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Habs77

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  1. According to the team, they are nothing serious. Mathias Brunet La Presse July 27th 2004 The Habs' fine prospect Andrei Kostitsyn was the victim of repeated epilepsy crisis during his stay in Montreal the past few weeks. However, the team doctors give us the assurance that his career is in no way threatened and they even believe they have solved the problem. Kostitsyn was submitted to sophisticated medical tests at the Montreal Neurological Institute near the end of the Development Camp and the nature of his epilepsy was finally diagnosed: nocturnal syndrome of the frontal lobe, a very common form of epilepsy. "We are happy to have identified the nature of his sickness said Dr Mulder, the team physician, yesterday. Before, we never had the chance to examine him so extensively. We discovered that he has not been treated properly in the past. We prescribed the proper medication and the symptoms have not reappeared since a week now. At home, in Byelorussia, they were giving him something totally inappropriate. He was taking a medication that can be bought without a prescription in any pharmacy in Russia. It's a little like if someone took aspirins to cure AIDS." Kostitsyn missed the last few days of the Development Camp in order to undergo these medical tests. " These tests were planned in advance and were not the result of the epileptic episodes Kostitsyn suffered during his sleep at his hotel room during the camp said Trevor Timmins, the team's director of recruitment. We wanted him to accept our invitation to the development camp in order to have him undrego these tests." How can we explain the repeated seizures which happened a few weeks ago while Kostitsyn hadn't missed a single hockey game all year due to health reasons? " We think his body could have reacted to the long travel (jet lag) explains Timmins. Especially given that he wasn't taking the proper medication. His seizures were merely 10-second spasms and happened only at night. He never had any problem on the ice or during the day. "It's probably one of the least severe form of epilepsy and it can be treated easily affirmed Dr Mulder." The Quebec governement permits people with this form of disease to drive their car because the attacks last less than 10 seconds. They can lead a normal life. It's no big thing but we were anxious to know the exact nature of his sickness and Kostitsyn himself seems to be relieved." Kostitsyn is still in Montreal even if the Develoment Camp has been over for a week now. "We wanted to do a follow up on the new medication said Dr Mulder. I will meet him today and, next Monday, he will meet Dr Veilleux the specialist who conducted the tests. We will keep him in Montreal until everything is perfectly settled. So far, everything is going well." In the meantime, Kostitsyn is keeping busy. "He's training twice per day and he's also taking English lessons said Timmins." We could very well see Kostitsyn at the Habs' training camp providing the lock out doesn't slow things down.
  2. Basically the story explains the reason Kostitsyn wasn't there for the last few days of camp was because his epilepsy reared it's ugly head again. He had a few "attacks" the last few weeks, he has been treated and given new medication... and all is fine now. The Habs brass say all is fine and this in no way affects his career... or anything like that. I'd still call it a tad worrisome... it's not the first time it's happened to him since we drafted him. Anyhow, they end by saying Kostitsyn wants to play in NA next year... but he has to be signed byt the Habs first, then determine where he'd play. ------------------------------------------- http://www.rds.ca/cgi-bin/nouvelles?site=r...n&sport=#105619 L'espoir du Canadien Andrei Kostitsyn a été gardé à Montréal après le camp de développement de l'équipe pour régler un problème d'épilepsie. C'est ce qu'indique le quotidien La Presse en précisant que le Biélorusse de 19 ans a été victime de crises d'épilepsie répétées au cours des dernières semaines. Les médecins du Tricolore assurent que la carrière du jeune hockeyeur n'est pas menacée, assurant qu'ils ont réglé le problème. Des médicaments adéquats lui ont été administrés et les symptômes ont disparu. L'attaquant sera gardé à Montréal jusqu'à ce que tout soit réglé. Kostsitsyn rêve de jouer en Amérique du Nord dès cette année, ne souhaitant donc pas retourner en Russie la saison prochaine. Il doit cependant signer un contrat avant de se présenter au camp du Canadien en septembre. La décision de lui offrir un tel contrat appartient maintenant au directeur général Bob Gainey.
