BlueKross
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Posts posted by BlueKross
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There are two Schultz's in the Canadian junior roster. Are they any relation to our Ian?
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Umm, did you not notice the title of this thread??? If you don't want to talk about Halak, you are in the wrong thread.
You bring up a good point. The underlying questions are, now that Halak is gone, what are we going to do or what I are we going to look like or how do we go forward? The thread title demands answers to questions such as I have just posed . Nobody can argue if Hakak was traded or not. It is just a statement of what has occurred.
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We don't need to talk about Halak, but people will be talking about him for a long time...
I agree. This is the start of next season and I guess people are starting to get excited for next year. Thank God the draft is this week, to give fans something else to talk about. They have beaten the goalie situation to death.
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Ya guys. Honestly I love Price, but Habs fans boo by potential and salary. If you have potential and dont use it, thye hate you. Halak exceeded potential and gained the fans love. You could argue that if he made 4 mill, he would be booed out too. But you didn't see Huet get booed for a bad game. He was the little engine that could. I hope that the fans give Carey a chance, because I think he has elite talent. I just worry when I see that the game is in his head. That's why I'm not an athelete. Well, I suck at sports too, but once I'm good at something I can be distracted easily by the mental side of the game
We don't need to talk about Halak anymore, he is gone , get over it. This is Montreal. There is no silver spoon here. Whether your name is Christ or Price or Whatever, if you don't stop the puck it will not play for long.
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I went back and watched three games he played last year with St. Louis and he definitely belongs in the NHL next year. He'd be our best bet at going to front of the net.
I think you need to tone down your expectations. Give the kid a break. Unless Martin has changed, he has limited tolerance for youthful mistakes. It may be 2-3 years before you see a second line NHL ready center. The good news is he may end up being a good first line guy. The bad news is he may never make the NHL as a consistant player. My advice is, let's not ruin this guy with expectations before he gets here. It will play itself out.
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I'm just waiting in the shadows on this one to see what happens......
I don't think we will have to wait long. You would think there would be someone in place for the early July orientation camp. Lammy, have you any inside information on what guest prospects may be there? I am expecting this years draft picks, Schultz and Eller, possibly a suspect or two from June's camp. Can you get a read on the numbers of new faces we will see in Hamilton?
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I hope we resign Pleks (or pick up another 2nd line center). Let Eller start on the 3rd line, don't rush him into the limelight.
We certianly still need Plex. I will be all over it if they don't get him signed or moved for value. I am starting to warm up to our new GM. One of the goalies had to be moved soon. I believe they got a good return for Halak. I would have traded Price, but that is just me. I had both Schultz and Eller on the radar when they were drafted. It is interesting that the currency seems to be prospects as opposed to players or picks. I personnally believe that prospects are of greater value because you have more evaluation time. You have a better idea what you are going to get. Picks are more like holding a lottery ticket. You lose more than you win.
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Sorry for the lateness of this response, but Muller going to the AHL creates a vacancy at the NHL assistant position. You can hire a francophone for that position if you feel like you need a guy as Martin's replacement in house.
Muller was the assistant last year and knows Montreal's system as well as anyone. Why wouldn't he be able to implement the Canadiens' system in Hamilton?
I don't have a problem with Muller or Weber. Why don't we put Carbonneau into the mix. We give prospects all kinds of breaks because of their youth, why wouldn't you give a first time coach in the NHL some slack? Seems like a good choice to me.
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20 days and counting re: Pleks.
We'll find out what Gauthier is made of very shortly.
I see a lot of people licking their chops as they eye Chicago players in the off-season. I guess they want some of what Chicago has got, winning by osmosis. The truth of the matter is that Chicago needs cap space as much or more than we do. This makes us not the best trading partner. Secondly, Chicago players will want to get paid- Stanley Cup Players. High end pay. I am looking forward to Gauthier doing something distinctive but not destructive to convince me that he is actually running the club.
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Despite his lengthy career in Montreal to date, he's never spoken French in public, so I doubt he ever will. On RDS, he's interviewed in English only.
I don't think your AHL coach necessarily needs to be your own coach in waiting, either. Look at what Tampa and Columbus just did: you can hire other team's AHL coaches if need be, it's just more difficult.
