C-Love

You think Samsonov is completely ineffective, playing the position he is comfortable in, so you think it would benefit him to move him to a position where he has increased defensive responsibilities as well as face-offs to worry about. Come on. The simple truth is that Samsonov is not that good of a player, he was fine in the old NHL where he could be a defensive liability but now he can't and he is having no success. He really only had 1 good year, very similiar to Theodore. Just because a guy has 1 good year doesn't mean he is going to have a great career. He was lousy the last couple of years, and he will continue to be this year, you have to remember he wasen't exactly a coveted pick-up this year, he was BG's plan D. People shouldn't expect too much out of him, as soon as they picked him up I said to myself "I hope he's good for 15-20 goals. We are a handfull of games into the season and I'm beginning to wonder if I was hoping for a bit much.

I didn't have my head on right this morning. I do believe we will be in the 93-99 range.

Couldn't have said it better. B) :hlogo:

Hopefully we will be able to be in the 80 - 90 range. Everybody else must be smoking crack.

Everyone is forgetting how injury prone a few of our top forwards have been in the last few years, there is a very good chance that Lats will be playing on one of the first two lines this year, when someone goes down with an injury. If he is playing well on the 3rd and 4th line, he will be the first to get the promotion to one of the top lines when someone goes down. If Malkin gets hurt (as many predict he will) I think it is anyone's trophy to win, Lats included.

Who will lead the habs this year in scoring? My guess is, 1. Kovalev 91 pts 2. Ryder 79 pts 3. Higgins 69 pts I didn't put Koivu and Samsonov in there because I believe both will be injured for a portion of the season....as history as shown.

Ryder started his rookie campaign on the 4th line as well. You just never know how the kid will perform, I also believe he will get extensive time on the 2nd PP unit, maybe not to start the year, but CArbo will be looking to give him that experience, and with the way our PP will most likely be again this season I don't think it will be that big of a chance. I agree that an arguement could have been made for him winning as well. Ryder helped eliminate Raycroft from the Playoffs that year, which seems to count for something by times in the NHL. If Montreal would have won the cup that year I bet Ryder would have won the Calder, I know that it is not supposed to matter but I know it plays into voters heads.

He probably wouldn't do that to come to Hamilton and travel game to game by bus. I'm sure he would want some kind of guarantee of a one way contract before this happens. That is why I was wondering where his development was at. I figured if he is as good as a lot of people have been saying he would be over here, much the same as Malkin.

That's what everybody said last year about Crosby. He also has to stay healthy, his shoulder seemed to collapse this preseason pretty easy. I will hazard a guess that he doesn't play even half of the season this year due to injury......however if he does play a full season, I'm sure he has it wrapped up as well.

From that quote, would it be safe to assume that if there was a transfer agreement then he would be playing with the Habs this year? I was kind of under the impression that he was still a couple years away from being an NHLer.

I haven't been following other teams that much this year and I am boycotting the various Forcaster magazines, so i don't know who is out there for rookies this year, besides of course Malkin. So let's say Malkin can't stay healthy, if Lats can get 50 points this year maybe he will contend for the Calder. Who else is out there for rookies right now? As I write this other names are coming to my head like Kessel in Boston. Anyway it's something to think about....however I realize the odds are pretty unlikely.

Actually our farm team will be worse off with Traverse. This guy is awful, but you will have to watch him for a few games in Hamilton to realize it I suppose. Insurance is supposed to be something that helps you in case of disaster. The only way I would see him helping us is if he was the guy taking the players sticks and giving them a pat on the back as they come into the dressing room between periods...however they already have that guy and there is no way that TRaverse is ousting him from a job either. Anyway, it's done and overwith now, he is Hamilton's problem for now. I'm sure he won't last there either.

I think we're forgetting the obvious here, the goat in Montreal is always a French Canadian. So with that said I think Lats could have problems this year, because they seem to be rushing him along. As for who I think SHOULD be the whipping boy, Bonk, if for nothing else besides his salary, but if we Huet doesn't shine he will begin to take a lot of heat as well.

My question now is who is going to fill Ribs spot at center? We were short in that catagory to begin with.

Ditto, I seem to remember this same conversation last year as well. We didn't keep him up then and he went back to Junior and was very ordinary...at best. IF he really wants to make the team, he needs to go back down to junior this year and shine, play like he is too good for that league, which he didn't do last year. He was invisable in the World Junior tournament. This is the national stage where people should be watching him and saying "Man that guy is going to be a star in Montreal, why is he not playing there now?" Read above, he does have great camps, but you don't want to move him along too early. From last years play he has proved that another year in Junior won't really hurt him. It's not like he burnt up the league last year. I say, another year of grooming will only improve his skills and awareness. Sorry..

