dlbalr

More than a couple. Even worse was when they sat for 5 or 6 days without playing before being sent down. When Palushaj was brought up, he played. He sat the odd game (which is okay) but played the majority of the games when he was with the Habs. As for your other note, the 5 PM one plus the above were the biggest culprits. It's not the quantity of the variety of mistakes but rather the quantity of making the same mistakes regularly. Ever since he left, most callups (except game day ones) have been after 5 PM, suggesting Carriere (or Gauthier if he's handling the cap management side as well) immediately grasped a concept that eluded Brisebois for several years. One specific example I'll give you is Robert Mayer and the 6 days he was up...during the Olympics when the team wasn't playing. Other teams had junior or collegiate goalies skate for free, Montreal blew over $16,000 of space for their version of target practice. That alone counted for nearly 25% of that year's overage, one that counted against the cap the following season. Couple that with the timing mistakes in recalls, pointless recalls, and sitting guys for lengthy periods without playing them and you realize that Habs this year are still paying for his mistakes. (Overage penalty in 2010-11 with a greater overage penalty this year which would be reduced had the first overage not have been there.)

I agree, most reactions were negative. Were their arguments based on Kaberle's play, the contract, or the lack of draft pick compensation coming Montreal's way? I'd say the issues were with the first two, not so much the latter. A second or third (everything I read said a 3rd was the carrot) rounder wouldn't change too many views if their opinions were that Kaberle was done or that his contract was too great an albatross.

I did note in the notes section of the first post that it's just yesterday's lineup as there has been no word on who actually will play.

As I noted earlier, they did that looking to get a young player in return. Jaroslav Spacek isn't that, hence why the draft pick wasn't involved. To me, the pick element offered to other teams is largely irrelevant as a result.

For the record, I recall reading Kaberle and a 3rd (the 3rd being the proverbial carrot) was being dangled. However, that was for a youngster, something Spacek isn't. As the salaries basically match, Carolina doesn't see much in the way of real money relief until next year which is why the 'carrot' wasn't in the deal we made with them. By the way, I have to say that Kaberle has done better than I expected since Montreal got him. It's obviously early but he looks as if he can be a decent, albeit expensive, piece moving forward.

Per Renaud Lavoie's confusing contract tweet, this is how the contract appears to break down: Cap hit of $900,000 (despite his tweet implying $600,000) which includes a max signing bonus ($90,000 per year) with $210,000 of GP-related bonuses, just below the max for a GP/TOI-based 'A' level bonus.

The US announced their roster today, Tinordi is on the squad. http://www.usahockey.com/world_junior_championship_2012/default.aspx?NAV=AF_02&ID=309480 No official word on the captaincy situation yet.

