stjrandy

I would be shocked to see anything of significant value going to Toronto. My guess would be a pick and a player like D'Agostini. Higgins is too much alone for a player who is gone for free in 2 weeks.

I have never liked the Cube and would welcome him to take a flight out of town. Hopefully Dandy will accompany him. I'd prefer to see Gorges and Cote out there.

I like him and would welcome him back.

Well I recall that Gainey said in a recent interview that no other UFA's other than Souray would be receiving a contract offer so Johnson and Bonk are gone. I like the Lahti move and am sure that he's ticketed to play in Montreal. He's a LW which is a position where the team is soft and undertalented. His size at 6'2" and 200lbs is ideal for the team. Those who believe he's smaller need to remember that most stats are listed initially when a player is 17-18 and somehow never get updated. He's 25 so he's certainly a lot bigger then he once was. The Russell move shows that the team is seroius about making the atmosphere in the AHL as ideal as possible for the best prospects. I really can't see Locke in the NHL with Montreal. He's just too slow to be effective with a puck pursuit team as Montreal seems to be becoming. He's a player who should thrive with much better offensive players around him. I'm looking for to seeing how they draft this year for further evidence of the direction of the team. I think Gainey wants large tough 2 way players to make the team better 5 on 5. I see the new players in the fall as being Lahti LW Jancevski D O'Byrne D(maybe) Ferland RW (hits hard and plays 2way) Chipchura C (takes over 4th line on the way to the 3rd) call ups - Grabovski , D'Agostini, Milroy I assume that Kosty will be on the team again and don't list him here because he was on the team when the season ended. The UFA I think Gainey will sign will be Keith Tkachuk to play with Koivu and Kovalev. I can't see them getting a #1 center in the offseason.

The team is caught in hell really. They don't have any players who are really proficient at playing defense or offense. All they have are players who are average or slightly above average. The team has not had a skater who was a top player points wise since Mats Naslund had 110 in the mid 80's. We haven't had a 50 goal man since the late 80's. We haven't had a norris or selke candidate since the 80's. We have had only one player in the running for a calder since 1985. This is a problem that can't be fixed quickly. Right now we have some maybe's in the stream. Maybe Price or Halak becomes a Vezina type player Maybe Chipchura or Plekanec is a Selke type player Maybe the Kostitsyn's are Calder calibre players Maybe Maxwell or Grabovski can be better than a point a game centermen. Maybe Emelin is a top quality defenseman. All in all a lot of ifs and maybes without any slam dunks anywhere.

The team needs to be reinvented sometime but that's probably not before the off season. Right now the problem with the team has been lousy goaltending. This causes the skaters to try harder to score and that leads to breakdowns and stone hands. Perhaps losing huet for the season and the emergence of Halak will right the ship.

With another 2 points tonight Pleks now has surpassed his totals from last year. He now has 31 pts on the season which although modest are more than okay for one of the lowest paid players on the team. He's only getting better and may be a 60 point player next season.

Kostitsyn just turned 22 on Feb 3rd. He's now tied for the team lead in Hamilton and is a plus 23. He's not going anywhere but to Montreal. Perezhogin is a player who has upside who can be moved. He's not old at 24 and he's not really improved this season. I could see him being a possible chip to be moved for a mid range player like Nagy. Personally I'd like to see a trade for Nathan Horton. He can be our big 2nd line center. Give Florida Perezhogin and a prospect like Milroy along with a 3rd round pick for Horton and a 4th.

I watched the game in Momesso's restaurant on Upper Lachine Rd. with my buddies. We drank numerous pitchers of beer while eating all those delicious sandwiches.When the game ended we were jumping around and screaming with excitement. We were going to walk over to the forum to see if we could see some of the players but of course the riot broke out. I remember it like it was yesterday. Soon after I was transferred to Toronto with work and had to listen to all the moaning about how they were screwed out of a "guaranteed" cup win by Gretzky's high stick. :-)

Perezhogin has been terrific this year. His +/- is not padded by any special teams play. He generally hasn't even killed many penalities this season so his numbers haven't been inflated. I also don't think that his year so far is because of Bonk and Johnson at all. He has skating as his forte and the others can't skate for him.

Healey is a clown. He used to have a show on local cable when he played for the Islanders with Pat Flatley called the Heals and Flats show. He speaks to hear himself. Since all the "national" stations are really pandering to the T.O. crowd he can be stupid and unbiased. It'll be a miracle to hear anybody at TSN or The Score or Sportsnet give the Habs any love. Just expect the worst and smile patiently at the complete ignorance. They still refer to the 93 team as being mediocre despite the fact the team had more points than ANY Leaf team...ever. I got over it long ago.

