Mont Royale

Gainey's press conference But it's also plain Gainey believes his group no longer has any excuses to underperform. "We've got a number of players who have been a little below their potential this year for different reasons, this is their time to prove me right … and for the coaches to take the players that they have and squeeze as much or more out of this team than we've seen to this point," he said. It was an unusual shot across the coaching staff's bow from Gainey, who has a close relationship with head coach Guy Carbonneau and his assistants. --------------------- That, to me, was the most interesting comment from Gainey's press conference.

I'll remember not to count on the Fan 590 for cap information again! But good point on Janik to Hamilton... I suppose the roster spot will be filled by a returning injured guy.

On the radio, they said that Janik and Begin make pretty close to the same amount. This appears to be a courtesy move by Gainey to send Begin where he'll see some ice time.

It's strange, but it can't be surprising. Sometimes people develop an irrational hate for a player, and Koivu seems to be a lightning rod for this because of the 'C'. Hell, someone recently criticized Koivu for going to the front of the net!

Kovalev looks like he should be a great shootout player, but his career record is nothing special. Koivu would have been a better choice for the #2 shot, but that's hindsight.

The teams plays the best game in virtually a month, and only "lose" in the coin-flip known as the shootout, and Gainey's decision backfired? I think BCHabnut is right - you mustn't have watched the game.

That belongs in the creative writing thread, PMK.

Maybe I'm just naive in taking Bob at face value, but I really doubt this is a prelude to a trade. There's better ways of sending other GMs a message that Kovalev is available - I'm thinking e-mail or telephone! I think whatever trade value Kovalev once had is now diminished after Gainey's move, as it means the team is better off without him at this point. Not a good message to send if you're trying to maximize returning asset value. I think this is strictly a wake up call to both Kovalev and the rest of the team: passengers will not be tolerated.

I'm pretty sure their contracts do not restrict their right to party. If they did, the NHLPA would hire the Beastie Boys to rally the players to forcefully object to that clause.

Don't worry. Montreal is the cure for all struggling teams lately.

For some reason, I had visions of them doing some trust exercises, falling backwards into each others' arms. Bowling was probably the better choice.

According to CBC, Halak was supposed to start, but was sick.

That's the conventional wisdom, but these are unconventional times. It will be interesting to see what the salary cap will be next year, and even more signficantly, what team's budgets will be compared to this year. The salary cap may not fall much, and might even increase a bit, as it'll be based on this year's revenues, whereas teams will be setting their budget based on their anticipated revenue, so fewer teams may be willing to spend to the cap max. That's not to say there won't be healthy interest in Komisarek, but the astronomical numbers that we've seen in the past may not materialize. If I'm reading his comments right, Gainey is a guy who has absolutely no problem with paying a player a big salary - he's not solely motivated to get someone as cheap as possible. He'll pay a big price if he believes it's fair, and he'll be most comfortable offering a fair price when he has the most information. That's why he likes to negotiate after the season is over, when he's seen the player's performance in its totality. Gainey is unconcerned about impending free agency: if a player is happy and wants to stay, there's lots of time to get a deal done if the team wants him. If a player is bent on testing the market, it's likely he made that decision well in advance.

Completely agreed.