lucic with a high-stick. Apparently, Lucic went after Mathieu following the high stick, and, that being the mismatch that it is, Montreal's Maxim Lapierre stepped in and got a nasty glove/butt-end of the stick to the face from Lucic. I have no idea who was in the wrong or who started it or what. I'm sure both sides will say the other was at fault. Mathieu was penalized for the high-stick, and Lucic presumably will have a chat with the league. Both teams will probably be getting a talking to by the league. All I know for certain is this a nasty series, and the Habs are running out of time to pull it together. In addition to his indiscretions with Lucic, Mathieu played 19:03, had 3 shots on goal, and finished even in the +/- stat.

Here is some post-game audio

Playoff game summary: (interference), 18:46 of 1st; (high-sticking), 15:28 of 3rd.

April 16, 2009; Playoffs round 1, game 1

The game was on Versus tonight, so I was blacked out on GameCenter and could see it. Maybe glad I didn't. Mathieu didn't have a great outing. Seeing the replays, it looked like a wicked bad turnover lead to the last goal of the game. Bummer. Mathieu played 18:53, had no points, and was a -2. Ouch.

Season review in haiku form

In addition to the statistics review, I wanted to write up a more narrative "the season that was" review. But even I was bored by my long rambling. So, instead, here is Mathieu Schneider's 2008-2009 season in review... as haiku:

Dumped by Anaheim,
jettisoned to Atlanta.
Saved by Montreal.

Or...

At first I was like
OMG! So much FAIL!
Then I got better.

2008-2009 regular season by the numbers

Now that the season is over, how about a statistical recap?

This regular season saw him finish with some icky stats.

67 games / 9 goals / 23 assists / 32 points / 64 penalty minutes / -12

Six of those goal, and 12 of the assists (18 total points) came from the power play.

I had a post not long about Mathieu's statistics this year, comparing his numbers with Atlanta and Montreal. As I mentioned in that post, if Mathieu had the same pace all season as he had with Montreal, he'd have the best offensive year of his career. But, his dismal numbers in Atlanta (the worst in his career) had him too far in the hole to overcome.

Because his number of games played varies (sometimes wildly) from season to season, raw numbers are bad comparisons. But if you look at points per game, he fell way off, registering only .477 points per game, the lowest number since the 1999-2000 season.

This was also the first year since that 1999-2000 season that he finished a minus in the ever controversial plus/minus statistical category.

As for ice time, here are some impressive numbers. He had a total of 1,575 shift, and his total time on ice (TOI) was 1,407:18. The 39 year old veteran of 20 seasons was on the ice for 23 hours, 27 minutes, and 18 seconds. He averaged 23.5 shift, and 21 minutes even per game.


So... in the end, his numbers were not all that impressive, and continue a bit of a downward tend that he's been on his that career peak in 2005-2006. But his still very high total on ice time, and the fact that his numbers got better later in the season, signal that he's not done yet.

Playoff beard time... excuse me while I barf

'Tis the season for the playoff beard. It seems like it becomes a bigger deal every year. Some teams have whole websites devoted to the playoff beard, and others have made the beard part of their playoffs slogan. Even Randy Hahn Sharks television play-by-play guy (and husband of über-chipper channel 5 weather chick) stops shaving.

Last year, Margee, she of the fabulously irreverent SportSquee blog, had, as far as I'm concerned, the pinnacle of playoff beard commentaries: The Art of the Stanley Cup Playoff Beard. (worth it for, if anything, her comparison of Sidney Crosby to a middle schooler)

This year, several other blogs have seized on the beard zeitgeist. Seth Rorabaugh of the Empty Netters blog for the Pittsburgh Gazette offers up the Playoff beard preview, reviewing some of the key beard opportunities for each playoff bound team. (Some amazing photos, check it out)

Mathieu makes an appearance on the list, as he should. An image from Detroit's playoff run a few years ago is accompanied by the caption "he actually shaved 10 minutes prior to this photo being taken. We think." (He probably did.)

Here are just 3 offerings from the Mathieu Schneider facial hair growth files for your, uh, enjoyment (?)...

and my favorite:

(that was by only the second round!)

Personally, I'm not a huge fan of the beard. And think about it: Mathieu was on a Stanley Cup winning team before. He didn't have a beard. He has been in the playoffs many times since with a beard. And ya know what? No Stanley Cup. Make of that what you will...

Side note: I'd support my guys by hiding my razor as well. But seriously, I'm half Portuguese. No one wants to see how hairy my legs can get. Even I don't want to see that!

