hab29RETIRED

+1 I'd even have been willing to give him an increase to lock him up longer. I really think he is good for 25 goals and given more of an oppertunity can become a solid 60-70 point producer and he is one of the habs lone physical guys that is an offensive threat. I do hope they lock up Markov long term!

Bottom line is at this stage, you can't be giving up some of the goals he's given up. Although I didn't get the point of leaving him in for 8 goals in game 3. While I don't like either team, I HATE the bruins, so i'll be pretty pissed if the Canucks go through their usual collapse.

So apparently nathen horton showed up at the game to present a victory jacket in the bruins dressing room. So what's the prognosis Dr Rechhi, shouldn't Horton be at home or in the hospital. He cant possibly really be seriously injured or concussed if he can go to a noisy arena. What a douche!!

just watched the bruins highlights - man Luongo is a bum!!!!

I'm surprised Dr. Recchi hasn't declared that Horton was trying to draw the 5 minute major and a suspension.

Hey, they actually did suspend Ovechkin. It's the bruins who seem to be governed under a different set of rules.

I wouldn't resign him, but given how much Martin used him, he'll probably be back.

Some people may not like me sayin this, but I hope Horton IS not okay and IS out for the rest of the playoffs. It would be perfect karma for all the crap the bruins have been getting away with. When Chara ended MaxPac's season maxpac was the most dangerous hab at the time, so it's fitting the bruins lose their most dangerous player. I have never hated and despised a team more then I hate and despise this year's bruins. I think Horton will probably be back, but if there is any justice he will be out for the entire Finals and franky I hope he is damaged goods like savard. Before this year I would never have wished that on any player, but the Bruins more then any othe team deserve to lose their top guys given their cheap shot tactics. I'm not even watching the games but only checked the you tube hit on Kuklas about reading it hear and quite honestly I never thought seeing an injured player would bring me this level of satisfaction, if that makes me a bad person, I guess I am. Had the league dealt with the Maxpac hit, the bruins brawl tactics, campell pounding away at a player with his elbow pad,ference's finger- sorry equipment malfunction(like wiz's suspension) ference's taking out of halpern, Horton' water bottle incident with a fan- which was suspendable for other teams, I probably wouldn't feel this way. However when the law fails frontier justice, vigilante justice and karma all start to look pretty damn good.

We'd even be willing to throw in Gomez;) It will be pretty bad if Richards signs as a UFA for less then Gomez!! Although from the sound of things he should be able to get over $7.5m

Well, I guess I'm in the minority. I like resigning Gill for 1 year. But it just seems like a lot of money for a guy who really is only effective on the PK, and is going to be moving more and more into a assistant coaching type of role. Would have been very happy to resign him for $1.5M, I get he is a free agent and all, but isn't he also over 35 now? Would he have really gotten a longer term or money elsewhere? I really do hope they find a way to dump Spacek for sure now. Right from the start, i've been saying I only wanted one of the three back - Spacek, Hamrlik or Gill and the order of preferance was Gill, Hamrlik and Spacek (Spacek only by the necessity if he can't be moved. $2.25M is i think the highest I'd want to go for Hamrlik and $1.5M is what I would I would have set the ceiling for Gill.

Not sure what the rules are with respect to re-enry waivers for over 35, but what would be the point - we would have to pick up half of his salary anyways. I'd rather try and package a draft 4th round pick and get rid of his entire cap hit. We are already still paying out that uselesss piece of crap and bum, Laraque for not playing. Last thing I'd want to do is pay Spacek $1.75M to play for another team. Given that we need to replace him with another Dman anyways. I don't want him back, but I sure the hell don't want to pay close to $2M for him to play for someone else.

We are stuck with Spacek - he was an over 35 when he signed - there is no getting rid of his cap hit unless we can finding a trading partner that needs to get to the floor that we can induce to take Spacek (i.e. trade our 3rd and Spacek, for somebody's 4th, or our our 4th for somebody's 5th).

Damn useless MAB, and empty net goal for the Bruins. I really don't get why anyone wants this guy. He's usually good for one goal a game and at least 2-3 scoring chances. The problem is that it's usually for the opposition!!

