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SAKS-AVENUE

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Posts posted by SAKS-AVENUE

  1. I love the quote that tokyohabs posted in French. Kovalev told reporters that he's going to have to go home and work on his skating during the offseason. :lol:

    Detroit is actually the team most likely to win the Cup (and has been all season) so there goes your theory. The Euros we have are motivated, physical Euros and they have led us all year. They aren't Marcel Hossa or Jozef Balejs.

    Sergei Kostitsyn is the biggest headhunter on our team. He's really he only one with the balls to try open ice hits.

    Kovalev has always taken care of his own business - most obvious example is Tucker.

    Koivu plays bigger than he is, he and Kovalev are our two biggest leaders and were our two best players in the playoffs.

    Emelin and Valentenko are two Russian D prospects we have coming that are close to the NHL - both of them are supposed to be ferocious.

    Hamrlik is a physical, stay-at-home defenceman. He also brought leadership to the team and we saw how poorly we played when he was injured.

    Plekanec didn't play his best, but he finished the playoffs with 9 points in 12 games, about the same pace he hit in the regular season. He is a coacheable, hard-working two-way player. I wouldn't call him soft, lazy or heartless.

    Andrei Kostitsyn plays with fire, just like his brother does. He isn't scared to hit (but he's sometimes scared to take a hit) and after Kovalev, he's our most likely guy to create a goal out of nothing.

    Markov, Streit... I'll admit it, these guys didn't play well at all in the playoffs and that was a huge reason why we lossed. Both of them have suspected injuries (Streit is skipping the Worlds to nurse his back) but we can't use that as an excuse.

    But the Europeans are here to stay, they represent almost our entire core. Most of our leaders are Europeans and our team would be nothing without them.

    Though North American captains have had much more success in the playoffs (100% of the success to be exact) than Euros, all this talk is borderline racist. Some of our grittiest players are Euros. And don't forget Thomas Holmstrom, Jarkko Ruutu, Alex Ovechkin, Johan Franzen, Darius Kasparaitis, Danny Markov and lots more.

    I have nothing against bringing in more veteran NA players (I want Shanahan) but I don't think anyone should be making comments like "the Habs need to dump all their Euro trash if they ever want to win the Cup. We need some Canadian boys who play with heart!"

    I agree with every single word you said. A die hard winning edge always goes to the team that has the most competitive players not what country they come from. The statistical success rate of 100% for North American captains is a stat that can't be ignored. I hope that Saku and The Canadiens are the first team to change that stat and I also believe it is possible since North American captains have a huge jump start on Euro's. How long has the league been around? and when did we get our first Euro Captain in the Nhl? Mogilny? 93/94 season. It will happen and it will happen soon. Hopefully it will be Saks, and that will pave his way to the HALL of FAME no doubt. First Euro captain to win the Stanley Cup!!! I can't wait.

  2. As "Walmsley" our fellow poster has mentioned about Price-"This kid is special, he's going to be great" I feel the same about Halak. We can't lose this kid. This thread is not about bashing Carey, it's about making sure we realize that Jaro is special too and if we take off our blinders we may see the true goalie of our future. I'm not making any statements, I just really like the kid. I think he is going to be great as well if not possibly better. I thought we solved the problem when we traded Huet away and brought him up from the AHL, but according to this article the problems have only begun and I don't blame him.

    What can we do to keep Jaro happy while we find out if Price is for real?

    Halak wants more!

  3. I think someone mentioned we should try and trade Kovy while his value is peaked again, but I think we should re-think that. Last year he improved, and most say it was the talk with Gainey. The other thing that I feel gave him motivation was being skipped over by the russian team. While the TlTS Brothers were invited this year Kovy has been shunned again, now the Russian team has told Kovy he's not fast enough. Kovy's comments were that he is going home to work on his skating. He said it kind of jokingly but he may be motivated one more time and give us an even better season next year. We can re-evaluate then. I'd give him one more year.

  4. Well, I just don't see why we couldn't have given Price the reins and kept Huet around as insurance in case Price struggled, that's all. The assumption being that Huet would be more of a go-to choice over Halak (sensible given his extra experience and his status as proven commodity). I think Price would still have 'learned' plenty had he taken us to game 3 against Philly and then sat out a couple of games.

    We wouldn't have got past Boston with Huet. Price wouldn't have played if we had Huet. The point was to give him real experience. He got it. With Huet around it would not have happened. Because of his melt down in the Philli and Boston series will make him stronger for next years run. Huet was not going to be signed anyway this summer, so the goal was to ride Price as far as he could take us this year. This has been an obvious plan since the trading deadline. What don't you get?