I disagree. The Montreal coaching position has the caveat apparently of the need to have a French speaking head coach. Tampa and Columbus can pirate coaches from around the world. Montreal has a very limited bag of coachs. Secondly I think it is very important to have similar systems at both levels so players coming up fit automatically into the system. I would say it is crucial that Hamilton be grooming the next head coach.
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Kirk Muller could be Hamilton's coach. He is looking for an AHL head coaching job (to one day be a NHL coach) and Hamilton is one of the AHL head coaching vacancies.
Muller would be a obvious fit if indeed he is looking for a Ahl head coaching job. Does Muller speak French? I like the idea of grooming head coachs for the parent club, in the minor leagues. I like the idea of Weber coming up. I don't like the idea of developing coaches for a winfall for another organization. Whomever you bring in, the future goal of head coach in Montreal should be part of the thinking.
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Mayer played one game in Sanford's absence, losing in a shootout to the Marlies. Sanford missed the final 6 games of the regular season and the first 6 of the playoffs.
I think Lammy has a point. I would assess the situation like this; regardless of whether Desjardins should have got more relief during the 12 games missed by Sanford or that Desjardins should have got another start at the end, I believe a coaching mistake was made. Hind sight is nice, but means spit now. Who in your mind leads this ship going forward?
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That's an interesting question. It was obvious that Cedrick was getting fatigued with all the starts resulting from Sanford's injury. Where I think that the coaching mistake happened was by not playing Robert Mayer in more games (during that time in the regular season until the playoffs began) to give Desjardins a rest every few games.
Did Mayer get into any of those games while Sanford was out. Do you recall how many games Sanford was out during that last IR stint?
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I haven't got a clue why Desjardins didn't start one of the last three games? looking back, it probably was a fatal mistake.
Lammy: You can make a contrite statement now, Boucher is gone. Do you think benching Desjardins was a coaching mistake?
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We all agree that the Habs haven't done too great with first-round picks, and we all agree that a bit more size up front would be nice. What I don't get is how this translates into an argument that we should only be drafting big guys from now on. Obviously, if there are two equally skilled guys, you go with the bigger one. But beyond that, surely you have to pick the player who is most likely to do best in the NHL.
I started this blog as a precurser for the up coming draft. You have said nothing here that I disagree with other than the fact that I said you can only draft big guys. Thats not correct, I never said that. My concern is having TOO MANY littlle guys. You have Trotter and Desharnais knocking at the door. Unless you see someone with elite skills, I don't see an opening even 3-4 years down the line, unless you clear the deck.
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So... this year...
Remember last year? Who won playoff MVP?
Also how would this alter our team? We have one player from Russia, and I doubt dumping Markov would put us over the top. Maybe tone down on the Don Cherry for a few days. And as far as your smurf comment goes, our "smurfs" were our best players so how would dumping them benefit us.
So your model of our team would be no Markov, Cammi, Gio, Gomez, Pleks. Good call
I don't have a problem with Russian players in their ability. I have a problem with wasting picks (early picks) with players that you may never see no matter how good they may be. Yes I do believe we are undersized and need to get some big guys up front. Currently, I don't see anyone out their that can replace Plec unless you make a trade. I don't see the point of letting him go then having to use another asset such as a goalie to refurbish that position. I keep Cammi and Gomez and trade Gionta .
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.The size thing is a red herring.
CC- I really think you meant a disappearance in the semi finals. The media created the illusion that after the new CBA that all the tiny skilled players would find a home in the NHL and the lunch pail guys would be gone. I though Montreal was out played in all three series, goaltending kept them in, and the size differential caught up to them in the third round. I take exception to anyone who says size doesn't matter, including the Cambell article in THN. Obviously you would like both size and skill together. The red herring part is that away to many people get sucked into the aroma the media puts out. I boldly predict that once the dust settles from the fallout of the new CBA that teams will again get bigger and faster.
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Briere and Kane are small but both are highly skilled. I think that Gionta, Gomez and Cam are in the same mold. The problem is having too many small players in the same team. Still, we can't say that our three smurfs did not do the job during the playoffs. In fact, our bigger players were the ones who disappointed the most, IMO.
