CerebusClone

He might replace Dandeneault as the guy who can play both the defense and forward positions, although he's not particularly good at any. A decent depth player who can provide flexibility, while in his case not costing us nearly 2 million per season.

Ideally the starting defense should look like this next season: Markov-Komisarek Hamrlik-O'Byrne Gorges-(Weber/Carle) However that's only assuming Ryan O'Byrne gets back on track, and keeps moving forward from that point. Otherwise a deal should be made unless we feel that both Carle and Weber are NHL-ready, however I don't think the top 4 (including Gorges) is strong enough to take that risk. If we resign Bouillon, it should only be for one season to provide some stability... but I would expect him to want at least 3 years, and I'm sure he could get such a deal elsewhere.

And once the Montreal Impact gets rid of all those Mexican teams, they'll be off to take the title away from AC Milan at the FIFA Club World Cup Beware Liverpool, Real Madrid, and Sao Paulo, the Impact is coming...

The problem with this is that Francis Bouillon is... Francis Bouillon. A hard working fan-favourite who's been in Montreal for quite some time. If we resign Bouillon, he won't be a reserve defenseman, and Carbonneau will end up playing him 70+ games. The Canadiens, assuming we resign Komisarek, will have four solid proven regulars in Markok, Komisarek, Hamrlik, and Gorges. I think this is enough to break-in some younger players, including Ryan O'Byrne who despite his struggles this season has the tools to be at least a solid #5 or #6. Then we'll have Carle, Emelin, Weber, and Valentenko all with pro experience, and McDonagh, Subban, Fischer, Stejskal, and a couple more coming in gradually over the next 2-3 seasons. I agree we'll need to find at least one veteran defenseman who will accept the role of 7th defenseman, but I don't think it should be either Bouillon or Dandeneault (once again playing a lot this season while guys like Chipchura are wasting time in the minors). Besides I think these guys will be looking for a top 6 position, at least Bouillon anyway, both have been complaining when scratched from the lineup (which is ok, and why we need someone else). There are plenty of Brisebois and Todd Simpson like players out there who are just happy to be in the NHL with a winning team.

Funny, I feel more like Kovalev's season last year was the exception. For most of his career I think Kovalev has looked a lot more like now than last year, a amazingly gifted player who is at times spectacular, but who just doesn't get the job done on a consistent basis.

There's a difference between signing as a UFA with a team somewhat early into the season (he should be with the team for more than half the season) and being dumped like garbage by the team you spent almost your entire career with just so they won't lose you for nothing. Some players may not care, but he deserved the right not to be treated like livestock.

I disagree that this roster would be a bottom feeder - as a matter unless no one steps up (always a possibility with so much youth) I think they should qualify for the playoffs - however I do agree with your general point that this is not the team we should go to war with. My point was that the Canadiens will have a strong base with a lot of room to maneuver, therefore Bob Gainey will be in a fairly good situation (including the fact that we'll have good young players and procpects in case we want to make a significant trade). If you add a couple proven leaders in that group, we become contenders. We don't need to resign anyone besides Mike Komisarek. That doesn't mean they don't need to be replaced, but none of Kovalev, Tanguay, Koivu or the others are bringing strong tangibles/intangibles we cannot live without.

Actually I think the Canadiens are in a great position for next season. Even without signing any of our upcoming UFA we still have a full lineup filled with some good, young, and talented players, and almost all of them would have had some NHL experience by then. It would like a little bit like this: Pacioretty-Plekanec-A.Kostsitsyn S.Kostsitsyn-Maxwell-Latendresse Higgins-Chipchura-D'Agostini Stewart-Lapierre-Laraque Markov-Gorges Hamrlik-Weber (Emelin/Carle/Valentenko)-O'Byrne Price Halak Now unless some of those players emerge as strong leaders over the next few months, this is not quite a serious Cup contender, but still a fairly good and competitve team. The best news is that even after signing our RFAs, I estimate that this lineup would cost us about 37 millions, giving us plenty of cap space to add some quality depth/reserve players as well as a couple of good veterans to make us a legitimate contender. Thank you big-name UFAs for rejecting all our offers!!