    The only problem that I saw was the kid had many meltdowns. Some of the goals he let in were brutal and at the worst times. Guys like Umberger picking him apart. Soft....soft....soft..... A few times he was great. I'm having trouble figuring out whether he is capable of living up to his resume in the NHL. Yes he's got size, and yes he is well positioned, but with the sharp shooters in the NHL being able to roof pucks into those little spaces and leave him standing there clueless has me worried. He's not reacting and he's not tracking the play, plus it seems like after a few bad goals he gives up. All bad signs. I hope he's not damaged by the expectations that were put on him. I was expecting him to at least be a little more competitive.

    Anyways back to the point.......

    Because Huet was traded and Price got the call for the entire run since March he is 1yr ahead of where he would be if we kept Huet. Good or bad doesn't really matter at this point.

    Let's see if this makes him a better goalie next year. I think it will.

  5. I hope we get him but i think he will sign with the Wings. He has always been a wings fan so that may make him put pen to paper.

    The wings are pretty stacked in the top 4 and even 6, at least he would have a chance to crack our line-up, if he's good. I know nothing about him except what I've read in the media. There must be a bunch of potential since so many teams are courting him. It would be nice to get a star type player on our team, here's hoping to a late blooming come out of nowhere free signing this summer. Detroit alaways seems to find these gems and just on the fact they are front runners in obtaining him is exciting that he is considering The Habs.

    I doubt we'll be mucking it up with UFA's this year, not too much available......we can afford this signing and remember kids......

    Who will be wearing Red, White and Blue next summer? We need to keep cap space for that.

  6. I enjoyed this season. The boys were great! Good times ahead no doubt. I guess we should have seen red flags in the Boston series. Price let us down and Biron was hot. So were the goal posts and lucky bounces that seemed to be going the Flyers way.

    I sure didn't want to lose to the Flyers, I wanted Pittsburgh.......oh well. Next year we are 100 years old and hopefully we will be able to engrave Saku's name on a cup.

    No tears guys, it was a good run, and it wasn't that dip shit Briere ending it on the break-away he had. Go easy on Price this summer.....He will be great!

    Where is One Sharp Marble? I bet him the Flyers would make the play-offs, but I didn't think they would knock us out. Oh well!!!

    I think I'll skip town for a bit. See you guys in July for the UFA CRAZE!!!!!

    Peace

  7. no, Huet kept Washington in it.. I watched those games and Huet was a major step above Price. We don't need amazing goaltending right now, we just need some steady play....

    Yes Huet lost the last round to Philly.

    Why look back now? This is your future as a Habs fan so start cheering kid. We haven't lost yet. 20 more minutes!!!!!!!! Be proud.

  8. He has been weak tonight, but where is Kovalev? Where are the Kostitsyn's? Where is the blame on Markov?

    etc etc.

    The scary thing is, half the team has been invisible and if Price had played great they would be up in this game

    and the series.

    Hopefully our boys will bounce back. If we don't come back on this game I hope we at least make it interesting. We haven't been down in a series yet, a lesson we need to learn and how not to give up and that we can come back. We are going to need it if we face NYR or Pens.

    I have faith, but the boys aren't giving us anything to cheer about except falling on they're asses sulking as if they want to go home and give up.

    Pleks is proving to be very soft. That bugs my ass

    COME ON MOTHER F**KERS PROVE ME WRONG!!!!!!

  9. A certain poster wanted me to crack open this thread to get him out of the FUNK.

    So LETS GO TOMMMY P.

    Well it worked last time, let's see if it works again. It's not even the effort I'm worried about, he's had many great chances and he's done good things with his chances......Just steady bad luck.

    May the bounces go your way Pleks!!!!!!!!

    GOTOMMYGO!!!!!!

  10. I was bummed at Carey for a few games during the season because he was letting in Huet/Theo type goals. That's not what's happening here, and the pure fact that you guys and the media are questioning him makes me want to keep him in net. That's when he responds.

    We just need to pick up our offense......We are not an elite team yet and still need to work really hard for every inch of ice, because of that we play better hockey when we have the lead. I think it's more important to focus on scoring the first few goals and we'll be O.K. Halak can't really help us there. Carey all the way.... until he truly proves he's out of it.

    I'm still pissed at that ax chop slash to the wrist on the fourth goal. Is that not a slashing/interference penalty? or did Carey's wrist have to break for it to have been noticed.

  11. I'm not as down as some of you girls. I think we outplayed the Flyers and the bounces will hopefully start going our way.

    36-23 in shots, Biron clearly robbed us. Our powerplay looked good, Hopefully Price's wrist is o.k after that slash on the fourth goal....we'll bounce back. Kovalev looked a little flat and uninterested when he lost the puck, but he'll snap out of it.

    Hey!! JMMR. I looked for the " anyone else starting to worry about Pleks?'' thread we used during his last slump. It seemed to pull him out of it, but you closed it until the next time it was needed.

    Well I think we need it to help our little sister out!!!!! Please re-open.

    Let's rally boys and take both games in Philli..... I think our record there is pretty good.

    Let's get Pleks out of his Slump!!!!!!!

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