CerebusClone

At least the Yankees are investing on pithcing, I can't believe how poor theirp pitching staff has been over the last few years despite spending so much money... and this time they also signed a young veteran entering his prime, who has always remained healthy, and has been quite steady over his career (i.e he's not a young year wonder like Pavano). Of all the stupid contracts signed in the MLB, this one looks very good on paper for New York... but that roster remains weak, at least on paper. After Sabathia, Chamberlain, and Wang, there are only question marks...

They always did, their problems have nothing to do with a lack of heart of will. O'Byrne mostly needs to regain confidence, and stop over-thinking his every move while Latendresse needs to remember that he's a big, skilled offensive-minded winger, and not a marginal forth-liner who should be satisfied with only finishing his checks, and not hurt the team while he's on the ice. Latendresse needs to become the player who earned himself a NHL contract, a player who did very good things on the ice... and not simply someone who does very little wrong (that's only good for limited players who specialize on one or two skills... like fighting, being capable of playing both defense and offense, or being willing to dive in front of pucks).

I wouldn't use the term quality, but he helped patch a whole temporarily. It's sad for him, but I'm happy that this gives O'Byrne a chance to come back in the lineup, this team will be far better if O'Byrne rergains his confidence than with Dandeneault. I only hope that Carbonneau uses him properly, perhaps only 12-14 minutes for now on the third pairing with Bouillon so that he can regain confidence against weaker lines, re-simplify his game, and progressively go back to his own style. Besides Brisebois is doing a decent-enough job for now with Hamrlik, so there's no need to put too many responsibilities on O'Byrne at this point.

That doesn't mean he can't be a great asset as a third or forth liner. A guy like Gratton may never have lived up to expectations, but he's still a far superior player to guys like Dandeneault, Garth Murray, Begin ... who are very limited in skills, and bring very little to the team overall. Gratton is large, strong, wins faceoffs, has become a fairly strong defensive centre while still having the skills to help the team in the offensive zone. Unfortuantely for him the Lightning are going nowhere, and they decided to save a little money, and develop Steve Downie, and give chances to guys like Szczechura who are doing well at the AHL level. It's unfortunate for Gratton, but I think it's a good idea.

I'm not exactly comparing Marois to Hiltler... however I do see some similarity in some of their line of thinking... such as wanting to take away rights to a subgroup of people that don't fit her vision of the nation. Hitler was a disgusting human being who took this same principle to a whole new level... Actually I'm not necessarily against the principle of separation, I just won't even consider it as long as this movement is lead by people like Pauline Marois or even by others that I might respect (ex. Bernard Landry, I disagree a lot with his ideas and his vision, but I have a lot of respect for him) that as far as I can tell only want to separate based on language and feelings. If a party comes up with a strong plan and a feasibility analysis, if they would convince me that it is the best thing to do for the population of this province based on several key factors (ex. economics, flexibility for legislation ... ), then of course I will listen carefully. By the way, many people were against this Bill, including Bernard Landry. I mean isn't that the same kind of BS that people in Quebec fought very hard against? Things like forcing francophones to abandon their values and language for the right to work and have some wealth? It was wrong for Canada to do this, people have worked hard to fix this, and now Marois wants to send us back a few decades? I can’t even imagine the huge scandal it would create if Harper came up with some draft legislation along those lines, like taking away rights and citizenship to people in Quebec who didn’t speak satisfactory English… after all this is officially a bilingual country with a very strong anglo majority. If Bill 195 makes sense, wouldn’t it also make sense for Canada to force everyone to speak English? What a perfect scenario, Canada forces everyone to speak English while Quebec forces everyone to speak French! It’s all good and fair…

In some ways Conboy is very much like Milan Lucic... unfortunately without the offensive potential. However I think he'll bring that same kind of passion, and willingness to help his team in any way possible. He'll dish out body checks, crash the net, drop the gloves, and just bring a whole lot of energy on the ice. He's also known to be quite charismatic and a good leader. He also actually has some pretty decent skills, he's a very good skater, has good passing skills, and a decent shot. I think he could quickly become a fan-favourite in Montreal...

It's still very early into the season, which would give us quite a bit of time to progressively integrate Matieu Carle into the lineup. He could play on the third pairing with Bouillon for now (a veteran francophone who could take him under his wing) while also getting some time on the powerplay. Between playing Dandeneault - who brings absolutely nothing to the table - 12 to 14 minutes game, I would rather use that time to develop Carle who brings an offensive element that we could use on the second powerplay unit. Also this is Carle's second pro season, he's not fresh out of junior hockey, and he has already improved a lot since last year. At the very least this could have been a good opportunity for him to improve until Komisarek returned, and in the best case scenario, he could have made the team, and become an asset right away.

