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Habs acquire Robert Lang and re-sign Brisebois


Peter Puck

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Trying to visualize Lang in a Habs uniform is weird for some reason. But he's something we needed, agree with most of the posts. Apart from the Dandy question we're pretty much settled, two weeks to the first preseason game, let the battle for the last coupla spots begin.

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Not sure i'm such a big fan of this move. Isn't his skating a little suspect?

We have enough speed, there is more than one dimension to a cup.

I'll be the first:

Kostitsyn-Plekanec-Kovalev

Tanguay-Koivu-Higgins

Latendresse-Lang-Kostitsyn

Laraque-Lapierre-Kostopoulos (Begin, Chipchura, ...)

Throw in Sundin in middle of the season... :blink:

Kostitsyn-Plek-Kostitsyn

Tanguay-Lang-Kovalev

Laraque-Lapiere-Kostopoulos

Latendresse-Koivu-Higgins

Personally I am happy with this signing and i think it is an answer, maybe not "the answer", but a good one, to the big centre that finishes gap we have had. Another BG signing I like. Glad to have Breezer signed too.

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Not a big fan of this move. Think the 2nd round pick will probably be number 40 or less as the leafs suck.

Lang will be 38, and stats and play have been declining for years. I do not think this puts us over the edge in terms of conference championships or even stanley cup finals.

Will be happier if Sundin signs here.

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I would say great rather than not bad.

Ya, the more I think about it, the more I like it.

I cant wait for this season to start, I cant wait to see our Habs dish it out with the big boys. This is will an exciting race in beetween us, Pitts and Wash for the Eastern crown :clap:

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Not a big fan of this move. Think the 2nd round pick will probably be number 40 or less as the leafs suck.

Lang will be 38, and stats and play have been declining for years. I do not think this puts us over the edge in terms of conference championships or even stanley cup finals.

Will be happier if Sundin signs here.

Forget Sundin. He is back to a scum Laff at the bottom of the bottomless pit.

You wouldn't go toe-to-toe with Pitts right now and like our chances? Who is better on paper than us in the East? Plenty of weapons now if one line goes into a 3 or 4 game funk - especially in the playoffs. Great move for a team that wants to win now.

We have had our years of mediocrity, high-ish draft picks and glittering prospects. We are loaded in the minors and juniors. Time to start winning now. In fact, started last year.

Side question: how do we get rid of Dandy without taking his cap hit? Only by a trade?

Edited by tokyohabs
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We could bury him in the minors too. I'm not sure if management is willing to spend that type of money on an AHL player tough.

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Wow is all I can say. Ek did have this as e3 last night, did he break the story? But anyway, this is a great move! we now have either Koivu, Plekanec, or Lang as our number 3 centre. Great move by Gainey!

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I don't think Lang will make any real difference whatsoever.

We were a good team before. I just don't see this as an impact move, or magically solving the lack of size at C. Top checkers will still focus on Plekanec and Koivu's lines.

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The Habs needed depth at Centre and need a righty as well. Not to mention he is big.

yeah, but the big guys of Lang's type are called "cream puffs" :)

(p.s. I'm a fan of the move though)

He is no Smoke. I'll have to look up Lang's numbers but I believe he had 29 goals and over 70 points last year. He can still help us offensively.

well, no, it was around 55... but still he's 10 times the player Smokes was...

In sum, we're upgrading Smokes to Lang ... and Ryder to Tangs

Carbo is a lucky one this year... his team finished 1st and he got to keep the core and get 2 free upgrades! :D

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Quoted from a poster on hf.

I like. Montreal is going to use Plekanec and Koivu against top lines, not Lang. Lang is really the "second-line" center. Koivu is more the third-line center, but he is the Rod Brind-Amour type third-line center -- he's not out there just to check.

Like I usually do, I went on behindthenet.ca to view his even-strength performance. Like Tanguay, I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw. Lang has a fairly neutral quality of competition metric -- he was a second-line center, basically -- but he does have a very positive Corsi number, indicating that while he was facing second lines, he did very well against them in terms of shots for/against. He was also productive. 0.77 goals/60 mins would put him a bit below Chris Higgins, but his 2.13 PTS/60 at ES would put him third on the Habs. He had 14 even-strength goals and 37 even-strength points, both of which would put him near the top of the Hab roster,and was a +9 . And all those stats were accrued in the "more defensive" West. He even has good faceoff stats.

He didn't do so well on the power play. But the Habs either don't care, or can fix that.

He is a strong even-strength performer, like Tanguay (but not to the same degree), and he has size. He fills a need nicely. He is no Mats Sundin, of this there can be no doubt. But he is an extremely credible plan B.

wow, that is a frikkin great analysis...

