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Mark Streit with Weber. I love it. Just a reminder that if the Habs paid Markov what he wanted and never signed Alzner, we could be looking at Markov - Weber Schlemko - Petry Streit - Benn With PP pairings of Markov - Weber and Streit - Petry. But hey, gotta sign the 7D for Washington in the playoffs for five years.

come on man, I get you don't like Alzner, its screaming at me loud and clear but are you going to be negatively biased about everything Alzner now until this contract is up? He had a groin/hamstring issue that plagued him all year, you know what generally cures that? inactivity for a prolonged length of time, he decided to play through the pain and accept whatever role he was given in the meantime until he could not anymore. You think all these months off and working out when it heals isn't going to allow him back to 100% in October? We had to get in a bidding war for him, as many as 9 teams were reportedly in on him, we had to give him the helicopter tour and all the bells and whistles just to try and stand above the rest. have you ever seen a bidding war for a player who is broken and has no chance to be anything more than a depth player with bad contract? Me neither. You want to fault this signing because he is not a puck moving new age dman? go ahead, you want to act like Alzner is not a top 4 Dman on most NHL teams? that is simply not accurate, his style might not be what we envision we needed, but he is a rock solid proven player at preventing goals and minimizing mistakes in his own zone, that makes him a good Dman in my book, new age or not.

Are you sure about that?

I'm with 29 that good enough is not enough. I don't want a good enough backup, a good enough sixth man, or a good enough assistant coach. And I certainly don't want a good enough first line centre, or a good enough first pairing defenceman. I want a team that gets as close as possible to undeniable contender. We've gone through the "Heart Attack" Habs and now we got the "Good Enough" Habs. I want more.

Nearly 22 minutes a game is still big minutes. Over 20 minutes a night is something that only 3 defencemen on our current blueline have shown that they are currently able to handle. Where is the fourth.

Exactly. This off season has been peculiar for Bergevin. He's usually quick to dish out contracts to guys he NEEDS to retain. I don't see him going into the season with this much cap space. That would be fan base suicide and essentially worse than tanking. He must have something in the works. I think/hope we're going to see a blockbuster with unexpected core pieces leaving. Unless the Ruski clique was bad for Galchenyuk/room. in general. *tongue in cheek. Markov will be missed. He should have hired a proper agent. He shot himself in the foot and essentially stubbornly priced himself out of the only team he's known. It's a shame, but Streit is 1/100th of the cost and cements a LD by committee approach. I have to wait to see what that cap space turns into. Right now Im optimistically skeptical.

He was unhealthy all year because he's broken. He lost his top pair spot then lost his second pair spot then couldn't make a good argument to stay in the lineup over six other defencemen. That was his season. And Montreal gave him five years for it. This signing is as dumb as when the Leafs signed Komisarek.

You want streit, a guy who played 3 playoff games and was a healthy scratch for 22 playoff games... a guy who averaged 18:45 last season in the regular season, to play on the top pair?? Really?

The Jaws theme would have nothing to do with us getting eaten up in a trade for Giroux that involves Shaw, Plekanec, Picks or anything of the sort. Come on man, I get he is overpaid but by 3 million? Jesus, he had more points than everyone except Pacioretty on this team last year from a non playoff team. So if his 58 points last year are worth only 5 million in your opinion, why would we have given Radulov 6.5mill+ for his 53 points? When having a discussion it is always important to try and make sure your foot does not end up in your mouth. Giroux would be an expensive, yet still, a #1 center here, who fits our needs and enters the same age group as most of the leaders on this team trying to get a championship out of the next several seasons. He would also be brought in relatively cost effectively in a trade because of his cap hit, if not he can stay in Philly. We don't have to take him but if the price is right and were one of the only teams who can accommodate his salary then it needs to be looked at very closely Giroux represents the top Buy Low option for a #1 Center out there right now, and you want to walk away from the table because you think he is finished at 29 and only worth 5 million? Worse yet, you think we still get eaten in the trade if we manage to send Plekanec or Shaw off in the deal, are you even hearing yourself?

And the jaws theme would be for us getting eaten up on that trade. Why would Philly want another bad overpaying/too long term contract with th Shaw??? I could actually see them taking pleks and draft picks to dump Giroux, since this is pleks last year. Giroux is making over $3m more than he's worth and even than, he's signed for at least 2 years longer than anyone would want him. Having said all that, I could see philly hanging on too Giroux this year, to protect patrick and than doing everything possible to dump him next year. Hextall has been dumping a lot of holgroms contracts.

- I don't like the signing at all. Let's see if his play shuts me up. I highly doubt it. - Plenty of banged up players still got bidding wars. Komisarek and Volchenkov are the two best examples. Montreal tried to sign Lecavalier after he was bought out, failed, and went for Briere instead. Another bought out veteran with declining skill and injury issues. Worked out great Eh? - I think he's going to play through injuries like he always does and be unable to play meaningful minutes in the top four. He will be a bottom pair defenceman by the following season and a buyout option by year 3. - He was proven the years before 16-17. He wasn't proving anything in 16-17 except that Washington was fine with keeping Orlov over him and no Caps fan would have said that in 15-16. He's more than welcome to show better offensive ability and stay dependable in 17-18 and shut me up. Highly doubt it. Enjoy building excuses for him and Bergevin.