Sir_Boagalott

too bad Sergei, that was close.

woot woot, Sergei!!!!!!!

I love that Lapierre has figured out that its not a race to the goal line.

Begin, now theres 3 hits in 3 secodns, all usefull and effective.

Sweet

jeebus, that sux0rd, was that ever close.

Most plays where BGL controls the puck like that it usually lead to a PP because the other teams gets frustrated and the pen arent necessarily on BGL either.

See BGL in the corner controlling the puck like that, he is fairly decent on PK too if they ever play him on it like the Oilers used to.

Sergei is looking good on the PP thats for sure. I see the Habs PP ranking rising with him on the point.

hahaha, they are cheering the refs for calling a Sabers penalty.

Hhge save, who was that Gorges?

Trivia Q for the Gui hits lovers: Where was Gui on the Sabers rush they scored on?

D'oh. Buff does have the best announcers of any US teams thats for sure. I just dont like listening to the 1 guy when the Habs play Buff.

I agree and would also like to know why he said that. Definitely sounds like he knows something the rest of us doesnt. afaik the reason given for not signing Dumont was Bob preferred to give a roster spot to a prospect who wasnt NHL proven and who never came close to matching JP stats and that wanted 1 mil more than JP which isnt a reason at all. Not to mention Perezhogin isnt even in the NHL right now. :puke: Even A.Kosts hasnt matched JP stats and he makes more than what JP would have accepted. Its impossible to name a UFA who is a 30 G guy that would sign for less than 3 mil.

I agree with your concept and thats why several years ago I said the Habs had to ditch Bulis, Zednik and Ribs. However now with the cap ditching Koivu &/or Kovy probably isnt necessarily the best idea. I've been saying this for a long time now that Bob seriously needs to start contract negotiations during the season. Depending on what either are willing to sign for should be the determining factor if they stay or go and he needs to know this before the trade deadline or they loose players who arent comming back for nothing. I've also been saying this for several years now to and Bob really needs to start doing it: Anybody who wants to play for the Habs should be allowed. Note: I dont mean the whack job Theodore poke checked either. I mean any good decent players who are willing to accept less than market value should be seriously considered especially if they are of French origin and even more so if they are actually from Quebec. I fully understand why Gelinas isnt a habs right now because Bob had signed Kosto just a few days before Gelinas contacted him but theres actually no reason what so ever why JP Dumont isnt a habs right now. JP only wanted 2=2.5 mil/yr and he get 55+ pts/yr. Lang puts up similar #'s but he makes 4 mil, not to mention that if Habs had signed JP than theres the possibility that Grabs would still be around or Bob would have had enough cap space (1.5-2 mil more) to match other teams offers in the UFA bidding wars with players he really wanted, like Briere. Seriously every team that is a true contender every year has multiple players who make way less than they would on the open market. Thats how to do it in a salary cap environment. Next year the Habs can actually take full advantage of this because there will actually be multiple roster spots open which can be filled with players who are willing accept less than they are worth to make their childhood dream come true and play for their favourite team. I beleive thats one of the primary reasons for the Sens destruction. The Sens are paying several players way more than they should make and it destroys the team. Look at TB same thing, paying 3 or 4 players half of the cap. The Laffs are almost the same thing only they were never as good and they paid shittier players elite player rates to players who absolutely loved playing in T.O. Why would anybody pay players who dont want to play anywhere else above market value. Its just dumb.

So whats the secret identity of the Habs player who was wearing number 84 anyway? and where did they get the life like mask of Gui's face? It looked so real that I almost thought it was Latendresse. The other week Babcock had a great quote but I'm not sure if it was regarding Kovalev specifically or just player slumps in general. I tried to find it again because it was brilliant but I wasnt able to find it anywhere. He said something like "highly skilled players who are slumping try to overcompensate by relying on their great skills even more but it will backfire on them because its their skill that is failing them and they end up trying to hard which will always make it worse." Babcock is totally right. Players that are highly skilled and slumping need to go back to the simple basics but instead they will often try even tougher moves which dont work out and only frustrate the player even more prolonging the slump. Its hard to do something when you are trying to hard and then that will lead to desperation and more failure and complete lack of confidence. All of these things are highly self destructive no matter how skilled a player is. Kovalev needs to simplify his game and stop trying all the fancy dangles and turning over the puck so often. He also needs to stop trying the drop passes and behind the back passes to nobody which end up going over the blue line putting everybody offside or they go directly onto the oppositions stick and they are off on an odd man rush. Kovalev needs to keep it simple until he gets his groove back a regains confidence and then he should start trying to do his infamous Kovalev highlight reel moves.

I recently read an article about that and you are absolutely right. The Habs have the least amount of players signed for the least amount of money so they definitely will have the most cap space out of any team. Also like you hinted at the league revenue with the recession we are in right now is projected to actually drop next year. The Habs will have the most cap space and the UFA's wont be able to command the huge salaries in which Bob refused to pay out the last 2 years. The Habs should be in great shape because teams wont be able to make offers like Bob will be able to so if there are any bidding wars on players Bob wants he should be able to win them this time. M-A Bergeron is a UFA next year and I bet Bob could sign him for a decent fairly low contract so I'm not sure if Dandy or Cube will be back. Paccioretty and D'Ags could both possibly be 30+ G scorers so even without any of the Habs UFA F's they could be in really good shape. Not to mention that playing more young F prospects will save even more cap space so Bob could probably target the best UFA Dman thats available for 7+ mil and actually get him.

