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I was referring to AS too.

Koltsov might still prove to be a decent NHLer. While Fata has been a bust with three organizations, Koltsov has only failed with one. Lots of young players develop once they get a change of scenery. But at this point, neither Fata nor Koltsov is good enough to play with us. Instead of signing dead weight like that, why don't we just bring up Kostitsyn or Locke or somebody else from Hamilton if we need more players? I don't think they'd do any worse.

This has been posted on another thread, but we can't forget about the contributions André Savard made and continues to make. The turnaround started with him.

Zubrus, Linden and a second rounder (Andreas Holmqvist) for Bulis, Zed and Perez. Brilliant.

Fata is horrible. The only skill he has is straight line speed. He has no offensive skills other than that, and he is one of the worst defensive players I've ever seen. Fata is not an NHL player.

Zholtok was third on the team in scoring in 99-00 with an astounding 38 points from 26 goals and 12 assists. Rucinsky led the team with 49 points and Zubrus was second with 42. Just looking at the roster makes me shudder... Craig Darby... Patrick Poulin... Juha Lind... Jim Cummins... Miroslav Guren... Barry Richter... Matt Higgins... just a few of the luminaries on that team.

Can't wait to see some of these guys at the WJHCs (I'll be back in Canada for Christmas!). Mikus, Emelin, Latendresse and Chipchura look like pretty safe bets to be there. Hopefully Price gets there, too. Is Belarus in the A pool this year? Should be, I seem to remember Kostitsyn Sr. dominating the USA last year...

The RDS board scares me. I remember that people were calling for a bunch of people to be traded... AFTER THE FIRST GAME OF THE YEAR. Thank goodness none of them actually run the team.

I think Marchant in his Edmonton days is the closest thing I've seen to Bulis. Blazing speed, good defensive players, 110% effort every shift, and atrocious finishing around the net.

Somebody is going to overpay for Gagné next year. Don't get me wrong, I think Simon is a fantastic hockey player. But there's no chance he has 20 goals in 19 games if he's not playing with Forsberg. Remember, he had two consecutive sub-par years in 02-03 and 03-04, and it's not like he wasn't playing on a talented team. Perhaps he's just coming into his own. I'll be interested to see how he performs when Forsberg inevitably goes down with an injury later this year.

If Marchant was two or three inches taller, then I'd take him in a second. Even though speed is infinitely more important than size in the NHL these days, it doesn't mean that size doesn't matter. Bonk is one of the only big players we have. It's too early to give up on him. We KNOW he can play better offensively, it's just a matter of him doing it. What's wrong with Higgins on the second line? I quite like what I've seen so far from him.

D'Agostini intrigues me. Anybody seem this guy play? Supposedly he has speed to burn. Looks like we might have gotten a steal.

I don't understand what Komi has done to deserve being scratched. If you ask me, he's been really steady this year.

Totally agree! Just came home and saw the highlights, ouch, what a loss. But heck, such games will happen to the best teams in the league. Just get over it and don't bash every player who made a mistake tonight. They'll surely fight back, it's the best wake-up call for the team (though it's not funny for the fans). Forget this game, les glorieux will trash the Thrashers on Tuesday ... *fg* I'm with you guys. A loss like this was bound to happen eventually. I've been alarmed at some of our first period performances lately... it's almost like the boys have been saving their energy for the 2nd and 3rd period to make a big comeback. Well, hopefully this game gets across the message that playing a shite 1st period usually leads to bad things... I'm sure that Claude will crack the whip now. I expect a better performance against Atlanta.

Completely unacceptable.

Completely unacceptable.

Of course Théo hasn't produced to his 01-02 standards. 01-02 was a career year. They happen once in a career. Nobody honestly expects José to win the Hart every year, do they? If so, then we as a fanbase need to seriously readjust our expectations... I, for one, would be happy if he played like he did in 03-04.

