REV-G

I think this has been a series, at least for the past two games, where Philly has been on the receiving end of some very lucky breaks, in fact I think more than usual. I think the last two games the better team didn't win, the winning team got the breaks and a few lucky bounces. We have had Biron beaten cleanly and have hit at least 4 goals posts. On Monday night Higgins had a wide open net but the puck bounced over his stick. Markov then hit the post. The first two goals on Price last night both hit someone or somthing and changed direction and that was the only reason those two goals went in. Otherwise it's one nothing for Philly going into the third. If Montreal plays on Wednesday like they did the last two games, they should win. This isn't sour grapes, I genuinely think we have been the better team. The shots last night and scoring chances, where the Candiens were way ahead, both support this reasoning. Habs in 7!

I think that's a pretty classless picture you put up. You totally disrespected Briere, his girlfriend and the Kots brothers. Keep your discussion to hockey related matters. Even hockey players have boundaries they all abide by and you just blew it big time. I think you should be banned from this site for posting that kind of garbage.

I think many people have underestimated how important Saku Koivu is to our team. To me, Higgins was almost invisible in the games that Koivu missed. But as soon as Koivu was back it seemed that Higgins came alive and scored and made things happen. He was a threat. Koivu seemed like a warrior. He skated hard, hit, blocked shots, made plays and he made Chara not just focus on Kovalev. In the two games that Koivu played in against Boston he had 3 assists, 0 penalties and a plus 3 rating. Personally, I don't know if we would have won game 7 without him, because with him we had two dangerous lines that could score anytime. I think he proved how important a part of this team he really is. Even though Kovalev scores more, I think Koivu is the true leader on this team. Carbonneau's line changes turned out to be huge and paid off big time. The Kots brothers were amazing with Plekanic between them. But with Koivu playing the way he did, the scoring chances were spread out and that made it difficult for Boston to deal with. I think Koivu is one of those quiet hero's who gives and sacrifices and is indispensible to any team, but especially ours right now. I'll be fun to see how those two lines do against Philly. Montreal in 6!

While watching the Canadiens defence I have been impressed with the development of young defenceman Josh Gorges. So I couldn't help but wonder who, today, we would rather have. The experience of Rivet or the youth and potential of Gorges. Craig Rivet is 34, played in 74 games this year, scored 5 goals, 30 assists, was plus 3 and earns $2.470 million. Josh Gorges is 24, played in 62 games this year, scored 0 goals, 9 assists, was even in plus/minus and earns $495.000. My choice would be Josh Gorges. Craig Rivet looked tired last year and I think his time in Montreal was up. Over the next year or two he'll probably start to wind down his career. Gorges is young, looks fresh and eager and not afraid to hit. I think we have a developing young defenceman with lots of potential who could be a top 6 defenceman in the coming years.

I think I disagree for this one reason. Gainey probably anticipated the Canadiens climb from mediocrity to above average, and I would guess that even he is surprised at how they have done this year. Anticipating a lower draft postion I believe he has substantially improved his scouting department knowing that they will need to pick even better in order to find the hidden gems when they draft later in each round. Teams like Detroit and others have drafted lower but have still been very effective in drafting great young players. So with the success and improvement of our scouting department I think we will still see some very good prospects. Also years ago Sam Pollock used to package a young player or two with a veteran and get first round picks. Granted today first round picks are more prized, but some teams [Toronto] have been quite eager to part with them.