We could do a lot better than M-A Bergeron for Latendresse (if not it's not even worth trading him away), and besides I would rather give Mathieu Carle a chance.

I guess we haven't learnt from our experiences with guys like Bouillon and Begin. I agree that Gorges has done a very good job playing alongside Markov so far, and that's what makes him a great asset for the Canadiens... as a quality 3rd pairing defenseman capable of playing a higher role on a temporary basis. If we keep using him in a bigger role, his flaws will eventually come up, and teams will begin better preparing against him. We've also made this mistake with Chris Higgins and probably also with Tomas Plekanec. Higgins has never been an offensive force nor a goal-scoring machine in the past, and was always supposed to become a Jere Lehtinen type-player, a quality 2-way forward who can be used in all situations and who will give you some decent offence (45-60 points). Unfortunately for him he did extremely well with Saku Koivu during a couple of hot streaks, and we've been overusing him as an offensive leader ever since... on one hand he's failing becauce he doesn't have the required skills to be that type ofp layer, and on the other he's also failing because his offensive "struggles" haven't allowed to work on improving his overall game.

I agree, the team hasn't played good hockey this season, and we couldn't objectively expect to have much success in the playoffs if the season ended today. You can "easily" have success in the regular season based on talent and hard work, which this team has, but the playoffs are a whole different game. The good news is that there is plenty of time to fine tune everything, the bad news is that we not doing any of that right now. Instead Carbonneau is thinking very short term by overplaying all our depth guys (which I can understand, Carbonneau is good at getting good results from those guys) instead of maybe sacrificing a few points to get the right players playing the right way (i.e Latendresse, Sergei K. and O'Byrne should not be spending this much time as heathly scratches).

The best party won, and I'm actually glad that we will have a majority government again. A minority government is fine on a temporary basis, but eventually political games and the thirst for power takes over... as we can see in Ottawa, one party will do anything to keep the power while the others will do anything to take them down... all this regardless of what the population really wants. But mostly I'm glad that Pauline Marois now has very limited power facing a majority government. I can't believe so many people would vote for a person who actually wants to privilege part of the Quebec population, and take away rights from others bases on something like language. That Bill 195 was an absolute disgrace, and I'm embarassed that something like this would make the news... and it's also exactly what people in Quebec have fought against over the last few decades to become equals with the rest of Canada, and now Marois would like to reverse this, and make others swear under oath to be assimilated and have the same rights as others. Although not on the same magnitude, this is in the same line of thinking as Adolph Hitler, Pauline Marois basically wants to remove undesirables and people who are getting in her way to achieve her vision of the true Quebec nation. Of course some people will say that it's only the right the run for politics and make donations, but what was next? People wouldn't be allowed to work or have children until they passed a French exam? Marois digusts me... Meanwhile our definition of a true disgrace is a hockey player who says "sloppy seconds" on television... or that it is typical for a francophone who act tough without being willing to drop the gloves. At least Avery doesn't even mean any of this, he's just acting like an idiot.. but Pauline Marois genuinely wants to take away rights (like to support a political party), and this is not only ok, but cherished by many... Sorry... I just had to get this off my chest... go Habs go...

There's no way a guy like Ferraro will still be available by the time we pick. Like Brendan Sutter I would expect him to leave in the top 15, teams just don't want to pass on big, gritty, and talented players. I was hoping that a guy like Drew Shore would slip to the end of the first round, but he's doing pretty well with the NTDP so his rank should go up. We'll have to see how he does at the WJC U18 though because I don't think he did so well during the last few competitions. He's a project with really great upside, and Montreal can afford to be patient with the depth we have at all positions.

That's not entirely true, we can easily get an additional ~1.2 million (I think, his salary minus 1/3 f the season), by putting Mathieu Dandeneault on waivers (without really affecting team performance) and sending him to Hamitlon if he's not claimed. This would make it very easy for us to bring up Mathieu Carle and perhaps even Kyle Chipchura who's become a dominating player for the Bulldogs over the last few weeks. I know... I know... it's sacrilegious here to even think of putting such a nice guy and amazing veteran such as Dandeneault on waivers.. but at some point management needs to pull their pants up, and think about the team. If guys like Kyle McLaren, Denis Gauthier, Alex Mogilny, Petr Nedved... can be sent to the AHL for the best of the organization, I don't see why Dandeenault should be an exception.

