bluesgm

ummmm, so let me get this straight...if he crumbles as a 20 year old rookie in his first NHL playoffs that means he will never be a Stanley Cup goaltender! Umm....ok...so...wow...like...I...dunno what to say realy.....except, here is the door! Go back to Avs land plz!

LOL, anyone who thinks Halak will get more that 1-1.5 million dollars needs their head examined...the guy has played well but for 21 games. The most we get for him at this point in time is a depth player or a prospect because he isnt proven. He will either be in MTL or Europe come next season...and IMO if he runs away to Europe good riddance to him...Price is better anyways!

I can answer the Price question....yes, I think he can stay sharp....since more pressure has been put on his shoulders he has stepped up to the challenge...with the added pressure this kid will step it up again. The kid eats pressure for breakfast, lunch and dinner and it seems that when the hopes of many rest on his shoulders he steps his game up to yet another level. This was evident last season when I went to see him play his first game in Hamilton(his first PRO game) he looked good, not amazing but good. I also went to one game every playoff series and the kid evolved every series the teamk went into the playoffs....the Carey Price that downed the Americans in round one of the Calder Cup playoffs was not the same Price that Beat Hershey for the title...and that Price is not the same Price that I saw Handle the Buffalo Sabres in the 6-2 win of Febuary 29th. I really think that Price deserves a 10.0C on Hockeysfuture.com. He is going to be a number 1 guy so a 7.0 rating is not even in his sites....but I think if he continues to develop like this and all his tools come together and he learns to focus "every game" he could be Roy 2.0 wiothout the unhappy ending!

what I dont understand is how ppl say, "get halaks trade value up." he will need to play more than 15 games to do that and GM's know what he can do....they can just check what he has done in the AHL!

Everyone seems to be concerned about the # of shots but ppl forget that Price is in his element when he is facing a number of shots...havent people noticed that Price's best games are when he is peppered!

I really hope HALAK likes that bench! Cuz I really cant see him playing that much when Prioce plays like he is tonight...WHATTA GAME!!!! WHATTA GOALIE!!!!

I cant even move when I am sunburnt .....and Koivu is a proven playoff performer (to the guy that said Hamrlik and Kovalev are the only proven guys) Koivu always shows up in the post season and I know Higgins wasnt to shabby against Carolina!

frig HALAK, I want to see Price on Saturday AND Sunday! solid solid solid tonite by the young net minder....when Price is Halaks age he may have a cup to his name! I really dont think we are that far off...maybe a couple more peices...we need to do it before Kovalev retires. What kind of scares me about this team (in a good way) is that our whole team seems to pride themselves on playing better in the playoffs: Higgins Koivu Kovalev Plekanec Komisarek Markov(I remember him being good in the playoffs) Price (In the AHL...will it convert to NHL?) S. Kost (In Junior...will it convert to NHL?) Lapierre(he was dynamite in Hamilton last yearIn the AHL...will it convert to NHL?) O'Byrne(If he scored at the clip he did in the playoffs in the reg. season last year he would have had many points, there were also many HUGE hits out of this guy in the CCPO last season....HUGE!...will it convert to NHL?) Gorges(was great when Kelowna won the memorial cup In the AHL...will it convert to NHL?) I think all the guys in questions are strong enuf mentally to make it work...we will see! Guys I am concerned about are: Andrei Kostitsyn: He has only played in one playoff in the AHL in his rookie season there...didnt do so well...but he was good in WJC and such Francis Boillon: He was decent last time we were in Tom Kostopolous: Never had a chance to see him play Breezeby: He has a cup tho...much of his youth is gone however Guillame: has he been known to play well in the PO? anyone know about Hammer, Smolinski and other guys that pull their game up in the playoffs...or guys they expect to not play well? all these guys seem to raise their games to a whole extra level during the playoffs....where will that put us? Will it give us the boost we need to finally win #25? I think the last thing Gainey needs to stop messing around and call up Kyle Chipchura (I dont think Hamilton will make it to the playoffs so he should be around the team)...even if he doesnt play that much he would benefit from being in that atmosphere...much like guys like A. Kost and other prospects did when MTL was in it against Carolina last time MTL was in.