True Lats is 2nd on the Habs in hits but Jason Blake was at the top of the NHL in shots on goal last year. Sure all of Blakes shots are all shot directly at the goalies logo, but its the stats that count right? Saying Lats is 2nd on the Habs in hits like its some great thing is just silly. Over 80% of Lats hits are late, way behind the play, put him out of position and are for the most part highly ineffective. But he's 2nd. Woot Woot!! Lets all celebrate that the Habs have the best wrastlers in the NHL. Hooray!! I think Lats primary problem is that he doesnt know when to use his size and in a lot of cases how to use it. When the other teams Dman makes a break out pass and theres an odd man rush heading at Habs end its probably a bad time to finish your check when you have to go behind the other teams goal line and hit the Dman in the corner. In the game last night Lats had a great chance to finish his check and hit a Dman right before the other teams blue line but the dman passed the puck and instead of finishing his check Lats just turned up and headed towards centre ice. Sundin and Burtuzzi are both big guys and are almost the same size as each other yet the 1 bowls people right over and the other one doesnt. Lats greatest attribute is his size and he rarely uses it effectively or to his advantage like most other big guys do. Lately I have found out that Lats has a hell of a shot, who knew. It took me 3 years to see him let one loose once. The majority of Lats goals I've seen he was within 10' of the net. Lats needs to play with way more heart and use his size to his advantage like he did last night every bloody night and not just a couple of times a year. I dont think that I would say that Lats plays at 80% 1/2 the time.

Your comming to bizare conclusions that I never said or implied. Markov and Komi play how much? 25 mins/game? So therefore it must be impossible to play Markov + Gorges 25 mins and Komi + Hammer 25 mins? Thats a huge disadvantage because Cube and O'burned only get 10mins? Jeebus, wheres my head at. You completely missunderstood my point aboot Gretz. Gretz in LA had the exact same shot as he had in Edm. Its true. All Gretz other skills were the same too. They at no time decreased because he played with pylons. The majority of players Gretz played with all had carreer high stats. Gretz probably could have easily banked in 20 goals off Dean Semenkos head in a season, that doesnt make Semenko a 20 goal guy. This is true with all players at all levels. Are you going try to tell me its harder to score when your at the right side of the net and the G is hugging left post if your linemate can pass the puck right on the tape of your stick? Than with a linemate who can only pass the puck in your general direction? Of course you will score more goals when your linemate can pass you the puck right on the tape of your stick every time. With Dman its a bit different but same principal. You learn better hockey sense playing with linemates who have lots of it. It will rub off on them, they just need to see it to learn it. oh, thats how you do that, or nice move, etc. Plus inexperienced Dman are kinda shaky in the NHL. Playing a young Dman with a vet is great because then they always know what a safe decision is. i.e. pass the puck to the vet, he'll know what to do with it.

Well unless a #1 & #2 D paring are playing 60 mins a game that theory is deeply flawed. Last time I checked hockey was a team sport. 1 line doesnt win championships, just like 1 great D pairing wont either. One could argue that but the argument wouldnt go for long unless they are really stubborn. Gretz played on a all star team in Edm and was a 1st ballot all star every year. When Gretz went to a non all star team that sucked in LA, he was still a superstar and a 1st ballot all star every year. Talented players in hockey always make less talented players better, always. Gretz inferior teamates in LA never dragged him down to an under 20G season. It just doesnt work like that.

Quite a brilliant theory. The Sens are real smart putting their 3 top forwards on 1 line so I would see why people would want Habs 2 top Dman in 1 pairing. Its so smart. Its not like any teams 2-4th liners wont run roughshad over all the other Habs D pairings. Any Dman playing with a realy good Dman will play better. So the top 2 make the top 2 better? Why not put the 1-4 & 2-3 together because then it'd be more like 1-3 and 2 2's, but ya, that'd be dumb.

I have never wanted to see Markov & Komisarek together. No clue why so many people want to put 2 eggs in 1 basket. It would be better to split them up. Theres little point of having 1 really solid pairing when you can have 2 semi solid pairings.

K, might not have been 6 in 6, but he was avg 1G/game for a few games when they 1st brought him up. Then they sent him down and reuined his confidence.

Exactly, look at what happened to Lappierre. He had 6 goals in 6 games and was rewarded by being sent down. Now almost 100 games later Laps has only got 7 more goals. D'Ags should stay up until his production drops. Habs cant keep rewarding their youngsters great NHL play by sending them down. Its a huge step backwards. With so many UFA this summer the Habs need to be taking steps forward. Habs will need high scoring youngsters next year to replace the high scoring UFA's who leave.

Hmm. Bergeron would definitely work, he has a decent shot from the point + he's been traded several times for 3rd picks so if Bob can get him for that it would be worth it.