Habs head home after Western swing

The Upper Canadien is back at 100% and off the IR. The Habs, however, are not. As everyone now knows, Andrei Markov’s knee is close to ready, so GM Pierre Gauthier said yesterday - and that, logically, is why he’s having surgery in the next few days. Right. Oh, and he’ll be out for 3 weeks “or so.” The dreaded or so. My bet? Markov isn’t back until January, and that’s optimistic thinking. Scott Gomez is still on the shelf, resting multiple muscle injuries and a goalless season. One in which he himself said he needed to step up and deliver. Gomez makes over 7 million dollars, Markov almost 6. That’s close to 20% of their salary cap room right there. Not to mention Jaro Spacek and Ryan White on the sidelines, and various players like Brian Gionta and Mike Cammalleri who look like they’re playing hurt. Bottom line, almost a quarter of their salary cap allocation has been virtually invisible since training camp. What does that tell us? Well, it explains a few things. Continue readin...