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Canadiens sign Hamrlik, Smolinski & Kostopoulos


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WHAAT?

Am I the only person who is unimpressed with these moves? :wacko:

5.5M a season for Roman Hamrlik? Why? Is he worth it? Can he still contribute? The jury's out on all fronts. His mobility is down, he's old and his offense is in major decline, he looked better playing with Phaneuf. And a 4 year deal? Ridiculous. Why not give Souray a similar contract? I'd take him over Hamrlik any day of the week.

As for Smolinski, whatever. But if this is the promised second line centre, Gainey's got some explaining to do.

Souray turned it down.... what the RDS dude is saying why not have offered that deal to Hannan

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I'd give Hannan that deal sure I clarified my comments a bit in the original post

But I mean what is this? The Canadiens are so lackluster that to sign a third liner they have to give him a NTC? Because that's sure what it looked like with the Smolinski signing...

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Man in times of suffering whatever it takes .... NTC for all the NEw signings if need be! we gotta fix the Habs image (media aside) we have to make the organization more player friendly (regarding players that work hard) thats what the Sammy issue meant a Small out of place hard working forward that was kicked out of town... it will take more signs as the one given to Smolo to appease the players.

I heard Bob ordered Carbo to send his wife to "greet" the each new player as they arrived one night at a time :P

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Well I don't care how much the players cost, I simply care about the quality of the player and I don't know about Hamrlik, yeah I know he was once a beast on the blueline, but he's aging now.

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OH man this just reeks of desperation. Hamrlik is just Janne Niinima all over again, but were stuck with him for 4 years.

Smolinkski? Why not bring Bonk back? THats no improvement.

THis is bullshit

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Yeah look regardless of money I'd give Scott Hannan that deal to come here. I'd give Stuart a bit less, but I'd rate both these guys above Hamrlik.

Just my two cents.

OH man this just reeks of desperation. Hamrlik is just Janne Niinima all over again, but were stuck with him for 4 years.

Smolinkski? Why not bring Bonk back? THats no improvement.

THis is bullshit

My thoughts exactly when I first heard it

Smolinski is aging too

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I would say that some (not all) of the complaining stems from the fact that it was originally reported as a 3M/yr deal, which most people were proclaiming a steal (which I'd agree with). 5.5M puts the salary more in line with what should probably be expected. Had it initially been reported correctly, there MAY not have been the backlash that has come.

Alrighty then... blame the medias for bad news reporting! :P

All I know is that I'm happy right now with a top three of Komisarek, Markov, and Hamrlik. I'd be thrilled if Gainey were able to obtain another D to shore up the top 4.

Definitely can't have any of Bouillon-Dandy-Georges-Streit in our top 4. BUT also having 2 of these in the pressbox is a waste. A trade for the 4th D is in order

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Some fans are acting like spoiled 2 years old.

-"Whaaa, whaaa! I want a glass of water!"

-"Here's your glass of water, stop crying"

-"Whaaa, whaaa! I dont want water in that glass!"

Stop bitching for f***'s sake. We all agreed we needed a good D who could take care of his own end and support the offense. Hamrlik fits the bill. But what's that now? Ooooh, he costs too much. Whaaaa, whaaaa...

Boo f***ing hoo.

After that people wonder why UFAs dont want to come to Montreal and blame the medias. Nevermind the medias. Fickle, irrational, whining, self-righteous fans who think they know more than the pros are just as much a turn off for players.

WELCOME TO MONTREAL, ROMAN!

You don't understand that this is PLAN F all over again. Desperation fuelled contracts thrown at a 33 year old and a 35 year old, that's what I'm concerned about. I could care less about what Hamrlik makes, but if he can't bring his A game anymore so to speak he's not going to be able to help the blueline much at all.

He's aging fast and his defensive mobility is weak. I'd be much happier bringing aboard a younger guy who actually has his prime ahead of him - such as Brad Stuart or Scott Hannan.

That is all.

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Hamrlik over Hannan because we needed a D who could GET THE PUCK TO THE FORWARDS. Even Souray couldnt do that, and Hannan isnt in that mold neither.

As for Hamrlik being old... he's aged fine so far. Look at Numminen in Buffalo. Not a spring chicken neither but still a solid vet. Since Souray wouldnt stay, Hammer is a very adequate replacement.

Smolinski... Basically he's Bonk with a right-hand shot, better wheels and more versatility for about the same price. A slight upgrade that gives more freedom to the coach.

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Are you crazy?

nothing that carboneau does will surprise me anymore.

btw, i think the philly signing of Briere is starting to look much better now.

Hamarlik's plus/minus is inflated considering the flames play a much more defensive style and the fact that he played with Phaneauf didn't hurt either.

