Permanent Rumour Thread

[sbhatt]

1. Chipchura hasn't shown me anything that leads me to believe he'll be better than a 3rd line checking centre...I'd trade him for first line talent in a heartbeat.

2. I'd demote Koivu in a heartbeat, the way he's been playing, if there was a better option available.

[MFT77]

1. Chipchura hasn't shown me anything that leads me to believe he'll be better than a 3rd line checking centre...I'd trade him for first line talent in a heartbeat.

2. I'd demote Koivu in a heartbeat, the way he's been playing, if there was a better option available.

I would have to agree 100% that if Chipchura has to be added in any deal with Ryder in order to get some first line talent then it should be done in a hearbeat. 3rd and 4th liners are a dime a dozen, but first line talent is not something that comes around everyday. The better the frontline talent the better the Habs will be.

[SAKS-AVENUE]

I also heard that O. Jokinen asked for a trade as he does not get along with Martin. That would be a nice pickup, if only to dream.

I heard the same thing, and I would concentrate more on this happening then Tanguay. Oli would be a big time move for the Habs that would be comparible to landing Selanne.

[Habitforming]

I heard the same thing, and I would concentrate more on this happening then Tanguay. Oli would be a big time move for the Habs that would be comparible to landing Selanne.

Bigger then landing Selanne IMO.

Oli is a big 1st line centre we have lacked for a decade or more.

If I'm Gainey and Jokinen has asked for a deal, then I do what I have to to get him asap.

[Prime Minister Koivu]

Bigger then landing Selanne IMO.

Oli is a big 1st line centre we have lacked for a decade or more.

If I'm Gainey and Jokinen has asked for a deal, then I do what I have to to get him asap.

Jokinen would be just perfect for us but who do we have to deal?

It would take something like: Higgins, Chipchura, a minor leaguer and a first.

Can we afford to give up that much?

[Habitforming]

Jokinen would be just perfect for us but who do we have to deal?

It would take something like: Higgins, Chipchura, a minor leaguer and a first.

Can we afford to give up that much?

Given the track record of UFA's coming to Montreal can we not afford to do it?

Chips =checking centre

Higgins = good two way forward

minor leaguer = we have loads anyway (no big ones though)

First pick = is only as good as the scouting team making the pick anyway.

I think we have to do something like that.

[lazy26]

Given the track record of UFA's coming to Montreal can we not afford to do it?

Chips =checking centre

Higgins = good two way forward

minor leaguer = we have loads anyway (no big ones though)

First pick = is only as good as the scouting team making the pick anyway.

I think we have to do something like that.

Logical thinking. I just think that keeping Higgins in MTL will go a long way to keeping Komi in MTL.

[Easy Ryder]

Keep the good stuff throw away the broken overrated stuff.

Long term Chipchura with the habs is a stabiliser, no need for the Smolinski's of the world

if we have in on the team. The only thing that doesn'T work with hi.àm, is face-off. This issue

solved he is a keeper.

Higgins : If plays with good players he will pruce, more than a two way players.

First pick, let them develop, it takes longer, getting better value with time.

Latendresse, Koivu, EMelin Perezahogin out.

[Habitforming]

Keep the good stuff throw away the broken overrated stuff.

Long term Chipchura with the habs is a stabiliser, no need for the Smolinski's of the world

if we have in on the team. The only thing that doesn'T work with hi.àm, is face-off. This issue

solved he is a keeper.

Higgins : If plays with good players he will pruce, more than a two way players.

First pick, let them develop, it takes longer, getting better value with time.

Latendresse, Koivu, EMelin Perezahogin out.

I understand where your coming from EasyRyder, but to get, you have to give.

If Florida is willing to give us Oli for unused or broken parts then we are laughing, but I don't think that is the case or Jokinen would be playing his 10th game as a habs already.

[Zowpeb]

I don't think you can trade young, core players, whom you have rights to, in the salary cap era.

