habscout

I like the signing. I haven't seen him play much before, and most of the comments I've heard from other fans about his defensive liabilities come from his stays with the Islanders. He does have a cannon shot from the point; when he was with the Oilers he hit 103 mph during a skills competition. There's a Youtube video that shows it. Last season, he had the best plus/minus among the Wild's defencemen. I have a feeling that so long as the coach limits his role to a #5/6 pairing (except for power play time) then he should be fine for the Habs. That was the same strategy that the Habs used with Brisebois during his second tour of duty, and it worked well for him.

Sweet OT victory over the hated Maple Laughs. Well, Toronto better get used to Komisarek causing them to kill a lot of stupid penalties. I don't miss him in the Habs lineup at all.

That was a good, not great, first period. For a road game, to be tied 1-1 after the first is fine. I liked some of the hustle and quick passes from most of the players. The speeds players used that asset against the Leafs at times, but Price does not look very sharp so far. It's only twenty minutes in to the game though. I hope that Gill play is not an indication of what we'll see from the big guy this season. If it is, then the Habs "boo-birds" will be electing him their latest scapegoat soon.

Colin, I think Martin is trying to determine if there's a chance that Gomez & Cammalleri can have some chemistry, to give him some versatility. He already knows, with some degree of certainty, that the Gomez-Gionta combination will work well enough together; the two have played together since they were teenagers after all. Most coaches like to juggle their lines when things aren't going well so this is a good time to experiment.

In the case of Gainey, we can buy hope they want to retain him a long time.

In a lot of big business sales when a new owner comes in, the existing top management are given "retention bonuses" like this, to ensure the management stays on for at least a set amount of time while the new owner becomes familiar with their new organization. Even still, it's a lot of money.

Mike was interviewed on Toronto's The Fan590 AM station yesterday. Mike Cammalleri Interview http://qml.quiettouch.com/files/radio/fan5...dc-20090811.mp3

Plekanec, provided that no one offers him a huge offer sheet. Given his slump last season, I think he'll resign with the Habs for a reasonable increase in salary. I still believe that a return to form for Kovalev (assuming the rumours are true about him resigning in Montreal) will happen, and the Plekanec-Kovalev-A.Kostitsyn line will be reunited again and prosper. Look for the Habs to possibly pick up some potential 3rd & 4th liners in Stephane Yelle, Ian Laperriere, Eric Perrin, or Manny Malhotra, and an untapped prospect in Alex Bourret (fully released by Atlanta recently).

No, you're not the only one. I too was thinking about the chemistry Gomez & Gionta had a couple of seasons ago, and the fact that both have underperformed without playing on the same team/line is no coincidence. Considering that both also did this in a highly defensive-oriented New Jersey Devils system is *very* remarkable! If I were Gainey, I'd let the other GM's throw around the big offers to the Hossa's, Gaborik's & Havlat's of the league, and instead be the first GM to throw an excellent offer at Gionta & his agent. Show Gionta that you're very serious about him, mention the possibility of reuniting with his buddy Gomez, and see what happens.

I found a couple of references to Johansson on hockeysfuture.com. The first was from June of 2007. "Johansson on the other hand has been improving consistently since being drafted. He was a very solid soldier for Färjestad this past season, contributing with 7 goals and 16 points in 55 regular season games. He has the skill and hockey sense, but his work ethic and conditioning needs a lot of improvement. Plus, his small stature makes it even harder to be in the fight for an NHL contract." The second, is a brief bio on Johansson: http://www.hockeysfuture.com/prospects/mikael_johansson

http://www.intelligencer.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1540934 Good article about PK Subban. I hope he's given a chance to start with the Habs, although Weber may have a slight edge on him in terms of pro experience.

Gawd, I hope the Habs do not resign Perogi (Perezhogin). He is the only NHL player I have *ever* seen miss the net on a slapshot during a shootout. IMHO, during his last tour of duty with the Habs, he didn't care, didn't want to be there. Maybe that was due to the way he was being handled by the coach, but hockey players have to know that they have to *earn* the right for top line assignments. Very few players are just given that responsibility in their first NHL game. Ironically, I remember Perezhogin on the checking line in his last season, and thought he was very effective at times as a forechecker due to his speed. He often caused the opposition to cough up the puck because he was so quick and gave them little time to work with the puck. I would not mind seeing Emelin signed to a Habs contract. He sounds like a Kasparitis (sp?) type of player, which you like to have on your team because everyone else hates to play against him.

http://whitehorsestar.com/archive/story/yu...canadiens-camp/ Anyone who follows the QMJHL know anything about him ?

