Oleg Petrov

Kovalev prides himself on healing quickly. I suspect this makes him rush back sometimes when he shouldn't, and play at 60% for a few weeks.

A lot of heart shipped out with this deal. Rivet was a real presence, and was ready to take/throw punches at important times when the goon was in the pressbox. It's sad that he won't get to finish his career here. At the same time, I just don't think there was any place left for him on the Habs roster. When Streit moved back to D with Rivet out and the youngsters from Ham filled in so well at forward, there was nobody that Carbo could sit on Saturday to give Rivet a chance - there were just 6 D who deserved to play more than he did. When you're making 2.5 whatever, and some other team is willing to take you for a first-rounder, that means it's time for you to go.

No trades. Habs are not sellers this year, and Gainey doesn't want to give up "buyer" commodities, i.e. prospects, with the possible exception of Perezhogin, who is apparently expecting to be traded (which would be an unwise move, imo). Only real possibility: Craig Rivet being traded away (for some reason, some other teams seem interested in him), but I think that even if BG is thinking of getting rid of him, he'll wait to July to let him drift away in free agency rather than stir the pot by trading him for a 6th rounder or something. Rivet's benching in January freaked the entire dressing room out because he's Mr. Nice Guy, so trading him away might have the same effect and cost a lot more to the Habs' playoff run than it could possibly bring in a trade.

Feb 23: 6

Just occurred to me - maybe the picture in his left ear is PVM and the thing that looks like a cable coming off the top is the spotlight that sweeps the city. Let's have a closer look tonight. Edit: I believe we have a winner: the CHCH television tower in Hamilton. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CHCH_Television_Tower Despite the Patrick Roy on the side, this is the same mask he wore in Hamilton this year, so it's a bone for the Bulldogs fans, not us.

I kept looking at the non-Roy side and just couldn't figure out what that's supposed to be - it looked like a blend of a water tower and the alien tanks from War of the Worlds. Anybody have some inside info on this?

http://www.nhl.com/nhlstats/app?fetchKey=2...=scoringLeaders Power-play points are by no means gimmes. You need a skilled power play to make goals happen, and the good power-play stats of Souray, Markov, Koivu, Ryder and Kovalev are nothing to reproach them for. But the fact remains that you can't get power-play points if you're not on the power play, so looking at the even-strength points of a team tells a lot about the offensive performance of players when considered on a more equal footing. Doing this with the Habs leads to some very surprising results: Quick quiz: Who leads the Habs in even-strength goals? The answer to this question will be the player you have to consider your most dangerous scoring forward when you don't have the benefit of the extra man. If this player has a comparable amount of even-strength ice-time to those who also get the creamy minutes on the PP, these stats may be more informative about his performance relative to his teammates than his total points will be, particularly if he doesn't get much PP icetime. So somebody please explain to me why the Habs' top even-strength sniper is Sergei Samsonov... While they're at it, maybe they can explain to me why the only player who has more even strength points than SS - ie, the Habs' top 5-on-5 forward - is considered a checking winger (Mike Johnson). The answer, as I see it, isn't that these two are lighting it up 5-on-5, just that even the forwards who aren't getting as much heat for a mediocre season as Sergei Samsonov is are having just as bad seasons, if not worse. SS doesn't spend much time on the PP, and rarely when Souray is at the point, which is when a lot of the other forwards pick up assists for passing the puck back to the point. But something else worth thinking about is the possibility that maybe Samsonov and Johnson should be the core of the second PP unit. As crazy as it sounds, these guys might actually be the Habs' most threatening forwards, and there sure isn't a book on them yet.

It seemed like he had just come out of his funk, too. Oh well.

It's late at night, and I just wanted to breathe the air. 10th place, 11th 3 points away... Best wishes for Halak, but if Huet's play against Florida couldn't win a game - a shutout, except for the fact his own defencemen kicked him out of position - I don't imagine Halak can do much better, unless he has a better shot than I've heard. Don't get me wrong, I tune in to every game hopeful for signs that the fever will finally break, and that sweat will roll down the forehead of the CH like pucks raining into an opponent's net, and I'll still be pulling for these guys until the end of the season... But 10th place.

I'd just like us to all accept that the Habs are already fighting for their playoff lives. They've got a 3 point edge on oblivion - that's it.

I also think Gainey can't really bring up Halak without dealing Aebischer first. Not because it's impossible - he could send down Lapierre and carry three goalies for as long as he wants to try out Halak - but because any market value Aebischer has (and I think he still has some) would evaporate the instant you play an AHLer ahead of him.