April 11, 2009 (plus an open rant regarding the NHL's miserable TV dealings)

Oops, sorry, I'm kind of late on this review. The game was on the NHL Network,* so I couldn't see it. But I heard that Mathieu was kind of the goat on Pittsburgh's game winning goal. On the power play, Alex Kovalev's pass went astray and Mathieu dove in an attempt to hold it in. But, he missed, and from down on the ice, he couldn't get back in defensive position and Maxime Talbot scored. Bummer.

He played 22:22, had 3 shots, was a -1, and pointless. Wait... "pointless" sounds harsh. He was without a point (there, that's better).


*You've all seen my rants about the GameCenter blackouts. I bought NHL GameCenter so I could watch at least some hockey online. I don't have cable, so this is my only way to see games. Sure, there are a lot of unauthorized streams out there on the 'Net, but I wanted to "play nice." Anyway, I've always been a bit sour about missing ALL of my home teams's games (because they are blacked out due to me being in the local TV market, even though I don't have cable, thus can't see them anyway). But more and more, I find even the out of market games I'd like to see are being put on the NHL Network, so they also get blacked out. Turns out, I'm missing more games I want to see than I'm able to actually watch. =(

Anyway, I was soooooo close to actually breaking down and getting cable. But, in order to get the package that has both the local sports channel (so I can see my Sharks) and the fringe national networks that carry hockey, I have to get the "Digital Starter" package from Comcast (the only cable provider in my area; I'm a renter, so a satellite dish is not an option.). I thought, hey, I'll be pissed, but can swing $30 (plus applicable taxes) a month; I'm already paying $20 for the privilege of being blacked out so what's to lose. But of course, there is the fine print. It goes up to $60 a month after 6 months. Ummmm.... how 'bout no.

I can't pay $720 (plus the add on Center Ice fees) a year for something I really don't want (except for the hockey). Actually, I can. But I'm one of those responsible Americans who lives within my means, and that $720 will come out of the money I save to use for fun stuff, like actual tickets to Sharks games. So, there you have it NHL.... either I, a loyal fan for almost 20 years, ends up cursing you every other day when it turns out yet another game I wanted was blacked out, or I take the money I would be giving to YOU directly and giving it to Comcast, instead.

I guess that's what you get for being a coward and not standing up to the organized crime syndicate that is the cable companies. I love hockey, but I'm not going to be strong armed into getting something damn costly that I DON'T WANT in order to get a little something that I do want. If it comes down to it, I'll have to give up the little thing I want... and that is you, NHL.

Off-Topic: 10 Avril

After my 30th birthday last year, I knew birthdays weren't going to be such a big deal (at least, until 40). I had hit the milestone I wasn't looking forward to, so calendar watching wouldn't be as big of a deal. Sure enough, I woke up today and looked at the calendar and saw it was April 10. Crickey! My birthday is next Friday!

But April 10 is a big day besides being the week before my birthday. It is also the 100th day of the year, the anniversary of the first ever Arbor Day, and the day the Beatles officially announced their breakup¹. More importantly, 39 years ago today, Enrico Ciccone was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

One of four children born to Antonio and Francine, he would play soccer for many years until hanging up the cleats and focusing on hockey full-time. After turning down a scholarship to an American university to stay in the junior leagues in his home province, the 6'4 / 210 pound defenseman would go on to leave his mark on the NHL, literally and figuratively. He played for seven teams (2 of them twice), appeared in 374 regular season games (13 post-season matches), and collected 10 goals, 18 assists, and 1,469 penalty minutes. (Good God!)

Not to take away from anything he did on the ice, but one of his biggest contributions to the world of hockey, in my humble opinion, is Vincent Lecavalier. Mr. and Mrs. Ciccone opened their home to the 18 year old Quebecois superstar-to-be, helping him transition from the sheltered world of a teenage QMJHL player to the fast world being a teenage in a foreign country, with the loads of expectations, distractions, and mad cash. I look at the soon to be 29 year old Vinny now-- a Stanley Cup champion, Maurice "Rocket" Richard trophy winner, and budding philantropist (and total hottie!)-- and think wow, things could have been so different. Not to slight mom and pop Lecavalier for the 18 years of work they did raising their son to that point, but the Ciccones, too, should be proud of helping him avoid the pitfalls that damage so many young talents. (Even Vinny thinks so)

After retiring from hockey in 2000, Cicco has continued to look out for the youngsters, exposing many dangerous problems in the QMJHL, ranging from drug abuse, to lack of adequate time for school and studies, to gratuitous violence.

