hab29RETIRED

Impressed with the boys tonight - although almost had a heartache with the delay of game penalty.

Are you seriously saying the habs should be trading Pleks??? first of all he is a UFA, which means the return wouldn't be much. Secondly, Pleks is the guy the habs need to resign and then try to get out of the following contracts: -Gomez -Hamrlik -Spacek Anything over $4.5M for Gomez is stupid in a cap world. I wonder if a team like Edmonton who can't attract anyone would be willing to take him (if they clear out some of their bad contracts, since they are also up against the cap. I would have liked to see them keep both goalies but if a goalie and other assets can net them a BIG, YOUNG scoring winger or center you have to make the move. I'd prefer they move Halak over Price, but if someone is willing to really overpay for a top 3 BIG forward (preferbly a center) and is willing to take one of our bad contracts as well, I'd make the deal. If you could squeeze Carter AND one of giroux/van reimsdyk in a package that includes Price and someone else from the the roster not named Markov or Subban going the other way, it would instantly make us bigger. However, since the flyers are winning right now, they probably would not be desperate enough anymore, even though the streaky Boucher sure isn't someone I'd want as my goalie. I was really hoping that that the flyers would have gotten blown away, becuase they just might be willing to really overpay for a goalie. Gainey has handcuffed this team from being noting more then a #7-9 team with his ridiculous shopping spree last summer, as well as signing a coach who not only is lousy with young talent but CANNOT and HAS not won in the playoffs. Who cares what his REGULAR season career record is just because he has been around forever. Lets not kid ourselves, regardless of how many injuries we had, this team is a fringe playoff contender. Had the East not been so bad, even if the habs been healthy, they would have been fighting for the 7-9 position, if Carolina hadn't gotten of to such a lousy start. Next year, Philly should be better (if they finally decide to get a goalie), Boston, which is looking pretty good in the playoffs will probably add Sequin or Hall. Tampa should be better now that they have got rid of their dumb and dumber owners and abbot & Costello GM/Coach combo. Even the leafs should be better if Burke can sign some scoring and eats some of his defence contracts (one of my biggest fears is Pleks being signed by the leafs :blink:0. Burke stole Phaneuf from the Flames, if he can dump Finger, pickup scoring for Kaberle and sign a couple of scorers, the leafs should be in the 7-10 range. So we are going to be in tough next year and if anyone thinks we can be successful next year if our top salary earners are Gomez/Cammy/Hamrlik/Markov/Gionta is dreaming. Not only is the core of the offense too small and one of the dman well past his best before dates, having all of these guys simply does not leave enough cap space to ice a decent team. It will even get worse the following year, because, while Hamrlik (if he isn't traded/bought out), will come off the books, Markov will be a UFA. Gainey has handcuffed this team and since Gautheir was his right hand man, I doubt if he can fix the mess, because first and foremost, the move to make is to convince the Molsons to eat the 3 years remaining on Martin's contract and fire his ass, but Gauthier and Martin probably have too long of a history together for him to make that move. I also think that Gauthier probably was in favor of the Martin hiring to begin with.

Hamrlik and MAB - both liabilities together defence and just like that - like in game 2, another solid effort wasted

I'm amazed SK74 is in the lineup! Martin obviously dislikes him. Carbo had SK on the PP before and he did look pretty good - I think he would be good option as well. They also tried AK46, but AK46 is too much of a defensive liablity to put on the point. What I don't get is why Markov and MAB can't play the whole PP or most of the PP. Hell, Ovechkin was on the ice for a minute before the Caps PP and was on the ice for the whole PP as well. So again - to me this is on Martin again! If Doughty can play 30 min a game as a 2nd year pro, why can't Markov??? He has played that much in the past - why not in the playoffs???

To me this is on Martin not Hamrlik. He is being put in a situation he is no longer capable for. but Martin, what a fxcking idiot :angry:

But of course Martin will keep rolling him out after every mistake. yet OB and Sk74 ride the pine after even a small mistake. Have i said how much i absolutely HATE martin. These has shades of game 2. Habs up, totally outplaying the caps and a couple of dumb coaching decisions and the caps are right back in it :puke:

I hate Hamrlik - the guy is to damn old, too damn slow - What the fXCk is he on the PP for??? And of course Martin leaves him out there to finish the period

That's what 4 pretty good goals taken away by him??

