Bullsmith

Kostitsyn's a better prospect than Perezhogin and always has been. He was drafted higher, and he was rated higher than his draft position. If you go to Hockeysfuture.com the blurb on Kosty (the new one in habs top 20 prospects) says that some folks think he's been the best player in the AHL this year. I don't think anyone ever said that about Perezhogin. (or Higgins or Pleks for that matter (don't get me wrong, I love both of them, I'm just saying they were never really considered first-line players coming up.) Kosty's got a better offensive skill set than any of these other guys, plain and simple. I like Perezhogin and think he should definitely be given time to mature as he has lots of tools to make in the league, but talking down AK is just silly. He's been one of the most elite prospects we've had in decades. He had a slow transition to North America, but otherwise he's been elite at every level, including this last stretch in the bigs. No guarantee he'll stick at the NHL but we haven't seen someone come up with his vision and passing in years. A lot of years. And everyone says he's got a booming shot, which hopefully we'll see more of in the future.

The problem with Kovalev, Koivu, Ryder as a line is that they are an absolute disaster in our own end. Given the goaltendening issues we've had, we can't afford to let Halak (or Huet for that matter) get shelled. I agree Begin was a poor fit, but Streit might not be too bad. To me it's either Ryder or Kovalev with Saku, not both. One thing nobody talks about is that Kovalev has obviously been playing hurt pretty much all year. He's always been a great skater, and he just can't dipsy doodle consistently this year. Even worse, his wrist shot, which has consistently been among the hardest and most deceptive in the league his whole career is simply not hard and not as accurate this year. I firmly believe one of the reasons Kovalev has gotten an easier ride than Samsonov is that he's been playing hurt and Carbo knows it. Also, to Kovy's credit, he's played at least as hard on the 4th line as he did on the second. I can see these lines working, in no particular order: Pleks between Higgins and Kosty. Bonk between Begin and Johnson. Lapierre between Kovalev and Latendresse. Koivu between Ryder and Streit. So you've got a kid line with speed, a shut-down line with a bruising hitter, A second kid line plus Kovalev that is really, legitimately big, tough and can score. The only potential downside is you've put a 2 way winger with Koivu instead of a Kovalev, Latendresse or Higgins. If you get behind, you can replace Streit with either Kovalev or Latendresse and shorten the bench.

Gone Abby, Niniimaa, Samsonov (one way or another, could be a buyout) Bonk and Johnson were guys BG went out and got and they performed- best +/- players on the team. At least one of them, and likely both, will get decent offers from the habs. Kovaleve tested FA before signing with us, these two could do the same. It is FAR too early to write them off as gone, but if someone offers them a big raise, BG won't get into a bidding war. Souray's situation is similar, except that obviously he's going to get a very big raise indeed. One of the things the new NHL has shown, though, is that whenever a player moves there is a real chance he will not find the fit he had at his old team. If Souray is targeted by another team like Chara was by Boston, say someone offers him ballpark 6 mil, then he's gone. Otherwise there's a 50/50 chance he'll stay. Markov is staying. ALL of the RFAs are staying, including Ryder. Huet and Halak will be the goalies. Price will start in the A. That's my story and I'm stickin to it.

Price is not going back in the draft, period. With the current CBA there's almost nothing to work out on entry-level contracts. A guy like Emelin could go back in the draft because he's making money in Russia and might not want to sign and come over, but top-five picks are going to be offered the rookie max and take it. If it's good enough for Crosby, I think it's good enough for Price.

I've been worried about the lack of a former Dman as a coach, or of a coach who really specializes in training D. Jarvis is a legit, experienced coach at this point but just like Muller and Carbo, his background is backchecking, not playing D. That said, we're getting a bit ahead of ourselves here. If Komi is coming along so damn well that he needs to be put on the power play and get more and more minutes, then apparently his developpment is excellent. He's a very young guy and while I must say I was a bit surprised he didn't play more minutes recently, Isn't it a bit backwards to use Komi's excellent progress to criticize the coach? ps. Anyone notice how well Souray's been playing in the defensive zone lately? Neutral zone too. Completely night and day from earlier in the year.

