hab29RETIRED

I'm hoping the Bruins lose as usual in the playoffs. After all, who are the last Burins legends who actually have one anything as a bruin??? Orr, Esposito. Bourque had to go to Colorado, Neely who i used to like, despite him being kryptonite for the habs, I can't stand now with his fist pumping in the owners box, won nothing. However, that's not enough for me after what they did to MaxPac and Zednik before that without any repurcussions. Zed was breaking out and looked like he was finally going to be the dominant power forward the habs lacked since giving away Leclair (and Desjardins), for that cockroach Recchi, but after Mcclarren almost depacitated him, he was never the same. Now Chara may have ruined MaxPac, again no consequence. I just don't want the bruins to lose, I want somebody to take out a big part of their future. It's been what a month now, and I'm still pissed about the MaxPac hit like it happened yesterday. I've never hoped ill on a player before, but I really hope the Bruins lose a big star like Chara, Sequin or a Bergeron to a career ending injury - Savard doesn't count - he was already hurt. I probably wouldn't be so pissed if it wasn't for the types of comments the Bruins commentators, writers and pond trailer trash like Marchand made, only to be topped off by Recchi's "gamesmanship" comments. How is that not worse and not in iteself suspsenionable, given that Avery was suspended for comments about a guys girlfriend????

I'm sure glad I"m on a photography/hiking tour of Arizona and Utah - having to watch games like a 6-2 beating would be too difficult to bear!! I only heard parts of the last couple of games on XM radio and for last night's game, since it was a road game, had to listen to the Canes announcers. It sounds like after finally scoring two goals and winning against the thrashers (who suck anyways), the habs had another poor effort, despite outshooting the canes. The big changes I would make from a coaching perspective are the following: -Subban should be on the PP - the full 2 minutes if possible. All accross the league, top dman play the whole PP, hell Ovie as a forward usually plays the full PP. I never got why Markov wasn't on the PP longer and I certainly don't understand the rationale for Subban not even being on the #1 unit. -Cut Hamrlik and Gill's time. These guys are old horses and with too much time they play like donkeys. The need to keep Hamrlik under 20 min and Gill under 15 - I'd give him mainly PK duty and with the habs penchant for penalties that could be 10 minutes a night easily, but I wouldn't give him much more then PK duty. -Why isn't Weber playing??? Are the mistakes by Sopel, Mara, Picard much worse then the mistakes by Weber??? At least Weber WILL get better those guys will not and all three will probably be gone next year anyways. Sad thing is that Weber will probably make less mistakes and be more productive on another team, the same way SK74, Dags, Grabs were. He'll forever be called be too small to play the D the same way Streit was, only to become a solid defender somewhere else. -Subban is a horse and should be able to play over 25 minutes a game. Wiz close to 25 minutes. -The D should always have one of Subban, Wiz, Hamrlik and Weber on the ice - guys that can actually make an outlet pass!!! -Get Pleks off the damn point - How stupid is JM, for going as long with that experiment as he did!! -Get Price some rest. The alternative is the Michlelin man who can cover a lot of net, but usually can't stop much. he's PG's mistake and should never have been signed, but Price needs to get a mental break down the stretch, especially the way the D is playing in front of him. Without Price, we'd probably be behind the leafs right now. -Get Gomez the FXCK of the top three lines. Sounded like FINALLY played a decent game against the thrashers, but he has sucked to long and rarely follows up a good game with another solid effort. He should also be on the wing, as he is lousy on the draw anyways!! -Use guys that are skilled on the PP. That means Pleks, Gionta, Cammy, AK46, Desharnais, Eller and Pouliot. It means that when the habs are on the PP, Moen, Halpern, Darche have their asses nailed to the bench. -The PP on D would revolve around Subban. Should be out there for at least 1 1/2 minutes. Have Subban and Wiz, Subban and Hamrlik and then Hamrlik/Weber. -PLAY A MORE AGGRESSIVE FORECHECK!!!! This is a fast team, use the damn speed!!! Lines and pairings I'd like to see are the following: Gionta-Pleks-Cammy AK46-Eller-White Pouliot-Desharnais-Darche Moen-Halpern-Gomez -Subban/Gill - trying to limit Gil's ice time means that have Wiz/Subban or Subban with someone else as well. -Hamrlik/Weber -Wiz/Sopel or Wiz Mara More importantly though if I was PG, for next year, the habs have to find a way to get rid of Spacek. Maybe trade SPacek and a 3rd rounder for someone's 4th rounder. But the only way I want one of Hamrlik or Gill back next year (for no more then $1.5M on a one year deal), is if they get rid of SPacek. You can't have all three or even 2 of those three back next year and be a better team. I'd like the D for next year to have a core of Markov, Subban, Wiz, Gorges and two BIG, PHYSICAL Dmen. Failing to trade/sign two new dman, have one of Gill/Hamrlik. Although, I'd prefer to have Gill/Hamrlik as a 7th dman. I'd get rid of JM, otherwise, I can't see us keeping AK46 - I know most people here want to get rid of him, but He is a solid 20 goal scorer and in today's NHL, they don't grow on trees. He is also physical presence and has consistently been our most physical player. I also can't see Pouliot progressing any further under Martin. Gomez has to go. Send him to the minors next year and if the following year, someone wants him at $4M, move him. Moen gone. Halpern maybe sticks around if its for the same contract. Darche gone. Hopefully MaxPac will not only be back, but be back a force like he was this year. We need to pick up one physical center who can score or at be a setup guy and one big bruising winger - a big, bruising, scoring winger would be ideal, but i'd focus more on getting a big offensive center first. Lastly, a backup that you actually can rely on to play 20-25 games.

