Sir_Boagalott

I agree. I didnt find this game overly boring either. How could it be when there was 70 shots. Both goalies played great and stole several goals and the score should have been much higher. Sure it wasnt a constasnt fast paced back n forth action but it was still a decent game to watch. This game does scare me though. I bet the majority of teams that are planning on making the playoffs will be watching every minute of this game. The Panthers 3 man forechecking routine completely handcuffed the Habs and I bet a lot of teams would love to be able to do that to the Habs. The Habs better learn to over come agressive forechecking teams because I have a bad feeling that more teams will start playing the Habs this way.

w0w, thats Halak playing. :| Took me a while to realize that. I saw 3 great saves and just figured it was Price. Nice, Cube is back. Its aboot time they played him at F. I've been wanting to see that since last year. I hope he does really well so they keep playing Cube as a F. Sweet pass by Markov to Koivu.

No doubt. Huge props to Laps on that entire sequence. It should have been a nothing play but Laps was able to keep the puck closer to the blue line and away from the Bos player and it turned into a goal. Good for Laps for being the one to score it, he totaly deserved it for turning a nothing play into something. Great job!

The Habs really know how to do ceremonies. Though I was kinda bummed aboot all the drunken peeps standing in front of alot of the Ring of Honor pictures. At first I didnt think Bouchard knew what was going on but when they rolled him out and he saw Lach he light right up. That was awesome. w0w, nice one Laraque. That was wild. I dont think I have seena fight before that when they go down to the ground and have the other player pick them back up and keep fighting.

No team has the time or the resources to scout every available player at any and all draft positions to be able to make the best decision for any given pick. Dont forget that there is a general consenus as to who should be picked where and every team doesnt need to scout this out for themselves. That simply isnt possible. For example I highly dont think Timmins or any of his underlings have scouted Tavares at all. Theres no real point because the Habs wont be in the bottom 5 teams and if they do miraculously win the lottery and get 1st overall (2% chance) they will just go with the general consenus and pick Tavares. Also dont forget that the Habs dont pick like you said at all. The Habs pick the best player at that draft position, not the best player at that position that they actually need or the Habs wouldnt have Price. Like the Habs needed a goalie. That was why the entire room gasped in shock when Bob announced they were picking Price and Pierre McGuire made his infamous racial slur slip of it "being right off the reservation". Yep, for sure. The only player that I might argue the Habs should have drafted instead of Price would be Kopitar. Thats it. Kopitar fits the bill almost perfectly for the big power Centerman that the Habs have needed pretty much since 93. I do think that the Habs should actually start drafting the best players who they need instead of just best player at that draft position. It would really make more sense because the Habs have had the same needs for a long time and nobody is interested in just handing over the Habs another Cup. Instead of looking for a non existing trade partner just draft what you need yourself.

Sounds really bizare and highly unfortunate for his family and it sounds like it could have been completely avoidable which makes it so much worse. No clue how they could have revived him if they didnt have a defibrillator. After the Jiri Fischer incident I beleive that almost every arena in North America (Canada at least) now has a defibrillator on site to save a life when something like this happens. I dont mean pro arenas either but normal public arenas. Jiri Fischer will ultimately save a lot of lives here in Canada anyway. With all the high salaries in Russia all the Russian players should all throw in and buy defibrillator for every arena in Russia. A portable defibrillator costs about $1000, under $2000 anyway. They cant let this tradgedy happen again.

True enough. Pouliot and Brule were supposed to be the 2 best French players available at the original position that the Habs were supposed to draft in. However the Habs lucked right out that year and actually moved up the maximum amount possible in the draft lottery. There were really 2 winners in that draft lottery. The Habs probably didnt give it much thought of who to pick at 5th overall because they would have never expected moving that far ahead in the draft lottery. They might have been forced to select Price because they might not have known that much aboot anybody else at the higher positions because they never thought they would be able to pick from them. It probably caught them off guard drafting that high that year. I consider Roy to be a lot better goalie than Hasek. I have seen Roy make way more real saves than Hasek and Roy with less snow angel saves than Hasek. I hope S.K. keeps it up. Its starting to look like S.K. might be the Habs Datsyuk/Zetterburg late round jem of a find and was an absolute steal drafting him in the 7th rnd 200th overall. Lil A.K. should start tearing it up soon I imagine because S.K. is making a machery of him if he doesnt turn it up a notch. I'm sure he doesnt want his lil bro razzing him aboot it.