It would be rather fruitless to deal Chipchura, Latendresse and Higgins when they are contributing, or very close to it, and will fill valuable 3rd line to 1st line roles in the coming years...at the cheap too. I'm also not convinced that trading Koivu would be beneficial. Koivu IS still a leader for this team...yes, having a big Centre on the 1st line would help BUT I'd rather do that, drop Koivu to the 2nd line and put Pleks on the 3rd line. All 3 C's would still get good minutes and Pleks would make our 3rd line a really solid 2 way force.

Deal Smolinski, Ryder, deal picks, deal Fischer, mid-tier prospects, our depth d-men(Bouillon, Dandy, etc)...these things still have more value then some may admit simply because it will clear salary room, in the short term, for a team that may need it...and the youth still give them good return on a rebuilding effort. For example: if the Leafs deal Sundin he'll cost a lot as a rental BUT they'll want to clear salary room and get some youth...the Leafs aren't the only team in this situation.

Look for the rebuilders and deal picks(even high level ones) with 1 or 2 mid-tier prospects other teams value and throw in a Ryder and/or Smolinski and/or Dandy/Bouillon.

To deal the core NHL ready(or very close to it) young players, the Habs better be very certain they can replace their cheap talent or they'll hamstring their budget around a few players with nothing to show for it. The Leafs did this with their defence and they're going to pay for it for another 40 years

I'd love to see Tanguay, or Jokinen on the Habs but if they could pry Selanne for 1.5 years it would cost nothing but cash...acquiring Tanguay and losing only one young guy like Chipchura with a Ryder would be acceptable BUT would the Flames actually do that? Acquiring Jokinen and losing Higgins, Chipchura and some picks would hurt the Habs a lot...who plays on Jokinen's wing? Who plays the 3rd line for the next few years?? Remember your capping out and you then lose some of the young talent to fill the void cheaply...

The Habs need to make a move...no doubt...but it HAS to involve the right assets for the right return or it could really backfire and hurt the club for a while.

[Athlétique.Canadien]

Interesting stuff these Tanguay and Jokinen rumours. I hope we do something significant and I suspect BOb will do his best to secure something. The clock is ticking....

....can't wait

[Habsfan]

Interesting stuff these Tanguay and Jokinen rumours. I hope we do something significant and I suspect BOb will do his best to secure something. The clock is ticking....

....can't wait

Well, according to RDS.ca, Ryder will be playing on the 1st Line with Higgins and Koivu. My guess is they are trying to show off Ryder and give him quality minutes in order to make it easier to trade him. At least, I hope that's what they are doing!

[MAK]

Well, according to RDS.ca, Ryder will be playing on the 1st Line with Higgins and Koivu. My guess is they are trying to show off Ryder and give him quality minutes in order to make it easier to trade him. At least, I hope that's what they are doing!

if not carbonneau is shooting himself in the foot with that move. ryder is only good one game out of 15.

[KEEP26]

if not carbonneau is shooting himself in the foot with that move. ryder is only good one game out of 15.

pretty much Koivu as been the same..this year

Edited January 21, 2008 by KEEP26

[lazy26]

pretty much Koivu as been the same..this year

Wow... people will go out of there way to bash Koivu. He's not having the best season, but comparing him to Ryder is ridiculous. Koivu has 8g, 25a, and 33p. Ryder 7g, 9 a and 16p... HALF of what Koivu has. Someone should really start a Koivu-bashing thread so we don't have to encounter random Koivu-hate every 5th post or so.

Can we please stay on topic?

[KEEP26]

Wow... people will go out of there way to bash Koivu. He's not having the best season, but comparing him to Ryder is ridiculous. Koivu has 8g, 25a, and 33p. Ryder 7g, 9 a and 16p... HALF of what Koivu has. Someone should really start a Koivu-bashing thread so we don't have to encounter random Koivu-hate every 5th post or so.

Can we please stay on topic?

slow down, iam not bashing koivu, iam saying his hot and cold,lol..this is why i stop posting here as much, because you make a comment and people just blow it up..its funny...

