Jump to content

Rebuilding


Bacchus

Recommended Posts

This season there has been a lot of Jawing about how we have been rebuilding for ever, and how BG should blow up the team. I can't understand this. Since the last 2 years BG has been working on this team, trying to make it better. Before him, Andre Savard did a bang up job drafting some very good talent. Since the fiasco post Serge Savard years, this team fell on hard times. But since Andre Savard came on board, the boat has been slowly regaining its direction. Now, lets look at the re-building process at hand:

In the last 3 years, we have see rookies from the AHL take a serious role with the club:

Ryder, Higgins, Placenek, and Komisarek are now considered veterns of the club.

Latendress and Lapierre have been on the club most of the season this year. And Kostitsyn and Halak have recently made their mark.

Next season could very well see Grabovski and Price come to the club ... and maybe O'Byrne, Duncan, Lil' ####, Chipchura, and D'agostini.

THIS IS REBUILDING! From the foundation up!

We may not be tops this year, but if we keep moving in this direction we will be a team to contend with for years.

Bravo BG, George Gillette, and the rest of the crew!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

:clap:

some do not understand that, or didn't follow the past few years closely enough or do not know our prospects thoroughly enough... etc. to come to these conclusions.

We've gone a long way from Joe Juneau, miles away from dackell, countries from czerkawski and berezin... and galaxies from darby and poulin.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree 100% Bacchus Gainey is an excellent GM and has done a great job. Everyone makes mistakes but Gainey always finds a way to make them disappear and make the team better.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree for the first part of your post bacchus, but when you name O'Byrne, D'Agostiny and Milroy... I'm not sure if the habs will win the Stanley Cup in the next 20 years with those guys on the team.

We defenitly need a Brière or a young Tavares or any kind of guy who can put up 90-100 pts to lead this team on the first unit. And i dont think none of the players you named in your post can do it...

And I know our prospects... i've been following them since two years, I can't wait for Emelin too and see how a "Kots - Grab - Kots" unit would be hot on the ice... But we need at least one futur all-stars player, not some "maybe they'll become a super star" players.

Edited by JoeLassister
Link to comment
Share on other sites

:clap:

some do not understand that, or didn't follow the past few years closely enough or do not know our prospects thoroughly enough... etc. to come to these conclusions.

We've gone a long way from Joe Juneau, miles away from dackell, countries from czerkawski and berezin... and galaxies from darby and poulin.

Juneau and Dackell were really not that bad, they formed I believe one of the league's best penalty killing units in their first year in Montreal.

I remember more players like Jim Campbell, Jim Cumminis, Dave Morrisette and Jason Dawe, all of whom were inexplicably playing in the NHL for Montreal and post Montreal never got there again.

We've come a hell of a long way from a season when Martin Rucinsky led the team in scoring with something like 19 goals. But, we still might not make the playoffs. Still there's hope for a better future anyway.

I agree for the first part of your post bacchus, but when you name O'Byrne, D'Agostiny and Milroy... I'm not sure if the habs will win the Stanley Cup in the next 20 years with those guys on the team.

We defenitly need a Brière or a young Tavares or any kind of guy who can put up 90-100 pts to lead this team on the first unit. And i dont think none of the players you named in your post can do it...

And I know our prospects... i've been following them since two years, I can't wait for Emelin too and see how a "Kots - Grab - Kots" unit would be hot on the ice... But we need at least one futur all-stars player, not some "maybe they'll become a super star" players.

True, it's always frustrating to see Montreal unable to score big and always relying on a goaltender to bail them out. We haven't had a true first line scoring sensation in Montreal since Lafleur.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

we're in the right direction, I agree but I still think that we're a couple of years away from being a real contender.

this year's draft will be crucial for our future. with it, we could be filling the last few holes we have in the system. with quality picks in the fisrt 3 rounds, I a faith that timmins and his team will find us gems !!

now if gainey can convince emelin to come play in north america, well be in business.

hey any body remembers our all russian line of petrov, zubrus and Zholtok ?? that's what you call talent !!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So here is a habs short history for the cluelesses

prologue: Roy is traded for Thibault, Muller and Schneider for Turgeon and Malakhov, then Turgeon for Corson, Desjardins and Leclair for Recchi (looked good at first, turned out REALLY biased towards Philly)...

