Carey and Chips to be Fed to Penguins

According to reports, Coach Carbo has announced that Franchise Saviour (TM) Carey Price and Franchise Captain in Waiting (TM) and Panger's Boy Kyle Chipchura will both make their NHL debuts on Wednesday in Pittsburgh against Crosby, Malkin, Staal, and the rest of Oilers 2.1 (TM). Apparently Chips will replace Pleks between Begin and El Dandy so Pleks can replace Grabs on the Dance à Dix Line.

I can already hear the gnashing of teeth from fickle fans, worried that Sid the Kid and the rest of his high-flying Penguins will bomb poor Price back to the Stone Age and destroy, in order:

1) His confidence.

2) The Habs season, after their uber-rookie gets whacked.

3) The franchise for the next ten years, as the Franchise Saviour (TM) is exposed as a paper lion. (Ignore the excellent goaltending depth in the system and the host of other prospects ... the sky is falling!)

Please. Sid the Kid is the best player in the league and the Pens are exciting to watch, but this isn't exactly like throwing Price into the Spectrum in 1974 with Kate Smith doing the anthem and the Flyers and their fans baying for blood. It's the PENGUINS, a team the Habs have owned forever, and they play in the IGLOO, which might as well be a library for all the menace it's denizens muster. What Carbo has done is what coaches have done forever; start the highly-touted rookie on the road against a tough opponent. If the rookie loses badly, play the "it's to be expected" card. If the rookie loses but plays brilliantly, the "future is bright" card comes out. If the rookie wins it's a total windfall. Couple that with the fact that Huet did not look great on Saturday and Grabovski has looked lost, and I don't have any problems. Price is a talented kid and he seems totally unflappable. He's a winner, he's ready, and he's not going to have Breezer in front of him.

Because, in other FANTASTIC NEWS, Breezer will be a healthy scratch in favour of Josh Gorges, although it could have been Josh Groban for all I care. (Cue Breezer apologists with "hey, he hasn't been that bad" defence in 3 ... 2 ... 1 ... here's the thing: Breezer will always do something Breezer-like, and I hate having that sword of Damocles hanging over the team. My 70 year old Dad's heart doesn't need the abuse of watching games while wondering when the Breezer will hand it away. Breezer should have never come back, and needs to go. Now. I will beat this into the ground until someone gets him off the payroll for good.)

So, Price and Chips and Gorges take their bows, Breezer takes his hopefully-soon-to-be permanent seat in the press box, and Pleks takes a place between Kovy and Big Tits (I don't know what "Pleksing" is, but Kovy-Pleks-Tits still sounds dirty, so Dance à Dix Line stays). Works for me. Will it work for Les Canadiens? Let us know in the comments.