The Chicoutimi Cucumber

We sometimes forget that winning teams usually have a surplus of talent. Look at Vancouver, sitting Keith Ballard. I see nothing wrong with having guys fight it out for their roster spot.

I am convinced he's a bona fide #2 defenceman, but you're right that he may turn out to be simply too expensive. I'm not saying we sign him for Brian Campbell money. We won't know, in the end, until he signs someplace. All I can say is that it had better not be another Dominic Moore scenario (where it turns out the guy was affordable, but Habs management just assumed he wouldn't be).

He seems adequately fast to me but certainly no Russ Courtnall. What he does have is vastly above-average hockey smarts. If he succeeds, it will not be as a clone of St. Louis, but rather as one of the canniest guys out there. I can see him evolving into an effective second-liner who gets a lot of PP points and is OK 5-on-5. I worry that a player like him always has a bull's-eye on his back as far as the coaches are concerned: once he hits a slump, will he enjoy the luxury of being able to work his way out of it? Or will it be taken as proof positive that he's 'too small' for the NHL?

Before we all panic about Hamrlik, we really should keep the following in mind. 1. He was still a quality defenceman for us last season, doing yeoman's work in Markov's absence. He is certainly a cut above Spacek in my mind. Quite a useful all-around D-man as long as you manage his minutes. 2. We don't know the salary range being contemplated. Seems to me that I remember a lot of us saying last year that we'd take him back at a much-reduced rate. Somehow - perhaps because of Emelin - we are now ready to throw him under the bus. Yes, Hammer at $5 mil was a waste of money. But Hammer at (say) $2 mil? 3. Emelin is totally unproven. Factor that in when you fantasize about the D-chart. What I find outrageous about this is that it pretty much signals that the Habs do not expect to sign Wiz. That, I think, is a grave mistake, unless management deems Weber ready to play a *much* bigger role. And that's why I regard this as bad news. Taken purely for what he is, Hammer at an affordable rate would be a good signing.

But in other news, THIS seems kinda f**ked up: http://www.hockeyinsideout.com/news/hamrlik-to-get-contract-offer-report The offer might be something really low. But if it's not, my reaction is one big "HUH???"

I've been very appreciative of Habs29's posts lately, but I too disagree that we should have locked up Markov long-term. His value is more likely to decline than increase at this stage. My guess is the Habs wanted to sign him to a 1-year deal and they were pushed into two years in the negotiations. If he continues to play well we can probably re-sign him at a similar rate in two years' time; clearly he wants to play here, which makes a huge difference. I haven't worked out the cap ramifications, but at its face it seems as though we should be able to make a decent offer to Wiz. If the only reason for NOT doing that is Spacek, then that is not a reason at all. Do it and then find a way to dump Spacek or, worst case, buy him out. (Or am I screwing up yet again in my understanding of the CBA for players with Spacek's profile? )

He really is a wild card. He has put up elite numbers at every level. He knows how to angle his body to maximize his positioning against much larger players and his on-ice intelligence is far beyond average IMHO. There's no question that if he were six feet tall, people would be anticipating a top-6 role for him. The X-factor is his puny size. Can he withstand a season of NHL combat and produce with some regularity? I say yes, but his size makes him an easy target when he does begin to struggle. We'll see.

BAM! Well spoken good sir.

Talk is cheap, but I love this kind of stuff: "Watching the playoffs I know how important it is to have a forward like me and I think going into my injury I had a little bit of a hot streak going and I found a way to get to the front of the net," Pacioretty said. "I think that really makes a difference, especially in the playoffs. You look at the guys that are successful, they're the ones who are battling in front of the net. I want to be that type of player for Montreal for many years." http://montreal.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20110621/mtl_habshub_habit2_110620/20110621/?hub=MontrealSports There's nothing about that paragraph I don't like

Love Desharnais and I share Habs29's hope that he spends time on the wing. Although his faceoff prowess is useful. Another good, no-brainer signing.

Hear hear! I wonder if our agreement on this comes from watching those older Habs teams. You cannot, in my opinion, do better than to build from the back end out. Markov/Wiz/PK, supplemented by Weber where necessary, will provide tremendous offensive push and intensify, rather than change, the identity of our team as one whose offence comes from the transition game. Do that, and just watch the production of our forwards spike upward.