If he plays for the club this year, you will see exactly what he will cost us. This guy is a serious liablility. And before you say, "He can't be that bad, he is an NHLer", remember that he is not an NHLer, and hasen't really played since he left MOntreal the first time, and is a subpar defenseman in the AHL. This pickup is the equivalent to the the Oakland Raiders signing Jeff George this offseason, and belong to a Raiders forum as well and like you and many others there was people on that forum that tried to say the exact same thing as you are now, trying to put a positive spin on in. However the fact remains the same in both situations, it tells their fans how weak they are at the QB position, just as this tells us how weak we are at the D position. I don't think anyone gave up on the season, but I think a lot of us are starting to realize that Huet NEEDS to play as well as last year and we need to pile in a bunch of goals every game or we are in trouble. Yes he can, and he passed on Traverse which opened the door for BG to pick him up. Perfect, couldn't have said it better.

Yes you are the only one who feels this is a good backup plan. He is cheap and expendable because he is not an NHL defenseman. It is something to be worked up about because it tells Habs fans where we are depth wise on defense. You're right, it can't hurt to have extra depth. The problem is you don't understand what depth is. If you have a guy that is costing you goals and wins on a consistent basis and does not contribute ANYTHING positive you are not a depth man. I could sign a small contract with the Habs, which would be the same as Traverse because we would both hinder the team,....but I guarantee that if BG signed me, there would be some people on this forum to say, he knew what he was doing, and to just relax. Again, it's not depth, unless it helps your team in some way. Using that logic would assume that if we signed Lebeau, Petrov, Ivanans, etc, etc wouldn't be bad, because they give us depth. If a player does not contribute because he is not good enough, he makes your team worse, not better. Depth means that a player can step in and 'hold the fort' so to speak. Traverse can't do that. I think he has only player a handfull of NHL games since he left Montreal. He is undoubtably one of the worst defensemen to ever play in the NHL, how is that a good depth move? When I look for depth I look for quality not quantity, this guy adds absolutely nothing to this organization.

I would say before Morenz was around Newsy Lalonde was a huge star. He was known as a game changer, and was nicknamed the 'flyin Frenchman'.

Saku will be fine, I believe he has another 4 years left in him to produce, whether that is on or off the ice is yet to be seen, but I cannot see BG trading him ever. He will retire a habs and probably continue his career after hockey with the organization as well a' la Yzerman. He is old time hockey with loyalty, and I think that will be rewarded as long as BG stays on top. My only hope is that he get to hoist the Cup before he retires.

Couldn't agree more. I wonder if BG sees the obvious comparisions between himself and Higgins. I think there will definitely be a time when he is wearing the C.

If you are patient and diligent, you can get a cheap jersey on ebay, I have gotten 1 for $50 (no name/number), and a Koivu jersey for $89, but it took me a long time. If you keep your eyes open and check out second hand clothes stores, you can really luck in. I found a Naslund jersey at a local thrift shop here. He was my favorite player as a kid and I picked up the jersey for $5. Go to second hand stores and tell the clerks to call you if any jerseys come in.

Canes fans have nothing to worry about, they won the cup last year. They should be good for at least 4 or 5 years. Habs fans on the other hand have a good reason to worry. I stated at the beginning of the summer, that we should have went after Luongo, and I will state it again. Huet is a second rate goalie, he always was and he will continue to be this year. Last year he played way over his head because he had nothing to lose and got hot. We did not improve our team enough in the off season, the two moves we made are improvements over the two we got rid of, but it's still not enough to compete. Wait and see. I notice a lot of people are already starting to see the reality of the situation, who were saying we would win the cup this year, before preseason began. Remember we have been icing basically our starting lineup plus contending prospects....the same prospects that all you guys wanted to play for the habs this year instead of going after established free agents. You got what you wanted...enjoy..

Dumont, Chara and Shannahan would come for free, because BG would have just needed to sign them, costing them nothing personnel wise. With those pick ups, he could have dumped the above mentioned players for draft picks. I don't see this being a fantasy at all, Dumont would probably have come to Montreal for under $2 million, Chara at $3,724,000 and Shannahan at $2,280,000. - $2million for Ribiero, - $2,394,000million for Bonk, -$1million for Perezhogin, -$2,128,000 for Souray, -$1million for Perezhogin. Those numbers seem to match up pretty well, now that's if Sportsnet has their salaries right. http://www2.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/players/ I know one team probably would not have been able to sign 3 of those players, but we all know that we could have signed Dumont and if BG would have upped the anty, he probably could have gotten Shannahan, he just wasen't willing to spend the $. All I'm saying is that it could have been done, or something could have been done to sure up the team a little more then he did. I guess we'll just have to wait and see how they do with the young guns, I just hate listening to people complain every season about losing and finishing 8th or 9th, this is what you want. During the off season people seem to be content with the direction of the team, but once we start the season and begin losing, the talk is always about how we didn't do enough in the off season. Very frustrating.

I'm quite surprised people are now talking about Latendresse making the team, since only last week everybody who saw him in the prospects tourney was saying how terrible he was, and couldn't even keep up with the kids, how would he be expected to make the big team.....I hope it's not because he banged in a goal in one preseason game. From what I have been hearing this off season Grabovski is the #1 choice for a kid to steal a spot on this team. I have yet to see him play, but I have heard nothing but good things about him all summer.