Strummerman

who is darren eliot anyways, he ever play in the NHL?

Plekanec 25 60 85 Samsonov 30 40 70 Kovalev 35 30 65

I hope not but I think it will be Huet or Kovalev

you really think with Ribs numbers last year Gainey was worried with arbitration? Well Ninimaa's 31 years old and didnt make the Dallas top 6 which includes the likes of Robidas who habs traded away for a sack of potatoes a while back

Why do we need even one year for a 7th Dman at 2.5 million. This is not saying much for the likes of Streit and Cote. First Traverse, now this, was Gainey trying to deflect the criticism of the Traverse pick-up with this move? A costly deflection of 2.5 million. It is still a mystery to me why Ribeiro's salary was almost doubled this year after the year he had last year. This certainly did not help our cap. As i stated in my previous post, obviously fewer GM's were willing to risk gambling on Ribeiro with that salary. That is why we got one salary dump for another. Even though I have my doubts Ribs will ever amount to much, there is always the chance with good linemates.

I have a hard time understanding Gainey's moves. He signs Ribeiro to a contract he didn't deserve. I thought we could get a whole lot more for Ribs if we had signed him for a million like he earned last year. He didn't deserve a raise. At that salary I think we could have gotten a better player considering some teams think Ribs had great upside and for that salary I think some teams would be willing to gamble. Therefore we could have gotten a much better defenceman. Another thing I don't understand is we take Ninimaa who is probably a cap problem for Dallas since he makes 2.5 million and is a seventh defenceman. All we need another overpriced mediocre player like Radek Bonk.

and on that articulate note im going to bed

I meant first place and Ryder had a great playoffs as well. Too bad Begin didn't keep up his goal scoring in the NHL unlike Ryder. Role players are wondeful, but a role player is a role player. Begin became a liability on the first or second line. Ryder can play on any line and he is still Ryder the one that scores goals in the NHL not the AHL.

Higgins and Plekanec did not socre 25 goals in their first season and may I add did not win a Cup in the AHL as Ryder did. They are younger and there is a good chance they will be stars soon. Till they do I will keep an underpaid goal scorer who at 27 is in his prime. As for Begin talk about someone's sister's virginity

Umm okay I would trade Ryder for Crosby or Ovechkin or even Iginla. I doubt that will happen. Yeah lets use him as trade bait. Let's get rid of the goal scorer, who needs goal scorers. We have had goal scoreers that have had close to 40 goals every year for the last 15 years. Yeah lets attack and deride Ryder like the RDs bozos cause he scores goals. What we need is a good big forward with cement hands. Put Ryder on a line with Crosby and he will get 50 there is no doubt in my mind

I know we have a cap. The rookies will be paid the minimum. How much is Downey being paid anyways lol

FORWARDS Steve Begin: *** When he is on he is on. However, there were periods over the long season where Begin was invisible. He does show up when it counts though Radek Bonk: *** Improved quite a bit over the year. His offensive skills are underrated Aaron Downey: ** He showed heart in the playoffs when it counted. Christopher Higgins: **** He was a revelation. He will get better and better, a budding superstar with his speed Mike Johnson: *** Might be a good fit with Bonk. Tall forwards Saku Koivu: *** If only he was 4 inches taller and 40 pounds bigger. Injured and injured and injured. He is in decline Alexei Kovalev: **** Sometimes he is the best player in the world. However, he does not know how to use his linemates and probably will never learn. Garth Murray: ***Lots of character. reminds me of Gainey in his youth. He can only get better Alexander Perezhogin: *** He has the offensive skills. However he has to start scoring and big time for him to be useful. Tomas Plekanec: **** He could be groomed to take over from Koivu. Unfortunately he is about as big Mike Ribeiro: *** Regressed badly last year. He better pick it up this year. Dont know why he got a raise. Michael Ryder: **** Keep up the scoring let others work on defence. If his production goes up this year he will be a 5 star next year. Sergei Samsonov: **** He lost a lot of his fire the last few years. If Kovy can relight it look out. DEFENSEMEN Francis Bouillon: *** A lot of character. However he does have his handicaps and sometimes people dont notice the defensive weaknesses. Mathieu Dandenault: *** He came to play in the playoffs. Maybe it took him a year to get used to his teammates. Mike Komisarek: *** Improved a lot under Gainey. He needed the icetime. He may become the leader on the defence soon Andrei Markov: **** He didnt have a good second half. If he puts together a whole season he may be a star. Craig Rivet: *** He brings a rugged game which is fine. However he and Souray are error prone and make dumb ass plays on a consistent basis Sheldon Souray: *** Excellent shot and a great fighter. However, he should keep his eye on the puck instead of the boobs in the crowd. Mark Streit: *** He was great in the Olympics. He needs ice time and confidence GOALTENDERS David Aebischer: *** Good chance he becomes the starter during the year. However I would not rely on him for the playoffs. Cristobal Huet: *** Hope he wasnt last year's Khabibulin.

