alexstream

I see it as a rebuild. Gomez - Gio - Camm is a better basis for a team than Koivu - Kovalev - Tanguay I see it as a good NOW and THEN move. The crease is good and Price will likely sign a killer 5 M to infinity contract. The dman is not to be complained of, with a bunch of guys developping and with Markov holding the fort. OB also kinda awakening is reassuring. I think the team is good now, but I also think the team can be better next year and the year after. We still have a TOP farm despite giving up McDonaugh We still have good young Vets despite losing Higgins and Komo. I don't see what's wrong, I don't see the WIN NOW panic button. This team is fun and exciting and the future is STILL promising. I mean, I take a look at hockey's future ranking and I still have great hopes.

i know, im not aiming at him specifically, he was quoting you and you were the one mentioning the "Sacrificing a lot for short-term". im just constantly reading bs from so-called fans who are mad that e.g. Gainey let Koivu walk. (just using koivu there, it could be komi, kovalev, ribeiro, beauchemin, etc) are you a Habs fan or a (e.g.) Koivu fan? if you are a Habs fan, concentrate on hockey and not on trying to find negatives in anything. I strongly believe that this offseason settled the team for the next 5 years and is WAY MORE long term oriented than holding on to Koivu (1-2 more seasons?), Kovalev (2-3 more seasons?), etc. The only "old" guys we added were Gill and Spacek. I loved the show and the new players, their dedication, etc. up to now and I see no reason to try to find negative in anything. It's irritating, to say the least.

in no order Spacek - Mara Hamr - MAB Gill - Super Gorges

maybe statistically, maybe more giveaways. however, i found him overally more useful. making a crisp pass here, valuably pinching there. etc. that's not because he had a bad game statistically that he is not coming into his game. another example is Stewart who had an awful game, but he was closer to what we're asking of him (although nearly costing us the game on his own!!).

can you say THEODORE -> In the playoffs, players will learn to shoot above his shoulders and get into his head to have him on his knee early so they have a greater slot in which to shoot. (no pun intended despite using pun-prone expressions such as knee, great slot, shoot. and shoot above his shoulders too, yes, that too. oh yeah.) I really really really do not like to rest my SC hopes on goalies like Huet, Theo, Halak and so on. On the other hand, any day, you can give me a Roy, Brodeur, Luongo, Price... actually Roy stands out of this latter pack as being the worst puck handler of the 4. Price is really the shitznitz (i dont know what it is, but it sounds cool) he is big. he is a 7th dman out there. (in one instance yesterday, the puck was coming to halak, we were in PP, Halak knew that the dman was coming for it and would get there before the opposing forward and let him come and get the puck, that was no mistake. HOWEVER, Price would have just skated up to the puck and made that two line pass to the forward who was waiting for a breakaway, etc...) that really is a MAJOR + to the transition play. did i say he is big? when on his game, he defies the opponents and his SIZE makes it so that there is nowhere left to shoot but through him (haha) when on his game, he doesn't necessarily drop on his knee, making it so that he can block the rare rebounds he'll allow. Price ABSORBS the puck there are close to no rebounds. (when halak came in relief last season, he was facing 45 shots a game... I'm betting 15 of which were his own rebounds) when he does allow rebounds, he sometimes do something with the loose puck with his madz ™ stickhandling skillz ™ PRICE = GOD :bow:

Burke lui a parlé dans l'oreille et lui a soufflé dans le cou. je suis sur qu'il lui a promis : -qu'il ne serait pas le seul bully (contrairement à montréal l'an passé... lui et TK!! lol) -qu'il aimait ses qualités offensives et lui donnerait plus de responsabilités offensive et tenterait de faire de lui un Chris Pronger, en effet. @ Colin : WOW. très bien. très bien.

wtf? 28 y.o., 29 y.o. and 30 y.o. (camm, gomer and gionta) all locked up for 5 years. that's short term? 5 years ago we drafted Kostytsyn 6 years ago we drafted Chipchura those guys are still projects! that's frikkin LONG TIME in hockey. if you hate the habs so much guys, just go on a leafs board, im getting sick and tired of your constant useless destructive rambling. no place for that on a "fans" board.

What was interesting to see in tonight's boxscore is that they all ended up playing close to 20 mins. Mara's game is getting real good Gorges was a stud Gill made some good plays, and some bad (I would tend to say "less" bad plays than the other games) not sure Weber is an NHLer though and I'm sure glad we got MAB. Weber's supposed to have a canon and the only shot I saw were really weak, he's more of a passer and ... not so good at it

err, LH shot...

RH shot Cannon shot 3 years off a 46 pts season. I would have proposed him EVEN with Markov in. With Markov out, it makes even more sense since we need to reinforce our special team. We need to hit the frikkin net.

I hope he doesn't end up being traded. aside from his attitude, he's better than D'Agostini, Max Pax, Guillaume and displays more intensity than his brother.

