Peter Puck

Something I find interesting about this is that the league did nothing (at least publicly) when a ref was heard telling Gallagher that he didn't call a penalty because the infraction was committed against Gallagher.

Are the Habs going to have enough cap space to keep Cory Perry up when his 10 game/1 month of waivers exemption ends? Will they put him on waivers - seems like he would be snapped up.

1 hour to go.

29-19-5-3 for 66 points. 2nd in the Canadian divison 10th overall 161 goals for 129 goals against Habs lose in the Stanley Cup semi-final

We lost Hainsey at the end of training camp one year when we had to choose between either sending him or Mark Streit down. There was lots of criticism at the time since Streit was an 7th round pick and Hainsey a 1st round pick. I think in retrospect that they made the right decision. At the very least, with the benefit of hindsight, its a very close call. If people want to criticise the team for losing Hainsey they should recognize that the Habs had essentially no choice in this.

The 15th Annual HabsWorld regular season prediction contest.Hall of Fame:2006-2007 Jean won with a prediction of 92 points when the Habs finished the year with 90 pts. If only we could have won that last game.2007-2008 Adirondack Bud exactly predicted our final total of 104 pts.2008-2009 Zowpeb won by predicting a strong start followed by a slower 2nd half ending with 99 points. The Habs finished the season in 8th place with 93 points. On September 22, 2008 Zowpeb predicted "I think we'll see a rough patch just past the mid-year point..." Wow!2009-2010 Joelassister correctly predicted the Habs

Here's a happier memory of the late 80's Habs. In 1986, I was living in Boston and the Habs and Bruins met in the best of 5 opening round. Lots of talk in Boston that this was going to be the year the Bruins finally snapped their long playoff series losing streak versus Montreal. Montreal won the opening 2 games at home and Boston fans were still expecting the Bruins to take the series to 5 games. I got tickets to the third game at a packed Boston Gardens. The Bruins were ahead 3-2 going into the third. Gainey scored early to tie it up and then he scored again w

I can't believe the Habs finished another season ahead of the leafs.

14 31 15 26 6 11

I think many people underestimate the advantages of winning this series and maybe one or even two more. Of course, winning playoff games is great for the experience of our young guys but there are many other considerations. If we lose does that increase the chance of Price asking to leave? If so it really reduces our future cup chances. If we win one or two rounds, I think many free agents will see a team on the rise. Getting one or two quality free agents (or even keeping our own) would have much more effect than chosing 9th vs 16th. A loss to the Pens cements

I really find it hard to criticize Bergevin for Mete. We took a somewhat small 4th round D-man and got a guy who is a definite NHLer. I see no evidence at all that he would have turned out better if he had spent 2 more years in the AHL. Sure maybe he could have improved some of his skills in the minors. But maybe he would have stagnated there and ended up being a career AHLer. Claiming that he would have been better than he is with more AHL time is just begging the question.

Both Kovalchuk and Thompson loudly saying how much they appreciate the way they were treated by Bergevin. This is worth a lot to us since it sends a message to players around the league that they will be well treated if they sign here. Screwing this up enen once (eg Cammalari) can have a lasting negative effect.

To me, it will be a success as long as he doesn't make any big mistakes. The only guy we need to trade is Nate Thompson. The Habs are in a good position for the trade deadline - they don't have to make any moves. Lots of other teams are under big pressure to make a trade for the playoff run. We shouldn't do anything that isn't clearly a good move for us. If we trade any one of Tatar or Petry or Domi we should hold out for a very solid return. If other teams won't pay that Bergevin should stand pat until the summer. The worst thing would be to make a questionable or bad

Okay, I'm going to ignore the novice, hockeyrealist, and hope that he learns some manners. Why did Kovalchuk sign with us? Was it to earn the 400K he will earn over the second half of the season? I agree he might be playing to in order to earn a contract fror next year. But it seems at least as likely that he is hoping to compete in this year's playoffs and maybe win the cup. None of the top teams was willing to sign him in early January and we were. So he signed with us. I think when he did that he probably told Bergevin that he wanted to play for a contende

I think people are overlooking a key point here. I think its very likely that Kovalchuk signed here after receiving assurances that we would trade him at the deadline to a contending team (if he performed). That's why he signed a minimum contract. If that's true we will need to trade him to keep him happy. Maybe he would be willing to resign here but I don't see Bergevin having much latitude here,

People were always screaming why can't Bergevin get us a #1 centre. Why can't we swing for the fences instead of playing it safe. When we pick KK, all of a sudden it's why didn't he take Tkachuk or Hughes? It seems fans want him to swing for the fences but also to hit a home run every time.

4-0 final.

I really like this move. Probably it will amount to nothing: Kovalchuk will suck and we will send him down and his contract will end up being terminated. This is the most likely outcome and it cost the Habs basically nothing. All the other outcomes look pretty good for the Habs. He could recover his game a bit and provide a few PP goals. If he looks even remotely productive I suspect some playoff bound team will trade a 4th or a fifth or even a third round pick for him. We could even retain 50% so even a cap trapped team could afford him. Hell, I bet even the Leafs could fi

Folin is listed as both a scratch and playing on the third pair. Do we know who Kulak is playng with?

43-28-5-6 97 points 4th in the atlantic 6th in the east (1st wildcard) 253 goals

The 14th Annual HabsWorld regular season prediction contest. Hall of Fame: 2006-2007 Jean won with a prediction of 92 points when the Habs finished the year with 90 pts. If only we could have won that last game. 2007-2008 Adirondack Bud exactly predicted our final total of 104 pts. 2008-2009 Zowpeb won by predicting a strong start followed by a slower 2nd half ending with 99 points. The Habs finished the season in 8th place with 93 points. On September 22, 2008 Zowpeb predicted "I think we'll see a rough patch just past the mid-year point..." Wow! 2009-2010 Joelassister correctly predic

Sorry I'm late. I am just doing it now.

I see lots of people demanding MB make more changes since he hasn't really improved the roster this much off-season. I'm confident MB is trying but I don't see a lot of good options. Signing Gardiner to a 3 or 4 year deal would be great but it seems clear that either Gardiner is too injured or that he is too wedded to Toronto or insisting on a long term deal. I don't want to overpay him just so we can say we improved this off-season. I'd rather go through another season like last year and wait for the kids to improve. I think the team is on a good track for the f

This is exactly right. Don't waste your times reading his columns. There is so much about the NHL he doesn't understand.

I don't see any way in which this doesn't improve our standing with Aho. For one thing it creates a rift (possibly a small one possible larger) between Aho and Carolina's management. It also guarantees that Aho will be a UFA in 5 years. Of course, Aho may not sign here but there is just no way that his attitude toward the Habs hasn't improved because of the offer sheet. This has nothing to do with Crosby nor fans guesses about his intentions.