Athlétique.Canadien

OK, Bury it Andrei - d'oh

Disgusted 75%? Yep, this ain't easy! It's probably easy to list 75 individual reasons whey we are in this mess. Just to illustate I think I'll type off 10 reasons as fast as I can without thinking about it or stopping. Here goes: 1) Markov injury 2) No secondary scoring 3) O'Byrne injury 4) Laraque isn't around when we face goon squad enemy - Moen can't do it all and we need him on the ice 5) Bergeron has been a pylon in many ways, the worst being that he's cost us game points. 6) Chemistry and learning the new players - adjustment 7) Transistion game and neutral zone control (not getting squeezed out or offside) is a fail-even with Cammalleri, Gionta and Gomez. There's 7. I couldn't get to 10. I started to stop and think about number 8. Pretty sad I can spiel 7 off that quick. Anyone wanna try to continue with number 8. WE'D BETTER WIN TONIGHT! It's Legace right? Magic number for playoffs = Habs must play the rest of the season with a .597 record. (Based on 92 point cutoff since the lockout. Sometimes it's been 93 or 94 which makes the number potentially worse) Can we go .597? I highly highly doubt it.

This is ultra depressing. It's bad enough given our record and injuries but now HW is turning into a not very happy place. "Trust In BOb" vs. "Fire The Pr/ck". Price vs. Kopitar. Too bad it is what it is: We suck! Hopefully that changes. I wouldn't be surprised if this speeds up a trade.

Habs serve enough scraps to get me through work on Friday. I'll wear a jersey at work to piss off LeafNation Might as well enjoy it while it lasts

I wonder if I'll spontaneously combust? 5:41 left Habs leading 3-2

Kostitsyn, WTF was that?

Maybe there was a bet and all of Emery's parking tickets have been written off by the city of Ottawa

I wasn't dissing Price. I was pointing out how what can go wrong seems to be going wrong. Price has never worn the shield. I was kidding that "why, on this of all nights, it happens???" Tonight he needs the guard probably for the 1st time in his career??? Probably the last? What else could go wrong at exactly the wrong time with our beloved Habs?

That's a nice neck shield you have ther Bryzgalov - sigh.

Just when a good road game is kinda comfy does Mara do that accidentally to Price. We're in trouble my friends. Bad Hockey God karma. Lang salt in the wound

What a drag. He started off his 1st 2 games on a mission. He'd be alright on this team with Markov/PP. He could be a 3rd or 4th line forward in that situation. But do we want to scratch Pyatt, White or even Chipchura for Bergeron to take that role? Not me.

Thanks. I think Bergeron grabbed the sweater on the shoulder and then just held him up Followed by hip/shoulder check. A ref could call him for interference or holding. It's sad when a player gives the ref multiple choice on what call he should make on one play. No one can accuse Montreal of not giving MAB the chance. When does it change for him (yikes) or when does the patience end?

I missed it sort of. Was it a hold up or a trip?

Pleks leaving has crossed my mind I admit. He made comments over the summer feeling he's trade bait. Couple this with the Kostitsyn situation which is a ghost or real and it may add up to overhaul part 2.

They'd better win or it'll drive me to drink which is a bad thing because the Habs have already confirmed my alcoholism with their floppy start.

Our core 3 free agents contain one that is making 3 to 4 million more than he's supposedly worth. I really don't care. When I look at the big picture of having these 3 players it seems to me they might as well be all overpaid by 1 million. Considering what the 3 bring to the team and if in fantasy Gionta and Cammalleri were overpaid by 1.5 each and bring Gomez down to 4.3 million does it really matter? What I like is IMO - if one more big ticket name comes in we might become lethal. There's 5 years of this core to make that happen. Before BOb did the rebuild he was always cherrypicking for UFA's. Fill this plug and that plug - Samsonov or whoever. Now the Habs can focus on getting the power forward. That's it really. Bob has made this far easier now!!! It staggers me that during this whole rebuild that the media didn't even catch this. The talk from the media was that we didn't address the size issue. Size this and size that. Watch 2 weeks of TSN and enjoy listening to size Habs etc...and size oh no they're in trouble. All the while (and Moen is probably part of the plan) we now just need ONE! And for the record. IMO, we are in a MUCH BETTER position to bring in or attract that player via UFA than we were with last years squad. All it takes is a good trade to a sinking losing team if we make the playoffs. Bah. Gainey's alright for now Bob has made this far easier now!!! Nobody sees it