Go Habs Go! Beat 'dem Bruins!

Go Habs Go! I'll predict a 4-3 win for the home team, in overtime.

Great finish! The game had some ups & downs; most of the Habs goals were beauties. Sergei helps make up for his earlier mistake with the GWG.

I just discovered that Robert Lang's hat trick in Wednesday's game against the New York Rangers, was only the 3rd time in Canadiens' history that a player scored a power play, shorthanded and even strength goal. The other two players were Maurice Richard (20/3/48) and Bobby Rousseau (23/3/68).

Today, this rumour came out that Hull may indeed lose his job as co-GM; it sounds like he'll be "demoted" to another position in the organization. Given the source of the article is Ken Campbell, senior writer for The Hockey News, I believe it's pretty likely this will come true. Hull went to bat for the team to sign Avery as a highly overpaid shift disturber; I've heard other reports that Les Jackson was against the signing. I have to believe that the fact that both players were teammates in Detroit for parts of two seasons may have clouded Hull judgment. Now, that bad judgment has given Dallas the biggest hockey cancer since Ray Emery, at the cost of the remaining $15.5M over 4 seasons. Dallas will have a tough time finding an AHL team to pawn Avery off to; I've already heard that Manitoba, who Dallas has dealt with in the past, wants nothing to do with him. http://www.thehockeynews.com/articles/2100...Stars-coGM.html

I believe a smaller trade, involving Gui Latendresse (21) for Marc-Andre Bergeron (28) is a possibility. The Wild have some depth on defence, and could use some more depth at forward. The Wild would gain a little cap space; Latendresse makes $825K while Bergeron earns $1254K. Minnesota would be able to retain Latendresse's rights longer, since he will be a RFA in the summer. Bergeron could give the Habs a good shooter from the point on the power play, something they've been missing this season. Since he's expecting to be a UFA in the summer, the Wild may be more willing to give him up if he hasn't indicated he's willing to stay in Minnesota.

Colin, I whole heartedly agree. I cannot remember the last time I actually sat down to watch the start of the NHL All-Star game. It may have been the last time they played it in Montreal. The event is simply a public relations show, and the city benefits from additional media coverage as well as some additional tourism. The hockey game is secondary to the event. I will probably watch the start of this year's game, but I doubt it will hold my interest long enough to see the ending.

I know it's early to be thinking about Mock Draft's, but I thought I'd share this link with everyone. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writ.../05/mock.draft/ BTW, the writer has the order based on the current league standings, and predicted that the Habs would select RW Landon Ferraro, of the Red Deer Rebels, at the 25th pick. Ferraro is an interesting player, as he combines skill with toughness & leadership, similar to Brandon Sutter. Landon is the son of ex-NHL player Ray Ferraro.

I'd vote for Jacques Plante.

I was going to post this same story too, and it's also up on the front page. I believe he deserved it, and I'm surprised he hasn't been suspended before today, since he's been one of the dirtiest players in the NHL for a while. http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...lobeSports/home

I believe the Habs are still well under the 50 man contract limit. By my count, the Habs have 23 players under contract at the pro level (I'll exclude the list since we know who they are), and 19 more at the AHL level: M. Aubin, S. Belle, K. Chipchura, M. D'Agostini, O.Latendresse, G. Stewart, M. Carle, D. Desharnais, C. Desjardins, L. Lacasse, R. Russell, B. Trotter, P. Valentenko, J.T. Wyman, B. Maxwell, R. Mayer, M. Pacioretty, Y. Weber, R. White. Now, there will be some junior & European players that may need to be signed before the 2009 draft, that will fill up some of the remaining 8 spots: K. Korneev, A. Emelin, P. Paquet, P.K. Subban, O. Fortier, N. Torp. So, even if all of these 6 players are signed, and all the AHL & NHL Habs players whose contracts expire in 2009 are resigned, the Canadiens would still be 2 spots under the 50 player contract limit. Of course, I'm sure there will be some turnover of players between the signed players, and not necessarily all of the 6 unsigned players will be signed either.

I wouldn't necessarily blame the nickname on the "English media". In many cases, the older players on a team give nicknames to the younger ones, as a sign of acceptance. Not long afterwards, the media pick up the nicknames and use them.