TERRIBLE TERRIBLE contract!

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You don't understand that this is PLAN F all over again. Desperation fuelled contracts thrown at a 33 year old and a 35 year old, that's what I'm concerned about.

What I understand is that we were going into next season with Bouillon as our #3 D and Koivu-Plex-Lapierre-Chipchura as our C line. Gainey had to sign someone.

That's what so tough about being a GM in Montreal. Seems unless you pull a Pollock every time; there's always half the fan base that'll say you screwed up no matter what you did. Especially when it comes to UFAs where every contract is "too expensive", yet if you dont sign anyone you "missed the boat".

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Hamrlik over Hannan because we needed a D who could GET THE PUCK TO THE FORWARDS. Even Souray couldnt do that, and Hannan isnt in that mold neither.

As for Hamrlik being old... he's aged fine so far. Look at Numminen in Buffalo. Not a spring chicken neither but still a solid vet. Since Souray wouldnt stay, Hammer is a very adequate replacement.

Smolinski... Basically he's Bonk with a right-hand shot, better wheels and more versatility for about the same price. A slight upgrade that gives more freedom to the coach.

Aged well? What?

Hes hardly ever played a full season and in the last 5 years he's missed over 50 + games....thats more than 10 games missed per season. As well his point total has steadily decreased.....

Smolinski is just another soft old man......don't need that. Bonk is a far better player and probably wasn't much more expensive.....

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A few things

1. Is he better than Souray? He has a hard shot, has scored 15+ goals before. Won't be as good on the point as Shelly was, but few are.

2. Does his defense make up for that?

3. Maybe 5.5 million per season isnt as bad as it may seem? Right now its 1/10th of the cap, but lets say the cap is up to 55-60 million by year 3 of the contract, does that salary still seem like way too much?

As much as i still dont like the contract, this probably had to be done.

His defence is NOT much better then souray. He is apt to make the bonehead play. He won't be a human pylon highlight reel. but will turnover the puck faster then you can say brisbois.

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Some fans are acting like spoiled 2 years old.

-"Whaaa, whaaa! I want a glass of water!"

-"Here's your glass of water, stop crying"

-"Whaaa, whaaa! I dont want water in that glass!"

Stop bitching for f***'s sake. We all agreed we needed a good D who could take care of his own end and support the offense. Hamrlik fits the bill. But what's that now? Ooooh, he costs too much. Whaaaa, whaaaa...

Boo f***ing hoo.

After that people wonder why UFAs dont want to come to Montreal and blame the medias. Nevermind the medias. Fickle, irrational, whining, self-righteous fans who think they know more than the pros are just as much a turn off for players.

WELCOME TO MONTREAL, ROMAN!

:popcorn:

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That's what so tough about being a GM in Montreal. Seems unless you pull a Pollock every time;

But when was the last time we had a Pollock type deal? Seems the last decent steal that Montreal made was Courtnall for Kordic......

ITs been nothing but failed trades and signings since then. With exception the the Huet trade.....that was half decent

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Hamrlik over Hannan because we needed a D who could GET THE PUCK TO THE FORWARDS. Even Souray couldnt do that, and Hannan isnt in that mold neither.

As for Hamrlik being old... he's aged fine so far. Look at Numminen in Buffalo. Not a spring chicken neither but still a solid vet. Since Souray wouldnt stay, Hammer is a very adequate replacement.

Smolinski... Basically he's Bonk with a right-hand shot, better wheels and more versatility for about the same price. A slight upgrade that gives more freedom to the coach.

I beg to differ.

Hamrlik's offensive skills just aren't that good anymore, let's face it. Sure, he can move the puck better than Souray, but Brad Stuart could move it better than Hamrlik, and Tom Preissing better than Stuart. One facet of a player's game isn't enough to justify such a meaty contract.

Face it, Gainey made the move because he felt the pressure to replace Souray with a defenseman. Interesting how it will shut up the media re Souray because Gainey gave Souray the exact same offer first.

There's several D who would be more than "an adequate replacement" as you term Hamrlik. Hamrlik cannot replace Souray offensively. He's an upgrade defensively but there's players out there much better defensively than him. So all that we can say is that he has a decent outlet pass? That's it? Sorry, not good enough.

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As if the Habs players we constantly followed around by hordes of papparazis... Come on!

no they just sneak into hotel rooms of guys who just had eye surgery so that they can flash them :wacko:

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roman hamrlik for 5.5 per year ... that is insane... no matter how hard people try to justify those numbers... i do not think they can!!... hahaha .. what a knee-jerk reaction to souray rejecting his offer. :monkey:

Edited by newf
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What's the big deal?