I like Lang with Kovalev, but I see it shaking out like this, taking advantage of existing chemistry:

Tanguay-Lang-Kovalev

Kost-Pleks-Kost

Higgins-Koivu-Latendresse

Laraque-Lapierre-Kosto/Begin

That lineup is awesome... :)

I would say great rather than not bad.

:clap:

I like to think of it as Pateryn and Lang for Grabovski.... the rest was intentional

exact! :hlogo:

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I don't think Lang will make any real difference whatsoever.

We were a good team before. I just don't see this as an impact move, or magically solving the lack of size at C. Top checkers will still focus on Plekanec and Koivu's lines.

Exactly why I love the move. Whoever play on the 3rd make it one of the best, if not THE best, 3rd line of the league. Having 3 lines who can score every nights is AWESOME, specially when your 4th includes Laraque Lapierre Bégin/Kosto as energy guys.

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I just can't believe how Tanguay - Laraque - Lang is better than Ryder - Streit - Smolinski - Grabovski. Bob Rocks !!!!

actually...

Tang is replacing Ryder at Even strenght AND Streit on PP... both of them "fused together" into one player (!) would have been a better option than Ryder's no imagination on PP and Streit's liability at even strenght. Lang is replacing Smokes. Laraque is being added.

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I'll be the first:

Kostitsyn-Plekanec-Kovalev

Tanguay-Koivu-Higgins

Latendresse-Lang-Kostitsyn

Laraque-Lapierre-Kostopoulos (Begin, Chipchura, ...)

Throw in Sundin in middle of the season... :blink:

no matter who plays there, you end up with a kick ass lineup

you could even argue to make 4 strong lines... if you make it a bit more sparse

I mean, I didn't work hard to do the following, just to show you, I tried to make it look as bad as possible and... it still kicks ass!! :o

Tanguay Koivu Latendresse

Kovalev Lang - Laraque

S. Kost Plecanek Kosto

Higgings Lapierre A.Kostystyn

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no matter who plays there, you end up with a kick ass lineup

you could even argue to make 4 strong lines... if you make it a bit more sparse

I mean, I didn't work hard to do the following, just to show you, I tried to make it look as bad as possible and... it still kicks ass!! :o

Tanguay Koivu Latendresse

Kovalev Lang - Laraque

S. Kost Plecanek Kosto

Higgings Lapierre A.Kostystyn

:blink: no.

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:blink: no.

not what I wish at all, im just saying that even that looks better and so so far away from

the years of

Zholtok - Darby - Poulin - Petrov - Zubrus - Czerkawski - Mckay - Berezin

times when Zednik and Bulis were good players for us... when Brian Savage was almost a 30 goal scorer :mellow:

:blink: no.

and FYI

I personally think the following would be lethal :

1. a Tanguay Lang Kovalev

1. b S. Kost Plek A. Kost

1. c Higgins Koivu Latendresse

3. Begin Lapierre Laraque

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JMMR gives great analysis here. Fascinating to see how Gainey identifies weaknesses - size, even strength play - and makes rock-solid moves to fix 'em. An absolutely splendid off-season from The Great Man.

We've acquired, I think, a guy who will serve as a stabilizing, veteran third-line C, a guy who, like Bonk and Smoke before him, promises on paper to be able to step into the breach should one of our top centremen go down. (Hopefully, unlike his predecessors, Lang will actually deliver in that capacity). Assuming that he indeed still can deliver given top-line minutes, he also represents insurance in case some of our key young players go missing in the playoffs again. (Pleks).

So I like our team a lot better tonight. No team can expect to make a Cup run without a strong 3rd-line C presence, and whatever Chip's virtues, you don't want a raw rookie like him being that guy at playoff time.

Lang also went 53%+ on face-offs last season. THAT in itself is a huge addition for us. And as many have pointed out, he has past chemistry with Kovalev. That's one of those details that Bob would find very interesting. It's one more intangible in the ongoing quest to get the most out of (what is likely) Kovy's last season with us.

While anyone looking to the declining Lang to be a major offensive contributor is *probably* being too optimistic - he's more like Radek Bonk Plus - he definitely shores up our one obvious weak link. In short, a strong move; and if I'm being unduly pessimistic and it turns out that Lang bags 20 goals, 55+ points, then it becomes a great move.

One thing's for sure: in Bob's mind, this is The Year. We seem, at least, to have no weaknesses, except for unproven goaltending. And frankly, I'll take my chances on Mr. Price.

(And: welcome back Mr. Brisebois! Haters aside, he was a valuable depth presence for us last season and turned in a much-underappreciated playoff performance).

Well done, Bob!

