bookworm

theo is still a great goalie...and i hope we do not trade him.

it is great that cristobal has been playing so great lately. the team has more confidence as a result of his play. having said that, i still believe theo will be back in net for us by the playoffs, will lead us to the stanley cup, and will rightfully win the conn smythe trophy this year. go habs go. les canadiens sont la.

wow...didn't play until he was 16...that's gotta be inspiring to a lot of kids out there.

i still predict that the team will turn things around, win the cup this year, and theo will win the conn smythe. he just needs to get his confidence back, the ability and reflexes are still there.

i think theo is due for a shutout.

i'd have to think about worst and get back on that, there's been a few bad ones, blouin a good example. in all honesty i have only seen ivanans fight chara and this one guy on the manitoba moose at a game here in winnipeg and i am completely and thoroughly unimpressed so far although admittedly can't judge on just two fights. but both times ivanans circled around like he either didn't know what to do or didn't want to be there and once they finally got together he got dropped both times. chara is huge but the guy in winnipeg wasn't. i hope he proves me wrong but i don't see any fire in the one they call bigman.

my undisputed first place winner is john kordic, that guy was insane...most guys against him would hang on for dear life while kordic would work like heck to get an arm free and then the speed hammers came. messed up lots of people cause a lefty although once left got tired started with the rights. the only guy who stayed with him was jay miller and those were some dandies. miller wasn't near as dominant against everyone else as kordic was, and kordic's celebrations are legendary in my house. i can still hear the announcer saying "and kordic is blowing kisses to michel bergeron...as if to say you've gotta get a guy tougher then that (richard zemlak) if you think he can handle kordic." hounourable mentions to pierre bouchard, john ferguson and chris "knuckles" nilan.

dallas cowboys, winnipeg blue bombers, boston celtics and montreal expos.

yes

i just wish the decision would be based on merit. just naming brodeur the starter regardless of his play this year seems ridiculous to me. for many years while roy was with montreal and obviously the top goalie in hockey roy was passed over for international competitions because our coaches and managers weren't part of the selection committee. the one year he did play he too was named the starter before the tournament started and that year brodeur was the better choice. now when brodeur isn't the top goalie anymore he is named as the starter. wierd and political and i just don't get it. i'm not advocating for any one in particular here but just don't think naming brodeur the starter without him deserving it is right. and while i would like to see jose start, i also don't mind him resting either, and not getting picked will give him something to prove later when he "earns" the conn smythe later this this season.

this is a good idea and i would sign it.

i was one of the very first here to mention early in the season that i thought the two players who were performing at the lowest level for us were streit and bonk. and while i am still not convinced streit is worth keeping, he has played a bit better the last couple games. and bonk has actually won me over with his defensive work. i would keep him around and see how much he helps in the playoffs. i'm not totally convinced the refs will be as strict as they have been once the playoffs come, so bonks size could still come in handy, and even if there are a lot of playoff penalties, bonk is pretty good on the penalty kill. now if we were in salary cap trouble or needed to move salary to bring a huge impact player in, then i am all for dumping bonk as he is grossly overpaid, but if we are going to remain comfortably under the cap, then i'm all for keeping him, letting him fly under the radar as far as goals are concerned (even thats an understatement concerning no goals in forty plus games) and seeing what he will provide for us in the playoffs. for me, it's all about stanley cups, and he could still be a valuable part of the cup run i am foreseeing this year (with theo winning the conn smythe of course)

kudos to the man...i am happy to read of these good things being said that i was mostly unaware of, but that's the opposite of harold ballard and makes me feel good for les habitants. it also bodes well for us attracting players here (now if we could just get some of the media guys here to relax a little bit)

that is the kind of thing that could be said completely innocently in jest and be taken out of context. if it was even said at all. geez it must suck to have to be so careful all the time, like theo with the middle finger salute thing earlier. but i guess for the millions i would live with it, lol

