TheDriveFor25

YEAH BABY! Good job Bob! Great signing, and great job putting a fresh look on this team. A. Kost - Gomez - Camms.... Me like a lot. I live in Calgary right now, saw abunch of live Flames games and Camms was a BEAST! LOVE IT

Another decent signing that people are knocking. Most from fans of teams that finished behind us last year! Markov - Beauch Spacek - Hammer Gorges - Gill FAR better than what we had last year! Sign Beauch, Kovalev, and a Gionta type and we're done! Then trade Halak and get a vet goalie to backup Price. See you in October!!!

Big and physical and a decent price... I like it. Our D core is starting to look a whole lot better than last year!

Not a soft Dman by any stretch. He's a great 2nd pairing guy. Get somebody to play with Markova nd pair him up with Gorges or Hammer (likely Hammer as they are both from the same country I believe!) I think this may help wake up Hammer too. hmm... Markov Beauch Hammer Spacek Gorges OByrne/Schneider Seems preety decent to me!

It helps that he is coming from a division rival too. weakens them a bit. Why is everybody knocking this signing already? A decent dman for 3.75m. Leaves some money to be spent at other places. Gainey is making moves, improving the team, and people are never happy.

I like it if they can get Beauch!

Spacek for 3 years.. 11.5 million http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=283437

1. Beauch 2. Hossa, Havlat, or Gaborik 3. A vet goalie 4. Tanguay (Think of A.Kost - Gomez - Gaborik) YOWZAS Tanguay - ??? - Kovalev I think we can acquire another good D-man or forward via trade. We have to get rid of Hammer's $$ so we package him with Pleks or with Halak and get extra cash to spend.

We have a better #1 C then we have had in years people. IN YEARS! Give it a rest people. Gainey is going to fix this team up. I like the acquisition. If we are going to compete it'll be with skilled forwards. And yes he is expensive, but not as much as Vinny would have been and we would have lost a hell of alot more prospects. We're better with Gomez as our #1 compared to any of our C's from last year. SO enough with this bashing Gainey stuff. HE is doing a fine job now. Keep improving the team Bob, I support you!

Ok, so just going over some numbers and looking at available players and I think it is totally possible that we field a team of... Tanguay - Gomez - Havlat/Gionta A.Kost - Pleks - Kovalev S.Kost - Lang - Latendresse Laraque - Lapierre - Stewart Markov - Beauchemin Hamrlik - Liles Gorges - Schenider/Obyrne Or something vary similar... depending on trades and whatnot Bob can pull off. But the above team looks WAY better than last years group. Use Halak and some other players signed in trades and we could be a BEAST!

I like the deal for a couple reasons. 1 - It's a new beginning. At least we won't have the same lines at last year. 2 - I think it helps bring others in. I believe it gives Bob the opportunity to say to Tangs now.. Yeah, we'll sign you for 3m per and you can play with Gomes! Instead of overpaying for Tangs, we might be able to save a mil on a player or two. Good for Bob for shaking things up. We were all calling for his head for doing nothing and now that he pulls a move we are again calling for his head? The thing that we have to realize is right now we have a better number one centre than we have had in a long time. Yes, he played brutal last year, but so did anybody with the Rangers jersey on. Good job Bob, keep shaking up this team. As for the loss of McDo, yeah it sucks. But he hasn't played a game in the NHL so lots can happen. I think if Bob can convince Emelin to come across, Subban and Fischer pan out, then we'll be just fine on the backend!

Montreal has acquired the rights to Martin Havlat. Not sure what is going the other way. More to Come...

Deadline? You think if Jim picks up the phone and makes a huge pitch they're going to say NO? All I am saying is... like Mark Cuban in basketball, this guy wants a team and he wants to win, not worried about $. I think it would be great to have a guy like that! You think if a player wants big $ Jim is going to say No? I don't. I think owners like the Molson's and Celine Dion would scare me because they wouldn't want to ice a winner as much as a profitable team!

Ok, so.. with Jim Balsillie failing to lure the Pheonix Coyotes into Hamilton, I'm starting to think he should just buy the Montreal Canadiens. He has already stated it was his "boy-hood dream" to own the Canadiens and he certainly has the money to get it done... so why not? I think it would be great. This guy obviously has the money to spend on a winning team, and he is clearly passionate about the game of hockey. FORGET HAMILTON JIM... COME BUY THE HABS!

