dlbalr

There's a few reasons that the team will soon be leaving Montreal, the first obviously being the fact that the other 29 teams own them. From their point of view, why would they want to pay to stabilize an opposing franchise? This leads one to wonder how the Expos landed in that situation in the first place. In a nutshell, their former owner, Jeffery Loria (who now owns the Marlins), wanted out, but no other owner, local or otherwise at the time, was willing to step up and buy the franchise. There's a little more to the Loria story, but virtually irrelevant to this question here. Another reason is the continuing floundering attendance of the franchise. Yet again the Expos are drawing less than 7,000 per game, interest has just completely dwindled. Fans appear to be tired of the constant salary dumping for prospect deals, and are preparing to have just 3 teams to cheer for, the Habs, Als, and the Impact. It's a truly unfortunate situation for all parties involved, the players, the plethora of current owners, as well as the fans. I'm glad to see this get resolved, although as an Expo fan myself, I would have preferred to see them remain in Montreal.

Here's Stewart's profile from the Petes' web site: http://www.gopetesgo.com/players/gstewart.htm His stats aren't too impressive though: 58 GP, 4 G, 6 A, 10 PTS, -10, 76 PIMS

Actually, Kaspar was taken in the 1st round, 22nd overall by San Jose; who actually moved up 6 spots to get him. The Yemelin pick is nice, everything I've read had him going in the 2nd round.

Just for the fun of it, I move we try to predict all of the Hab picks, from 18 all the way to 278. Why did I think of this? Because I was bored earlier, and decided to do something. Also, it'd be cool if someone actually correctly predicted a 6th or 7th rounder. So here are my picks: 1-18: Lauri Korpikoski (Turku Jr-Fin) (12E) 2-84: Brian Ihnacak (Brown-ECAC) (44N) 3-95: David Laliberte (PEI-QMJHL) (45N) 4-100: Raymond Sawada (Nanaimo-BCHL) (32N) 5-150: Scott Lehman (Toronto-OHL) (87N) 6-181: Chad Klassen (Spokane-WHL) (140N) 7-212: Bedrick Kohler (Vitkovice-Cze) (103E) 8-246: Marek Ulehla (Brantislava Jr-Slo) (90E) 9-262: Dan Turple (Oshawa-OHL) (22NG) 10-278: Martin Rygl (Liberec Jr-Cze) (98E) The stuff in the last set of brackets are CSB rankings... I usually get one right each year, last year it was Urquhart, although I had him in the 3rd round. The year before, I had Deveaux, but in the wrong round as well. Which one will be right this year, or will my streak end?

I was quite impressed with the overall team game last night, both the D and the O. Sure, Calvillo wasn't at his best, but that's to be expected in the first couple of games. And he did throw 2 TD's... Copeland/Cahoon were half-decent, but I thought our best receiver was Cavil, he was the most active, and made the top 2 catches in my opinion. What I'm wondering is where is Jacquez Green? He's supposed to be one of our WR's, not Wilson, although he's not too shabby himself. I've already forgotten about Whitaker (who was cut) after watching Denson run, he could be a very underrated part of this offense. On defence, pretty much stellar as always. I was hoping Sanchez could have been more noticeable, but he didn't get burned, so that's a positive in itself. Malveaux appears to be a great pickup on the defensive end, especially on the blitz. Stewart was our best overall defensively, not only because of that easy pick, but he was noticeable everywhere else during the game. Also, notice the number change, to #9? This was done so that he could become part of the offense (receiving corps) if necessary. On the special teams, Kellett wasn't the best at punting, remember that 15-yarder? Oy! But, he didn't kill us, so that's a plus. Watkins returning punts appears to be a nice decision, he's very fast, but had no room last night to show it, he'll be OK replacing Stokes. A way better option than Dante Green. Overall, it's nice to see them get swift revenge, but we all know this team's capable of much better. I can't wait for the next Als' televised game (no way I'm listening to more CJAD)!