  3. The Als become unbeatable if the offense can truly start rolling... they haven't yet. The defense gives their 6 INTs and yet the Cats were still just 10 pts behind for most of the game. We should have put them away much earlier. But we already saw a big improvement the second Copeland has returned... he showed yesterday just how special he is, when we're in the red zone where it counts. Denson seemed hurt as some point, and so did Lapointe when he took a helmet to the knee. But you're right, Denson had a tendency to lose yardage trying to make a big play when just plugging ahead would have been the better choice. Once in a while I don't mind it, but all game long it started irritating me. No matter, they have yet to put a complete game together and they're 6-0... that's promising. IMO our biggest challenger will be TO in the end... they have the D & special teams, and the second they figure out how to use Avery along with their passing game they'll have the complete package. I still give us the edge, but it won't be easy... hell we had trouble putting away a pretty average Hamilton team last night.
  4. According to a Sudbury poster: Then another poster: Looks like the Habs aren't lacking in their options on where Perezhogin will play next year. Playing with Markov, and on a line with Ovechkin... seems kinda nice.
  5. Good point... fills the void of veteran leadership from Gratton's departure. But like you said, Gratton also brought more offense... hell he lead the league when he was healthy. But that's ok, let our prspects handle the offense... he'll supply toughness & leadership. He probably knows Jarvis from his time in Dallas.
  6. Signing Hainsey means little, we knew they weren't going to just let him go. He could still be traded, or not. As for Morgan, he's 28 and sounds like another shit-disturber type... as he's only 5'11 and 190lbs, but has lots of PIMs. He seems like AHL material, but played 6 games with Gainey's Stars in 2001. Had 21 PIMs in those 6 games. I don't know if this is meant to provide depth in case of a Begin injury or just another move to toughen up the Bulldogs' lineup... pretty much like that 6'5 enforcer we signed last week. Ho hum is what most will say... can't disagree.
  7. Basically the agent will always try and say he has a lot of options to drive the price up. So you never know if he's saying all this to get more $$ out of Pittsburgh or what. And yet, it's still the most positive news we've had in while about Kovy in regards to how he feels about coming back to MTL. I think that the interest in his type of player is at a low-point... the expensive talented yet recently underachieving type is the kind of risk teams are shying away from. The hard-working less talented & cheaper type are more of a known quantity, and they've been gobbled up at a furious pace. I doubt we'll hear anything difinite on Kovy until the new CBA is signed.
  8. Nice to see 4 solid A's on defence, and they all have decent size. Similar story in goal, with not only Danis but Heino-Lindberg both being pretty impressive. Halak is no slouch and apparently even Lacasse was showing signs of improvement as the camp wore on. On offense, besides Kostitsyn/Chipchura... I don't see any sure-bet NHLers in this bunch. I do like Ferland though. Then you have Lapierre who could turn out to be good 3rd liner, and Urquhart/Lambert who could go either way from here... not to mention the eternal darkhorse Locke. But with Hossa, Higgins, Perezhogin, Plekanec who will graduate before this group gets there... we're in good shape.
  9. He made 1.85M last year... I'd say about 2M-2.3M The arbitration process will be weird since they will compare to existing contracts (old CBA)... so the players should be advantaged. Those without arbitration rights will have to conform to the new realities of the freshly signed CBA right away. Frankly 50pts a year isn't that much bargaining power, he simply isn't that good. Btw we presently have 31.5M already commited in salaries for next year... and we have yet to sign Bonk, Hainsey, Hossa (signed but terms not released so I can't add his salary), Huet, Kovalev, Ryder, Souray, Zednik. I assume Hainsey & Hossa will get the minimum, around 1.2M, Bonk 3.5M, Zednik 2.2M, Huet 500k, we offered Kovy 4.25M apparently, Ryder should get similar to Ribeiro's 1.55M. Souray let's say 2M. That's an extra 14.4M... if nobody else is signed. So we're talking about a 45.9M payroll, and the league is apparently fighting for a 30-35M salary cap. Am I the only one who sees that something doesn't jive here? And they're going to miss a whole year only to figure out that they can't even respect the cap they were fighting for all along? Anyway... And that's not even including the tons of bonus clauses.
  10. Well let's just cut Ribs, Ryder & Ward for "taking too long to break out" then :eyes: Of course, because last year the teams used that well-known "let's not touch him" strategy on him... *sigh*
  11. Higgins is likely winger material at this point, no threat to Ribs. Plekanec is another story, I like him a lot... but I still think Ribeiro will be here a long time. A one year deal is fine for Ribs, all he has to do is keep playing the way he has. As for Hossa, this is more about just keeping his rights... he hasn't done a damn thing to deserve getting signed but you don't want to just let an asset walk away. Worst case you sign, then trade.