Nope, the soonest anyone has scored after a Koivu penalty has expired is 1:04 after he was out of the box. And once Ottawa scored during the second of two penalties that overlapped. Koivu's was the first of the two, but the Habs killed off the Koivu penalty 1:17 before the Ottawa goal. Wow, I have no life! :hlogo: Correction, my friend. Your life is the Habs. And that's not so bad, is it? Welcome aboard!

Oh, I have no doubt the NHL is targeting Avery. I'm glad they are.

I've alway felt that the Devils were more like the Habs Southern Edition. They've had a lot of players and staff with connections to the habs over the past 15 years. Probably why they've always worked hard in those games against the Habs. Regarding the Devil's intro'ing the trap, didn't Lemaire bring the trap to the Devils after developing it with the Habs? Their employing the trap was also a reaction to the state of the league in general. The league expended too quickly, there was a serious lack of offensive talent around the league. The Devils had an average roster, yet they found a very effective strategy that bought them huge success. I've also always respected that at the end of the '83-'84 season, they didn't tank it to "win" Mario Lemieux. They told their players that they didn't want to be labled the worst team in the league, and to play hard. 20 years later, the Devils have a great team attitude and 3 cups. The penguins have Mario and only 2. Finally, how could you dislike any team that featured Claude Lemieux, that guy was always entertaining to watch. I bleed the Bleu, Blanc et Rouge, but the Devils are cool too. I'm with you, MaxDaddy. I always respected and appreciated (if not always liked) the Devils. From 1995-2004, when basically how much money you had in the bank dictated how good your team was, NJ relied on good drafting, player development (their farm system is one of the best in the league) and savvy trades. When certain players got two expensive, they were eventually allowed to walk (Holik) or sent packing (Guerin). I always respected the way Lou Lamoriello ran things overe there. And if anyone thinks that the Devils will be down for long, you're insane. Keep in mind, they lost two of the their 3 irreplaceable players this year (Niedermayer + Stevens)... really, I'm shocked they're even staying afloat with the lineup they're sending out there these days. I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for the Devils.

Brodeur is also struggling in part because he can't clear the puck anymore. Some of those pucks he used to clear out of there like a third D-man are now turning into quality shots on goal.

Houle deserves all the criticism he gets. But we must not forget that Serge Savard was poor in his last few years too. I won't even get into that Savard-Chelios trade... his drafting in the last few years, other than getting Koivu and Theodore, was horrible. Remember his fixation with the Seattle Thunderbirds? That got us Lindsay Vallis, Turner Stevenson, Brent Bilodeau and former T-Bird David Wilkie as first rounders in consecutive drafts. Horrible.

I thought Therrien was an absolute trainwreck. There was absolutely no discipline on his teams: non-existant d-zone coverage, no structure to the PP, and my biggest pet peeve, the sloppiest and laziest line changes I've seen from a professional hockey team. I can't even describe how many times we would get caught on 2 or 3-on-1s because of the shitty changes. Nor was there any disclipline on the bench. I will never forgive Therrien for that bench minor in Game 4 against Carolina. If he shuts his mouth, then we kill that 5-on-4, win Game 4, and win the series in 6. And then we beat the Laffs in the semis. (Yes, then we get slaughtered by Detroit in the finals. Still.) Blame Fraser all you want, but what the hell was Therrien screaming about in the third period when his team had a 2 goal lead? I'm getting worked up just thinking about it...

Agree with bowing down to Savard. Even though he made his share of mistakes (Czerkawski? OK, I'm getting nauseous) most of the young players we have now were drafted under his command. As a scout, he has few peers. That being said, I'm glad that BG is negotiating contracts now.

'Tis true Shortcat, I guarantee you Julien would have gotten the axe if the team didn't make the playoffs in 03-04. Gainey, like 100% of NHL GMs, would have preferred his own man as head coach. That Julien has totally won over BG says much about how good Julien is. And yes, Vigneault was a good coach. Why he was fired I will never understand. And for Therrien, too! Who do you guys think was worse? Tremblay or Therrien?