hab29RETIRED

Yes - Eller!!!

good the play by play and colour commentator clowns be any more biased??? I can't believe i'm saying this, but I'm actually missing bob cole!!!

well in the race to fail for Nail, it's looking good tonight, even if we do beat these damn leafs: -Anaheim beat Ottawa -Buffalo's up on St. Louis 1-0 -Tampa's up on the yotes 2-0 -Columbus tied with detroit 2-2 -Isles tied with the canes 1-1 (going for a OT/Shootout win for the Canes)

Is there any surprise??? I'm just surprised that he didn't say McDonough should have been aware that he might get hit and should have protected himself better. How this guy has a job is a joke. he almost makes Don cherry look like a rhodes scholar. Would probably be in jail or at least being sued for assaulting a minor if it wasn't for his celebrity status getting him off from charges being laid.

I think if we had to play against AHL teams, we'd probably be 15 spots lower then we are now!!!

what the hell is the point of having Kaberle and Subban on the point. Will either of these guys every friggin take the shot???? I'm also getting really tired of the fake windup from Subban. Does anyone on the team bring this up with him????

Bad play by the D, but after almost making a nice deke, that was a bad pass by AK46. But really, there is no way the D should have been pinching in that situation. I think the only games he plays is against the habs.

Looks like the leafs actually practice breakaways!!

man what a crap game - I'd hate to have paid to see this game. And the habs score!!!

The big problem with this franchise - aside from patience, is that it sees any controversy a an affront to the image of the franchise. My fear is that the perception of Subban being a malcontent, or going against the grain, will be a bigger reason for trading him, then how his development is coming across. I don't think there is another franchise, who starts dumping players for perceptions of having a bad attitude, to talkative/controversial or immature (imagine that suddenly rich 19-23 year olds might lack maturity). That was one of the reasons chelios was moved, Carbo was moved after giving the bird to some photographers at a golf game and over the past 5-6 years a lot of young players have been dumped (Grabs, Ribeiro, SK74, Lats, Laps, Cammy). Instead of trying to deal with and finding a way to correct the situation this franchise seems intent on giving away players to avoid bad press. This is why I really think having an assistant coach like Robinson to mentor a guy like Subban would go a long ways to make him a better player and professional.

Does this team not practice breakaways????? That was a crap attempt by Eller.

this is one game i want to win. We aren't going to make the playoffs, but i want to do as much possible to make sure the make beliefs are also on the outside looking in. the cbc is bad enough with their love of the leafs, last thing i want is them cheerleading for the leafs in the playoffs.

I don't see Yzerman letting him go - but we can still hope!!! He is taking a lot of flak, with some of the Tamp media saying that TB has been ineffective since Philly "stopped playing against them back in November'. what they overlook is that the goaltending has been horrible and the depleted defense is even worse then ours.

I think we need to move the following: -Moen (2nd rounder) -Gill (2nd rounder) -Campoli (3rd rounder - personally I wouldn't even be willing to give up a bag of pucks for him, but GM's have shown willingness to trade for garbage). -Kaberle (2nd rounder - yes, i get the number of pp points he has, but I'm sick of one dimensional dman like MAB, Gill and Kaberle) I also wonder if we put together a package that includes Kaberle or weber to get paajarvi, they are desperate for dman and need more veterns to balance the amount of youth they have. Maybe Bourque and a dman like Kaberle or weber for Paajarvi and a pick?? -Weber or Diaz (3rd rounder - my gut tells me to hang on to Weber and see what a new coach can do, but I think he has more value then Diaz - I still think he can develop into a rafalski type dman, if we could package Weber with someone else for a high end prospect, I'd be more inclined to move him). -Darche - whatever we can get, if anyting at all -Gomez - I don't think he can be moved at the deadline, but I really think he may be a good fit in Edmonton, given their young players and Gomez's falling salary vs. his cap hit (not sure if Edmonton is on his no move list). Unfortunatley we have already moved Cammy who IMO was the biggest trading chip we had and packaged with a young dman like Weber or Gill, I think he could have brought us the young centre prospect we need. having said that, i'd even be willing to try and move Rene Bourque by packaging him with someon like Kaberle (Sutter signed him in Calgary and LA needs PP help). As i've said since last spring about who i'd keep: -AK46 -sign long-term. -DD - convert to winger, i think we can resign him this summer, rather then wait until he is a UFA. -White - I think he is RFA again - resign -Eller - resign either long term (if cheap), or at the longest, up to at least 1 or 2 years before he is due to be a UFA.

