The Chicoutimi Cucumber

He had a couple of disastrous seasons due to health issues. That is the only reason for ANY negativity around this signing. This guy is a PERFECT fit for our team which has needed a player of his profile literally for years. He will fit superbly into our top-6 or equally superbly on the third line. Most importantly, he removes the need to throw a plodder like Darche on the powerplay. The more I think about this, the happier I am - not because Cole is some superstar (expect 50 points, barring injury) but because he is the ideal player to fill a very specific hole on our team. The benefits his game cam bring our club are disproportionate to his profile as a player taken in isolation. Potentially a very, very good signing.

BAM. Every year fans go ballistic about 'overpaying' for this guy or that guy. I think this is way overblown. BTH is exactly right. You identify the guy you want and you FRIGGING GO GET HIM, which is what EVERY elite team does. Cole addresses the longstanding need for a forward with size who can score. Habs fans should be excited. Instead we get cramps of anxiety because he's moderately overpaid. Good move Goat!!

I just follow this site, to be honest. Now I'm anxious about Cole and the paranoia that we'll lose him. Typical UFA day neurosis.

Smart signing by them. Cheap player, track record of offensive success, partially addresses team weakness on W.

Good write up. I was uneasy with Auld last season because of the sure knowledge that one significant injury to Price would mean a long losing streak and likely missing the playoffs. Budaj is much more credible as a temporary #1. A very smart, under-the-radar move by Gauthier to address an under-the-radar but potentially grave organizational weakness.

Exactly the right play at G. Upgrade on the mediocre Auld. No threat to Price.

Budaj: upgrade on Auld, could maybe handle a stretch as injury replacement in the #1 role, but no threat to Price. Decent acquisition. Cole: slightly risky because of his travails in Edmonton, but as a player, just what the doctor ordered. That'd be an ideal signing.

Is there any sign of the Habs doing anything so far, other than striking out with Jagr and Torres (either of whom would have been welcome additions)? Rumours, anything?

Jagr: right. Philly is one of those teams that always sucks up the big names. Just as I said in the jagr thread - we don't get those types of players.

Well, too bad about Wiz. If we leave our D as is, we will have foregone the opportunity to have a powerhouse, Cup-worthy blueline in order to avoid overpaying him by $1 mil. This could prove a prudent decision, as was the refusal to sign Souray; or it could prove a penny wise/pound foolish decision, as was the refusal to sign Streit. I don't share the certainty many of you do that Wiz is not a legitimate #2 defenceman, so I rate the chance that we regret this decision as about 60-40.

Geez, Fathead Hickey estimates that the Habs will have $8 mil to play with AFTER signing Gorges, White, a backup and another minor forward. If he's right, we're in a position to sign almost anybody we want - the question will be how willing we are to take on a bloated contract, which every significant UFA is certain to get in this insanely overvalued market. So the question becomes...who, in this year's crop, would you be willing to overpay? I'll confess, given team needs, Cole would be on that list for me. And I still think we should be looking at a quality puck-moving defenceman.

Well, my personal team-building philosophy (not that that's worth much) is that you win from the net out. Our current configuration relies on TWO defencemen who have never taken a regular shift in the NHL, or else one of those plus Spacek. While I don't view Spacek as the useless piece of garbage that some fans do, I find that a risky alignment, especially as he is injury-prone and likely to need his minutes managed carefully. A far preferable option would be to have Hammer in the mix, with Spacek to be relegated to 7th defenceman duties in the event that Emelin or Weber really do step up. (I haven't given up on Hamrlik yet...he may find the UFA market less congenial than he hopes, who knows). I don't believe that, even in a cap era, winning teams rely on everything working out just so. You've got to have quality depth, especially on defence. Right now we don't have it, unless you count Weber/Emelin/Diaz as 'quality depth' - a verdict I find premature. Somebody suggested that Wiz could command upwards of $6 mil. If that's the case, then I'll cease to gripe about losing him, as that would be an absurd contract. But it doesn't change the fact that right now, this is a risky defence corps...especially, but not exclusively, if you worry about Markov's injury record.

It was the second worst trade of the Gainey era - the worst being the Ribeiro trade - and no more than that. Well spoken as usual, Wamsley.

Time will tell. But it says here he will sign with one of those other teams.

I've got the answer! ALEXEI KOVALEV.

In a cap world, you don't throw out assets like this. Good contract with a lot of upside.