With one game left in the regular season we can now accurately say that our Canadiens have arrived, at least for this year. In order to really "arrive", like Detroit, they need to repeat next year the success they've had this year. But for this year the number and results have to be surprising to most people. Number one in their division; tied and fighting for first in the conference; 2nd most goals scored in NHL [as of Thursday night Ottawa's 8 goal outburst against Toronto edged them ahead by 1]; their PK improving; best PP in the NHL and I believe the 2nd youngest team in the NHL. Their veterans have improved over last year, obviously Kovalev, but that includes almost all the forwards. They've now had some key injuries, Koivu and Komisarek, but they seem to have the depth to fill the holes, at least short term, and still play well. Besides the forwards that have been consistantly scroing all year, the line of Steve Bégin, Smolinski and Tom Kostopoulos is getting changes and scoring and making life diffiuclt for whoever they're playing against. Incredibly Mark Streit has become a very valuable player this year. Besides being one of the quarterback on the PP he is also the 3d leading scorer on the team. The young guys have continued to step up up. Josh Gorges has emerged as a steady defenceman and after playing 61 games is even in the plus-minus. Ryan O'Byrne seems to be getting steadier and the coaches seem to have more confidence in him every game. Carey Price has done what we all hoped he would after Huet was traded. He has been steady and even spectacular at times. I think he's going to continue to play amazing through the play-offs. I think Guy Carbonneau has improved and done an incredible job this year along with his coaching staff. People are now adding his name to the coach of the year candidates. There were times this year the team didn't show up, as all teams do, but I get the impression there is a solid plan that the players have bought into and they look like they are well coached. With Gainey stocking the shelves with young players I really believe we've arrived and the future is nothing but incredibly bright.

With about 12 games remaining I think we can say, that for this year, we've arrived. We've broken through and are no longer out of the playoffs or fighting for the last spot. We have a very good team. After almost a full season we're in 1st place in our conference, for today at least. We have one of the youngest teams in the league with some great young players. We're in or else fighting for top spot in our division and we have the best power play in the league. We're either 1st or 2nd for goals scored, depending on the day, and up there with the best teams in the league. But I think there are two key questions about how far we can go in the play-offs. The first question is about injuries. Can we finish the regular season and go through the playoffs without losing anyone key. And of we do lose somone do we have the depth to hanlde it? If we can, I think we have the team that can beat anyone in our conference. The second key question is goaltending. Can Carey Price, being as young as he is, continue to stay sharp and play as consistently through the playoffs as he has the past month or so. And if Halak plays can he handle the pressure of the playoffs and win? I think the answers to these two questions will be the keys for how far we go this year. If those two areas hold up, we could be playing for the Stanley cup.

We're all disappointed that we didn't get an impact player at the trade deadline. Bob Gainey admitted he was also disappointed that it didn't work out. But I'm glad Bob had the courage to say no, even knowing that he would have to face the media and fans. But I think he made the right choice. First, the two teams that felt they couldn't do anything substantial at the trading deadline last year, Anaheim and Ottawa, finished the year playing for the Stanley cup. So sometimes not giving up a lot is the right thing to do. Second, most people are beginning to see that if you give up too much for what has been in many cases a rental player, and then see that player lost if he signs with another team in the summer and you've also lost the players you had to give up, that can hurt you for years. Finally, with no guarantee that Hossa would sign with us in the summer, giving up, if the rumors were true, Higgins or Ryder, Lapierre, Graboski, and our first round pick this year, for me that would be too high a price and a big risk. So, as much as I would have liked to get a Hossa, in the end I think Bob made the right choice. Now time will tell whether he made the right choice or not.

I believe this is the scenario Bob is working under. I think he is looking to manage his prospects so he doesn't have a lot of NHL ready guys unhappy at playing in the AHL. I think he's arrived at the place where he has to carefully work out how many realistic spots he's going to have for up and coming players and then be willing to package them with other assets for a top player. I think with our depth we have finally arrived at the place where we can do this and not hurt ourselves in the long run. How many players are going to fo through what Halak is going through thies year-NHL ready but no room for him. You can't do this for too long with any player.

I think what we have to keep in mind is that Gainey this week from Florida said he does not want to make a kind of sideways move, he wants to add an impact player. As much as I like Gratton, I agree he'd be a third liner, I don't think that is what Gainey has in mind. He said he wants an impact player and if the rumors are true, Hossa, Jokinen and to a lesser degree Tanguay seem to be the guys he's looking at.