The good news with all those injuries, is that it "forced" Martin to split Gill and Mara... I think the negative comments were exaggerated because since those guys are not spectacular and won't make a WOW play (or so rarely) we do tend to emphasize on the blunders and are less prone to forgive... Call that the Niklas Sundstrom syndrome But it was still a concensus that those two guys should be split, at least to equilibrate the physicality and the speed on the pairings. We now have : Hamr - Spatch Gill - Gorges Mara - Weber I still think that Spatch should play on the left since Hamr has a lot of experience on the right side (with Dion Phaneuf among others) Gorges covering Gill and vice versa is amazing. Mara and Weber... wow. if the young guy can make it happen, Mara is certainly a good guy to help him bring his "A" game. Seriously, although the 1st pairing has the edge, I think those 3 pairings are pretty balanced and could potentially be our best pairing any given night.

for a long while, Patrick Marleau was alone on the 2nd line. that's what I mean.

Martin is hot on duos. I'd still try A.Kost and Lats together. Lats gets it in the corner, does a nice pass in the crease to AKost. Lats screen the goalie while A.Kost receive a pass from "X" and shoots it in. Actually, I've said it : ANY 2nd line would be hot with our current quality of Wingers IF IF IF IF IF we had a better center. IMO, it all starts at center. Plekanec is adequate. He is giving it all in. But his limited talent makes it so that he cannot carry the line. He can however follow a guy like Kovalev. We don't have that. We need a center who can carry his wingers... and with that center, my bet is EVEN Matt frikkin D'Agostini will look good with his soft mustache.

To compare apples with apples and Pacioretty with Higgins, He is FAR FAR FAR less ready than when Higgins played his 2 games (2003-2004) and then was sent back down for the rest of the season + the lockout. I was at Higgins' first NHL game and Higgins was more advanced, yet they sent him back and he benefitted from two AHL seasons (inc. lockout). when he came back up again, he got 38 pts in 80 games, playing mostly with Ryder and Koivu I believe (i.e. 1st line) I'm not saying "he's crap" or "he's hopeless"... but I would prefer to see him play 25 minutes in Hamilton and try to dominate... than get crushed by Chara during his "poor" 6 minutes of icetime at NHL level.

Mais tsé, il demandait surement 4.5M quand même. c'est pas parce que tu signes en avance que tu offres un rabais. Check Paul Stastny caline! il est plus "unproven" que Getzlaf et Perry mais signe pour plus de $$ qu'eux. Si Mike avait TANT voulu signer avant le premier juillet, il l'aurait fait. le "blaming game" se joue à deux. il est tout excité à TO parce qu'il peut jouer au tough et aller "turle-up" ensuite... ce qu'il ne pouvait pas faire à MTL. d'ailleurs jpense que c'est pour ça que Larque le défendait pas... parce qu'il se défendait pas lui même. ou si peu. --- c'est un lâche, un jaune, un traitre. vraiment.

why? you read that somewhere?

did you re-invite David B, B Rob, Revvv rob, Puck?

FOR THE RECORD, PEOPLE BASHING THE PRICE RE: LOSING IT IN PHILLY. Just before that Series vs Philly, we were playing a Bruins team which was on fire. A bruins team which went on that hot streak to end up winning the conference the next season (i.e. last season). That series was won in 7 Games by the Habs. What Carey's critics remember is how we lost to Biron, how we couldn't score vs Biron and they attribute it to Carey's fault... However, Habs scored 3 x 2 goals (how can you expect to win), and 1 x 4 (1w, 1L) goals in that serie. However, Without that poor guy, we might not have made it to that famous 2nd round. http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2007030117 Price played an inspired, impeccable 7th game. Named 1st star and played stellar. I admit when he's playing badly, like last season's 2nd half... however, I really think you're of badfaith by only focusing on the series vs the Flyers were EVERYONE on the team was extinguished, we had good chances, but we wouldn't score. You guys are unfair and are denying the "good" that lead there previously. He was so awesome in the 1st round.

he's got a real shot at being the backup.

ok, well, welcome in. I'll set you up later. (that was fkin easy)

yah, I just saw that, but he wasn't online when I tried to get to him. so I'm piling up the apps meanwhile, in case. oh, here he is. so? up for it?

The Boston BRRRRRRRUUUUIIIINS Are available. Now is your time to shine. If you want more info, that means that you're not ready. (HWL is a simming league based on EHM, the original beta version released in 1999. That's the best game ever and our league has the best GMs around. Everything I'm telling you right now is the exact truth. ) (Simonus, it's your call, you're the vet ghost GM, the one that never joined. )

I can't blame him. You look at a kid like Higgins, out of University and you say : Heck, I think I'm better off having that guy take some lead in my locker room and show the way, rather than trying to be their fathers and be "annoying". Unfortunately, that guy ends up being a total wreck and nearly a negative influence, despite offseason yoga.

Carbo is a good guy with a strong work ethic and who is VERY demanding of his palyers. He expects a lot. My understanding now is that he assumed that his palyers were Professional athletes, that they were disciplined, had a strong work ethic, etc JUST LIKE HE WAS AS A PLAYER. He didn't know, unlike Jacques Martin, who's been a coach throughout the 90's and 00's that "modern athletes" pretend they are rockstars and NEED to be spoonfed.