[Ed. Note: Some lists chronicle the best in hockey. Others the worst. Others the most memorable or greatest or essential. What Puck Daddy’s 2016 Summer Series seeks to do is capture those indefinable, quirky, oddities that occur every season. Moments that defy prediction or, in some cases, logical explanation. Welcome to WEIRD NHL.]

By: Marc Dumont of Metro Newspaper and Habs Eyes on the Prize

1. Steve Ott licks Jeff Halpern during a faceoff

When lining up for a faceoff in the NHL you can expect a few things to happen to you. Odds are you’ll get a stick jabbed into your ribs, or your opponent might try to trip you as to gain an advantage once the puck is dropped. These actions aren’t exactly ideal in the eyes of a referee, but they’re tolerated. Athletes have a long history of trying anything to gain an edge over their opponent. After all, if you’re not cheating you’re not trying.

Jeff Halpern, however, was the victim of one of the weirdest pre-faceoff distraction tactics.

As he lined up against known agitator Steve Ott, this happened:

That’s right. Ott licked him. This ranges from weird to flat out gross. On a scale of one to 10, this was the equivalent to buying the last hotdog from a street vendor at 3 am, as the vendor desperately tries to talk you out of it. No good can come of it.

God only knows where Ott’s mouthguard had been recently. Thankfully Halpern wears a visor, which paid off in spades as Ott’s lick attempt was thwarted by a few crucial millimeters of reinforced plastic.

You know that Ott’s tongue never touched Halpern’s skin because Halpern did not immediately head to the locker room for a decontamination shower. Although rumour has it he did inquire about the possibility of wearing a hazmat suit the next time the Canadiens played Buffalo. Ott has always been an odd fellow, but this might have been the peak of his peculiar actions on the ice.

For the record, ever the professional, Halpern won the faceoff.

Remember kids: keep your stick on the ice, and your tongue in your mouth.

2. Mike Cammalleri traded mid-game

We’ve seen players get scratched before a game, which usually means they’re off to a new city via a trade. It’s simple, you don’t want the player you’re acquiring to be injured once the deal is agreed upon.

Heck, we’ve seen players take the pre-game warmups, and then get scratched for precautionary reasons.

In 2011-12, the Canadiens brought it to a whole new level.

First, let’s set the scene.

The Canadiens had enjoyed one of their most successful seasons in recent history by going to the conference finals in 2009-10. The head coach, Jacques Martin, did a fantastic job dragging his rag tag group of players to a respectable level. No one expected them to make any noise in the playoffs, but thanks to Mike Cammalleri and Jaroslav Halak, the Habs enjoyed two monumental upsets.

They started off by upsetting Alex Ovechkin and the President’s Trophy winning Washington Capitals in round one, then went on to beat Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins in the second round. They eventually lost to the Flyers in the conference finals, but not before setting the bar way too high for what the roster should realistically be expected to accomplish. The following year they went on to enjoy a very respectable 40-30-5-3 record in the regular season, but uncharacteristically lost to the Boston Bruins in the first round.

Keep in mind, for Montrealers, losing to the Bruins in the playoffs is akin to buying a poutine that doesn’t come with cheese curds and fresh fries. It’s embarrassing, and it’s punishable by jail time. The Bruins went on to win the Stanley Cup, and for the Canadiens it was all downhill from there.

In a pathetic attempt to right the ship, Montreal fired assistant coach Perry Pearn on October 26th, an hour before they played the the Philadelphia Flyers.

General manager Pierre Gauthier explained it thusly:

“It’s not about an individual person. (It’s) more the result of a change from a global perspective, from a big picture perspective where we need to be better. We need to be more efficient and in order to do that, that’s one of the changes that we decided to make.”

Via SBNation More