The Chicoutimi Cucumber

There seem to be a lot of rumours lately. Could it be that Gauthier has a big move up his sleeve? Surely that would fly in the face of his repeated mantra that he wants stability on the roster?

Two seasons in Canada...Hockey Season, and Waiting for Hockey Season.

Wamsley's right that these guys are a dime a dozen. While I'd prefer to get a quality guy in that role and stick to him, a lot of teams are on this particular merry-go-round. As long as we get someone reliable, I'm happy.

People are always too optimistic about what rookies can bring. Look at Eller: considered an absolute blue-chip prospect, he was still on a steep learning curve and had little impact until the playoffs. Yes, there are exceptions - Ryder came in and made an impact immediately, for instance. But in general you cannot pencil in rookies for too many roster spots and expect to have success. If we rely on rookies in our bottom-6, we may be able to muddle along until around December when the intensity picks up. But sooner or later we will have to go out and get guys who know what they're doing. The bottom 6 is NOT a luxury item in today's NHL, and this is especially true down the stretch and into the playoffs. You have to have guys who can go out there and give you reliable minutes, fulfilling certain roles - e.g., physical robustness, energy, faceoffs - with consistent effectiveness. On D, we have four proven guys, two of whom are coming off serious injuries and one of whom is widely viewed as washed up (Spacek); along with a very impressive sophomore (Subban). We are, therefore, depending on the totally unproven Emelin and Weber not to struggle. Weber has at least been halfway around the block, but when you consider that even the mighty Subban struggled in the first half of last season, we should expect Emelin to struggle or at best blow hot and cold. Are you comfortable with, for instance, this alignment: Markov-Gorges Subban-Gill Spacek-Weber? If not, then you go out and get an experienced defenceman. Then there's the likelihood of injuries. Are you comfortable, then, with something like Subban-Gill Weber-Gorges Emelin-Spacek? If not, then you go out and get an experienced defencemen. Just my two cents. I have seen this movie of Rookie Disappointment over and over. Don't bank on perfect health, and don't bank on rookies playing great. Indeed, if Subban weren't so incredibly PK Subban, I'd also warn against the infamous sophomore-defenceman jinx. (Remember what happened to Phaneuf!) So I stand by my earlier post. Experienced D, experienced bottom-6er(s). We need 'em.

You may be right...but the bottom-6 is looking a lot like our situation on the blueline, where every single year we find ourselves scrambling to fill the same hole. On D, it's been picks for Schneider, Bergeron as a UFA, picks for Wiz - all to fill in the hole left by Streit years ago. (If Markov stays healthy, Subban may finally represent a permanent solution here. If not, well, kiss some more 2nd round picks goodbye). On FW, it's been Metropolit off waivers, then a 2nd-round pick for Moore, then Halpern as a UFA. Always the same story: we need a solid veteran C who can win the draw and bring a stable game to the bottom 6. I suppose it's hard to get too agitated about it, but you can well ask why we didn't just keep, say, Moore in the first place.

Two no-brainers: beefiness and faceoff prowess in the bottom-6; and proven NHL depth on the blueline. These may seem like minor matters, but both are indispensable if we are to have a pretense of being contenders - just the sort of small but important decisions that a good GM won't flub.

That NTC clause is a bit sh*tty, especially considering that Cole said he was surprised to get one - meaning he didn't expect to get one. As everyone says, this contract will probably look fairly bad on the back end, but there's a good chance of 2-3 impact seasons coming from it. That's the nature of the UFA beast (unless your name is Vokun).

Dream away, but Cammy has been pretty clear that he prefers to play the wing. He's one guy that I don't think you want to alienate. Obviously I share TheDrivefor25's impatience with the ongoing claim that Martin is some sort of awful coach - a claim that many fans persist in maintaining despite the fact that he is the first coach since Demers who has actually put the Habs on a footing where they have a bona fide chance to win. The grass truly is always greener. Hence the intemperance of my earlier post. I swear, if JM had more media charisma, he would be much more respected among these fans, who seem chronically to confuse image and substance. I think we need to resign ourselves to Gomer for at least one more season and cross our fingers that he bounces back. It is, however, a lot of fun to imagine the wheeling and dealing that would be needed both to unload Gomez and then to replace him. If Brian Jerk were our GM, for instance, I guarantee you that Gomez would have been moved by now and some sort of crazy deal arranged to bring in another C. Of course, true to Burke's form, the net result would not necessarily be a stronger team, just a busier one

Oh good, yet another thread that mutates into a 'Martin sucks!' argument. I agree, between getting to the semi-finals and then taking an injury-decimated squad to Game 7 OT against the eventual Cup champs, Martin has conspicuously failed to get this team to play up to its potential. Travis Moen is the second coming of Bob Gainey, but it's Martin's system that is robbing him of multiple Selke trophies; just as we are the 1987 Edmonton Oilers, being held back by Martin's self-evidently idiotic commitment to team defence.

Well, I think you want quality on the 4th line if you can get it, because it comes to matter quite a bit in the playoffs. Other than Darche, that's a pretty feeble fourth line. I say, go get a veteran a la Halpern.

Vokun is a huge pickup for Washington...and at an unbelievable price. To the degree that netminding was a major reason for Washington's failure to take it to the next level, that's a very significant shift in the playoff balance in the East.

