Colin

Not in this order, but these are the numbers I see hitting the roof over the next few years, among others: 12, 18, 19, 23, 29

Has anyone heard anything about this? Apparently it's due to be released in North America today and is available at Gamespot (US). I can't find it available, or even mentioned for that matter, in any Canadian store (a la Future Shop, Best Buy, etc). If it's anything like the Championship Manager /Football Manager series by SI Games, it makes most other PC games look completely pedestrian.

New rules. You have to clear when brought up as well. THough I'm not up to speed on the details of that yet.

"Ivanans, who weighs in at 263 pounds and reportedly has the lowest body fat count on the team. " Great googly moogly. It's Drago from Rocky. "I must break you." [Edited on 2005/10/5 by Guy!]

Hainsey has the skills to be a number one defender on any team, almost. However he doesn't have the brains to be even a number 7 on most teams. If there's a player who suffers more from brain cramps on the ice, I'd like to see him. I mean, when I watch him, I can see the pure talent and see where he *could* be. He just can't seem to put it together. He's incredibly slow making decisions and you just can't do that at this level. And if he really did clear waivers, then every other team in the league agrees with that assessment, or parts of it. I think his number one problem, actually, is evident by what he says. He thinks he played well enough to stay? He thinks he's good enough? There's a MAJOR ego problem with this kid, in fact he reminds me a lot of Alex Daigle - except Daigle got it somewhat under control enough to play in the NHL early on. Right from the outset Hainsey seems to have been hampered by continual brain cramps. If they weren't on the ice, apparently they were in the bars, or they were in his words to the press, or teammates, or coaches, or management. He will NEVER make the NHL with an attitude like that. Anyone else think about Terry Ryan when they listen to Hainsey's drivel?

I think they were there because Gainey put out the call that he had extra bodies and wanted to move one or two. I also think they were there to seriously scout Hainsey, since he's borderline and can be picked up on waivers. If there was a scout from the Rag$ there, I'd say Dags was being scouted, since they like our refuse, but otherwise, I'm not sure I see a lot of interest for a guy that played one good period of hockey that night.

Haha! I was laughing at that too! And Kovaliev too. I'm not entirely sure, but I believe that actually might be the correct pronunciation of his name in Russian. I remember hearing something like that a while back and I was shocked that the RDS team had done their homework like that. Frolov is pronounce Froliov, I think. Oh, and the accent on most Russian names in on the second syllable. FeDORiov. KoVAliev. But I'm not 100% sure on all that.

X-Files. Oh wait, they took that off the air. *mumbles* If you haven't seen it, take a look at Battlestar Galactica when it starts airing after Christmas. Easily the best new Sci-Fi series by far - though Threshold and Invasion look okay (have 'em taped but not watched yet). CSI, of course. The West Wing is probably the best written show on TV. Boston Legal is hilarious. L&O Special Vics Unit is extremely well done. And I'm gonna give My Name is Earl a long look, cause I love Jason Lee. Oh, and Everybody Hates Chris. Lots of potential for that one. Finally, The Daily Show. Pure Genious. Thank gawd for PVR's. (I loved 24, but if you miss one, yer dead, and in the first season when there was a choice between hockey on the VCR while I was out at soccer, or 24? Well, the Habs won. Therefore I never went far with 24. Might have to rent it out.)

Call it my "writers warmup" for the regular season. It's not good enough to put on the front page, but I got back to note-taking and started looking at the little things again. I will make a more formal write-up a little later on. I need to sit and think about it all first before I get ahead of myself. I'll have something for the site in an hour or so, I suspect.

