Michael Ryder

Michael Ryder was a shadow of his talented self two seasons ago under Canadiens coach Guy Carbonneau in Montreal. This season? Wow.
Jim McIsaac, Getty Images

From a dismal year in Montreal two seasons ago, having fallen out of favour with Canadiens management and demoted to the pressbox, to a rebirth this year in Boston, scoring 27 goals and adding 26 assists. And a staggering plus-28.

Now former Canadien Michael Ryder has five goals and four assists in five playoff games in 2008-09, including four goals in a four-game sweep of the overmatched Habs.

Last night, Ryder scored a beauty against Carolina goalie Cam Ward, a bullet under the crossbar that prompted TSN analyst Pierre McGuire to comment on his natural goal-scoring ability and wonder aloud whether the Canadiens simply didn't know how to manage this gifted player.

Flashing back to summertime and autumn visits with Ryder, who's one of the great stories of the season under Bruins coach Claude Julien:

• Have Bruins found their new sniper?: Boston Globe's Dupont
• As exhibition season opens, Ryder still wonders what went wrong with Habs: Stubbs

And after last night's romp over the Hurricanes, in which the Bruins showed no signs of rust after their hasty dispatch of the Canadiens:

• Ryder puts game in high gear (with video): Boston Globe's Michael Whitmer

2007/08 Alex Kovalev GP82 G35 A49 P84; +18 2008/09 Alex Kovalev GP78 G29 A39 P65; -4
2007/08 Tomas Plekanec G81 G29 A40 P69; +15 2008/09 Tomas Plekanec G80 G20 A19 P39; -9
2007/08 CH Mark Streit GP81 G13 A49 P62; -6 2008/09 NYI Mark Streit GP74 G16 A40 P56; +6
2007/08 Andrei Markov GP82 G16 A42 P58; +1 2008/09 Andrei Markov GP78 G12 A52 P68; -2
2007/08 Saku Koivu GP77 G16 A40 P56; -4 2008/09 Saku Koivu GP65 G16 A34 P50; +4
...

At this point last season, the high flying Habs were, well, flying high. Les Glorieux were surging into the playoffs full of confidence - first in the Eastern Conference; a dominant powerplay; a strong mix of veterans and youth; and a high-powered offense led by the top line of Alex Kovalev, Tomas Plekanec and Andrei Kostitsyn.
A year later the Habs are plummeting into the playoffs, wings clipped, expectations broken and instead of hope, question marks and uncertainty loom on the horizon.
Continue reading "What a Difference a Year Makes" »

The Bruins' number one line in practice, Fluto Shinzawa reports in the Boston Globe, has been Marc Savard centring Milan Lucic and Michael Ryder.

Canadiens could see them in Halifax tonight. 

• Boone: Too many games too early

• Carey Price talks to La Presse's François Gagnon about his weight loss (Price's, not Gagnon's).

• Gagnon on the intra-squad game. Among the hopefuls, he liked Brock Trotter, Max Pacioretty, David Desharnais and Yannick Weber. He was less impressed by Kyle Chipchura.

• Marc de Foy of the Journal de Montréal also thought Chipchura had a tough day. And he liked Brock Trotter. 

• Montreal native Torrey Mitchell is out two months after breaking his leg in San Jose's second practice. 

• From the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, a look at the league's top scoring defencemen (pegged to Ryan Whitney ad Sergei Gonchar of the Penguins, who are injured). 

• The Old Boys' Network: Tim Wharnsby reports John Ferguson Jr. has been hired as a pro scout for San Jose.

• The St. Petersburg Times says Barry Melrose plans to keep Martin St. Louis and Vincent Lecavalier fresher by cutting their ice time. St. Louis led NHL forwards last season with an average of 24 minutes, 17 seconds per game.

It's a cool, sunny morning in Montreal, after a stinking hot, humid Sunday.

Crispness in the air portends a change of seasons – and we all know what that means:

Hockey. Soon.

A fearless prediction: Mats Sundin is going to make his decision this week.

The basis for this? An impromptu channeling of Tony in West Side Story:

Could be!
Who knows?
There's something due any day;
I will know right away,
Soon as it shows.
It may come cannonballing down through the sky,
Gleam in its eye,
Bright as a rose!

Who knows?
It's only just out of reach,
Down the block, on a beach,
Under a tree.
I got a feeling there's a miracle due,
Gonna come true,
Coming to me!

The question: Is Sundin coming to the Bell Centre or an arena closer to NYC's west side? 

 

 

 

 

 

Continue reading "Something in the air" »

Former Hab Michael Ryder will head to Boston soon as he searches for a new place to live and a few answers to what went wrong last season, his toughest in the NHL.

The Boston Globe's Kevin Paul Dupont met with Ryder in Newfoundland recently and writes about Ryder's hope to be the Bruins next sniper.

Read the article here.

Three years at $4 million per.

Six occasions per season, plus playoffs, to prove Canadiens management was wrong about him.

This reunites Ryder with Claude Julien, who coached him in the Q and with the Canadiens.

Ryder, a 28-year-old native of Bonavista, Nfld., made $2.95 million in his fourth and final season  in Montreal, where every year's contract negotiations were lengthy and acrimonious.

The Gazette's Pat Hickey reports that Canadiens head coach Guy Carbonneau wants the struggling Michael Ryder to shoot the puck - a lot. The coach believes Ryder will be able to get out of his slump if he continues to work hard and simplify his game.

"The answer is in Michael's hands. If he works hard and shoots the puck, good things will happen. He'll be the first one to tell you he doesn't like the situation he's in right now. It's not fun. When you're there to score goals, you want to contribute and it's been hard for him."