JLP

Habs retire so many numbers, that's why our current players have higher numbers than most other teams. Of #1-#10, seven are no longer available. Now, having retired a total of 14 numbers in 100 years, we can project, if retirement continues at the same rate, that in the year 2525 (if man is still alive), they may find all Habs players wearing three-digit numbers.

I'd prefer a young SOB with a mean streak over a veteran pugilist with a code of honor.

hehehe "...an old 29".

He's a vegetarian now so it will be awkward at the team barbeque, trade him. He's not mean enough.

Enjoy! Oh, when you get back you won't recognize the Habs!

If this is it, there'll be but six Euros playing in our first game.

Support this philosophy over chaotic juggling, coach keeps a couple of guys together then experiments with a banger / defensive specialist / go to the net guy in the third spot as needed. This allows the main pair to develop chemistry.

So Bob is hamstrung by class hehehe. Anyway I recall when Komisarek's mother passed away, George G and the organization put Mike on a private jet to fly home, the club gave him time to deal with his grief, I think that was class, that was good. But contracts are another matter, they are about keeping the rights to a player you drafted and developed for years and years. You know hockey is a business, do we want to win by approaching it as such or are we satisfied to lose with class? And I don't think many posters are bitching about "everything" Bob Gainey does, I for one am very focused in my criticism of his policies. He's just another part of the team I've loved for years and years, he's not infallible, certainly not above reproach.

Don't get me wrong I don't like Komisarek so much. But it was at least possible he would have signed an extension if he'd been approached during his last year. Agents like to take their cut when they can, if there's money on the table they will sit down and negotiate. I dunno about $3m, that seems low, but I expect he would have signed for about what he's worth now. Then at the very least we could have picked up something in return if/when we traded him. Keeping the rights to a young player is important business management, and IMO that is probably the biggest thing that Gainey has failed at. Also, I'm a freelancer, and tell the truth I feel anxious when I don't know if a contract will be renewed or not. That sort of uncertainty went through much of the Habs roster last season, so no surprise we didn't see the boys playing as a team.

In my opinion, losing assets is principally not negotiating extensions. Eg., one year ago, sign Komisarek to a new contract (but this is a practice which Bob famously "does not do"). Now, if we don't want Komisarek anymore, we trade him for something else. He was a top-ten pick just coming into his prime that is a solid asset, Gainey screwed up big time with that.

I don't like the use of the word "idiot" in the title but otherwise yeah Gainey went his own way, we trusted him, pretty well gave him free reign to implement his 5-year plan, and it failed miserably. If you are going to maintain a unique management style and business strategy, it had better eventually pay dividends. Gainey did but it didn't. So what's next? Fire him? Would the new owners step in and do that anyone think? I reckon with the flurry of UFA signings Gainey bought himself about a six-month grace period.

It is a bit funny but I hope he just wants to play hockey - nothing naive about that he's getting millions to do so . ..

Bob was waaaay too late with the offer of a contract extension, which Komi would have certainly signed one year ago or during last season. So, here is a stubborn, dumb policy that has enabled other teams to poach our assets. Thanks to mismanagement, there goes a top ten pick for nada.

If it's G+G on line one and Lats gets a shot on the LW, he has to crash the boards and force some turnovers, I hope uses his size more aggressively!

I agree to a degree, but it seems wordsmith Colin was talking about Kovy's smell . . . Not liking warrior Kovy's armpit gusset is understandable. But I always admired artiste Kovy's palette.

well the players who left, at least they'll visit often ...

Very disappointed in what I regard as desperation signings, to shift attention from an awful management dogma that has lost us some of our best assets. Let's revisit the Ribeiro disaster -- here's a point-per-game Québecois and we let him go for friggin Niinimaa? And this move was supposed to "improve team spirit"? Well, "team spirit" is apparently still the problem three seasons later, and Ribs is an All-Star. Another colossal screwup is giving our divisional rivals our #7 overall draft pick in Komi. WHY didn't Gainey re-sign Komi a year back? Very possible Komi is the Toronto captain in two years, certain that he's just coming into his prime. Like Ribeiro, we drafted him, developed him, then Bob gave him away before he paid real dividends. Gave him away for nothing. :puke: Sure the Habs' new owners want some positive press and fan support, so we see this flurry of signings, but aren't we rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic? I voted "Disappointed with the new guys, next season will be worse" because I would never support the leaf or broons, but I would have preferred a "Disappointed by Bob's management, he's wasted five years" option. Hope I'm wrong, hope the new guys have career years and les Freres Titz arrive, and Price becomes all that he can be. But it's a gamble. So my mood is not so good, honestly, only hoping for a miracle.

Not on D it ain't . . .

Could this be a message from Plex? "Trade me"?

fuggin' kozed could make a multi-post message to get all the quotes/content in? Like a work of literature that comes in volumes. KoZed Proust.

Thanks Thanks Thank you Thank you, I guess. Now alexstream is gonna be doubly annoying. Thanks Thanks Thank you Thank you, I guess. Now alexstream is gonna be doubly annoying. like, do we really need this?

As I recall we had a problem a coupla years back that messages were getting ridiculously long displaying too much quote history and a bewildering vortex of quotes within quotes, that's why we limited the quotes.

Curious on people's impressions at this point. Going forward as of July 2, are the Habs now a better team than they were in May?

KoZ you are right and I mostly agree, but let me play devil's advocate. I think what some posters are arguing is that the stubborn French preference makes Québecois Habs fans look like hicks or even racists. The idea being that an argument like yours could also be used to justify keeping a monolingual Russian or Korean player out of Columbus. In response I'd say if a Russian pro-athlete came to English NA to work there for ten years he would almost certainly learn basic English, as would a Korean or a Québecois. Maybe most NA people simply see English as "the local language," but it isn't so in one place: Québec. So yeah the French issue is different but equal to the English issue in other NA cities. A distinction is that in other cities, language is regarded as an issue of "communication" (practical is good) whereas in Québec it is often portrayed as an issue of "culture" (clannish is bad). It's just perspective IMHO. I love Saku but I believe that given his position he should have picked up enough French to do post-game interviews where let's face it the vocabulary and grammar are not terribly complex.

We can pray! Actually I think we could probaby clear a bit more space and Kovy is a class guy who might want to stay on as Captain then bow out in Montreal, it's not like money would be his only concern at this point in his career.