1997-1998 - Last "killer" team iced by the habs before a while.

Recchi, Damphousse, Corson, Koivu, Rucinsky, Savage, Malakhov, Briser, Quintal, ANDY MOOG... etc.

Habs played 10 playoffs games.

1998 moves :

-Valeri Bure to cgy for Hoglund (puke)... 2-3 years later, Bure would be traded for Rob Niedermayer (would you want Niedermayer on your team?!!)

-Darcy Tucker to TB for Patrick frikkin useless Poulin (I hate Tucker, but I'd love him on my team). Patrick Poulin later opened a Burger King (no kiddin)

1998-1999 THE DARK DARK DARK YEARS

-Vincent Damphousse is NOT offered a contract, no discussion started, nothing. Traded for 1st round pick (Marcel Hossa), 2nd round (crap) and 5th round (crap). Vincent later signs for 4.5M or 5M... The same summer, Habs sign Linden, who's completely washed up for only 500k less than Vinnie (so 4M I think). While Vinnie continues to have some success in SJ, Linden is a total bust in Montreal... plus the fans cannot enjoy the "Head and Shoulders" ads on TV anymore! (Vinnie was advertising for them :P)

-Recchi is NOT offered a contract, no discussion started, nothing. Traded to Philly for Zubrus and crap picks.

-ONLY good trade by Houle : Hackett and Weinrich for Thibault and Manson.

-Habs miss the playoffs.

*Habs are now reduced to crap*

1999-2000 :

Rosie is the highest scorer with a wooping 49 pts

The "Red Line" lights it up -> Zholtok Zubrus and comeback boy Oleg Petrov are kicking asses (but only collect 26 goals for Zholtok and 42 pts for Zubrus) . They are the 1st line on most nights since half the team is injured.

Linden plays like the big lazy he is and collect 30 pts in 50 games... still collects his 4M paycheck. p

Scott Thornton is traded for Juha Lind (who?)

Malakhov is traded for what would become Superstar Sheldon Souray... but no one could possibly know!! Even NJ scouts didn't know.

November 2000, Andre Savard is hired in November 2000

2000-2001

Habs are crapier than ever. Finish the season with a (history low?) super dupper 70 pts. Throwing a glimpse at the team lineup is depressing... But it's even worse to look at the league leaders!!! Leclair, Turgeon, Recchi, Desjardins, Schneider, Damphousse, Roy, etc... are all STUDS!!

Koivu Savage Rosie play on the 1st when they are healthy.

Andre Savard stamps the team with his 1st Big Trade!! Linden (still big lazy), traded along with Zubrus for Zednik, Bulis and 1st (perezhogin)

however, Poulin, Campbell, Landry, Dykhuis all play on a regular basis

Weinrich is traded to Boston for Traverse (puke)

THE SLOW RECOVERY

in june 2001, he drafted the following:

7 D Mike Komisarek

25 R Alexander Perezhogin

37 W Duncan Milroy

71 C Tomas Plekanec

2001-2002

Andre Savard, with a year of studying his team, the draft, the league, starts his own 5 year plan.

However, afraid of losing another player... and committed to showing a better image to the fans, he mistakenly signs Brisebois to an undeserved contract of $4M per year.

On the other hand, he achieves to sign fillups Quintal, Perrault, Joe Juneau, Dackell... He convinces Gilmour out of retirement and trades softie Rosie for Donald Audette who scores like crazy in (something like 6 pts in his first 4 games) before getting a (what would be career ending injury) skake on the wrist, severing several tendons and stuff like that. All these moves are successful... but the contract would happen to be too long ... 2-3 seasons later, the same guys would become "deadwood" as called by the fans.