If we could add one player to our team which of the these three would be the best fit? Three that have been talked about are Alex Tanguay, Marion Hossa, and Olli Jokinen. So far this year Tanguay has 11 goals, 35 assists [46 pts.], is +12 and 29 years old. Hossa has 26 goals, 27 assists [53 pts.], is -13 and 28 years old. Jokinen has 29 goals, 30 assists [59 pts.], is -12 and 29 years old. I would not even discuss Sundin. Asking too muck and will likely sign back with Toronto. Too expensive for a short term rental. I think it should come down to Hossa and Jokinen. Jokinen has a very slight advantage in his numbers this year, 3 more goals and 3 more assists than Hossa, but Hossa is a year younger. They seem to even out. Bottom line? Both of these players would really add what we need to our team. A consistent scoring top 3 forward. A move like that could push us further ahead so we could do some real damage in the play-offs. Let's hope for one of them, and hopefully not a rental, but signed to a longer term contract!!

You hit it right on the head. That was the point of this thread! NOt this season, but how Gainey has postioned us for the long term, a solid foundation!

Agreed!

Looking down the road into the future the Canadiens may now be the best prepared and have the most solid foundation to build on than any other team in the NHL. I think there are a number of reasons. First Gainey, either by luck or most likely by understanding the post lockout NHL better than most has gone in the right direction, which some teams and GM's seem only to be understanding now, a few years and many player decisons too late [too many expensive veterans, huge, unmovable contracts and no movement clauses]. He has built, and continues to build, a top ranked scouting department, especially with their recent addition courtesy of the Ottawa Senators. If I'm correct the cap does not include the scouting department so teams can spend as much money as they want in those areas. Which, given the importance now of developing young players that you've drafted yourself, is the absolute smart place to spend money and build a great team in the scouting department. The proof is what has happened this year. The Canadiens have surprised a lot of people, and moved ahead of teams that they were close to last year, in part because of the improved play of Kovalev and Markov but also because their supporting cast of young players that they have developed have stepped up and played a huge role. They have some really good drafted prospects in Junior or US schools and I think they have all this years draft picks still in place. It seems like we are positioned to move into and stay with the upper level teams in the NHL. The good news is this isn't just a lucky year or a fluke. We are where we are because of solid structure at the top, an excellent scouting department and very good young players who are stepping up and making a difference. We have understood the future and prepared for it and we're going to see the results for many years.

Some people think that trading Huet is the right way to go right now so we don't lose him at the end of the year to FA. I think there is a much better way to go. Sign him as soon as you can to a two or three year deal. If we don't I think we will be very sorry. Out of the top 30 goalies in the league right now Huet's numbers on the NHL list rank him at #11. There are usually always backups available, or goalies who think they're number ones but don't have the numbers to prove it. But getting ahold of a top 10 or 11 goalie, especialy when everyone else knows you need one is not going to be easy, and if you do it will probably cost you a lot. I don't believe Carey Price is ready to step in and take on a full time #1 spot in the NHL for another year or two, so we need Huet during that time. I hope BG is working on a deal to sign Huet to a 2-3 year deal. Given what Huet's done the past 2 years I don't think he would be willing to sign a one year deal. He's going to feel like he's earned a little security and reward for what he's accomplished. For me, trading Huet is not an option, unless we get something back that's really worthwhile. If Bob signs Huet now, then in a year or two he can trade him at that point. We're in a position of strengh both for the now and also for the future with our goalies. Trading away our top asset today would be a big mistake. Sign him Bob, as soon as you can.