First, last I heard he hasn't signed for the league minimum, nor is he he rumored to be. Second Vancouver is not New York, it's one thing to accept less money to play in such a great city like New York, but unless Sundin is looking for ski resorts (if he's even allowed to ski) or to play in episodes of Supernatural, Vancouver cannot compete with the fine dining, theatre, and culture Sundin said he's looking for. EDIT: sorry, I though you were talking about NY vs Vancouver...

The Flyers spent the entire post-season crashing the net despite the presence Brashear and Laraque. What's Laraque going to do, try to fight Hartnell 25 minutes after he crashed into Halak... probably just to see Hartnell decline and walk away because he has nothing to gain from getting beat up by BGL? Goons are pretty much useless if they can't play regularly, or if they're not trusted to.

It seems pretty obvious that Mats Sundin wants to play for the Rangers... maybe that's what he wanted all along... but the problem is that they just don't have the available cap room. It's all about Michal Rozsival and his 5 millions, the others are either key players, or have low, relatively insignificant salaries. I don't see how this is a lack of class, Sundin has earned the right to free agency by wasting several years in a poorly managed Toronto organization, and doesn't want to be stuck for 2-3 more years where he won't be happy because he doesn't need it, and is past the point of his career where it's all about making sacrifices. If things don't work out with the Ranegrs, retirement would probably become a very strong possibility.

Nothing to worry about, Carbonneay talked to the players for 7 minutes, and asked them to work harder. That's ground-breaking, dynamite stuff! We see why he was nominated for the Jack Adams, we can't lose this one

It remains that Mats Sundin in Vancouver could turn the team into a contender, especially if he signs in the immediate future to give Vigneault enough time get the team playing like a well oiled machine. The lineup would look a little bit like this: Sedin-Sedin-Hansen Wellwood-Sundin-Demitra Burrows-Kesler-Bernier Ohlund-Elder Bieska-Mitchell Salo-O'Brien Luongo Basically the Canucks would have 2 great scoring lines with the Sedins and the Sundin/Demitra duo, one great checking line that can also score goals, a very strong and proven defensive squad, and perhaps the best goalie in the game in Luongo. With the many Swedes on the team, the big contract offer, the Olympics thing (whatever), ad the fact that the team should be very competitive, it seems like a perfect fit.

Just a few corrections here: What I said was about Pauline Marois, not sovereigntists. I have nothing about the movement or the idea of Quebec becoming a country (although I won't even consider the way it has been presented and proposed so far). I have sovereigntists in my family, and we have some very interesting, educated, and friendly discussions about the subject. However I despise Pauline Marois, and I would be very scared if she became the leader of my country to the point I would seriously consider moving elsewhere. Although I disagreed with them on several issues, I had a lot of respect for some of the previous PQ leaders, for example Bernard Landry. Also if you read my initial post carefully, I didn't connect those dots for wanting immigrants to learn a little of Quebec before they become citizens, but more with the underlying idea of wanting to remove some undesirables (i.e people who finance the Liberals and/or people who usually are against separation) in order to achieve her own vision of the Quebec nation. If you are going to prevent a anglophone from voting just because he doesn't speak French well enough, why not do the same with some dumb francophone who never passed the 8th grade, doesn't speak a word of English (besides yes, no and toaster), doesn't know much about history of Quebec let alone the rest of the world, and therefore can't be expected to vote intelligently and knowledgeably? Isn't that why Bill 195 would prevent someone from voting, because they can't possibly know enough about what's happening here to make an educated vote? Finally I wouldn't say this implication was serious. I obviously would never put Marois and Hitler in the same category, and do not believe she would ever do anything even remotely as horrible as what happened during the Nazi movement. I do however believe that Marois is a close-minded, ultra-conservative bigot who makes Harper look like Jack Layton on some issues.

Those coaches were simply victims of the reconstruction process, and they just didn't have the ressources to be truly competitive. Still I think we played relatively well under them considering the skill level we had, and I think they got great results/efforts from those players. Also if you're going to put all your faith in the head coach, and stick with him no matter what happens on the short term, you better make damn sure that coach is worthy. I'm not saying that Carbonneau is or isn't worthy of such trust, just that it's something to consider. Finally if you feel that the team is not playing well, and not up to expectations, you can't constantly protect both the general manager AND the head coach by putting all the blame on the players. All the players in place were selected by the GM, and the head coach has the responsibility to get the most from that group. If there there are genuine problems within this team - in other words if this is not simply a bad stretch that the team is going through, and will learn from to get stronger - then at some point we'll have to wonder whether the problem are poor decisions from management and/or the coaching staff.