With Rafalski retiring and Lidstrom probably only going to play for at most one more year, I really hope that PG gets Markov signed quick. If he's still available on July 1, I think Detroit will not only jump at getting him signed, they will probably be willing throw 5 years and $6M at him. He would be a perfect fit there. Like I said in an earlier thread, the habs already made a mistake with Chelios after he had a couple of knee operations and that was supposed to be one of the reasons Serge Savard dumped him for a washed up Denis Savard. Chelios only went on to play for around another 18 years!!! I sure hope the habs don't make the same mistake with Markov. I wouldnt hesitate to sign him to a front loaded 5 or 6 deal averaging $5m ($6.5m $6m, $6m, $4m,$4m, $3.5m). If he does get injured again and is out long-term and is forced to retire it's not much of a gamble, because like Rafalski he would have been under 35 when he signed and we wouldn't be on the hook for the reaminder of his cap hit - unlike the idiotic 3 year deal Gainey gave to Spacek, were we are stuck with Spacek for another year, despite him pretty much being washed up in the second year of the deal. I also think with Detroit suddenly having all that extra cap room the cost of free agent dman just got higher. I really wish PG got the Markov deal done earlier, beacuse like i said, I don't think Detroit will hesitate to sign him for$6m+. I think Wiz and Bieksa just saw their value go up as well.

Pleks gets the legacy, Gionta and Cammy signed here because of it, Subban grow up a habs fan and Price/MaxPac after some tough times early in their careers hopefully will appreciate the legacy more each year and want to be part of that legacy long-term. Bottom line is that with influx of Europeans and decline in the amount of elite players out of Quebec (with the exception at goaltending), it doesn't make sense to even TRY to build a team of French Canadians. Looking at the top ten players of the last cup winning habs powerhouse team of the 70's: Lafleur, Dryden, Robinson, Savard, Lapointe, Gainey, Shutt, Lemaire, Cournayer, Langway), half of that core was not french. Moreover, is there any French Canadian forward today that is as good as Lafleur, or holds the same stature as Lafleur??? And no, I don't consider Vinny even close - Lafleur for 6 years was one of the top 3 players in the league. Can you say that about Vinny?? Maybe for a two or three of his career. Name me two French Canadian defencemen today who are as good as Savard or Lapointe?? Letang, MAY one day prove to be as good as Lapointe was. But its too early to see if he will be as good or effective as long as Lapointe was. I certainly can't thinks of a Dman that was as good as Savard. The last true superstar French Dman was Bourque. I'm hoping things will change in fan/media expectations with guys like Subban, Price, MaxPac, Eller coming up and the desire and effort shown by Pleks and Gionta.

While your argument may sound good in theory, in reality it doesn't hold water. Have we been watching the same team for the past decade??? How well did the most recent local boys - Lats and Laps - fare in demonstrating a sentiment of pride and dedication to the team and what was asked of them??? Did they play as directed and try to follow the gameplan they were given??? The pillsbury doughboy Lats tended to out of shape during most of his stay in Montreal and then when he bought into getting in shape, he generally didn't put forth much effort and try to follow the game plan. Even after breaking out after his trade to Minny, he should up at this past year's training camp in Minny out of shape and ended up being injured. In Lats case part of the issue was he should have spent a couple of years in hamilton to learn what it takes to be a professional. In fact i think its more important for the Habs to FORCE the local boys to spend time in the minors to learn to be professional in order to insulate them to the media when they are still kids. I hope they FORCE Lebanc to spend the entire year next year in Hamilton regardless of how well he plays. In any event, Lats, Laps, Ribeiro, really didn't show much hometown pride or dedication to play a as a group or within a game plan. All acted like Prima-donnas and certainly didn't play with the passion and extra dedication you are hoping for. Lastly, most Quebecors that are actually worth having that are Elite players (i.e. Lecavalier/Briere/Gagne/Bergeron), don't really want to play in Montreal. Its the scrubs that want to be here and in the case of many, they probably wouldn't have gotten a chance by any other team and would be out of the league by now (i.e. Darche), had to wait around a long time to get a chance by another team (MAB) or are longshots (Desharnais), who didn't get a chance by anyone but the habs. Briere turned down more money from the habs to play for Philly and strung Montreal along to maximize what he could get out of Philly. Gagne and Bergeron are on record saying they don't want to play for Montreal. Both were Nordiques fans (but then so was Roy), and Gagne in particular when his name came up in rumours a few years back was very vocal in not wanting anything to do with Montreal. Vinny was a year away from being a UFA and if he really wanted to fullfill his childhood dream, he could have waited and signed with the hometown habs he supposedly idolized. Bottom line is even after signing the contract, with all the nonsense going in on in Tampa, from his interviews, it was pretty obvious he was hoping a deal wouldn't go down and he sounded pretty relieved when the deal fell through. He would much rather be walking in flip-flops unrecognized in Tampa then dealing with the snow and rabid media in Montreal. Going back further, most local kids couldn't handle either the pressure that comes from playing in Montreal (i.e. Thibault couldn't handle the expectations to replace Roy), or conducted themselves as prima-donnas and really lacked the dedication you are talking about (Theadore, Ribeiro, Lats, Laps, Dagenuis). So, like I said, while in theory your argument may have some merit, in reality it doesn't hold water. Even if you go further back, a lot of French players had more success and stabalized as being good team players, or developed better after leaving Montreal (i.e. Lemieux, Lebeau, Beauchaman, Robidas), while others couldn't handle the pressure on a long-term basis, or when they were brought into Montreal (Richer, the Turgeon brothers). Even guys that were pretty solid like Desjardins became better players and leaders after getting out of the Montreal pressure cooker. Although, I think Desjardins would have been just fine in Montreal (boy that was a crappy deal, Leclair AND Desjardins for Dr. Recchi). So essentially, while the media and fans may pine for a local Quebec hero, bottom line is most Quebec born players don't want anything to do with Montreal. This team is going to be successful by going after the best players available and guys that want to be here. Subban grow up in Toronto, but his family grew up a habs fan. Higgins and his family were habs fans - I hated to see him go, a heck a lot more then seeing Richer, Turgeon, Ribeiro, Laps, Lats go (was pissed at the returns for their spoilt asses, but not that sorry to see them go). Higgins on the other hand, was mainly at fault for putting more pressure on himself to be something he wasn't capable of being. this past trade deadline, I was hoping the habs would take a flyer on him at the trade deadline. Montreal isn't an easy place play, for french or english players - particularly young players and I was really concerned about Price's desire to be a hab long-term given his comments last year, but with his improved play and his relationship with Gorges and Subban, hopefully, he will want to be hear long-term. Anyway, bottom line, like Dryden wrote over 30 years ago, the habs are going to have to make a decision to be more french, or be a winner. The elite french players really don't want to play in Montreal because of the pressure and attention that goes with Montreal and I really don't want a team of French scrub players that want to be here and perhaps get more of a chance to player here, because they are French Canadian. Nothing irritates me more then media build up the 3rd/4th line French players like they are superstars. If the habs are going to be a cup champion again, they have to go after the most talented and character players and not select players to appease the French media or the some segments of the fan base.