WHAT? Tampa had Richards to lead them. I also disagree about the cube. He won't be around in 3 yrs. He might not even make it past the trade deadline of this season.

I have liked Niinimaa since he was a junior player. He's had some physical difficulty the last few years but is far from washed up.He automatically becomes a top 4 on the habs. As for ANYTHING that TSN has to say about non-Leaf hockey well they are a total disgrace and shouldn't be taken seriously. I would say that even when it comes to Leaf hockey they are an uninformed disgrace as well but I'll keep it quiet. :-) Back from the Abyss

1984 the famous novel about a future where technology has created an anti-utopia. A world where "big brother" monitors your every move. A classic novel of the 20th century. I really like the reference and am really impressed by the idea.

I am personally hoping for Grabovsky and O'Byrne to graduate to starting the season with the big club.

I can't see the Habs trading Grabovsky before they even get to see him play a few shifts in a preseason game. Mike Green to me is a Mike WHO? The rumour is BS as far as I'm concerned. The kid might be our Zetterburg or Fedorov in waiting for all we know. B)

Making cap space would be easy to fit a player like Elias into the roster. Remember it's what you've spent at the end of the season not what you start the season with. The players who should be gone and replaced with cheaper players have been discussed over and over. Kaos has mentioned them already. If you eliminate .. Bonk 2+ million Ribiero 1+million Zednik 2 million Bulis 1 million (already gone) Sundstrom 1 million (already gone) Aebisher 2 million Bouillon 600,000 (already gone) Simpson 300,000 (already gone) This is almost 10 million right there. Add the fact that the cap rose to 44 million and the payroll is sitting at roughly 27 million after the UFA and trade bait players arre factored in. Bob has lots of money for UFA signings. I hope that he's able to sign Roenick , Elias,and Arnott. These players would replace Bulis,Ribiero,and Bonk and would be huge upgrades at the same time. Higgins Koivu Ryder Kovalev Arnott Elias Plekanec Roenick Perezhogin Murray Lapierre Begin Downey Kostitsyn

They aren't related in any way.

I am really hoping the habs are able to draft Chris Stewart. He's a gritty kid who has always been a Habs supporter. Look at how well kids like Higgins and Komisarek play for thier favourite team. When you are surrounded by fans of other teams you really have to be mentally strong to continue to cheer for your teams. Stewart being from Toronto would have been mercilessly ridden by his pals and schoolmates over his habs love. The habs might need to trade up a few spots to get him. The Leafs would surely take him at 14 if he were available.

Theo needs to go. It's not a matter of talent but rather he needs to get out of town to save everyone's sanity. This is the same scenerio we've seen with Breezy and Malakhov before him as examples. Once the press starts to crucify you locally in Montreal there really is no way you can stay. He's become a huge distraction to the team and it can't be deflected with great play this time as Theo hasn't had an "A" game for a couple of seasons. The last time he was the center of a scandal it was the Hell's Angel thing and he went out and stood on his head. Personally, I think he'd really be great somewhere else and we'd be better off without the constant crap about the guy. I'd take a Fleury and a 1st for him but I doubt that is the sort of offer the Habs are getting.

The trouble with the Habs remains the inability to score goals. The team needs defensive players up front as well as scorers who actually score with some regularity. I'm amazed that people actually are unhappy with Ryder when he's the only forward scoring at a resonable rate. We need players who will actually do what is expected. We desperately need point men on the PP who can fire the puck on net. We need players with moderate hands who will go to the net and fight for the puck on the boards. I like what I see from most of the rookies but I realize the problem rests squarely on the shoulders of Ribs, Zednik, Dagenais, Bonk, and Bulis who are underperforming offensively by a large margin.

Danis looked a lot like Brian Hayward to me last night. Very spare in his movements and always in position. :hlogo:

Cynically I will suggest that Hainsey is far from finished in Montreal. They were contractually obligated to give Streit 30 games which should give Hainsey enough time to start taking things seriously. Once the 30 games are up then they decide if it's time to call up Hollywood and see if he's developed a work ethic. If Streit plays really well then out goes the Cube instead. Or maybe I'm just been watching too many spy movies during the lockout.

kovalev koivu perezhogin dagenais ribiero ryder sundstrom bonk bulis begin plekanec vandermeer ivanans souray dandenault markov rivet komisarek streit bouillon best I can do with my crystal ball.

I believe that this trade really hasn't any bearing on latendresse at all. He doesn't have a contract. He'll be back in Junior. The team will be keeping the following players in my view koivu kovalev zednik ribiero ryder dagenais bonk bulis plekanec begin sundstrom vandermeer perezhogin ivanans higgins to hamilton latendresse to drummondville souray rivet markov dandenault komisarek bouillon streit hainsey traded or waived to hamilton theodore danis :/)