<p align="center"> <img border="0" src="http://www3.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Ondrej+Pavelec+Montreal+Canadiens+v+Winnipeg+rKTGRa_r31Ol.jpg" width="532" height="340"><br> </p> <table align="center"> <tr> <td align="center" width="250"> <img src="http://www.jerseydatabase.com/jerseys/fronts/0/0/70.png" border="0" width="158" height="131"> <p>13-15-7, 5th Northeast</td> <td align="center" width="250"> <img src="http://www.jerseydatabase.com/jerseys/fronts/2/0/2083.png" border="0" width="158" height="131"><p> 15-13-5, 3rd Southeast</td> </tr> </table> <table style="border-collapse: collapse;" align="center" border="1" bordercolor="#111111" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="500"> <tr> <td colspan="2" align="center" bgcolor="#800000"><b><font color="#FFFFFF">Projected Lines:</font></b></td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center" width="250"> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"> <tr> <td align="center">Pacioretty - Desharnais - Cole</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center">Cammalleri - Plekanec - Moen </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center">Darche - Eller - Kostitsyn</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center">Emelin - Nokelainen - Blunden</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center">Gorges - Diaz</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center">Gill - Weber</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center">Kaberle - Campoli</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center">Price</td> </tr> <tr> <td> <p align="center">Budaj</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center"><i>Scratches:</i> Subban, Eller</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center"><i>Injuries:</i> Markov, White, Gionta, Gomez, Bishop, Nash</td> </tr> </table> </td> <td align="center" width="250"> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"> <tr> <td align="center">Kane - Burmistrov - Wheeler</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center">Ladd - Antropov - Wellwood</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center">Glass - Slater - Miettinen</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center">Thorburn - Stapleton - Fehr</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center">Byfuglien - Enstrom</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center">Stuart - Bogosian</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center">Hainsey - Oduya</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center">Pavelec</td> </tr> <tr> <td> <p align="center">Mason</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center"><i>Scratches:</i> Flood</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center"><i>Injuries:</i> Meech, Jones, Little</td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2" align="center" bgcolor="#800000"><font color="#FFFFFF"><b> Scoring Leaders:</b></font></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="33%" align="center"><b>Goals:</b> Erik Cole (13)</td> <td width="34%" align="center"><b>Goals: </b>Evander Kane (15)</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="33%" align="center" bgcolor="#EAEAEA"><b>Assists:</b> Tomas Plekanec (20)</td> <td width="34%" align="center" bgcolor="#EAEAEA"><b>Assists: </b>Blake Wheeler (18)</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="33%" align="center"><b>Points:</b> Tomas Plekanec (27)</td> <td width="34%" align="center"><b>Points: </b>Evander Kane (25)</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="33%" align="center" bgcolor="#EAEAEA"><b>+/-:</b> Josh Gorges (+6)</td> <td width="34%" align="center" bgcolor="#EAEAEA"><b>+/-: </b>Blake Wheeler (+9)</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="33%" align="center"><b>PIMS: </b>P.K. Subban (39)</td> <td width="34%" align="center"><b>PIMS: </b>Zach Bogosian (45)</td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2" align="center" bgcolor="#800000"><font color="#FFFFFF"><b> Game Info:</b></font></td> </tr> </table> <table style="border-collapse: collapse;" align="center" border="1" bordercolor="#111111" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="500"> <tr> <td width="175"><b>Puck Drop:</b> 8:30 PM EST</td> <td width="138"><b>TV: </b>RDS, TSN-H</td> <td width="183"><b>Radio: </b> <a target="_blank" href="http://www.tsn.ca/montreal/listen/">TSN 990</a><b> </b> <a target="_blank" href="http://www.985fm.ca/webradio/">FM 98.5</a></td> </tr> </table> <table style="border-collapse: collapse;" align="center" border="1" bordercolor="#111111" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="500" height="54"> <tr> <td align="center" bgcolor="#800000" height="19"><font color="#FFFFFF"><b>Other Notes:</b></font></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="33%" align="center" height="34">Both Emelin and Weber return while Subban and Eller sit. I'm guessing on the bottom 6 and D pairings (and as to which D will play forward). The Jets are an impressive 11-5-1 at the MTS Centre this year.</td> </tr> </table>

Downie qualifies for the PIM portion of power forward but with 9 points in 30 games (and a -17!), I don't think he's the answer to Montreal's problem. He's a bottom 7 guy right now that has lost the confidence of Boucher due to a huge lack of discipline. Unless you think the Habs are better off being shorthanded more often (which is an argument that probably could be made with the current roster, not so much Tampa's from this hypothetical...), he wouldn't help much right about now.

He was with the Habs long enough to learn from his mistakes, especially when he's a legal specialist trying to understand the CBA which isn't exactly written in understandable English (unless you're a lawyer). Maybe he gets it now, I don't know. With Tampa not being a cap team (and not needing to call up many players), it's hard to evaluate their cap management thus far. Given his track record with the Habs though, I would hope they'd find a better candidate...or at least keep him away from running the cap side of things.

Tinordi is on the top pairing with Adam Clendening tonight and most importantly is wearing the C.

Pretty entertaining game so far, though the lack of secondary chances (as JMMR pointed out) is a little concerning. They've held their own against the Western leaders, they've got a shot still. Scoring on the abbreviated PP would be a good way to start.

You want to cheer for the Hawks? Do it somewhere else, trolling (as you're clearly doing) is not permitted here.

Gomez stopped skating last week and Gionta hasn't skated since his injury. Both are groin problems which have proven to be problematic for this team in the past.

14-4 Montreal are the hits after 1. You enjoying watching Montreal getting beaten up out there? Hoping for the Habs to get battered around, that's the sign of a true fan alright... Stat of the game (beyond the hit totals) so far: After being brutal in the faceoff dot (2/15) on Monday, Desharnais is the only Hab above 33% tonight (6/7).