I'd agree with the all-the-eggs-in-one-basket concern if it involved poaching the best elements from different lines that are performing well and getting one super-line, but when you're not losing anything from the top two existing lines - they're both underperforming - then I don't think the concern should really apply.

Chuckle...back when Darren Langdon (also a Newf) was still with the team, other players would complain that he and Ryder were completely incomprehensible when talking to each other.

Hope for the playoffs returns...

It would bother me too, if he weren't right. From what I can tell, his personality is excellent under the circumstances. Sure he dives a little, but a great team player, very humble in interviews, very soft-spoken.

This gets my authenticity award so far.

Can anyone explain to me why Sergei Samsonov speaks better English than Michael Ryder? http://www.gazblogs.com/habsinsideout-file...bs/samsonov.mp3 I agree he's become very likeable too, somehow, in this fiasco. Except for the demanding-a-trade part. What an odd character.

When the lockout-shortened season is 48 games long. Honk!

Murray is the odds-on favourite by six lengths to go down to Hamilton should Begin return, and not come back up before the end of the season. We may even have seen Murray's last game in a Habs jersey. I don't think they'd call him back up under any circumstances: if the Habs really run short of forwards, they can always call up Grabovski, and there's no joy in losing Murray on recall waivers, because while there's no bite of cap space while he's in Hamilton, they'd be on the hook for half the cap space if he's recall-swiped. And who knows, maybe he'll find his form in time for training camp in September. Of course, Carbo isn't naming a player who'll be sent down right now just in case Begin isn't ready for tomorrow - no sense in stomping morale uselessly. When asked who Begin would be playing with tomorrow, Carbo said he'd start on a line with Lapierre...so bye-bye Murray.

I feel like with the way this team has been playing lately, BG won't be a buyer at the trade deadline - there's no sense that one more centre or whatever will get the cup, even if it's a healthy Forsberg. But I don't see him selling Souray, either, even if he doesn't have much sober hope of keeping him. That kind of move would send a real vote of non-confidence down to the dressing room, the fans, etc, even if BG actually feels that way about the team's chances. The externality cost would be huge, so unless there would be some shocking benefit, I don't think he'll do it. All this just to say that I think Gainey, unlike a lot of other GMs, has a sense of the big picture that is very welcome.

Late breaking interview news: a quasi-contrite coach: "Maybe we made some mistakes with him," said Carbonneau. "He wasn't playing at the level we expected. "We tried to match lines, but nothing connected. Maybe we should have put him with other players. Maybe we should have sat down with him to go over point by point what we expect." from http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=195240&hubname= Though Carbo seems intent on keeping the same old lines for the upcoming games against Ottawa: "Guy Carbonneau a décidé de revenir à ses anciens trios. Ainsi, Chris Higgins, Saku Koivu et Michael Ryder formeront la première unité, la seconde étant composée de Guillaume Latendresse, Tomas Plekanec et Alex Kovalev." from http://www.rds.ca/canadien/chroniques/222869.html

I think Ovechkin is more likely to sign here, though. If the Pens stay in Pittsburgh, I think it will be hard for The Kid to not follow Mario's example after 7 years there and become the Franchise. As for Ovechkin, he breathes hockey and the city of Washington doesn't even know his name. He's Markov's buddy and he wants to be playing in front of a full house.

At the beginning of the season, everyone (including me) was ready to anoint Higgins as the next Messiah. Why? Pre-injury Higgins: 13 GP, 8 G, 5 A, 13 P. He's been a drag since returning from his injury, which he can't really be blamed for. Yes, 6 goals and 3 assists in 24 games is weak, but injuries are injuries. What I wanted to point out is that Plekanec has more than imitated Pre-injury Higgins since the New Year: 2007 Plekanec: 16 GP, 9 G, 7 A, 16 P. ...but there's still a lot of reticence to identify him as anything like the Real Deal. Parallel stats, completely different recognition. 16 points in 16 is more than a hot streak, right? Do we have something better than we thought? Can we get Higginsesquely excited about this guy for a minute?

Agreed that Koivu's got a better work ethic, but: Re defensive liability: Koivu is at -12. Kovalev is at -6. Re heck of a lot/bunch more points: Koivu has 3 goals and 2 assists on Kovalev.

Rather than SS-Koivu-Ryder, I'd make it SS-Koivu-Higgins. I think they're both left wingers, but SS tends to play circumference rather than wing, and Higgins plays (0,0) rather than wing, so I think it would work. It's just that Ryder hasn't been a useful 5-on-5 player for two seasons, so he should stick on the 4th and be brought in for power plays, where he is streakily useful, and Higgins (who has suddenly shown signs of life) should be the one to stay with Koivu. Latendresse seems to be doing all right with Plekanec and Kovalev, so let's leave that one alone.