[lazy26]

slow down, iam not bashing koivu, iam saying his hot and cold,lol..this is why i stop posting here as much, because you make a comment and people just blow it up..its funny...

To me "hot and cold" is very different from saying that he's "pretty much" the same as Ryder, i.e., "one good game out of 15 games". Given that this thread is devoted to rumours, I found it off-topic when you replied seemingly only to offer criticism regarding Koivu.

And yes, I recognize the irony of being off-topic here too..

Back on topic, I hope Ryder finds his touch on the 2nd line. It'll be good for the team in 2 ways.... more goals, and more attractive trade-bait. I think it'll have to be a lot of goals if we're to net a decent return. Unfortunately, most GMs aren't as stupid as we'd like them to be.

[MFT77]

I guess it's worth a shot to reunite Higgins, Koivu and Ryder. That line has been pretty dry lately, so any offense would be of help.

[KEEP26]

your not getting much for ryder anyway, when gms can sign him in the summer for a good deal, so ryder well only be good for a team looking to dump payroll...so most of the teams that well what to take ryder of our hand well want to give us a over rated high paid play with a couple years left, so i cant real see him being moved unless his a small part of the deal..but you never know....

[Habitforming]

I don't think you can trade young, core players, whom you have rights to, in the salary cap era.

It would be rather fruitless to deal Chipchura, Latendresse and Higgins when they are contributing, or very close to it, and will fill valuable 3rd line to 1st line roles in the coming years...at the cheap too. I'm also not convinced that trading Koivu would be beneficial. Koivu IS still a leader for this team...yes, having a big Centre on the 1st line would help BUT I'd rather do that, drop Koivu to the 2nd line and put Pleks on the 3rd line. All 3 C's would still get good minutes and Pleks would make our 3rd line a really solid 2 way force.

Deal Smolinski, Ryder, deal picks, deal Fischer, mid-tier prospects, our depth d-men(Bouillon, Dandy, etc)...these things still have more value then some may admit simply because it will clear salary room, in the short term, for a team that may need it...and the youth still give them good return on a rebuilding effort. For example: if the Leafs deal Sundin he'll cost a lot as a rental BUT they'll want to clear salary room and get some youth...the Leafs aren't the only team in this situation.

Look for the rebuilders and deal picks(even high level ones) with 1 or 2 mid-tier prospects other teams value and throw in a Ryder and/or Smolinski and/or Dandy/Bouillon.

To deal the core NHL ready(or very close to it) young players, the Habs better be very certain they can replace their cheap talent or they'll hamstring their budget around a few players with nothing to show for it. The Leafs did this with their defence and they're going to pay for it for another 40 years

I'd love to see Tanguay, or Jokinen on the Habs but if they could pry Selanne for 1.5 years it would cost nothing but cash...acquiring Tanguay and losing only one young guy like Chipchura with a Ryder would be acceptable BUT would the Flames actually do that? Acquiring Jokinen and losing Higgins, Chipchura and some picks would hurt the Habs a lot...who plays on Jokinen's wing? Who plays the 3rd line for the next few years?? Remember your capping out and you then lose some of the young talent to fill the void cheaply...

The Habs need to make a move...no doubt...but it HAS to involve the right assets for the right return or it could really backfire and hurt the club for a while.

There are many options for playing with Jokinen even after Higgins and Chipchura are gone (assuming they were the cost of Oli) the problem in Montreal isn't with UFA players.....it's with UFA #1 centres. Fix that issue and the rest falls into place. In the next few years we will have a huge surplus of NHL defense all ready at the same time or within consecutive seasons. You don't think all of the 10 defense the habs have drafted recently will all play for the Habs at the same time do you? Don't forget Markov and Hamrlik are signed longterm already and Komisarek to follow for sure.

As for young wingers to play with top centres like Saku and Jokinen, we have D'Agostini (Higgins clone in my book) S. Kostitsyn, Maxwell, White, Pacioretty maybe a scoring Latendresse by then or maybe even another star winger like Kovalev will want to come here because he will get to play with true talent and number one centre in Oli.

