hab29RETIRED

I don't give a damn about Ribeiro, but actually, i still do feel like whining about trading both Chelios and Roy

I've seen too much of Budaj play against Calgary to have any confidence that he is going to be much better of an upgrade over Abiesher. I think he is better then then aby, but not much. You would think after the Roy trade, the habs would have had enough of ex-Colorado goalies!!!!

If Trotter has been waived, I could see Winnipeg claiming him. Didn't realize there was anything serious with Subban. If both Markov AND Subban are out for any extended period, we are screwed.

who's Bob Mac??? Do you mean bob mckenzie?? I really wish the habs would give Weber and Diaz a chance and move Spacek. That would save cap room for a scorer later on. I think this is an okay signing, would have preferred a net clearing physically imposing Dman. Campoli kind of looks like a lot of what we have in the pipeline (weber, Diaz), and it would have been great if we picked up more depth on the blueline that was phyisically imposing (Yemelin should help). Having said that $1.75M and 1 year is not too much of a commitment.

if the hit wasn't by shelly and was Briere, i doubt it would have been 5 and 5. The other suspension was also to a no name. Until I see a name player like Chara suspended, I'm not sold that there will be much of a difference. BTW, Shanny was asked about the Chara hit last year and he didn't think it was a dirty hit.

Maxpac also complained last year before being called up.

Doughty would have to be $7m+ and even then I think the kings would match. With Subban I think the chance of him getting an RFA offer are actually higher if only has an okay year rather then a great year.

Either would I - I think Subban is going to be a Norris contender and better then Chelios was. I also think maxpac may finally become the power forward we have lacked since giving away Leclair.

If he scores 20 goals and gets 45 points, someone will be willing to throw over $5m at him. He will be an RFA though.

Why would Winnipeg want a guy just drafted, who is 2-3 years away in exchange for the #3 pick (behind Stamkos and Doughty), from the 2008 draft. Bogasian is a stud defenseman who was rushed in and mishandled by Atlanta. I see him turning things around in a big way with the change in management. In the few Atlanta games I've seen, Bogasian looked very good. If I was the GM in Atlanta, there is no way in hell I'd move him and the only guy from Montreal I'd consider moving him for is Subban or possibly MaxPac+.

Subban

+1 Wasn't he also the one who took out Koivu???? I'm still pissed at the reffing in that game and the fact that the damn Canes went on to win the cup - not as upset as the Damn bruins winning this year, but always hated that first there was no call and then no action by the league, just like there was no action when MaxPac got taken out. The habs always tend to get screwed over in these type of incidents - Mclaren on Zednik, Koivu's getting a stick in the eye, MaxPac nearly getting decapitated.

RFA's are not going to lock themselves up at cut rate prices, but for longer term deals, they are willing to take significantly less money then they could get on the open market. Carter could have become a UFA had he not signed long term with Philly at what I would call a cut rate salary of around $5.5M (don't know the exact number), but he could have easily gotten $7M+ if he waited to become a UFA. Richards and Carter both took significantly less to resign long-term with the flyers then they could have gotten on the open market. If Gorges wants $3.8M long term, the habs should trade him as soon as he displays he is healthy. I think the habs had some leverage and if Gorges was willing to sign for under $3M for a longer term deal commitment from the habs (5-6 year), I would have resigned him. Wiz had what 3 knee operations and that hasn't effected him. Gorges is a defensive Dman it should be even less of an issue. If you look at the number of assets we got little to know return over the last 5 years it is absolutely ridiculous - Ribeiro (hated him from day one, but the return was horrible), SK74 (was mis-handled from day one and hated to lose him), Ryder (Didn't like him and he should have been moved, - particularly in his last year, when Carbo wasn't even playing him anyways, but I would have moved him ealrlier, when he insisted on 1 year deals), Souray (should have been moved when he was putting up career numbers, he wasn't anything more then a pylon with a hard shot), Lats (I liked Pouliot as a pick-up, but Lats had better numbers up to that point), Pouliot (I think this is a guy the habs really are going to regret letting go - particularly after he signed with our biggest rival), Streit (that was a major blunder, should have been resigned), Higgins (I'd take his salary over Gomer any day of the week - I don't think it would have taken much to resign him long-term, when it become apparent he wasn't going to be a 40-40 guy - I'd take him back today as a 3rd line player and also suggested him as an option last year, before the Canucks picked him up for nothing), Lapierre (I hated him - if he was black like Subban, he would have attracted a lot more criticism then he already does - only it would be warranted in Laps case, but the return we got was just plain stupid - he should have been moved after our run to the Semis in 2009-2010), Hainsey (stupid calling up a guy you knew would be claimed). As far as Komi goes, there was NO way I'd been willing to pay him the $4.5M he got, but I think he could have been signed earlier for under $3.5M for a long-term deal and even today, that contract could have been moved. Given the stupid contracts given out to UFA's this summer, I think gorges and AK46 are goners next year, but could have been signed much more affordably prior to July 1 this year. I also think you are wrong about how hard it is to move a bad contract. THe fact that Florida took Campbell's $7M contract proves that and the fact that both Richard and Carter long-term contracts were moved dispells the myth that long-term contracts are immovable. You also have to keep in mind that Gainey was willing to take on Vinny's stupid 11 or 12 year deal, in which we reportedly would have given up Pleks, Subban and Price.