Team makes the playoffs, surfing on the "Koivu has Cancer" and "Donald Audette lost his right hand" wave... They are carried on Gilmour and Theodore's shoulders. Theo wins the Hard, the Vezina and $6M per year. He would later win Paris Hilton too. Koivu, Gilmour, Audette, Perrault are all playoffs Heroes, Habs upset the Bruins... but get destroyed by the hurricanes.

June, Andre Savard is better than Nostradamus... he trades some picks to climb one spot in the draft to make sure he can draft a fellow named:

14 (oa pick) C Chris Higgins

2002-2003 During the summer, Andre Savard is so proud of himself, he cannot contain his emotions... and ... fails! He wants to add grit and sign overaged and extremely slow Randy McKay while some other better options were available... on the other hand he trades gritty pest Aaron Asham for Mariusz Czerkawski!! :wacko: . Gilmour is too old to play, but is re-signed. Audette's wrist prevents him from being good. Saku is back from cancer, first full season of his career!!!

Hackett (who played way better than Theo that year) is traded to San Jose and then transferred to Boston... A good GM with a more convincing attitude could have traded Theo at that time for something VERY Good (e.g. ATL once wanted a Theo package for the pick that landed Kovalchuk)...

Bob Gainey is announced as the next Habs GM, Savard will remain GM till after the draft. He drafts Kostytsyn and Lapierre, O'byrne and Halak, but skips Patrice Bergeron (picking Urquart for his size) and Carter, Getzlaf and the gang (picking Kost... however, I believe in the Kost pick!!).

Bob Gainey represents stability. He can also say STFU to the media and imposes a great respect to the media... all of which were AS's flaws... He is also a way better contract negotiator than Andre Savard... and can generally makes better personel decisions... AS was really just a draft wizard and fell lucky on 1-2 trades.

2003-2004, best season in the last decade!!!

Awakening of Souray, Ryder and Mike Ribeiro

Begin is grabbed on waivers by Gainey

BG achieves to get rid of Audette (he also had traded Gilmour and Petrov at the previous season deadline, making room for Ryder, Ribs, etc)

Then trades for Playoffs hero Alex Kovalev!! (balej and a 2nd rounder)

Habs upset the bruins, but get swept by cup winners, TB

BG drafts Chipchura at 18, although he was ranked 4th in NA!, he also drafts Emelin and Streit.

2004-2005 - No season

Price (instead of Brule... Everyone seemed to agree at that time that Kopitar was too risky for #6), Killer Draft trade to get Latendresse in the 2nd round (Latendresse has more pts than Brule!!)

2005-2006 - BG re-signs Kovalev, Montreal needs a superstar, and with all the bottom feeders jumping on the Demitra for $6M or Scott Niedermayer for $7M, he's the only alternative. He delivers, 65 pts in 69 games.

He also trade Garon for Huet and Bonk.

BG doesn't want to get in the game of overpaying for mediocre Dman... Aucoin signs for 4.5M in Chicago... Hamrlik for 3.5M in CGY. Hal Gil, 3.5M too. etc... So he goes for a fast skater, hard worker... with no talent! but at only 1.7M ( Dandenault), fills a hole and adds versatility.

Huet showing off and Theo crumbling... Theo's contract is traded for good cheap backup Aebischer.

Habs make the playoffs, 93 pts again! Kovalev is spectacular. Kuddos to BG for signing this god! Higgins Koivu Ryder are on fire!! but Koivu gets his eye ripped off by Williams and the Habs are eliminated. from 2-0 this series ends 2-4 :(

Summer: Bulis is not offered a contract. Zednik is traded for a 3rd, Johnson is acquired for a 4th (more pts and more versatily than Zednik. WAY BETTER attitude, some leadership! WHAT A STEAL!!! also makes Radek Bonk look good, although this one is as slow as the previous season.)