I think markov will stay cause of Kovy and now Sammy

I can not believe that people wanna trade Ryder. Those clowns at RDS have their followers. Ryder has improved every year. His stats keep going up. In fact he was doing better when he was not on the same line with Koivu. Ryder is way underpaid. He should have gone to arbitration and if Dumont got almost 3 million for 20 goals what would Ryder have gotten with 30 goals. Ryder and Higgins finally made opposing defence shake instead of the opposite as waves of opposing forwards would swarm over our defence. I say let's sign Dumont as well. The more the merrier

coffeeshops i need a caffeine high every day- like anything with decor and lots of coffeeshops got decor

not a good deal for Ryder way underpaid, and not for Habs, they should have signed him for a long term. He is a natural goal scorer with street savvy moves- something the Habs haven't had in quite a while-anyways Im happy he has signed for one year at least

I like the Samsonov signing. He has lost a bit of the fire he had in his first few years. However, if I know Kovy he will light a fire up Sammy's ass. I like johnson for his size. Put him with Bonk and we got a big line. Sammy will help Perezhogin and Kotsy cause they are the same type of players

LOL VIVA ITALIA AND ENGLAND SUCKS FOR ALL TIME AND LES VIEUX ARE TOO OLD

VIVA ITALIA YOU MUST BE ONE OF THOSE SEPARATISTS WHO ALL OF A SUDDEN ARE FROM FRANCE :king: VIVA ITALIA

You wish euros would sign here witness Elias Kubina etc. No anglos do get attention here. If they make a mistake they are crucified by the french media. Even Doug Gilmour was attacked by the French media here. I am sure that many players will sign for less with another team. Yes we are screwed and we have to build this team on draft choices and trades which in reality is how championship teams are built. Forget the Free agents they wont come here . We may get the dregs. Damn Rucchin signed with Atlanta I agree that a lot of free agents are a waste of money. However, Pronger Chara Jovo could have been the exception. Don't forget Carolina signed Stillman and Hedican

Well then explain to me why Montrreal can only sign somebody like Kovalev who may have felt guilty cause they traded for him. Montreal has the money and Gainey stated after the season ended he would go after free agents. Some teams can not sign free agents like Tampa Bay because of the cap. Canadians can. Why did Jovo go to a mediocre team like the Coyotes instead of a team with a lot of potential like the habs. There is no doubt he preferred Phoenix to Montreal. Frankly Phoenix aint that hot except for the weather. However why would Jovo come here so he can be treated second class by the Montreal french media for being an anglophone??? Look at the attacks on Ryder by the RDS announcing crew even though he was the Habs top scorer. Montreal has the money after they traded Theo. They can sign someone to 6-7 million. They dont want to come here period.

I hope Gainey was trying to sign the free agents but Im beginning to see the habs in the same light like the Expos. No one wants to come here. Pronger was traded to Anaheim, Chara gone Jovo gone- We have money to spend and no one will come. Did that attack on Koivu by the French media turn everyone off?

time will tell somebody said that already never mind

I think Bertuzzi is washed up. Keenan lost that trade all the way. Pittsburgh blew it I think when they didnt take Kessel. He would have been gold with Crosby and Malkin. Though Jordan Staal may be pretty good.

Your right that trade sucked. How bout Aebischer, Zednik and Souray for Luongo?? We could do that trade with Vancouver.