habscout

I've just posted the HW Preview for tonight's game. As usual, I welcome any comments or ciriticisms. ;-) http://www.habsworld.net/article.php?id=1194

Great article! I put the link up on the front page.

That was well said REV-G. It seems like Gainey knows exactly how to handle problem players [ie. publicly supporting them while planning a way to move them out/let them leave], while knowing what parts are needed to fit into the team's makeup. His hiring of Carbo may end up being his best move yet.

Yeah, you're right about the CBA clause for the 600 game rule; it's in section 16.9. I read one interesting article last season that quoted a couple of veterans about this topic. One stated that they loved the 600 game rule, because they often got stuck with a roommate that snored and kept them up a lot. Another said they relied on their roomie to make sure they both got to their team meals, meetings and other scheduled events on time, thus avoiding any team suspensions for tardiness. If the players get to pick their roomies, then I'd guess Koivu and Rivet would be together.

I especially liked Chris' comments about his dad: "My dad was a fanatical Canadiens fan. He can tell you all the rosters and leading scorers going back to the seventies" http://mckeenshockey.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=594426

After the 2nd week of the season, Habs 2nd round pick in 2006 was named the player of the week of the WHL. http://www.whl.ca/news/?id=5067

I was going to add the Forsberg story to the Preview for tonight's game, but I'll clear the record here instead. The Forsberg comments are inaccurate. He didn't have any non-broken sticks left to use in the shootout. His last stick had a slight break in it, and he didn't want to use it in the shootout; he asked the coach to skip him in the first three shooters. But when they failed to settle the score, Forsberg was put in to shoot. When he skated down the ice and tried to shoot, he broke his stick. I guess Foppa must have been too superstitious to borrow another teammates stick. Also, Jonsson doesn't have a broken ankle. The report I read was that it's a high ankle sprain.

I've just posted the Preview article for tonight's game to the HW website. If someone has any criticism of it, please let me know as I'd like to hear it. http://www.habsworld.net/article.php?id=1188

It is much too early for me to make such statements. I'd give it 10 games, or one month, before attempting it. I can say that I thought Abby played fairly well in Saturday's game, and the efforts of Higgins, Koivu & Ryder were obviously huge in Friday's game.

I thought the Habs played well overall. Yes, they could have had 2 points, but perhaps it's a good early lesson for the team to remember that there's at least 60 minutes in a game, and nothing should be taken for granted before that last second has expired. Yes, they had some untimely lapses, and maybe Carbonneau has learned not to put Kovalev in to the game so late when a more defensive player may be a better choice. I really liked their top 2 lines, all exhibiting good pressure, speed and puck control for most of the game. The 3rd and 4th lines played well. Considering the Sabres had ample chances to shut them down with the last line change, Koivu's line was dominating them offensively, and Plekanec's line had numerous good oportunities too. Watch out when Plek's line has more time together to gel. Niinama looked tentative at time, but he too hasn't had much game time with his new teammates, so I'll pass judgement on him after more time has passed. Now until Pierre Mcguire clearly states what the "book" on Huet has "written" in it, I won't listen to him. He's just being his usual, catch-phrase, blow-hard self, who enjoys listening to the sound of his own voice. I can't remember the first time he's said anything non-objective about the Habs since he's been an anal yst for TSN.

I believe you're thinking of Kelly Hrudey, who played for LA the year the Habs beat them in the finals for their last Stanley Cup. I don't believe that Glen Healy faced the Habs that season, since he played for the Islanders then. He was a Maple Leaf for the end of his career, so he probably picked up the typical disdain for the Habs that all Leafs do. I remember watching him diss the Habs strongly on a couple of occasions during the past 2 seasons, so I know he's biased against them.

Now TSN confirms it too: http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=179236&hubname= I liked Carbo's comments: "They did what they had to do. They've played well right from the start of training camp."