Okay, let's talk turkey here: Ignoring the goofy homerism of the three start quelques choisit par l'equipe RDS, I think that there were some really good things tonight. First: Sax, Kovie, Zed. When they get legs and a few more games? Look out. Sax with open ice is going to be über-dangerous. Next: Hossa? He's in unless he loses a leg. Furthermore, despite the fact that he looked good on a line with Bonkers and Sunny, I think the latter should be taken out. I'll take Bulis over Sunny everyday and that makes one heckuva third line as far as I can see. Bonk has been WELL taught in Ott. Higgins: Can't see him being sent down. He has two-way sense and a good eye for the game. He'll probably be 4th line fodder to start, but I can see him working his way up this year for spot duty on other lines. Plekanec: If he doesn't make the team, I may just eat my own arm. He's a sparkplug, a smart guy, and he just goes and goes and goes. From the first game I ever saw him play at a rookie tourney many moons ago, I thought this guy had it. Same work ethic as Koivu, and while he doesn't have the same skills, he's still a keeper. Perezhogin: Again, he should make the club - and Dags should be mighty worried. He's got a lot of poise and even more smarts in the offensive zone, and even better is that you can tell he trained under Jarvis - he knows where his own zone is. Cote: With the game opening up, there's no chance he'll even be a call up this year, I imagine. He's got a lot of work to do. Ferland: I like his spunk, but he didn't play much, and when he did it wasn't particularly amazing. THough he did wallop Lindros. Good man. Streit: I didn't notice him all that much, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. No glaring errors, but nothing spectacular on the offensive side either. I would suggest he's the number 7 D-man. Chipchura: Nothing much to say since he didn't play that much. He does get involved, though, which is nice. Hainsey: To me? A disappointment. He was caught out of position FAR too often and while he tried to make plays, I think his brain is just way too slow for the NHL game at this point. I would honestly not like to see him in Montreal. I find him mistake prone (a la Breezer in his worst years) and even when he tries to be proactive in his defence, the timing is inevitably horrid. Komi: Not a rookie, but I wanted to comment. First game after losing a lot of weight from being sick... started slow, but as the game wore on he got better and better and his timing in hits got particularly good. Oldtimers can harken back to Gainey hipchecks. Komi's aren't quite as good, but they still thunder. Still needs to work on footspeed, though, in my opinion. As to the game? It's nice to see HOCKEY again rather than the game of Obstruction. When Pedneault said the penalty situation was a little out of control and that there would be more tolerance during the season, I got angry. Tolerance is exactly what this game DOES NOT need! That was an absolutely idiotic commentary by someone who usually has his head screwed on fairly correctly. Oh, and hilarious watching Pat Quinn whine about EVERYTHING again. Some things never change. No wonder TO has become a city of whiners. LOL!!!

Has Higs not played a game yet? Is he that unimpressive or is he that good that they aren't worried?

Apparently, the Habs will be holding retirement parties for two numbers to be put into the rafters on two seperate nights this season. November 12 and March 11. There are only rumours so far, but I would guess that Larry Robinson will be on November 12. His Devils play early in the day, and that will leave him enough time to hop a plane to Montreal to get the LONG OVERDUE retirement ceremony. The other player seems to be up for debate. Perhaps Dryden, or maybe Roy, or Savard... There are plenty of ideas. Still, assuming Robinson is one, it's about time. A classier guy there was not in the Habs uniform. Colin

Habs red, Naslund, 26 Habs white, Roy, 33 I'd love to get more, but for that kind of money.... oy Wish list (in case you all love my writing this year for the site): Red, Koivu, 11, C Red Team Canada, Gretzky, 99, C Red Liverpool, Gerrard Teal Miami Dolphins, Marino, 13 Red, Lafleur, 10 White German National Football Squad (soccer) Blue French National Football Squad (soccer) I'm sure there's more. ;-)

LOL He's a habs fan! He just can't show it because he's supposed to be reporting on a non-biased (read: Leaf-biased) network. *laughs* Does everyone think he hates the Habs? That's kinda funny. Edit commentary: Why do you think he made such a fuss out of the pick the Habs made? He didn't like it - didn't agree with it - and since he thought the team he liked could have done so much better, he reacted heartily. Kind of like any habs fan would if the Habs did something they didn't like. Second Edit commentary: Do you think he would have made such a fuss if he didn't give a crap about the team? Do you think he might have perhaps let out something closer to a laugh rather than an angry retort if he really didn't like them? Think of what we do whenever the Leafs make a mistake. We don't get mad, we laugh. [Edited on 2005/9/20 by Guy!] [Edited on 2005/9/20 by Guy!]