2006-2007 Habs rely on youth and keeps the same veteran core that kicked ass the previous season. Only difference is that they rely more on youth this season, giving them more place, more importance. Higgins plays on the 1st line and Plekanec on the 2nd, Komi plays more than 20 minutes a game... This looks like the final step to a long term plan: giving responsibilities to your projects. They trade locker room poison Mike Ribeiro for a back of puck. Niinmaa was hiding in the bag. BG signs the THIRD BEST AVAILABLE UFA Forward, Sergei Samsonov, after failing to convince Arnott or Shanny to come to montreal. Washed up Sykora ends up awakening and having a better season than Sammy... surprise.

Team is extremely unstable, plays with fire and at its full potential on some nights, destroying the opposition... and falters on some other nights... This is the sign of the inexperience and young age of the "core of the team"

This is a sign that we've almost fully rebuilt and that we are giving a lot of importance to youth... It pays in the way that they get icetime and experience. It costs in the way that the team is totally inconsistent... Just check the 2nd line : Awesome in St-Louis, but costed the game in Pittsburgh... However won the game vs TO :wacko:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

now if gainey can convince emelin to come play in north america, well be in business.

He wants to play in the NHL but not the AHL I believe that is the real problem. I think they should tell him to come over and show he can play becuase I believe he can. Two years ago he was the best defenseman in the WJC's. His offensive numbers are down this year in the RSL but the fact that he plays big minutes in that league is impressive.

Great post alexstream. Although we disagree on some things you are an excellent, knowledgeable fan. Seriously though great summary of the rebuilding.

Edited by JMMR
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good post.

No one can dispute that the Habs have done an excellent job of stockpiling good young players. The question centres on whether we have bona-fide first-line talent in the system. I think Higgins probably qualifies, although he needs to put together a full season of playing at a high level. Based on two games - i.e., practically nothing - there are some preliminary signs that Kostityn might be the real deal. But it's waaaay to early to say that with any confidence.

Pleks is a second-line C. Some think he's the new Datsyuk, but that's far from certain to me.

Since there is no obvious #1 C in the organization, a medium-to-long-term deal with Briere would, in my opinion, provide a good cornerstone to build the young players around. In the absence of that - or some other #1 C signing - I'm not sure I see a contender in the making here. This team is looking too much like a donut, a big hole in the middle.

The other problem is at D, where we don't seem to have any obvious #1A or #2 defencemen in the system.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great post alexstream. Although we disagree on some things you are an excellent, knowledgeable fan. Seriously though great summary of the rebuilding.

we have a similar GMing style, just a different coaching style. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good post.

No one can dispute that the Habs have done an excellent job of stockpiling good young players. The question centres on whether we have bona-fide first-line talent in the system. I think Higgins probably qualifies, although he needs to put together a full season of playing at a high level. Based on two games - i.e., practically nothing - there are some preliminary signs that Kostityn might be the real deal. But it's waaaay to early to say that with any confidence.

Pleks is a second-line C. Some think he's the new Datsyuk, but that's far from certain to me.

Since there is no obvious #1 C in the organization, a medium-to-long-term deal with Briere would, in my opinion, provide a good cornerstone to build the young players around. In the absence of that - or some other #1 C signing - I'm not sure I see a contender in the making here. This team is looking too much like a donut, a big hole in the middle.

The other problem is at D, where we don't seem to have any obvious #1A or #2 defencemen in the system.

I might be overenthusiatic but :

First line talent :

Higgins, Kost, Latendresse

Ryder has always been, in my books, a very good 2nd liner.

Ben Maxwell COULD become a surprise pick. He was impressive during Preseason. He COULD potentially become a 1st line center.

Plekanec IMO should be our 3rd line center. We should have a 3rd offensive line and he should center it, his production is just good enough for that. He's not scoring enough IMO to be a 2nd line center.