Sportsnet just confirmed the Habs signing Latendresse to a contract. http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/article.jsp...929_095009_4568

I'm happy for Latendresse, although I had thought Kostsitsyn would be the one to start the season with the Habs. Gui can be a good player for the Habs, but I'd like to remind everyone that the last 19 year old to start with the Habs was Mike Ribeiro. I hope Latendresse has the maturity to handle playing professional hockey. Otherwise, he could turn into a longer term project that will take 4-5 seasons before he can live up to his potential.

You know, having "NHL experience" doesn't mean anything to me if that experience was bad! I will guarantee that the Habs are in trouble if Traverse has to play more than 1 minute for Montreal this season, or ever. I think Pat Hickey's comments are short sighted, and he has poor long term memory. Insurance is only good if it works for you, not against you.

NOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ok, it's almost out of my system. Now, acquiring Traverse shows how potentially bad Souray's shoulder is. I would much rather have seen Jancevski, Benoit and/or O'Byrne been given some icetime. Unless Traverse has *really* improved as a defenceman, then I cannot stand the thought of having to watch him cough up the puck in the worst possible moment while wearing a Habs uniform, again. IMHO, Traverse was one of the 5 worst defenceman ever to have donned a Habs jersey. In no particular order, my list also includes Murray Baron, Darryl Shannon, Christian Laflamme and Patrice Brisebois.

Great article on Ryan O'Byrne; I put the link up on the front page. When discussing the decision of going the college route over playing in major junior, Ryan said: "Ex-NHLer's sons go the college route, almost all of them." http://www.saanichnews.com/portals-code/li...22887&more=

I hope he recovers from that terrible accident. All the best to Dickie and his family.

http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news...dce&k=44257 Good article.

Previously, this same thing happened with the Habs farm team. Back in the 1999-2000 season, the Habs signed a goalie by the name of Dan Murphy to an AHL contract. He played well that season [33 games, 2.37 GAA, 3 SO, .924 SvPctg], and easily outplayed Mathieu Garon, who appeared in over 50 games that season, his first as a pro. But the Habs for some reason did not sign Murphy to an NHL contract before the end of the season. Near the end of that season, the Philadelphia Flyers came along and offered him an NHL contract, albeit a 2-way one, and he ended up playing the last 5 games of that season for the Phantoms. A similar thing happened with the Habs for Andy Delmore. They signed Delmore, an undrafted junior, to an ATO [amateur try out] contract in the 1996-97 season after he finished his last game in the OHL. He played for the Habs farm team for only 4 games. They were trying to sign him to an AHL contract but the Flyers came along and offered him a 2-way, NHL contract. So, losing a prospect this way to another team is relatively rare, but it does happen. Now, with a radically different CBA, I think this type of approach is a good one for evaluating "late bloomer" types of players. It gives the pro team no additional weight on their 50 man roster, nor their team's cap, but allows them additional time to fully evaluate a player to see if they may have what it takes to make it to the pro level.

http://www.fan590.com/mp3s/kirkmuller-ms-2006152006.mp3 or go to http://www.fan590.com/gallery/hotAudio.jsp then click on the Kirk Muller link. I enjoyed listening to Mullers comments about playing for Pat Burns and Jacques Demers. He also talked about his role as assistant coach on the Habs and a few other good topics.

I found this follow up article about the O'Byrne signing, and thought I'd post it here and on the front page since it has more direct comments from Ryan than other articles I've read. http://www.collegehockeynews.com/news/2006/08/14_cornell.php

http://hockeysfuture.com/article.php?sid=8...ded&order=0 I like reading about Fischer's leadership capabilities, and how well he gets along with this teammates.

Yes, physically he's ready. But he remains a prospect until he can show the organization and eventually us fans that he's ready. Remember that O'Bryne didn't really produce much offensively in college, even in his 3rd season. Komisarek went from 16 points in 41 games as a freshman, to 30 in 39 games as a sophomore. O'Bryne had 13 points in 28 games as a junior, and a mere 12 points during the previous two seasons combined. So, I'm saying I'm not expecting much from him offensively as a pro player. If he can develop into a solid 4-6 defenceman, who can play well defensively while making good passes on transition plays, then I'll be happy.

Sorry all, my translation was bad. I'll try and delete it.