I take my vacations. There's reason for that. But we're Habs fans and we don't all think alike. One of my friends who is a fan thinks Gainey is supreme while another wants me to tell him when he gets fired. We don't all agree. I think the trouble on the board happens when a poster condescends another - especially when a newbie is attacked or called "crazy" or something similar. The worst happens during struggles and that's where we are right now. I agree with a lot and I disagee. Wamsley01 is an excellent poster and I loved his goalie post at eyesontheprize. But sometimes I even disagree with him (Usually 1 out of 200 times ). I don't FULLY agree with him posting the concern about the money and cap being tied up with Gionta, Cammalleri and Gomez. He has a point in that cap movement will make moves difficult. However, imagine a genie popped out of his bottle and magically made Getzlaf a Canadien. Our 3 prized acquisition players are an excellent foundation or nucleus to introduce a "Getzlaf" and all of a sudden make us dangerous. We are one player away with the correct compliments on the lines to give us potency. Where Wamsley01 is (IMO) correct is A) "Where or how are we going to get a Getzlaf? Yeah right AC" and B) "How can we structure this player or players into our front loaded cap lineup?" The thing I realized from training camp and up until today and don't readily like to admit is that we are not complete and 2009-10 is a transition year with the strategy being to get that impact power forward via 2010 free agency. Gainey's gamble was on Kostitsyn and Plekanec filling the void - Pleks is going strong but it's not good enough without contribution from Kosty. 2009-10 Gainey gamble on secondary scoring looks to be a fail. If we float at .5 and remain floating around the 8th position by January we may be OK. Gainey MIGHT be able to round the roster out at the deadline.... ....I hope

I don't have a problem with Martin's system and is it wise to lay the blame at his door? After all, a system is only as efficient as the players choose to utilize it. I like how the players generally collapse and/or cover the slot. The board work is troubling but not always. Has Spacek played well? Is Bergeron causing some viewers like me to fear in trepidation when he has the puck? There are some concerns individually that is crushing any hopes of the D being "greater than the sum of its parts". So, I don't have too much of an issue with the defence overall. I would like to see see some changes on who we dress though. My big problem with Martin and the players is on offence. They lack puck possession smarts right now. It's offence that is troubling. We lost by a goal last night. Against TB we scored a whopping one goal. Where's the goals? Settle it down and hold the puck! Sometimes they should relax a bit and hold the puck - especially on the powerplay. Most of the time fans get upset with too much possession and yell, "shoot". In this case it appears to be the exact opposite issue. Sure there are times when they should look for quick movement and one-timers - but not 24/7. And yes, sometimes there is defensive pressure and it has to be moved - in these cases maintaining possession is too risky. Instead I find far too often they are going gangbusters on adrenaline and looking for speedy one timers. The puck is precious and should be treated like gold. We are so intent on flying into the attack zone that cohesiveness is lost on us. During the times when we can easily maintain possession (no defensive pressure) I still find we are treating it like a hot potato. SETTLE IT DOWN WHEN THE GAME CONDITIONS MERIT IT HABS!

We could really use the puck now

This team has little focus on holding the puck. That must change or we're screwed!

Hold the puck!

Keep going Habs. At least they still have some time before they have to really open up.

I'm watching on regular TV RDS. Sometimes Halak looks like a Team Canada goalie since he's wearing white pads. There's a leaf on his chest after all.

I like the differnent colour red. Very close to a crimson red. I also like the fact that the socks are mostly red too. They don't look like Minny really. More like ol' New Jersey IMO. Minny is a sharp marroon and this jersey is almost blood red. Good enough. So long as they win

At least we are hanging around in this game. Calgary's forecheck is frustrating. Dump and chase. One Flames forward versus one of our chasing D and then an assigned forward makes a hit on the same chasing puck protecting D. Immediate 2 on 1 down low. Yikes