Zowpeb

I agree that Halak's performance this past playoffs is being incredibly overrated. Some things that I believe can be considered as fact: 1) It is widely accepted that the Habs played STELLAR team defence despite some injuries. 2) Many of Halak's shots were from the perimeter inflating his save percentage in Pittsburgh and Washington 3) He was pulled in 3 games...that in itself is a HUGE crimp in any argument that he had an amazing playoff. If he wasn't pulled how would those analytics look?? The guy was pulled in almost 15% of the games he started... It's pretty apparent the Habs played some of their best games as an overall team in the first two rounds. Pitt and Wash appeared to think they could win on talent alone and didn't adjust. Philly came into their series READY...by then Montreal seemed to have bought into the "hype and destiny" BS. They got dominated physically. They had no transition game and lost the neutral zone in almost every game. Halak looked bad when Montreal played bad as a team. Halak looked great when Montreal played well as a team. How can anyone basically ignore that this guy was PULLED in 3 games and still call his playoffs amazing???? As for Carey Price...how about we compare Halak and Price's stats at the same age. Compare their "pedigree" of performance. Would be a more legit comparison. I am not saying Halak is a bad goalie. I am not saying he didn't deserve to start in the playoffs. I AM saying that his performance is being highly overrated. I believe Carey Price will have a fine season. Anyone notice the splits for Price when he had 1 days rest versus 3+ days rest? He's built to take on a heavy workload. Halak was almost the opposite. Is it any surprise that Price didn't look good as a back-up? I also found it interesting that Halak played more then half his starts (60%) against the following: Toronto, NYR, NYI, ATL, FLA, TB, OTT, CAR. Combined record of those teams: 282 - 284 - 90. They also had a GF-GA DIFF of MINUS 231...only OTT, NYR and ATL scraped out winning records of that bunch. Halak's record against this much easier grouping of teams was 16-5-2 with a 2.24 GAA and .931 SV%...clearly skewing the "stats" in his favour. He gained A LOT from playing against weaker teams. Carey Price played only 28% of his games against those teams (in fact, he played no games against OTT (probably the best of that group). The bulk of Price's remaining minutes (38%) came against WSH, BOS, BUFF, PIT, PHI...Halak played 17% of his minutes against this group. Price actually appeared to actually have a better numbers against this group versus the other too. Combined record of those teams 226 - 135 - 49. They had a GF - GA DIFF of PLUS 150. Price also played individual games against CHI, DET, SJ, COL, NJ, NSH, VAN in another 17% of his minutes...Halak only played 9% of his games against them (almost all against NJ). Combined record of those teams: 334 - 180 - 60 with a GF - GA DIFF of PLUS 216. But let's ignore all that for the fact that Halak was incredible in the playoffs...and still got pulled in 3 games. I'm just sayin...

Elizabeth May is destroying what could have become a viable political alternative in this country...

And MJ backs out of the deal after telling Chandler he traded him to Toronto...lol...it's actually comical. Jordan just put the screws to Colangelo and his player...how many players and GM's are going to want to deal with him now?

And apparently now both Turk and Calderon are gone for players that COULD bring similar on-court value (or at least address team needs more) and contracts that are much more manageable. Don't get me wrong the raps aren't going to the finals and will be lucky to make the playoffs...but they are in a much better position moving forward and could be in a position to contend in the next few years if they can acquire a big name FA when those contracts expire and the youth has a 2-3 more years experience. I'm surprised how quickly he moved Turk and Calderon, got back expiring contracts, and for players who can actually contribute. I quite like having a GM who can admit mistakes in hindsight and correct them with good moves...