+1 I'd also add that MOST fans don't care either - they just want a winning team. It's just the damn segment of the media with their political agenda that makes it an issue. Members like the idiots on RDS act like guys like Lapierre are franchise players. It hasn't helped when the Canadians get sucked into this nonsense by building their marketing around guys like Laps and Lats and turn then into rockstars before they even prove they are full time NHLers. On the other hand, they cpaign to run consistent 20+ goal guys like AK46 out of town.

You target the best players period. Hypothetically speaking, lets for arguments sake you have a draft year, where you have the #1 in the draft and the top two prospects are Crosby andLecavalier, who would you take??? Lets say that their numbers and future potential were being evaluated the same as what Crosby and Vinny's numbers were in the real draft year??? Do you target the local boy or do you take Crosby??? It's one thing when the top two picks to choose from are Lafleur and Dionne and you end up choosing from two Quebecors, but I DON"T want the habs to be in a position where politics come into play and you take the Quebecor over the better player. People complain the habs passed on Gagne, but didn't they pick up another Quebecor with the earlier pick that year???? If memory serves me correctly, they picked Guy Chiounard's son that year. In a similar circumstance, I remember back in 82 or 83, the North Stars wanted the American high school boy, Brian Lawton and passed on the guy who was considered the consensus #1 pick Lafontaine (who was also american, but played in the QMJHL). I remember the habs were trying to work out a deal to land a pick to get Lafontaine that year. It was a pretty amazing draft year, where Lafontaine and Yzerman were drafted behind Lawton and the little girl Sylvie Turgeon.

