saskhab

Markov's camp might use the media in some ways to get a better deal for the simple reason that he actually doesn't want to go anywhere else. So he threatens he will, because than Montreal has to worry about the potential for competing offers a little more. It could be a way of avoiding the "hometown discount" but still signing a deal early. But really, there's no way negotiations have gone sour at this point. They just got started last week (if at all). Negotiations during these months goes pretty slowly, especially since Markov is heading to the Worlds.

It'll be CBC. I'm going to my parents place this weekend and my dad will want to understand the commentary. I'll be a nervous wreck if the Habs haven't clinched by that point anyways. There will be a lot of exaggerated emotions.

We're ahead in the first tiebreaker right now (wins) over every team below us, so that's why I said 10. 10 is a tie for a playoff spot.

The good thing is... as of right now, we do have a "magic number". Of course, that number is 10. 10 points and we're in. Problem: we only have 5 games left. 10 points would actually guarantee us 7th, though, as by beating the Rangers, even in OT, we'd pass them.

Huet has been bad against Ottawa, Aebi actually fared a lot better in those games. Wonder what Halak can do. I expect Huet gets the start on Saturday vs Buffalo, if he is ready.

Just hope the game is over in 60 minutes. Only thing we can be concerned about is Tuesday. There are "biggest games of the year", and then there really are "biggest games of the year". This is bigger than all of our previous "biggest games of the year" combined.

The Habs were never concerned about his offensive skills. They signed him early to get used to the pace and physicality of pro hockey. NCAA is not an overly physical level of hockey. It's big ice, cages, and no fights. I have no problem with our #2 ranked PP unit. I'd rather we have that good of a PP and keep Komi fresh for our much weaker even strength and PK units.

Niinimaa was well into the minus at one point while every other Habs D was at worst a -1 at the start of the year. He was awful as a sub, and when Dandenault came back, Streit stayed in the lineup and Niinimaa was benched. At the start of the year, the team chose Niinimaa over Streit, but then the Habs had 2 injuries and had to play both. Streit has been a regular ever since, though obviously they've found another way to accomodate him. We don't have a lot of youth on the blueline. We can afford to put some in there, be it Gorges or Cote. We'll probably still be carrying 8 D next year, but we'll see. And the Niinimaa turnover thing just doesn't go away. He's had a terrible reputation since his last year with the Oilers and all the way through his Isles stint. Ask fans of those teams. His best years are LONG gone.

We do need more puckmoving ability on the back end, I think Gorges is part of that solution and so is Streit. Before the Streit at forward experiment, he was one of our better blueliners. Realistically, most nights Markov is our only puckmover back there. Souray is about the equivelant of Bouillon and Komisarek in that department, it's just not their main attirbute. Streit can help us a lot in that department and hopefully with a full Habs training camp Gorges can work his way into the Habs' system... he can't be all bad if he played regularly on a better team than ours. We'll have to see how it all works out. I'd like one of Bouillon and Dandenault to be moved at the draft. Markov is hopefully re-signed by then, and then we can look at the market and see what we can offer Souray or a different UFA.

Hopefully we win our next 3 games (Boston, Washington, NYR) and at that point we can afford to start him against one of the powerhouse clubs (Ottawa/Buffalo). I figure we can only afford to lose 2 games in regulation the rest of the way, going 6-2 or maybe 5-2-1 depending on who the wins and losses are against. I figure to realistically do this we need a split of that weekend. Maybe start Huet in the second game. We can't easily risk using a rusty goalie.

No point in keeping vet bit players. Have to spend money wisely. We have the option of Streit at $600k back there, Gorges at $475k-$500k, or a rookie in his role (Cote/Emelin). I'd rather they got it. Niinimaa should take a decent finish to the year and parlay that into getting a 1 year contract with a different team. We still should consider moving one of our 3rd pairing guys, though. You can't have that much $$$ tied up in depth guys. Komi needs a new contract, and he's better than all the guys we're talking about here (Bouillon, Dandy, Streit, Janne, Gorges). Priorities, people. Komi will be looking for a deal similar to what Rivet got a few years back, and we should get him signed to it. If Janne helps stabilize the D to help us get into the playoffs, then we got something out of this trade. We can leave it at that. As for next year, we need to get our top 3 in order and sacrifices will have to be made to our depth guys in order to do it.

The key to winning isn't so much who we start, but how we get some goals past King Henrik. Dude is playing like a Vezina candidate since the All-Star break.

Ah, I did. It's been so long since we've had an offensive star, that those 50g/100pts guys in the 80s are easy to forget and you think it's been longer than what it's actually been. I guess it'll be getting really bad when I start saying that Richard was the last to do it.

I think Latendresse is the best bet, actually. But not a very good bet, as it has been said, 50 goals is quite the feat, and considering that Lafleur was the last to do it for this team...

I think we can trade Samsonov still. Washington might take him on. Hell, they once took Jeff Friesen on. I don't think buying him out is an option at all worth considering. I don't know if NJ is less attractive to sign with after what they did to Mogilny and are still doing to McGillis. Hell, Tampa Bay waived their SC winning captain last year. The damage has already been done as far as what Samsonov exposed as negatives to signing in Montreal.

