tokyohabs

We absolutely can't go into next year with Koivu and Plecanek as #1 - #2. We might as well write it all off. Maximum Koivu is a #3 now, and Plex, well, the KHL beckons. True not many marquee ctr's available, but maybe a vet similar to Lang. Shouldn't SJ be looking for a major overhaul after yet another disaster? They have some players. Hossa won't come here; Bouwmeester probably too expensive; Gaborik a massive gamble on health, can't see it for Bob. As people have pointed out, Beauchemin would be a great pick up (also health issues after this year I guess; has he ever had other long-term injuries before?). If Markov is our first choice, and he mans the second d-line, could be very good. As Chris says, trust Bob to make the right decision with Komisarek. And if you're not going to get him, trade his rights so we get at least something out of it! LA dumb enough to give us Kopitar??? Dalhabs, tanking for the Habs is not an option for several reasons.

Well, Schwartz's became 's Schwartz after 101 - I saw them out on the street with a ladder, sawing the end of their plastic sign and just putting the apostrophe-s at the front, giving it a real feeling francais. And the stonecutter across the street had to take away his sign; problem was it was carved onto a headstone that looked like it weighed 10 tons... Ah, the madness, the good old days.

Can we afford to tie up 5 mil + in a d-man who cannot score? Who cannot pass the puck? His defense when healthy is excellent, and no questioning his desire or will. If the bidding starts at 5 with Komi, we just can't do it. Another concern with Komisarek is length of contract. With the talent potential we have on d coming up, can we afford to get locked into 5, 6, 7 years with #8? Are we buying into him instead of Markov for the longer term? I'd max out a 4 or 4.5 for a longer-term contract for him. He hasn't shown any improvement whatsoever offensively. Don't get me wrong, he is one of my favourites for his uncompromising attitude, but it's the cap, and we have a lot of slick-looking talent in the wings...plus a perennial all-star that might be Lidstrom East if on a similar team... Beauchemin might be a really nice pick-up as a 'consolation' for missing out paying Boowmeister 9 mil for 12 years ntc...someone will do it (secretly subsidised by the NHL to keep Coyotes in Phoenix and out of Basille's hands perhaps - or the NBA as the pat on the back Buttman has been so desperately looking for all this time from his lord and master Stern).

If we got Bouwmeester and Beauchemin, at the cost of Komisarek and another (except Markov), that would be very very good. Wonder if Francois would consider coming back to us. Wonder if we could afford it. Still need some power down the middle of the ice.

?????!!!!! Who the f*ck vacations in the West Island???

Crawford is 'very interested' in coaching us. Stories of learning French when with Quebec, talking to his relatives in French in the summer...good feelings all round. Still, his running the Kings further into the ground worries me more than holding his own during q&a from Rejan Tremblay. http://www.rds.ca/canadien/chroniques/274315.html

Depends how you look at it FG. Assimilation or self-preservation? The culture was being overwhelmed by anglo/US media bombardment. They take steps to preserve, but pro-active steps to promote, develop, grow. In favour of that. Never had a problem with it, never felt I was threatened in any way, never thought I had to get out of town because of that (did so for other reasons, but I'll be back soon enough). It is a different culture, distinct society. BC's comment of big-box sameness is very pertinent. Everywhere I've been in NA I get that feeling (major urban centres), except back home. Anyway, is it such a major leap to have someone speak the language of the place they live? There are all the advantages of speaking two languages to go with it. If we HAD to take Mario Tremblay for the only reason that he was Quebecois, then I think even Boivin might start to see things different. But we don't, we can come out very well. And there are classes one can take, even as an adult. By the way, will the new HC have to report to Uncle George in French, English, or pound sterling?

And Patrick Roy as dressing room whip. Or his son, might come cheaper.

WTF? How would that make sense? What would make sense is us trading for Bouwmeester's rights (oddly had a dream about that yesterday...Christ maybe I'm Eklund), then dealing the same rights to Komisarek to another team for a ctr, to replace Plex, traded for the Bouwmeester rights. OK, this is worse than video games now.

Assuming Komisarek re-ups with us. My gut feeling says no.

Yeah, Crawford and Robinson throwing their hats into the ring it seems. And St Pat saying he'd listen. Making for another high-drama episode of the Habs.