I could honestly care less if Jaroslav leaves (if Price is able to play 65-75 games) because if he plays that amount of games and wins 40-50 of them who really gives a crap what the back-up does? Sign Joe Shmo to the smallest contract allowed and as long as the habs can pull 5 or 6 wins out of this "shitty" goalie then we are still in the playoffs and likely in good position. IMHO we should consider trading Halak for an Impact player for next season, package him with a prospect or something...like Fischer! Price has shown that when he is number 1, he is dominant.....he did it in hamilton, he did it in Tri-cities and he did it in thew WJC. Now he is doing it in Montreal. HE struggled when he had to sit, it is obvious he is going to be a good #1 goalie potentially a star with a ceiling of a generational goalie!

ok...so why the need to attack me? It is obvious that this has turned into a Koivu discussion thread so I think YOU need to wake up and smell the roses man! Honestly, did I attack you? NO! if this is what you want: Plex is a good player and he is bound to struggle and slump occasionaly as he is not an ELITE talent. If he didnt have at least one or two slumps a season he would not be a GOOD player he would be a SUPERSTAR, and he is not a SUPERSTAR!

well I guess surviving cancer, a career threatening eye injury, multiple career threatening knee injuries and playing on cruddy teams almost his entire career and still managing .576 PPG over his carrer equals a "free-bash" ticket The Canadiens fan base is sometimes really messed when it comes to a season to season basis or even a game to game basis. It is common to see the team go on a 5 game tear and when they lose 1 game the sky is falling? The problem with all this "bashing" is that Koivu is not doing that badly. He is still on pace for his usual amount of PPG and he is the CAPTAIn of a team that is one of the tightest knit in the whole NHL. I can deal with the stupid penalties as many players take them. SOURAY was a main culprit of stupid penalties but he was never bashed religiously like Koivu is being this season. ppl need to get their heads out of their butts in this case. Is it because he doesnt speak French, other than penalties which should NOPT be an issue. I do not see any reason to bash him? AM I MISSING SOMETHING?

Not a good outing for Pricey tonight, hopefully either him or Huet pulls up their socks soon or were not going anywhere in the playoffs...Jaro sure as hell cant win us the cup!!!

I was recently in the HWL, and it is a great league...but if you are unable to get in there my buddy is setting up a league. i am not currently in it but he says there is a lot of tools that they are looking to weed out but need active GM's. ...if you are interested send him an e-mail at jmcgrady84@yahoo.com I am not trying to steal ur thunder HWL, but only so many GM's can join and he isnt on Habsworld so he asked if I could advertise for him

boo hoo! Honestly whats this circle jerkl goin on with Halak.....the guy is opur future "back-up!!" Price is the future enough said, if he is pissed trade him right now cuz he is a whiny bitch...he gets paid the bucks to go where the team sends him and right now the Canadiens are all about Price and getting him ready to be our future.... ...dont feel bad one bit for Halak!

I am quoting myself...just so no one FLIPS out all I have to say is that with out current roster we are 1) 3 points back from OTTAWA!!!!! 2) have a game at hand against OTTAWA!!!!! 3) Have a 7-2-2 streak going 4) Are kickin ass and takin names! why do we NEED a trade!?!?!? All we NEED is to maybe get rid of Ryder for a grinder to play with Latendresse and Lapierre and then we are fine with a Higgins-Koivu-Kostitsyn trio!

TOOO OLD! past his prime!!!!!! has about 2 years of decent play in him, nothing special! I wouldnt trade your left nut for him!

i WOULD not trade our first this year for: Jokinen Tanguay Hossa Sundin All these guys are good players but none of them are Franchise. Jokinen and Tanguay are young and dynamic but they are not franchise players. Hossa is good in the reg. season but I wouldnt want him in the PO, he was front and centre of the Snes F-ups. Sundin "was" a franchise centre but he isnt anymore...too old I dont even think I would disrupt the obvious chemistry our team has at the moment for many players in the NHL if I know Gainey like I think I know him it would take a special guy for him to move anyone this year. Except for Ryder, who is obviously struggling, but still we would get such a shitty return for him that i might be worth it to "hope" that he breaks out and reverts to his old self in the playoffs.