Damn it Martin Habs take the lead with the caps top line Martin throws out the 3rd line!! What the faXXK i the point of the last change????

Metro has surprised me - he looked awful last game and looked like he wasn't ready to be back - but he has been good tonight. Refereeing sucks again though!

I wish I was drinking the same kool-aid. In game 2 Gomez has a brain cramp up when we are up 4-3 and decides to fight for probably 4th or 5th time in his career and is gone in a trade off with Poti Game 3 he takes a 10 min misconduct. Game 2, Cammy takes two very stupid slashing penalties that are almost identical, on the delayed penalty call on the 2nd instance, the caps tie it up. yeah, i know composite sticks snap easy, but you have to be aware of makkng a dumb move like that in the offensive zone TWICE! I'll give Pleks and Gionta a pass because it was out of character - i actually had thought the misconduct was on Gionta and missed Gomez getting the misconduct when I went to grab a drink.

Cammalleri - Plekanec - A. Kostitsyn Pouliot - Gomez - Gionta Moen - Moore - S. Kostitsyn Pyatt - Lapierre - (empty spot) Markov - O'Byrne Subban - Spacek Gill - Gorges Bergeron (PP only) Price I'd play 7 dmen - but MAB does not see anytime outside of the PP. The fourth line gets alternating double shifts from Cammalleri, Pleks, Gionta, Gomez and Sk74. Subban should get a shot. If the habs get knocked out, let him continue on with Hamilton. Hamrlik sits - he has been brutal since the olympic break with the exception of a few games. He sucks on the PP and 5-5, they should have tried dumping his salary at the deadline and need to dump him this summer - may as well start now. If we don't dump him this summer, i don't see how we sign Pleks - and we NEED to sign pleks! Again, MAB only belongs on the PP only and if he isn't shooting he doesn't see anymore PP time and sits the next game. I'd leave Laps in instead of Metro - not because Laps deserves it, but given the alternatives and Metro clearly not ready to return - Laps probably has the most POTENTIAL to contribute. ideally, I wish we had brought up White near the end of the season, rather then maxwell, as I thought he brought more energy and willingness to hit then Pyatt or Darche in the games he played. However, the instructions to Laps should be clear - keep your mouth shut and play the game by using his speed driving hard to the net, hitting everything that moves and make it clear that if he lets up again, like he did when he had a chance to cleanly cream Green he is finished in Montreal!

the first win was much more convincing then the habs 1st win. Last game yeah, Anderson stood on his head. Mismatch in their series is much greater then the habs-caps series. There is a big difference then a coach like Carbo or Therrian completely losing it and a coach that strategically going after refs. Lindy Ruff, Pat Quinn have worked it to perfection to complain about missed calls and get calls their way. Same thing with the GM's. Regier, Burke, play up to the media and take the refs to task - usually the next game they get the call they want. We could have used SK74, OByrne in the lineup much more then a Metro that hasn't played in 4 weeks and a Lapierre who has played around 4 decent games all year. MAB is getting WAY to much ice time, as is Hamrlik. As far as tactical analysis, how about his wonderful strategy of having one guy forecheck and have a fast team (really all they have going for them), sit on their ass trapping??? That is the overall strategy employed by Martin. How about him never making adjustments to counter the oppositions moves???? Some of those tactical adjustments is slowing the flow of the opposition by taking timeouts. By counter-acting the running of your goaltender by actually having someone who is big enough to clear a guy like Knuble. or nail the big cap forwards with solid hits. The decision not to have a captain is seriously also backfiring. Who is the leader of this team??? Certainly not the coach who hasn't the balls to stand up for his players.

