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Lang lost for season


Psycing

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"Robert Lang, with a suspected severed Achilles tendon. If that's the case, colour Lang, who scored Montreal's lone goal today, gone for the season."

Wow. Absolutely horrible news considering the outstanding season Lang has been having. Given that he takes up a big chunk of the salary cap, I'm not sure what Gainey can do to suppliment the loss. I suspect Chipchura gets another look.

Edited by Psycing
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This is the first (and hopefully last) true catastrophe of the season. Lang is irreplaceable.

Call up Chips, and hope like hell that Plekanec remembers how to generate some offence. It's simple, really - Pleks HAS to deliver.

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Wow. Absolutely horrible news considering the outstanding season Lang has been having. Given that he takes up a big chunk of the salary cap, I'm not sure what Gainey can do to suppliment the loss. I suspect Chipchura gets another look.

Well, if he is done for the year, the long term IR will come into affect and they'd be able to go over the cap by his salary.

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Well lets look at the positive side. It almost forces Gainey to make a move as we know their are no other centres in the system to pick up Langs offence.

Frees up a prorated portion of his $4 + Million dollar salary. And probably gives Lapierre some more icetime which almost surely deserves...although he doesn't provide the offence that Lang would have.

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Well lets look at the positive side. It almost forces Gainey to make a move as we know their are no other centres in the system to pick up Langs offence.

Frees up a prorated portion of his $4 + Million dollar salary. And probably gives Lapierre some more icetime which almost surely deserves...although he doesn't provide the offence that Lang would have.

I see your point, but the problem is that this team really needs another offensive blueliner. If Bob has to move assets to replace an injured centreman, that weakens our hand vis-a-vis help on the back end. Then again, you mention in another thread that you don't see Plekanec as having any potential as a #2 centreman. If you're right , then we have no choice but to replace Lang, or else give up on any Cup aspirations for this season.

A lot hinges on Pleks here. If he can be an effective offensive presence again, we can plug in Chips and take our chances. If not, then we HAVE to make a deal for a C - preferably not just a stop-gap deal, but something like the Jordan Staal deal you were talking about: something that *seriously* addresses Montreal's longtstanding weakness at C instead of just patching it over.

We might consider trying Higgins at C again, too. What the hell. :puke:

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Ugh. Just great. Lang just gets the January Molson Cup and... boom. Gone. And Latendresse's shoulder is a concern. He has an history of shoulder problems, hope it's not the same one.

And Tangs isnt back until 2-3 weeks still.

Hope the Habs can pull another rabbit out of their Hamilton hat. We know Chips and Stewart can plug holes on a 4th line, but Lang isnt as easily replaceable. Habs lose one of their few right-hand shot/faceoff guy.

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Well, if he is done for the year, the long term IR will come into affect and they'd be able to go over the cap by his salary.

Might want to suggest that as always, the Habs have never utilized it (even this season with all the injuries). If they decide to go that way, then they'd potentially be able to exceed the cap, but in the end, it'd only be by less than a million. (He has about 1.5 left in salary, and they're more than $800,000 under the cap - only the difference between that could be LTIR utilized).

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The Habs are facked....

Nothing indicates Plekanec is magically going to regain last year's form, Koivu is just in the process of playing himself back into peak shape (prolly another two weeks for that to happen), and Chipchura is a plug.

It's getting a lot harder to feel optimistic... :(

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I didn't see this. It looked like Lang got hurt during the check, I had no idea he got cut.

Montreal also lost its goal-scoring leader, centre Robert Lang, likely for a long time as he had a tendon in his left heel sliced by a skate after a harmless looking hit into the boards on Stephane Yelle 8:33 into the third period.

"He got caught by a skate and it cut a tendon in the back of his foot," said Carbonneau. "It doesn't look good."

Taken from TSN

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Lang and Latendresse were two of the Habs' best players over the last month (Latendresse excelled since being aligned with Lapierre).

The loss of these two guys for any significant amount of time means the underachievers need to pick up their game, or it could get ugly in this, the centennial season.

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Just when everyone thought this was bad enough, Latendresse is likely out for a month according to Pat Hickey (Gazette).

http://www.montrealgazette.com/Sports/Lang...2091/story.html

Whoever the Habs' capologist is, they're going to be put to the test now...

I believe it's still Julien Brisebois... until he sees the highlights and resigns anyway ;)

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This is a major upset.