He spends most of his time now as a commentator on Radio-Canada (en françias) and is a frequent contributor to "La Zone," a French-language sports show. I watch a lot of episodes of La Zone, but I have absolutely no idea what anyone is saying.² Even though the language barrier prohibits me from really following much of what my second favorite player of all time³ is saying, I'm beyond thrilled that he's still saying it and that he is doing well.

So, with all that said... Happy Birthday Cicco! Or rather, Joyeux Anniversaire Cicco!

---------------------
¹Thank you, Wikipedia!

²Mostly I watch because it is fun to listen to. I can pick up a name or a hockey term once and awhile. I took French in college for a year, but my ability to speak (and hear) the language is basically limited to "bon jour, " "ça va," "trés bien," "j'ai mal à la tête," et "vous êtes une super nana." When I was teaching last semester, my former French professor had a class down the hall. She actually remembers me, and I always meant to take her an episode or two to see if she could translate.

³Thought that was Brad Richards, huh? B-Rad is my second favorite active player. And strangely enough, I started following him because of Cicco. The Ciccone connection introduced me to Vincent Lecavalier. Now Vinny is pretty cool, but when I started to hear about his buddy, the lesser known Brad Richards who was still in the juniors at the time, I was intrigued more by the "little guy" (kind of like Mathieu way back when). It seemed kind of fateful that B-Rad broke into the league as Cicco left, and I've been following B-Rad ever since. Ta-da!

The morning after

Here are some takes from the game last night:

Check out the audio from habsinsideout.com (some really great stuff in there)

From the Montreal Gazette:

"It was never that bad. I felt great out there and I'm just going to continue to play. There's nothing that concerns me."

Pat Hickey gives Mathieu some kudos, saying he wears the "CH on (his) heart."

"About Last Night" from Mike Boone has the same take on Mathieu's "I'm fine!" proclamations: "Yeah, sure." (Hey, Mike Boone said something about Mathieu without making a comment abouthis age!)

Whatever you say Mathieu, this comeback is going down in Mathieu Schneider lore. Just like that time you took a stick to the eye in Toronto, hopped in a cab in full gear*, had it checked in the hospital, and came back to play the third period.

*He didn't really take a cab; an ambulance took him. But it makes a great story...

April 9, 2009

Not since Moses lead his people out of slavery in Egypt to the Promised Land have the Hebrews seen one of their own pull off a Passover miracle like that!¹ Mathieu Schneider, largely thought to be out for the rest of the season (including the playoffs, if Montreal even made it), delayed the needed surgery to repair his torn rotator cuff, suits up for the Montreal Canadiens, helps them regain their power play mojo, and registers a goal of his own as the Habs battle back from a 3-1 deficit to get the point needed to clinch a playoff spot... before losing in overtime.

After starting the game looking tentative and throwing some soft shots towards the net, it looked like he started to get a bit more confident. He even went into the corner to help pull some Bruins off a teammate. He was on the ice for 4 of Montreal's goals, scored what was at the time the game tying goal, registered a +1, and had 21:16 of ice time.

Get that man some charoset and chocolate covered matzohs! And some more pain meds. He looked pretty, um, medicated during the game.

See what I mean?
See him staring into space in the video at TSN.ca

Game summary: Schneider (Hamrlik, Koivu), 10:28 of 2nd (PP).

¹Purely rhetorical hyperbole.

HE SUITED UP!

Barney Stinson would be so proud...

(that's a How I Met Your Mother reference just in case you don't get it. I know there are some Canadian readers and I don't know if that TV show is available Due North yet. If not, I'm sorry, because it is pure awesomeness)

Injury and status for tonight

Okie dokie, I'm back from my meeting and have some more substantive information regarding Mathieu's status for tonight and the rest of the season.

Things that have been RUMORED:

• Mathieu's rotator cuff is torn
• Season-ending surgery is necessary
• Despite necessary surgery, Mathieu will play tonight
  

Things we know FOR SURE:

• Montreal doctors' initially suggested surgery
• Mathieu sought a second opinion from a specialist in New York
• Mathieu suited-up and joined teammates at practice this morning (shooting the puck, albeit fairly gingerly)
  
• GM/coach Bob Gainey confirmed that "it is a good possibility" that he'll play
  

See the TSN.ca video, or read the story from TSN, the Montreal Gazette, the Globe and Mail, or ESPN.com. And here's a little something en francais from RDS. I'm sure it says the same stuff (I can't read it), but everything sounds better in French.