It's called a 'rhetorical flourish,' dammit!

It sounds as though we can re-sign Wiz IF he wants to play here. If it becomes a bidding war with Detroit, then it might be wiser to go after Laich and/or Jagr and/or Talbot, or some other UFA defenceman. I agree that Laich seems a nice fit; and while I will be massively aggravated if we lose Wiz - a loss we will deeply regret at some point next season - it's true that more modest but indisputably 'solid' moves, such as adding Talbot, are more in tune with Gauthier's GMing style, based on his history. I suspect the net result will be a small bundle of useful moves, coupled with a lingering unease about 'what might have been' had we had the cojones to sign The Wiz.

Good to see a reasonable deal. Patches is a prime example of what contenders need - young players playing WAY above their salary level. See Price, Carey, and Subban, P.K.. Let's just hope Patches can continue to bring that massive energy and boundless self-confidence. If he does, we (gasp!) have a top-6 power forward on our hands. And cheap.

It's a great idea and would solve a lot of problems, BUT Cammy has been pretty clear that he prefers to play as a winger, and his best career moments have come with him playing that role of deadly sniper off the wing. When you think of Cammy, what's the defining image? Him down on one knee ripping a shot past the goalie - a prototypical 'scoring winger' type of play. So while I'm sure he'd accept a move to C on a temporary basis, in the longer term this is a recipe for making your best offensive player unhappy. Not good.

Well, sorry for putting words in your mouth. Re-reading your posts more carefully, it sounds like we don't disagree on much. We both want Wiz re-signed above all. Who we need to move depends on Wiz's contract. If it puts us $1-2 mil over the cap, you hardly need to destroy the roster. You target Spacek and Moen, that'd be fine with me, and, I think, do-able for a GM with enough determination - although Moen brings some physicality. What I'm really worried about is not quibbling with you. Rather it's the thought that the Habs are just going to be too complacent, saying 'the cap ties our hands and we just have to hope Markov stays healthy' etc., etc.. I could be under-estimating PG. But I greatly fear he is going to add bits around the edges instead of being aggressive with cap management. Like Wamsley, I believe we have a window and that one or two bold strokes will put us there. Emelin and Jagr are nice moves but nothing compared to re-signing Wiz.

I'm all for adding Jagr in theory. The trouble is that, barring some magisterial plan to dump Gomez, this would seem to remove any hope of re-signing Wiz. Bah.

OK, OK, in the heat of my passionate defence of my position, I slipped back into the 'bury Spacek' fallacy. I DO know better but for some reason keep forgetting that (especially when typing late at night). My bad. I'm embarassed, but my wider point stands: DO WHAT IT TAKES and stop using the cap as an argument for not trying. That's what the powerhouse franchises do. Whether Gomez or Spacek or (less probably) Moen or whoever are the obstacle is a point you have to decide upon after you sign Wiz and Markov and have a better grasp of how much you have to trim. It's true that if he somehow manage to dump Gomez we are in a position to sign Wiz AND significantly bolster ourselves at FW. At the risk of contradicting myself, though, it's one thing for me to say 'make Wiz happen,' quite another to say 'get rid of every questionable contract on the team and bring in 4-5 new guys who are better than the guys we now have.' More to the point, I see success coming for this team from the back end out. Wiz-Markov-Subban constitute an elite corps of scoring defencemen. That will drive offence as much or more as any addition to the top-6 up front. Having those three guys, supplemented by Weber, stands to give us THE best transition game east of Vancouver. Add to that the proven Gill-Gorges shutdown duo AND markov and PK's two-way skills and we retain our suffocating defence. So that's what I'd focus on. habs29's position ultimately seems to me to be that this team is simply built on the wrong model (speed, skill). I can see the logic in that view, especially after watching Vancouver flame out; but I think the jury's still out given our recent playoff performances. Guys like Cammy and Gio thrive on the extra intensity of the playoffs. But maybe more importantly, I don't think the answer is to abandon the entire model. Then we just end up with a confused team that isn't especially good at anything. Better to accept our identity as a plucky, speedy team built around suffocating D, ferocious will to win, great netminding and a sharp counter-attack. Add an elite ingredient - Wiz - to that foundation. Hope that Patches, Desharnais and Eller continue to progress, such that they can provide you with that secondary threat up front that's so vital in the playoffs (the signs are promising here - Desharnais and Eller both had impacts in this year's playoffs). And if you can't trade him, pray to the good Lord that Gomez finally buys into the team system and plays like he can. If, after all that, you can add a big, hard-nosed top-9 forward to the mix, so much the better.