I think we are most likely to get either a "project" prospect or an older third line checker for Ryder....look what we got for Ribeiro who was not struggling and tell me Ryder is worth more?? Sure 30 goals in ...its soooo funny how people over rate our struglling players...thinking we are going to get Richards in a trade involving Ryder. We have to hope we get something decent for Ryder....but I think we might just let him go to UFA...we have a decent top-6 without him

GM's know this is a deep draft...if yah think were getting a first for Ryder....you need to get to rehab, and fast!

why change the team???? IMHO we can go with this roster into the playoffs and perform well. We have shown we can score, we are fast and we have good chemistry going for us. I really beleive that the way the team has started to play as a unit is better than any upgrade we can receive at the trade deadline, expcept for maybe a character pl;ayer for the third line that we can trade Ryder and maybe a second rounder or third rounder for. Again I think this goes back to MTL fans being trade feinds.......feinding for trades like drug addicts feind fro their drugs. It would be stupid to trade our 2008-2009 1sts as they are supposed to be maybe better than the 2003 draft. Also a lot of experts have said we have the best chemistry as a team of any team in the NHL at the moment. We shouldnt mess with that. oh...and Hossa is a slug in the playoffs...waste of time to pay out of our arses for him and have him struggle and then lose him....that would be a party wouldnt it! IMHO these lines would look good in the playoffs: Kovalev(his emergence is 10x better than any rental player)-Plekanec-Kostitsyn Higins-Koivu-Kostitsyn Lattendresse-Lapierre-Dandenault Kostopolous-Smolinski-Begin That is a solid offence that will bring lots of energy on D: Markov-Komisarek Hamrlik-O'Byrne Bouillon-Gorges Huet a) Halak(if Hamilton Makes the Playoffs) b) Price(If Hamilton Misses playoffs) <------I cant see them letting him go home or sit around, if hes not playing in hamilton he will be backing up in MTL

he is 20, there is no reason to be concerned about hi...yet. IMHO and I have said it before the fact that he is getting games in Hamilton while Halak rides the pine in MTL shows that Price is higher up on the depth chart...some will argue, but it is true

what is up with the trade fiend!!!! Seriously buy some crack or something for gawd sakes if you need to fiend at something. Why would we trade and disrupt a team that is performing very well right now?????? Please tell me??? also, Tuomo Ruutu is a winger dude! What is wrong with our lines now is the need for a star centre, not some fragile chump like ruutu. Honestly our roster looks better at the moment than what you said, please...PLEASE....spare me!

really think Halak is just to overrated. Price came in this season and performed just as well as Halak did last season over more games. I really think that having Halak ride the pine in the NHL and Price play more shows that Halak is #3 on the depth chart. Price plays while Halak sits, does nobody else see it this way? I have nothing against Halak but it is plain and simple Price = Future Halak = maybe our back-up

hahaha its good to see Halak's trade value going up while he ride's the pine!!! Seriously, the only reason Halak is up right now is because he is deffinatley below Price on the depth chart, they want Price to play while Halak warms the bench in Montreal!

well...... At least this might keep Halak a tad happy he deserves a shot The first one implies that we must keep our future "back-up" happy. While Price says in the media he doesnt mind going down, he could be thinking differently. Why would we keep a future back-up happy and potentially anger a goalie who could be a franchise net-minder. (I am not saying this is for certain..."I guess I have to clarify everything I say, so lesser minds do not attack me") The second one screams, "we owe Halak a chance" Maybe you should take your own advice from time to time buddy! And would you like to explain to me how two weeks even with good numbers gives his trade value an upper???? I guess there havent been any players that hjave had one good season and then fallen off the charts. Nope deffinatley not....as was said by a GM on NHL on TSN, in the case of Michael Ryder, GM's know what players can do and what they cant do...they arenjt flying blind here. 2 weeks changes nothing, half a season changhes nothing. If Halak performs above his skills for two maybe three seasons in a row his value might start to increase to a point where it will matter, but for Halak right now the most we can get is a depth player straiht up and that will never change. Just look at all the trade rumours for Ryder...the guy has consistently scored 20 or 30 goals in the last three seasons and still all we can get for him is a depth player. Look what we got for Ribeiro who had two "decent" seasons before getting traded! All I am saying is dont hold your breath for something we need even if Halak performs well in the next two weeks or the full season. We are better off keeping him! If he does get tarded soon, it could be for a player a little better than what we got for Marcel Hossa.