REV-G

I guess he's not there yet. They sent him down today.

Very interesting observation. While we will never know for sure I think that if we had of been unable to fit all three defencemen under the cap I think it might have been Markov who would have been traded. The reason? When he was coming off those knee injuries there were a few months when I think a lot of people were seriously wondering if he would be able to recover again after missing a lot of games over two seasons. So I think given the choice as to who to keep, Markov might have been the one to go. Obviously I'm very glad that didn't happen, but if you had those three and had to trade one, it would have been a very tough choice. It would have been one of those decisions that no matter what you did some people would have been very unhappy and given what you might have got back, it could have come back to bite you no matter what you did.

I just saw some highlights of DSP and I noticed a few things [from a small sampling]. He seemed to be always in front or beside the net. and when given the chance he seemed to have good hands and be able to put the puck in the net. I wonder if he will be a larger version of Gallagher, planted in front of the net.

Last year I started a thead listing reasons why I think we're going to be successful for years to come. I want to go a bit deeper and explain a few things we're doing, that others haven't, and how that has put us where we are while others are struggling. Do you remember the words "draft smaft"? I believe it was Cliff Fletcher who was either the Leafs GM or President who said those words when he was asked by the media why he was trading away so many of their draft picks. Then when Brian Burke became their GM he regularly traded away their top draft picks and look at where the Leafs have been and where they are. Over the past 25 years it may be that Wendal Clarke may have been their one and only really successful draft pick. Today they have to dismantle and completely restock because their cupboard is bare. In today's NHL I believe you are going to live or die with how you draft. In order to be able to either trade older players because you can no longer afford them in a cap world, or to be able to replace older players as they lose some speed or abilities with younger guys, you must have young, drafted, inexpensive players developing and ready to step in at every position. And we have been doing this for a few years now. I'm not sure if it was Bob Gainey who brought in Trevor Timmons but I remember Gainey saying when he surprised everyone by drafting Carey Price, he simply drafted who his head scout told him to draft. If you look over the past 10 years, maybe not quite that long, but we now are seeing depth in our prospect pool at just about every position. And every year more are added. And it should just keep getting better and better. But there's another factor. With all the young talent it gives us some pieces to use if we need to pick up some help. And with having young guys make the team it gives us years with guys on entry level contracts which also helps us with the cap, giving us some cash to pick up some bargains. It also has helped us that Mark Bergevin has so far watched his cap numbers so carefully. When he moved Rene Bourque and Travis Moen it showed that he was looking to next years budget to be sure he had room to do what needed to be done. I think in today's NHL, to be a contender, you must get players through the draft, through trades and also through free agent pick-ups. All three ways of getting players are very important. But the draft is the key. Mark Bergevin is able to get players all three ways because we have drafted so well and have developed our players. Many others haven't and are paying a big price. I believe we are positioned for years to come to get stronger and stronger and get #25! We have paid great attention and put a lot of work into the draft, player development, and managing the cap. We should have great years ahead. What do you think?

With all that Bergevin has said about character, I have a hard time thinking he'd be even remotely interested in giving up two top prospects and our first rounder for Kessel. My guess is that Kessel isn't on MB's radar at all.

I understand that young defencemen take longer to develop than forwards, and that time in the AHL is especially important for young defence men. But IMO I believe that JT's time in the minors has been completed. I think he has learned what he can and now he needs to be brought along as some of the other young guys have. Let him play against NHL players, with their speed and hockey IQ, but protect his minutes and who he is out against and when. We did the same for a few years with Galchenyuk and Gallager. So why not do this for JT now? Someone has already stated that he is [at the worst] close to both Gilbert and Weaver, so with his size and potential why not bring him along slowly and give him a good long look. If he proves not to be up to it they could include him in a trade this summer. So for me, I think he is deserving to have a good legitimate shot in the NHL. I remember how many times Emelin was beat last year playing on his wrong side. So hopefully they will give him a really good long look and let things work out as they will.

For the past few months I have been wondering why Jarod Tinordi has spent so much time in Hamilton. I'm sure the injury from the fight slowed things down a bit but I thought in training camp he and Beaulieu were fairly even. I also thought that all reports pointed to Greg Pateryn having a bit of a down year. Yet Beaulieu has spent most of the year with us [for which I'm glad] and now this week Pateryn is the one called up when Gonchar was injured, ahead of Tinordi. I thought Tinordi had developed into a strong stay at home defenceman who was a least equal to if not better than both Gilbert and Weaver. Yet he has remained in Hamilton up until now. So where do you think Tinordi is in his development? Does he stay with us for the rest of the year and into the playoffs or is he here just until Emelin and Gonchar are healthy again? What do you think?

A key Montreal media guy told me that Montreal has no interest in Yak whatsoever.

Interesting, I just was just told by a media person who is close and very knowledgeable about the Canadiens that they have no interest in Nail Yakupov at all. I asked him if there was a possibility of Montreal acquiring Yakupov with maybe reuniting him with Galchenyuk to rediscover the magic from junior. He replied that they have no interest whatsoever. And that's from a very good source.

