Wamsley01

GOOOOOOOAL 3-3

REVERSE JINX

This team sucks the life out of me

I keep waiting for them to rip off a prolonged win streak. and waiting...and waiting...maybe tonight

right time to do it

I don't remember the last time I stopped watching a game because I knew it was in hand. Maybe the win against Pittsburgh in December at home. Did the Habs beat the Leafs 4-1 this year?

No, I am a habs fan, always will be. The point was that because this year fell apart does not mean that next year will be lost as well. The post was about how the Glass is Half Full and not Half Empty. And the Habs future is bright. Is the point that things can change very quickly not clear? that the Islanders were the butt of all the league jokes 6 months ago and added Ryan Smyth and are now comfortably ahead of Les Glorieux? Do I need to simplify my point? Right now Islanders fans are not on here complaining about the coach, the media, the star player, the GM etc etc. Who does that sound like right now? US Right now Islanders fans are happy, and we are not. But next season with the Glass HALF FULL maybe, just maybe we will be the ones smiling. It was not meant to be taken literally :

I don't buy it. So why did the Habs play better under Gainey than Julien? And I don't buy the Huet argument either. Huet was 2-3-1 under Julien and gave up 18 goals in 6 games. As far as the other succesful ex coaches, when you look at their respective situations you cannot compare them to what Carbo is doing anymore than you can say I cannot compare what Maurice and Nolan are doing. They had different players and situations. Also these players that are at fault are the players that have made the playoffs 3 of the last 4 years. I never claimed that the previous coaches were bad coaches. But players quit on coaches. Players sometimes never mesh with a coach. Carbo has not proved anything and these players have proved they CAN make the playoffs Alain Vigneault Alain Vigneault should not even be in the conversation because the guy did a phenomenal job when he was here. The 2000 team almost made the playoffs with Rucinsky/Zubrus/Zholtok/Linden/Savage/Brunet. So the fact that he is succesful with a Vancouver team that is one lockout year removed from being a Stanely Cup contender and has Roberto Luongo in net is not exactly a shock. The only players that played for Vigneault and Carbo are: Koivu, Rivet, Souray and Markov Michel Therrien Michel Therrien is succesful coaching Sydney Crosby/Evgeni Malkin/Jordan Staal/Mark Recchi/Sergei Gonchar etc etc. Sorry if I have a hard time believing it is because of Therrien. The only players that played for Therrien and Carbo are: Koivu, Souray, Rivet, Komisarek and Markov Claude Julien Claude Julien is now coaching a team that has a Hall of Fame goaltender and won the Stanley Cup 4 years ago with alot of the core still around (Elias, Brodeur,Gomez, Langenbrunner, Madden, Rafalski, Gionta, White) as well as good youngsters in Zach Parise and Paul Martin. So to attribute their success to Julien is not exactly accurate, esoecially if you are blaming the players in the case of the Canadiens. I can easily attribute his success to his players like you attribute Carbo's failure's to his players. Seeing as there are only 4 players who played for all 3 are you blaming Koivu, Rivet, Markov and Souray? Carbonneau has not shown an ability to get his players to overachieve. You can blame the players if you like. I tend to blame the coach. Your opinion may be that it is the players fault, I do not share that opinion. You telling me to trust you it is the players is not going to make me a believer. And seeing as all 4 coaches have coached different rosters you cannot really prove otherwise. The jury is out on Carbonneau, and even though the other coaches were fired...Therrien and Julien coached the crappy habs players to the playoffs, can Carbo claim that?...not yet

I am not arguing that Nolan is not a better coach than Carbo. Gainey obviously sees something in Carbo, but it is frustrating watching the Blues play under Andy Murray, the Leafs under Paul Maurice, the Isles under Ted Nolan and put forth an effort that I have rarely seen from the Habs this season. Everybody says look at the other coaches throughout the league that left Montreal and had success elsewhere...it is the players fault. Well if Paul Maurice can get a shit team that was injury plagued to play better than Guy can with a better roster....then I am flabbergasted He might be a good coach in the future, but he ain't right now.

I kind of have the same attitude, I am cheering for a miracle but am expecting them to keep puttering along like they have been for 2 months. My only fear is a 7-5 finish and 9th place by a point or 2. That would hurt!

Maybe Islanders fans would have taken their chances, but after they fired Neil Smith, hired their backup goaltender to be GM and signed an unproven goalie to a 15 year contract, would any habs fan have switched places with them 6 months ago? I sure as hell would not have!