I think there are some veteran guys who'd be willing to accept positions as role players just to be on the team and win a championship. A lot of people are upset at the Raps return, upset at Bosh or Colangelo but I think the Raps could actually be okay...if they get some draft picks (especially their 2011 1st back), the MLE and can find a way to move Turk's contract they could be in a very good position next off-season too. They drafted a couple of good players with good potential this year, have some good, albeit not stellar, talent in Jack and Calderon, Bargnani, Derozan, and Johnson. If Bargnani and Derozan can continue to improve, D and the Raps get a decent lottery pick (assuming they get it back from Miami) plus the MLE, and the cap room made available moving Turk, then they could be in very nice spot next summer...hell, moving Calderon's contract would probably help too. Add the newly drafted Davis to the mix and thats a solid crop of talent with some money available to go after a top tier FA. If Colangelo can sit on a mediocre team this year and set himself up their next off-season could be: A good 1st round pick - hopefully a SF, C. Sign a solid veteran back-up PG to replace Calderon and make Jack the starter (possibly use the MLE for this) Sign a top tier SF or C (whichever wasn't drafted).

Everyone is always too worried about the cap...there are still almost 3 months to sort that out. Don't get me wrong, you have to be mindful of where you are against the cap BUT being a few million over at this point of the summer is not the end of the world. It may limit your bargaining chip when trying to trade a player to get under but that shouldn't keep you from acquiring a key player (such as Gagne IF they felt he is that "key" player...which I'm also not convinced of to be honest).

Only thing I would say is that it wouldn't swing pretty far in EITHER direction...those other potential tax/cost variables are all pretty much worse in Montreal. Housing is more in Montreal. Property taxes are, I'm sure, worse. Less available tax credits and income deductions in Canada. A player can buy a million dollar home and write off the interest on the mortgage against their income...a good accountant in the US would make mince meat out of anything a player in Canada can make dollar for dollar salary wise. Players in Calgary and Edmonton are probably equal to players from many US states overall...worse against many others. Players in Quebec are paying the highest taxes. In fact, Quebecers in general pay a stupid amount of taxes relative to the rest of the country...and, in reality, they get very little to show for it.

Anyone who doesn't think Sergei Kostsytsin was a problem is off their rocker... Speaks out against management, refuses to report to his assignment in Hamilton, initially floats when he does ultimately report, speaks out against management yet again, etc, etc. Maybe he has a problem with authority, not uncommon amongst young players but a change of scenery usually opens their eyes...not sure that will be the case here since his attitude continued despite being sent down, benched, etc. If y'all want to blame the coach that's fine but I think you need to give your head a shake...Martin MAY have made Sergei into a "whipping boy" as you SPECULATE (he DID all the things I mention above, you can only SPECULATE that he was made a whipping boy). Even if Martin treated Sergei tougher then he should have...he's the damned coach. How many NHL coaches treat players differently because they are young and wealthy now??? They are treated the EXACT same as they were 20 years ago...Martin is not so bloody old that he coached in a period where players weren't bloody millionaires. They still make players work their tail off, have consequences for bad play/attitudes/etc...this is true of all teams with real leadership. Any time the players have too much say with management (captains aside) the teams fall apart. This is true in every sport. If you are younger fans (I assume hab29RETIRED is not given his handle) then you need to learn a little about teamwork...pulling your weight, sharing credit, integrity, support are all values that I never saw Sergei use...that's not a knock on his talent. He may become a good player...but unless he's surrounded by a lot of good veterans who hide those flaws he'll never be a winner. I can't believe anyone is arguing that this is Martin's fault and Sergei deserved to stay after all that crap. And saying this is a french/russian bias of some sort is actually the most ridiculous thing I've read on here in a while. I'm not a francophone, nor have I ever lived in Montreal or Quebec. I believe there IS in fact a large bias towards francophone players...but this is so far removed from anything to do with that bias you're just insulting every fan. It actually pisses me off.

He is signed in the KHL through the next season...rumour was that he may break his contract to come to the Habs...but it's doubtful. Does anyone doubt that organized crime threatens some of these players to stay in the KHL?

http://www.hockey-reference.com/friv/birth...e=&state=MN I think it's fair to say that Minnesota is a hockey hot-bed... Leopold Sauer Martin Ballard Byfuglien Parise Backes E. Johnson Okposo Mueller Wheeler Langenbrunner Cullen Hedican Blake Those may not all be superstars but that's quite a few active NHLers...and there are enough very good players there to show why it's a heavily scouted market. That's by no means the complete list as the link shows...in fact, I'd be willing to bet that most US born NHLers are from Minnesota by a large margin. It's a small state, easy to scout, has a lot of pedigree, a high level of competition, good coaching, etc...their best US scouts likely work this market and therefore likely carry some "sway" internally.