I think we are getting to it. The second tier of players which you referred to our bigger players are actually smaller in size and by your own comment played smaller than the Flyers. Correct. Secondly, we have to many Russian picks that will be drawing pension cheques before they see N.A
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Because things are slow over here, I would to enter a comment from another board to get the ball rolling. The gist of the comment was that Philly and Chicago carry no Russian players. One of these teams is going to win, and be the model for franchises going forward. I would like to add that neither one carries a bevy of SMURFS, all on the same team. That should do it.
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I listed a bunch of players earlier.
I wasn't saying that Gainey should have done X or should have done Y, I only commented that perhaps the really long list of important players lost gives us the impression that the Habs are losing more key assets than they really are.
But I do think that Gainey should have signed younger players to longer-term contracts. When's the last time the team's had a young player that everyone knew would be on the team for years to come? Other teams are signing their key young players to 4+ year deals.
I do have a long list of players who were let go for basically nothing, each of which will have a story line why we couldn't do anything with them at the time. I am not going to bring out that list again. I would say that Komo would have signed for the money he was offered from us or less had he been offered to secure his future previous to his contract running out. The Gainey rule that you can't negotiate in the last year of the contract effectively hurts both parties. I don't mind taking a late pick or what ever but get something for the guy. Obviously he was worth something to the Leafs at 5m per.
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I've ragged on JM this season, but realistically replacing him after this run is pretty far fetched. It might be in the habs best interest to let Boucher explore the NHL with another team, work out the kinks, and come back into the fold after his trial by fire. The benefit of Boucher is his work with the youngsters, I just hope JM changes some of his stances next season in regards to risk/rewards for the youngsters.
Bar: You have captured my sentiment very nicely. I will boldly make this prediction. The love affair for JM in the organization will run its course, and we will be in a better position to expediate change by the end of next year.
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Asset management isn't hockey. Gainey I think is a person who chose to respect the fans , the sport, the players the game and the team. No way he could give up on the year and trade Souray. No way to fail to try. I do not think his objective was to win the Stanley cup every year. He stated that he wanted to build a team that could compete year after year. I am no great judge of GM's but I generally think that he made a heck of a lot of good, wise decisions. I think the key is to make the right decision, not necessarily the one that works out to be the most successful. Streit was perhaps not the best decision, but I don't know the variables being considered at the time, and many harped on Streits inability to play well enough defensively.
I think the key to Gainey is what I said above. He did not have the luxury of a team with fans who don't mind blowing it up and racing for the bottom to get assets. Gainey is a sportsman, a great sportsman and a great man.
I been bellyaching for years that Montreal has wasted assets constantly and the scouting department has been suspect to say the least. I am grateful somebody is finally getting it. Keep it up boys!
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Nothing against Sanford, but I think that Cedrick deserves a shot. He's been in the system for a few years now and has played very very well when called upon to do so.
I haven't got a clue why Desjardins didn't start one of the last three games? looking back, it probably was a fatal mistake.
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Here we go again! Boucher has a good season and know we must do anything possible to sign him in order to make him our next coach. Haven't we yet learned from our past that hiring rookie coaches such as Vignealt, Therrien, Carbonneau was the wrong direction. Therefor Bob Gainey finally addresses the problem by hiring a mature and experienced coach in Jacque Martin who also led the habs to an unbelievable playoff run and here we go again talking about replacing a sound coach for the rookie Boucher.
I would put more faith in the 82 game schedule as opposed to a play-off run in indicating the prowlness of any club. When you say unbelievable playoff run, it is unbelievable because of what they looked like during the season. We should be aspiring for a Stanley Cup every year, and though going a few rounds in the playoffs is a bonus that we haven't seen in awhile, it still falls short of expectations. I will remind you that we whimped into the playoffs.
Plekanec re-signs with Habs
in Habs & Hockey Talk
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We have enough cap space left to sign what we need to sign. Hammer and Gill come off the books the following season and that gives us some cap space to spend also.
Right on. Luv the signing. Not keen on the NTC. There is still enough flexibility to change the complection of this team. I am more concerned with the coaching staff than anything else.