I didn't go back through the postings to look, and likely this has been asked before, but does anyone think, or heard, if we have any interest in Yakupov? I guess the three key questions are, could NY get his scoring touch back with a different team, like Montreal? Could reuniting him with Galchenyuk get him back on track? If we were interested what would it cost us.....for a former first round pick who has been a very big disappointment so far?? What do you think?

As we once again see the Maple Leafs packing up another 18 wheeler, ready to send it for it's annual leap off the cliff, I find it funny to listen to and read what the Toronto media says about Phil Kessel. They talk about him being one of the elite players in the NHL and one of the top snipers. If we compare Max Pacioretty and Phil Kessel I would take Pacioretty any day of the week. Pacioretty doesn't get nearly the coverage and discussion that Kessel does, but when you compare them I think Pacioretty comes out ahead. Kessel has 19 goals, 24 assists for 43 points and is minus 9. Pacioretty has 21 goals, 15 assists for 36 points and is plus 21. Pacioretty is a very good two way player, works hard and always stays in great shape. Kessel is known as a one dimentional player, who shows up for two weeks and then takes some time off for a few weeks. The nickname for many in Toronto for Kessel is "the fat kid". A Toronto media person asked Kessel a while back if he was someone who felt he should up and speak to the team and try to get guys going or if he felt he should be an example to the younger guys. His answer was, they pay me to score goals not do that other stuff. He shrugged it off and waked away. I hear Pacioretty talk of how the culture in Montreal's room is that they help each other and push one another to be better. To build a team around character guys like Pacioretty is the plan that MB has talked about many times. To build a team around a guy who seems to just have his own goals as his main priority probably will give you what you see in the Maple Leafs year after year. We went through some tough years but with the character guys that we have the standard has been set by both management and also our core and younger players. That's the way to build a team for the present and future. In my humble opinion, the only way for Toronto to make progress and end their 47 year drought is to change their core and get some guys who have character and a work ethic. Guys like Pacioretty. It may take a few years but to continue in the direction they're going is to ask for more 18 wheelers to get ready for another cliff dive. What do you think about Kessel vs. Pacioretty??

My thoughts on the coaching is that we are getting what we should be getting. If we had a poor coach then changes would have been made already. I liked MT hiring at the time and I still think he is a good coach. Not a Scotty Bowman and not a Mike Babcock, but certainly IMHO, he is at the level of most of the coaches a level below the two I just mentioned. So not a knock on MT but I don't think he is as key a component as to why we are where we are. I think the 5 points I made are the more important factors.

It's still early this season but when you combine last year with our start this year, and you compare where we are today with almost any time over the past 15 years, I think there is lots of evidence pointing to the fact that we should have a very bright future for years to come. Here are the 4 main reasons I think we are in very good shape. 1. Marc Bergevin: This certainly includes Geoff Molson, who choose MB, but the management team that has been put in place is my number 1 reason for being so optimistic for the future. I think MB has surrounded himself with a very good team and seems to have worked at building [ongoing] every department so that we continue to draft extremely well, and now we work and develop the young players with care and caution and have created a winning and positive atmosphere that seemed to be missing for so long. 2. Trevor Timmons: when you look at his drafting record, even going back to his "off the chart" choice of Carey Price and Subban and ...... the list goes on. We have a depth that we haven't had for a long time and if you look at almost every position we have both present depth along with great prospects at different levels, resulting in a very solid farm for years to come. 3. Our present core: When you look at how many players are on our team right now that we drafted and developed and when you see the core that we have of Price, Subban, Patches, both Gally's, the young defencemen and the rest of our talent level, we are very competitive with almost very other team and I think we are close to moving into the elite level. Our size has improved without giving up our speed. Maybe we're not there yet compared to a team like LA but we are getting close. 4. The Room: from what we hear from the players we have an excellent room. I think it was Parenteau who said something like he has never seen an NHL room as close and supportive as what he found when he arrived here. I think that's a huge reflection on MB and the type of players he has brought in. 5. Accountability and decision making: for lack of better words I think the accountability and decision making have been seen by the moves that have been made. MB wasn't afraid to move out popular, solid veterans who were either getting a bit older, lacked sized or were underachieving. So with changes made with Gionta, Georges, Douglas Murray, Parros, White and Borque, we have gotten bigger and I think elevated our talent level. Overall I think we are a better team this year than last. So with all of this in place, even when we hit some bumps in the road, or even if we underachieve at some point, I think we have the structure and quality in place in ownership, management and players to keep us headed in the right direction so we keep getting better and closer to #25.

I saw the Bulldogs at Ricoh playing against the Marlies Friday night and I have to admit I was surprised. Going in I thought they would be struggling because of so many first year players and I expected the Marlies to be the better team. Just the opposite. They play like the Canadiens. Fast, good puck possession, skilled, very good skaters and from my view they are playing a good system, organized and seem to be playing as a team. The reason I make that point is that I had heard some reports that the coaching was not great and they really didn't have much of a system. From a one game observance, the opposite is true. The Marlies absolutely had trouble keeping up with them. I was very impressed with Sven Andrighetto. He was dominant, stood out, very good skater and skilled with the puck. Jacob De Larose played well and Joey McDonald shut down the Marlies with key saves on good scoring opportunities. Overall I was impressed with the Bulldogs. I think we have some very good talent on the farm with a common system in place with the big team.