A few days ago, Carolina finally found a taker for Arturs Irbe, dealing him to Columbus for futures. Today, they acquired Martin Gerber from Anaheim for Tomas Malec and a 3rd rounder this season. The catch is, he just may be the #1 next season, as rumblings out of Carolina say that Jim Rutherford may be trying to deal not only Jeff O'Neill for salary reasons, but Kevin Weekes as well (for the same reason) - arbitration could fetch them close to 3.5-4 mil per season. Regardless, I like the Gerber deal on both sides, Carolina gets a future #1 and/or a decent backup depending on what they do with Weekes, and Anaheim can finally place the highly touted Ilya Bryzgalov as their backup. (In other news, the Leafs re-signed Klee and Tucker today. - Klee's was done yesterday, but was made official today.)

As far as I know, every player must declare for the NHL draft, similar to the NBA, NFL, MLB, etc... If a player fails to declare, they are not eligible for the draft in that season, but can enter the following year. An example of this is David Booth, now ranked 27th by CSB (NA skaters). Also, a player can opt out after declaring, and return for the next season. An example of this from what I've gathered is Sami Lepisto, ranked 25th by CSB (Euro skaters). Hope that helps.

The Als offseason has been an eventful one so far. Here is a summary of the key changes thus far: IN: CB Davis Sanchez, DB Kelly Malveaux, RB Darren Davis, WR Jacquez Green, OG Scott Flory OUT: WR Keith Stokes, DB Omar Evans, DT Adriano Belli, LB Mat Petz, CB Wayne Shaw, WR Pat Woodcock All in all, not too shabby, Green is a former NFL'er and will be fine replacing Stokes, while Sanchez is the top CB in the CFL. Malveaux is a slight upgrade over Evans in my opinion as well. Go Als Go!

The Flory scenario was kind of strange. He signed in Saskatchewan as a FA, but signed with Montreal less than 24 hours later to try to void the contract. The CFL declared the SASK contract to be valid, so the Als have sent a 1st rounder to SASK to get him back. http://www.tsn.ca/cfl/news_story.asp?id=85671

You can scratch Swanson off that list, as he signed a 3 year deal with Florida today. I was hoping he would re-enter the draft and that we would take him too, I've been watching him in Barrie for 2 seasons now, and he impressed me for the most part. Out of the rest of the list, I'd be happy if the Habs took Paille, Brent, Jarrett, Newbury, and/or Wisniewski.

I'm not sure you have everything right on this one. I have a full, active roster for this round, with 1 trade left even. Khabibulin Regehr, Kubina Gelinas, Simon Richards Conroy Although, the way I'm falling (I used to be in the top 250 worldwide), you may catch me anyways!

I'll take my pool guys: Leafs: Leetch Flyers: Zhamnov (or is he still hurt?) Hope not...

I'm still 1st? Wow, I'm stunned, especially since I haven't been able to get to the pool page since my computer died, so I'm stuck with 2 guys that are no longer playing. If I'm still 1st after this round, you should all feel shame, and an array of sadness. (For those wondering where I'm typing this from, it's from a school computer, that blocks virtually anything...)

I think there's no time limit for European players; there's a 2 year one for North American players though. Cases in point: Niklas Anger, Viktor Ujcik, Joni Puurula, and Johan Eneqvist all were drafted quite a while ago, but we still retain their rights, although they will likely never sign with us anyways. I think Alexander Buturlin fits in here too. I'll see if I can find more information though...

First, I'd like to commend all of those who have posted in this thread, it has been a very good read. Now, for my take: I think this is a good deal for the Habs, as in reality, we lose Balej for Kovalev straight up. We will gain a compensatory draft choice granted by the NHL if we don’t re-sign Kovalev in the offseason. However, that pick will be in 2005, and not 2004. As for losing Balej, I am a little disappointed, however, this is the right move. There is no guarantee that he will become a productive scorer in the NHL with the Rangers. Balej likely was not in the long-term plans for this team; he was not drafted early on like Hossa, Perezhogin, Kastsitsyn, and Higgins. All of those guys are expected to have significant roles in the near future. Add to that the fact that we quite possibly with still have Koivu, Zednik, Ryder, Ribeiro, and Bulis, and there’s your top-9 forwards right there. No Balej there...He was expendable IMO, and to get a proven scorer like Kovalev for him, long or short term, is great for the team, it boosts morale and team confidence, which is what we need a lot of heading into the playoffs. That's just my take, only time will tell if this is what we needed or not. Nonetheless, I'm really looking forward to Friday's game. :ghg:

