sbhatt

I'm all for allowing the spontaneous fights, and the kind of 'message has to be sent' fights that police the game in a way that referees and the threat of league discipline simply have proven incapable of doing (ie: Wilson straightening out Coburn for what he did to Backstrom in the playoffs). I am now firmly against fights for the sake of fighting however, and am glad to see teams no longer keep a guy on the roster who is basically a boxer on skates who can't play the game. While I found those fights highly entertaining, one simply cannot ignore the dire consequences of CTE...the game is risky enough with the jolt the brain can take on even clean hits, so the league cannot support the notion of guys who get punched repeatedly most nights being the norm. The league has to adapt in order to survive, as I suspect the legal fallout will continue for years to come. Even the NFL had to adapt, drastically altering their rulebook in recent years to address the problem (defenseless receiver rule, helmet to helmet contact penalties, serious protection for quarterbacks and punters to reduce injuries, ect). The NHL has followed suit, and rightly so...there are too many tragic cases that provide definitive evidence.

So Eklund has posted a rumour of MB trying to pry Joonas Donksoi out of San Jose. It's so stupid it just might be true....adding a veteran defensive winger with almost no offensive upside to a team with a glut of wingers and an anemic offense fits MB's style alright.

Caps seem content to just go through the motions for the most part, and Habs are making them pay. Probably won't see many 4 goal games during the reg. season, so savor it now.

I'm all for gooning a guy against his will if he takes liberties with your goaltender or a star player, and then refuses to drop them to answer for it. I didn't watch the whole game, so I'm not in a position to know if Eckblad committed such a transgression or not.

The best outcome for this season we could possibly hope for is to "Lose For Hughes", so I'd like to see the blueline stay exactly as-is.

I love watching Ovi play, so will be tuning in for this one. I expect several highlight reel moments against that sad Habs blueline....glad Carey has the night off.

This bodes well for the "Lose For Hughes" goal

Jesus Christ...do your arms get tired from working those pom-poms as you play cheerleader for Bergevin?

Very sound reasoning...I suspect that you are correct.

I was happy to see Bouchard take this stance. For far too long the Canadiens organization has behaved this way, not standing up for teammates that have been cheap-shotted or standing idly by when skill players are harassed/intimidated. There are some here who think the rough stuff serves no purpose in the 'new' NHL, but I could not disagree more strongly. The prime example that I can think of was in this past Stanley Cup Final, when Coburn pulled Backstrom's jersey off during a scrum and tossed it to the ice. Were that a Habs skilled player, nothing would get done about it 9 times out of 10. The Caps, however, stand up for each other...Tom Wilson lost his mind and immediately tried to get at Coburn...and it took a hell of an effort by the linesman to prevent it. The whole time he and Coburn were in the box, Wilson was livid...and told him about the ass-kicking he was going to give him the entire 2 minutes...I don't think he even sat down once. As soon as the box opened, he was on Coburn like white on rice...he didn't give him a choice, they were fighting. Right then and there, by the reaction of the Caps bench, I was more sure than ever that they were going to win the Cup; they were a TEAM in every sense of the word. If Bouchard can start to instill that in the up and coming Canadiens in Laval, that is as much a vital part of the rebuild as re-stocking the talent pool IMO.

I'm happy; happy that Max is gone and the drama has ended...and happy with the return. I fully expected MB to flub the trade and get less, so this was a pleasant surprise.

Bergevin being dragged to death behind a bus.....that may be the happiest thought I've encountered all day. Thank-you for that!

Boy, do I ever hope that you are wrong. I have pinned all of my hopes for the near future on a "Lose for Hughes" season followed by some spectacular luck to win the draft lottery. It would be worth suffering through the most futile season ever to finally land our first potential PPG true #1C since Damphousse. I would be OK with Price playing really well, and losing that slew of games by 1-0 and 2-1 close scores though.

This is likely correct...IF Pacioretty manages to have a reasonable season. The problem is that if there's a 'dark cloud' energy surrounding him due to the circumstance and it affects both him and the room, he could end up having a season even worse than his last one, driving his deadline deal value even more than current value. It's a risk, but that's where we sit...because MB didn't get it done the right way at the right time.

The return for Skinner has me thinking similar thoughts. I never expected a great return for Max, but now it feels likely that it will be even less than I was anticipating.