Hear hear. I am so tired of hearing about 'our hands being tied' by the cap, blahblahblahblah. I know I go on about this, but geez, Boston, Vancouver, Chicago, San Jose, Philly - ALL these teams sign the frigging players that will make them contenders and worry about the cap later. We have all summer to get under the cap. Unless Wiz's demands are astronomical, sign him. Him plus Markov makes us contenders. Even if you have to bury Spacek in the minors, you can make the case to Molson that Wiz/Markov/Subban/Gorges/Emelin/Gill/Weber is possibly THE best defence corps in hockey and that such a corps is likely to make you millions in extra playoff revenue. I've had enough of being 'a good team with an outside chance.' It's time to get the eye of the tiger and make it happen.

Bah. Every summer Habs fans quake with fear that Toronto is going to plunder all our players. Markov wants to play here and wants to win. Why would he go to Toronto?

The draft is always interesting, but I can never take it too seriously, since despite all the 'expert' fulminations, nobody really knows how most of these players will turn out. More hot air is blown on draft-day than at any other time of the hockey calendar. (Remember the dismay that shuddered through Habsland when all the 'experts' declaimed that we blew our #5 pick by taking Price instead of Gilbert Brulé? ) Also, when people pronounce on what we 'need,' they often seem to me to be talking about the current roster. Of course that has little to do with draft day, since the player will likely only be making the team (if at all) in 3-4 years' time. Drafting to 'fill a need' only makes sense if based on extrapolation of what our needs will be then - a perilous business at best, since we don't know which players will develop into NHLers and at what level they will play once there; and so have only a vague idea of what our team will look like at that point. That's why the BPA *is* a sensible default position except in really glaring cases (as the C position has been for us for most of the past decade). Also, in terms of predicting just who the Habs will pick, it might be good to consider the team's propensity for favouring 'safe' and 'complete' players in the mould of Plekanec: http://www.hockeysfuture.com/articles/13129/montreal_canadiens2011_draft_preview/ Just my 2 cents.

...are we contenders? I apologize if this sounds like a rehash of past discussions. I just thought that, with the playoffs behind us, it might be good to have a place to reflect on how our habs fit into the whole picture. This is one of the issues that I wonder about. It's a proven fact by now that the regular season refereeing bears no resemblance to playoff reffing. So where does this leave the Habs? At face value, we seem to be a paradigmatic example of a 'speed/skill' team, therefore doomed to defeat. Now I happen to think this isn't exactly the case. Guys like Cammy and Gio seem to actively thrive in the playoffs. Our D - albeit one about to be reconstructed to a degree - has also tended to do better under playoff rules. And a guy like Subban can dole out as much punishment as he takes. Neverthless I ask: despite the sentiment many of us have that the Habs are pretty close to contending, DO we have a nucleus that can go four playoff rounds in a post-season refereed like this one was? What do you all think, in the end?

Hee hee - well, to me the Mario who ran out team (into the ground, mostly) is different from the Mario who studied under Jacques Lemaire in Minnesota. The second guy actually has some credentials. Anyway, nothing about Pouliot's tenure in Montreal has suggested a player with a winning mentality.

Luongo wasn't the Canucks' principal problem; the Boston defence was. Having said that, Luongo wasn't exactly the *answer* either. If I'm Gillis, I do shop Loo around, but failing that, the Canucks had one other discernable weakness: the lack of any really battle-tested Cup veterans on the squad. Granted, Samuelsson was hurt, but they need to go out and get a couple of Hal Gills/Mark Recchis for next season. Their philosophy that 'it will come from within' is a bust.

Pouliot should certainly be qualified. He's talented, he's cheap - what does it hurt to take a flyer on him? But blaming Martin for his hapelessness is just silly. He is a perimeter player/head case who will not succeed until he resolves whatever mental issues are dragging him down, whether they be work ethic, courage, or self-confidence. There is a reason Minny cut him loose and Mario Tremblay, his former coach, oozes total contempt for him.