TSN beyond sucks, after the game they showed the habs in 11th place, tied with Toronto at 80 pts but Toronto having two games in hand. I.E. they showed the stats if the Habs had lost. They didn't do this once, but three different times that I saw, including having Jennifer Hedger explain that the Habs were now tied with the Leafs but the Leafs have two games in hand. I mean if you need a teleprompter to tell you what the actual standings are between Toronto and Montreal fighting for the last playoff spot with less than ten games left in the season, you don't deserve a job covering sports in Canada. Much less on the premier 'national' sports network. I like Hedger, but I hate this insane pro-Leafs bias everywhere. Happily, Sundin and Tucker are getting old, and the Leafs have about three prospects in their whole system. Plus we have 5 picks in the first three rounds next year, the Leafs have two. The Leafs are going to get a real comeuppance in the next few years, and I hope CBC and TSN take huge ratings hits. Think about it, if Montreal is playing Pittsburgh and Toronto is playing Washington on a Saturday night, the local Montreal CBC station shows the Toronto game. At my cottage in the Laurentians (no cable), I can't watch the Habs but I can watch the Leafs. Same story every Saturday night. One of these days, and soon, Toronto is heading for the basement, and then the F'n Toronto lovin' networks are going to have to deal with the fact they put all their eggs in the Leafs basket and told the rest of us to F off.

Simple question, If Biron has so much upside, how come we got him for Patrick Traverse? (Who we got for free.) How come no other GM in the league wants either of these two oversized , experienced but still young former NHLers? Simple, becuase they're soft and can't skate or play solid D. Nothing against Biron, but if he's the best thing in our system, then our system is empty. I

If the team makes the playoffs, both Souray and Markov stay. Just putting my bet down early.

In pure hockey terms, I would say Emelin's ahead of all these guys. Doesn't mean one of them won't beat him to the NHL, but for my money if Emelin comes over, he'll be the next of our prospects to earn a full time regular shift. In other words, I'm not sure any of these guys are ready to be a top-6 NHL defenceman next September. I'm sure that's one reason Gorges is here.

No one who was on the roster at the close of the trade deadline can be sent down. If picked off waivers they cannot play for their new team this year. The rosters are expanded. Likely players returning from Injury can't be sent down either. Samsonov and Abby can be sent home, but not down.

Let me raise a glass of anything-except-Molson-product to that boycott. Never again for me too. In hindsight, the way Molson treated the team is just unbelievable. We're the only show in town for 7 million people and we can't afford to sign Mark Recchi? I really didn't realize how cheap and Harold Ballard-like Molson was being till Gillette came in and put a proper organization into place. Couldn't bring myself to see the truth, I guess.

While it's true lots of fols got over-excited over players like Hossa the lesser when he came up, the comparison to Kostitsyn's just not valid. None of these guys were ever considered top prospects by third-party sources. Kosty has been rated that way since he was 17 at least. This guy was picked 10th and there was a wide consnsus that his skill set was worthy of a top-five pick. His progress has been slow, but seems to be fully back on track. Sarcasm? Maybe. Seems more like just stirring up the pot. Anyway, mark me down with the bandwagon on this kid. I'm not saying he's the next Selanne, but I wouldn't trade him for Steen.

Thank God you're not Bob Gainey. He builds from within, always has. Makes bad, overpayed free agent signings, yes (Audette, Turgeon, for example), but builds a perennial winner. We may not be much better than Toronto this year but the difference between our prospects and theirs is night and day and gets bigger every year. Souray doesn't fit in LA or Anaheim. They've already locked up their top 2 offensive D men, and are not going to outbid other teams and pay 5 million for a number three. Souray's only going to a team where he's the big gun on the PP, otherwise what is the point in paying him? 'Course I encourage you to slap Samsonov if you get the chance. And if Markov goes to Pittsburgh I'd slap Bob myslef, only I'll be too busy crying.