I don't disagaree that Gorges is replaceable given his skill level. However, I do have the following issues with the habs constantly signing their RFA's to 1 year deals - particularly before their UFA year. 1) Bad asset management. Streit walked (reportedly was willing to sign for $2.5M as late as November in his UFA year), Souray walked (should have been moved when he was having his career year) and now there is potential that Gorges will walk for nothing (as well as AK46). 2) Replacing departures by giving up draft picks. To compound the loss of an asset for nothing, they end up giving up draft picks to replace their lack of depth. In the past couple of years we have given up a 2nd rounder for Wiz (worth it) and Schneider (total waste of a pick). I think they also included a pick in the deal that brought Sopel over from Atlanta. 3) you end up paying a lot more for the player by signing them when they become a UFA. After Pleks horrible year, I was one of the few on this site that said the habs should sign him long-term and repeated that when he got off to his hot start in 2009-2010. Most on this site wanted to move the "little girl". If you are going to get good value for a player who has shown to have a good work ethic and high skill - you sign him long-term when his value is low. There have been a lot of people criticizing the Flyers for the long-term deals they sign their players to. However, at least they didn't let Jeff Carter or Mike Richards walk as UFA's and did very well by not only getting very high picks for them, they also picked up stud prospects. When I suggested a few years ago, why not just sign your assets long term and you can always trade them later, one of the responses was that you can't sign and trade players, because players will not want to play for the habs in the future. The Flyers have been doing this for years without any issues attracting players - they signed Roenick and then moved him shortly thereafter to LA get Forsburg, this was despite Roenick having a NTC. They also moved Gagne and his NTC to Tampa, as well as a couple of other players that they signed as UFA's or to contract extentions. Recently Richards and Carter were signed to so-called immovable contracts and I think Holgrom hit a home run (particularly with the Richards move) and got a much better return then they probably would have had they moved Richards or Carter with only a year remaining on their deals. The habs have a habit of letting assets walk with no return. They keep signing their own assets on one year deals and then overpay UFA's both in dollars (which i guess is part of the cost of doing business in a tax black hole that is Quebec), as well is in term - almost every UFA they signed, they offered one or two extra years then the player was getting elsewhere. Yet they aren't willing to pay for their home developed talent (so far Markov and Pleks have been the exceptions). This summer, I hated letting Pouliot go - particularly now when we do have $5M in cap space. Its even worse that he went to Boston. I can't tell you how pissed I'll be if he finally breaks out in Boston!!! Not only did they get nothing for Lats, they may have provided Boston another young offensive player. The other issue I do have with not signing a guy like Gorges long-term s that he is a heart and soul character guy. Good teams have guys like Gorges around for a long time. Detroit had Draper and Maltby around foreover. They are as necessary to the success of a team as a Price or Subban are. What were Gainey, Risebrough, Houle, Tremblay when theywere in Montreal. 3rd & 4th liners. But they were essential cogs to the Habs 70's machine. You need to have a consistency with guys that are character/leadership/role players. Gorges is one of those guys and I see Ryan White becoming one of those guys that I hope are around for another 5-7 years. Can their skill set be replaced? Definitely. Can their character and the intangibles that they bring be replaced? That is harder to answer. Draper and Maltby were guys that Detroit could easily have replaced much more cheaply over the years, but would their replacements have brought the same intangibles that are so necessary for team chemistry for a franchise to succeed?

