dlbalr

Projected lines for Montreal: Left Wing Centre Right Wing Defence/Goalies Cammalleri Plekanec A. Kostitsyn Markov O'Byrne Moen Gomez Gionta Hamrlik Subban* Pouliot Moore Lapierre Gill Gorges Bergeron* Metropolit Pyatt Halak Price Other Notes: Injuries: Mara, Spacek Scratches: Darche, S. Kostitsyn, Laraque, Maxwell Projected lines for Washington: Left Wing Centre Right Wing Defence/Goalies Ovechkin Backstrom Knuble Schultz Green Laich Belanger Semin Poti Carlson Chimera Fleischmann Fehr Morrisonn* Corvo Steckel Gordon Bradley Varlamov Theodore Other Notes: Injuries: Jurcina Scratches: Erskine, Gordon*, Sloan*, Walker Game time: 7:00 PM EST TV: TSN, RDS Radio: CJAD,CKAC Game 5 Highlights:

Closer to being right than you guys were. I'm happy either way. Now I can enter tonight's stats in my article and get the HW Recap up within a half hour hopefully.

Technically, they're not looking at the replay, there's no video review (the lack of one cost Hamilton a goal earlier in the game). Russell and Glumac the assists...I called the guy with an assist.

Stevenson wins it!!!

Well, you don't need to worry too much, Habs gameday coverage will be on the site tomorrow, so Tuesday is fine, hopefully a 2nd round preview. OT underway now.

I'll go with Glumac for Hamilton, Desbiens (a real thorn in Hamilton's side this series) for Manitoba.

Hamilton better score early on in this, now this game is holding up my article.

Heading to overtime, 2-2.

Tied at 2 heading to the 3rd.

White scores on the PP to tie it at 2! Assists to Trotter and Subban.

Bulldogs get ripped off for a goal. Goal was disallowed because "A player was in the crease." Apparently, this ref is using the rulebook from the late 1990's. From the sounds of it, Conboy got tripped and the puck went off his skate into the net - no penalty on the trip either. Manitoba's first goal apparently was scored with too many men on the ice; the hockey gods aren't with the Dogs right now.

That's all I'm really thinking of, short-term (1 year). With a lot of the D expiring in 2010-11, then they'll have the space to go after a replacement when there's more and better options on the market.

Cammalleri can play C, as can Pouliot. Who says the new Cammalleri line can't be ___ - Cammalleri - A. Kostitsyn? Opens up a lot more opportunities.

Olvecky scores, 2-1 Moose. Rosa gets the assist, just 33 seconds into the period.

It's a good test for him as I'm fairly sure he'll be the starter in Hamilton next season with Mayer as the backup (waivers permitting of course). It's times like this that I wish Mayer would've got a little more action during the season, particularly that last week - reminds me of the convo on the Bulldogs forum about that in the one GDT.

1-1 after 1. Shots were 14-9 Hamilton.

Eventually, the market will correct itself and the lower end first liners will see their salaries drop. I expect it to happen this offseason actually, not with Plekanec though. The more you lock in at the higher salaries now, the worse off you'll be later on. I think you can get a 40 point C for about what Plekanec is making now; put him with Cammalleri and see that C's point total raise into the 50's, well worth the salary savings in my opinion. I look at it this way - is the current core now capable of taking the team deep into the playoffs? I'm not so sure. In that case, why pay a big sum to keep that core? Plekanec is a UFA, and thus the easiest to move from that core. It's not a shot at Plekanec but more a look at the situation - couple that with the cap issues and that's why I've said all along that I hope he moves on. A plug for one of the sites I use for cap info (I've dealt a lot with the person who runs it) - http://www.capgeek.com/ufa_finder.php. The list just went up last week actually.

Bulldogs finally get one (not for a lack of chances), Desharnais scores on the PP to tie it at 1! Subban and Benoit with the helpers.

Bulldogs with a flurry of chances, but it's the Moose who wind up scoring shorthanded, 1-0 Manitoba. Anyone else getting a little worried about Desjardins?

Lineup changes for Hamilton: Fortier in for Masse, Weber in for Bishop. (Anderson back up front I think).

I have confidence in him, just not to the tune of $5+ million a season, particularly when signing that deal will put the Habs in bad enough of a cap situation that will make this year look like nothing. He's a 20 goal scorer, is that worth $5+ million, defensive ability notwithstanding? Not a chance. I'd also set aside the playoff comment considering Washington was the one team Plekanec scored on in every game this year. If we're playing another team, say, Pittsburgh, I don't see him putting up those numbers.

It's market value, but I certainly don't see Plekanec having anywhere near a repeat of this season which means next season, he'll be overpaid relative to market value. The day they agreed on the 1 year deal was the day they all but agreed to part ways at the end of the season; the team has been assembled within that structure (going and getting the 3 forwards signed longterm). Giving Plekanec that type of money would all but cripple this team moving forward, there'd be little room to improve other than from within at least until Markov/Hamrlik expire next season (and I'm sure Markov's going to want a raise himself). Right now, I think Hamrlik being bought out is a foregone conclusion at this point, especially if they give Plekanec that contract. They simply can't afford to have 6 players making $5 million or more (another reason why I've said all year they need to let Plekanec go and replace him with a lesser C). The talent next year might take a bit of a hit (again, I say a bit as I expect Plekanec to drop to the 50-60 point range), but at least they'd have a little bit of flexibility to improve. Even if they let Plekanec go, I think Hamrlik's performance this playoff may have dictated his fate.

For Pens/Sens (Game 6), I'll go with: PIT: Malkin OTT: Cullen

I'm not a SK fan but I agree, he has the best upside between him, Darche, and Maxwell. Darche had a chance early on and didn't do well, while Maxwell...well, he's okay defensively so if I had to pick between which of the two to put in if SK was out, I'd take him.

According to Hockey Central @ Noon, Plekanec and the Habs are close on a 5 year, $27.5 M deal...if true, let the fire Gauthier talks begin.