Yep, thats right it was 87 when the pre game brawl happened. They recently showed quick highlights of that series on one of the vintage hockey chanels I get. I had always thought that the Habs won that series but they actually lost it. Either way it was an instant classic game for sure. Personaly I would love to see the opposite of the new DVD box set thats comming out in November. i.e. the Habs 10 worst moments. When did Lemieux get on all fours and bark like a dog? That had to be the funniest and wierdest thing I have ever seen in hockey. If they do ever do a Habs 10 worst/most embarrasing moments that would have to be on it.

I totally thought you were joking when you said that. I was shocked when the Habs played the Sabers and Rivet was wearing the C. If the Sabers make the playoffs I wonder what Rivet will do to his team this year.

I messed up my vote and voted for biggest rivals so I picked Leafs, Bruins. I change my mind for most hated though. Most hated cant really be the Leafs because the Habs havent played the Laffs in the playoffs since I used to sit on my great uncles lap. Similar with Bruins. Habs play Bos more frequently in the playoffs but I cant remember any series that Habs lost to Bos. Probably sometime in the mid 90's, not really sure. Habs always seem to beat both of them easily so I dont really have a reason to have a serious hate for either of them. The Flyers however are quite different. I can think of several series that they have beaten the Habs and same goes with Cannes. I especially dislike the Cannes because they are one of the silly southern US teams. Personally I dont think there should be any US teams south of the Mason Dixon line. Colarado is the exception because it actually snows there. I would much prefer that the Cannes go back to Hartford. No clue why Betman is infactuated with silly southern US teams. Why not put some teams in northern states? like GreenBay Graters? There are other teams that I dislike but they arent really much to the Habs, like NJ. Their style of play is pretty boring but there hasnt been enough playoff series in recent memory for them to be near the top of the list.

Wamsley01 I agree with most of your post. Top shelf on every goalie is a weakness. A perfect shot will make any goalie look useless and most of these perfect shots happen when the golaie is on his knees and the shooter nails the top corner almost hitting the goal post. Shots like that will go in every time. i.e. lil A.K.s shot tonight. I dont think Biron had any clue where the puck went, except that it was behind him from everybodies reactions. Personaly I dont really consider Hasek that good because nobody seems to ever shoot the puck high on him when in close. Hasek usually just flops around and has the puck slid right to him. It happens so often its uncanny and everybody seems to be in awe of his skill but I think its more like constant luck somehow. I dont think any of us could lay in the crease doing snow angels and have the same results. To score on Hasek you only really need to get the puck 16" off the ice, no top corner rerquired and still not many people scored on him. Gilbert Brule & Benoit Pouliot though? What aboot Kopitar? I still kinda wish Habs drafted Kopitar because insanely Halak looks almost as good as Price and no team really needs 2 great young goalies. It generally only causes problems and 1 will be let go for cheap because every GM knows Bob needs to get rid of one, adv everybody but Bob. Plus Kopitar is basically the large power forward the Habs have despereately needed for over a decade. Price will be great though. I agree that the Flyers arent really tough they are primarily a team full of goons. The last minute and a bit of tonights game was literally musical chairs as to which habs was going to be run over at the buzzer. Lats just had shitty luck. Larauque is only 1 guy. All the Habs need to stick up for themselves and need to win fights convincingly. So far this year it looks like the Habs will have the best wrastlers in the league again. Thats why I say Bob should have signed lil A.K. to a 10 year $40 million deal!! Well till he is 30-31 anyway. It might sound crazy but in 3 years he will be a $6 million+ player possibly up to 8+ in a UFA biding war in just 4 years. Everybody thinks I am insane when I say that except BTH. I've said it before and I will say it again: the Kostitsyn bros could actually get more points with the Habs than the Richard bros if Bob can keep them in Habs uniforms for long enough.

I could see that comming at the end. The Flyers made several cheapish hits in the final minute. Its truely looked like they were out head hunting on every Habs player that was near them. I wish Lats had have given it to him though. There is little point in fighting unless you floor the guy. They wont stop any time soon unless the habs player hands them their ass. I wish Kosto had have dropped the gloves and beat on the 1 Flyer when he hit Price in the head with his stick. Kosto just pushed him a bit and got a roughing penalty. Crazily S.K still looks better than his brother.