This move means NOTHING until we know what team Gainey puts together for Martin to coach. This upcoming season will be dictated by what Bob does this offseason to put a great team on the ice, not who is behind the bench. Gainey needs to recreate this whole thing, via trades and signings. A couple small moves WILL NOT DO IT. There is no point of loving or hating this coach until we see what roster he has to work with. Please, do not sign all our UFA's and ice the same team as last year... because NO COACH is going to win a cup with that. Side note: Heard from a lousy friend that there may be a Halak + Prospect going to Edmonton for OSullivan?

Am I the only one that isn't too worried about losing Komisarek? Yes. he is a big tough guy, but he isn't an elite defenceman. He was actually kind of horrible in the middle of the season and was almost benched if not for injuries. I am a fan of Komi's and would love to have him back, but if he walks from the $4M offer then why not throw like $3M at Bouchemin?!? (Probably spelled wrong) My point is, if Komi doesn't resign it isn't the end of the world. I think if we can get Markov completely healthy, get Emelin over, and get a couple of big bodies - (Beauch and McLaren?) then our D will be MUCH improved. Markov - Beauchemin Emelin - Gorges McLaren - Schneider/OByrne/Boullion We need to start fixing our forwards, cause having 3 3rd lines is not going to get us anywhere, regardless of our D!

NEITHER! Kovy is not worth the money when he shows up for 40% of the games. You think his lack of effort affected the younger guys this year? Absolutely. And I love Saku, but he is TOO small to be our #1 or #2 centre. With so many free agents and so much money to spend, this is the time to put a new face to the franchise. A new type of team that isn't small and fast. Because who cares how fast you are when you are constantly on your ass. Our priority at forward is Tanguay. And he shouldn't be an expensive player. Our priority at defense should be Emelin. Get him over here and lets see what he's got. This is the time for Bob to show what he can do. I don't care about years past, because if he takes this off-season and ices the same team as last year then he'll be out of my good books. I don't want a team that gets 4th or 5th in the East and then loses in 4 or 5 games in the first round. BUILD A NEW TEAM BOB!

Habs will need to sign players if we are going to give up 3 or 4 to get Lecavalier! :hlogo:

I agree.. Ohlund is one of my faves from the list. And yes, I am sorta playing NHL09 on here, but it is fun to wonder. You have to figure though, with so many free agents leaving the team... this is the perfect time to put a new face on the ice, a whole new retooling. And yes, Hossa and Gaborik are both elite players, but NO, they are not as good as Lecavalier. He is one of the top 5 or 6 players in the world.

That way, we could trade for Vinny and have a team of... Tanguay - Lecavalier - Bertuzzi Pacioretty - Pahlsson - Havlat Dagostini - Lapierre - Latendresse Laperriere - Chipcura - Laraque Markov Bouwmeester Gorges Ohlund M. Bergeron Emelin Hamrlik I actually think this would work under the cap... (Obviously, PLeks and the Kostys are gone.. for Vinny)

Not sure if some of these players have already resigned with their clubs, but I came up with a list of free agents that should be kind of cheap... not the Gaboriks or Hossas, and especially not the Bouwmeesters (geez, he'd look good in a Habs uni.)but players that would make our team better... C's : S.Pahlsson. B.Morrison. (Both should be relatively cheap and if the Habs use Pleks in a trade then we might need a new #2.. hopefully behind Vinny.) RW's : M.Havlat. T.Bertuzzi. I.Lapperiere. M.Knuble. (I would love for the Habs to get both Havlat and Burt, but the other two are both pretty good defensively and are intense.) LW's: V.Peltonen. A.TANGUAY! (We need Tangs back.) D: J.Leopold. N.Boynton. MA Bergeron. D.Morris. M.Ohlund. (Of course, Komisarek and Bouwmeester would be sweet, but we need depth. Our weakest spot this year was on the blueline. Ohlund would be a stud for the Habs.) G: M.Biron. (A good french kid who could step up and help Carey.. if he is still around)

Yeah, I am in dreamland. But is it too much to ask for? Just get tougher, bigger.

We trade Price, Pleks, whatever it takes to get Vinny. Here's my projected lineup... Tangs - Lecavalier - Hossa/Gaborik A.Kost - Lang - Kovalev E.Cole - Lapiere - Laperriere Latendresse - Chipchura - Pahlsson (extras Pacs, S.Kost, Dags) Bouwmeester - Markov Emelin - D.Morris McLaren - Hamrlik ( extras Gorges, OByrne) M.Biron J. Halak What I really want is a team that is TOUGH to play against. A team that NOBODY wants to play. There is no fear with playing the Canadiens this year, because they're a soft team.

And we need our D to skate with the puck a bit more... so he'll be better at that then a Breezer or a OByrne would be.

I'll take the Cube... he plays with heart!