I seem to recall you defending him as late as december this season as well - despite him being wretched in every facet of the game.

This team has over achieved, but thats because of Price. I think its telling sign, when you get shut-out 2-0 and your goalies the first star (yeah, part of that is due to the fans voting), but really, if Price hadn't stolen at least 10-12 games this year, the habs are not in the playoffs.

Who said anything about challenging for the league lead. At least they wouldn't be putting up three consecutive goose eggs up on the board and show such a horrible effort after a humiliating defeat at home against Boston. JM is a stubborn ass and as I said last year, he CANNOT make adjustments on the fly. Subban should have been on the PP - Pleks doesn't belong on the point that experiement sholud have ended before Pleks got injured. E ller was showing some drive, he should have been paired with Gionta who at least played hard. AK46 doesn't deserve to have to play with Gomer - everytime they have tried that AK46 has gone to sleep - today he still played hard. Cammy should have his ass nailed to the bench for a while. He has sucked and deserves the embarressment of having his ass nailed to the bench. Let him stew over in anger and at least come back with some hunger. He isn't just missing on good oppertunities, he has also been lacking in his effort. Coaches have to make adjustments in slumps like this, but like I said, Martin is the stubborn stupid gambler who is trying to stick with the same plan he had going in and is unable to make adjustments when required. This is one of the most penalized teams in the league - yet it is one of the least physical. penalties are usual stupid, selfish, lazy penalties - many of them taken by so called leaders like Gomez and Hamrlik. To me that is on the coaching staff. You have to hold people accountable to stupid, lazy penalties (not just rookies), and the penalty issue should have been nipped in the bud months ago. You seem to have the same blind faith in JM that you had in Gomez for his first 1 1/2 years in Montreal. Yep and of course he didn't bring up that it was karma that led them to be shutout by the Rangers. But I wouldn't expect any sort of objectivity from that cross dressing drag queen.

problem with JM is he has a game plan going in and then is lost when you have to make adjustments. The PP has sucked the last three games. Pleks on the point is clearly NOT working, yet JM keeps rolling the dice like a drunken gambler thinking the dice are going to roll his way. There is NO other coach i the league that wouldn't have Subban on the first PP unit. It's a no brainer he is not only the most offensively gifted DMan on the team, he is also one of the offensively gifted players on the team. Other teams coaches call timeouts or make adjustments when things aren't working in order to change momentum. JM just stands there like an idiot and looks lost on the bench. If you want to have Gomez or Desharnais on the PP, put them on the 2nd line. IF it wasn't bad enough leaving Subban off the PP, its even worse seeing Darche, Halpern or Moen on the PP. JM has taken an almost gauranteed 6th place finish and now have put the habs in a position where the playoffs are at risk. JM inability to make adjustments on the fly (and I'm not going to include his lame, ill thought line combos as good adjustments), is nothing new, this has been an issue since his days with the Senators. Oh and of course Cherry is saying his usual "I told you so" about bad karma coming the habs way for scoring 8 goals against Minny He sure always seems to have a big smile everytime the habs lose - friggin drag queen!

I think we need to kill this thread! What the hell is there to be positive about??????