Pros of playing tonight:

• giving the team an emotional boost
• even at half strength, he's as useful on the power play as any other opinion Montreal has
• he'll have all summer to "repair" the damage and heal (he's a fitness nut, so he'll work very hard, no doubt)
  
• giving GMs everywhere a heads up that he's not done yet (rememer, he has no contract for next year and has said he wants to continue playing; much harder to get a deal as a 40 year old with a bum shoulder)
  

Cons of playing tonight:

• Not being all that useful, or worse, a liability
• Not being able to make it through the game, leaving Montreal with a short bench
• Possibly risking further injury that would be harder to fix and/or overcome

On number alone, the pros outweigh the cons. But on severity, I'd say the cons outweigh the pros. That's just my initial reaction for the admittedly sparce details I have available to me. He, his doctors, his family, and the team have the best information possible, and I'm confident he'll make a careful and thoughtful decision about what benefits both the team and his health.

So will he....



I guess we'll see in a few hours...

Quick Update

I'm flying out of the door for a meeting, so this will be short...

Mathieu was suited up and practicing today in Boston. He may actually try to give it a go and postpone surgery. Stay tuned to habsinsideout.com for a details.

I'll put something more substantive here when I get back from the meeting...

Updates for Tuesday, 4/7/2009

The team still is pretty mum on any official updates, so start up the frantic rumor mill!

What is clear is that Mathieu did travel with the team to New York (that is confirmed). My thoughts last night were that he'd do that to get a second opinion before making a commitment to the surgery that was rumored. My French is pretty lame, but from what I get from the CKAC Sports report, it seems like that is exactly the case.

Apparently the radio show goes even further, suggesting his is not "ruled out" for the game tonight and is "almost certain" to play in Boston (as reported by the Eyes on the Prize blog; again, my French isn't so hot, and my understanding of spoken French is almost nonexistent, so I have to go by what Robert says they said). That little rumor is lighting up the Internet right now, with blogs everywhere trumpeting the good news.

BUT... I seriously doubt that. My gut (amongst other things) says he's done for the year.


UPDATE (of the update): As of 3:00 pm (Pacific time), according to ProPuckTalk, CKAC Sports has backed off the "Mathieu is gonna play" message and has replaced it with the "he's seeking a second opinion" message. I, on the other hand, stand by the message my gut gives me (see above).

Injury update

So yeah, it's bad. The Montreal Gazette is echoing the report from TSN/RDS, saying surgery is necessary and the season for Mathieu is over. The team will issue an update after the game.

Stay tune for updates as they happen...

UPDATE (9:30 Pacific time): The post game update from Bob Gainey was apparently not much of an update. When asked to verify if the reports of season ending injuries to Markov and Schneider were correct, he said "I can't verify that." Here's the audio, via habsinsideout.com (part is in French, part in English; his English comments begin about 1:40 in).

Um, dude, you are the freakin' GM/coach. Yes, you can in fact confirm that. You just don't want to. There is a difference. Arpon Basu says pretty much that in his latest blog offering: When secrecy becomes insulting.


Total side note: I love hearing someone speak about Mathieu in French. They still call him "Matthew," even though it is spelled the French way and that would be one of the few times it would make sense to pronounce it "properly" as "Muh-tew" (for lack of a better phonetic spelling).

Um... CRAP!

So, RDS and TSN are now both reporting that the injury is serious, and that Mathieu will be out the rest of the season. I'm assuming that means post-season, since the season is only a few more days long. Still waiting for the official announcement from the team...

Excuse me will I go barf...

Can you feel the love?

Mathieu is so sweet. He always has such nice things to say about his teammates. Either he is lucky enough to play with the best players ever, or he just loves everyone he meets.¹ Every player he plays with is the greatest ever. He had this to say about his partner on defense, Andrei Markov:

“I don’t think he gets enough credit for his play in his end, playing both sides of the puck. He certainly should be a top Norris candidate this year, without a doubt.” (from The Hockey News)

I love you, man!

So if you are having a bad day, at least know that Mathieu loves you. He loves you a lot. You're the best!

¹I can appreciate that. You pretty much have to call me ugly and punch me in the face for me to not like you, or at least have me say something less than complimentary. I always look for some good side. It is an affliction, really.