Hard to tell. Until recently Kaberle would probably have been considered the best one by a great majority of people, but Markov has really made a name for himself over the last couple seasons. It's probably a matter of preference (and bias) at this point. What helps Markov is that he plays on a great team whereas Kaberle is playing with a mediocre organization that has been going nowhere for a long time, and only looked decent thanks to Mats Sundin.

I still think that our solutions should come from within, actually I think that with Komisarek being injured and O'Byrne struggling for self-confidence, Carbonneau missed a great opportunity to a either Mathieu Carle (first recalled because of experience) or Yannick Weber a chance to prove themselves. There is no reason that we cannot find answer within that group of three (including O'Byrne), and if notm, only then should we think about a trade (unless an amazing opportunity comes up of course). Unfortunately we have an ultra-conservative head coach who doesn't have the guts to take those chances, and instead we are riding veterans Patrice Brisebois and Mathieu Dandeneault, costing us precious development time for one or two kids, weakening us for the near future ( I mean later on this season), and perhaps costing us players/picks because we didn't give deserving kids a chance, and instead are forced into making a trade.

I agree, actually I would put Tomas Kaberle and Andrei Markov in the same category. Some will prefer Markov, others Kaberle... some think they're elite, others that they are overrated... but overall they are very similar players.

I really like Conboy, I see him becoming a huge upgrade on a guy like Steve Bégin. He's the same type of player, only much bigger, stronger, and willing to defend his teammates. He did just about everything for his team in the USHL, and it seems that he's continuying on that path at the NCAA level. Of course he'll probably never be much more than a 4th liner, but he could become a special one at that. I just hope he avoids the cocaine problems his big brother had, especially since he became more agressive and "wired" (he became a showman and crowd pleaser last season) last year...

I agree, Luke Schenn has been very impressive for a large, defensive defenseman who just turned 19 a month ago. When you think about it, he's actually far ahead of Mike Komisarek at the same age, who didn't get his act together until he was 22/23. Schenn was now logging about 22/23 minutes a game before his injury, and is already in the top 10 in the NHL for hits. I'm not suremaking the jump at 18 was the best option for a player like Schenn, but at least - unlike Latendresse did for example - he's logging a lot of quality ice-time, therefore he can actually continue to progress with the Leafs. At that age quality ice-time is crucial, and he's getting that.

Not necessarily, I'm sure a lot Pens fans started voting massively in order to make sure that Crosby is a starter at the All-Star game, in addition to the fact that the majority of non-Habs fans probably vote for Crosby, and also the there are probably people who also started voting massively for the "number 2s" just to make that the Canadiens can't ice a full starting lineup. After all with the exception of Markov, none of them deserve to be starters... actually Price is probably the only one who also deserve to be there... so I'm sure that pisses off some people...

Sloppy seconds is not sexist remark, it is a pretty general term that can be also applied to men, as well as pretty much anything. Were his remarks classless, immature, stupid ... yeah sure, but this wasn't an attack on women (this doesn't mean it didn't offend some women, but heck, you can't do or say anything these days without offending at least some people). Like I said before, why didn't ther NHL send an official public warning to Bob Gainey for calling hockey fans "gutless bastards". He not only insulted fans who paid good money to attend games at the Bell centre, but he insinuated that people conceived out of wedlock are inferior people, linking them to filthy errant dogs, and indirectly said that they are not welcome at hockey games. And as I said, what's doing the most "harm" to Sean Avery's exes? His stupid comment to get under the skin of Iginla and Phaneuf before a game, a comment everyone would have ignored quickly, or the NHL and the Dallas Stars turning this into a huge story that everyone - not only in the hockey world, even on shows like TMZ - is now talking about? I still think the NHL was looking for revange while the Dallas Stars are using him as scapegoat to try to get the team to rebound (I'm sorry but Avery isn't responsible for the stuggles of the team leaders like Turco and Ribeiro, nor for the bad decisions from management... I looked at this team before the season, and I only put them in the playoffs based on reputation, I think I put them in 6th or 7th place on the predictions thread). ps. Of course I'm exagerating about Gainey, I couldn't care less about what he said... even though I am technically a bastard .

