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Just to completely empty the sack... if ANY deal can be found for DD, unload him. Anyone who thinks this guy can be a #2 center is crazy. No defensive capability and his size is a liability. Gives up a goal for every goal his line scores. When Chucky comes back, give him DD's job and his winger. MT needs to stop moving problems around. Put Bournival with Pleks and leave him there. Eller is a perfect #3....keep him there and play him at #3 center. Put Gallagher back with Eller. Leblanc should get a regular shift. Murray and Bouillon to the pressbox. PK with Markov. Call up Pateryn. Play Beaulieu. Play Emelin on his best side. Play your best players in their natural spots until you run out of fits, then fill. Playing PK with Murray shows how desperate and disoriented MT really is!

Okay after watching ANOTHER crap effort and ANOTHER game where Price is superb, but thanks to the bums in front of him gives up 4 goals, I'm thinking do we have enough pieces to do ANYTHING in the playoffs this year??? looks like another 2nd half collapse on the way or a quick and done playoffs. Gets me thinking. Do we NEED a BIG shakeup in personnel or to the core of the team????? Is our core good enough to do anything until (IF) Galchenyuk realizes his potential???? By then will some of the veterans (Pleks) still be a strength??? Gets me thinking of who's on this team and what's in the pipeline. Expiring Guys we NEED to dump next year: Gionta - washed up and doubt MB has the cohones to move him at the deadline Bouillon - washed up Expiring guys who SHOULD be moved at the deadline: Diaz - skilled dman, but not a guy who is going to help us take the next step. Guys we need to move: Briere- garbage DD - one dimensional and entirely dependent on Maxpac Bourque - what you would get if a Skunk, cockroach and a rat were to have a 3 way and mate Gorges - too much money for a 5th dman and overpaid to be a cheerleader Guys who need a kick in the ass: Prust - hasn't come close to resembling the guy we saw last year The Guys that keep you hoping that this team has a future: -Price - top 5 goalie -Subban - top 5 dman -MaxPac - one of the best contracts for a young scorer -Gallagher - the little energizer bunny that keeps going games and games after the rest of his team quits -Galchenyuk - a star waiting for a breakout -Pleks - poised to be captain and only consistent player not named Price -Emelin - SHOULD regain pre-injury form next year (HOPEFULLY) Question Marks: -Markov - is first half Markov or second half Markov closer to the player we'll see next next year -Eller - can he be consistent if he has consistent line mates who don't have hands of stone or sound like Moen Bright Lights in Hamilton, who hopefully make it in the big city: -Beauleau - hopefully he stays in Montreal the rest of this year -Tinordi I've been thinking, is this enough to hope for the future, or do we need to make a drastic move??? A few weeks i suggested Pleks as being the only guy who could bring the return needed and keep the young core in tact. What about a more drastic option?? What could Price bring??? Would a team like the Oilers throw major young players and picks to to make us think about moving Price??? Before anyone starts bringing up the Roy trade, i'm talking about the type of return Roy SHOULD have yielded (Sakic or Forsburg), if Houle had gone to see the wizard of oz for a brain. Could Price Yield Hall and Eberle?? Hall and a 1st this year and next (with the eye clearly on next year's top pic)??? Price is standing on his head and we are still getting killed.

I've been in the car with my kids for the last hour waiting for my wife to get out if a fabric store. Dblar has been begging for someone to do it and I figured now would be a good time to take the plunge. Don't know much about the caps roster. Only that Ovie is questionable. Part of me thinks the habs sticks up the joint. Part of me thinks they bust out of this lethargy. Truth be told they have sucked so much that I have turned my attention to fantasy baseball research - 2mths before the first pitch... Sorry for the rant...please someone - anyone, feel free to edit and add the lineups. Would post a pic of my kids fighting in the back seat but my iphone won't let me.. Oh well - go habs go!

"Canadiens are VERY much in on Big Buff." - Eklund. Happy to hear this from Eklund. I want no part of Byfuglien. Especially on the back end.

The Habs have been mediocre in their own end since mid-December and absolutely catastrophic in that department for about three weeks now. This is not a normal slump - we are getting blown out, dominated, shellacked, made to look like fools. That's NOT normal for ANY team in today's league, when systems and team defence are practically a science. And that's why, although I'd normally be inclined to resist the fan tendency to panic, I do think this January has been unusually concerning. The abnormality of the team performance - and again, I mean abnormal in terms of any NHL team, not just ours - suggests deeper problems than a mere talent deficit. Maybe there are problems in the room; perhaps the veterans are in tension with the "next wave" of PK/Patches/Gally (and this is sheer speculation, but I noticed that when Markov congratulated Gallagher for his goal against Detroit, Gally neither smiled nor made eye contact; it looked awkward and made me wonder if there was some tension there?). Maybe they have indeed quit on Therrien (the last time I saw the Habs look this catastrophic in their own zone was in the dying days of the hapless Carbonneau, when the team clearly had checked out on their bench boss). I don't know what's going on, but unless the ship gets turned around soon, Bergevin HAS to do something. No GM can sit around while his team utterly collapses. My guess is that we'll see a trade in fairly short order (shipping out Gio would certainly be a shakeup); and if that doesn't work, MT will get turfed in the summer.

This team can't keep changing coaches every time they hit the skids for a bit. The on,y coaching change that has statistically improved the team (coincidence or not), is MT. We don't have a coaching problem, we have a talent problem. You could make the argument that this is a 500 team that MT had playing over their heads for stretches. That never lasts 82 games. As for the deadline, the reality is unless the Habs are more then six points out, they don't dump players. They would be roasted for giving up. Yes, if they can unload Bourque for example, they would do it, but they won't dump Markov, Gionta, etc as long as they have a shot at the playoffs. Two weeks ago, the leafs were out of the playoffs, playing terrible. They were calling for trades, coach firings, etc. then they string together some wins and are ahead of us and comfortably in the playoffs. We could just as easily win 5 in a row and be back on top.that is what happens with bubble teams. People are acting like we are Edmonton or Buffalo. This team needs to keep making hockey trades, dump Bourque, look for good trades. They need to draft well. They don't need to blow it up. I don't think a coaching change right now will help that much, it will just be yet another failed attempt to hide the talent problem.

On the positive side tonight... - The penalty kill has looked good - that Ovechkin goal was fluky and came at the end of a kill (it actually was a 5-on-5 goal) - Faceoffs are much better after really struggling last night. - Hamilton has at least scored a goal (they're up 5-2) after getting blanked yesterday. - Bournival, Leblanc, and Gionta have managed to avoid minuses...

I blame a coach when I see bad game plans... Bad strategies... Thus is horrible and lazy execution...that is on the players and the team leaders. Seriously...if a coach yelling at them makes a difference, then we have serious problems.

We've won 2 out of 10 games that Diaz hasn't played the last two seasons. Maybe he's more important to the team than he's given credit for.

Just for the record... If Diaz, Boo boo, or Gorges had caused two goals like Beaulieu did, people would be screaming. Kid isn't ready defensively.