i haven't watched too many jersey games this year but when i have brodeur has been awful...struggling far more than theodore in adjusting to the new equipment, rules and angles. personally i would rather have theo in there or some other canadian goalie who may be hot this year that i have not seen (as admittedly i have watched all habs games but hardly any games they weren't in). i think going back through all the canada cup history it's unfortunately pretty common for the goalie of someone coaching or managing the teams that get in. like ranford when sather was involved and so forth. i like some things about gretzky and don't like other things but i can't see him not having cujo be at least number 3 cause he is his goalie and he will want to show he believes in him or not cheese him off. having said that, cujo prolly does deserve to be there this year based on what i've heard how he's playing. anyway, i think luongo is very over-rated, brodeur should have been the starter over roy the year he started, but not this year, and theodore would have been a good choice several times as well. theodore would definitely be my choice anyway, but i too i guess am biased.

on a side note, i did watch hamilton play in winnipeg a couple nights ago and was very impressed with kostitsyns defensive end play. where the other forwards backed off too much and let manitoba pass it around kostitsyn worked really hard and pressured the puck carrier well. he also scored our only shootout goal on a nice move (danis unfortunately let in all three shots he faced in the shootout and hung his head disparagingly as the team came out to tap his pads after the loss). anyway, i didn't expect to see kostitsyn play as well defensively as he did and if that's the norm it bodes well for his nhl future.

excellent point.

he made himself out to be bigger than the team so i have no use for him.

we are going to win the stanley cup this year and theo is going to win the conn smythe trophy.

preliminary rambling: i think we have to wait until we see what happens in the playoffs to judge bonk and that trade, although i was one of the first to criticize bonk's play after just a few games this year. the only player we have who i don't think belongs in the league is streit. to the point: i am quite happy with bob gainey. in fact i am thrilled with bob gainey. i only hope he doesn't mind working in such a judgmental atmosphere that unfortunately the media and "us" (the fans) in montreal create sometimes. we are headed overall in the right direction and it's not fair to say this guy has 25 points for X amount of dollars and that guy is plus whatever for that amount of dollars and pick out best stats and think that would be the same here. sorry i guess i am still rambling but the point is bob gainey is our best gm since sam pollock and arguably our best hockey mind since scotty bowman. by the way, if we had signed scotty as gm and coach instead of insisting he remain just as coach and signing irving grundman which caused scotty to leave to buffalo we probably would have won at least five or six more stanley cups than we have. at least if scotty had remained all those years.

i would rather have theodore in net than luongo. i would rather have ryder than jokinen. i hope bob gainey agrees

for soo many years it seems we lacked enough skill players ribeiro is very skilled and fun to watch. his transition game is terrific. i would absolutely hate to see him go. for the price he's paid he's a bargain.

i remember watching the year sykora was drafted. winnipeg picked shane doan right before us and i was really happy because all the rumors suggested we wanted doan and i wanted either kyle mclaren, radek dvorak or petr sykora (in that order). we picked terry ryan. i think mclaren and dvorak went right after and jarome iginla something like 11th. sykora slipped to maybe 17th or something. anyway, sorry if i bored anyone or my memory is messed up but thats how i remember it. haha. i don't think we need skyora here right now and don't want to waste the cap room.

they played well together last year, and i think they would have been fine this year were it not for dagenais taking a few ill-timed penalties in the early games of this season. i really like julien and respect him but would like to see dagenais given another chance. in my opinion they should have been allowed to work through a bit of a slow start and would have been fine. ryder's early injury during camp didn't help things as far as jelling under new rules together. i don't believe it helps to keep rotating wingers on and off that line and dagenais has been working as hard as anybody. i haven't been at any of the practices but whenever rds shows clips he's working hard there too. anyway, that's how i feel and like i have said on an earlier post, i believe dagenais will score an awful lot of goals in this league and i would prefer them to be for les habitants. same goes for ribeiro.

mark my words...we are winning the cup this year and jose is winning the conn smythe. enough said.