Oh yeah, I'm not saying we'd be acquiring the Jagr of 1991. If he's as good as Lang was for us, though, that'd represent a major acquisition. What I'm really getting at is that the Habs, unfortunately (or not), just don't seem to have the glamour or cachet that teams like Pittsburgh, Detroit, the Rangers, Colorado, and a couple of other teams seem to possess. If something cool like Jagr returning to the NHL is going to happen, I just think it'll wind up being with one of those 'glamour' teams, not us. Whether this gut feeling makes any sense is another question. Of course I should clarify that I won't slit my wrists if Jagr goes elsewhere. But just as a fan, I think it'd be fun to have him in the ...much as it was great fun to have Kovalev.

Well, I hope you're right, obviously. It is true that at some point you have to trust your young players (in this case, Weber) to step up. But if either Markov or Subban go down with an injury this team as currently configured is going to have a HELL of a time transitioning to offence and an equally nightmarish time on the powerplay, unless Weber turns out to be for real. I'm not saying the losses of Wiz + Hammer is a crippling blow, but that IS two of our top four from last season and the significance of such losses should not be understated. Presumably Gauthier has decided, in line with one school of thought on this board, that the main priority should be an upgrade at FW. That's a defensible view - but not my preference. EDIT: another way to look at it is as a rebuilding year on the blueline: giving Emelin and Weber a real shot. Because I see us as borderline contenders, this isn't, again, an approach I endorse.

Yeah, and if they can't, we're screwed no matter what happens. There IS an issue, though, of somewhat poor fit between our forwards (fast, agile) and our D (somewhat plodding but defensively strong) that is a hangover from the Great Gainey Rebuild of 2009. We have a very clear system built on using our slow but tough D to collapse down low, protecting the slot, and counterpunching with our hornet-like forwards. The key element that makes the whole engine work is the transition from defence to offence that allows for the counterpunch. As it is, only Markov and Subban can reliably generate the transition at an elite level. Hammer is respectable at it, Gorges so-so. Spacek and Gill are abysmal at it. This is another reason why I wanted us to re-sign Wiz (it's also, incidentally, a reason why Gomez is important to the team structure - he is one foreward who excels at that transition game). The ideal configuration, it seems to me, would be three offensively excellent defencemen (Markov, Wiz, Subban) in counterpoise to three strong defensive defencemen (Gorges, Gill, Spacek/Emelin). Hammer was sort of a middle ground. With both Wiz and Hammer now seemingly out of the picture, we risk entering the season with a fundamental hole in our team structure, especially if either Markov or Subban get hurt. Unless Weber really steps up, the implications could be very serious for our team. Gauthier had better have a Plan B.

Cole seems like an ideal acquisition, provided we keep expectations under control. In a good year he is a 50-point guy who will likely bounce around the second and third line and perhaps get the assignment of parking his ass in the slot on the PP. If the price is manageable it'd be a no-brainer to me; but Fleischman just feels more like a Hab because he so clearly fits our established mould. It fundamentally depends on whether Gauthier wants to deepen our existing team identity (smart, shifty, versatile) or whether he wants to add missing elements to that identity (Cole's more hard-nosed game). I've gotten so used to the Habs NOT addressing the issue of 'tougness' that the idea of them adding Cole is hard to process...like some sort of parallel universe.

It's a very dangerous UFA season. Not only are there too many teams chasing too few good players, there's all those crappy-market clubs trying to hit the cap floor. There's quite a few middling UFAs that could help the Habs, but I fear they're all going to be priced unrealistically.

A Penguin, a Red Wing, whatever. Like I say, the Habs never seem to get these guys.

Why don't we just sign Fleischmann as a UFA and skip all the fooforah? The real point of this post is that Fleischmann would be a good fit. I agree - his game is very much in the mould of this team. Louis Moustakas's article on the home page is excellent, and most of the players he lists in the 'Scorers' and 'Pluggers' categories would be useful additions to the Habs in my book. Fleischmann, Cole and Gagné, yes; Belanger and Talbot, yes. The first three in particular could represent exciting 'missing pieces' for us. And I can see Gauthier being interested, especially in Fleischman, Cole, and Talbot.

Bah, the Habs never get these types of guys. Pencil him in as a Penguin for 2012.

According to these guys, the talk of moving him is serious. Whether these guys know their arses from their elbows is another question. http://www.thefourthperiod.com/news/mtl110628.html