Bacchus

Personally, if I was Saku, I'd ask for a trade. He would have a much better chance at winning a cup on a team with another top-line center, as Saku as 2nd liner ... or another equally strong 2nd liner. Habs, are probably at least 1-2 seasons away from a true winning team, and Saku knows this. I think he has given his heart and soul to this club, and the club for most of his career gave him no support. Also, dealing with all the garbage press would have worn all but a saint to indifference. I say if Saku does go, which would be disastrous for the team, I would not blame him in the least.

nothing really new in the article .... however, I must say reading about the #1-#20, instead of the #20-#1, is kinda anticlimactic. Also, don't really agree with the order ... and I wonder what the standard is? How long until they make an impact on the team, or how valuable an asset they will be?

From what Timmins (biased of course) said about him at the 2007 USA Junior Training Camp, it looks like we have a very good prospect in Pacioretty. Max Pacioretty (MON) was impressive at the camp. He used his body and played with a lot of energy before missing the last game due to a minor injury to the stomach. "He was one of the best players in the games I have seen," commented Timmins. Looking forward to seeing how he does in the tournament, and Wondering how long he will stay in college? ...

For sure. I think Brisbois will be an excellent 5-6, or may even fill in on the top four if he has a good year, and is needed. I don't know why everyone expects to have nothing but top 2 D on this board. I think our D is looking pretty good now, and especially if we consider the near future. Of course, I expect that with all of our new D prospects we will have better Ds in the somewhat more distant future. Go Brisbois!

So did Redden ... mistakes happen. If you have ever played D in any team sport, you will know this. As I said before, glad to have Brisbois on board .... I hope all the haters stay home and boo!

Au contraire, a back-up can do a lot if you want to make sure your #1 is well rested, or incase on an injury. When Huet went down, many people attributed his shoddy play as part of the reason we missed the playoffs ... and it is hard to disagree that a better goalie may have stolen a few more points than Abbie did, or at least not lose as many I personally think that this was a good tactic (offering offer sheets to dominant teams to boost up their payroll, and make it harder for every team to sign all their big guys, however, Penner may be the wrong guy to gamble on. I think that the value of a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd would probably out-weight Penner in the long run.

Ah, you know so much Fanpuck ... didn't even think about side ... however, as many people have pointed out, he played on his wrong side for a whole year once ... and I'm pretty sure he was forced to play against opponents top two lines ... as 3rd pairing he would play against opponents 3rd line for the most part. Anyway, since he is also being brought in for his pp abilities, he has more flexibility ... but either way, I think O'byrn will be paired with someone who could show him the ropes ... on the third pairing at the beginning, and maybe with Hamrlik later as the season progresses. .

I think that Brisbois is being brought in as a 3rd pairing to go with O'Byrn. Streit will no longer play D, and Boulion will be on the second pairing. Daidenault will be traded. Gorges, will be 7th D. Speculation of course!

Not too sure if it happened in Quebec yet, but it did happen in Western Canada. Basically I think that was the wrong decision too ... if there are two conflicting rules, then the one that preserves society rights should trump all. I think it will take for one of these knife weilding kids to snap and attack someone before they reverse the decision.

I agree to a certain extent ... if you don't like the rules, don't come ... unless you are willing to join the system and work out a strategy to improve the rules. Now, as I understand it, every single baptized Sikh has the name Sinhg or Kaur ... that is a lot of people with the same family name ... and since most have a third, possibly original, name, then it shouldn't be a problem. Sounds like sour grapes from the person launching the suit ....

K-Lowe is doing pretty smart stuff. If no one wants to come to his team, driving up the value of players in the market will make it so that players will have to sign with Edmonton because all the money has been spent elsewhere. But to be honest, the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd picks are bit excessive. Last time something like that went down it was for Shanahan, and he was really worth it.