In my opinion a very undervalued wine is the Fetzer Zinfandel. It's a dark, peppery, leathery wine, and while it's price $14.95 here in Ottawa is decent, I feel it could easily be bumped up into the next level of wines ($25+). In fact, it's just about time for me to pick up my case of the 2002 to put in the cellar. I've got 2001 one there (the best year since I started drinking it with the '99 year) and I look forward to opening some as time goes on. Colin

Hossa has had a few stints in Montreal, and while the end result has always been sounded on a sour note, there have been more than a few symphonic moments as well. He *has* all the skills necessary to succeed at this level, it's all a matter of putting it together and combining that with the drive to succeed. In fact, I was firmly against his demotion last time he was with the big club. I felt that he wasn't given quite enough chance to play - it was only a handful of games. And during that handful of games, while there were many shifts where he was weak, there were also a good many when he was one of the better players on the ice. I felt that he should have been allowed to stay up and develop a little more - sometimes that's all it takes. That, however, is all in the past and he's back and competing again. If he's found the drive, he's an NHLer and there's no doubt he could be a solid impact player. From what I've heard so far, he's doing well, but this is early and I'll wait to pass judgement until he actually makes the club. In reality, as far as I'm concerned anyhow, even if three other rookies make the club, Hossa should be up there anyhow. He has at least the potential that Sundstrom has thus far, so at the very least I could see him replacing Sunny. As long as he puts in that effort, I think he's a lock for the NHL. Colin

Honestly, this whole thread is a little disconcerting to me. Not that I don't respect others opinions, which I do completely, however I find it almost discouraging that people don't see what they have under their noses. First of all, Souray. I have my doubts that he'll ever be a number one defender. He just doesn't have what it takes in a one-on-one situation as far as I've seen thus far. While he has good anticipation and stick-work, it's still not what I call number one quality. He brings an excellent physical presence to the table, gets the job done down low (though will see how the new rules affect his game) and can put up some decent numbers now and again - though he seems to be streaky. There was talk of Norris last season for him, and while it was warranted talk, that's all that was ever going to come from it, I believe: talk. On the other hand, and what I find most frustrating, is the lack of respect given to Markov's game. Here's a player who excels one-on-one and is probably one of the top-three guys in that situation league-wide. He has phenominal anticipation and stick-weilding skills, easily better than anyone on the Habs by a long shot. How often does he, instead of retreating like the run of the mill guy, stop and cut out a pass? And when he's in the corner in a scrum, there always seem to be complaints that he doesn't have enough of a physical presense. And yet, if you watch how he uses his stick, you see he has an incredibly uncanny ability to pull out the puck and take control of the play. Markov needs one thing: confidence. He has all the skills to be a Norris defender, he just needs to be given that position by the team and allowed to grow into it. Now, I'm sure there are going to be posters coming on here saying how he's beaten and he's this and that, but in reality, if you watch every game from the Norris trophy winners from the past? They all make the same mistakes, you just don't see those in highlight packages. I've seen Niedermeyer get whiffed through the legs by an onrushing attacker so many times it makes me laugh. He's an excellent defender, of course, but that much better than Markov? No way. More confident? Absolutely. As for Komisarek being a number one in the future, I suppose it's possible. But he still needs a lot of work. He's what I would call the Scott Stevens of the Habs future. Not really a number one guy, but a number two who will do all the nitty gritty that's so needed. Honestly, and sadly, I think Hainsey has more potential to be a number one than does Komi. Sad, of course, because he doesn't seem able to commit. Anyone remember Bryan Fogarty? He was supposed to be a Norris winner once he hit the big time, problem was he never really hit the big time because it all went to his head and he folded like a cheap tent under the haze of booze. I don't think we need to look elsewhere at all. Aucoin? Sure, he would have been wonderful and people would have been cheering in the streets. However he would have taken precious time from our young and improving corps that needs playing time and confidence. This is not a "this year" team. No matter how much management would like us to believe that's their target. This is a next three years team, no doubt about it. All our kids are just stepping up, and they'll need maturing time. Then we'll be a force. Here's another quick example of how things change in this sport, and I'll try and draw the parallel with Markov. There was a time in the '90's when some kid named Steve Yzerman was in the headlines because everyone said he was a bad leader and that the Wings were never going to win a Cup with him as captain. Boy oh boy did he ever prove them wrong. A little more time to develop into his role and he's now called one of the best leaders ever to play the game. Yet, early on, Wings fans wanted him gone or at least demoted. Like Markov. Today, we look at him and there are plenty out there who believe he'll never be a number one (heck some say never a number three) and lots out there are ready to give up on him and trade for someone else. Yet I believe, if we give him the patience and time in the position that I think he needs, we have our Norris candidate right under our noses. Wouldn't it be most gratifying if, in three years, he won the Norris the same year he wins the Cup? Would everyone look back then and say, "I knew it..." Now, of course, this is just a series of observations by me, and with no influence from anyone else, so you can take it or leave it as you will. Colin

