The Chicoutimi Cucumber

Check out this quotation from Scott Gomez: "Montreal is a world-class team," Scott Gomez said. "Give them all the credit. Blowing a 5-0 lead ... that doesn't happen often. But you just saw it. We sat back, they got the momentum and it kept going. "The older guys can't let that happen. They smelled it and went for it." Montreal is back as an elite NHL team. Having said that, 'les Glorieux' brings to mind dynasties, and this team is a long way from the great teams of the 70s, 60s or 50s. Then again, teams of that calibre will likely never be seen again. But we can say without hesitation that this is the best Habs team since 1993...quite possibly in the same league as the teams of the late 80s-early-90s. Another year or two is needed to truly define this New Generation of Habs. One interesting thing is that, next season, the expectations will shift. I no longer doubt that this bunch with make the playoffs this season. But they've done it this year with no expectations; how will they respond next year, when they're suddenly labelled possible contenders and become favourites to win most games their in? There may be some hiccups as they adapt to a new team role...but I'm learning not to bet against these guys.

Interesting to look at those stats. We have the 2nd best offence in the Conference. Maybe it's not so surprising we came back against those Rags UFAs! Who needs 'em? (However, we're 7th in goals against, which ain't great).

YEAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! TREMENDOUS comeback. I tuned in at 5-2 and was happy to see that Ryder'd scored...in the back of my mind, like the fans in the Bell Centre apparently, was the idea that this team was not like those of past seasons - this was a GOOD team and that, therefore, we might make a game of it. But when they made it 5-3 I still almost fell on the floor...then 5-4...how poetic that it be Ryder and KOIVU to lead the charge in this unbelievable game. It sets us up beautifully for the remaining drive to the playoffs. GO HABS GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sorry for the inane post, it's 1/2 hour later and I'm still excited

The issue to me is NOT whether we should trade Huet before deadline. I agree with Hickey (for once): it would be folly to go into a playoffs in we at least have a chance of doing damage, without some guarantees in nets. I think they want to give Price as long as test drive as possible, but in order to figure out whether they have to resign Huet in the off-season or not. Indeed, this serves two purposes: it lets the Habs assess Price's readiness to be a full-time number one, and it depresses Huet's overall market value for UFA season. We can't lose. Except in one sense: if we do decide that Huet can't be re-signed, we lose him for nothing. But that's a risk you sometimes have to take.

Gainey isn't perfect, but we should still thank the good Lord for every single day he comes to work. He IS the ideal GM for THIS franchise. He ignores all the B.S. and has what appears to be an unsurpassed mind when it comes to understanding the game on the ice. Practically everything he says publicly strikes me as light years ahead of 99.9% of media and 'expert' commentaries (remember his famous 'imbalance' remark last season, that the team had to learn to play sound hockey before he'd go adding big pieces? Sage stuff, that). The things Gainey has that most others (including most other GMs) don't are (1) thirty years of experience as a pivotal figure on winning teams (2) a truly keen mind, the mind that made him the best defensive player in history and (3) absolute ice-water in the veins and an unbelievable level of patience. He also appears to be able to apply these virtues convincingly at crucial junctures, e.g., his long conversation with Kovalev this summer. The downsides? Perhaps a bit too much reluctance to take a risk. (You DO get the sense that it's always going to be a Brian Burke type ahead of him when it comes to bold moves like acquiring a Pronger). Also, I'd like to see a little more communication with fans, as, say, Dave Nonis does by going on the radio weekly in Vancouver. But basically I am more and more convinced that Gainey is well-positioned to go down in the long run as one of the great Montreal Canadiens GMs, not too far from Selke and Pollock (taking context into account). He is most like Selke in that he has taken a franchise is total disarray and mediocrity and patiently rebuilt it up into (potentially, at this point) an enduring NHL power. Long may he reign!

Did the Rangers really have a chance to acquire Plekanec for Kovalev??? Wow. As great as Kovy is, that would have turned out to be a steal for them in the long run. Fortunately for us that organization appears congenitally inept when it comes to young talent.

I have to laugh a bit at this. Last year, everyone was champing at the bit to GET RID of Kovalev for a used jock strap. Now we're being urged to extend his contract come hell or high water The prudent thing is to wait. If he still plays at this (unedniably incredible) level for the first half of 08-09, then look to resign him for two years if you can. But he might want more years than that, and at more dough than he currently makes. And we might have more young players, more fully developed offensively, by then (e.g., a guy like Lats might take a step up, Kostityn might have fully bloomed, etc.). We might also be able to bag a UFA along the way. Under these circumstances, we should trade him at the deadline. It's a long, winding path, and Bob will pursue a patient course. Stay cool.

I liked Grabs when he was here, and I still wouldn't rule out his becoming a good NHLer some day. He might be one of those later-blooming, small shifty types, a la Briere or St Louis. (Not in that class, obviously - but you get the idea).

This is so sweet. I've waited SO long for the Habs of my youth to return - a team that is perenially among the NHL elite. This team is almost there, and is *certainly* a 'good team.' Hell, it's 3/4 of the way through the season and we're in first place! Thank God for Bob! (Assuming the two aren't interchangeable )

Thank God for Roman Hamrlik! (Full credit to Price, but I hope everyone has noticed how we *suddenly* got back on track with the return of the Hammer... )

I agree 100%. If Price carries the team down the stretch, that only strengthens Gainey's hand in negotiations with Huet. If he falters, we've still got Huet. How in God's name can we lose?