Over the years there has always been a strong Montreal - Toronto rivalry on all fronts. And hockey has always been in the very centre of that rivalry. But these days when you look at the two organizations, both on and off the ice, there is now a huge difference. Even though the Canadiens are ahead in points and most other stats this year that isn't where the huge differences show up. It's when you look at the upper managment structure of the teams and then the results of these two different leadership structures, that's when you see how far apart these two organizations have become. Montreal went through very difficult times of their own when Ronald Corey fired Serge Savard and brought in Rejean Houle as GM and Mario Tremblay as coach. Both were totally inexperienced in the positions they were about to fill. The results were somewhat predictable. Bad teams, bad trades, frustrated players, and they quickly fell well behind the elite teams and you heard a lot of fan and media criticism. But then the turnaround. They hired Pierre Boivin, who had good leadership skills, good enough to know he shouldn't be running the hockey side of the team so he brought in Andre Savard, who had a great emphasis on drafting and developing good young players. Then the best move of all, they brought in Bob Gainey. And from there they have kept to their plan and slowly drafted great young players and have done one of the best jobs in the NHL of building a team internally with some trades to help out. Look at the roster on any given night and you count that over half the team has been the result of great drafting, with picks they refused to trade. We have one of the best stockpiles of young drafted players that will continue to stock our team for years. I consider two deals to have been failures. Trading Mike Ribiero, the return was pretty poor, and bringing in Samsonov. But who in any sport can bat 1000% on every deal they make. Impossible. But compare us now with Toronto. Bad upper managment has been their pattern for decades. They continually intervere and have hurt their organization. They could have had Bob Gainey but their upper managment messed it up. Recently they could have had Scotty Bowman, but upper management interferred again. This managment team brought in a basketball manager and coach and then fired them both. They brought in an honest man of integrity, John Ferguson, but he had never been a GM and they put him in charge of one of the key teams in the league, a media hotbed, and made him run everything through them, non hockey people, and when their plan failed, they fired him. They have very few good prospects because they traded their picks away for veterans, often over the hill or underachieving ones. The result is the team is in shambles. Their future is not bright, becasue it will likely be years before they can come close to what Bob Gainey has assembled in Montreal. When you compare these two organizations these days, there is no comparrison. And in the next few years they will likely move even further apart. Montreal will head up, Toronto will likely head down before they can move up. When you compare them, Montreal wins, hands down!!

I wonder who we're really seeing right now. A team that has finally come together or a team that is on a bit of a hot streak? Our defence seems much better than last year and our plus minus as a team has improved. We again have one of the best PP in the entire league. But our penalty killing is still a weakness. It seems like the new veteran players added this year are stronger than the ones who left. Ryder has fallen off a lot from last year but Kovalev has improved so that seems to almost even out. Without getting hit with the flu epidemic from last year the teams seems to be much more consistent and solid so far. Players that were rookies a few years ago, like Streit, Higgins and Komisarek have continued to improve. Players like Lapierre and Sergei K. have added hard work and overall strength to the team. If Huet continues to play well and remains healthy we might be seeing the emergence of what was a just below middle of the pack team to a team that will end up above the middle of the pack with some serious playoff potential. Our points comparrison with last year should start to improve because last year at this time we were in a serious slump that probably cost us a playoff spot. And we seem to have some very solid prospects in the system for the next few years. The question now may be whether Bob Gainey makes a trade before the deadline or is happy with our improvement and lets the existing players develop and then try again to add a key scorer in the UFA market this summer? The signs all seem to be pointing in the right direction for a team that is young and still maturing but improving and working together well. If with the players we have this year we can avoid a prolonged slump, this year and the future seems to be bright.

There have always been comments and declarations from the Toronto Media that Toronto is the Hockey Meccca of the world. It drives all the rest of us crazy! Well there's proof that Toronto is certainly not the hockey mecca. A few weeks ago it was reported that Alex Ovechkin said that his all time favourite place to play hockey was in Montreal. Well in Tuesday nights Montreal Chicago game Bob Mackenzie said that he's not surprised that Alex Ovechkin loves to play in Montreal, because it's the best place to play in the league. Mackenzie said it's everyone's favourite place to play because the atmosphere is unique. It's a packed house even in warm-up, and the fans know their hockey. The lights, the history, the ambiance, the noise; Mackenzie said there's no place like it in the NHL. He even went further to say, it must be tough to play at home for the Habs, where every team that visits burns to win in Montreal. Matthew Barnaby, who was also on the panel of hockey experts that night, quickly supported what Mackenzie said. Barnaby added that when he played he never felt as up for a game, as when he visited the Bell Centre to play. So two hockey players from different teams plus one of the best and highly respected hockey analysts all said that Montreal is the best and most looked forward place to play hockey. Montreal is hockey Mecca! Case closed. Now would someone please inform the Toronto media of the real truth!

