nikohab

Last year if I remember correctly our habs had one of the lowest scoring ratios in the league. Our power play was also the lowest or near there and as for shots against it was a nightmare. No one can argue the fact that if it wasn't for the outstanding performance of Halak we wouldn't have made the series and neither would we win the playoff series against the caps and the penguins. If I also remember it was Gomez who stated that Halak was the reason why they were where they were it was all Halak. I wish I can be optimistic regarding the 2010-2011 season but my prediction is that every time the caps and penguins play us it will spell revenge. Let me also add that because of our size each time the leafs, devils or sabres plays us they will make us pay physically and will result with lots of injuries. Pierre Gautier believes that Lars Eller along with Boyd fills the holes but I don't share the same faith. As for Price I'm a firm believer that he will be great someday but I don't believe it to be with montreal. P.K Subban will be a pleasant welcome and by the way he reminds me off Bobby Orr. My greatest concern is our aging and slow defence, if we are to have any chance we need a defence that can clear the puck and block shots for our young goalie. I can say more and more but I'll laeve that to someone else.

Thank you for a great assesment on the state of the habs from last year to this year. We all need to be reminded that if it wasn't for Halak stealing 16 points last season we wouldn't have made the playoffs in fact we would have finshed 13th or last in the eastern conference. Hamrlik was slow and looked old. Pouliot and Andrei K played braindead. Predicting the habs this year is easy I predict the habs to finish 14th in the east. I also predict that Price will have a poor season and I also predict that all hell will break loose.

Habs need a guy like Raffi Torres because he goes hard to the net. Isn't that a big piece of the puzzle the habs needed for a very very long time now? Lombardi would also be a great pick up and lastly sign Moore to a 3 year contract. Now in order to make this all possible we need to unload AK even let him walk if we really have to. Trade or buy out Hamrliks last year of his contract.

Picking up Alex Auld for 1 year at 1 million was a great pick up. Alex is from alberta and Price is from BC so they should have something in common such as country music and lot's of Garth Brooks. Now that the boy became the man let's work on strengthening our defece around him. By the way I've been really impressed with the progress that Ryan O'Byrne has made. :hlogo:

I don't think that we will be signing another player soon, what we see is what we get. What's the story with Andrei Markov will he be starting the season in october cause last I heard it might very well be in january 2011. With the departure of Sergei K I hope that his bro Andrei K wakes up however I doubt that very much. With the current roster I'm ready to predict that the habs will finish the season in 13th place. How do you view our roster? :hlogo:

The departure of Halak was a big mistake. Halak must have stolen at least 16 points for us in order to make the playoffs. Then Halak went on to stun the capitals and penguins in the playoffs. What does our brass do? They trade him for two unknowns! So now that CAREY PRICE is THE GUY we will wait and see how their error will soon unfold. I'm a firm believer that Carey will someday be a great netminder but I don't believe it to be with the habs. On another note how the hell could they let Dominic Moore go? For crying out loud we gave up a second round pick for him. Why on earth would you trade for Dan Ellis and then let him go also. Mr. Jeffrey Molson please do us all a big favor and fire all these no good bums. With the looks of toronto and ottawa and tampa bay this year I expect the habs to finish 12 place in the east at best...

I would have prefered that they traded andrei Kost. rather than Sergei Kost. Sergei has a lot more fire than his brother Andrei and with a bit more time to mature and grow up I believe that Sergei would be a top 6 forward. As for Andrei he plays brain dead! I hope we can now also get rid of that floater.

Regarding Hamrlik. Yes it's true that his play was stable but I wouldn't say dynamic. For the kind of money that he is being paid ($5,750,000) per season, I am not at all in agreement of keeping him here I'd rather trade him or buy him out. With the limits of our cap system we can show no mercy.

With the departure of Horton I think that florida would do well with both AK and SK in exchange for their pick. I'm not really sure abiout how much the brass values the Kostitsyn bros, but I would definitely pull the trigger.

Good move and a great pick. It's too bad that we didn't trade with florida on their 3rd pick of the draft. Imagine the reincarnation of the BIG THREE defenceman.