So very true... then Latendresse will get a hot streak, and be labeled a young superstar in the making, a bonafide and natural 40+ goal scorer. Then he'll be heavily criticized for not reaching those unrealistic expectations, and called a lazy good-for-nothing bum that we should trade away before his value goes down.

Now that's a lot more insulting than being told to be more like Lucic Latendresse is completely different from Dagenais for one simple reason: he's working hard, is willing to listen, and isn't blaming everyone but himself for his stuggles. He's struggling, but willing... Dagenais blamed pretty much every single coach for not giving him a fair chance... including Mike Keenan in Florida even though he played for a while on the first line with Pavel freakin' Bure (and if I remember Victor Kozlov at centre) because they wanted him to be the next late-blooming Bertuzzi. He also blamed Julien even though he was given a lot of opportunities on the second line with his junior buddy Ribeiro, as well as on the powerplay.

Carbonneau didn't say Latendresse nees to become Milan Lucic... he said that Latendresse needs to be more like Lucic by being more involved (i.e. less passive), a bigger physical presence, and score goals. In other words Carbonneau wants to see the player the Canadiens signed two years ago after his second training camp, not the passive shell of his former self that we've been seen from Day 1 in the NHL. This is also exactly what Coach Sutter saw during the WJC, where Latendresse was an impressive force during the evaluation camp, was supposed to play on one of the top lines with Boyd and Bolland, but ended up on the forth line once the tournament started because he reverted back to his passive self. Could it be a case of a player sitting on his contract, giving it all during the camps, and taking it easy thereafter? I doubt it... I think the Canadiens simply rushed Latendresse way too quickly in the NHL, and he never had much opportunity to find himself as a hockey player; it has become obvious that Latendresse is struggling to find his identity, his style, and his niche in the NHL. Unfortunately for him - probably because of pride - Gainey and Carbonneau didn't fix this mistake by sending him back to the juniors after his first 9 games where it was obvious he wasn't ready, and they made the same mistake last season when he was still eligible to go to Hamilton without clearing waivers. It is not too late, he's still very young and filled with potential, but it will only get harder for him to fulfill that potential. He cannot be sent down and must therefore improve at the NHL level, the Canadiens are hoping to contend for the Cup and cannot be as patient and attentive to his needs, and progressively he'll have to fight a label that will be put on his shoulders that he was overrated and can't be anything more than a depth player (it might not be true, but once such a label is put on you, you get fewer and fewer opportunities).

Comme notre bon vieux Benoit Brunet à RDS... Je suis rarement d'accord avec Rejean Tremblay mais je suis d'accord que la qualité du francais de Brunet laisse drôlement à désirer... J'aime bien les "tu veux tu", les "Astheure" et les "té tu" (au lieu de es-tu) aussi... Le plus gossant, ce qui m'achale le plus, c'est les termes déjeuner et diner. Ce n'est pas une critique puisque c'est simplement les termes utilisés au Quebec, et c'est correct comme ca, mais je passe beaucoup de temps avec à la fois les anglophones, les francones et les Francais... et donc pour moi c'est toujours la confusion à savoir si quelqu'un veut aller manger le matin, le midi ou le soir... Oh oui et j'aime bien lorsque les francophones disent en anglais qu'ils "rape the cheese"

However these people usually speak at least English, and are fully functional members of this society. This is not exactly a case of an immigrant who comes here, and doesn’t bother to learn neither French nor English. For example my wife’s grandmother died last year, she was a 90+ year old immigrant from Italy, and only spoke Italian because she hardly ever left the house. In this case the right to vote wasn’t even an issue as she had no idea of what was happening in this province, and wasn’t interesting in voting anyway. However I have a friend who came from the Maritimes when she was a late teenager; she’s been working here for a long time now, in bars on Crescent area for a long time, and now as a real agent in Westmount. She didn’t really speak French when she came here (problem with the education system), and never really needed to because of where she lived and worked; she picked up just enough to have what we call bartender’s French, basically the strict minimum to take your order, and give you the bill if you insist on speaking French. She’s worked here for at least 15 years, has paid her taxes, is very much aware of what’s happening in this society, she owns a car, attends concerts and special events, spends a lot of money in restaurants and shops… in other words she’s a fully functional member of this society and has made Quebec her home. Even though I doubt she would pass a French examination, does it sound like someone who should be refused the right to vote… or any other right granted to others just because they speak a language that she doesn’t.