After failing to sign an NFL contract, Als' WR/SB Jeremaine Copeland will return to the Als for the 2004 season. Another key component is back for this season! :/) Complete details: http://www.tsn.ca/cfl/news_story.asp?id=74477

We gave up wide receiver Andrew Noel (Acadia), linebacker Joe Bonaventura (Saint Mary's), another Canadian player, a second draft pick and cash. Not too much for the top cornerback in the league...I like this deal! Here's a little blurb from TSN: Full article: http://www.tsn.ca/cfl/news_story.asp?id=73908

It has already been mentionned that it's a good idea to replace a RW with a RW (Murray for Hossa), makes sense to me...Also, the Eastern Conference already has 6 centres, so there's no need for a 7th. As for the comments regarding Messier and Primeau, let me begin by talking about Messier, He, despite being a 4th liner, produces at the rate of a marginal 2nd or above average 3rd liner. Hardly an all-star in that right, correct? True, however, this is a sympathetic pick based on his services to the NHL throughout his career, one of these per season isn't that bad of a deal IMO. My guess, Bettman had a part in this selection... As for Primeau, guess what, I'm actually going to support this pick. Why? Simply for one reason, this: The players in the All-Star game are, in a sense, supposed to be the most valuable players of their respective teams. Many around the league feel that Primeau has a chance of winning the Selke trophy; anyone who is receiving consideration for an award should be considered for the All-Star game. The same would be the case for Mattias Norstrom of LA. Neither of them are offensive powerhouses, but play vital roles in the success of their team. Calling them "stars" may be going a bit high, but they are both valuable to their teams in their own right. The All-Star game is said to feature the top players in the National Hockey League, nowhere does that statement say "The top OFFENSIVE players in the NHL. This would be my guess as to why these players were selected. Now for my final opinion, which actually deals with the Habs. If you take a look at the All-Star and Young Stars game rosters, you should notice that only one team has more than 3 representatives in the 2 games combined. That team is New Jersey, the defending Cup champions. All the rest have 3 or less. How many do the Habs have? That's right, 3, the "unofficial" limit, so that all teams can be represented in the games. My guess for why New Jersey has 4? Simple, it's merely an award for being the champions. Of course, the above likely isn't a reason as to why Ribeiro wasn't chosen, however it should be noted. To say that he was robbed is a bit of an overstatement, considering some of the other talents that are not participating. Examples: Peter Forsberg and Marc Savard, the 2 players with the highest points-per-game averages in the entire NHL. Despite this, they weren't selected. I rank Ribeiro below both of these players in terms of offensive capabilities, and overall two-way play. I would choose either of those 2 before Mike in a game like this anyday (well, at least for now anyways). Don't take this the wrong way, I think Ribeiro had a legitimate shot at going to Minnesota, and I'm sure he was given his due consideration by the coaching staff/NHL. So he didn't make it, oh well, there's always next year and the ones proceeding that. If he's as good as some on this, and other boards, claim he is, than this will not be an issue in the seasons to come. Let's just enjoy the game itself with the Hab content there is, I'm sure those going are more than happy to be there, and those at home/on vacation will be happy to get the time off, they've deserved it. The YoungStars game and Skills competition are tomorrow, let's see if Souray can win the hardest shot contest!