Actually freedom of speech can be found under article 19 of the universal declaration of human rights... so there is without a doubt a potential case here, one that he could probably even win with good lawyers. As for Elisha Cuthbert, Sean Avery made absolutely no reference to her, everyone is just implying (and let's be honest, rightly so) that he was talking about her.

Almost everything offends some people somewhere. Did the NHL fine Bob Gainey for calling the fans who booed Patrice Brisebois "gutless bastards"? After all, this is not only an attack on NHL fans who paid money to attend games, but it could be interpreted as being insulting and derogatory to every person out there who was born out of wedlock, implying that they are inferior to other people.. I didn't hear any outrage over those comments (except maybe for a few of those idiots who feel it was ok for them to ridiculize Brisebois by booing him constantly for no reason)? Why... because people like Bob Gainey... and because like "sloppy seconds", this was nothing worth blowing out of proportion...

I don't think this has anything to do with trust, despite their numerous attacks and attemps to portray the Conservatives as villains who hate francophones, women , peace, the environement, and everything that is good in this world, the Conservatives actually gained in popularity since the previous election, and were very close to getting a majority. This is about the Liberals breaking Harper and his party, the NDP getting a first taste of power, and the Bloc gaining a whole lot of veto power which will help their own agenda. If this coalition initiave really cared about Canadians, they would listen to Canadians, and give this Conservative party at least one chance, and not overthrow it at the very first occasion... or at the very least give Harper a chance to adjust his plan based on their suggestions. As Obama mentioned this is a time of crisis, and political parties need to set aside their differences, and work together to find solutions. Besides for all we know Harper may have the right solutions, maybe the current Canadian economy is already robust enough to survive this crisis without throwing billions out of the window with no guarantee it will do any good. Is it really a terrible thing for Canadians that political parties make some sacrifices with less subsidies in a time of crisis? Is it really terrible for the country as a whole that the government gets some form of cost certainy and stability for a few years during this crisis without having the spoiled puclic sector employees with already great job security going on strike every other week (didn't people applaud the NHL for getting their cost-certainty during the lockout)? Again I'm not a big fan of the Conservatives... but I don't think they have done anything since the election to warrant a coup d'état...

People hate Sean Avery so much that everything he says and does is interpreted as so much more than it really is. Like the Martin Brodeur "embarassement"... players and coaches are ready to do just about anything to win, especially in the playoffs, some target a player they know he's injured (ex. the Bruins last playoffs against Komisarek), some actually try to injure other players like Stevens hitting Lindros and Kariya when they had their head down, some fake injuries and in the past some players even drew their own blood to draw a major penalty, heck some players even fight each other (something that could send you to jail if you did in a street or a bar)... but THE MAJOR embarassement in hockey is a guy waving his hands in front of another, something that was within the rules at the time... It's really amazing... I mean the Flyers, especially Hartnell, spent the entire playoffs physically and crashing into goaltenders on purpose... but one guy waving his hands was the one who was completely ourt of line... If a nice guy like Mike Komisarek jokingly said that Jarome Iginla was dated his sloppy seconds, there would be one line in the Journal de Montreal with an exclamation mark at the end, and it would be described as a miscellaneous humoristic fact... but it's Sean Avery so it's disgusting, degrading, derogatory, and merits a lifetime ban from the NHL... I'm not really trying to defend what Sean Avery does... but this whole thing is absolutely ridiculous...

A dress code is one thing, in fact many companies impose one to their employees, but the NHL is completely out of line by suspending a player from refering to his ex girlfrinds as sloppy seconds. Besides if anything it reflects on Sean Avery's image (for better or for worse), but doesn't really reflect on the league. He wasn't involved in some shooting, he didn't hit his wife, he wasn't managing illegal cockfights, he wasn't caught with kilos of drugs, he wasn't tested positive for using steroids.. he made a harmless joke about his exes, using a common expression we hear often in the media... who cares... Heck Martin Brodeur cheated on his wife with his sister-in-law, isn't that worse? If the NHL is so concerned about the image of its players, why didn't they suspend Brodeur? Shouldn't the Montreal Canadiens fire Guy Lafleur as ambassador for lying under oath to the court? Should the Canadiens have not retired Patrick Roy's jersey because he ordered his son to assault an unwilling player standing over 150 feet away? Is this what the CH wants its members to project? How does "sloppy seconds" become the number 1 story throughout the NHL... yes this reflects poorly on the league, but it's its own fault for blowing an unsignificant comment out of proportion...