One of the big problems the NHL faced prior to the lockout was out of control salaries that resulted in higher ticket prices which resulted in it becoming very difficult for familes to attend an NHL game just because of the cost. And the main culprit for such high ticket prices was the players salaries. I believe the problem is re-emerging and it is all because of the GM's. I read this morning that there's a shift happening in how the NHL does business. It's how the GM's are investing heavily in the potential of a player versus the productivity of a player. These are some of the signings that appear to be the way GM's are going so as not to lose younger players to an offer sheet. To avoid being raided by rival teams GM's are signing younger players to huge long term contracts. For example Sidney Crosby, 20, (five years for $43.5 million), Thomas Vanek, 23, (seven years for $50 million), Ryan Getzlaf, 22, (five years for $26.6 million), Milan Michalek, 23, (six years for $26 million), Dustin Penner, 25, (five years for $21.25 million), Derek Roy, 24, (six years for $24 million), Ryan Whitney, 24, (six years for $24 million), Zach Parise, 23, (four years for $12.5 million) and Stephen Weiss, 24, (six years for $18.6 million). From what I read only three of these players have more than 20 points this year and the rest are all below. That's a huge investment for low return. I think the result is that we will see some weaker teams because they will have locked themselves in by signing players who will not give them a proper return and that will handcuff teams for years because they are locked in to long term expensive contracts, which will limit who else they can sign. You can see a little of that happening with Toronto right now and that wil stay with them for a few years. I think the choice teams will have will be to continue doing what they're doing by signing younger players to huge contracts or be willing to lose a player when an offer sheet is given. The other choice is for the NHL to eliminate the offer sheet, but I don't know if the PA will go for that.

I've noticed something that may not apply to every player but I think it applies to a whole lot of players. Before a GM makes a trade he'd better check out who the player coming to his team had for linemates and who the incoming player is going to have for linemates when he arrives. Otherwise you may be setting yourself and the player up for a big disappointment. There's probably lots of examples but I'll use just two. I think it was last year there was some talk of the Canadiens being interested in Andy McDonald, a top centre for the eventual Stanley cup winners, Anaheim. In two years McDonald had registered 163 points and last year, just in the playoffs, he scored something like 10 goals and 14 points. So it was obvious why the Canadiens might have been interested. But here's what I think is the key point in his success. The whole time he was putting up these numbers he was playing with Teemu Selanne, who was having a couple of great comeback years. This year, without Selanne, McDonald is struggling. I read this morning that in 28 games this year he has 14 points. So if the Canadiens had given up a lot to get McDoanld we all may have been really disappointed. The other example this year is Jason Blake who scored 40 goals last year, and this year I believe has 3 goals. Now he is battling a serious disease, but he says he feels better than he has in years. On Long Island he had linemates like Alexi Yashin and he had his best year ever. So far he has to be one of the biggest disappointments on the Leafs. So before we make a trade we'd better do our homework to see who the player had as linemates and if we have someone who can play with and compliment that player. Otherwise..big disappointment.

The difference between the two is that it is very unlikely Recchi will ever again be able to score 30 goals, or even come close to what he was, that's why he's been healthy scratch so often lately. He'll be a hall of famer for the past, not for the present or future. However Ryder could easily catch fire and score 25 goals, maybe even 30 again, because he's yonger and still has the potential to duplicate what he's done the past two years. Big differene in potential between those two right now. And that's not a slam on Recchi, he was a great player who was respected, it's just like everyone else, he may be close to the end of his career. But I do agree with you, this deal will not happen.

It seems like we were going to end up with either Sourey or Hamrlik. All things being equal, I would take Hamrlik over Sourey any day. It's only partway through the season but unless something very dramatic takes place, Hamrlik is not going to finish anywear near -27 and has a shot at finishing on the plus side. Overall, it's Hamrlik, hands down. In addition, Sourey seems much more injury prone at this point in his career. And where we thought we'd be most affected, and likely tried to keep him mostly for this reason, we still have a #1 power play without him. I think if we had resigned Sourey we would have been saddled with a very definite "badly overpaid salary" burden to carry for years. Overall, we ended up with the better player.

