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Subban chosen as player of the game by captain Fisher. I wonder if that's a new feeling for him. Subban decided to play pure aggression whenever the best Blackhawks were on the ice. He took Toews down, punched him in the back of the head and then shouted something to him (I'm sure all speculation is based on Toews tweet about Weber), then he roughed Kane up in a corner, punched him in the face and Kane fell like he was uppercutted (both got penalties, Kane for embellishment) but then with the final two minutes of the game he decided to get real aggressive with Hossa near the net and took an ugly penalty that the Predators thankfully battled off. He played great defence for the most part in the game, only being less than stellar on the Blackhawks second goal. There were two instances where he broke up two on one plays and did a solid job retrieving pucks. He was honestly a little slower than I recall seeing him last year but a lot smarter when it came to carrying the puck up the ice.

Dickish is a pretty neat term. I like it. Hey Donny..you gettin' dickish? I like that .. I'm going to use it

PK was his flashy old self last night and the Preds fans loved it. He was asked if the coaching in Nash was different than Montreal he said oh yeah. He will do well in Nash and I wish him the best as long as the lose to the Habs.

One thing I find interesting about the people on these boards is the majority live outside Quebec... Thnaks for supporting the Habs out of province! I'm a Montrealer through and through and even I don't pony up for Rogers sports' channels (including French TVA). I'm fine with basic cable which includes CBC, City and RDS - where I can usually watch most of the Habs' games.

Thats a pretty dickish post....

Kind of a Stockholm Syndrome, imo, where some fans need to spin every management action as being correct to keep their confidence in a team. The spin will only get worse as time goes on, like the Bruins fans with Tyler Seguin.

Yes, Subban is an excellent overall player, including defensively. People have erroneously spun his occasional goofy plays in his own end into a narrative of a guy who can't play defence - a classic case of confusing the exception for the rule.

I have no doubt at all that PK Subban is going to dominate all season. He has always been a stellar player in all three zones, despite the BS about him being defensively sketchy; at 27 he is entering his prime years; and he is on a team that actually values him, instead of having coaches continually telling him that he is doing everything wrong all the time. That said, I've been dreading the inevitable dynamic whereby every time he does something good (or bad), and/or Weber does something good (or bad), we get SEE? I TOLD YA SO posts. One game doth not a trade's merits determine. Lovett is quite right that the Subban-less Habs are much less charismatic and exciting. However, the team, with Price healthy, will be a contender at best and a top-10 NHL team at worst.

If the Carey Price flu doesn't last the whole season, I don't see the team doing worse than third in their division. Depends on how Florida does with their new look defence. Price is healthy, plays his ass off, Therrien works him to the bone like you know he will, Montreal can take the division and possibly the conference but there won't be much left in the tank come playoff time.

To me Ghetto is the new version of Oleg Petrov. I don't mind losing him. He's got some offensive skill but not enough to really contribute on a good team. In the now.... Lehkonen and Carr are already better than him. Byron is also better. Hudon is in the minors and is just as good and can be called up if we need too. Better defensively too. In the future.... Scherbak will be knocking on the door soon, Hopefully Reway comes back Will Bitten is looking great I don't see where he fits now or in the future.

Joe asks a very interesting question. I think the assumption with Price is that he's not just an elite goalie - that's he's a franchise player with the capacity to be the primary driver leading you to a Cup. Nonetheless, it's worth considering Joe's point. Last year is 100% on Bergevin. What irritates me is his digs at the players for their 'lack of leadership,' as if 'leadership' could have compensated for not getting the saves. I really don't believe there was a 'leadership' issue that wouldn't have been solved by the return of Price. (And if leadership was indeed a problem, then how come neither the coach nor the team captain faced any accountability at all?). It's diversionary rhetoric IMHO, typical of the fog of war all too often emitted by Montreal GMs.

Yep, Bergevin traded away the only reason to watch the team to be the fourth banana in the East. At best. Coming to a theatre near you: Slow Shea and the Stickchecks starring Movie Max Who the hell would want to watch that?

Great n thanks, and when are you reviewing some other non-hab, I am really looking forward to it.

Always been stellar in his own end? Now you are just talking foolishness and always been stellar in the neutral zone, not even sure what that means.