Pucks are flying, checks are being thrown, rivalries are being intensified, skates are grinding, coaches are yelling, gloves are dangling...and I'm stuck at work!!

Well Hockey is on! It's on right now...and I'm missing it. But for those of you with good fortune, kick your feet up in bed, put the tube on, and watch Canada-Russia.

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I'm sure Hab fans have been a little skeptical about how our powerplay will be able to perform this year. We lost Sheldon, our ace on the blue, but what will Hamrlik, Streit, Markov, Brisebois, or even Kostitsyn or Kovalev be able to bring from the point?

My friend feels the Canadiens still have a top ten powerplay, I feel the elements are there. The coaches have a great feel for special teams. Jarvis has done excellent work with the Canadiens powerplay, and despite how big a part Souray was to that equation, Markov can certainly be the go to guy. Ryder has been a big-time pp producer for a while now. I'm confident my friend has assessed things correctly, and I don't believe there will be too much of a drop-off in the Canadiens PP.

By the same token, I believe a healthy Bouillon, combined with better third and fourth line players makes our PK even more solid. The Habs scored more shorthanded goals than any other team in the league last year. I shutter to think what Higgins could've done had he only played a full season. He is dangerously intuitive when it comes to killing penalties. Another factor allowing for our penalty kill to be top ten this upcoming season, is that for the first time in a while we have a few players who will not shy away from blocking pucks. At the front: Begin, Kotsopoulos, Lappiere. On the backend: Bouillion, Hamrlik, Komisarek and Dandenault. We also have more than capable goaltending.

These are two elements of the game we should be able to succeed at better than most teams. We had a drop-off on our penalty kill last season...things had to give. We gave other teams too many penalties, and allowed too many shots. We suffered the consequences.

We have a speed laden team; we need to be disciplined, and we should be. There is no excuse for an offensive zone penalty, and if I were Guy Carbonneau, I'd be hard on guys for these straight from the beginning of the season. There is no excuse for taking penalties when you are on the powerplay. These types of instances are what lose you hockey games. These were things the Canadiens did far too often last season...they can't afford to do it this season. It starts from the leader (Koivu) all the way down the lineup. The lazy penalties are not affordable.

What are your thoughts on Montreal's Powerplay and Penalty Killing prospects?

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