March 17th, 2012; Montreal, QC, CAN; Montreal Canadiens defenceman Andrei Markov (79) during the 2nd period against the New York Islanders at the Bell Centre. Mandatory Credit: Eric Bolte-US PRESSWIRE

In RDS’s continuing campaign to lower expectations of journalistic creditability and promote identity politics over impartial analysis took another step forward with their latest bizarre rumour to sift from out on their masthead.

[blackbirdpie url="https://twitter.com/ArsenaultRDS/status/258668163808497664"]

However a cardinal mistake of rumour mongering was made here. A good manufactured rumour must be at least sufficiently plausible and possible that it cannot be dismissed out of hand. For a trade rumour for example, you can’t actually prove that the Habs haven’t talked to the Blackhawks about trading Price for Kane and its not so outlandish that it can be dismissed on a common sense basis.

This rumour does not met such criteria, essentially because what it proposes may happen is in fact impossible. Andrei Markov is under contract to the Montreal Canadians. As such, its impossible for him to stay and play in the KHL. The two leagues have honoured each others contracts ever since Radulov jumped ship and the IIHF enforces the rule that a player with a valid pro contract can’t go play in another league, with the risk of IIHF sanctions.

Unless there is a lockout going on, Markov is under contract to the Montreal Canadiens for the 2012-13 and 2013-14 NHL seasons. Full stop, no debate.

All this also leaves aside that Markov has demonstrably been committed to staying with his team in the Canadiens and his adopted home of Montreal.

So there is no way there is any substance behind this one. Markov is safely within the control of the Habs organization and will remain that way.

November 23, 2011; Raleigh, NC, USA; Montreal Canadiens right wing Brian Gionta (21) scores the game winner in a shoot out against the Carolina Hurricanes goalie Cam Ward (30) at the RBC center. The Canadiens defeated the Hurricanes 4-3. Mandatory Credit: James Guillory-US PRESSWIRE

Yesterday we broke down the Habs’ center’s offense in shots and shooting percentage terms. Today we continue with the wingers. The last 3 years of data was used for each player except Pacioretty, whose 2009-10 season is so different then his later ones that I felt it would be unfair to include it. These are the wingers with significant track records that will be in the Habs lineup next season as well as ex Habs A. Kostitsyn and Cammalleri for comparison.

Pacioretty naturally stands out as the monster of even strength goal scorers, but he gets top marks in every other category as well. His massive shooting rate doesn’t come at the expensive of his team-mates and results in a big team shot rate which translates into the leading team on ice-scoring rate. At 22-23, Pacioretty is the Canadiens most dangerous offensive player and looks towards a future as a top offensive winger in his prime in Montreal.

He’s finished at just above league average for a forward and is unlikely to face a serious decline in his conversion rate. Cole seems the top guy after Pacioretty. He doesn’t manage quite the Herculean shot rates but makes up for it with a high natural shooting percentage. But the rest of the team does well with Cole on the ice as well, just as well as they do with Pacioretty, but not quite the same level in goal scoring.

Gionta has the second best shot taking rate as well as the top on ice shots rate. Gionta is something of a spray and pray shooter with a lower than average shooting%. His high shot rate makes him as dangerous a goal scorer as anyone but Pacioretty and helps led to a respectable team offense with him on the ice.

Bourque’s goal scoring closely mirrors Cole’s. The thing is that Bourque’s goalscoring seems to come at the expense of his team-mates. Bourque’s not much better at goalscoring than Cole and Gionta but while they scored about 35-40% of their teams goals while Bourque is scoring about 50%. It would seem that its very hard for another forward to take a shot with Bourque on the ice. This 3 year rate also is more flattering the Bourque than he seems to deserve at this point, it includes a good season in 2009-10 for Bourque while the following 2 are far worse. Expect to see this in more depth as a subject of future works here.

New Hab Colby Armstrong is more interesting. He had a terrible time in 2011-12 in Toronto, plagued by injuries. But overall, his 3 year results look pretty solid. An efficient goal scorer that doesn’t impede his linemates. If Armstrong has fully recovered, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him a more effective player than Bourque.

Prust and Moen are offensive non-entities. Moen for his low shots and brutal shooting%, Prust just for the lack of shots. Prust is a little better but both are likely beneath the offensive talent of a great AHL forward.

Cammalleri and Kostitsyn largely mirror each other, which makes sense given how much they played together during this time. Cammalleri was the stronger goal scorer on shooting percentage but they shot at about the same rate with about the same team results. They were probably about equivalent even strength forwards during this time, with Cammalleri’s advantage being his powerplay acumen. The look like they were somewhat behind Cole and Gionta as even strength offensive forwards.

Usage is pretty similar across  the wingers, not nearly the distinctions between the centermen. Moen, Armstrong and Prust clearly are being used in more a defensive context. Bourque has gotten some pretty heavy attention from the opposition, which does excuse him a bit for his lesser results while Pacioretty does have the advantage of more sheltered use.

The similarity of the scoring forwards (A.Kost, Cammalleri, Gionta and Cole) is apparent here, with Pacioretty as the clear leader. Armstrong comes in behind while Prust and Moen’s offensive weaknesses are obvious. The necessity of PP time to get over the 20 goal plateau for most wingers should be obvious here.

Thanks to behindthenet.ca and stats.hockey.analysis.com for the databases to make this work possible.

The Montreal Canadiens power play has been plagued by bad luck so far this season. (Photo by Richard Wolowicz/Getty Images North America)

The Montreal Canadiens have struggled this season to score goals, especially on the power play. They currently have the 24th best power play in the league, at a 12.7 per cent clip. To add to that, the Canadiens have allowed important shorthanded goals this season, including in their last game against the Edmonton Oilers.

But is the issue with the power play incurable? It depends. One of the things to look at on the power play is the amount of shots taken. The Canadiens are 10th in the league with 55.4 shots per 60 minutes with the man advantage, well above 24th. Another reason to look for optimism is their shot percentage. The Canadiens currently are 29th in the league hitting on 4.8 per cent of their shots on the power play. The only team behind them? The Chicago Blackhawks. They are shooting 4.7 per cent on the power play and their power play percentage is dead last in the NHL at 8.8 per cent.

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