We have some money...we have some holes, we lost out on the two guys we wanted for sure (they both took less money to NOT play here) and we filled the holes with what is available.

That's way better then not doing anything at all. Both guys are signed to the perfect lengths for our young D and centres to develop...that's the point here.

I love both deals (a bit high for Hamrlik, but what are ya gonna do?) The length is fine for a 33 and 35 year old player. Hammer will still be younger then Briere will be when his contract ends. regher took less to stay in Calgary, Hannan had no intention of going anywhere after Sakic called him on Friday. Rafalski??? Not at that salary and length...who's left that has been that consistent and reliable???

Finally some stability on the blueline after Markov (the other Markov is still available no?)

Anyone else getting sick and tired of "the sky is falling" routine that people keep posting. It was the same in the 2005 draft thread when we took Price...where are those guys now huh?

I mean really, people already saying he is a bust, or the new Samsonov, when he hasn't even touched a habs jersey. gimme a break!

I don't think for a second that Gainey is done. UFA wise he may be done....but trades have been floating for too long not to have some merit to them.

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Aged well? What?

Hes hardly ever played a full season and in the last 5 years he's missed over 50 + games....thats more than 10 games missed per season. As well his point total has steadily decreased.....

Hamrlik has maintained about the same PPG avg (in the 0.50's) and over 30 assists for the past 6-7 years. So I dont see where the big decrease is. Numminen had the same drop off at about the same age but still went on to be a reliable D for about 5-6 more years

As for his injuries, Souray went through much worse before finally getting healthy last year, so its a moot point.

Smolinski is just another soft old man......don't need that. Bonk is a far better player and probably wasn't much more expensive.....

Soft old man like Bonk who couldnt throw a check if his life depended on it? Bonk might have been better positionnaly, but "far better" ? I dont think trading a 20-pts 3rd C for a 40-pts 3rd C is that much of a downgrade.

But I guess someone people wouldn't have been happy unless Gainey had managed to sign Briere, Smyth, Hannan, Bertuzzi all 1M$/season altogether...

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great i start reading this thread and start off being pissed at how much we signed Hamerlik for and then read that we signed smolinski. WHy the hell can we not get a top 6 guys. Every year it is the same BS. All of our UFA signings/trades seem to be for third and 4th liners (with the exception of Kovolev and Samsonov - which i guess somebody forgot to tell carbo, coz he seemed to think that Sammy was signed to sit in the press box.

I read here that Bonk was signed by Nashville. Was it less then what Smolinksi signed for??? if so, i would rather have brought Bonk back then Smolinksi. AND WHY THE HELL DO YOU NEED TO GIVE A NTC TO 3RD LINE PLAYER??????????????????????????

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Hamrlik has maintained about the same PPG avg (in the 0.50's) and over 30 assists for the past 6-7 years. So I dont see where the big decrease is. Numminen had the same drop off at about the same age but still went on to be a reliable D for about 5-6 more years

As for his injuries, Souray went through much worse before finally getting healthy last year, so its a moot point.

Soft old man like Bonk who couldnt throw a check if his life depended on it? Bonk might have been better positionnaly, but "far better" ? I dont think trading a 20-pts 3rd C for a 40-pts 3rd C is that much of a downgrade.

But I guess someone people wouldn't have been happy unless Gainey had managed to sign Briere, Smyth, Hannan, Bertuzzi all 1M$/season altogether...

Very true.

Let's not forget once Phaneuf came into the picture, Hamrlik was suddenly shoved to the 2nd PP unit and got less chances to produce offensively.....but everyone else is probably right...he is too old and he is on the decline...... :wacko:

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great i start reading this thread and start off being pissed at how much we signed Hamerlik for and then read that we signed smolinski. WHy the hell can we not get a top 6 guys. Every year it is the same BS. All of our UFA signings/trades seem to be for third and 4th liners (with the exception of Kovolev and Samsonov - which i guess somebody forgot to tell carbo, coz he seemed to think that Sammy was signed to sit in the press box.

I read here that Bonk was signed by Nashville. Was it less then what Smolinksi signed for??? if so, i would rather have brought Bonk back then Smolinksi. AND WHY THE HELL DO YOU NEED TO GIVE A NTC TO 3RD LINE PLAYER??????????????????????????

It's only a one year contract for 2 million!!!

He doesn't want to move at the deadline if he is bringing his family....why is this so hard to accept and why is it all anyone wants to focus on. Smokie is very versatile and can play anywhere we need him. Good PK guy and can play centre if Plex decides to hide again....great pickup for Gainey and cheaper then Bonk.

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