Edited by The Chicoutimi Cucumber
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at this stage of his career, Lang is a 20 goals, 50+ pts center, which might also be what Koivu has turned into.

It's not going to change the entire offense but at the same time it will. Less minutes for Saku means a less tired Saku. And also having Lang and Saku behind him means all offense doesnt lie squarely on Plex's shoulders. It's tough having to contain 3 centers who can put upwards of 50 pts.

Habs already had the best collective offense in the League last year and now we've added Lang & Tanguay. That means more freedom from checking for the other forwards, but also less pressure for the young guns. Higgins & Plekanec are very serious players who have put a ton of pressure on themselves last year and in the playoffs it started to show that they were tensed and were carrying too much weight on their shoulders. Having two good offensive veterans no only will spread the oppostion's checking, but also they'll divert lot of offensive expectactions and pressure away from the younger guys in the lineup.

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For all of you who assume that Lang will play with Kovalev (because they had chemistry together in Pitts.) I would just like to remind you all that even though it is true that Lang and Kovy did play together in Pitts. Let's not forget that there were a few other important players on that Penguins team. Ie: Lemieux, Jagr, Straka... SO in reality Kovy and Lang were the top players on that team, and rarely had to play against the other teams best checking line. That's why I think Carbo will not touch the Andrei-Plex-Kovy line!

In any case, i like this move. Bob couldn't wait for "that guy" forever, and Lang adresses our need for a BIG centreman. He's good in the face off circle and he is a responsible defensive player(+9 with an average Chicago team last year.) If he can give us between 18 and 22 goals with approx 55 points, I'll be very happy with this deal.

Adding Breezer at 750,000$ is a good addition. He knows that he won't play all 82 games, and will not cause any trouble in the dressing room...plus he'll be a good influence on the younger d-men!

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We're not going to turn back the clock and get old Robert Lang. At his age, we can only hope we get a smart, savvy presence.

His numbers will plummet in this role. He won't play with Kovalev, unless the team is really struggling and Carbo looks for a jumpstart. Even then, it wouldn't be a permanent solution.

In short, I definitely would've preferred acquiring a Jarrett Stoll type back when he was available... although his injury history may not make him the best example, a younger guy who may not have reached his full potential, and maybe never would, but could contribute in a ton of different ways regardless.

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Here's my lineup now that Robert Lang is in the Mix

A.Kost-Plex-Kovy

Latendresse-Koivu-Tanguay

Higgins-Lang-S.Kost

Begin-Lapierre-Kosto/Laraque

Markov-Komisarek

Obyrne-Hamrlik

Brisebois-Boullion

?? for 7th dman

Wow...I like that lineup a lot!!! On paper it looks great...but let's hope that paper turns into metal plating on Lord Stanley for 2009!

GO :hlogo: GO

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IMO Lang is more of a Brad Richards plan B than Sunding plan B. It definitely looks to me like Bob gave up on the big 1st line 30+G 30+A/yr centre and opted with a big 3rd line 20+G 30+A/yr defensive centre. There are not many players who get 20+G 30+A/yr in a 3rd line checking role.

Players who are good defesively and dont get high minutes but still manage to get 20+G and are good enough at setting up plays while being defensive minded to get 30+A. Lang does have a deceptilvely strong shot and he must be good at creating plays and passing because he almost always gets 30+A every year.

Personaly I hope to see Kovalevs line come out after Langs linemates comes off. I am tired of seeing the Habs constantly dump the puck into the others team end when they line change. Rarely do they ever press on and try something offensive during a line change. I certainly hope Lang is offensive minded enough to take the puck into the others team end and into the corner and feed passes to his fresh teammates racing in: enter Kovalev.

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Markov-Komisarek

Obyrne-Hamrlik

Brisebois-Boullion

?? for 7th dman

Hmm, maybe Gorges over O'Byrne, Bouillon and Brisebois? :)

Anyways, I think it isn't such a bad move, hope that Lang still has something left in him.

I can still see Chipper win a spot on this team ... maybe Latendresse, Lapierre or even little Kostitsyn will have to make place for someone else (just a guess).

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This is still a great move.

Montreal added two top forwards without losing a roster player. Lang over Smolinski anyday. Tangauy over Ryder.

But what will it do to our lines?

Lang and Kovalev have a history. Plekanec and the Kostitsyns found each other last year. Koivu and Higgins are the most defensive minded duo. Wich gives us...

Tangauy - Lang - Kovalev (Not sure if this line is too offensive minded?)

Kostitsyn - Plekanec - Kostitsyn (May be too inexperienced.)

Higgins - Koivu - Latendresse

Begin - Lappiere - Laraque

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