Having talked to several Hab fans, as well as frequenting message boards, particularly this one, the general consensus seems to be that we're in a heap of trouble, and moves needs to be made soon, involving Kilger, Perreault, etc... Is all of this panic justified though? I think not. The fact is, we're not capable of playing at the level we were a couple of weeks ago, losing only 1 in 10 games. Are we as bad of a team as we've played in the past 3? Probably not, but in my opinion, our ability is closer to the latter rather than the former. Why you may ask? Easy, contrary to some people's beliefs, we're not overloaded with depth, although Perreault on paper is a nice 4th liner. We, like some other teams, are taking the youth route, which is OK given the current instability of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, but in doing so, we risk having to deal with potential risks in relying on youth more. One of these is that the player is not ready for full-time NHL duty. Case in point: Marcel Hossa. Here’s a player whom many thought was ready for the rigors of full-time NHL duty. Was he? In a word, no. Hossa consistently showed that he wasn’t capable of playing on the 2nd line, which was his assignment at the beginning of the season. Was he a capable 4th liner instead? Nope, he simply wasn’t ready to be a regular. We were lucky to have Dagenais ready in Hamilton, who has been able to score at the rate that we were expecting Hossa to in the preseason/early regular season. If not, our offence would be in a position that I shudder to even think about, scoring at a rate similar to that of the Pittsburgh Penguins. The second point is consistency, or currently, the lack thereof. This is what happens when 3 of your top-6 forwards saw limited NHL-action last season, or is playing in his first NHL season, which is the case with Michael Ryder. When so many of your go-to players are inexperienced, the team is bound to go through some rough stretches. With Jozef Balej currently as a second-liner, consistency is even more of a concern, although he’ll only be on that line for the short-term. With the roster we had heading into the start of the season, I, admittedly, was one of the team's detractors who didn't think this team had a chance at making the playoffs. As a whole this season, I have been pleasantly surprised with the Habs' performance through the first 51 games on the regular season. 56 points is 6 higher than we had at this point last season, and we're actually in a playoff spot, unlike last season. It seems as if some fans are now expecting the level of play we were treated to in early January on a regular basis down the stretch run, which is too high of an expectation for such a young team. The reality is, we don't have the quality of rosters that some of the teams behind us have, and that we need to rebound quickly if we want to stay ahead of them. Is it possible? By all means, even without the nice run earlier this month, we're still a .500 team, which is about the level we'll need to play at to maintain a playoff position. Anything more would be a pleasant surprise, anything less, it's not the end of world in my opinion. Many of us were calling the 2003-04 NHL season a "wash", in that it would be a time to develop and further evaluate some of our younger players, and we've done that. We've has some pleasant surprises in our youth in Ryder and Dagenais, and to a lesser extent, Balej in Hamilton, but we've also has some negatives, particularly in Hossa. This is what you ask for when you take this route, and this is what we're getting. To conclude, is it time to panic? No, our current performance (over the course of the season) is better than what many expected, and, as many say with some of our prospects, patience, people, give them some time (ie: a full season) before we overly praise or bash them. Every team goes through a slump or two during the season, but do they all panic? No, (well maybe the Rangers, but that's a different story for another day possibly) they rebound, and there isn't any evidence that says to me that we can't do the same. We're not overloaded with injuries like some other teams, and we have a goalie who can carry the team if necessary. Now, to answer the question of will we make the playoffs? I'd rather not answer at this time, but how we play in the next 8-10 games should give us a pretty accurate idea.

BTW : Souray had a horrible game today . His last 4 games have been average or below average... Whats up? I've noticed the same thing, but I'm not surprised. My guess for his "sub-par" play lately, one word, fatigue. Keep in mind that Souray hasn't played a close-to-full season in the last 3, some some fatigue around the halfway point is to be expected IMO. He needs some reduced icetime for a few games (19:59 tonight), which should help. My game thoughts: From what I'm hearing, I think I'm happy that I didn't get to see the game, it seemed aside from Theodore, pretty much no one showed up. Dagenais played 17:30, 3rd amongst Habs forwards, behind Zednik and Koivu, despite losing shifts to Balej in the 3rd, interesting. Julien's juggled line comobs didn't seem to generate any offence, I wonder if he'll try them again tomorrow. If Ward's out for tomorrow (seems probable), will Juneau/Dackell return, or will another player be re-called? Or, do we dress a 7th d-man, and move 1 to a RW position (Rivet perhaps, he's done it before...), which would add a little more toughness, and given our opponent, we'll need it. I'm not too surprised by the end result, New Jersey is a better team than some people give them credit for. I'm also not that worried, sure I'm disappointed, but every team has an off game now and then. I am interested in seeing how we rebound from this game, will we wake up, or put in another lousy effort? Tomorrow will tell the tale...