Pouliot got going from the get go when he went down and played for BOucher. SK74 again got going with boucher. Watching MaxPax was painful for most of the year, until he finally got sent down. Hamrkik has sucked since the olympics yet he plays 20+min. Makes more mistakes the Obyrne has made. Laps needs to be benched, bcoz its obvious Martin isnt going to accomplish anything with him - hasn't all year, can't see him turning it around now. I would hardly call Pyatt flourish - he along with Darche are guys that when they make mistakes, rarely have to pay the piper for their mistakes, unlike Obyrne and SK74, who get benched after every mistake. I see a Colorado team that should be overmatched holding their own very nicely against SJ. When the caps were coming back, what did Martin do, take a Time out?? nope. After they scored the 4th goal after a LONG video review, he comes out with the 3rd line. He makes TOO many tactical errors. Did you see Lavliolette give it to the refs in the flyers-devils series??? result, suddenly flyers get PP oppertunities. What does the penguin do, stand with his hands crossed looking like an idiot. Halak gets run, does the Penguin he speak up against the refereeing??? no, he's not going to risk givoing up $10k by making noise and putting the microscope on the refs. His players get ragged in the media and the fans, does Martin do anything and stick up for his players like Gainey did, nope, idiot fans have a right to boo Carey Price for being the 2nd star in the game. Martin is a useless coach - easily one of Gainey's biggest mistakes, the game has passed him by a LONG time ago and the only reason he is coaching again is becoz montreal needed an experienced (if not over the hill washed up) French coach.

He was done for the year.

not only that, Laps actually BACKED off when he had the chance - don't know what he is doing in the lineup!

You gotta be kidding me???? Game 1 strategy - don't show up for the first period - have your goalie stand on his head and win it in overtime is a strategy??? Game 2 strategy - take a 4-1 lead do nothing when the tide was turning or complain at the miscalls and watch your team blow the lead. Take the lead with 3 min left and then blow the lead again with under 2min and then lose 6-5 in OT. That's your case for keeping him??? All of the young players have regressed under him and you want to hand Subban to him next year??? As far as Obyrne being too slow- Hamrlik looks like he's not only slow but in his old age seems to have forgotten ho play defence.

finally a friggin goalie interference penalty against the caps

Damn, wrote such a long post - missed Gomez's misconduct - what the heck did he get a misconduct for??? Gomez is another guy who just seems like a dummy. Takes a dumb fighting major last game now a misconduct???

You gotta coach the team based on the horses you have been given. When Gainey brought in the smurfs (gio/gomez/cammy), i was vocal on how much i hated the signings because they took a small team and did what seemed impossible - made them smaller. The answer to add size is not to go out and add size at the bottom of your lineup (Moen-overated, Gill-big but can't hit), you need ot have size in your top six. We have a skinny Pouliot who is hitting and Ak46 who sometimes gets inspired to be physical and drive hard to the net, but for the most part he is a perimeter player. Don't get me wrong, I love Cammy and Gionta, but you can't hope to compete with your 4 best players (gionta, Cammy, Gomez, Pleks) being small. Love the heart of Pleks and Gionta, but you need to surround that heart with some brawn. Anyway, the horses you got are the horses you gotta run with. Instead of using the strength of the guys he has (speed to kill), Martin has them hanging back playing a trap game. They take a lead and instead of putting the pedal to the medal they sit back. Their D is also small - you can't have Gorges (again big heart/little man), MAB (Big shot, no brain or brawn. The one physical dman they have - Obyrne has been riding the pine after every mistake - despite guys like Hamrlik, spacek, Gill coughing up the puck all year. I would take out Lapierre in favor of O'Byrne bcoz he is the only dman with the size to hit the big cap forwards and clear the front of the net. Where is he - on the in the pressbox!

Exactly - 7 fXckin years and that is after year's of getting knocked out by the leafs in the 1st or 2nd round.

Too little too late. He needed to speak up when Halak was being interfered with last game,when Markov was highsticked last game. Game is over and JM decides to speak up about washington sending too many guys out prior to a faceoff. Big shit. The guy is a terrible coach - when was the last time this guy actually won a playoff series - hell the guy's been out of the playoffs so long, that he's probably just happy to be in the playoffs and get to play golf early.

If JM actually spoke up at the bullshit calls and non-calls last game, Pleks wouldn't have to be taking the misconduct penalty now.

Well this is the first series that really looks now like a one versus eight matchup. I think, weare on the way to 4-0 to get knocked out. Only solace to take from that is that gauthier may actually grow a pair and CAN Martin!! We haven't seen JM make any adjustments all year, what makes you think its going to happen next game?

Not sure why Laps is even in the lineup - he brings nothing but his mouth. would much rather see SK74.