beckham

That is barely more than Hainsey and Komisarek played last season. Less than Quintal and Dykhuis when they were with the Habs. Nearly 2 million a year for a 7th defenseman/12th forward?:nono:

+46 for the Red Wings. Chris Chelios does that in half a season there. Don't kid yourself about Dandeneault. Basically a body that skates well without a brain to call it's own. All that Gainey has done so far is to complete the moves that he was working on prior to the walkout. 1. Sign Kovalev after giving up so much for him, and 2. "Trade" Brisebois for Dandeneault. Along the way he "swapped" Jason Ward for Peter Vandermeer...:?-. Still can't figure that one out. So basically you're looking at the same team that was embarrassed in the playoffs in the spring of 2004, except everyone is a year and a half older.:eyes:

.....but he still looks really dumb.....

Then the drunk who was calling in pissed his pants, so he had to hang up the phone.......

Word out of Detroit is that the offers to Dandeneault were over $2 million per season.:nono: Way too much for a "utility player". Besides which he looks really dumb.

At least now it doesn't seem like they threw away Josef Balej and that second round draft pick...

Weren't the Habs offering Kovalev $4.5m a year ago? With the 24% rollback, that would have saved them $4 million over 4 years....

One of the biggest factors in a free agent's decision is the potential for winning a Cup. Having Kovalev, Koivu, Markov, Souray, and Theodore on hand makes the Habs a much more attractive proposition for other UFAs.

What is the logic of cutting Jason Ward, and signing Vandermeer for what has to be about the same cost? League minimum is $400,000, I beleive. I presume they just want him to set an example for the kids in Hamilton, the way that Gavin Morgan did last season.

Just relax. Let the other teams overpay for the players and wait until they have no more to spend. There are lots of excellant free agents left. If someone wants to come to Montreal at a reasonable price, that is who you want on the team. Not someone who just goes to the highest bidder. Montreal has the worst weather and the worst taxes of any team in the league, pretty much, so you have to be patient.

...and who they would have been taken in place of. Just so we all knew in a few years where Timmins stood in terms of player evaluation...

I don't know if anyone remembers Roy when he first came up, but he looked like some nerd in a comic book shop, and wouldn't say * if his mouth was full of it. A couple years down the road and he is looking like the Hulk and acting about the same way. Same with Belfour. They had all the symptoms, bad compexion, bad attitude, hair loss, blood shot eyes, uncontrolled agression....

Carey Price reminds me of Ken Dryden with his size and his personality.

Carey Price's father Jerry played in the WCHL, almost 30 years ago. His career average over 3 seasons as a starter, was over 5 goales per game.

Carey Price seems be a much better prospect than M.A. Fleury was in 2003. He is nearly a full year younger, a lot bigger and stronger, and has a better record than Fleury had in his draft year. Price also seems smarter and more mature, to me, but maybe that is just the language gap. G. Latendresse seems like a left shooting mirror image of Bobby Ryan to me. I really can't see much difference between those two. Check out the prospect profiles at www.forecaster.ca, where Ryan is rated at #6, and Latendresse at #8 in their top 160. You could flip a coin between the two as far as I'm concerned.

One of the youngest players in the draft, but he seems like he could be 30 years old. Anyone else get that impression?

He will be at Clarkson where J.F. Houle is a coach. Big, mobile and good hands. Better prospect than O'Byrne at the same stage.

There is no great mystery. Carey Price was the best value at the spot. He is 11 years younger than Theodore.......scary thought!.....

He is their goalie of the future. They can't depend on Theodore for much longer. Just say NO! to Lecavalier. If it was Brad Richards, yes, but not Lecavalier.

Theodore is the only legit #1 goalie in the system, and he is questionable as well. Price was a great pick at #5. They also managed to get a couple of Francophone's with size and character. That is not easy to do.

Aubin is the same age, the same size, and put up similar numbers with a similar team as Pouliot. Thank God they didn't get a shot at Ben the Chicken, if they really were interested in him.:/)

..to move up 11 spots to draft Latendresse. If it was anyone else, I would have said it was too steep a price, but Latendresse is a better prospect than Alexandre Picard who went 8th overall last year.

Price was the best player available at #5. Latendresse was a steal at #45. Forecaster had them rated at #8 and #9 overall, TSN had them at #7 and #21 overall, with the stipulation that #21 (Latendresse) could slip into the top 10.

hehe, since thats the case he'll probably approve of this pick. The pick will grow on you. The thing with goaltenders is that they take longer than skaters to contribute as a rule. Price has as much upside as anyone in the draft outside of Crosby, I think. [Edited on 2005/7/30 by beckham]