I've got high hopes foe Subban, Emelin, weber and hoping Diaz can crack the lineup. I have little to no confidence in Spacek (hope PG is able to dump him to a cap team), and really don't want Gill to be any higher then a #5 dman. My fear is that JM won't give Weber or emelin a real shot at moving up the depth shot. Had our D not been decimated by injuries, I doubt we would have seen Subban excel after Gorges and Spacek followed Markov on the DL.

There's no way Atlanta is trading Zach Bogasian and have said as much. If they ever would be willing, the asking price would probably start with Subban.

I wouldn't want anything to do with Hemsky and Semin's salary is close to double AK46's salary. I can see AK46 getting between 65-75 points if he is given 18-20 minutes and decent PP time.

+1 Although I think he's gone next year since PG failed to lock him up long term. Semin would make sense only if the habs could get rid of Gomez, but I wouldn't want to move AK46 for Semin. I like Semin despite his playoff performences, but even if the habs could trade for him, I don't see the habs being able to retain him next year when he is a UFA.

I think we can do better then Moen. I'd rather have a guy who can kill penalties AND be a hard hitter. When Moen came over, I didn't know much about him, other then he won a cup in Anaheim. He was described as a fairly big, hard hitting physical player. For a team that lacks size, you need to have guys that have some size actually use their size on a regular basis.

The twitter name sounds pretty dubious, but this would be the best news possible. having $10.8M off the cap would be amazing. It kind of makes sense since I think the NYI are one of the teams that need to hit the floor, but can't sign anyone since no one wants to play for that pathetic excuse for a franchise - Mike Milbury/Charles Wang have done everything possible to tarnish the Isles of the Bossy/Potvin/Trottier era. To use Mad Mike's own description on himself - what a bunch of cockroaches!!!

Actually, I really am expecting more out of White then Darche. I didn't want Halpern back, so am glad someone else picked him up. We need more of a physical presence on the bottom line. Right now we don't need to build the 4th line for the playoffs. Unless we can get a solid PHYSICAL centre who absolutely DOMINATES on the faceoff and can take PK pressure off of Pleks, I'd rather start the season by giving a chance to some of the kids in Hamilton and use less cap room in the process. During the year, 4th liners can be picked up as needed if the kids aren't up to the task.

So basically Washington got a 1st, a 2nd AND Vokum for Vharmalov. How stupid is the GM in Colorado???? First they traded Stewart and now gave up TWO picks - the #1 has the possibility of being a top 3 pick. All for a guy who may play in russia and still has to prove himself as a number #1

Personally, i think White and Darche more then enough of Moen replacments. Moen doesn't hit that u h either. I'd like the following lines once Eller is back: Max Pac-Gomez-Gionta Cole - Plex - Cammy Ak46 - Eller - Desharnais White - Hamilton player - Darche Spare from Hamilton The only reason I think we should pickup another player for the 4th lin is if we can pick up a strong centre that dominates on the draw or much more bruising winger that would push Darche to the spare position.

This could top the stupid Kessel trade by Burke. I can't believe that varmalov.went for a 1st and second when two years ago we were looking at a 4th for halak. Don't know why colorado didn't just get Vokum. They already made a dumb move at the end of last year. I think a year from now they'll have a new GM.

I'm talking about the 2009-2010 season. I know he had a strong start, but even back then, I thought he should have been in the minors. The habs have a habit of rushing young players - I think the comments from MaxPac last year were pretty telling on how JM is with kids. Or the fact that O'Byrne had success immidiately after leaving Montreal. I have no issue with streaky scorers - most are streaky, which is why i don't have an issue with AK46. The issue I had with Ryder was his size and how he rarely ever used it and just seemed lazy. I He also was nothing more then a one trick pony who had a wrist shot and not much else. Lastly, I thought it was ridiculous that a guy with as little experience in the nhl insisted on 1 year deals every year. He just didn't really seem to be committed to the team or be a team guy. At least in this year's playoffs, he proved me wrong and showed he is capable of being more of a complete player when he puts forth the effort.