Just curious, does anyone know if George Parros or Douglas Murray are playing this year? Also is Mike Komisarek doing well with Carolina?

Just curious. Does Gallagher have a goal, from the shootout, or is he still listed at 0?

I hope not, for Budaj's sake. He's been a solid backup but no longer good as a starter. Let him play 15-20 games a year but tst should be it. Otherwise he may not have a good ending in Winnipeg.

How do you subscribe to TVA Sports. Is it available thru FibeTV?

Last year I subscribed to Bell ExpressView and purchased the RDS French package so I watched all the games. I live in Oshawa, Ontrio and this year things have changed with TSN losing out on the bid for broadcast rights. We now have Fibe TV but when I went to watch the game on RDS the other night it was blacked out in Ontario. Does anyone know what we have to do to see all the Canadiens games this year in Ontario without buying the NHL package??

I think sometimes there is a window of opportunity for moves like this. Certain players or coaches are only available at certain times in their careers. The good ones get locked up for longer periods of time. With coaches having a certain shelf life I wonder if a year or so from now, if we had an opening, whether a raise and a right hand position to MB or even a newly created VP position, if something like that would work?

When MB was interviewing candidates as our potential head coach and we were debating who would be the best coach for us we all had our favourite. I think at the time names like Marc Crawford, Bob Hartford, MT and Patrick Roy were probably the four frontrunners by a wide margin, given factors like experience, abilities and of course the language issue after the terrible Randy Cunneyworth experiment. All of those coaches are now in different places and, for me, I still like MT. Every coach has their own way of doing things, good and bad. And all coaches have a shelf life. But I have to admit at the time we hired MT I would have loved to have had Patrick Roy but based on what we had just been through with Pierre Gauthier and Randy Cunneyworth I can understand that a rookie GM would be taking a huge risk by hiring an unproven NHL coach in Patrick Roy, with all the questions at that time about his temperament and ability to make the transition from Junior to the NHL coaching ranks. But today those questions have largely been answered and I would love to have Patrick as our coach. Bring him home before Quebec City gets a team and he ends up there. So more out of curiosity I want to ask the question, what would have to happen for Patrick Roy to become the head coach of the Canadiens? I don't mean what has to happen on our end, that's obvious. My question is, is this even possible before his contract with Colorado expires? He signed a 4 year deal. One of the high profile French reporters intimated on Tuesday night that it was possible. He referred to the Pat Burns situation, when he left Montreal and signed in Toronto. Had his contract with us expired or did we let him go at his request? So could Patrick become our coach sometime in the next year or so if we have an opening? Tell me what you think?

Eklund is reporting Parenteau for Briere just about a done deal. IF there's any truth to this, what do you think of it?

What I can't understand is why MT hasn't planted Bourque in the press box for a few games. If they did it to DD and he has responded to some degree then why not RB? I've stated before I like MT's plan for making players earn their ice time. Bourque seems to be coasting and playing the perimeter. It's time to do something with him. I wonder if MB or MT have sat down and had a Gainey/Kovalev type conversation with him?

When we hired MT to be our coach I was not unhappy with the choice, given who was available at the time, even though back then I thought Bob Hartley would have been the best choice. Today I am very glad we have MT and not Bob Hartley and personally, given the unique situation of being a head coach in Montreal I would today take MT over most other candidates and hands down I would take him over the current head coach of the New York Rangers, Alain Vignault, who likely would be our head coach today had he been available back then. . MT's benching of PK Subban the other night in Philly is an example of why he is the right guy for us. Overall I really like his method of sitting a guy if he has done something willfully wrong. I am a big fan of PK but if Ryan White gets sat in the press box because of taking bad penalties then PK deserved to be nailed to the bench for 10 minutes after he took a selfish penalty. An example of what happens when this isn't done by a coach is what is happening in Toronto right now. I live in Oshawa and the talk radio shows in Toronto are blasting the Leafs and one of their big disappointments is the way guys like Phil Kessel are not being made accountable for his lackadaisical play. He and others who they claim is their core for the future don't just take a shift off but according to the "insiders" and radio hosts he is taking weeks and a month off at a time and they say the team has not made their top players accountable at all. They bench 3d and 4th line players but when guys like Kessel and Phaneuf make blatant errors or don't show up they just let them keep playing. I believe their system and team are flawed and they may be waiting a very long time before they even contend. So did MT do the right thing by sitting PK the other night, even though he is arguably our best player, or one of our best? Absolutely yes. Under MT I do not believe we will have a team of "fat cats". He wouldn't stand for it. I may not agree with all his decisions but I think overall he is trying to be fair and put the team, not a player, first. We are so much better off with his approach. Our team, especially our core going forward, should be hard working and dedicated to the team as long as MT is our coach! What do you think?

Just curious......has anyone heard any trade talk between us and Colorado? Eklund is saying something is going on.