dlbalr

I didn't take Via's letter as a threat, but rather voicing concern. Unlike Air Canada who have basically painted themselves into a corner, I think Via can slink away, so to speak.

1 defensive guy on each line...interesting.

Arnott's officially a no-go for this one, he's not on the road trip. Poti, Backstrom, and Varlamov are all on the trip but also not likely to play, while Green's out for another week minimum. Nice to see there are some other teams in the East battling through injuries. Jay Beagle will probably take Arnott's spot in the lineup. For the Habs, Cammalleri will play, negating the need to either dress 7 d-men or make an emergency recall (likely Palushaj) out of Hamilton. Reported Washington lines: Ovechkin - Laich - Semin Sturm - Johansson - Knuble Chimera - Beagle - Fehr Hendricks - Gordon - Bradley

There's no real official GDT stuff as to who does it, it's just the unwritten rule of the board to make it that if you win, you do the next one. If not, someone else does...it's just fallen on us to do it most of the year.

That's the response you get when asked to justify why heavy sack beatings are up a whopping 900%. (I saw the episode the other day.) Both stats (the 900% sack beatings and the missing 5% of concussions) are out there.

Zero video evidence and zero math skills to boot, the 4 'categories' added up to 95%. The other 5% apparently was left off due to a 'lack of evidence'...not buying that one especially since it wasn't in the original report.

The league is looking into the incident. Of course, it begs the question: Can a reputation go downhill if its already hit rock bottom?

I should note that Boston currently has the tiebreaker (ROW) so to pass them, the Habs would have to beat them in points, a tie won't be enough despite the head-to-head record. If the Habs can gain a win on them (Boston loses a couple in OT/SO), then the head-to-head would come into play.

Good to hear. He's still a ways away from turning pro though, at least 2 more years I would think. I think he'll be worth the wait in the end though.

I wasn't lying when I said I didn't have any notable changes planned, but we have made one 'cosmetic' change to the board. Gone is the Audio/Video files subforum which was originally nested within Habs Talk. Those posts, mostly from 2006, have been moved into Habs Talk amongst the general posts. Also, the French forum has been moved from its independent spot into Habs Talk as a standalone subforum. When you click on Habs Talk, you will now see it topped above the posts within Habs Talk. The goal here is to draw more attention to it. Feel free to use that forum to talk about the Habs as well, or do like me periodically and try and string a couple semi-coherent sentences together to practice your French. Of course, forum rules still apply.

Darche skated by himself today, as did Sopel. I'm not too giddy with Sopel as a hand injury shouldn't prevent him from skating but as Darche is dealing with a groin injury, this should signal he's getting closer to returning. Cammalleri didn't practice today as he now is sick.

Looking at the numbers, it looks as if it'll take at least 100 points to win a division, getting 103 would give the Habs about a 50/50 chance of winning the Northeast. That requires 10 wins in 13 games. That may be asking a little too much, particularly given a somewhat challenging schedule in the next couple of weeks (the Habs have the toughest one of the 2-7 teams in the East this week). If Boston goes .500 down the stretch, they'd be at 99 points. That's about the only way I can see the Habs catching them and they would have to win the last head-to-head for sure. It's only a 2 point gap, but it seems so far away at times.

Dawes is DTD with the flu, hopefully he's back for the next game. Boyd is out, I never seem to catch the beginning of the broadcast for updates on him. There is conflicting stuff on Russell - if the report Lammy had a while back (6 weeks) was true, he's basically done until about the last week of the season. I read somewhere last week though that he was close to returning so frankly, I don't know. Sanford, he's coming along but I don't think there's a timeline.

Habs will be in on Da Costa, as will probably 20 other teams. Beyond that, I haven't seen anything linked to the Habs. Hoping a D or a G is signed though.

Despite a late PP, Hamilton couldn't complete the comeback. 6-5 final. http://theahl.com/stats/game-summary.php?game_id=1008317

Smoley hokes, now it's 6-5! Schultz scores in back to back games, I think I'm going to faint. 3:15 left.

Wyman scores with just over 5 minutes left, now 6-4. A defensive battle for sure.

Jamie Koharski strikes again. That is all.

As expected, Mayer is in now. Palushaj scored a pair to get the deficit to 1 before the PK woes struck again. 5-3, late 2nd. And now 6-3...Rissmiller on the PP. 3 PPG's in 4 penalty kills, special teams need some work.

Just when you didn't think it could get worse, it does. Rochester scores with a whopping 3 seconds left in the frame. Mayer time to start the 2nd I think.

And now 3-1...this ain't good with next to no offence in the lineup.

The PK woes continue for Hamilton (PPG allowed in 9 straight games), 2-1 Amerks.

Looks like the same lineup as yesterday so no Boyd or Dawes. MacIntyre in again, clearly showing that no one has confidence in Mayer.

The Dogs one-up the Habs' early start from yesterday...Conboy scores just 11 seconds in! Unlike the Habs yesterday, the opposition scores just 28 seconds later, 1-1...39 seconds in.

I know you're a fan of that site, but I find most of their stuff to be baloney. Everything I've heard is that he simply wasn't shopped at all but they would listen if a team was interested. From that, there was interest, but the Habs weren't going to give him away. Since when have reporters associated with the Habs complied with a friendly organizational request? Everything gets leaked out whether they want it to or not.