Reading MK1's post and watching Caps / Pens, it is clear there are two distinct ways that a team can be built. 1) Let it slide and flounder, risk losing the franchise (not in our case of course), accumulate great draft picks, with horribly low expectations fans see gradual improvement year by year, and if you hit the jackpot (Ovie, Sid, Kane / Toews), you have something. If not, you stay the Kings or Coyotes or Thrashers. 2) Try to stay competitive each year and build, slowly but surely, towards a bigger goal, jettisoning players who longer fit, because you have a group core that approaches maturity. Detroit and NJ are at very advanced stages of this process; this is more of what Bob envisioned. Besides, tanking is really not an option with us. He has to try to make the playoffs every year, to compete jusqu'au bout. He can't really become a seller, watch everything disintegrate, and jeapordise his job. Regrettably this year he was saddled both with terrible injuries, p*ss-poor play by several players, the asinine 100th celebrations, and the exposition of certain players that they might not be up to scratch. Added to that a coaching situation that I'm sure he thought long about before making the move and off-ice distractions; as well as some of his own mistakes (not getting a proper replacement for Streit), you have the makings of a bad, season, bad vibes all around. We have to give him another shot, it is not as much rebuilding as it is maturing we have to do. There are holes he has to fill, sure, but we have to wait and see. Boston is different, everything is going right. If they win the cup this year or next they won't care about three or four sh*te seasons, they're well used to it. Good for them, it is another way to build, bit odd in the cap era but it is working so far. Of course, one other building plan we could follow is the Leafs...

Yeah, anyone who actually remembers his performance in his last year with us laughed at the contract the scum gave him. He was so bad it was unreal. Part of it may be the way Carbo did / didn't use him, but a lot of people moaned he wasn't used right on the pp, the year we had the best pp in the league. Admittedly, he wasn't going to get a lot of help playing 12 mins a game with the 4th line, but he mailed it in very obviously a lot of the time down the stretch, a defeated player looking like he was ready to move on. No way Bob takes a hit on that one, short of thinking we should have fired Carbo over that. The FG pics post was him gladly kissing Ryder goodbye, if I'm not mistaken.

Agree that Habs are in desperate need of identity. I was raised on the late-70's Habs, the most impressive offensive powerhouse but built entirely on the uncompromising defense. Every line had one or two wingers who was fantastic defensively, plus a d-corps the likes of which never to be seen again. Goaltending, coaching, no-nonsense...wiping out the Flyers, coming back against the scum, annihilation of the Rags...even Eddie Palchak had it going on! And in the Savard-GM-era, when everything seemed to 'slow down', we forged again a tough d identity with gifted playmakers who were allowed to play creatively because of the team's responsibility in their own end. They were better than people thought, entertaining too, and were primed for a lot of success. Now the team changes lines every game or between periods, has little or no visible game plan to speak of most nights, just waiting and trying to react to something they see in the opposition. And there is no defensive cohesion, d-men with very different styles playing off each others' weaknesses instead of combining strengths. Who was it, John Wooden maybe, who said, "We don't take what the opposition gives us; we take what we want to take." So many nights the players are drifting around aimlessly, waiting for something to happen. Who knows, maybe Hartley or Larry would give us that identity. Or maybe they could work together. Let Patrick get his NHL HC experience somewhere else, then come to us when the timing is right. Edit: I mean Serge Savard, not Andre!

Wheeler was only going to sign for them from Phoenix, no? He made it clear at the time. Other than that gift, Chiarelli has done very well. And frankly, if they can't sign all their players in 2 years, but are sitting on one or two cups, do you think they'll give a flying? But I'd still love to see our team relatively healthy for a season, with Lang and Tanguay and Komisarek at 100%.

An as-is item? There go your bidders.

I think, though, that differences have to be drawn between your elite core of the team, who should be guarded and re-signed early, and the role players, who have long since accepted that this is their respective lot. Identify the core. Probably a big part of the problem, that. And if the role players are unhappy, then the more secure core players can take them for dinner at Moishe's.