  12. He is D-O-N-E... never ever do I want to see him back in a Habs jersey. I read somewhere that the Pens were hoping rew acquisition Mark Recchi might help convince either LeClair or Amonte to sign with PIT. I hope they sign both, which would mean no Kovy... Kovy for 2 years at 4.25 per is perfect for now.
  13. We need to get bigger & tougher, or at least make some room for Hossa, Higgins, Perezhogin, Kostitsyn, Plekanec... who might ALL be ready by the time the NHL resumes which could be a full year from now. Signing a small/soft player for TWO years at any price makes no sense whatsoever. This is a terrible signing, I hope the reports are wrong... what the hell are they thinking.
  14. Calvillo sucks... that's what it comes down to. He has sucked in every important game, only piling up stats against weak defences... it's pathetic. Ok so the his receivers besides Cahoon didn't help. But the key is that best QBs in the league can buy themselves time by running, something Calvillo can barely do. Joseph is the best in the league right now, Dickenson when healthy can pick apart any defence, his backup Printers is a star in the making, and Burris a star who has returned. Calvillo is in the middle of the pack of CFL QBs. Thank god we got D, and what a time to bring in Ezra "mimi me" Landry... he basically turned the game around at that point. Matthews has called him the next Pinball... and that he's here to stay. The offense sure wasn't going to do it, we knew that much. I expect us to lose next week if Calvillo can't wake the hell up.
  15. http://tsn.ca/nhl/news_story.asp?id=89934
  16. Brown & Barnaby are with the Hawks, not Flames... only Simon is. And yeah Lappy with the Avs, makes me sick. http://tsn.ca/nhl/news_story.asp?ID=89810&hubName=nhl
  17. If any soldiers deserted to Canada to avoid being sent to Iraq hopefully we'll do nothing, aside from giving them a medal. If a man as stupid & corrupt as Bush was leading my country and trying to send me to my death on false pretences... I'd desert too. On another note, why would Canada lift a finger to help the US out in this when they just let the pilot who dropped a bomb on our troops in Afghanistan get off scott free even if he was found to have disobeyed orders or not followed proper procedure? If being sent Iraq is so important to you... enlist and go there yourself. If you're not willing to do that, calling anyone a deserter seems kinda hollow. Gotta go catch a rerun of my fav show... it's a propoganda series called JAG, maybe you've heard of it.
  18. Because most people believe last season was his peak year and it will be back downhill next season for him. In that case most people need to realize that it was only the tip of the iceberg... not only will he get better but hopefully he won't be stuck with linemates like Audette, Dagenais for much of the year. If I'm worried about someone suffering somewhat of a letdown in production... it's Ryder. Simply because it's easier to keep passing the puck for Ribeiro than it is to keep scoring like Ryder, but I hope both will actually improve their numbers. A lot of that will depend on who Gainey gets to play on their wing.
  19. This from a pro-Bush American... I say no more.
  20. He'll play the 3rd center shutdown role, but will be expected to also provide more offense in that role than Juneau... which shouldn't be asking too much since Juneau did nothing offensively. That extra production from the 3rd line will give us the adding scoring we need, as will having Kovy all year if he comes back. What's wrong with having 3 good lines? I don't get this push to only have 2. Sad part is... we'll be fighting about this until 2006
  21. Well I'm sorry you have such a distorted view of the value of some players... but in the end Gainey agrees with my way of thinking, and I think I'll trust his judgement over anyone here since he is the king. :king:
  22. C'mon you can't be serious that you don't see how Bonk fills the need for size at the center position, while Perreault only contributed to the problem. Perreault was a one-dimensional offensive player with no room on the top lines... and that made him completely useless when all are healthy. And we were scared of using him for important faceoffs because he was so bad defensively... so Koivu & Juneau took most of them anyway. Perreault boosted his stats on unimportant faceoffs... so obvious. Bye bye Perreault won't miss ya... welcome Bonk!! He shouldn't be on the team at all, perhaps a 23rd player to ride the bench if that, or an insurance policy in the AHL. Kiprusoff got a 2nd rounder... enough said. He was a rental... I don't expect him back, especially with Bonk now in town. Dowd was small and not physical, exactly what we don't need going forward.