I think we have to realize that in the case of Milroy, we're talking about a guy who struggled to find any ice time with the Dogs two years back, and last year was really his first full pro season. Will he be a perennial all-star? Probably not. But to say that he's out of it and not in the long-term plans is perhaps going a little far. He's a smaller player who probably needs a little more development time, and the faster he gets to the Dogs, the more time he has. The case of Urquhart bothers me a little more. On the one hand, he's in a similar situation to Milroy in that he's still young and still needs to develop. However, the fact that he has great size and seems to be in the mould of the Habs player that Gainey would like makes me wonder. I would have much preferred he stayed with the big boys for another few days at least, and cutting him off with Milroy at the first cut might indicate a lack of progress. Milroy, as I see it, needs all the time he can get with the Dogs, especially since he lost almost a whole year on the bench with them. Urquhart, on the other hand, would have been one of my picks to go a little later into camp with the Habs. I feel he's more a disappointment. However, getting them both down quickly is probably also in their best interests, despite any of our preferences otherwise. They need to consistently play and, hopefully, dominate at a lower level, and then take the next step. I would suggest that next year will be more a make-or-break for Milroy, and Urquhart will be looked at to stay deep into camp. Colin Edit commentary: What does it say to Milroy, but more specifically to Urquhart, that Locke stays in camp longer than either one? In fact, what does it say about Locke's dedication that he's made it to at least the second cut? [Edited on 2005/9/19 by Guy!]

Of all the draft lists that were made, the TSN list, compiled in large part by MacKenzie was easily the closest. Bob may be a lot of things, but what is isn't is ignorant of the draft and of young talent. That's where he's at his best, and I think it'd be hard for *anyone* to challenge him there. As to the Toronto Hockey News.... 'Nuff said. Anyone who rates Toronto highly this year is really going out on a limb. If there's one GM who won't get the benefit of a grace period because of the new rules, it's Ferguson, who has done some pretty daring things. That team is in large trouble and I would say might struggle to make the playoffs. Interesting to note the difference between the average Leaf fan and the average habs fan. The average Leaf fan will ALWAYS think they are challengers for the Cup. (Uh huh. Well over a quarter century and still dreaming.) While the average habs fan criticizes his team to no end. How DARE Lafleur not score three tonight. Two isn't good enough. And if you think that comment is exaggerating things, ask an old-timer habs fan. Colin

In Kovalev's defense, he has played a hell of alot more games. Kovalev wasn't the point. Koivu was. Koivu has averaged the same PPG as our "superstar" and yet if you were to ask, a fairly shockingly large number would say that Koivu could never be considered a number one centre. I mean, the guy has played with one 1st line winger over the course of his career - Recchi. Well, and Kovalev for a bunch of games at the end of last season. But what do I know. On the other hand, I notice none of those who feel Koivu isn't top quality have posted in this thread yet. Hmmm.....wonder why?????? Colin (think I'm feeling a lil bitter tonight? I've had to edit this post about 10 times before submitting it to make sure I'm not TOO negative. Musta been a long day)

Koivu, the "non-top line player" as many like to call him, has the same PPG average as our "superstar forward" Kovalev. Gotta love habs fans who gab before they think. Colin

touche Colin... I am 31 and no hair... So... The hair comment... Does that preclude us ever doing a trade?

Yer all young folk. Go back to bed, school's tomorrow. I'm 34 years old and I still have hair left. ;-) Colin

I've been a writer for the site for quite a while. Mostly article pieces, but there's a fair bit that I've done that was for the player profiles. No way I'm a contributor for posts. That's almost laughable. ;-) Colim

Two things: 1. As to Mad Mike on the Island, remember that much of his nickname came about because of some of the nutty things he did on the Island a few years back, before Kumar and Wang bought the team. That was when the Islanders had the worst and cheapest owner in hockey. They were restricted to a pathetically low salary cap back then. Now, since then he's also made some bizarro moves, but nothing like what he did so long ago. Yashin remains his only real blunder since the new ownership came in. 2. Everytime I see the heading for this thread all I can think is Lindros. Remember when he was drafted and his mom told him what to do and where to go? Fans in every rink made fun of his mother. So when I read Ryder mum on contract talks... *laughs* What? Ryder's mum is in on the contract talks? What?? And I think that puts me to post 100. Colin