Just to get you guys’ opinion on something. Basically a few months ago people made a very big deal out of Sean Avery’s comments – during an interview with ESPN, so nothing to do with a locker-room or an official league event – regarding the inadequate marketing efforts of the NHL, and how it should spend so much efforts marketing boring nice guys like Jarome Iginla. Many called him stupid, ignorant, a disgrace and a whole lot of thing that are probably even worse than whatever he says during interviews. Today during lunch I was reading the Journal de Montreal, and found this quote from Guy Carbonneau as he responded to Pat Quinn’s comments about hockey in Quebec: « Il n’est pas vrai que le hockey junior est pire qu’ailleurs. Tant qu’il n’y aura pas de dirigeants québécois dans les équipes de la LNH, les joueurs du circuit Courteau seront moins nombreux que ceux des deux autres ligues au Canada ». In English, Carbonneau is saying that junior hockey in Quebec isn’t any worse than anywhere else, and that as long as there won’t be Quebeckers managing NHL teams, there will be fewer players from the QMJHL than from the WHL and the OHL. In other words Carbonneau is calling out the NHL, and saying that its managers are biased against Quebec players. Now regardless of whether we agree with that statement or not, isn’t just as “bad” if not even worse than Sean Avery’s comments? If a big deal was made about a player criticizing the league for its marketing efforts, shouldn’t it be a very big deal that a head coach is calling the league biased against some players? Personally I couldn’t care less, I think both Avery and Carbonneau are entitled to their opinions. All I’m saying is that if you are going criticize a player for bad mouthing the league, you should probably do the same about a head coach doing the same...

O'Byrne is actually a pretty good skater, so that's not really the problem. We know he can play some solid hockey, he played quite well last season in the last quarter, and looked like he could become a fairly strong number 4 defenseman. He needs to find his game back, and perhaps a quick trip to Hamilton once Komisarek comes back could do him some good... however he still has all the tools to be a good NHLer.

Actually we have Carle and Weber down in Hamtilton who are doing a pretty good job. Maybe they're ready, maybe not... but they are potential solutions that are easily available. Until he was injured there was also Mike Komisarek who was very successful on the powerplay before playing in the NHL, and Carbonneau never gave him an opportunity. If we're looking for a big shot, we could experiment (at least during practices) with a guy like Ryan O'Byrne. There are also forward who could perhaps do the job... but for that we would need to work on this during practices, and experiment for more than a half a game. I'm thinking that a guy like Andrei Kostsitsyn could do very well... but he hardy got the opportunity. At some point we need to identify our powerplay leaders, from new strategies around them, and give them enough time to adapt and learn to antipate each other. You can't constantly shuffle around players around, and expect them to play well just by "working hard".

On this I fully agree with you, I believe it is very important for Quebec to put all necessary efforts towards preserving and promoting the French language, starting with the education system where I believe all schools (public and private, French and English) should implement programs so that all students speak more-than-fluent French when they graduate (obvisouly francophones should master it even more). Actually to be more precise I think they should speak both French and English, rergarless of what school system they come from. And to me even more precise I think this should be the case throughout Canada. As much as I a little ashamed when I see or hear things in this province, I'm equally ashamed to see that a television host like Leah Miller on So You Can Dance Canada can't do any better than a handful of French words such as Bonjour and Oui.

I fully agree with you on this. I could say the same about the Netherlands where although not an official language, virtually everyone speaks English very fluently, and where it is not frowned upon not to speak Dutch (a expression I hate the most, as it stinks of ignorance of close-mindedness is "on né au Québec icitte, sti") . I'm actually ashamed that in this country most people don't speak both official languages (there's definitely a problem with the education system). I'm also very much ashamed - and even worried - to hear from the predominant francophone media comments such as Pierre Trudel's (used to host the morning show on CKAC until a couple years ago) where he said he was afraid about the Liberals plans to teach English from the first grade because he was afraid that his kids would get interested in the anglophone culture... when did it become a bad thing for kids to want to learn from different languages and cultures!?! I was going to add more, but Dexter is starting (I absolutely LOVE this show)... so maybe we can continue tomorrow...