  23. " The Canadiens are a very good team, having a good blend of young players and veterans as well as a very good goalie. The team did very well in the playoffs. " I take it he's refering to the Boston series. Bonk knows a few Habs, his compatriots Richard Zednik and Jan Bulis as well as Marcel Hossa, the young brother of Marian, of the Senators. --> that leads me to mention a possible Bulis-Bonk-Zednik line btw trade Hossa/Hainsey for O'Neill, sign Kovy: Higgins-Koivu-Kovalev Ryder-Ribeiro-O'Neill Bulis-Bonk-Zednik Ward-Begin-Laperriere Don't know if we can afford all that, if not use the cheaper Hossa in O'Neill's spot and hope he sticks the 2nd time around. That way you have 3 really decent lines... just a thought. " I am ready to do antything they ask of me, Bonk said. The Senators had entrusted me with defensive tasks. It will be a stimulating challenge for me to play against the best lines of opposing teams. " The coach Claude Julien expressed delight with the degree of latitude which will bring him the arrival of Bonk. " It is too early to speak about how I will use Radek, but I know that I shall be able to use him in various ways, he commented. He can center a defensive line, or play on the first two lines, on the PP. " He's a good 2-way player, dependable in defence. He is one of the big centers we had our sights on. We're going to form a more balanced team with him ", analysed Julien, by adding that they are going to ask him to shoot more often than he did in Ottawa. As usual CJ always comes out with the politically correct statement, but can never just say what he plans to do with the guy. Gainey is more straightfoward... and he clearly said Bonk was to play center, so at least that is clear. And I have no doubt Koivu & Ribeiro are in no danger of losing their spots... Bonk just completes the trios of centers. I don't know why but I have a really good feeling about Bonk. [Edited on 27-6-04 by Habs77]
  24. Canadian Press 6/27/2004 RALEIGH, N.C. (CP) - Being traded twice in one day - from the Ottawa Senators to the Los Angeles Kings to the Montreal Canadiens - had Radek Bonk reeling. ``After my agent called, I started calling everyone in my family to tell them I'm a King,'' Bonk said Sunday by telephone from his home in the Czech Republic. ``Fifteen minutes later, they told me I'm a Canadien and I had to call everyone all over again. ``But they're all happy for me.'' In the biggest deal at the NHL draft Saturday, Ottawa sent the six-foot-three centre to the Kings for a third-round draft pick. Moments later, the Kings sent Bonk and goaltender Cristobal Huet to Montreal for back-up goalie Mathieu Garon and a third-round pick. ``It's a good feeling when a team wants you,'' Bonk said. ``Obviously, they want me and believe I can help.'' Bonk has been considered an underachiever for much of his 10 seasons in Ottawa since he was drafted third overall in 1994. The Canadiens, who lost centre Joe Juneau to retirement and likely won't sign Yanic Perreault, wanted a big centre to match against other teams' top lines. ``We've got some big centres in our conference, like (Keith) Primeau and (Mats) Sundin, and it's important to have a big guy to play against them,'' coach Claude Julien said. That suits the 28-year-old Bonk. ``That's a role I used to play more of in Ottawa,'' said Bonk. ``It's challenging and I like that. ``I played some of my best hockey in that role.'' Bonk was a consistent 20-goal scorer in Ottawa, but he slipped to 12 goals and 32 assists in 66 games last season. With a $3.5 million US salary, he was harshly criticized. In Montreal, he will likely be put into a two-way role, with less pressure to score. He will become a restricted free agent Wednesday and the Canadiens have indicated they will make him a qualifying offer to keep his rights. ``We made a choice to transfer a player from one position to another,'' said general manager Bob Gainey, who still has room in his budget to make more moves. ``We took an above average backup goalie and turned him into a regular skating centreman.'' In Ottawa, Bonk usually had star Marian Hossa as his right winger. Montreal has Hossa younger brother Marcel in its system. ``I called Marian Hossa and told him it might be fun to play with his brother,'' said Bonk. [Edited on 27-6-04 by Habs77]
  25. Well there is a definite downward trend in salaries, and Bonk was already considered overpaid... no team was willing to trade for him, except for us, OTT got a 3rd rounder. Gainey said he was willing to qualify, so Bonk we surely take that 1 year deal... or maybe Gainey can get him to sign long-term for less. Either way, he'll be playing with us for sure... so I wouldn't worry about it. Kovy is the one we need to worry about, not that can't afford him... but that he might simply choose to go elsewhere.
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