Agreed. Carbo has done squat to prove he is a better coach. If he is interested in coaching, he needs to get off his ass as an analyst and became a coach in the AHL or the juniors to prove himself. I don't want andre savard either. Frankly, i think there is really only one good choice as GM and that is Jim Nill from Detroit. As we need a bilingual coach, I'd be willing to risk going with Patrick Roy or trying to get Boucher from the lightning. Roy, because this team needs to play with fire and Roy is a guy who at least has paid his dues LEARNING to be a coach. Boucher, because we have a young team and he has a good track record of working with and developing young players. I don't think you can go by his record in Tampa this year, because he has zero goaltending and a defense worse then ours (as hard as it may be to believe that could actually be possible).

We need to mix up our PP personnel and simplify the PP. Make sure there is ALWAYS someone in front of the friggin net!!! the other forwards and Dmen, need to be in a position where they can actually shoot from. First thing is WHOEVER is playing the point needs to practice hitting the friggin net. Guys like Subban need to be told get the friggin shot through and get the shot through FAST. To that end, use a wrister over a slap shot. Right now, teams don't really see our point shot as a threat. When we actually take the shot, we are hitting defenders, our own guys or missing the net. Secondly, the forwards are to far along the boards where them shooting is not even an option. Teams are letting them stay along the boards and effectively taking away the point option and the slot option, becuase the forward rarely has a chance to shoot, let alone score, based on where tehy are positioned (Pleks has been guilty of this). Lastly, if we are going to put a forward on the point, why not have a guy like AK46 who has a laser for a shot???? Give him clear instructions to take the friggin shot and not get cute!!!!! The other thing i don't get is, doesn't this team practice for shootouts???? Cunneyworth should have 3 to 5 guys that spend 20 minutes each day that practice the shootout and these are the go to guys. It's pathetic how we supposedly have a lot of small skilled forwards and they can't score on a shootout.

I'm just sick of the whole don cherry mentality of wanting our guys to fight or the need for them to have to fight. Against Washington, to start the game Rene Bourque dropped the gloves won the fight. Where was the supposed big momentum swing???? Washington scored 3 minutes later and we got shutout. Last night Maxpac fought and you could see him sitting in the box rubbing his hands and wrists. He went off later in the game holding his wrist (did return). I don't want our guys risking an injury by getting into a fight. I grow up enjoying the Habs-Nords bloodbaths of the early to mid-eighties as much as anyone else. But honestly, fighting is something that needs to be taken out of the game. even the former GM of the bruins Harry sinden felt that way. Kerry Fraser has also wrote the same thing in one of his blogs, or it might have been only in the kamloops paper i read. But seriously, I don't want Subban, MaxPac, Cole, Ak46, Emelin, or any of our bigger important players fighting. All this talk about hockey being necessary to cut down on the stick work or rats is bullshit. Get tougher on disciplining stick infractions, un-sportsman like conduct like other major professional sport. Hell, the NHL gave Avery a long suspension of calling Phaneuf's girlfriend a sloppy second. You're telling me they can't start giving guys 5 to 10 game suspensions for FIRST TIME OFFENDERS meaningful suspensions (rather then bullshit 1 gamers and then 2-3 gamers, then 4-5 gamers, then 7 games), that tougher suspensions wouldn't take the cheap shots out of the game????? Suspend repeate offenders for 10 to 15 then 20 to 30 games. On top of that start having more infractions become majors. Players WILL learn to adjust and the game WILL be cleaned up. If you get tough on cheap cross checks to head, boarding, stick infractions, spearing, cheap elbows to the head (like Bourque on Backstrom, Ference on Halpern, or Steckel on Crosby), or guys like Lucic running over goalies, and there is an actual MEANINGFUL CONSEQUENCE to an action, these infractions will be phased out. Having vigilante justice as the means of eliminating cheap shots doesn't work. Hell, we are in a situation now, where even when a guy lays a completely CLEAN hit on someone, he gets challenged to fight. The whole arguement that tougher discipline takes hitting out of the game is bullshit. The best hockey I saw in the last 5 years was the last olympics. how much fighting was there???? It was fast, skilled, high tempo hockey, with lots of solid CLEAN hits. To me its absurd that the NHL wants to take out headshots to cut risks of concussions, yet, its fine to have bare knuckle punches to the head.

I can see more then a few teams offering him $4.5M. I think some people need to be careful for what they wish for. We could trade him for a 2nd or even a late 1st and then watch him score 30 to 35 by going to a more offensive system. In trying to replace him, i can also see us signing another Samsonov or god forbid a Hemsky type player for similar numbers. Cole is really the first free agent we have EVER signed that has been a complete success (Gionta has been good, but he has not come close to putting forth the same consistent effort that Cole has and has been - knock on wood - as durable) and even then given his age, there is still some concern of at least the last year of the deal. I'd like the habs to sign him, get a new management team in place that brings in a more offensive high-tempo style of play in place. I'm sick and tired of watching sitting back, "try not to lose" hockey. I'm also tired of having good players come here and put up very ordinary numbers and have players that did nothing here suddenly put up career numbers elsewhere, but do so with regularity.

