Roo-AH! Roo-AH!

Koivu will get a good offer. Bulis may as well, but I suspect that Bulis's offer will have a somewhat more 'take it or leave it' quality. Sundstrom is a coach favourite, so he will probably get signed too. Of these Bulis is most likely to go, IMO.

Ridiculous to blame Gainey for not going hog-wild on the free-agent market in a salary cap system. This is a rebuilding process. Things look exceptionally bad now, because we've been decimated with key injuries. Let's not go nuts.

Anybody remember Todd Ewen? Holy smokes, what a gorilla. I recall one fight were he literally picked up his foe and dumped him, head over heels, into the opposing bench. It was hilarious, but I forget which palooka he did that to or what team the guy was on. Ewen tried the same move a few nights later, but it didn't work...I think he was hoping it could become a signature move. Apparently, Todd was also a nice guitar player. Shane Corson wasn't any Nilan, but I'd like to add that he sure could throw his dukes when the time came.

Status quo most likely; a minor deal is the second-mostly likely possibility, for reasons explored by others above. Julien has always been very highly-regarded - and it definitely says something that Bob has not yet canned him when his own protege, Jarvis, is eminently qualified and ready to take over - but his caution in playing the kids has baffled me, as it has so many others around here. Perhaps there's some wider teaching philosophy at play here. Maybe even a strategy worked out with Gainey in advance of the season. The current slump has exposed Ribeiro most of all, and I think its only long-term ramification will be Ribby's eventual departure from la veille ville.

I love Sugar Jim's deferential attitude on that pic. It's like he's bowing before the master. :/) That pic was taken, I believe, after the famous goal where a concussed Rocket skated around the entire Bruins team and then deked out the goalie. Any of these photos of the Rocket get my vote. Great as the Koivu moment was, the Rocket is the player who epitomizes the mystique of the CH.

Listen, maybe Hainsey will become a successful NHLer. Always in motion, is the future - although really, if the best he becomes is a 5th defenceman, who cares? You can always sign those guys as FAs. All I know is that year after year he came to training camp, failed to impress despite competing against fairly lousy defence corps, then griped to the press that as a 1st round pick he was entitled to an NHL spot, and generally developed a reputation as a lazy, unfocused player who (in the words of Pierre Macguire) 'needs to figure out whether he wants to be an NHLer or not.' Translation: a head case. And let's remember - Streit beat him out for the job, fair and square. Clearly, a real character, blood and guts, oozing-with-talent sort of guy. NOT.:eyes:

Hossa, that supposed blazing young talent, has one point in his last 12 games. Looks like he started hot and---GUESS WHAT!!!!---cooled off. The fact is, that guy is a piece of crap: end of story. And the same likely applies to Hainsey, who is 90% likely to be dumped out of Columbus within the next two years. Given the choice between Streit and Hainsey, why not go with the piece of garbage who DOESN'T have an attitude problem? And blaming Bonk for playing with an injury is grossly unfair to a player who has proven himself a decent second-tier centreman over several NHL seasons. The Habs' real problem lies, not with marginal guys like Hainsey, but with erratic KEY players like Ribeiro and Souray. As I've said before, Ribs has to go: we need a second line centreman who can be counted on to step up, AND not blame his teammates, when we need secondary scoring, as we do these days. We also need another strong, 2nd defenceman, but that will be much harder to find.

The most important thing is that he not rush back.

I'd be amazed if a guy with Koivu's history of injuries and small stature got $5 million from any team, especially given the cap system. $4 million might be reasonable, but personally I think he's fairly paid at this point. As for Jokinen, I'd do the Ribs/Plekanec-for-Jokie deal in a minute. The guy's only 26, which means we'd be acquiring one sure-fire young player in exchange for one erratic one (Ribs) and one unproven one. Unless Plekanec becomes a superstar, that trade will work - provided, of course, the Habs lock him up to a longer-term deal.

First, let's remember that the cap may be LOWERED at season's end. Caution is wise in this context. Second, let's remember that it's no more reasonable to assess the Habs on the basis of this injury/illness-riddled slump than it was to conclude that they were a Cup contender on the basis of their hot start. Bob may well be giving himself more time to come to conclusions about the *real* Habs, all the while, no doubt, taking note of how players like Ribeiro are responding (or not) to the challenge. Third, people are right to be worried about Theodore. It's not that he's bad, but the question is whether he's ultimately more than a merely satisfactory starting goalie. I've always had faith in José. But with his erratic performance this season, he risks entering his 30s without having put together back-to-back excellent seasons. Maybe he's closer to Dan Cloutier than Marty Brodeur. But it doesn't matter; with his contract - justly tendered to a MVP - he's almost impossible to trade under the cap system. I also think that it was reasonable, based on past performance, for Bob to put his faith in guys ranging from Bonk to Theodore. But I dunno, what would YOU guys suggest we do about goaltending going forward? [Edited on 2005/12/5 by Roo-AH! Roo-AH!]

Considering that the media ran Mike Keane out of town on a rail because he said that he didn't need to speak French to be an effective Habs' captain, and that Ribeiro's comments were far more offensive from a team-building perspective, I'm afraid I must go at least part of the way to agreeing with you, Colin. At least, the RDS crew is suspect. I watched the last episode of 'la ligue en question,' where Higgins (!!!) was singled out for the recent woes and where it was stated that guys like Bonk and Zednik (I think it was Zednik) were getting a free pass because Quebecers don't like to be rude to 'outsiders,' and instead criticize 'their own' unreasonably. All of that seemed to be a convoluted effort to avoid slagging Ribeiro for his piss-poor play up to that point. And can I just build on this theme by saying that, as much as I love and respect Jacques Demers, for obvious reasons, I do sometimes get tired of him jumping to the defence of various struggling francophone players with reference to the fact that so and so is 'un bon gars d'iici, un homme de famille,' etc, etc.. We get enough of that 'Mom's Apple Pie' bullshit from HNIC (always for the english canadians, natch). How about an attempt an objective analysis instead of petty nationalism, for once? And I disagree that RDS is just there to please fans. These guys are broadcasters and owe it to their audience to be honest. Anyway, thank God Gainey's in charge. He won't give a hoot about any of this folderol: he sees what Ribs is, and I'm sure he'll deal with it, either via trade or some other route. Running him over with a Zamboni might be a start.:/) [Edited on 2005/12/4 by Roo-AH! Roo-AH!]

Did I just miss it, or did the RDS broadcasting crew say absolutely nothing about Ribeiro's remarks? Help me out here.

Oh, and now he goes and slags Ryder, who is twice the player he'll ever be even on an off day. Not only is he an erratic talent, he's a Good riddance.

That punk - he's gotta go. The second coming of Pierre Larouche, that one. Buh-bye. We got one good season out of you, which is all anyone is likely to get.

Wow, the Ribs bashing never ceases to amaze me. How can you people forget all the good he's done for us and continuously bash this guy to all hell! Yes he has not been producing as much as we had all hoped but neither have others. Instead of complaining and bashing...how about supporting for once. You can argue and say "well the past is the past and it's now that matters."...i'll be the first to agree with you but frankly...our team is in so much trouble right now the last thing we need is the negativity. 'All the good he's done for us' = one season of playing well as a second-line centre. Let's get some perspective here, this kid has not shown that he can consistently deliver the goods, and I'm very worried about his apparent inability to skate with the 'new NHL.' The longer he continues to suck rocks out there, the more he shows that last season was the exception, not the rule. Other players, such as Bonk and Zednik, have been playing through injuries and---more importantly---are PROVEN NHL performers. That's the big difference.