Canajun

Poor li'l Koivu... that man has the worst luck. Hope it's not serious and he's back soon. In the meantime, there'll be some lineup juggling. Doesn't look like Begin will be back for a game or two anyway. I'm thinking this: Ribeiro moves up to to play with Ryder and Higgins. Bulis switches to center and remains with Kovalev. Kostitsyn (I hope) gets added to that line. The other 2 lines stay the same. They've been playing well.

Tough loss tonight boys. We played pretty good actually... had good jump for 5/6 of the game but ran into a hot goalie and some opportunistic Sabres play. Anyway, it's clear to me that Perezhogin is not doing much of anything out there... he really isn't. He's not very creative and doesn't really make much happen. I'd much rather see Kostitsyn in there taking his place. I was really impressed with the kid the few games he played... he's got some nice skills, he can create scoring opportunities out of nothing. Come on Bob, do it.... Perezhogin is pretty much dead weight right now and it's dragging down that line. We got nothing to lose.

I've noticed he was never quite the same since the McLaren incident. I don't know if he's lost confidence or feels emasculated or what. He needs to challenge McLaren to a fight, seriously... whether he gets the crap beat out of him or not, he needs to do it to get past it. I was hoping to God he woulda did that in the last game against San Jose, but he didn't. He's just not the same player anymore... too bad. He seemed like he was on the verge of really busting out with the 8 points in 4 playoff games just before the McLaren clothesline.

He's bound to get traded sooner or later... seems like he's just lost his zest for playing for the Habs...but who could we get for this guy? A player of similar ability/potential.... I'm gonna make a couple of fearless predictions on it: From Minnesota - either Pascal Dupuis, or (yikes) Alexandre Daigle. I'd sooner Dupuis. or Bob ships Zednik back to Washington for Jeff Friesen.

I didn't forget about him... he's there on Scoring Line # 3 ! The one I DID forget about is Dagenais.. intentionally! :puke: Canajun

Guys, we have a very very good team here... Julien just needs to make a few adjustments and adopt a bit of a different mindset. I think we could be on the same level with Ottawa, if we just organize ourselves correctly. Gone needs to be the traditional mindset of "2 scoring lines, a checking line, and an 'energy' line". Where is it written in stone that that has to be how a team's lines are organized? While we don't have a line that can really compare to Ottawa's Heatley-Spezza-Alfredsson (no team does, frankly). But I feel we have more depth and balance up front than the Senators. I would suggest utilizing 3 scoring lines and 1 "shutdown" line and rolling these lines consistently, giving each line adequate minutes and spreading out the attack. Unleash wave upon wave unto the opposition - we can do it, and I think it would work. Let's look at my proposed lineup and compare to Ottawa's: Zednik-Koivu-Kovalev : Scoring line # 1. It has all the elements needed - playmaking, snipers and the combativeness/toughness/grit provided by Zednik. Not quite on par with Heatley/Spezza/Alfredsson though. EDGE: SENS Higgins-Ribeiro-Ryder : Scoring line # 2. I think Higgins is a very fine fit with this line. Gives it needed speed, grit, good skills and some defensive awareness it sorely needed. Ottawa's 2nd line I believe, is Havlat/Smolinski/Fisher. With the exception of Havlat, not a really huge deal. I'd give a slight edge to our line. EDGE: HABS Bulis-Bonk-Begin : Shutdown line. Once Bonk gets going it gives us a nice mix of great defense, a bit of offense and some toughness in Begin (I think the shutdown line needs someone like Begin to keep the opposing team's scoring line on their toes). It's a toss-up compared to Ottawa's checking line of Schaefer-Vermette-Neil (is Neil on this line, or the 2nd line? Anyway...). I'll suppress my natural bias, be conservative and call this one even. EDGE: EVEN Perezhogin-Plekanec-Sundstrom: Scoring line # 3. Turn the kids loose and let them show their skills.... I think they can do it. Throw in Sundstrom and you've got a bit more playmaking in there along with fine defensive play and good work along the boards. I'd take this line over Ottawa's 4th line of McGrattan-Kelly-Varada ANY day! EDGE: HABS On defense, you have to give the overall edge to the Sens, I'm afraid. EDGE : SENS. In goal, once Theodore gets himself together (which it appears he is doing), I'd take him over an aging (but still good, mind you) Hasek. EDGE: HABS. All this being considered, there's no reason why the Habs can't handle the Sens, and any other team in the league. No reason at all. Julien just has to re-tool a bit... all the players and ingredients are there, just use them right. Spread the ice time around for our lines: Scoring line # 1 : approx. 17 mins per game Scoring line # 2 : approx. 14 mins per game Scoring line # 3 : approx. 10 mins per game Shutdown line : Needs to be out there against the Spezza line, so it'll probably get about 19 mins per game. (this is based on a 'perfect world' where there is no PP/PK time and we split up 60 mins worth of icetime. Of course this would be different...but you get my drift). We have the depth, we have the potential for a nicely balanced attack... let's USE it! Let me hear your thoughts boys. Canajun

Hi BigRedC.... Glad you got a sense of humor about my little post, was only a joke! I've been to Turku back in 1999 when I went to Finland on a trip of drinking for a week. It's a really beautiful city. Was most of the time in Helsinki, but also made side trips to Lahti and Vaasa. Then I went to Finland again in 2002 as part of a cross-Scandinavia tour with some friends (more drinking). I love Finland... for some reason I feel really at home there. Met a girl in Vaasa who has some family in Thunder Bay... she said there's lots of Finns out in that part of Ontario. That makes sense cause you've got towns out there named Finmark, Lappe, Kakabeka Falls, and Suomi. Cheers Canajun

Thanks! hehehe, "Hellu Numminen". good one

if you find you have an upset stomach after a nice big Jussi Markkanen, you should try an Antti Laaksonen.

Garth Murray??? Is Houle back in charge again? Canajun