Personally, I liked Brisbois, and hate the boo-birds. I think that Brisbois as a lower pairing D with PP time would be great, and would definitely help the team. Our top 4 is almost complete, and Brisbois, with the right pairing, or the right side, could be a very good solution, and could help some of the younger D develop. Brisbois doesn't have many more years to play, so I see it as a temporary solution. Also, it is nice that a guy who was so dedicated to the Habs may be able to retire here.

What is a "max" and how do you do it "well"! What's more fragile, crystal? or your body?

Looking forward to the Maxwell interview. I'm curious about that kid ... he obviously has a lot of talent, but does he have the endurance to make the NHL.

LOL. Good one Petrov! For sure Johnson needs something to spicen up his image. But it would probably be better if he did that on the ice first ... get more aggressive physically and they could start calling him "Mad-Mike Johnson, the punisher from Quebec!" I for one wouldn't mind if he were to be back in a Habs uniform ... he knows everyone, plays hard, and could raise his level of play if he finds the situation comfortable. Go MJ!

I'm looking forward to hearing and seeing a lot more about the incident. On the surface it seems atrocious, however, one does not know how the Chilean players acted,or if they even incited the violence themselves. However, it has become a bit concerning that the Police have founded so necessary so often to use pepper spray. A team of 20 players had to be pepper sprayed?!?

The trick is not to get side tracked! Also, interviewing should be like a chat with an old friend ... you have to get your subject comfortable, and out of the zone of answering stock questions. When you see professional interviewers interviewing, they often do just that: they create a very comfortable and friendly environment. If you think about that show with Kelly Rudy (not offering him up as a prime example, just a convenient one) and that other dude who interview after some western hockey games, they will use questions that have been submitted on the internet. However, they just don't stick to what was written on the internet, but they ask follow-up questions about what the person asked to get deeper. JMHO.

The gazette rarely does print interviews ... usually they just to interview bites. The internet is the ultimate media for interviews ... as long as you can actually get the person you want to interview on the phone for more than 10 minutes it will be fine.

Everyone seems to love the article, and I don't want to rain on anyone's parade, but I found the article to be a bit boring; it is never interesting to me to read a list of questions and answers. What I would do to make it more interesting is to pick the to 10-15 questions, ask them, and then listen to the response ... then ask the interviewee a subsequent question based on the response. A good interview will often use the pre-selected questions as a springboard in to more personal and detailed questions ... all based on what the interviewee just said. For example: What is your favorite movie? Transformers. Were you rooting for the autobots or for the decepticons? Or, in this league, who reminds you of "optimus prime" the most? You get the idea Looking forward to future reads.

Who is in nets on that one? Should have had it on the poke-check. But yeah, nice looking goal -- I'd like to have seen a clearer copy of it ... not sure what kinda stick work he used there.

Sounds like a part of the first sentence of a really bad erotica book ... This is what I think of when I hear stud: I would have posted something a little more machismo and image that the word entails, but the image sensors may have gotten up in arms. Anyway ... I'd take Richards off waiver ... or if it fit, half way through the last year of his contract ... but, at the cost he is getting he is overpaid. That being said ... Richards would give this team a much needed facelift ... and could potentially make us a serious cup contender if certain other parts slip in to place (Price, Latendress, Big ####, O'Byrn ...)

First of all, I want to point out that the grade was on the free-agent signing season, and not the off-season. I think the Habs did a great job with the draft. Secondly, I was surprised that Red Fischer wrote what he did ... I think he has been spending too much time with one Jack Todd.

We lost one of our D prospects ... one that many thought would be battling for a spot on the roster for number 6-7 D next season. http://www4.sportsnet.ca/nhl_signings_2007/

Here is some more info about Marvin: http://stats.theahl.com/stats/player.php?id=1116 He plays defense, AHL caliber at the moment. The Habs are really serious about this defense shortage problem!

I would never say never. Everyone was pretty confident in Samsonov ... it is hard to predict for certain ho a player will react to a given situation. He may try to limit the possibility making another UFA decision by learning from his mistake, but that is all you can do. Team chemistry is a delicate balance.