My point exactly. To each his own. Who knows what next year will hold. Last year Atlanta, NYI, Pittsburgh all missed the playoffs and Philly, Habs and Hurricanes were in. The FLYERS were a 5 SEED!!! The Canes won the Cup, now if the playoffs started today they would be gone. Welcome to the new NHL. When parity rules anything can happen. I am willing to bet you that 5 months ago you would not have switched spots with an Islanders fan. The foundation for a contender are there. It is just not fully hardened yet. We will see.

But that is why the title is appropriate. HALF FULL The argument can be made that the glass is half full because we are over .500. HALF EMPTY The record is actually 34-36. But the Habs have received 6 point in Losses. And you can be negative that they at 1 point had a 21-8-5 record and have won 13 of 36 since. HALF FULL Cristobal Huet shut up all the critics and made the All-Star team HALF EMPTY Cristobal Huet went 5-12 in his last 17 starts before his injury HALF FULL Christopher Higgins showed he can be a premier forward in the league with his performance before his injury and has only failed to produce because he has not fully recovered HALF EMPTY Christopher Higgins has only put up 15 pts in his last 36 games and was playing over his head to begin the season. HALF FULL The Habs have one of the best farm systems in the NHL, they have Perezhogin/Lats/Higgins/Kosty/Komisarek/Plekanec/Halak/Price/Chipchura HALF EMPTY THe Habs lack a superstar prospect outside of Carey Price. Perezhogin/Higgins/Lats/Kosty have struggled to produce at the NHL level and are nice complimentary pieces but are nothing more. Personally, I agree with Bobby and I think that the Habs future is bright. As much as some believe that Montreal overperformed in the first half, they are nowhere near as bad as they have been in the second half. I have faith in Bob and believe we are closer to a turnaround than most believe. Some really nice work in the offseason can set this team back in the right direction. But with such an inconsistent season it is easy to take either a positive or negative outlook. I don't mind criticizing moves I do not like, but if Huet does not go down the Habs probably steal the 8th spot comfortably. It is all about your outlook, that is why it is a great title.

Most of the people who wanted to deal Souray do realize that it is a rebuilding campaign, which is why they are upset that Souray was not dealt. If you know this year means nothing why keep him? You can't have your cake and eat it to. It is a very passive move and the fans are getting frustrated. The difference between now and Houle's day is that this has been a rebuild for 6-7 years with 2 very good talent evaluators in charge and we have watched various reports that say the Habs have a top 5 farm system. Hoping Houle's picks would develop is much different than hoping Andre Savard and Trevor Timmins picks will. Will they? We better hope they develop or we will be telling our kids what it was like to win a Stanley Cup, not enjoying it with them.

Everything I read says that Perezhogin has a concussion. They listed him as a scratch on RDS last night from a concussion suffered in practice.

Happy with the win, but can they win a game by more than one goal please Need to get hot as 6 of the next 9 at home!! And is it just me or did Abby even see the tying goal? I pray he gets hot, but I have no confidence in him at all

Probably a good chance we will see Leighton then!!

It is true, but unlikely But you need look no further than Carolina last year. Round 1 Koivu goes down, Round 2 they get that miracle game tying goal after Jersey score with 30 seconds left in Games 2, Round 3 Buffalo loses in 7 with 2 NHL defencemen and in the Finals Roloson blows out his knee in Game One of the Finals. You want to talk about fortunate run

Unfortunately this streaky team has resulted in losing streaks.

Call me what you want, your simplistic thinking on this board saves me the need for name calling. But using your analysis, any Canadiens fan in Toronto who is 6'3" tall, 210 lbs and is born in 1973 and has green eyes must be dumb. You do not have to meet them or converse with them to come to your own conclusion because the stats tell you so. I must say, really solid rebuttal though

Signing Arnott to 6 MIllion a year??????? You think we are in rough shape now? I would take Samsonov and Ninimaa at 6 MIll this year and Sammy at 3 next year because they will be gone after next season! Arnott would have been a 4 year contract which means we would have 30% of the cap wrapped up in Koivu/Kovy and Arnott for three years including this one. I don't see Arnott making much of a difference. Sammy and Ninimaa ARE GONE after next year! Who needs 3 overrated Stars on one team. If you toss in the theory that Tavares is the ultimate goal...then I can understand. Good Plan