Flutie didn't get much better after the Bills either - not entirely down to him, but there you go. Still don't think the Bills would have made the SB with him there, probably beat the Titans. Did have that drop-kick with the Pats though... That was the major difference, Halak I'd think is as unknown as Price. I think he should have got a playoff game, as stated, but no way we simply give up on Price because Halak was better a few games. Rob Johnson never had any remotely comparable success to Price either, I think one or two 300+ yard games in his career? Anyway, you are right about the possible political analogy, though even here it is still a stretch: Gillett doesn't seem the type to have ordered Gainey to play Price, and the circumstances are also different: Flutie had a great record on the regular season and Johnson was poor, but gets the whole playoffs; Price had an excellent 1st half, poor second half (as did the entire team), but is the starter and seen as such by the team. Halak had a great run late in the year and had the backing, but faltered badly a couple of times. But I'll concede, political meddling severely affects psyche in everyone, not the least fragile and generally immature professional athletes (Jay Cutler, Jason Campbell, to continue the football vent). In that you have a point. And for the record, while I didn't think your Mason / Wings comment was very good, it is not the stupidest post on this site ever. Hell, most of mine are!

Not my idea, relax. Lock up your core earlier, don't let them get to the point to test the waters, see Markov. RFA are such for a reason.

Equal numbers won't be hard to find with Plex! There's a couple of forwards in the Nepalese league I've heard... Maybe it is time he considered an offer sheet then? Since everything else has worked so beautifully. Marquee UFA's like Boumeester and Sedins haven't exactly been a strong point for Bob. I think they need to decide what kind of team they want to be. Dumping every FA would certainly make the slate cleaner. What will happen to Don Lever? Be a bit much to dump him back to Hamilton, no?

Comparing Varlamov's situation to Price is as for-fetched as, oh, I don't know, comparing Johnson/Flutie to Price/Halak. No need to go into it, as you surely know what an impossible stretch the comparison is, if you have that good memory of the Bills' debate at the time. As pointed out, Varlamov is a nobody backup for Washington, and the team is just waking up in time. helping him become a somebody. If you think that situation is like Price, you also probably think Flutie would have led the Bills to the SB. I watched two of the Wings-Jackets games, I cannot for the life of me think that Mason was the main reason for them going under. Fanpuck33, sure you went ot one of the games and probably watched them all, was he and his pedestrian save % the reason they lost to the Wings? For sure the Rags should hook Lundquist, now that he's gone into the tank he obviously doesn't represent their best chance to win. In that case, Brodeur should be replaced, he's obviously lost it against the Canes...no wait,that was Ward last game...no wait, the third period of game 4 Brodeur...ah, hook em all! I feel Gainey was wrong to have Price out for game 4; but he has terrific potential, as does Halak. But thinking that a 21 year old has already hit his plateau, when so many people around think he has the goods to make him great, is a bit short-sighted, no? I saw Halak suck a few games this year, haven't given up on him.

Right, that's all he is, big. The cup doesn't mean anything, he's only big. Zzzz.... Anyway, pipe dream, we won't get him. More interesting would be signing Dubinsky to an offer sheet (overpay) and seeing who we might get as a 1st-line ctr in front of him; then shoring up the d, Komisarek gone, Bouwmeister going to be overpriced...who? Vet goalie? Can't see the Habs carrying three goalies.

The fighting stuff came up from other quarters. Website is nice, great for the kids, dreads looking natty. Well done on that front Georges.

Oh well, no room there. Hometown discount from Vinny? How about 10 free trips to Florida beaches during the season? Or Uncle George can buy him an island somewhere... Is Dubinsky an RFA, subject to an offer sheet? Christ, I'd already be offering him (yes, yes, against the rules). This kid looks excellent, perfect long-term 2nd / 3rd centre.

Exactly Keep26. You fight when your team needs it. Too many times we saw a situation where we needed someone to stand up. Chara running around punching Komisarek in the face a few times with his f'n gloves on - you have to let him know that won't be tolerated without physical retaliation. Otherwise the tone is set, and players avoid these others with fear - at least ours do. Lucic, you can carry things over from other games. Not always on the ice, sure, but he had plenty of chances. Kostopolous at least is a willing, if poor fighter. Don't even start with Gorges and Bergeron, a disgrace. Guys knock our goalie around all year, late hits, scrums where we were outmanned...where was George? Though I stand corrected on his statistical number of fights, the question still remains: again, what was Laraque brought in to do? What was his role? If it wasn't to fight, why is he here? Poor skater, below-average hands, physical, poor shot, poor passer, skating problems severely limit his defensive ability...this is news to no-one. Anyway, maybe a new coach will light a fire under him. I'm sure even he was unimpressed with his own season. And after all is said and done, who knows, maybe the coaches went along with his idiotic gentleman's code, maybe he was told not to fight too much.