Out for a game or two

Finally word comes from Montreal that defensemen Mathieu Schneider and Andrei Markov, who both left the last game with undisclosed injuries, will miss the next game, and possibly the game after that. (so reports the Montreal Gazette)

Mathieu, it is believed, suffered an injury to one of his shoulders. It is hard to say if it is being extra careful, or if the injury is serious. Montreal is still in a fight for a playoff spot (especially with Florida winning yesterday), but their chances of doing anything in the playoffs should they make it are greatly diminished if either of those players aggravates an injury and is forced to miss even more time.

April 4, 2009

Uh oh. Montreal creamed Toronto tonight, and Mathieu had a point, but he also left early in the game with an undisclosed upper body injury. Apparently, he got a shot to the shoulder after a hard check by Brad May and didn't return to the game after the 1st intermission. No word beyond just that. Game summary: Kovalev (Schneider), 6:11 of 1st.

Offense you say?

So the first part of this season was pretty weird. Things did not look good for Mathieu. Nay, not just not good, things looked awful. Never much of a defensive stalwart, his offense is what made him a great player, and that had seemingly evaporated. He's had longer slumps (barely), but never had he been so consistently absent for the scoresheet.

In 44 games with the Atlanta Thrashers, Mathieu had

• 15 points
• 4 power play points
• no game winning goals
  
• 1 multiple point game (2 points)
• 3 multiple-game point "streaks" (points in back to back games twice, 3 games in a row once)
• a 10 game pointless streak (longest since 1999-2000 season)
  

He was also a -10, which was the first time he had been a "minus" player since the 1999-2000.

Some advanced calculus tells me that at the pace he was going to start the season (those 44 games with Atlanta), he'd be on pace for a 28 point season. Even that would be generous, since it is assuming a .34 point per game pace (15 divided by 44) for a full 84 games, which isn't possible since he had already missed quite a few games.

28 points! For scale, here are some of his least productive seasons:

• he had 21 points in 1989-90, his rookie year (and he only played 44 games)
• he had 29 points in 1994-95, the lockout shortened season (he only played 43 games)
• he had 12 points in 1996-97, the season he had that terrible groin injury needing surgery (he only played 26 games)
  

Yes indeed, things looked bleak. Was it really the end of Mathieu Schneider? Could he really drop off so badly, so quickly? He played well last year. Not $5 million worth of well, but he was within reasonable distance of what he had done the last few years.

Then came the trade to Montreal. His offense immediately returned. How much so? In only 20 games with Montreal, he has already matched or bested (and bested by a significant margin) his offensive production with Atlanta:

• 15 points
• 12 power play points
• 2 game winning goals
• 2 multiple point games
  
• a 4 game point streak (one was with Atlanta), two 2 game point streaks, and currently a 5 6 game point streak
  

He's also a -1.

He'd need a freakish outpouring of offense in these last few games to get back to "normal" for the season, but those post-trade numbers look a bit more like the Mathieu we've known. At his Montreal pace (.75 points per game), he'd finish an 84 game season with 63 points (50 on the power play). That would be his highest offensive output of his career (he scored 59 in 2005-06). Even considering a 60-70 game season (more his norm lately), he'd have 45-52 points, the same totals he was producing with Detroit.

Oooooo, look! A chart!
(the red line is his career mean,
the orange line is his career median)

So... like Mark Twain, maybe the reports of Mathieu's demise had been greatly exaggerated. Don't go and bury him just yet. The "geezer" might still actually have it after all!

April 2, 2009

Yesterday Mathieu said (via the Montreal Gazette) "We’ve got to learn to win on the road if we’re going to have success in the playoffs." He helped them do that today, with another power play goal off of a wicked slapper from the blueline. The goal came on his only shot of the game, and was technically the game winner in the 5-1 win over the New York Islanders. He had 20:34 of ice time, and finished a +1.

(Credit: Bruce Bennett/Getty Images, via habsinsideout.com)

Game summary: Schneider (Markov, Kovalev), 18:31 of 1st (PP).

Twitter fun

I saw on Puck Daddy today that the "Brian Burke" twitter feed has been retired. I have to say, it was one of the funnier satire twitter feeds I've seen. In honor of the retirement of fake Brian Burke, here is a tweet that is relevant to this site:

@BobGainey: Mathieu Schneider? Any relation to the guy who played for the Habs when they last won a Cup? Like his grandson or something?
6:18 PM Feb 16th

Down Goes Brown has an archive of all of the Brian Burke tweets. Be sure you aren't drinking anything when you read these. I literally did laugh out loud a couple times.

