Jim Kelley

Jim Kelley writes regularly on the NHL for Sportsnet.ca and can be heard on Primetime Sports on the FAN590.

Former Canadiens GM Bob Gainey put together a good team, but he missed the boat on Jaroslav Halak.

Some observations on the NHL playoffs as they move to the conclusion of the second round:

Montreal's stunning upset of both the Washington Capitals and now the Pittsburgh Penguins has created a school of thought that former Habs GM Bob Gainey should step forward and take a bow (or perhaps step forward and onto the necks of critics who applauded his departure), but we have a different view.

No one is perfect and that includes Gainey. Yes his near total rebuild of a team that has lost his way has borne fruit and no, those small and highly paid players he plucked from the free-agent market have not been the disappointment so many predicted. Still, Gainey was a Carey Price man and he carried that torch pretty much right through to his surprise retirement, never willing or able to see what was in store for Jaroslav Halak. It was the coaching staff that kept going to and fighting for Halak in the battle for No. 1 in the Habs crease.

It's also fair to say that it's been Halak who has been the difference in both upset wins and especially in the crucial Game 7 victories. It's a given that a GM knows what he will get from a free agent with a track record so it was no great insight that led to the signings of Michael Cammalleri and Brian Gionta and the acquisition of Scott Gomez as well as others. To borrow a line from Dennis Green of NFL fame: "They are who we thought they were." Seeing the potential in unproven players is what makes a good GM great. Gainey is a good man and a decent GM, but he missed on Halak.

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Lots of media people are concerned with the loss of superstar and television draws Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby from the playoffs, but not hockey fans. Hockey fans care about the league's television challenges the same way they care about the ultimate fate of the Phoenix Coyotes or which movie pulls in the biggest gross in the first week of its release. Those are media events for media people and hockey fans couldn't care less about anything other than the teams they follow.

What does disturb me about the absence of Crosby and Ovechkin (and the decidedly indifferent play of talented but lackadaisical performers like Evgeni Malkin and Alexander Semin) is not who is or is not on TV, but the way teams can shut down star players and not worry about the supporting cast. The defensive pairing of Hall Gill and Josh Gorges pretty much concentrated on Crosby and Ovechkin and said (in thought at least) let your "other players" beat us.

And that's the problem with the so-called "new economic order." Teams that invest heavily in key players -- and by example, the Penguins have $21 million in centres Crosby, Malkin and Jordan Staal -- find themselves between a rock and a hard place. These are the players that fans pay to see throughout the regular season, and in a salary-capped world these are the players whom management has to pay top dollar in order to keep the fans coming back.

But here's the problem: In theory the so-called "wide-open game" that was said to have evolved after the lockout has been corrupted somewhat by poor officiating (especially this season) and a loosening of restrictions on defencemen that has crept back into the game under the guise of "restoring the physicality" of the game that was thought to be lost or at least threatened after that first comeback season.

That's making it easier for teams to play not to lose rather than go all out to win via scoring goals. It's why Jacques Martin -- generally dismissed in Ottawa for not making full progress with the then explosive, in terms of scoring, Senators -- is now a hero in Montreal. Martin values the shutdown game above all else and his team is responding to that input.

If the Canadiens go all the way or just make it to the Stanley Cup final (now a genuine possibility), other teams will follow Montreal's game plan and defence-first hockey; a tenant that nearly killed the game in the 1990s will be back in vogue.

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Commissioner Gary Bettman is on record as saying the officials are calling the game the same way in the playoffs as they do in the regular season and he's right. It was inconsistent in the regular season and it's inconsistent in these playoffs.

We're not talking about Sidney Crosby's complaint that he was hooked, held and obstructed on far too many occasions or even his terribly lame statement that he was "stunned" that an official would call him for boarding just 10 seconds into a Game 7. In truth that hit was a hit from behind and the officials have been reasonably good on that all season and post-season.

The inconsistency comes from too many inexperienced referees and yet another shift at the top (Terry Gregson replacing Stephen Walkom who replaced Andy van Hellemond as director of officiating) resulting in a disruption of continuity. Inconsistency is often a hallmark of the playoffs in the early rounds as some officials subscribe to the theory that the rules are different in the playoffs and some don't. It tends to tighten up somewhat in the third and fourth rounds as the pool shrinks and the more experienced refs gain control, but this year has been a particular problem.

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What do the Philadelphia Flyers have going for them in their series with the Boston Bruins that the Buffalo Sabres didn't?

Well, Mike Richards would be a good starting point. Richards has gone head-to-head with Zdeno Chara and has done better than well against the standout Boston defenceman. That's a far cry from what the Sabres were able to muster as Chara controlled the Sabres and the series that ended in six games.

Point two might well be former Sabre Daniel Briere. Briere is every bit as small as current Buffalo forwards Tim Connolly and Derek Roy, but the difference is that Briere drives the net like a player twice his size and when he gets there he makes something happen.

Roy and Connolly did not.

The Flyers also seem to be able to put the lie to the theory that the game, at least in the playoffs, is all about goaltending. Philadelphia has had problems in net all season and is now moving between third and fourth stringers, but the Flyers have the Bruins going backward and should be the favourite in their Game 7 showdown.

They aren't breaking down Tuukka Rask, but they are getting just enough past him while scoring the timely goals needed to come back from being down 3-0 in games. Wearing down Chara hasn't hurt either.

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So much for the Olympics deciding the best goalies in the world.

Team USA standout Ryan Miller gone in the first round along with Team Canada's Martin Brodeur and now Marc-Andre Fleury and Roberto Luongo in the second. Lest we forget, those were the two teams that played for the gold medal won by Canada.

Everyone marvels at the majesty of the Olympics and the best-on-best aspects of that tournament, but there's nothing like a seven-game series to separate netminders. Miller played well vs. the Bruins, but didn't steal a single game home or away. Brodeur was equally ordinary in the first round and Fleury and Luongo showed signs of going backward in the second.

There's a school of thought that says Luongo was distracted by his role as captain of the Canucks. It's a nice one and probably has some merit if you happen to be among the group that decided they were smarter than a fifth grader and made him captain despite the rules, but the truth is it's an excuse. Time after time Luongo has been handed the opportunity to be a difference maker in the playoffs for the Canucks and time after time he has been unable to rise to the challenge.

Chicago is a good team with unproven goaltending. Vancouver, despite reputation, is essentially the same.

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Finally: With all the talking heads on the playoff circuit shouldn't there be room for R.J. Umberger of the Columbus Blue Jackets, who for the record got it dead to rights right when he said the Capitals would be beaten by any team that played good defence.