Pasquale Mangiola And The Three Habs

Coming off a disastrous 1-4-1 road trip, the last thing the Montreal Canadiens' needed was to be embroiled in another controversy.

With the Montreal media in a frenzy about the teams rapid descent down the Eastern Conference standings, any good news that's fit to print is hard to find.

Tracts of glorious pine trees are plowed under as the media attempts to play Sherlock Holmes in his latest mystery: What The Hell Is Wrong With The Habs?

Barring a miraculous clue from the sole of a dusty hob nail boot, the mystery of the Habs will fail to satisfy.

The media are smart enough to know that there are only so many times you can hammer home the point that the Canadiens are under performing.

So, it stands to reason the media will take their collective boot off the throat of the Canadiens' and look for something else.

French language newspaper La Presse were the first to find the rotting fish in the brine.

I don't want to get sued so you may find the word alleged or reportedly sprinkled throughout this diatribe.

It is alleged that the Kostitsyn brothers (Sergei and Andrei) and Roman Hamrlik are acquaintances of a Pasquale Mangiola, a man who has alleged links with organized crime.

Mangiola was arrested and charged with conspiracy and cocaine trafficking by Montreal police last week, in a sting operation called "Project Axe."

Allegedly the police have recorded conversations between Mangiola and two of the players.

La Presse was quick to point out that the three Canadiens' were not suspected of anything more sinister than a good night on the town with Mangione.

However, the optics of it all don't look good.

In a hastily put together press conference Friday afternoon, Canadiens general manager Bob Gainey would not brush aside the allegations made by the media.

"I can only go on what I know," Gainey told TSN.ca. "It's not good for our team. It does not reflect well on our team, it does not reflect well on the individuals and it cannot be extinguished as a possible inhibitor to our performance."

While there are many people who want to be associated with a professional hockey team for good reasons. not everyone is a chaste.

For decades there have been hangers on and ruthless people who want to befriend young, millionaire hockey players and gain access to the inner sanctum of a club.

Gainey said that the Kostitsyn brothers and Hamrlik simply made a bad choice in whom they chose to associate with.

"We've made the players aware that this is not the kind of conduct that is part of people in our organization and for them individually as young athletes, as professionals who are trying to attain their goals, that they have to make stronger choices than the person beside them," Gainey told TSN.ca.

The NHL security department, which visits each team yearly to talk about issues, including personal associations, is aware of the situation.

"The NHL is aware of the reports and is in the process of gathering information," deputy commissioner Bill Daley said in a statement released on Friday.

Surprisingly, various Habs' blog sites are silent on this issue. They were more interested in the recent trials of Alexei Kovalev.

This isn't the first time organized crime has crossed paths with NHL players.

According to an investigation by PBS, Pavel Bure was friends with Anzor Kikalishvilli who, according to the FBI and Russian law enforcement, is the co-head of a Russian organized crime operation.

The FBI stated that Russian hockey great Vyacheslav Fetisov was linked to a Russian mobster named Vyacheslav Ivankov. Ivankov spent ten years in a U.S. prison for extortion and was charged and acquitted of two murders in a Russian restaurant.

I've got to give kudos to Alex Rodriquez for his recent troubles. If this situation is worse than initially thought, then A Rod may be the best and most obtuse saviour the NHL has ever seen.