Talent will attract players as much as money will.

There is no way in hell we can ship off Dandy and Ryder and other useless players for all star talent just so we can keep players that will fill out our checking lines for the next 10 years. Last time I checked the guys who make the big bucks are stars that put the numbers up like Jokinen and the cheapest players on the UFA market are checkers that are always available. Like Mike Johnson; he had to wait until what 10 games into the season to have one of the worst teams in the NHL sign him, and even then it was for half of what we paid him. There are reasons for that.

Let's not sacrifice a possibility of getting a true number one centre and allstar because we wanted to keep the 3rd line checkers that we drafted instead of a 3rd line UFA checker.

[The Chicoutimi Cucumber]

I don't agree that 'we need to do something.' Sure, if you can bag a Jokinen without gutting the young core, you do it, but it's highly unlikely. The only thing we *might* need to do is acquire someone who can start to replace Koivu. (I really liked the Tanguay rumour for that reason - he can play wing, OR centre, which is a perfect player to have while you ease Saks out to pasture). Even that isn't a screaming urgency. Bottom line is, we have the 6th best offence in the league statistically and we're getting balanced scoring like crazy. There's no overwhelming need for a move at this particular juncture.

Edited January 22, 2008 by The Chicoutimi Cucumber

[Habitforming]

I don't agree that 'we need to do something.' Sure, if you can bag a Jokinen without gutting the young core, you do it, but it's highly unlikely. The only thing we *might* need to do is acquire someone who can start to replace Koivu. (I really liked the Tanguay rumour for that reason - he can play wing, OR centre, which is a perfect player to have while you ease Saks out to pasture). Even that isn't a screaming urgency. Bottom line is, we have the 6th best offence in the league statistically and we're getting balanced scoring like crazy. There's no overwhelming need for a move at this particular juncture.

You're right....there is no pressing need to make a move. But, I also think the writing is on the wall dark enough that the fans can read it.

Most of the posts had nothing to do with "needing to make a move" but more of a "When/if we make a move we should be looking to ....."

I too like the Tanguay idea for the reasons you listed, but then again if we are spending $5+M why don't we give more and do something we haven't been able to do in a decade and get bigger at centre with amazing talent instead of just merely replacing our small not too physical centre with another of the same type?

[Bacchus]

I'm still praying for Selanne or Jokkinan! Either would be fantabulous!

[Chris]

I would think any trade with Calgary is more with Yelle, BG says he wants a faceoff man and penalty killer. Yelle fits the bill on both those fronts and is a proven playoff type of player.

I wouldn't move Ryder for him, but maybe a dandenault or someone like that.

Also the habs need to add grit and toughness.

The reason they don't score some games is they never get garbage goals. LAts is the only one who plays in front of the net, if there going to play him on the 4th line, he's not going to get alot opportunities to do that.

Matt Cooke for Ryder would be good. Cooke plays hard, draws penalties, great speed and pk, relentless forechecker. He also doesn't take stupid penlties.

[MAK]

I would think any trade with Calgary is more with Yelle, BG says he wants a faceoff man and penalty killer. Yelle fits the bill on both those fronts and is a proven playoff type of player.

I wouldn't move Ryder for him, but maybe a dandenault or someone like that.

Also the habs need to add grit and toughness.

The reason they don't score some games is they never get garbage goals. LAts is the only one who plays in front of the net, if there going to play him on the 4th line, he's not going to get alot opportunities to do that.

Matt Cooke for Ryder would be good. Cooke plays hard, draws penalties, great speed and pk, relentless forechecker. He also doesn't take stupid penlties.

yelle and matt cooke could be decent acquisitions for montreal. I love cooke's energy, he's better than begin and kostopoulos. and yelle has seen alot of playoff games and tough situations.

however to make it happen, we'd have to get rid of dandenault, begin, put back streit on D...