Montreal should have also traded for another pick in the top 10 and get another big D.

Lalime kind of looks brain dead when he plays important games. I definitely would not take him on my team. Why don't we bring back Jablonski to babysit Price!!!!

Which team would make that mistake of taking the Kost's along with their salary? Maybe Burky and his maple laughs? I would just let them walk and save us the trouble. Does anyone know what is our cap roght now and if we have any room to sign a D?

Sorry to whoever disagrees with me, but I think that signing Pleks was in fact an error and we will see the evidence this season. I would of prefered a trade and get a return in order to save some cap space and entertain other possibilities.

Whoever would reject to Koivu coming back needs labotamy. Imagine another smurf line that can score?

If we put Eller as our 2nd or 3rd line center then what kind of message are we sending to our prospects in hamilton? Are we not capable of developing players who are NHL ready instead we have to trade or acquire RFA.? So my question is why the heck have they drafted these type of players if they do not fit in with the team? I guess that's why the habs went ahead and fired 6 scounting agents this summer!!!!

There is no doubt that with the departure of Halak, Price will now face more pressure than he may be able to handle. I am completely confident that Price will prove that all of them guttless bastards were wrong. As for the return for trading Halak I have to say that I am pleased because we now have more depth, size and we also save money on the cap which is very important in this new NHL. Now I hope that we can dump some more players and save money and use it wisely and help out our defence.

I never said that eoropean/russian players aren't passionate about the stanley cup rather what I said was that they aren't as passionate as our north american players are. Just look at how many of these russian/eoropean players are signing with the KHL and in return making NHL teams feel very leary and risky about drafting these players. I'm not attacking these players because I understand that they also must be proud to play for their country I just want to support our boys who are also proud to play for our country.

Selling low or high is better than getting nothing in return. Wether it be Markov or Hamrlik when a player has passed his prime and is injury prone then management has a decisions to make. Now if we were to get a good return for Markov I would pull the trigger now rather than later. Let us also remind ourselves that we are in a salary cap era and we must be careful about the players we invest our money and our future with.

Good for Boucher and good for the habs! This way Boucher can get a few years of NHL experience with Tampa and then we take him back a few years later when Jacque Martin resigns or gets promoted to GM. A perfect hit!

I personaly like to watch european and russian players play for the NHL but not to this degree where we have been flooded with foreign players who on the majority don't share the passion of winning the stanley cup which is arguably the hardest trophy in sports to win. Therefor I'm actualy glad that the KHL has emerged so that a number of these players can now play for the KHL where they play passionately for. This way we can be drafting our boys and the quality of our game can be more exciting and entertaining.

If Markov is out until november earliest then I would agree that we should trade him before the deadline. As to resigning Markov to another multi- million multi-year contract no bloody way! I would rather invest all that money to fill other potholes. Same goes for Hamrlik and other aging players.

I always said it that they should have traded Pleks as well as several other players and get something back in return but they squeeze their cheeks too tight. We need a manager that can make decisions and give this team an identity and direction. Why don't we seriously consider trading Markov now that he is damaged goods and bring in a legitimate 1st or 2nd line player and a top 4 def.

Let's be honest europeans or russians cannot be expected to share the same passion for winning the stanley cup as the north americans do. Other than Detriot I can't think of another team that will seriously challenge for the stanley cup. Everybody can argue as much as they want but in my imaginary roster I would have over 95% north americans. Besudes the KHL is offering money so I hope that they fly to the east so we can watch real canadian hockey like it used to be.

Plaks is gone because a few teams will and can offer 5-6 million per season contract. The AK'S are also gone for a good young prospect and high pick in the upcomung draft. Hamrlik will be bought out if he cannot be traded. I cannot see how we can trade Halak however I can see Price going to the west. Why should we not seriously consider trading Markov now that he is damaged goods. Please keep Moore and Pyatt and let PK Subban join our roster. If all of this does transpire then we will have the cap money to bring Marleau on board along with a top 4 defenceman.