Yep, that is good news, but I'm not jumping for joy yet. I still say Bob screwed up big time with lil A.K.'s latest deal and the same reason why will continue to happen with the soon to be UFA's too. Bob is just too reluctant to take any chances with signing players to long term deals. To me a great deal on lil A.K. would have been a $40-45 million contract for 10 years with a $30-35 mil for S.K. After all lil A.K.'s current contract ends with 1 yr left till he is UFA and by that time it will be well known he is worth over double what he makes now. It is highly unlikely that he will sign another multi year deal at that time for less than what he is worth and he will probably only be a habs for that final year before he hits UFA and tests the open market. Kovy is a wild card and who knows what will happen with him. Pesonaly I think thats all up to Kovy. Kovy says he loves Montreal and has no plans to play elsewhere so will he put his next contract where his mouth is? I am hoping he does and accepts a huge pay decrease so he can stay where he wants. Kovy is a well seasoned vet and has made a small fotrune in his career so far so he truely doesnt need to marry for money. The big question is will he say "I do" for love?

Well apparently in the Betman years you dont even have to have money to buy a team, you just have to say you do. Its not like the eggheads at NHL HQ will look into it. Way to go Boots!! The Cap dropping would be interesting and problematic. I wonder how that would work. i.e. players who have multi year deals for maximum amount today and have the $ amount written into their contracts. If the cap drops wouldnt it be a breach of contract? I dont see the cap dropping by any large amount anyway. The US meltdown will only increase the already crazy high % that the Canadian teams generate. Over half the league revenue is from the 6 Canadian teams. i.e. instead of 60ish% it will be 75-80%. But Canada still wont be allowed to get another team.

Ya, I'm stunned aboot this. A couple of years ago NJ considered naming Broduer their Captain but didnt. Why? Because its useless. A teams Captain has responsibilities and duities on the ice that have absolutely nothing to do with being the teams "leader". By naming a Goalie to be Captain a team has effectively made their team Captainless because Goalies are banned from doing any of the on ice responsibilities of a Captain. The Nucks just hurt their team by choosing a player who cant even do the job. It really makes no sense. Whats next? The Oilers make Joey Moss their Captain because he is such an inspiration to the team? Seriously though, what would be the difference? Neither can physically do the job.

hahah, wow did that ever confuse me when Lats scored. I missed the first minute of the 2nd preiod and was wondering what game the announcer was watching when he said it was 3-0. I predict it will be Begin who gets traded because there probably at least 1 GM who wants him. Dandy doesnthave enough value. The only way I could see the Habs dumping Dandy is trading him to the Laffs. i.e. Dandy and a 6th round pick for the Laffs 7th round pick.

Somebody smoked Ryder (Boullion I think they said) and the crowd errupted. Am I the only thats pissed right off that hardly any of these games are on TV? Its stupid, of all the teams in the entire NHL why doesnt the Habs have more preseason games on TV? I get more and more pissed with every game because every bloody time I look for the Habs games I cant find em, but do you know what games I always can find? The stupid Laffs games and thats on NHL centre Ice. wtf, whats the logic in that. Why does NHL centre Ice pick up all the Laffs games when they are already on Laff TV? Not to mention of all the years for RDS to play all the Habs preseason games how in the world does this year not qualify? :puke: Its utterly mind boggling.

Lats cant be demoted now, its illogical to suggest it. None of them can, especially S.K. I think MaxPac > Lats tho. Lats doesnt seem to give 100% 100% of the time and I think MacPac's 100% will be 110% of Lats and MaxPac will be doing it 100% of the time. I cant wait to see how Lats does this year but I would also like to get to see what MaxPac can do too. In order for this to happen 1 of the vets must go, not 1 of the youngsters. I think Begin is a good as gone.

In another thread it was said that both Lats and Laps have to clear waivers to be sent down. I think anybody who says S.K. should be sent down is absolutely nutterz. Lil A.K started to take off last year when S.K. was brought up. The bros clearly have a strong sibling rivalry going on which drives them to always want to out do the other. This happens even wen they are on different lines. It would be crazy to split them up on different teams. I always said that I wanted S.K. to play the full year last year and was thrilled to death when I heard they had brought him up. For the same reason I wanted S.K. to start the season last year is the exact same reason why MaxPac has to this year. Look at all the really competative teams now and you will notice a pattern on pretty much all of them. They all have multiple prospects who have bipassed the AHL entirely. Players who went straight from Junior to NHL or fastracked through college etc. This is highly required for several reasons. The game is faster in the new NHL and most of the older vets cant keep up to the kids. However the most important reason is that the kids only make $450-850K so it creates a lot of cap space so a team can actually aquire more and better UFAs. Too bad this isnt possible but in theory if the Habs could dump Begin, Dandy and 1 D (Brisbois or Bullion) and bring up MaxPac, Dagostini and Weber they would easily have been able pick up Schnieder and still pretty much have same cap room left as right now. Having 3 young kids can basically get any team 1 more quality journeyman vet. That line up would be sick.