If TB bit on a deal like this- and there may be some incentive for them to do so - even an old, beat up and slow, Spacek is an upgrade over MAB, and it would cut around 6 years of hell they will face with Vinny's contract during the last 5-6 years of his contract. But realistically, this year, Gomez is not movable. I think that deal would be a clear win for us from the perspective of finally having a big centre, for the next 4 years - if Vinny can get some sort of consistency back. But the dream could turn into a nighmare prety quick since it it would lead to cap issues with us trying to resign Markov, Gorges (and my preference Wiz) this year and SUbban, Price next year. This year MaxPac will get a raise and if he and Eller continue to progress, it will also lead to cap issues in the future as we try and get them locked up. I also believe the last 5-6 years of Vinny's deal will be an absolute nightmare - he has what 10 years remaining and hasn't been very consistent over his career. You know the Vinny deal is a perfect example of why I want to sign up Price and Subban long-term now. I've got no issues of signing a 22-23 year olds to 10-14 year deals, with the thought being that if you offer them a bit more now, they should be willing to take a bit less over the life of the contract to make it a better long-term cap hit (i.e. cap hit of around $5M for Price, $5.5M for Subban, rather then try and sign Price for $6 to 6.5MM and Subban for $7M to $7.5M hit in another two years) - it is a gamble, but I do believe both will be long-term studs. IF you hear the number thrown around for Shea Weber and what Cam Ward signed for, these numbers are pretty reasonable if Price and Subban are only signed to shorter term deals next year, or if they put up huge numbers by the end of next year. I'd rather lock them up this summer - yes new CBA may change things, but the elite guys are going to get their money and I'd like to lock both of these two up long term. Locking up blue chip guys like Subban and Price's at their age makes a heck of a lot more sense then offering a 28-31 year old free agenst a 8-12 year deals - even if they are structured as legit contracts (i.e. not the type of retirement contracts like Kovulchuks that were disallowed).

I want a cup winner and that can't be done fielding a team from Quebec. Ken Dryden wrote in the Game that in the future Montreal will have to choose between having a team of francophones and being a winner (i'm paraphrasing from memory), and its obvious Boivon would rather be French then be a winner. His whole attitude toward filling the coaching and GM position proves that. Looking at your list of players, i really don't see how we could build a contender with those guys when you look at the circumstances with those players - many of whom don't even want anything to do with Montreal. -we dodged a bullet gutting the future of our team in our attempt to get Lecavalier -Briere doesn't want anyting to do with Montreal -We've seen the Ribeiro show -Belanger - seriously?? isn't the guy a concussion case and almost out of the league??? -Gange - has stated he hates the habs and woudn't want to play in Monreal -Bergeron - has stated many times that he has always hated the habs -stasny- the guy plays for team USA - may have been born in Quebec, but doesn't consider himself to be French and do you really think anyone on RDS/French media would accept him as a quebecor???? -Bouchard - concussion/injury prone -Lombardi - got a pretty big contract and is out with a concussion -Laps - didn't we already see that disapointing movie- -Lats - was rushed and in the league like Ribero, but is a perfect example of the risk of how the french media turns a prospect who hasn't proved or accomplished anything into a rock star -MAB - why, why, why why would we want him - I can't even believe he is still in the NHL -St. Louis - he was a LONG shot that made good - hopefully Desharnais can become a similar player -Tanguay - see Laps, Lats, Ribiero, MAB, his stint in Montreal was injury prone, but for the most part was a flop and he has bounced around quite a bit -Burrows - non-prospect to long shot that made good, hardly blame the habs for passing -Letang - has developed into a good Dman, but wasn't conidered an elite prospect -Robidas - was in the habs system, but was a late bloomer -Beuchiman - see Robidas -Darche - is a marginal player, who probably wouldn't have still been in the NHL if he wasn't French -Picard - we have him, but I wish we didn't!!! -Talbot/Dupuis - we have a chance to get them this summer, but they are 3rd/4th liners who will be looking for big raises, neither will probably be worth their asking price. The Pens aren't keen to tie up cap space in them, why would we???? -Dumont - seriously??? this guy has been a bust and injured most of his career The rest of the players don't even warrant mentioning and as far as the goalies go, how many french goalies do you expect the habs to draft??? Goaltending is the ONLY position that Quebec has produced solid NHL players on a regular basis. Otherwise, there really haven't been a heck a lot of elite top 3 draft picks to come out of Quebec in a LONG time. Has a Quebecer won the Norris since Bourque??? After Lemieux, I think St. Louis was the only Hart/Art Ross winner and again he was a LONG shot to make it in the NHL. Even Vinny, who I believe is the last non-goaltender to be a top pick quebecer and won the Richard trophy once, and WAS conisdered a top 5 elite player in the league, is not longer considered among the league's elite. He has played well in this year's playoffs, but in his 13 years in the NHL he has cracked 100 points once, 90 points another time, 50 goals once, 40 goals once and 30 goals 3 times. Hardly what you would consider a future Hall of Famer type stats. Thank god for the lunacy of the TB owners, otherwise, we could potentially have given up Subban, Price, Pleks and Gorges (based on some media reports), for a worst overall contract then Scott Gomez (considering the $ and length of the contract)!!! Like I said before, if Yzerman called tomorrow, I wouldn't trade Subban straight up for Vinny!!

