dlbalr

I should have phrased that better - I meant 'entertain' as in actively encouraging or soliciting offers. If someone wants to make a pitch that can be filed away until a decision on whether or not to trade him is made, that's one thing, he'd be nuts to not listen and file it away in the memory banks for potential future use. I'd be surprised if he was doing anything beyond that at the moment.

Then you make the change before the season and don't have Wilson forced upon the staff. It's a lot like the Pearn thing last year, did anyone really think he was the problem? Lefebvre's methods have been iffy at best and he's firing Wilson because they disagree. You're in last place, perhaps a better solution would have been to actually consider what was being suggested? (Such as don't play Stortini and Hagel 12-15 minutes a game, 4th lines never got this much ice time until this season...) The decision to make a change isn't what bothers me but rather the reason. If you want to fire an assistant because you want to shake things up on a last place team, that's fine. That's not what happened here though which concerns me.

I don't think we're anywhere close to a Gomez situation, at least for now. I doubt the Habs are shopping or entertaining offers for Subban yet and probably won't for a while yet as there's little reason to at this point. Plan A is still to get him signed. I'm also not sure the Habs would take on a Gomez-type contract in a deal, especially when the cap is about to drop. If they did move him, I would guess that they'd want a replacement body (2nd pairing type) and then futures (prospects/picks). 2/7 is a number I haven't seen yet (with TFP reporting it, I'm not sure I believe it either) but that one could be an interesting setup. Go with $3M this year and $4M next year (it fits, albeit barely, within the 35% rule). For Subban, it's better to get as much money as possible in that second year since this season it'd be pro-rated (if he signed today he'd get about half of the stated value) while it also guarantees a QO of $4 million the following year; that number becomes the starting point on what would be the long-term deal.

Washington's lines for tonight: Wolski-Backstrom-Ovechkin Hendricks-Ribeiro-Brouwer Chimera-Beagle-Ward Johansson-Perreault-Crabb Alzner-Carlson Poti-Green Hamrlik-Kundratek Johansson has been in a bit of a funk to start the year while I suspect Ribeiro will have a better game after embarrassing himself last game, spending more time focusing on chirping the refs for a missed call than actually trying to play. Michal Neuvirth is expected to make his first start of the season for the Caps.

That's the thing, Wilson wasn't Lefebvre's hire. He was a holdover from the previous regime (heck, he's been an assistant to a lot of coaches in Hamilton over the years). This seems like 'my way or the highway' which isn't a great attitude to have with your coaching staff.

I think they're still hoping to sign Darche. Matteau is someone I don't see sticking with them past 5 games, they may turn around and add Darche to the roster then. Besides, Darche has said many times he will retire before playing in the AHL.

Congrats, you're the first to find the new smiley I put in yesterday.

Gomez officially signs in San Jose. Barring a trade, the Habs won't have to face him this year...unless it's a SJ/MTL Cup Final.

I shudder to think what my record was last year. I know I made a lot of the GDT's and obviously the Habs lost a lot; I'm sure it's not pretty. I look forward to you starting the first GDT winning streak of the season tomorrow.

I believe he was in charge of the forwards, Lefebvre will take over those duties now. No replacement will be hired (it's common for AHL teams to only have one assistant behind the bench). Gabriel Dumont has been named to the Western Conference All-Star team replacing...Brendan Gallagher. That suggests that Gallagher will be staying up for another week at the very least.

Michael Blunden was sent back to Hamilton today. I wonder if that will be the end of Tyler Murovich then.

Both Getzlaf and Perry are pending UFA's, there would have to be a pre-arranged extension for that to even be pondered for a moment.

On a one-player basis, you're absolutely right. If it becomes a pattern (having to overpay by that amount or so) to bring in UFA's or extend RFA's, cumulatively it becomes a problem. Perhaps not to the extent of being a Cup team or having a high lottery pick but 6 overpayments of that type of money is a productive $3 million player. The Habs already have a lot of those guys on their roster so I can appreciate where some fans may be hoping the trend doesn't continue. That said, if management deems he is a franchise-type player (I suspect they don't at this point), it would make more sense to 'overpay' by that gap if the belief is that he will ultimately be worth it in the end than it would giving that extra amount to a pricey role player, something this team did back in the offseason with Prust.

As well as Gallagher has played, I'm surprised that he has played the least amount for the Habs tonight (not even 6 minutes through two periods - 5:35). Only George Parros has played less on either side. The hit tally is really leaning Montreal's way too, 29-13. One small concern, Desharnais is struggling at the faceoff dot, only 3/10 so far.

If I'm not mistaken, Galchenyuk is now the 500th player in Montreal Canadiens history to score a goal. Someone mentioned where the tally was last season and I've manually been keeping track since, I'm pretty sure Staubitz last year was 499.

Markov's goal was a long time coming. His last goal was back in November of 2010. It was a strong shot too, nice to see he still can tee one up.

The press release suggests that Lefebvre was the one pulling the strings on this due to differences of opinion. Considering Hamilton is dead last, I'd suggest that contradictory opinions from an assistant might not be a bad thing, certainly not justification for his removal. I get that he wasn't Lefebvre's hire but I don't like this.

That was a much better period than any of the three against the Leafs. The Habs are much more aggressive and physical (19 hits already), really nice to see. Bouillon leads all Habs in ice time so far (7:59).

Some quick notes from Pierre LeBrun on the Subban situation (plus the other current RFA's): http://espn.go.com/blog/nhl/post/_/id/21560/rumblings-will-stars-benn-be-first-to-re-sign

Speaking of clutch, guess who scored the SO winner in that game? Give Collberg 4 goals (3 being from the shootout) on the year now.

They also have released Mike Commodore. Now I have to adjust my Bulldog column I just wrote last night (will be up either tonight or tomorrow).

Collberg extends his point streak to 3 straight, collecting an assist today. That gives him 3 goals (although 2 are SO GWG's) and 3 assists in 22 games. That's not great but a lot better than what it was only a couple of weeks ago.

The RFA year would be burned. Players are eligible to become UFA's at age 27, regardless of how many seasons they've played in the NHL.

Eller is out tonight due to his 'lack of intensity' against Toronto.

Victory Keys are up: http://www.habsworld.net/article.php?id=2982