Hindsight is too easy...he was a top 6 talent who slid to the Habs at #11 (IIRC) and it was all because of concerns over a seizure...which has never been a problem for him. You can only evaluate a decision in the context that it was made and with the facts available at the time. The consensus from scouts (internal and external) was that if he stayed healthy he was a steal. If your decisions were evaluated based on the same hindsight then you'd look bad too.

BAHAHAHAHAHAHA @ Italy...looks good on them... If Portugal can also get turfed sooner rather then later it'd be the perfect World Cup.

Sorry but I think you are so far off base it's ridiculous... Such broad comments may be worth some smoke and mirrors to some but I think you need to do some research before you call out Timmins. The guys has drafted very well for the Habs. How many picks were NCAA picks? Not as many as you may think if you bothered to review his picks...remember Higgins and Komisarek were before Timmins too. Of course, since your making up the rules as you go along and discounting some guys that played in the NCAA because it suits your argument it shows how poor your argument really is... Let's review some of his picks since 2003: 2003 - A. Kostystsin (10), Lapierre (61), O'Byrne (79), Halak (271) 2004 - Chipchura (18), Grabovski (150), Streit (262) 2005 - Price (5), Latendresse (45), D'Agostini 190, S. Kostsytsin (200) 2006 - Maxwell (49), White (66), 2007 - McDonagh (12), Pacioretty (22), Subban (43), Weber (73) 2008 - Kristo (56), many too early to tell 2009 - too early to tell How many scouting directors end up picking 3-4 guys in the draft EVERY year that play regular minutes (or clearly WILL for some of the younger guys like McDonagh, Maxwell, Kristo, etc). You can ALWAYS argue that there were better players available in hindsight, 3-4 years LATER. The reality is that he has found guys like Streit, Halak, D'Agostini, S. Kostsytsin (whatever his issues he's got loads of talent for a 200th pick) in VERY late rounds. He did that 3 years in a row. I think you can also argue that Price, A. Kostsytsin, Latendresse, Subban are all fine top 2 round picks both when selected and in hindsight. I also think you'll be saying the same thing about Kristo in the near future too. I included McDonagh simply because his value helped acquire Gomez... How many teams pick 3-4 players consistently, every year, that make the NHL? How many teams that are consistently picking outside the top 7 players draft legit superstars? Everyone thinks the Red Wings draft well...review their picks and let me know how they compare: http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/draft/teams/dr00005492.html How about NJ? They always seem to have good young talent right? http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/draft/teams/dr00007066.html How about Boston? They also seem to have a bunch of home grown youth every year... http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/draft/teams/dr00004919.html I really don't care if you want to bash the Habs scouting department but I hate seeing such ridiculous comments that have absolutely no basis in fact. You can say you don't like the style of player, or that you don't like their development, how quick they are rushed to the NHL, whatever...just be prepared to back it up with fact and logic. Saying Timmins is an idiot and has no track record is baseless.

The play was so awful last night that I almost thought they threw the game... They were literally skating into each other...either the guy with the puck literally carried it directly into a teammate or guys without the puck were running around on top of each other. They were throwing blind passes back to the blueline when they actually did make the Philly zone...and I'm not talking about passes back that should have been to safe zones, some were 15' off the boards where the defenceman shouldn't be regardless. I've seen some comments supporting Subban but he played piss poor last night. He made a number of costly errors. Most of the team played poorly but Subban cost the team a couple goals and scoring chances. They're dumping the puck in, lolly-gagging through the neutral zone and playing the puck instead of the man. How many times are they going to let Philly forwards stand in the slot unimpeded? Hell, they're even letting them get position without a fight... Also frustrating is that the refs still called some ridiculous penalties...which is a carry over from the last series IMO. Don't get me wrong, they did not cost the game but I would say 3 of the goals for the Flyers were on pretty mediocre penalty calls. I thought it interesting that with similar plays they did not call Philly for penalties. Big difference between a 3-0 loss and a 6-0 loss on the teams psyche. Every fan thinks they get screwed by the refs but when commentators are openly discussing poor calls then it goes beyond fan bias.