LIke I said both are lousy deals. They are both deals that Sather should have been fired for, instead he also got a chance to sign Redden to another stupid contract. I wouldn't want either on my team, but if i had a gun to my head I would still take Drury over Gomez - only because of the intangibles - Drury plays harder and isn't afraid to go to the net. Having said that I If I'm their GM, both would be sent to the minors next year. I think Drury is washed up and is what TB will face with Lecavalier in the last 3-5 years of his deal. I don't see Drury being bought out, he'll probably also be buried in the minors. This whole ability to bury guys in the minors by the chicago's and NY's of the league kind of defeats the intent on the whole point of the cap doesn't it? Its a loop hole other teams are using, with the money the habs make, they should also take advantage of it while it still exists. Who knows, with the new CBA that will be negotiated at the end of 2012, we may only have to eat Gomez's contract for one year.

We could have had one of those 4 quebecers. Would you be happier if the reported lecavalier deal had gone through and we would have the joy of having the local boy and everones cousin Vinny (who btw really doesn't seem to want anything to do with playing in Montreal), in stead of potenially Subban, Price, pleks and gorges???? I wouldn't trade Subban straight up for Ginny and his 10 year contract. Of the 4 guys on Tampa, the only guy I'd want is St Louis. Gagne is a hit away from retirement and MAB is a ticking time bomb I wouldn't touch with a 10 foot pole. You also have to factor in other quebecers who want nothing to do with Montreal like Briere who spurned Montreal when he had the chance.

Which is why I want Gomez gone next year!! Look at the canucks D, they have every pairing with a strong puck moving D man, great balance of physicality and offensive ability on their blue-line. If we could have the following pairings: Markov-Emelin Subban-Gorges Wiz-Weber We could have Gill as the 7th D and if Diaz shows he can make the jump from Hamilton to the NHL, we have someone else to challenge Weber. In a couple of years, if Weber/Diaz show that they can supplement Wiz, we have a tradeable asset that bring back a return in Wiz. We could potentially have the best D in the league. If we eat Gomez's contract THIS YEAR and find a taker for Spacek and Moen, we would have enough money to resign Wiz, Markov and Gill AND get another BIG centre that could fill the Gomez role or be a 3rd line guy if Eller shows is ready to step up to be a #2 centre. This would ALSO leave enough money to sign a guy like Jagr to a one year deal. This flexibility is NOT going to be there next year when Subban, Price and potentially Eller are due raises. Forwards could potentially be: Cammy-Pleks-Jagr Gionta-Eller-MaxPac AK46-Laich-Desharnais White-UFA/Hamilton player - Cheap UFA/Hamilton player At this point i really don't care if Gomez does "Break out" to have a 65 point season as has been suggested (if he gets 50 assists and 15 goals playing with MaxPac and Gionta). I'd rather get someone else who is cheaper can give us a reliable 50-55 points AND allow us to address our other holes. We have a window next year to really re-shape our defense AND bring in a one year rental like Jagr while Price and Subban are still cheap. Why not use that window in the upcoming year by getting rid of Gomez now, rather then the following year then when Price and Subban are due raises and we can't bring in the additional rentals like a Jagr I realize Jagr is not the 50 goal, 100 point Jagr of days past, but if he can provide a physical presence like he did during this past WC, score 25-30 goals and 60 points for $4M, I'll take that over Gomez's 65 points playing with Gionta and MaxPac for a $7.2M cap hit any day of the week. Everything we want to do going forward is limited by the anchor that is the useless Scott Gomez and the slow and old Spacek eating away $10.7M from our cap. So whether we are talking about adding a backup goalie, another Defensemen, more forwards, these two HAVE to be part of the discussion.

You can't cmpare a guy that was injured for the bulk of the season to someone who played for most of the season. A guy with a long term major injury is not going to come back and start putting up points right away. I'm not saying Drury is a good contract, because the GOmez and Drury deals were the start of Sather's insanity in throwing stupid money (REdden, Rosizaal, or whatever his name was), but Drury was at least a leader and isn't the perimeter player that GOmez is and is/was their captain. The only saving grace for Drury is that at least his term is around 2 years less then gomez. Having said that, I think the rangers will probably eat his contract next year as well.

Wasn't Drury injured for a big chunk of the year? I don't think drury is worse value then gomez and I can't think of any contact that will be worse then Gomez next year. From a term perspective the only worst contracts are Lecavalier, but for the next 4-5 years at least he is a better cap hit than Gomez. The other one from a term perspective is Pronger and that's because he was over 35 when he signed, so hopefully he'll have to retire before the end of his term and the flyers will be stuck with his cap hit.