A few comments. Someone suggested that losing Sourey maybe didn't hurt us that much. In a sense that's true but we should have at least received a fairly high draft pick, if not more, for Sourey than letting him walk. Especially since we didn't even make the playoffs. But hindsight has 20/20 vision. I agree that your number 3 option looks the most reasonable, but I wonder if Huet will agree to something like that when as a UFA he will likly do better. Ryder has been a proven 30 goal scorer and Huet is a proven starter, even an all-star. So there are a few "ifs" I'd like to suggest. "If" Ryder picks up and gets back on track scoring wise and "if" Huet and Price both do well over the next two months then both Ryder and Huet's value will have increased, especially for some teams who feel they're only a few pieces short of making a major splash in the play-offs, and then I think will be the time to pull of a trade. I'd hate, within a year of each other, to lose Sourey, Huet and Ryder for nothing.

About a month ago someone suggested we should package Huet with Ryder and maybe a prospect in order to get a sniper or a first line centre, something like that. The point that many of us jumped on was that we should not trade Huet under any circumstances because he is our starting goalie and they aren't that available or easy to pick up. Last year Huet started strong but even before he was injured he was beginning to fade. Lately I wonder if that trend is beginning to show up again. So I wonder if the thought of trading Huet shoud be reconsidered. There are six reasons why I'm beginning to wonder if this is now an option. 1. The emerging consistent & mature play of Carey Price. 2. The not-so-great play of Huet in a few games lately, which could be a repeat of last year. Has Huet really proved he can be a 1st string goalie for a full season? 3. Our need for a top line centre/sniper and how this would impact our team. 4. The Sheldon Sourey factor. We didn't get anything for him because we held onto him too long. We can't let this happen again. 5. The availability of two seemingly good quality backups in Halak and Danis. Plus the fact that Halak may not be willing to sit in the minors and instead of losing him to a team in Europe or not gettin much for him in a trade, maybe he should be our backup in the NHL. He did pretty good when we needed him towards the end of last season. 6. The growing serious problem some teams have becasue they don't have a genuine 1st string goalie. I wouldn't pull the trigger on a trade just yet, but if this trend continues, maybe beginning to kick a few ties and quietly seeing what might be available now will put us in a postion to get someone of real value after Christmas. In other words, begin the secret negotiations now and if it seems right then make the trade a month or two from now. This wouldn't have been an option for me a month ago but I'm beginning to wonder if that's becoming more of a real option. Maybe the next month will really give us the answer.

To me the problem with the Maple Leafs is very clear. The team's key decisions are being made at the top by a board made up of business men wanting to protect their investment and make money. They are not hockey men. The facts? Richard Peddie was put in charge of both the Raptors and the Leafs. They both have done poorly. Finally they took the Raptors out of Peddie's hands by bringing in Bryan Colangelo, and the Raptors have had a huge turn-around. Go back a few years to when the board brings in John Ferguson Jr. to be the GM of one of the original six in a huge hockey city like Toronto. He had never been a GM before and because of the pressure to succeed now, and keep his job, he has traded away something like 4 first rounders and a few second rounders to end up with suspect goaltending and the highest paid defence in the entire NHL, with a very poor record. I'm a Canadiens fan, so my loyalty is not with the Leafs, but I believe Ferguson came into his position wanting to build through draft picks but the pressure to succeed in order to keep his job has put him in a no-win situation. The problem? Absolutely with the guys at the top. As long as they're making the decisions and wanting to keep control Toronto will never gain ground. The best decision they could make would be to do with the Leafs what they did with the Raptors. Work at bringing in the best hockey man they can, even if they have to give up players or cash [i donlt know if that's ever been done] and give him total control the way Bob Gainey has. Until the Leafs can get a Brian Burke, or someone of that quality, and take control of the team out of the hands of the men currently running it, they'll continue to spin their wheels. The question is, who can pressure the board to let go? The answer. Probably only the media and the fans.