Friggin JM - Pleks on the point again

I thought we had already seen that against Buffalo and Boston - guess I was wrong THere is the insurance goal

you have to be friggin kidding???

JM - How stupid can you get?????? why the hell did he waste another PP without Wiz and PK on the point???

they already said that is the most protected part on the body and Subban was faking and being disrespectful.

Friggin Milbury. Now he is saying MaxPax was fine gets time off and is having a good time tweeting from movies. I really hate the friggin CBC!!! It was bad enough this guy was a GM for as long as he was, its amazing the CBC would hire two pieces of shit like milbury and stock after arleady having Don Cherry the drag queen. Oh and now he is attacking Pleks by saying that was a deliberate high stick on Horton. But of course the Chara hit was overblown and no way that could have been deliberate since hockey is such a fast game

well that's 8+ periods now without a goal. Love JM hockey!

Big surprise no Subban on the PP. God I hate Martin

He is not very good to adjusting on the fly. What other coach wouldn't have Subban on the #1 PP unit in favour of having Pleks on the point??? Let alone having Subban on the bench on a 5-3 PP when a slug like Darche is on the ice. Or leaving Ak46 of the PP in favour of Halpern, Darche or Moen.

We would get cap relief. THe entire $7.2M unless we were to put him through re-entry waivers after sending him down, in which case if someone claimed him, we would be on the hook for half the salary. Rangers have buried Redden's $7M cap hit and Oilers Souray's $5.7M cap hit by sending them to the minors.

Why wouldn't we get cap relief - that's exactly what the rangers did with Redden, its what the Oilers are doing with Souray and that is now our only hope of getting rid of Gomez. You may have been able to trade him early in the year and maybe when his salary drops to $4M, but unless Milbury gets a job back in the NHL, he is untradeable. Dumping players to the minors takes their cap hit of the books.

great pass there by gomer, when he should have shot

When did i call him out last game or against buffalo - those were complete team collapses??? Are you kidding me???? Gomez is NOT that hard to replace. Send him to the minors, clear up room and there are LOTS of guys you can trade for at the end of the year that would be an upgrade over Gomez. I think your love for Gomez is blinding you to reality. From a production standpoint he is #58 in the league - that's not among all forwards, that is among CENTRES!!!!! from a +/- perspective he is rated #237 - again that is not among all forwards, that is just among centers!!!

Sorry but that isn't saying a whole lot given the last two games the habs played. Gomez was fiesty last game and LOOKED like he was trying, but a the end of the day, the result was the same - zero production. Why is it that his wingers have been able to produce when playing with other centers. The only winger who consistently produced with Gomez this year was MaxPac, but he also was producing during this time with Pleks and others. I DON"T want this guy back next year - don't even care of he lights it up in the playoffs. He is really nothing more then a 3rd line centre now and regardless of who signed him for the contract, $7.2M is ridiculous for what he brings. Hell $3.5M would be ridiculous given his production. On the other hand McDonough is playing 20+min a game and looks to be be a solid physical dman. That was a great trade - our best defensive prospect other then PK for an overpaid has been To think we let Koivu go and brought this guy in AND gave up McDonough for him. Oh and Koivu is baking around a third of what Gomez is getting paid

well that's almost 7 1/2 periods now without a goal.

There's a difference between Pleks having a handful of truly bad games this year, whereas, there's been only a handful of good games by Gomez. Why is that that Gomez's wingers are able to produce with other centers??? Gomez's carry-ins are part of the problem - its the same move. More often then not, instead of creating room for his wingers, he tends to skate over to them. You'll get no argument from me about Cammy. I honestly don't get why everyone here wanted to trade AK46 for a bag of pucks when he is producing more then Cammy at half the salary. As for Gionta, with the exception of his 40 goal year, he always has a lousy shooting percentage. But at least he does put up his 20+ goals you want from him. 30 would be a bonus. but 25 is what I'd expect from Gionta. That's why i hated signing him for $5M, which is $1M more then he is worth. That's been the habs achilles heel. Almost every guy they sign, they overpay by at least a $1M. How the hell is that a penalty to Eller???????

AK46 out of the box with Pleks and two scoring chances. Why the heck Martin doesn't keep him with Plesk or Eller is beyond me Hopefully that rush and effort by Pleks is a sign of things to expect from Pleks.

I hate seeing AK46 with Gomez - they have had absolutely no success, why put AK46 with the one guy that he always ends up in a long dry streak with??