The link works, its just not a clickable link. test: lefanduch blog w0w, no kidding. You joined here in Dec 06 and this is your 1st post. Dont be shy, there is always the French section if you dont want Koivu to understand you.

Expansion does and did water down the talent, that is true. However thats not entirely the problem. Heres why - you have to think of it this way: If the NHL is so waterdown now because of expansion than wouldnt it be even easier for there to be another Gretzky or Lemieux etc because the top players would still be the top players and be made even better because there are that many more shitty players to deke out and dangle around. Yet nobody has every came close to getting 150+ points in a season since then. Expansion only makes the gap between the top players and the average guy larger and that simply isnt the case or there would be more players with 100+ points not less.

Kozed makes an excellent point. The more teams there are the more the talent is watered down. However I dont think thats the sole reason of whats happened with todays NHL compared to 80's etc. I watched a lot of vintage NHL games this summer and I am pretty sure I have figured it out. It has absolutely nothing to do with clutching and grabbing. It truely doesnt. Just watch vintage 80's Oilers vs Flames/Jets and Habs series. There was actually lots of clutching and grabbing during that high scoring time period so how can that be the problem? The people who say its the size of goalie equipment are kinda onto something but are only half right. Its actually everybodies equipment, stop kidding yourseves. Seriously take alook at Shanahan when he has his jersey off. He's used those shoulder pads for an eternity and there isnt 1 piece of hard plastic on em at all. Nowadays all the positions wear nothing but huge ass hard plastic gear. Elbow pads never used to be solid either. The equipment today looks more like football equipment than hockey. With all this huge gear on it makes players slower. It cuts down their mobility too. In the 80s if you were to elbow a player in the head your elbow would actually feel it but today there is very slim chance that you would hurt your elbow. Not to mention all the hard plastic does way more damage to the persons head than the older completely soft elbow pads ever did. Now ther other part of the problem is obstruction and I dont mean what they are calling today. Its ridiculous. Just look at the Cheezicannes run to the Cup. All they did was have their D accost players and get them on the ice and use them to block the other teams shots. Thats simply not hockey and would have never been allowed in the 80s at all. Its bunk. Now look at the Ducks and Flyers. Barreling at the oppostions goalie at 100 MPH isnt a legitimate hockey strategy either and yet thats how they found thier success. If you tried that crap in the 80s it would be goalie intereference every time. Players used to be able to stand out front of the other teams net without being mauled and now its totally acceptable for some useless reason. Thats the real obstruction that actually needs to be called and cut down on along with incidental contact. Today players are constantly making contact when the puck is nowhere near them and every time that happens it should be an obstruction penalty. Thats what makes the NHL a pro league joke. No other sport is dumb enough to award points for loosing. Thats what the shootout is for, so there a definitive winner in every game and a looser. There is no bloody tie so why would you give points for something that doesnt exist. Its brain dead. Bettman is turning the NHL into the WWE. Soon there will be pyrotechnics from the goal posts whenever there is a goal and strobe lights and a disco ball go on.

I was always under the impression that Bob was way to fair with signing and trades etc but clearly he totally screwed SJ. Max Pac does indeed look NHL ready right now. Not sure how or who he will replace but something should be done to get him on the team ASAP. Maybe there will be a trade in the future to make room for him or is it to late to buy out Dandy? Sweet save by Price but I doubt its the save of the year. Its definitely the save of the preseason for sure though. Dont forget that Huet last year made a couple of similar sweet stick saves like that too.

No kidding. I saw at least 3 blatent penalties on the Wings and I dont think they've been called for 1 yet. The high stick was so obvious on the habs player when the Wings were on the PP. It totally should have been called to make it 4 on 4.

broken bone in his back my ass. Savard was back in what like a week? 2 at the most. A lot of these incidents are the direct result of the NHL not doing anything to crack down on these kinds of things. Most of these things could have been completely avoided had the NHL had taken any action at all but they refuse and leave it up to the players to police themselves and yet the NHL wont drop the instigator rule. Its so stupid. The schedule did change afaik, I think there is now 84 games iirc and every team plays every team at least twice.