Sir_Boagalott

Thx, that was a nice article for sure. Its too bad, he was a really good goalie but he needed to play on the right kind of team for him to be successful. Ironically I strongly beleive the Habs are the type of team he would thrive on. Potvin almost always stopped the 1st shot, it was the rebounds that killed him. He needed to be on a team that was defensive minded enough to always be the 1st to any rebound or he would be in trouble on the 2nd or 3rd shot. I was the laughing stock of my office pool in 2000-01 and all my coworkers thought I knew nothing about hockey. I had the best laugh though because I actually won the pool in the 1st round. I was the only person who didnt have the Wings in the Cup final. They all still said I knew nothing and that it was pure luck. I won the following year too and wasnt asked to play again. Sore loosing Laff fans but that kinda makes a pool easy when over 1/2 the people have Lafs in Cup finals every year. It had been a while since Potvin had success so everyone assumed Potvin career was done but LA was a team that was really good at being the 1st to any rebounds so Felix that Cat was back that year. LA had several injuries that year and picked up Potvin late in the season so the team that went into the playoffs were actualy much better than its rank. Plus the Blake trade didnt hurt either. Whatever happened to Deadmarsh? He was another big reason LA won and he basically did a dissapearing act too.

I Bourque at the idea of giving a best offensive forward award but I agree that the Defensman are McInnising out and should have another award for most offensive Dman. I'm not fan of Gretz either.

rotffdtslmfao O'Byrne isnt the 1st rookie Dman to cost the Habs a game and he sure wont be the last but it is most likely the worst. I want to see O'Byrne in the next game get 12 mins with Markov and another 12 with Hammer. He needs to regain his confidence asap before this really gets to him or it could ruin him. He needs to get over it and forget it and the only way to do that is to play well and that wont happen on the bench. The AHL isnt an option, he's been there done that an needs real NHL experience and with Komi out now is the time. It seriously doesnt matter if the Habs lose a few games because of O'Byrne. Its not like the Habs will miss the playoffs by 1 point because of this game.

I wouldnt trade Steen + Coliacovoitis for Wellwood and the Laffs gave him away. Its hard to say who won this trade now and we will have to wait and see how they work out with there new teams. The only upside to the Laffs that I can think of is Stempniak shoots Right and theres not many of them and if he can get close to 30 G regularily the Laffs might actually win this trade. The Blues will be a power house soon enough anyway and Steen is a good shut down guy and the Blues needed one so its hard to say which team is better off.

Good game even though they lost. They showed determination and will tonight. Something thats been lacking for a while now. I figured we would be dissapointed tonight anyways because the Habs dont seem to win win many home games when theres a ceremony. They played a lot better than I thought they would though. I totally agree and its because he was getting good minutes. BGL will only be as usefull as they are willing to play him. He really gets paid to much to be there just to fight. BGL needs more ice time for his salary otherwise its a waste. I really want to see him on the 1st line with Koivu and Tangs. I know it kinda sounds ridiculous but did you see him around the crease tonight? BGL can create quite a fuss and draws a lot of not nescessarily needed attention because he isnt a high scoring guy that requires 2 man coverage. On a line with Laps and Kosto it isnt as effective as it could be. Koivu and Tangs are way more talented and likely to score if left wide open when BGL is getting double teamed around the crease. On several occaisons tonight Bos was tripple teaming BGL but the Habs didnt have the right linemates out there when that was happening to capatalize on it.

Personaly I would like to see O'Byrne and Gorges getting 20+ minutes a game when Komi is out. The Habs might lose a few games but who cares they will make the playoffs regardless and thats really what matters. Theres no need to play themselves out trying to be 1st overall. Might as well give the rookies the most opportunity possible and be seeded a bit lower lower and be well rested for a long playoff run instead of burning themselves out trying to be 1st.

I agree with most of what your saying except I would say it like this: As late as we have someone who can take his spot, that's exactly where he needs to go. Come crunch time from how he is playing right now I definitely wouldnt want him on the team in the playoffs. However like others have said he's been in AHL for several years already and he is learning a lot more in the NHL with the Habs than he ever could in the AHL. Like it or not for his progession and the good of the Habs he needs to stay in the NHL for as long as possible this year. At the trade deadline or slightly before that send him down. Hopefully it wont need to come to that because he might have learned enough through this season to have improved enough to consider playing him in the playoffs. O'Byrne really needs actual NHL experience and the regular season is the only time that is possible. This season is different than most years because the Habs are so talented they will make the playoffs regardless if he is or isnt with the Habs. I've got a feeling that I'm not the only one who wouldnt mind seeing the 1st seed Booins playing the 8th seed Habs. Well probably more like 3rd and 6th, but the point is Habs dont need to be 1st and they would probably be better off not being 1st. The Habs dont have any major injuries yet but they do have O'Byrne. I think he was refering to Gorges and Lats. Carbo was also probably speaking in general like going out and signing another elite player (like Gaborik, Sundin) but is handcuffed because of the cap.

