Peter Puck

I thought I would take advantage of the tremendous experience and brain power available at HW. My wife got us tickets to see the two Habs/Leafs games on Thursday March 23rd and Saturday March 25th in Montreal. We are going to take my 12 year old nephew along. (His mother is a Leaf's fan so I have a moral responsibility to rescue him from a life of dissapointment.) I have a couple of questions. 1. What time does the Bell Centre start admitting fans. I want to take him around the Bell Centre before the game to take him to see the Canadiens Hall of Fame, to purchase some Habs memorabillia and to eat dinner. Does any have any favourite foods to eat inside? 2. Does anyone have some suggestions on some activities in Montreal to fill the time between the two games. Thanks in advance for any help.

Well that seems reasonable. 2 illegal sticks is probably just bad housekeeping but 3 illegal sticks really should be punished.

You big ninny Simonus. Leave my friend Jean-Luc alone. If I'm not mistaken the only other penalty is that when a 2nd player from the same team is found with an illegal stick in the same shootout the team loses one of their shots.

How stupid can you get!! The new rule requires the refs to measure every stick before it is used in a shootout.

I think Aebischer's going to be an RFA at the end of the season. Does anyone know for sure?

Exactly.

After seeing the Lightning play against us last week. I'm convinced they will trade for a goaltender. Maybe they would like Aebisher? I am quite happy to finish the season with Huet and Danis. I don't expect to win the cup this year but they are good enough to get us into the playoffs and won't cost us a series.

Not exactly. Caron gave up a goal when Washington flipped the puck ouf of their own zone during a penalty kill. The puck bounced a couple of times and slowly went our of Caron's reach as he casually slid over to grab the puck.

TSN is reporting that the LEAFS have traded Ken Klee to New Jersey. No report on who for. This explains getting Richardson.

Yeah but signing Huet at 1.5 million and dropping Aebisher (via trade or otherwise) frees another up 1.9 million. We put $1 million into Huet raise and maybe even a little to give Danis a raise (I'm unsure of his contract status) still leaves us more money left over.

I'm not we need to use some cap space on goalies. The 3 million in cap space we save assumes we are spending $1.9 million for a goalie (Aebisher or someone else). I think Huet and Danis may be our goaltenders next year. I would be quite happy to see Aebisher traded in the next 18 hours. Not sure what we could get for him though.

I would like to hear Jetsniper's view. But as much activity as there is here tonight I bet the Avs boards are probably much busier and probably that's where Jetsniper is.

I really prefer to wait until the summer to sign someone. That way we have our choice of a number of players and we can pick one who wants to come to Montreal. Otherwise we have to give up something (probably quite a bit) in addition to the money (cap space).

Do you seriously think they won't use the cap space? Or that Gainey would waste it. Obviously this trade was a struggling goalie with a big upside for cap space and an average goalie. Clearly Bob has big plans for the extra money we freed.

I voted NO a couple of days ago. Where do I go to change my vote.

While this is true you have to remember that just about everyone thought Theo was a top 5 goaltender at the time Bob signed him. He certainly isn't one now. Maybe he will be in the future but maybe not. Gainey apparently made an error 8 months ago. We should give him credit for finding a way out of a difficult situation. He made a mistake but he has corrected it very well. It would have been better to sign Theo to a year contract perhaps but then what would we have gotten for him now? Maybe they would like Aebisher????

IMO, the only way we don't start Aebisher is if we trade him before 3:00 Thursday.

After some thought (and catching my breath), I think this is a good trade for both teams. I do think Theo will return to being a top 5 goalie in the league but he isn't Roy and will never be number 1. We have plenty of goaltending prospects. Maybe too many, I'm not sure where we can play all of them. The cap space we freed can be used to buy a top quality player. We saved over 3 million in salary. Instead of signing a 3 million free agent we can sign a $6 million player. Or we could spend a little more and get somebody who commands the maximum. This would make us a serious contender starting next year.

Jetsniper - what do you think????

Who is our number 1 goalie now? Maybe we flip Aebisher to another team?

Wow. I wonder who won this deal. We cleared a *lot* of cap space but I still think Theo will return to his previous form.

I am assuming he will be back very soon since he warmed up with the team before the game and was only scratched at the last minute.

Actually they traded him along with Brad Boyes and a first round pick for Owen Nolan.

Many people have suggested that the Leafs might start unloading players if we beat them Tuesday night. So I had a look at their roster to see what they might do. They won't be selling much. They only have 9 players signed for next year. Player Position Salary(vs cap) age status Sundin C 6,333,333 35 Signed(2 more years then UFA) Belfour G 4,522,000 40 Signed(option next year) Kaberle D 3,921,667 28 Signed (5 more years then UFA) Tucker RW 1,596,000 30 Signed(1 more year then UFA) O'Neill RW 1,500,000 30 Signed(1 more year then UFA) Domi RW 1,250,000 37 Signed(1 more year then UFA) Steen C 786,667 22 Signed(2 more years then RFA) Belak RW 720,000 30 Signed(1 more year then UFA) Ponikarovsky LW 712,500 35 Signed(1 more year then RFA) Sundin and Belfour are overpaid and have no trade clauses. I don't think they are going anywhere. Kaberle, Steen and Tucker are the only three of the others that anyone would want. No point in trading Steen (he's only 22). They just signed Kaberle to a 5yr contract for almost 20 million, they propbably want to keep him. They have 9 players who will become UFA's at the end of the season: Player Position Salary(vs cap) age status Czerkawski RW 500,000 34 UFA Kilger LW 475,000 29 UFA Wilm C 450,000 29 UFA Lindros C 1,550,000 33 UFA McCabe D 3,458,000 30 UFA Klee D 1,900,000 35 UFA Allison C 1,500,000 30 UFA Khavanov D 1,250,000 34 UFA Berg D 1,064,000 37 UFA Nothing here of any value except McCabe. But how much is he worth as a rental? They also have 5 players who will be RFA's at season's end: Player Posion Salary(vs cap) age status Antropov C 1,007,000 26 RFA Colaiacovo D 858,800 23 RFA Stajan C 805,600 22 RFA Wozniewski D 450,000 29 RFA Tellqvist G 450,000 36 RFA The only guys here with value are young enough that the Leafs will want to keep them. The only guys I can see them unloading are: Tucker, and possibly Antropov or Ponikarovsky.

I think its more relevant that we have 66 and Tampa Bay has 68 and we have a game in hand.