smon

Dryden seems to have been quite the character. See him in the House of Commons today and it would not be out of the question to see him as some kind of professor (mind you, he is a lawyer) Anyhow - I'll go with Roy.

That`s true. I don`t really bear any ill-will against him though, I`m glad to see he resurrected his career somewhere (looks like it`s Carolina)

Precisely, those clowns put their personal enmity with Roy over the interests of the team. And Houle, the completely inexperienced GM that he was, got fleeced.

Can somebody find me Gainey's chicken commerical for St-Hubert? It was deleted from youtube

I think we might see some restraint from GM's this year. Can't imagine anyone aside from Hossa getting anywhere near what Briere, Drury, Gomez, etc scored last offseason. Lots of second tier forwards (reclaimation projects like Holik and Nagy). In terms of defenders, Campbell will probably ink something around Boyle's contract, Redden in the 4-5.5M range. Blake and Foote I'd imagine would have to take a bit of a paycut wherever they end up. As for goalies, slim pickings. Theodore, Huet and Kolzig headline the possible list.

^ Yeah, that's true. Anyways, Kovalev will probably not be nominated, let alone win. He's having a great year, but he hasn't carried the team on his back the way a guy like Ovechkin has in Washington, or Malkin has in Pittsburgh since Crosby went down. It's just not on the same level at all.

Probably the "play/report". The Panthers will probably argue that Toronto knew Kilger was not willing to play due to his personal issues. Alternatively, it could be possible that they mean a certain condition on the trade wasn't met.

Well, by that logic any player over the age of 35 could be considered useful. It's too bad that Smolinski has been so subpar, I actually remembered him being a pretty good centre for the Senators...but it's not really a big deal, he plays a limited role anyway.

Actually, quite true

Why? Hossa is a good player, and if he comes at a reasonable price, why not? And the Yashin comparison is just not well thought out. In Hossa's contract squabble with Ottawa (which occured when he was an RFA by the way, not a holdout), he was fooled by Muckler into signing a long-term deal and then booted out of town within hours.

Did some research on Google, mostly info from a Washington Post article (link below). Carey was always a bit of an enigma, lots of nerves and very sensitive. He was traded from Washington to Boston because of his poor playoff play the year after the Vezina win and took it personally. The Bruins management disliked his attitude and he was adjusting to new equipment when he posted atrocious numbers, and he was hurt when the team questioned his work ethic. It all went to his head, he had never really had to compete for a starter's role at all in his career. He was a "natural" talent and didn't like that he was competing for a job. Short story, he was flopping all over the place on the ice, poor positioning, the whole deal. Lost his job to Byron Dafoe, got demoted, his desire was questioned. Went to St Louis and played a few games the next year, but it was clear he had lost his desire to play. He had an inner ear concussion playing in the IHL in 1999 and left hockey at age 24. Hockey wasn't the be-all/end-all of his life and I guess that didn't sit well in the NHL. Here's the word from his former agent Brian Lawton in 2000.... "Jim made $800,000 or $900,000 the year he won the Vezina and then he signed a four-year, $11 million contract. And Jim has done so well with his investments that he doesn't have to work. He's working on his business degree at the University of Tampa and looking to get involved in the financial world. It's disappointing that Jim didn't persevere because he still had a lot to give to the sport. Despite everything that had happened, 24 was too young to leave hockey.'' He lives in Florida and has completely left the world of hockey. He refused to be interviewed for the story. I guess his Vezina is collecting dust in his basement. Kind of sad really but it seems his life turned out well anyhow. http://members.tripod.com/~mscapsfan/carey0700.html

Best way to find all these - www.legendsofhockey.net, go to player search.

Yeah, absolutely terrible movie - but wow, she really opened my eyes with that one.

Come on now, if Koivu had 2 pts in 9 games and was -7 over that span, I bet too many of you would be screaming slump. But I digress, there is no question Plekanec is having a fantastic year. I think it's possible to be a fan of both, anyway. Good points Colin, there's frankly so much drivel and hate being expounded on the team captain. BTH, sure people can be upset. But it's a little unnerving that there's so many people rushing out of the woodwork demanding that he be driven out of town. Have some faith. And if people can't, then fine, but it's ridiculous with the same threads constantly going about Koivu. No one knows why he was struggling this year (heck, he probably doesn't know) but he seems to be getting back into gear and that's obviously best for him and the team.

Well, that would be the best case scenario for Ryder, his agent, and the Canadiens He's not going to be back, I think that he and the team would probably mutually agree a change in scenery might do him some good. Mind you, he could put up a Pisani-esque tear in the playoffs and change the whole nature of the ballgame.

Well, if you think about it logically, virtually every team in the league has a starting goaltender who they are comfortable with OR have someone who have they committed to long-term. There's a lot of parity at this position across the league. The only teams who could take him would be Tampa, Washington (despite Kolzig's big contract, they think he's over the hill) and Los Angeles. Tampa made their bed with Mike Smith, Los Angeles is just gunning for Stamkos, so voila hello Washington.

I was kinda pissed off watching it, you'd think they'd do something for Gainey. Like maybe play good D and shut out the other team, not the other way around.

I like Washington - aggressive, showing their players and their fans that they want to compete (although I have doubts as to whether this will mean anything more than a strong push for 8th). Montreal should be around a C, it's a fair assessment. Nothing lost, nothing gained type of thing.

Yeah he always had that dramatic story, Frenchman who doesn't start playing hockey until a late age, becomes starting goaltender for the Canadiens. The stuff movies are made of really.

Haha, change the title of the thread - no election this spring, that's guaranteed.

Well, kind of disappointed because I was expecting more. Wasn't really the Huet trade, which I suppose was inevitable (although seemingly ill-timed). It was that the team didn't pick up a defensive centre for the playoffs.

I think Huet was a good goalie for the Canadiens in the past two seasons - team player, never complained, gave it his best shot I think he deserves a lot of credit for that. It was quite the story to see him unseat Theodore for the starter's role and singlehandedly save that season for Montreal.

That would actually be pretty funny. I don't know, but there's always hope in Habs land.

He's hardly Brian Campbell, no

Well Higgins had a good time tonight...great game for the team.