So all the scouts in the NHL class the draft as weak, and you are telling me it might not be weak because you have pulled stats from minor leaguers and attributed their stats to NHL stars now with the same weight/height characteristics and say it may not be weak. Call me dumb, but I think I will take 30 teams worth of scouting staffs, and 30 GMs who were trading their first rounders like they were worth 50 cents on the dollar over your comparison of Kyle Turris to Danny Heatley and Billy Sweatt to Jonathon Toews. 2006 Erik Johnson Jordan Staal Jonathon Toews Nik Backstrom Phil Kessel 2005 Sydney Crosby Bobby Ryan Jack Johnson Benoit Pouliet Carey Price 2004 Alexander Ovechkin Evgeni Malkin Cam Barker Andrew Ladd Blake Wheeler 2003 MA Fleury Eric Staal Nathan Horton Nikolai Zherdev Nathan Horton Can you imagine the gall of the Scouts to believe that this draft may be a weaker draft then the last 4! What are they thinking? They cannot possibly gather as much info as your comparative analysis. What drivel, to believe that this draft is a crapshoot with no consensus number 1. Any draft can uncover a gem. But it is not a stretch or a sweeping generalization to believe that this is a weaker draft.

We are talking about Mike Ribiero right? Take away all the other names and attribute all the success on his line to those teammates and you have Mike Ribiero had 47 more points than Simon Gagne. He outscored Brad Richards and Nagy. Mike Ribiero outscored all 3 of those players dramatically Mike Ribiero is an average NHLer at best, would you have drafted him above the 3 of those players? There are a million examples of big time junior scorers that did nothing as pros. That was a small sample of 1 Major Junior league in 1 season. If I scoured all the College, Junior, AHL scorers for the last 10 years I could probably come up with a list of 100 players who had huge seasons that you have never heard of. Corey Locke is a prime example, he will never amount to anything in the NHL but lead the OHL in scoring. And if you believe that Trevor Timmins or his staff does not either personally see allmost all of the Canadian prospects you are crazy. 1 scout attending 1 Hockey game can see upwards of 40 players. These players play in junior for 3 seasons and you think that they do not see these kids over and over. That is their job!

You use stats to make comparisons, but some kids cannot translate junior success into pro success. It is not a straight comparison. You do this constantly. It is not a true indicator of Pro Success. It is about potential, Body type, skating ability, toughness, intelligence, ability to make adjustments. Just because you dominate Junior does not mean you will dominate the AHL, just because you dominate the AHL does not mean you will dominate the NHL. Lets take a look at the 1998-99 QMJHL Season Simon Gagne - 120 Pts in 61 games NHL Career - 493 GAMES 379 PTS Mike Ribeiro - 167 Pts in 69 Games NHL Career - 341 GAMES 196 PTS James Desmarais - 135 Pts in 66 Games Jerome Tremblay - 132 Pts in 69 Games Benoit Dusablon - 116 Pts in 67 Games Patrick Grandmaitre - 115 Pts in 70 Games NHL Career For all 4 Players - 3 GAMES ZERO PTS Who the ###### are these guys? Who cares, they are Pro Stiffs 8 years ago you would have been on here saying that James Desmarais has the same Pro Prospects as Simon Gagne, Brad Richards and Ladislav Nagy. Believe it or not teams employ scouts for a reason. Do you think that straight comparing numbers for kids who are all growing at different rates, maturing at different rates and learning at different rates is the best way to assess talent?? Do you think Andre Savard and Trevor Timmins sit at home all day, go to the Major Junior Websites and bring up the stats and set their prospect list? I want to see Billy Sweatt go in on 3 shootout attempts with his whole country watching and bury 3 goals in 3 different ways. THAT IS AN INTANGIBLE. Call it what you wants BALLS, ONIONS, MENTAL TOUGHNESS but Toews has it in spades, and it cannot be measure by stats in a college league! Lets take a look at 2 familiar names and Montreal draft picks from the 1984-85 QMJHL Season Patrick Roy - GAA - 5.55 WINS - 16 Troy Crosby - GAA - 4.53 WINS - 21 Once again am I correct in assuming that you would annoint Sydney's father as a better or equal prospect to Patrick Roy? His stats were better. For every Simon Gagne there are 5 James Desmarais, that is why the Draft is a crapshoot. NUMBERS DO NOT DETERMINE A PLAYER'S VALUE FOR THE NHL DRAFT!

They are still in it. But the lack of spark is the thing killling everybody. No urgency. But all it takes is to rip off a win streak and the CUp talk will be back I am sure. THey have 7 of the next 11 at home. So it is not over yet. But somebody really needs to step up and play over their head!