It's not south the arguing on the bench - its the same type of mistakes being made over and over again on both sides of the ice. That shows the message isn't getting through.

Is there still any doubt???

unless PG does something incredibly stupid like trading Subban (wouldn't really surprise me), which should only happen if he can somehow hypnotize Ray Shero or Stan bowman to trade for Malkin or Toews, one of the big moves I think we need is Larry Robinson as an assistant coach. TOnights game, you could see Ladouceur and Subban jawing at each other after Subban's giveaway that led to a goal. I really think PK needs a guy who was a stud dman (both an explosive offensive star and a defenseive rock) to work with him. Rob Blake, Zitnick raved about how Robinson mentored them, as did Nediermeyer. I think he is the kind of guy that could get through to PK. We have to get a new coach next year, whoever we get, hiring Larry Robinson should be part of the deal - regardless who we hire. Subban's dad was supposed to be a habs fan, so he would probably also tell subban to listen and listen closey to the big bird. I really think the habs have mismanaged Subban from the start. You look at Letang, Karlson and even a guy like Fowler (who is really a one dimensional dman), they are free to fly and use their offesnsive talent. I think the habs should have let Subban more freedom offensively, at least be confident and keep that part of the game working and work with him to improve his offensive game (i.e don't telegraph the play with his big golf swing and start using the wrister more oftern and practice hitting the FRIGGIN NET), while gradually getting to improve his defensive game. Right now, he seems messed up on both sides of the ice. For a 22/23 (??), he is still playing pretty good, but I really think he could be much further ahead if it didn't seem like he is fighting with the coaching staff. With all the things I'm pissed off about with Gainey and PG, I think the way the treated Robinson stings the most, becuase I really think we would have a completey different Subban, if he had a better mentor. It's very rare to have a superstar like Robinson who has also proved himself as an elite coach, been a cup winner and has coached or mentored so many great dman (Neidermeyer, Blake, Zhitnik, Stevens, Rafalski). The guy has won as a player and coach and players love him. Yet Gainey strung him along, didn't return his calls, until Robinson finally gave up and went to the devils. It pisses me off to no end that a guy like Lamoriello modeled his team on the Montreal Canadiens and made it a point to hire former Habs greats to turn New jersey to one of the greatest franchises (after Detroit), over the last 15 years. Yet, Gainey, who won all five of his cups with Robinson as a teammate, didn't see the value of having Robinson as an assistant coach with a very young defense. While Gill, may have been effective in helping keeping subban a bit grounded and may have helped teach him to be more professional, if I was Subban, I'd be tuning Gill out a lot, simply because I know how much better i am then Gill. Tuning out Robinson would have been a totally different story. Muller was one of the few good decsions the habs made (I believe he was Carbo's choice), and the players loved him. Robinson, is another coach, wherever he has coached, the players have loved him. I'd love him as a head coach as well, but he has already said in the past, that he doesn't want the stress that comes with being a head coach and had to quit becasue of the effect the stress had on his health. But he would be the perfect assistant, and I can't help to think how much further ahead Subban could have been right now and how much better Weber could be. Subban still has been a very effective dman (given his age), but weber is a guy i think the habs really Fxcked up with having him swtich from defense to forward - really smart decision by Martin to take a 20 year dman learning the pro-game and shuttling him back and forth as a forward and dman. I had thought Weber could have been (and once we trade him, I think he still will become) a highly effective dman in the mold of Brian Rafalski. I really hope that that friggin idiot Molson has given very clear instructions to PG, that under no circumstances is Subban, Maxpac or Price to be moved, unless he approves all deals, and I really hope that the guy is smart enough to know that you better not be moving any of these guys unless you are getting a king's ransom. Then as soon as the season ends, I hope he fires PG's ass on the day after the season ends and tries to get Jim Nill out of Detroit and i guess its a foregone conclusion that the habs will hire an idiot like Hartley/crawford/Therrian, even if Bobcock got fired from Detroit, since its more important for the coach to speak french, then it is for him to be a great coach. Anyway, whichever french coach they hire (hopefully TB will fire Boucher, despite him not having a goalie and a worse defesne then the habs to work with), I really hope Molson corrects Gainey's stupidity and brings Larry Robinson back into the fold. I think Robinson will not only be great with Subban (weber if he is kept - although that is doubtful), with the potential of a lot of good young dman coming up in the system (Beaulieu, Tinordi and others), the big bird would be a great mentor to haver around for 2-3 years.

That's what i was hoping they would have signed him for last summer.

If i was a gm, even if we went to back to 12 rounds, i wouldn't give up a 12 rounder for this bum. but Chicago did give up a 2nd right???

he does and his stick implodes

i guess if we win in the shootout it will serve as evidence that we only lost all those other shootout games because of Price I'd like to seee AK46 finally get a chance.