http://sports.sympatico.ca/NHL/ContentPost...c&date=True Recent reports suggest the Flyers could target Montreal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price, who appears to have lost the starter's job to Jaroslav Halak. Both are restricted free agents this summer, but there's talk Price might be available. The Delaware County Times believes the Canadiens might accept one of the Flyers' expensive forwards or a young, affordable talent like Claude Giroux or James van Riemsdyk. With the Canadiens pressed for cap space next season (just like the Flyers) and key players still to re-sign, they would probably prefer Giroux or van Riemsdyk over, say, Simon Gagne or Daniel Briere, provided either veteran would even be willing to waive his no-trade clause to go to Montreal. However, for now it's uncertain what the Canadiens will do with their two young goalies, or for that matter, if the Flyers will go the trade route to bolster their depth between the pipes.

For what it's worth, I grew up within a 40 minute drive of Brantford. I'm not trying to single you out...just point out what I feel is a major issue with the "green" building movement. That is: bold claims that are not backed up, proven or tested. The claims made by solar, wind, LED, and many other technologies are so overblown that it will cause most of these tech's to fizzle in just a couple years as people become disillusioned with them. Most people writing articles are taking the manufacturers claims and the politicians claims as fact...it's ALMOST comical. The problem is that many people are pushing for the widespread use of these technologies to the tune of BILLIONS in government spending. So the end result is a lot of government debt for products/technologies that are years away from being able to perform anywhere close to the claims being made...and woops, we'll be stuck with the early versions that don't perform... There are a number of companies in the lighting industry worth billions of dollars...they are spending 90+% of their R&D money on developing product that PROPERLY integrates LED's into fixtures. (ie. not using a cheap retrofit/replacement lamp like this small Brantford company). This wouldn't be happening if LED's didn't hold a lot of promise that was close to paying off. However, I believe that most small to mid-size LED companies are looking to get bought by the larger firms or simply make a quick buck off of the local government through subsidy and gov't projects. In reality, there are hundreds of these small firms with no real patents to their names...they are just trying to capitalize on a trendy tech by marketing themselves as "green". Many are simply bringing in essentially complete product from off-shore and claiming it's CDN. Most of the off-shore product is pretty bad, but there ARE some good ones too. I checked out the website of this Brantford company and I didn't see anything I'd recommend...for what it's worth, they'll get smoked in the streetlighting market as all the "majors" are about to launch product soon, if they haven't already...their competitive advantage will be about 1,000,000, to every 1 fixture this guy sells. Since his version of tech has no differentiation he's dead in the water chasing that application. Don't get me wrong, on LED's specifically they are coming along rapidly, and improving monthly...they ARE a massive part of the future of lighting, especially streetlighting. In many applications they are already the right light source for consulting engineers to choose. Also worth noting that LED's are not exactly perfect when it comes to recycling (sure they don't use mercury but there are disposal issues...). There are also some questions/issues with the limited resources used to make LED chips (Gallium for one)...though I suspect the industry will overcome that concern.