I think Chipchura could eventually, long term, be a 2nd line center... IF he improves his skating. Otherwise he might also be a bust :(

Koivu should definitly be kept, but as a 2nd line center. I just hope we can work something. We're starting to have some SERIOUS trading assets : What about Halak, Perezhogin, 1st and some for Brad Richards (I feel that he's the oddman out in TBay... they will be struggling with the cap pretty soon)

OR

try to sign Daniel Brière, although I'm sure we'd have to overpay and I'm sure he wouldn't be able to deliver enough.

Carey Price, I'm 90% sure of that, will be the next Martin Brodeur. IMO he'll be the best in the league in less than 5 years. You can save that for history if you want.

D - Markov will be kept, again 90% sure of that. IMO, when and if Komi becomes a #1 Stay at home, then Markov will most certainly be a #1A All around kickass D... If Markov has no one to back him off, he'll look like a 1B or 2A because he'll be on his own.

Fischer might be a Surprise kickass pick, just as Mathieu Carle.

O'Byrne, Emelin, etc...

the only problem will all of them is that NONE is certain... they all have GREAT POTENTIAL... but no certainty.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I might be overenthusiatic but :

First line talent :

Higgins, Kost, Latendresse

Ryder has always been, in my books, a very good 2nd liner.

Ben Maxwell COULD become a surprise pick. He was impressive during Preseason. He COULD potentially become a 1st line center.

Plekanec IMO should be our 3rd line center. We should have a 3rd offensive line and he should center it, his production is just good enough for that. He's not scoring enough IMO to be a 2nd line center.

I think Chipchura could eventually, long term, be a 2nd line center... IF he improves his skating. Otherwise he might also be a bust :(

Koivu should definitly be kept, but as a 2nd line center. I just hope we can work something. We're starting to have some SERIOUS trading assets : What about Halak, Perezhogin, 1st and some for Brad Richards (I feel that he's the oddman out in TBay... they will be struggling with the cap pretty soon)

OR

try to sign Daniel Brière, although I'm sure we'd have to overpay and I'm sure he wouldn't be able to deliver enough.

Carey Price, I'm 90% sure of that, will be the next Martin Brodeur. IMO he'll be the best in the league in less than 5 years. You can save that for history if you want.

D - Markov will be kept, again 90% sure of that. IMO, when and if Komi becomes a #1 Stay at home, then Markov will most certainly be a #1A All around kickass D... If Markov has no one to back him off, he'll look like a 1B or 2A because he'll be on his own.

Fischer might be a Surprise kickass pick, just as Mathieu Carle.

O'Byrne, Emelin, etc...

the only problem will all of them is that NONE is certain... they all have GREAT POTENTIAL... but no certainty.

i would rather use the word enthusiastic for your post... overenthusiastic might be a somewhat correct but, nevertheless, i tend to sympathize with your perspective...

i certainly do hope our prospects achieve at least 2/3 of their potential...

GO :hlogo: GO!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I remember more players like Jim Campbell, Jim Cumminis, Dave Morrisette and Jason Dawe, all of whom were inexplicably playing in the NHL for Montreal and post Montreal never got there again.

Campbell wasn't too bad, he's one of a handful of Habs I've seen score a goal in person! :lol:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great post, alexstream. I'm getting fed up with running into people around town who have suddenly swallowed the Accepted Media Wisdom of the last month that Bob Gainey is incompetent. The man's a genius and the lynchpin to the Habs' future.

Concerning the Emelin thing, I've been thinking about the Habs' D next year...as much as I'm pleased with Niinimaa's recent strong performances, I'd still be shocked if he's with the team next year, and I've been trying to figure out who the 7 will be. Even with Streit as a permanent forward (has anyone else noticed he's bagged as many points as Higgins, Latendresse and Johnson?), and even assuming Bouillon or Dandenault winds out the next two years as a 7th D, is there any space for Emelin to slide right in without doing time in the AHL? (This is assuming Gorges is part of the six next year, which I feel he will be.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Our future is obviously bright. The one concern I have is how the young guys are handled.