I do NOT understand what the prejudice is against the Belorussians. Grabovski's small, and has tailed off of late. Kosty has easily been among the best habs forwards the last couple of games. That doesn't make a career, but you seem to have problems with their personalities. Right now I would say Kosty's our top NHL-ready prospect for good reason. Plus his brother looks like dynamite so what kind of message are we sending if we dump Andrei without even giving him a legitimate chance. Back to the topic at hand. What do folks think of Milroy? He'd pretty much dropped off anyone's list of likely NHLers before this season. Now he's had a good year and impressed Carbo duing his call up. Does he have a future?

I think it was said earlier in the thread it's been six years or so since a European got 100 points in the O, and Sergei's already in pretty good company. Also he wears an A, penalty kills, hits, takes on guys like Steve Downey in the most personal way, and has double the PMs of his teammates Kane and Gagne. I'm not saying he's better than them, (far from it- they're likely top ten picks, he was a seventh rounder and is two years older) but holy cripes, could you ask more from the kid at this point in his career? The way these brothers are playing, we may just have our own Sedins here.

1,2 Abby's value is considerably lower than it has been at any other point in his NHL career. Maybe he'll rebound, sure, but he simply seems to be unable to stay in postition. That's a pretty big problem. 3. I don't know that Higs pass was the single decider, but no question it was a key turning point. And a piece of shit pass. 4. Couldn't agree more. 5. Strongly agree Carbo has to be better next year, and should be. But Lapierre played pretty well and was being matched against Crosby, who had a nightmare of a game. He got points, but he took a beating and was off his game half the time. Actually I've been worried all year about the fact we only have former forwards, and all in the same mould, as coaches. I think Jarvis is a good coach, don't get me wrong, but our D seem to have no coach who understands them. We sure know how to tell them to play the wing, but not to play D. This is a problem. 6. Markov was amazing, except for those shifts where he was god-awful. Seriously, he showed both sides of the coin tonight. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Markov. He's one of the most underrated D in the league outside Montreal (thank God for us since we must sign him) and few people realize how young he is, especially in terms of years in the NHL, but some shifts he just dies out there, piling one mistake on another. Hell, I'm not knocking him, just being realistic. If he didn't have a slightly erratic element to his game he'd be a future Norris candidate. His passing is simply awesome and completely outclasses the rest of the team. He's so good he makes players look like they're asleep sometimes because the puck's a foot past them before they realize he actually sent them the puck. If we can keep guys like Higs and Tender and Kosty together with Markov for the next five years, they won't be asleep, they'll be anticipating it. And scoring. Back to point one and two. Abby is the trying his best and Pittsburgh is scoring like this against everyone, but the fact is goaltending is the real disaster this year. Abby let in five tonight, and we outplayed them for much of the game. Nuf said.

Bobby, I'm with you on everything but Kostitsyn. After a slow transition to the AHL he's done everything right this year. Improved his work ethic, his two-way play and his English. Now is exactly the wrong time to move him. His upside is HUGE. Remember if not for his epilepsy symptoms he was expected be drafted around 5 overall. The only reason I see him moving is as part of a deal to get a star. His value is high and he looks fantastic out there. He's shown no character problems at all, and in fact when he was sent down early in the year and asked to work harder in the A he did just that.

The biggest single need the Habs have is size. We are lacking it everywhere. Guys like Gorges and Johnson are tall, but they're small and they play small. This is simply a reality and other teams know it. It's possible to win without size- both Buffalo and NJ are relatively undersized for example, but I really believe one of the reasons we hit the wall every Christmas is we wear down for lack of size. Things are getting better. Latendresse and LaPierre add good size. Kosty plays pretty big for a high-speed skill player. Perezhogen's strong as hell, it's his brainfarts that are causing him trouble. In the system we have decent size coming at the back (O'Byrne is huge, both Emelin and Valentenko are physical impact players like Komi is. Price is a giant compared to Huet and Halak) Where this problem really shows is at center. Koive and Pleks are seriously small NHL centers. Grabovsky's even smaller (at least less physical) Chipchura's not exaclty a giant. The other centers with both offensive and physical presence (White, Maxwell) look to be at least a couple of years away. Likely four or five years from making a real impact. For this reason I would be VERY surprised to see Bonk go without being replaced by another large and fairly expensive body. His size and strenth have been a huge asset. I can't believe we're seriously talking about Koivu, Pleks and Grabovsky as our three top centres. I like them all a lot, but that just smells like a losing lineup, even in the new NHL. Unless we trade a little center for a big one, My guess is Bonk stays and Briere goes somewhere else.