I just wrote out the full list of All-Stars and placed it HW. Here's the link: http://www.habsworld.net/show_article.php?id=280 (Also, regarding the starters, isn't it funny how it's supposed to be an offensive showcase so to speak, yet 3 Devils are in the starting lineup? Weird...)

Personally, I hope we DON'T bring Balej up this season at all, like we did with Ryder last season. Let the kid actually develop for a couple of years! We tried bringing Hossa up too early (half a season doesn't cut it in the minors in terms of development), and look what happens - no confidence at either the AHL or NHL level, now some people want to trade him. Same with Chouinard, although he had less of an NHL shot with us... Also, where exactly do we put Balej if he's called up? He needs to play on the top-2 lines to be effective, and right now, I don't think we want to mess with the top-2 lines for the time being. We could move Bulis back to the 3rd line, but that puts Koivu with a pair of rookies, not the best of ideas for a team battling for a playoff spot. Next season (if there is one), maybe we could give him a brief look, but I would rather see him play a full or close to full 2004-05 season in Hamilton before I'd consider him a legitimate candidate for a roster spot. He has the talent already to be decent, but I'd rather he hone his skills a little while longer, just to be on the safe side. And since the team is doing OK for the moment, we can afford to play it safe.

Don't forget Gratton, I know he has a concussion, but he was only supposed to miss 7-10 days originally, and it's been a few weeks now. I think he may be ready to return, and assume the 4th line C spot he has before going down. This would likely then send Perreault to the press box for the time being, barring a trade or injury. (I don't expect Perreault to be dealt anytime soon, as Gainey said there wouldn't be "addition by subtraction", at least for the time being.)

The last time that we scored 8 goals in a game was just over 6 years ago, on January 8th vs the New York Islanders. I don't know the final score, but I think it's safe to assume that we won the game. _______________________________________________________ As for Guy!'s report, once again, good as always, and guess what? I'm not going to give you a shellacking, you don't deserve one, the fact is, we were BAD in the first, got the lead, and watched as Pittsburgh threw in the towel, so we got to make lots of fancy plays and score pretty goals, yadda yadda yadda. The only thing really going for us tonight was the powerplay, which went 4/6. Yes it's Pittsburgh, but the PP has been on as of late anyways. I'm happy for Souray that he got the points, however like last game, he was beaten to the puck in the neutral zone, and almost cost us a breakaway to Meloche I think it was. He had a rough game defensively. As for Ribs and Dagenais, I agree, both need to do more of the little things a little more often to impress me. The set offensive play: Ribeiro tries to skate through everybody while Dagenais heads for the net. Ribeiro shoots, Dags gets the rebound and puts it in, Zednik stands there thinking "What about me?" OK, I exaggerated a bit, but the fact remains that they are lacklustre defensively, and need to improve in that respect soon. My final take? Glad to get the win and pad the stats, hopefully all of these goals will get some people going and give us some momentum heading into the game vs St. Louis, we're going to need it.

Minaya's pulled off another deal today, moving arbitration-eligible LHP Scott Stewart to Cleveland for a pair of minor-leaguers in OF Ryan Church and IF Maicer Izturis. This ensures that Eischen and Choate are the 2 LHP's coming out of the bullpen this season. Church I hear is a pretty decent prospect who's been struck with injuries recently. He'll likely replace Sledge who likely will spend the season with us barring another OF signed, can't see that happening. Thoughts: Salary dump, nothing really more, get 2 guys to re-stock a somewhat depleted Trappers (AAA) team, could be worse. Now, we need to get another catcher, decent SP, and a "real" closer wouldn't hurt, unless one of Biddle/Ayala/Cordero steps up, and the last 2 just aren't ready to do that just yet.