For example, should Kostitsyn have been with the habs all year long?

What about Danis? The guy was prime time for a while, has he spoiled in the minors?

Where does Chipchura, Lapierre and Plekanec fit? Are they not all third line centers?

Where do Halak, Danis and Price fit together? Should we trade one of them (if not two)?

I am exited about our near future but there are serious questions to be answered.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Campbell wasn't too bad, he's one of a handful of Habs I've seen score a goal in person! :lol:

If I'm not mistaken he scored 30 goals in his rookie season for St. Louis but just completely and utterly lost his touch after that year. So he wasn't always bad...lol.

Alexstream very nice summary, although one slight detail you missed was that Trevor Linden wasn't signed. Houle traded a first round draft choice for him.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What about Danis? The guy was prime time for a while, has he spoiled in the minors?

Where does Chipchura, Lapierre and Plekanec fit? Are they not all third line centers?

I wonder the same thing. Maybe Danis has to clear waivers?

Lapierre is a 4th line center, methinks. He and Begin causing trouble on the same line, with a rotating door of Streit, Murray, x player on the other wing... mmmmm.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Our future is obviously bright. The one concern I have is how the young guys are handled.

For example, should Kostitsyn have been with the habs all year long?

What about Danis? The guy was prime time for a while, has he spoiled in the minors?

Where does Chipchura, Lapierre and Plekanec fit? Are they not all third line centers?

Where do Halak, Danis and Price fit together? Should we trade one of them (if not two)?

I am exited about our near future but there are serious questions to be answered.

I agree on Kosititsyn. he should have been up earlier.

It will be interesting next year the habs have a lot of guys that have potential to be good thrid line centers (Plekanac, Lappiere, Chipcura), and possibly second line centres (Grabowsky), but we are lacking a bona fide #1 line center.

Next year i'd like to see a make up like the following linuep up front:

Kostitsyn (new #1 centre) Higgins

Latendresse Koivu Kovolev

Perozhogin Grabovsky Ryder

Begin Chipchura/Lappiere Johnson

Ideally the habs will trade or sign a UFA (not likely after the Samsanov mess) #1 centre. Briere would be sweet, but probably won't happen. One thing I don't want to see is two checking lines next year. We have too many checkers on the team now, that really don't add anything.

I'd also like to see them move kovolev, but i think it would be asking too much for the habs to unload samsanov's salary (even if the return is a bag of pucks) and be able to get any sort of decent return for Kovolev. I also think that if they do manage to unload Sammy, he will end up return to form as a 20-30 goal guy. but at this point, considering the way carbo handled him, i can't see him being a reclamation project like bonk was (particularly because he went to the media with his problems and trade requests too oftern). I also wouldn't mind seeing Bonk back, but not unless if was under $1.2M, which probably isn't likely and I really think the Habs need to spend the money on getting some quality D-men.

On defence, from the current D-men, i wish the habs could get some decent bona fide defencment and only have Markov, Komisarik and Streit return from this year's team (would like to see Souray back but not at the $5.5M+ he will probably get). If we can't re-sign Markov, we are in some SERIOUS trouble next year. let's hope Yemelin does come over and makes an impact.

Edited by hab29RETIRED
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bravo BG, George Gillette, and the rest of the crew!

This post is inspiring me to do another Lions thread but I won't. :lol:

Awesome thread. We can count on future stability. I hope the team keeps taking the best player available approach in their thinking.

PS. Bacchus wrote this post with good consideration. I think it would be kind to see the Habs return the favour to the poster & give me a reason to start my thread again. Tuesday's victim will be the broons.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Alexstream very nice summary, although one slight detail you missed was that Trevor Linden wasn't signed. Houle traded a first round draft choice for him.

true... but he was still earning onlyl 500k less than Vinnie... I'd have kept Vinnie instead.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We defenitly need a Brière or a young Tavares or any kind of guy who can put up 90-100 pts to lead this team on the first unit. And i dont think none of the players you named in your post can do it...