But no defending this one

Mathieu Schneider has had several weeks to improve his statistics since moving from the Thrashers to the Canadiens. Schneider has actually lost ground in ANP over the past few weeks. So much for the excuses I’ve been making for you, Mathieu! --Timo Seppa from Puck Prospectus

What is ANP? Adjusted Net Penalty rating. That is, penalties taken vs penalties drawn, with a little adjustment thrown in there to deal with 5 on 5 penalties versus others, and other stuff. Sorry, it is late and I'm hungry... you'll have to figure it out the "A" part on your own. =P

Anyway, Mathieu has taken 28 penalties and drawn, drum roll, 2. Um, yeah, Mathieu, that's pretty bad. If I was just plain mean, I'd say he takes lots of penalties because he's an old fart who has lost a step. But I'm not mean. Instead I'll say that he takes lots of penalties because he's old and slow. That's nicer, right?

*In all real honesty, he's never really been that fast. I'm not sure age has much to do with it, but that makes an easy target.

In defense of Mathieu Schneider

If you have followed my commentary on the Unofficial Mathieu Schneider Homepage for awhile, you will see that I've called Mathieu out on occasion. I don't blindly support everything (or anyone), and if he stinks, I say it. If he makes a bad play, I'll mention it. If he plays dirty, I call it. Sometimes other folks criticize him, and I agree with them.

All that said, two things I've read recently really stuck in my craw as being mischaracterizations at best, or just flat out wrong at worst.

"Thrashers coach John Anderson routinely offered his oldest players the option of skipping a morning skate. Former Thrasher Mathieu Schneider, 39, frequently took him up on it. Kozlov didn’t." --Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Ok, so that isn't wrong. I'm sure he did sit out practices when given the opportunity. But from the tone of the rest of the article, it was almost accusatory. Like, Kozlov was dedicated and practiced even though he didn't have to. Kozlov was in Atlanta all summer dedicating himself to fitness. Well, so what? Mathieu is known around the league for his ridiculously extreme summer workout habits. Are these suggestions that Mathieu didn't provide much on the ice for Atlanta because he wasn't dedicated? If so, that is a bunch of total and complete BS. That team and that coach sucked at using him. They brought him in to mentor, not to play. So that is what he did; and Zach Bogosian has had nothing but kind things to say about what Mathieu did for him on and off the ice. They also brought him in, via trade rather than waivers, not because they wanted him, but because they needed a big contract to be at the league minimum and wanted to keep him only long enough to meet that need before moving him elsewhere for cheap prospects. So no wonder his dedication to optional practices wasn't on par with a guy who is one of the long established team leaders. Now he is on a team that wanted his services and has let him play, and play to his strengths, and he is performing just fine, thank you. In half the number of games, he has almost equal number of points in Montreal (14 points in 19 games) as he had in Atlanta (15 points in 44 games). And you know what? He skips optional practices in Montreal, too.

"But assorted player acquisitions - Todd Bertuzzi, Brendan Morrison, Ken Klee, Mathieu Schneider - worked out badly." -- Jaime's Hockey Blog, via About.com

Um, no it didn't. Mathieu Schneider was just fine for Anaheim. Mathieu's numbers were very decent considering the turmoil the team was under (he had 13 fewer points-- but +10 higher +/- rating-- in 3 fewer games compared to the previous season with a strong Detroit team). What worked out badly was Scott Niedermayer's indecision and Brain Burke's gamble. The team was in a salary cap crunch because they attempted to replace a presumably retiring star veteran defenseman with another star veteran defenseman while in a "sellers market" for offensive defenseman. Many players have already come out and said that the Niedermayer drama caused a lot of tension. Due to the salary constraints caused by Burke planning for a team sans Niedermayer and Selanne only to have to find a way to accomodate those two when they decided mid-season to comeback, the team had to lose a great back-up goalie and a popular young talent and there was a constant "who's next?" feeing in the locker room until the trade deadline. That has nothing to do with Mathieu. He worked out just fine.


I don't doubt I'm reading too much into both of these. I've had a long week, I've got a wicked bad headache (too much chocolate), my family is driving me totally insane, and I'm kind of grumpy. But for all the heat I've given Mathieu in the past, I figured he's due for a little defense from me.

Maybe not a goal after all

It was hard to see in the video, but Christopher Higgins maybe (probably?) tipped Mathieu's blast from the point before it beat Huet for the goal yesterday. As of today, Mathieu is still credited with the goal, but that may change. Said Higgins: "I've already told him I'm stealing it from him" (from the National Post). Mathieu has "stolen" enough goals in the past, I doubt he'll mind giving this one up. Especially since the Habs won.