I've worked in the lighting industry for my entire career...specifically in the infrastructure, industrial, commercial segments. There is so much misleading information with regards to LED Lighting claims in the news papers that you almost have to disregard them completely. For starters, would you want your local politicians to okay buying 1000's of streetlights from a small start-up that probably doesn't have a great handle on implementing LED technology into a fixture? What happens if/when the product doesn't live up to claims? There is an incredible amount of bad business ethics in the "green" building industry...buyer beware. Until recently there were no industry standards to hold people to when it came to testing LED fixtures. As a result some companies were claiming up to 100x (or more) then their products were capable of... I know my industry very well...there is no local company in Brantford that can supply quality LED streetlighting which provides enough light to currently accepted standards. In fact, I'm not wholly convinced that there are any products on the market which legitimately outperform current High Pressure Sodium lamps for energy efficiency. The LED story is currently sold on the potential for improved maintenance...but there are still issues around those claims too. LED fixtures currently make sense for many low wattage applications. Downlights and some recessed fixtures are already at the start of their next wave. The streetlighting battle is ongoing as manufacturers try to improve the technology...and some are VERY close, but MOST are smoke and mirrors (guys bringing in off-shore junk and slapping on a CSA label (which only proves you won't fry yourself opening the fixture)). I've been to Clinton Climate Initiative meetings/shows, the CaGBC shows, etc...they are FULL of politicians looking for a PR opportunity...what better way then to push for highly visible LED streetlights that "save energy"...who cares if the claims aren't justified. There is a manufacturer that says it's true so they get their newspaper article from a young reporter that doesn't really know anything about LED's...not singling you out here...

While I hate to see the Habs lose a point I'm hoping the Leafs can claw a few more points out and don't give Boston a top 2 pick...and I'd prefer they didn't give them a top 4 pick. For that reason, and the fact this likely doesn't hurt our playoff chances, I'm okay with giving up a point.

It does not equate to a UFA pay level...supply and demand on an open market costs far more then RFA contracts.

Except Price is still only 22 years old...I can see a lot of teams offering $2.9M offer sheets if they thought it would work and there wasn't a general unwritten code that many GM's still follow around offer sheets in general.

I wasn't being sarcastic...I also wasn't going to bother to look it up. But you only further my point...at least he dropped the gloves despite being a punk and a mouthpiece. If Lapierre wants to play the role of the heel then he needs to man up. For his teammates as much as himself...

No one is saying that they should eliminate physical play or the role of the pest...NO ONE is saying that. Lapierre knows exactly what he's doing...hell, Sportsnet ran about 6 clips of Lapierre doing the exact same play this season to 6 different guys. And we all know there are other dirty/crap moves/plays he pulls all the time. Then he won't back it up... The player I hated most in the last decade was Matt Barnaby for pulling similar crap but at least he also dropped the gloves a COUPLE times...Lapierre is a pussy...I'm only surprised that this isn't being addressed by the teams leadership/vets.

Lapierre has a history of blatently shoving guys in prone positions into the boards...hence a 4 game suspension. The fact he won't stand up for his cowardly actions is why I don't want him on the team. He wants to be Claude Lemiuex but he's too afraid to actually back it up. Lapierre is NOT good for this teams persona. I want guys to play hard, gritty hockey on the 3rd and 4th lines...Lapierre has the skills to do that. However, that means playing on the line and standing on it...he runs way past it and then runs away to hide. Stuff like what happened to Moore are likely a RESULT of Lapierre's ANTICS...

Quick...name those prospects... I think you over-estimate what's at issue there... I personally think the Habs can unload the following: Mara, Gill, Bergeron, Lapierre, D'Agostini and, IF the return is good enough, Halak. Sure, they need a good 2 way d-man in return...but their hands are pretty tied.

Whether teams are valuing them as such or not, draft picks and prospects play an even more important role in a league with a salary cap. In a nutshell: Each team can only afford 4 real "star" players with another 4 well paid, good quality regulars and 4 "soldiers"...that means they always need to have a mix of 3-4 prospects that can contribute above that "soldier level" to really contend...it's the quality of those young players, and where the organization is with their rights, that defines if you can legitimately contend. Therefore, while draft picks can always "bust" you need a good volume of high picks in your system to ensure the talent depth and potential to "make it" is increased. So trading that potential for a rental player that you could have signed for nothing in the off-season, or found an equally good option at that point, is a ridiculous move. Sure, it won't break the organization but it is concerning...this team, only 1.5 years ago, was among the best farm systems in the NHL and is now likely closer to 15th, maybe 20th. Sure, some prospects have graduated but they have traded away picks and prospects to simply remain a 6th to 9th seed... It's a bad trade and deserves to be under the microscope, even though it's not an impact deal. It speaks volumes to the direction this team could be headed.