LMAO

You must follow really close then because Briere as you mentioned so highly, was a "could be a superstar one day" player....So much so that he was waived around the league. :blink:

If you want Tavares you have to trade all the young talent we have as well as all the vereran players to be bad enough to possibly win the draft lottery and have the number one pick.

Sound like fun yet? :wacko:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great post alexstream! A few notes of interests: I would have traded Theo too, but their would have been a severe backlash if we traded the second coming of Quebec's very own christ if we had traded him before is disintegration. Also, history would have proved us wrong seeing as he got vertigo and retired within 1 year of his trade. We would have kept Garon I suppose, and never gotten Huet.

Also, I think Gillette stopped the bleeding. Molson was doing a serious fire sale at that point (just one more reason I'll never drink Molson again).

Maxwell is looking good, as is white, but they are both a couple of seasons away.

Don't know if we need a super star center. It wouldn't hurt, but we won in '93 with a super star goalie.

Until we finish last in the season, I think we will have to keep on looking for hidden gems. We will never get the Crosbys or the Taveres of the league, because the bottom feeders always suck them up. This has always been something I hate about the NHL, as it unfairely taxes teams that compete every year. They should have a full draft lottery system. Just because Pittsburg sucked for so long, they have now been rewarded with an all-star team. Same as Ottawa and Tampa Bay before them. A lottery would even the playing field, and allow a team like the habs to get the 1st overall pick every 30 years, instead of never.

But, I still think that we will have a serious contender even without a super star center. Also, I don't think that Briere is all that. I think that we could very well already have a Briere in our system ... whether it is Maxwell, Grabovsky, White, or someone else.

But Taveres would be uber sweet.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great post alexstream! A few notes of interests: I would have traded Theo too, but their would have been a severe backlash if we traded the second coming of Quebec's very own christ if we had traded him before is disintegration. Also, history would have proved us wrong seeing as he got vertigo and retired within 1 year of his trade. We would have kept Garon I suppose, and never gotten Huet.

Also, I think Gillette stopped the bleeding. Molson was doing a serious fire sale at that point (just one more reason I'll never drink Molson again).

Maxwell is looking good, as is white, but they are both a couple of seasons away.

Don't know if we need a super star center. It wouldn't hurt, but we won in '93 with a super star goalie.

Until we finish last in the season, I think we will have to keep on looking for hidden gems. We will never get the Crosbys or the Taveres of the league, because the bottom feeders always suck them up. This has always been something I hate about the NHL, as it unfairely taxes teams that compete every year. They should have a full draft lottery system. Just because Pittsburg sucked for so long, they have now been rewarded with an all-star team. Same as Ottawa and Tampa Bay before them. A lottery would even the playing field, and allow a team like the habs to get the 1st overall pick every 30 years, instead of never.

But, I still think that we will have a serious contender even without a super star center. Also, I don't think that Briere is all that. I think that we could very well already have a Briere in our system ... whether it is Maxwell, Grabovsky, White, or someone else.

But Taveres would be uber sweet.

Great thread Bacchus and great post Alexstream.

The NHL is a business, and they have an agenda to sell out all their arenas as much as possible. Hence the salary cap system and parity. I know when the Habs were in last place in 2001 the only thing that kept me going was the hope maybe we could suck so bad that we could land Kovalchuk.

But using a full lottery how would the reaction be if Montreal was in last and Toronto was top 5 and they won the draft lotto and took John Tavares? It has to be the way it is, if you want to finish in last it is not that hard. Just dump all your established NHLers and let the kids play before they are ready.

The future has gotten a hell of a lot brighter in the last week. ####, Halak and Lats showed us a glimpse of the future and it looks pretty bright. With the right moves this summer this team could be a lot closer than everybody thinks, but some wrong moves and we can be looking at another sprint for 8th!

Edited by Wamsley01
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...