Yeah, sitting the anchor of the league's 2nd best PK is always the way to go. Someone suggested dressing Gill as the 7th D which could have some merit if they want to get Emelin in the lineup. But seriously, you want to cheer against the Habs because a rookie (yes, a rookie sitting which is common on every team in the league) is out of the lineup for consecutive games? He can hit. If he can't cover the winger in the defensive zone though (and he's shown he can't on the right side), it doesn't really matter.

It's been answered about 10 times already. For him to play, he needs to be on the right side right now (Gill, Gorges, and Kaberle are set as the LD's with Campoli playing out of position already). Recent in-game evidence has shown that he is not capable of doing so without being a liability to the team. So rather than keep throwing him to the wolves and having him fail (which would do wonders for his confidence), they're giving him a chance to learn the position in practice so that when he plays, he'll be in a better position to succeed. That's a bad thing? The success of this team does not hinge on Alexei Emelin's presence or lack thereof in this lineup.

And go back to an era of completely inane and wasteful cap management? Unless Yzerman actually taught him to do that job, I want no part of having him back around. His 'recommendations' were a reason why the Habs never could go after anyone important at the deadline as they threw away too much money beforehand. One of my biggest pet peeves was their tendency to announce callups just before 5 PM. If they'd have waited until 5 PM, they'd have saved money...a concept that Brisebois repeatedly failed to comprehend. Lots of people think the cap management is bad now; I shudder at the notion of even going back to that era of a few years ago. Edit: As I go over the day-to-day cap situation of TB, he at least has appeared to grasp the concept of 'shuttling.' They've had so few injuries/recalls (though they just called JT Wyman up the other day) that it's hard to judge on the whole their cap management so far.

The Raptors have come out with a camouflage jersey that they'll wear 4 times this year. For all the talk of tanking, this fits right in. http://espn.go.com/espn/page2/index?id=7375527 I have to admit, they're not that bad compared to other camouflage jerseys over the years.

That was based off a report that wound up being edited after but it wouldn't surprise me if they were close. I'll be interested to see what terms (if any) Darvish agrees to. He won't get the $20 mil per year he reportedly is currently seeking but I suspect 5/65 could be the deal. Edit: Or, apparently they weren't even close. http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2011/12/rangers-won-darvish-bidding-easily.html

I wondered if they might have given Emelin the game today with having a few days off after for the coaches to review the video to help assess where his progression is with regards to adjusting to playing the right side. Evidently, that's not the case (or he is showing in practice that he's not ready to handle it). Or they're going to try that tomorrow, who knows? That was my working theory before I saw the lineup. One of the common opinions (not just here, but on other boards) is that Campoli should be the one sitting. We need to remember that he didn't exactly have a training camp, his conditioning (as a result of his late contract and early injury) is probably where it should be...in late September. The best is (hopefully) yet to come from him as he gets back into shape. Playing the team that walked away from his arbitration award should serve as some motivation; I expect a good game from him tonight.

Everything I've read has him pegged as a lock too but I hate jumping to conclusions when it comes to prospects. Some encouraging numbers for Pribyl in the Czechs' exhibition game against Latvia. A goal and two helpers, that should help his cause. http://www.hockeycanada.ca/index.php/ci_id/75138/la_id/1/game_id/181265/season_id/181242/ss_id/56000/

The $1.4 million is a snapshot of where things are now. Obviously, $1.4 million in space buys more later than it does now (less days left in the season to amortize the space closer to the trade deadline). I think when all is said and done (banking on there continuing to be more injuries which has been common for them this year), they'll be able to add about a $3-3.5 million player. Now if other bonuses elapse (Bobrovsky made have some unhittable ones as the season goes on since he's a backup), then they may have a bit more but I'd call $5 million probably a little too optimistic.

Tinordi was a healthy scratch for the US' first exhibition game. Hopefully that's a sign that they don't need to evaluate him and that he has a spot on the team (most feel he should be penciled in).

The Flyers, with having had a whopping 6 players on LTIR this season (Pronger, Betts, Laperriere, Gustafsson, Lilja, and Schenn) have less than $1.4 million in cap space. Suffice it to say, they will have no interest whatsoever in picking up someone with more than double Schenn's cap hit (as a good chunk of his bonuses have already expired)...plus Kaberle and his $4.25 mil. And considering what they dealt to get Schenn (as the centrepiece), he's probably an untouchable at this point.