The real reason Briere is a dick, in my opinion, is that he passed on the chance to be the French Canadian centrepiece of the resurgence of the Montreal Canadiens as a major NHL power - in short, a chance to live out one of the great myths of hockey, and to become one of the mythic heroes of hockey in Quebec. I know, I know, Philly gave him a longer and therefore more lucrative deal. But it was still the act of a man with no vision and no soul. F*ck him.

Anderson is pretty much universally acknowledged to be gay. Similar rumours followed Stephane Richer around, but who knows? And who cares, really? More intriguing, as far as this goes, is the intensely repressed homo-eroticism of sport in general and hockey in particular - from the bizarre hazing rituals Juniors face to the endless 'macho' ass-fondling. The ways of the psyche are mysterious indeed

I doubt Boyle will end up a Habs, but assuming this story to be accurate it confirms one thing - namely, that once a team starts acquiring a rep as a 'winning environment' all of a sudden BS like the media and the tax rates become secondary considerations. The best thing about this season - ASSUMING they're not in the process of blowing it by going in the tank - is that we're getting a reputation as an up and coming, powerful franchise. The UFAs will follow.

Yeah, it's amazing, isn't it? Here Bob goes out and gets us the bona fide #1A defenceman we've desperately needed for years and that fans have been crying out for. And yet he plays such an efficient, no-nonsense game and is so much less flashy than the infinitely inferior Souray, that people (including the media 'experts') seem barely to have noticed. If anything, they (c.f. Red Fisher) sneered at Gainey for overspending. Sheesh. There's one reason that the Habs have spent so much less time running around in their own end, getting outshot and fumbling the transition from defence to offence this season, and it's Hamrlik.

1. Slumps happen, like the man says. 2. Two little words: Roman Hamrlik. Maybe now this guy will start being fully appreciated. As great as the resurgence of Kovalev has been and the emergence of the young guns is, Hamrlik has done more than any single player to make us a good team. Take him out and we're right back in the crapper.

Hee hee...I plumped big-time for a Marleau-Koivu trade a few months back. Man, this rumour is never gonna go away, as long as both key players keep stinking out the joint. With Marleau we get younger, bigger, and more skilled. Also more expensive. And we lose leadership and proven clutch performance. Personally I think San Jose would be nuts NOT to make the deal straight up. Koivu is *exactly* the kind of players contenders should look to add at the deadline: veteran, battle-scarred, inspirational, desperate for a Cup, and a clutch performer. And SJ is one of the few cities for which you can see him waiving his NTC, both due to warm sunshine and his best friend. Ultimately though I think we'll see Bob add a defensive centreman of some sort, full stop.

Yeah, but the Reform Party/Canadian Alliance/Conservative Canadian right has waited 15 long angry years to come to power, they're not going to let a little thing like good sense get in the way.

I just want to say that I can't believe people are putting Ward in the same class as Luongo. Come on, I live in Vancouver and there is one and only one reason the Canucks, when healthy, are something like contenders: and he's not named Trevor Linden, put it that way. It's impossible to prove, but I suspect that Huet could have won the Cup playing behind what was a pretty solid Carolina team. Luongo has struggled of late but the bottom line is that he's in the top 3.

I couldn't agree more, but that's what happens when a 'Get Tough on Crime'/'Zero Tolerance' mentality grips frightened populations and pandering politicians looking to score cheap points by 'cracking down on crime' whether or not it makes any sense to do so. Incidentally, the Harper government is trying to nudge Canada in the very same direction via tougher rules for mandatory sentencing despite considerable evidence that sentencing has no effect on crime rates. Just a thought.

All I can say is: 1.Thank God Bob gainey is in charge. He will know exactly how to deal with the players in a way that minimizes damage all around. 2. This is an enormous test for Carbo. Can he re-focus the team for a crucial stretch of games? The season may depend on just this happening. I'm really pissed off at this, but this is Montreal I guess - circus mantadory.

Goddamn it, can we just have a nice successful season for once? No drama? No B.S.? No self-sabotage? My guess is O'Bryne was drunk out of his mind and might even have honestly thought it was his girlfriend's purse, but give me a break, this is complete balderdash.

Yep, and this - along with the possible asking price, of course - is the only reason not to acquire him, assuming a deal can be made. I'm not sure how compelling a reason it is, though. The cap seems to keep inflating, and it is possible to be too conservative on these matters. Consider the way some people criticized the Kovalev contract, which right now looks brilliant. Hossa is a bona-fide elite scoring winger, a serious all-star and consistent offensive producer. He might be worth the money. The point of having a top-flight 'developmental' organization is that you can lock in a core of indispensable players and simply rotate out the rest, replacing them with rising, and cheaper, young guys. Obviously Price and Komisarek are part of that projected core; the rest is a bit up in the air. Koivu, for instance, may be out of the picture within 3 years, clearing up $5 mil right there. Another way to look at it is: do you really expect any of our young guys to become *better* than Hossa, who isn't even 30 yet? So why not sign Hossa? And look at teams like the Sens and Detroit. They have high-value superstars locked in, while being sure not to fall into the Tampa trap of strangling their salary structure. I don't think having one or two highly-paid stars is death in a cap system, necessarily.

Well, so much for that. We were spanked - hard - by a seasoned Stanley Cup Finalist, with all its key elements back, anxious to lay a whuppin' on the up and coming young upstarts. It was a longshot to start with. I say the team just get back to basics, playing good all-around hockey, and let the standings list as they will. It's not our time to unseat the league's elite.... ...yet.

I agree...but the hour, as great man once said, is getting late. His total failure to step up against the Sens is uncharacteristic of the Saks we've known.