But they are using Lats. Like some have suggested Lats isnt that usefull standing beside the net. Lats isnt a physical prescence around the other teams goalie enough on a regular basis. BGL would get lets of attention standing near the other teams goalie being a screen and just causing a general disturbance. Opposing teams would probably have both Dmen wasting their time dealing with BGL leaving Tangs or Koivu wide open. Lats might be able to do that, but he doesnt and wouldnt be as good at it anyway because BGL is a larger bigger screen with a lot more power. Plus the best part of trying that line would be when the opposing teams dont like BGL being that close to their goalie and are foolish enough to try to do something about it and BGL gets to beat the crap out of em. Theres no instigator penalty if they are pushing him 1st.

I agree but why not play Kovy with Lang? I know not many will agree with playing either Kosto, Begin, or even BGL with Tangs and Koivu but those 2 are so talented it shouldnt really matter who the 3rd guy is. Plus a larger more physical guy would suite their styles and open more room for them. Lats kinda fits that role, sometimes when he wants to.

w0w, its aboot time somebody finally agreed with me on that. I said that all through last year and all summer long and everybody always says keep Kovy, Pleks and Andrei together because Kovy had 80 pts last year. Who cares though. Whats more important, Kovy hitting 80 or Higgs, Pleks and Andrei each getting 80? I know which I would prefer. Besides out of the 4 Kovy is the only 1 who has the pure talent to be able to get 80 pts on any other line. Its true that 1 player cant cause a slump but 1 player can still make or break a team. The Habs arent playing bad because Kovy isnt putting up points. The Habs are playing bad because Kovy isnt putting in 100% effort. If Kovy was giving 100% and pointless the Habs would be doing better. Dont forget that Kovy is almost the Captain of this team and the young Russians especially look to him for leadership and idolize him. When you see your idol out on the ice making puppies you cant wait to jump over the boards to get out there and start making puppies of your own. Laziness is contagious and all the young Habs are learning from one of the NHL's best.

Thx for being smart. No clue why some people think BGL should have gone after Ruutu. Like Neil wouldnt have gone after Koivu while BGL was serving his 5 mins. You cant have the largest guy on your team going after the smallest guy on the other team. Thats a recipe for disaster. Say if the Habs were playing the Wild and Koivu bumps Backstrum I dont think anybody on the Wild would expect Boogaard to beat Koivu up. Heavyweights cant go after welterweights and if they do then its game on and anything and everything becomes fair game. The Habs are a lot bigger now then they used to be but they still arent considered a tough team so at no point should the Habs go around instigating riots. Its not in their best interest to do so because they wont win. No, no, no. All of the best sh*t distibers are small for a reason. i.e. Tucker, Avery, Ruutu. Its because when another teams finally does something back to any of these players their entire teams gets put into attack mode because a larger player attacked one of their teammates. Whatever BGL would do to a player while stirring the pot do you really think the other team will take it out on BGL, or do you think the retaliation would be against 1 of the Habs top players. Seeing how everybody is afraid of BGL its guarenteed the retaliation wont be against BGL for whatever action he might do. BGL has be careful, I am sure he is well aware of this. Regarding the Stewart clip, ya, I have seen Lats drop a guy with 1 punch too , but he sure isnt a tough guy. Trade BGL, Habs have Lats.

I have noticed that too. The Panthers game made me aware of that problem and fearfull of it. Other teams will be watching every game the Habs loose with a lot of interest to see how some teams managed to shut the Habs down. The Panthers were highly agressive on the forecheck and the Habs offense became non existent. A more experienced 4th Dman should also help with this. This year the thing that annoys me the most is that whenever Habs have the puck in the offensive zone, and the other team is moving the puck out of their end nobody wants to step up and check the guy. You dont need all 5 guys back to stop the puck carrieir in your own zone. Also you shouldnt have all 5 players skating the same direction. 1 of them should step and and approach the puck carrier. If the player that steps up cant successfully get the puck away from him than one of the close by trailing back checkers should be able to strip the guy of the puck and by that time the rest of the Habs should be out of the offensive zone ready to go back on the attack. I had the same complaint last year but the Habs definitely have improved this year by not rushing back to their own zone when the other team clears the puck but there is still a lot of improvements that can be made.

I was going to say the exact same thing. Its been mentioned before and it would be a really good idea. Is Desjardins still under contract with the Flyers? As for anybody in Hamilton being the guy, no way its the same problem just with a different player. The Habs need a Dman with experience who is used to the regular pressure of being in the NHL not to mention when the playoffs start.

I agree that its odd apparently only 3 of us saw that. I guess only you, JeanLucPilon and I saw Higgs get that goal. Lang didnt score it.

You did say give up "some youth" but the cost will be more than just 1 player and more like at least 1 current prospect + high picks or 2 prospect + med picks. The cost will be high to pick up a top Dman and the new NHL is a helluva lot different now than it was in 99. Saying what Bob did pre-prelockout for Dallas doesnt mean much now. Besides Dallas was trying to win the Cup once and that lone Cup win made their franchise. I highly doubt Bob would risk the Habs being able to be a perenial contender over the next 5 years to win the Cup just this year. Well even slightly better is better. I think a veteran journeyman Dman would be better than Gorges or OBryne because they would have more experience. Like somebody suggested in another thread if they were an opposing teams forward they would dump the puck behind OBryne everytime because he rarely comes up with the puck. A veteran Dman would have a lot more confidence with the puck and experience in situations like that so it would take that possible strategy away which in itself could be really big improvement even if Gorges/OByrne = Klee/Richardson type. I think Dandy should be given a few games to see how he does because I beleive with his experience he would be better at being targetted than OByrne.