At least this time the Leafs are in the same boat- they play Friday in Washington before coming to town to meet us on Saturday. Of course Washington's playing tonight while the Leafs wait for them. Big edge to the Leafs on that one. Anyway, we're in playoff mode now. We have to win almost all our remaining games, regardless of the schedule and other obstacles, or we're not making the playoffs. Job one is beat the Penguins and crush the Leafs.

Watched White play last night. He sure didn't look ready to make the team next year. I'm not knocking him, he just looks and plays like the teenager he is. Latendresse made it so young because we desperately needed strength up front and he's freakishly strong. White's a great prospect, a steal where we got him and he's doing everything right to make the NHL in good time, but I don't see him having a snowflake's chance in hell of making the team next year. Not with the guys ahead of him. Maybe in a perfect world the year after. One thing I notice is that most prospect rankings still rate Maxwell notably higher than White. I don't know him so I can't comment, but that's pretty darn encouraging.

Briere? I love the guy, but I would be absolutely shocked if BG went out and signed another undersized player, especially a center. We already have Koivu and Pleks plus Grabovski in the system. If we add Briere then we likely need to move two of those players. And while converting them the wing is a possiblity, that's the place we're already stacked with talent. Hell Kosty couldn't even find a spot this year, and he sure as heck needs on next year. Pleks is a consumate team player, a takeaway specialist who causes endless trouble for the other team on the ice and aboslutely no trouble for his team off it. I say he has to stay, and to me that means the one UFA we won't be signing is Danny Briere. Of course time will tell.

Kosty is here to stay, Pleks is showing why he deserves Ribiero's ice time, Guillaume is showing why he deserves to be in the NHL. Lapierre etc. The future is starting to arrive, and it's looking good. Kudos to Carbo. The team was firing from the opening face off tonight. Even when we were down two nothing, we were taking it to the Isels. Great, gutsy performance.

Says something sad about the team when Koivu's in his usual late season slump and he's still our MVP (and he is). And the first penalty of the game goes to....LES HABITANTS! At least it was in the defensive zone this time.

Puckdrop time. You can see the nerves on Abby, and the confidence DiPietro exudes. Damn the Leafs and Go Habs Go.

Great post Bobby. People keep saying we're seeing the same thing we've seen for the last decade and a half, but there is FAR more talent in the system than there was then. The future isn't now, but it's bright. Barring big trades (which are a distinct possibility) I see a core group of NHL ready players with their best seasons ahead of them: Higgins, Pleks, Ryder, Latendresse, Lapierre, Kostitsyn, Markov, Komisarek and hopefully Gorges. The system should continue to provide 2 or 3 rookies a year for at least next five years, assuming they can get two players out of their 5 in 75 next year. That is the ideal model to build a franchise under the salary cap. What we need is the right veteran presence to solidify it. Souray provided that presence this year, as does Koivu. Bonk and Johnson certainly don't detract from the team. Begin when he's playing is a huge asset, and for my money Streit is a dream versatile player. If only he were more physical. Perezhogin's on the bubble IMO, but he's versatile and lots and lots of guys like him haven't bloomed until their mid twenties, so I'd stick with him unless somebody offers a high price. The one statement Bob and Guy have made this year is that they have faith in the young guys. Guy has made mistakes aplenty, not surprising for a rookie coach, and we all agree Samsonov was a disastrous signing and Niniimaa's been a bust. But the youth movement has been afoot for three years, and despite the huge setbacks since Christmas, we need to stick with it. And get BIG center with offensive talent somehow. I don't mind getting someone who's too young to make an impact right away, but it's the one thing I don't see coming in the system. Anyway, between the prospects, the draft picks and the money under the cap, I see Bob as being well placed to make this team a contender within the next two-three years. I was hoping for sooner, but there have been some major setbacks this year.