Chris

It's a fine line between winning and getting your youth experience. So while O'Byrne and Chichura didn't get any experience alot of other youth did and that will definatley help this years team. Plus adding team toughness helped emensly, The Laraque interview pretty much said it like it was, they were soft and never fought back. With Laraque, at least Gorges and Sk won't have to stick up there team mates anymore.

They had alot of youth playiong, with O'Byrne playing especially against the flyers the Habs D core is pretty clow over all. Brisbois is a better skater and puck mover the O'Byrne. He'll progress. Once Bouillon is out and McDonagh takes his spot the speed will certainly increased on the back end.

Koivu's line? I'm not sure in know what you mean. Sundin and and Koivu are both centers. Tanguay is a set up guy, Sundin is a finisher. I'm not sure what Lats is yet, but he does play around the net and he has good hands. Koivu finished the year with Higgins and SK. This line did pretty well.

It will, If Sundin comes i would assume he plays with Tanguay and Lats. Leaving the 2 top lines intact from last year. Obviously things can change but the habs would finally have the ability to have mismatches on there side for a chnge, either with speed, skill or dare i say size.

Why is it when a habs player does well, someone always wants to trade him for someone "better"? Not too many centers had more goals then Pleks. I just don't get it. Koivu's contract is up, let him walk, Pleks is better at this point. I'm like Kozed, he needs to stay, he does everything well, never gets hurt, great speed, plays all 3 zones. All players numbers will change based on if they sign Sundin. Plek's PP time will decreass but the PK will increase. If they don't sign Sundin, i expect his numbers to remain close to last years.

My only point to this old arguement would be Roy played on a significantly better, tougher and playoff proven team. Price didn't, where the team showed improvement, they were no where near the calibre of the teams Roy played on. They shouldn't be compared.

The Koivu line you guys posted isn't going to work, Higgins and Tanguay play the same postion. Higgins played poorly when switched to the other side and was even worse at centre. This line up without Sundin is more balanced then last year. Tanguay Koivu Lats (he was a RW before the habs moved him, better hands then Higgins) AK46 Pleks AK 27 Higgins Chipchura Sk good 2 way line, will protect Chipchura, Higgins will get PP and Pk time Begin Lapierre Larague / Kosto dandy extra Markov Komi Gorges Hamrlik (Gorges provides speed to the pair) Bouillon O'Byrne (he could play with Hamrlik) Price Halak Obviously if someone is struggling the habs have the ability to change things up. Atleast try Lats where he can get points, Koivu and Tanguay aren't too fast for him, the other lines are.

Well i for one want to see Kovalev him compete for another full year. He has only had 1 good year in Montreal. Let him earn a contract by doing his thing this year. Remeber there are several people becoming UFA's at the end next season. Let them eran their money. I wouldn't have a problem letting all of them walk including Kovalev. The UFA season next year is loaded with talent, why waste money on 38 year olds and players on the down side of there careers, it doesn't make sense.

I think there is a rule how many people you can buy out. The habs already have 2 from last year still on the books for this year. I think he may waive some folks but not buy them out. Dandy is versatile.

Finally some toughness. Praise the lord. I've called on it for years and here it is. I wouldn't worry who is out on the 4th line, Begin Kosto or Laraque, they can all play, this gives them depth and competetion and GC can sit one of these guys out for back to back games, protect Begin since he is injury prone. I think the odd man out is Smoke.

Getting Selanne? There is no chance in hell that will happen. He has already said he was only playing in California. Why does the the Sundin thing piss people off? BG gave him an offer, he hasn't taken it. Big deal, it happened last year plenty of players and alot of people bitched and moaned. What happened? They won the east on the best team in 15 years. Get a grip people, BG knows what he is doing. He wanted a top 6 forward, he got one. Sundin is still unsigned.

Yea, they need to get tougher, as the playoffs showed them Pacioretti was compared to Cole, but i saw him play alot last year, he is more like a young Ryan Smythe. He will definatley be a good player. Real good size, great speed, kills penalties and on the top PP at Michigan. He doesn't look like a natural goal scorer, he plays down low on the boards, in front of the net, gets alot of rebound "garbage" goals. He is actually a pretty good passer, good hockey sense. Get rid of Kosto? He was the only Habs basically to get into a fight. He only won 1 or 2 but atleast he showed up/ I think Stewart's fight was the only convincing fight win all year. Teams need players like Kosto and Begin. The do alot.

I agree with you Tokyo about getting someone to go to the net and a big physical body. Tanguay and SK are not snipers, they are assist guys.

The team now is a playoff team without any additions. As we all saw, it's too small and soft still to do any damage in the playoffs. Sundin does add grit and size to the table, he is a mismatch for almost everyone. Is that enough with his addition to put them over the top is the question. Hossa and some others are good regular season additions, again the question is can Hossa put them over the top.

Yes, Edmonton did well. Suposedly they are in the Hossa sweepstakes as well. E4 Khabibulin i read was getting moved to the kings to clear up space for Campbell / Huet

Habs can afford to over pay someone. Alot of other teams can't. I think for Sundin and Rolston they want to go to a contender, the question is do these guys think the habs are legit or not.

Are there even any starting goaltending positions open any more? Tampa seems to have loaded up, I'm not sure Kolzig is the answer. I think the habs have 14 mill left, Gorges around a 800k-1mill Halak 8oo-900k I am missing one more RFA i'm sure. But they'll have money to make a Rolston or Sundin move

yea, i'll actually get to see them in Colorado

New schedule, i forgot about that.

I think the real question is why you guys care so much about the leafs. Sometimes i get on here and the conversation is more about the Leafs then the Habs. I only care about the leafs 8 times a year when the Habs play them, otherwise, who cares.

As i posted somewhere else, Olesz got 3 mill and had a whopping 26 points. I'm beginning to think i can fax over my stats in my rec league and maybe make a mill with a team. Probably Edmonton.

Yes, i think so.

As someone else pointed out, all BG needs to do at 11:59 is take him to arbitration. Know one can touch him then. I am pretty sure that's how it goes. Similar to Ryder

People forget he already landed a top 6 forward. This will make the Koivu line immediately better. Sundin is my top choice but it doesn't look too good right now. Rolston is very interesteing, he solves alot of problems and can play any where. Higgins Rolston Sk (nice 3rd line with spped, scoring and defense) Rolston also plays the point on the pp, kills penalties and has a bullet of a shot.

Well Olesz from Florida (26 pints) signed for 3.1 million. What the heck is AK worth/