Exactly. I could see Bob picking up a journeyman veteran Dman like Luke Richardson, Ken Klee, or even Chelios. I doubt its going to be any of those 3 but somebody similar thats been around a long time and has played in quite a few playoff series. Gorges might not be there quite yet but he has 40+ games to get there before the trade deadline so there isnt any rush. I agree that demoting either Gorges or O Bryne could be determental to their progress so they should be given most of this season to improve before making any moves. The only positive thing about making a move like this now is it would be cheaper now than at the trade deadline. Nobody wants to give another team what they desperately need at the deadline for cheap.

On HNIC after the game Cherry showed why they were after Grabs. Grabs butt ended Price in the nads when the 2 were jostling around his crease.

How much $? j/k lol On the replay from the side view you can see Higgs take the puck off Langs stick. Higgs was the last 1 to touch the puck. The Laff D didnt send Higgs flying for fun. Lang would have scored anyways, but Higgs stole the puck off him.

Hahaha, nice 3 down 4 to go.

I agree on that 1 reply Higgs did knock it in. Lasng was in the process of scoring but Higgs was there and was the 1 who knocked it in.

2 down and 5 more to go, c'mon Habs you can do it. So far its been a typical Laffs Habs game. The Laffs generally outplay the Habs at home but still end up loosing. Sure the Habs were outplayed, in the 1st. I'm sure they will wake up again tonight at some point.

There is one slight problem with that though. Nothing can ensure a Cup, nothing. Look at the majority of teams since the lockout who traded a lot away for players at the deadline. In most of these cases the players the teams got made no significant difference that year and most flew the coup as UFA's that summer. Bob must be well aware of this and wont give up lots to get anybody. All I can see him doing is picking up a decent aging veteran, no all star caliber players.

I just have to say the Pens Caps games are interesting more for the Ovechkin/Malkin rivalry than the Ovechkin/Crosby rivalry. Ovechkin has a serious hate on for Malkin. In the last Pens Caps game A.O. was literally taking runs at Malkin at every possibly opportunity. The feeling seems to be recipicated by Malkin. It looked funny as hell the way they were going at each other like cats and dogs. I guess its because they were both drafted 1st and 2nd and several top Russian hockey people made comments that Malkin is probably better even though A.O. was drafted 1st overall. The Russians have a huge problem on their hands with those 2 because by the way the go at each other I dont think they will both play for Russia at world events. It would be a hard choice having to leave one of them off the team. I semi agree with what Semin said but I dont think Crosby sucks by any means just he was over hyped for a long time. The Hawks have 2 young players who are great to watch and arent that far off talent wise from Crosby, Malkin, & A.O. but neither of the Hawks were hyped up anywhere near the level of those 3. I cant wait to see Crosby and Semin rivalry now next time they play.

I agree but would say played above his head. I think a lot of people grossly underestimate Biron. Biron almost set the consecutive start win record several seasons ago and the only reason he didnd is because Ruff benched him because Miller was back from injury. During those 14 consecutive wins the Sabers were missing Briere, Drury, Campbell and their 4th best player. I still say Biron > Miller Take away 4 of the best Habs and lets see if Price can win 14 consecutive starts. Good luck. Biron is a lot better than most people think. Even look at the Flyers. The year they got him them were a .200 team, and instantly when they got him they were .500 team after that. The Flyers went from winning 1 in 5 to 1 in 2 and it was basically all because of Biron. Flyers just made a trade to get another dman Carle so I highly doubt they are blamming Biron. I still say NJ should try to get Aubin off of Philly. They have had great success in the past with exLaff toss away goalies. Scwabb worked out great for NJ and I bet Aubin would to.

Thats not what I mean. If Ballsillie owned them and was about to move them the NHL could force him to give up the Habs and take the team that would have to be moved to Montreal instead. If the Blue Jackets had worst attendance/profits etc instead of there being the Kitchener Upper Canada Habs and the Montreal Fluer de Lies Jackets it would remain Montreal Canadiens with a new owner and Kitchener Upper Canada Jackets with Ballsillie now owning them. Ballsillie owning the Habs or the Laffs could do whatever he wants. Niether city can go without a team so the threat of moving these teams would force the NHL to finaly allow a 3rd team in Ontario. The only way to stop him would be to do what I suggested and not allow Ballsillie to move an original 6 team by giving him an alternate team in his desired location instead. Plus if he did buy the Habs he would probably move the AHL team to Kitchener. If the Bulldogs could pull off really high attendances over period of time maybe the NHL would allow a 3rd team in Ontario. However Ballsillie is probably the only person who has that kind of resources to pull it off anyway.