Interesting coda to the Cole signing - in interviews he cited the desire, given his age, to avoid being part of a rebuild and to win NOW, and the Habs give him a chance to do that. http://montreal.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20110702/mtl_habshub_habit_110701/20110702/?hub=MontrealSports This shows that the reputation of our team has fundamentally changed from being losers (which is how we were perceived prior to the Great Gainey Rebuild of 2009) to being a good, competitive team with a real shot. Other than the freak event of 2008, last season was the first season in ages where I really began to feel the Habs were something close to genuine contenders. Very nice to see that the players themselves increasingly see the Habs this way too - it's the key factor in attracting UFAs. That link is also interesting because it contains evidence about the Quebec tax situation, which is a major reason why the Habs generally have to pay a bit too much for UFAs.

I'm not saying we should trade Kosty for Hemsky, although a PPG player is nothing to sneeze at and I wouldn't cry in my beer if we did. But I was just repeating Chris's rumour. Habs29, I find the idea that Wiz would have been willing to sign with us on the cheap in the middle of a career year and the last year of his contract totally implausible. You may (or may not) be correct about waiting too long to lock up past players, but Wiz spent half a season here - hardly enough to get deeply invested emotionally in the city and the organization. A lot of fans and posters do this sort of thing, saying that player X is only 'worth' such and such, or could have been signed for A rather than B if only the team had done C, etc., etc.. Frankly, a lot of this is just pulling numbers out of our behinds. Wiz was one of the top offensive defencemen in the NHL last season. He'd have been a royal fool to sign for 3.75; everyone and his dog knew he was gonna command at least 4.5, probably more. I also happen to think that in a couple of years Wiz at $5.5 will not look nearly as idiotic as everybody seems to think. At some point, we need to catch on: the cap keeps rising. Hell, it rose through the economic meltdown. Everyone acts like Wiz's year was a freak event, but you can just as easily argue that it was a case of a player coming to maturity (age 27-8, a classic age for defencemen to blossom) after some patches with injuries. Columbus won't regret that contract. The contracts you regret are the ones where you lock in a player just as he enters his decline (this is the risk in the Cole deal, as Habs 29 rightly points out); or where the player happens to suffer injuries; or where the player is a mirage (Komisarek) or hugely one-dimensional (Souray). Overpaying for quality isn't really that big a problem. Like I keep saying, I see Philly, Chicago, Vancouver, Boston and other top teams signing the guy they want and sweating the cap later. That should give us a clue.

Chris on this thread, as far as I can see In fairness, though, Hemsky's been linked via rumour to the Habs for at least a couple of years now - which is often a sign that there's at least a bit of fire behind the smoke.

I have no idea, but I'd consider the Kosty-for-Hemsky rumour much more believable.

Ha ha, no, I loved the idea of Cole from the start. I was just noting my belated realization that he'll be, like, 37 at the end of this contract. But every team has some vet on the butt end of a contract, so it's not like this will put us at some huge competitive disadvantage. I didn't like to see Wiz go, but clearly Gauthier agreed with the majority sentiment that FW was a higher priority than D, and that *was* a defensible position all along. Between Cole and Budaj,. he obvioously had a very keen sense of the specific weaknesses he wanted addressed, and he went out and addressed them with the two best players available to fill those holes. Good GMing, no question. Yes, as the summer moves on I'd expect at least one more affordable signing at FW. I for one want veteran depth on D as well - preferably someone who can move the puck a bit.

Yeah, Gauthier will definitely sign someone for that role. Probably not today though. My initial enthusiasm for Cole is tempered by a better awareness of his age. You never know how a player will hold up over time, but crashers and bangers sometimes do worse. Still, a great fit and with his Cup ring and experience he only enhances one of the league's gutsiest and most savvy playoff dressing rooms. We'll likely be hating Cole four years from now, but 2-3 quality years are a reasonable expectation.

And they oughtta know, because any team with Brad Marchand on it is the epitome of class. If only Subban could learn from his sterling example. And oh yeah, some skin-bleaching products would help.

Blech! That's all we need.

Damn...that's a sweet-looking top-6, especially if Gomer bounces back. Still a touch weak on the right side, in that Pacioretty hasn't really proven he can deliver over a whole season. Which perhaps expains the Kosty-for-Hemsky rumours.

He had a couple of disastrous seasons due to health issues. That is the only reason for ANY negativity around this signing. This guy is a PERFECT fit for our team which has needed a player of his profile literally for years. He will fit superbly into our top-6 or equally superbly on the third line. Most importantly, he removes the need to throw a plodder like Darche on the powerplay. The more I think about this, the happier I am - not because Cole is some superstar (expect 50 points, barring injury) but because he is the ideal player to fill a very specific hole on our team. The benefits his game cam bring our club are disproportionate to his profile as a player taken in isolation. Potentially a very, very good signing.

BAM. Every year fans go ballistic about 'overpaying' for this guy or that guy. I think this is way overblown. BTH is exactly right. You identify the guy you want and you FRIGGING GO GET HIM, which is what EVERY elite team does. Cole addresses the longstanding need for a forward with size who can score. Habs fans should be excited. Instead we get cramps of anxiety because he's moderately overpaid. Good move Goat!!

I just follow this site, to be honest. Now I'm anxious about Cole and the paranoia that we'll lose him. Typical UFA day neurosis.

Smart signing by them. Cheap player, track record of offensive success, partially addresses team weakness on W.

Good write up. I was uneasy with Auld last season because of the sure knowledge that one significant injury to Price would mean a long losing streak and likely missing the playoffs. Budaj is much more credible as a temporary #1. A very smart, under-the-radar move by Gauthier to address an under-the-radar but potentially grave organizational weakness.