Latendresse was really good both ways.

I do not see anything else than trades or calling back some russians.

If we do trade for Radulov could he play in the league or he is suspended.

Perezhogin is still a habs can we call him back ?

And they absolutely need to deal for someone with heart and experience at right C

i say Ian Laperrière woulnd cost much and would turn a 4th line pretty well.

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Well, the rest of the boys need to step up and keep the team in the playoffs. They have a brutal road trip coming up to. Not sure how they trade now with so few bodies available. Certainly difficult to get a guy like vinny when you have to give up a couple roster players to get him.

Prepare for some 4th line centre to get picked up by Gainey. :(

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I do not see anything else than trades or calling back some russians.

If we do trade for Radulov could he play in the league or he is suspended.

Perezhogin is still a habs can we call him back ?

wow, where did that come from?

I think Chips, Stewart, Maxwell will get called up first

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It's easy to be doom and gloom about this, but let's be honest, we did fine enough with Koivu, Tanguay, and Higgins out of the lineup. Koivu is just rounding into form now. Higgins looks to actually be finding a way out of the doldrums, and Tangs ... well, he'll be back one day.

We know we have the depth: it's already proven itself to this point. Now D'Agostini and Pacioretty will most definitely be staying with the big club. We have Chipchura in Hamilton who seems to be either the hard-luck kid with respects to gaining a roster spot in Montreal or isn't up to snuff - and if the latter is the case, this is a chance presented to him on a silver platter. Begin is no Latendresse, but he has, over short spells, played well above his head. Tangs will be back, as will Lats.

And really, bottom line, it's not where you finish that really matters, it's what you do in the playoffs that counts. Montreal has not hit stride yet. If they're waiting until the playoffs to get healthy and start really going, I'm sure everyone is fine with that.

I'll never forget, so long ago, Don Cherry talking about the Habs early in his Coach's Corner stint. They playoffs were coming and the team had struggled a lot during the season with consistency and injuries. With about two weeks to go until the playoffs, there's Don being somewhat dejected. I'll paraphrase:

"And here we go again, folks, with the Montreal Canadiens. Never count them out I tell ya. Just like always, they're getting healthy at the right time going into the playoffs, and that means they're playing better as well. Watch out for those Canadiens."

If memory serves, that was 1986.

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Bob is working the phones as we speak, I'm sure.

I'm thinking he will gravitate to patch-up moves rather than disturb the nucleus of the team he's constructed; this certainly seems to have been his modus operandi up to now. Acquiring Laperierre would be a good example of that sort of move. So would be acquiring Mathieu Schneider.

I wouldn't be adverse to this sort of thing, but it would be nice if we could use these disasters as a trigger to solve the long-running problem at C once and for all. kaos mentioned Jordan Staal...something like that.

And even if we manage to replace Lang, we still need an offensive defenceman.

Should be interesting... :wacko:

Edited by The Chicoutimi Cucumber
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If we do trade for Radulov could he play in the league or he is suspended.

Perezhogin is still a habs can we call him back ?

1) Radulov would have to agree to play in North America, he has not and will not for this season.

2) If he were to be signed, he would immediately be exposed to waivers under NHL guidelines (once you play overseas, you have to clear what's called "entry waivers." So, quite simply, nope.

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1) Radulov would have to agree to play in North America, he has not and will not for this season.

2) If he were to be signed, he would immediately be exposed to waivers under NHL guidelines (once you play overseas, you have to clear what's called "entry waivers." So, quite simply, nope.

Really ?? because he's technically(sp??) on contract with nashville. I thought the waivers was only for UFAs.

as for replacing Lang, I would be curious to see how Higgins or Sergei would do as they were drafted as centermen.

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Lang's injury seems similar to the one Chipchura had in 04. it took him a good 4 months to come back. with Lang it could go longer since he's older and healing maybe a bit slower than a young chip.

I still believe that he will be usefull in the finals !!!

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Really ?? because he's technically(sp??) on contract with nashville. I thought the waivers was only for UFAs.

I'm not 100% sure on Radulov, that's why I only mentioned it for Perezhogin. Tom Wandell, a Dallas prospect, I think played in Sweden, was recalled to Dallas, and then returned to Sweden without waivers, so it may not apply to him. Does definitely for Perezhogin though.

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