I hope I'm on the high end, and hope we can get them for lower, that's for sure. But judging on the supply/demand rule, and what rates were in 2005, how they went up in 2006, and now... Only a handful (and I mean one hand, not two) of d-men could be considered more valuable than these two. Timmonen might be the #1 choice, Markov and Souray are right behind with Rafalski, Hannan, and maybe Stuart and Salo. Given the choice between signing a top 4 blueliner or a top 6 forward, a team will almost always choose the blueliner, so they get more money. What may help, though, is that the forward pool is much larger and of higher quality than the d-men. Because the star attractions are at a different position, then less money goes to the d-men, evening the playing field a bit. Last summer was all about d-men.

A couple of points: 1. Both Markov and Souray are worth $5m+/season on the open market. 2. This team, as far as I can tell, does not have a "no one makes more than the captain" rule, like Ottawa did with Alfie (and why they immediately dealt Hossa after he signed his huge contract). Koivu makes more because of a) his quality; B) his intangibles; c) when he signed (Kovalev signed with a lower cap figure, by the time Saku signed we knew it would be much higher in coming years); d) his age. In fact, when he signed the deal, Theodore was still making over $1m/season more than him on average. So Koivu's deal isn't a measuring stick for the organization at all. 3. Markov is our best player, and is underappreciated. Not many d-men in the league can play in every situation as well as he can. He's been our best puckmoving blueliner for 4 seasons now, and our best defensive blueliner for just as long. He should be priority #1, and there's no reason we can't go long on this deal. 5 years is fine by me. 4. Souray gets trickier. I still think this is the year we have to commit to a couple of our younger players and get them signed long term (3-5 years). I'm specifically thinking of Komisarek and Higgins. If it were up to me I'd sign both Markov and Komi to 5 year deals and say that I have my top D pairing locked up for the next half-decade at a fixed rate. Souray, therefore, would be a short term deal, if he were still interested. I couldn't commit long term to Sheldon. 2 years, $10m. I could live with that. But we'd have to make room. 5. These are estimates, and obviously I'd want the deals to be lower value. We need to identify our core. This off-season is crucial. And Markov better be a part of it.

If Jannsen gets 3 games for his late cheapshot on Kaberle, Emery gets 3 for swinging his stick wildly at Lapierre's head, Armstrong gets zero for his late headshot on Letowski... this is barely a 1 game sentence. Tootoo gets the book thrown at him because the media is looking at hockey violence again and the league is under the microscope. There's no consistency. All 3 incidents I mentioned at the top were much more dangerous, and much more avoidable as well. The average US citizen doesn't mind violent sport. The NHL believes it's a "family" sport, probably aided by the fact that Disney owned a team for a while. Now that they're out, it's time to drop that attitude. The fanbase in every US market is traditional male, white, and working class. Why they keep trying to make the game less appealing to them is ridiculous, and a major reason why the sport has lost ground in the marketplace.

Quite high, and unprecedented for a punch. An overreaction, but more unfortunate. Maybe 2 games. But I think he got 5 since he's Tootoo. I mean, when Souray jumped Colby Armstrong after Armstrong hit Koivu, no one called for a suspension. He didn't give Armstrong any time to confront him, he just wanted to beat him up, defending himself be darned. Hope they're more consistent in the future. This sends a mixed message. It's OK if you're defending the guy that got hit, but not if you're defending yourself.

And yes, Turco sucked. But Theo was actually good vs the Ducks in a losing effort. There was a game he made close to 50 saves. He kept them competitive.

If you're on a one way contract, and are with a NHL team at the trade deadline (not in the AHL), you can not be sent to the minors for the remainder of the season and playoffs. Halak's on a two-way. I'm not talking about roster issues, there are none. I am just saying that if Huet comes back and is the #1, do we send Halak down just to help Hamilton out? I mean, if he's not playing anyways... or do we keep him as a 2nd option in case Huet is pulled/gets injured.

The impact of such a move will be negligable, unfortunately.

I agree, hence the joke. I guess the ideal situation is this... Halak wins us some games, Huet comes back and gets a game or two in before playoffs (and we make it). Very similar to Budaj/Theodore last year in Colorado. Then Huet is in for the playoffs, and he does quite well. Theo did quite well in the post-season last year, as hard as that may be to believe. I guess the question then goes... do we send Halak back to Hamilton if Huet gets healthy and we make the playoffs? At least he'd get game time in again and help out our AHL team's playoff drive.

I suppose I should answer the question. I gave up on this year's team long ago (around the first weekend of Feb), but they are winning me back, mainly with the improved play of late by Ryder, Higgins, Latendresse, and the huge effort from Kostitsyn. Halak still frightens me, but I'm more comfortable with the choice at this moment. I still think he's too green for this role, but maybe he's naive enough to not let it affect him. So will they? Too many ifs at this point. I'm surprised they're still within a point, to be honest. And I do think they can make up the difference even with fewer games to play than most of their opponents. We'll be first round fodder for sure, though. But I pray that Huet is at least back in goal for that.

Vaigneault's success this season has made me think of the 1999-2000 team that got eliminated with a loss in the final game of the season. Not really comparing the two, just remembering the highs and lows. If anything, this team reminds me of '02-'03. Overpaid underachievers galore, promising youth, shoddy goaltending.