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Shootout is cool!

:puke:

Positives:

- Latendresse excelling when given ice-time

- Bonk finally silencing the doubters

- Huet an All-Star

- Aebischer shining when Huet is off

- Souray nearing 20 goals and raising his trade value (yes, I still think it will happen)

- Carbo not being afraid to make unpopular decisions

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Bob has done a very good job with Les Canadiens. How quickly we forget how bad things had become. We had no hope of winning a cup in this century. Do things sometimes not work out as he has planned OF COURSE! Does he fix them and make them right? Yes!! emphatically YES! I believed that Jose would come back as good as ever he did not. Bob fixed it. As to the Audet fiasco look at his numbers when Bob signed him. It looked like a good signing. When it blew up did he fix it ? Yes! We were the dummy's there. And he fixed that one twice. Bob is a very honorable man who will support his people to the limit (check out why he left Dallas) he is a very smart hockey man (see THE CUPS) he believes in doing what is right without fanfare notice no leaks from the Habs when he makes deals we are taken by surprise. He believes in giving people the opportunity to succeed and he is not chintzy about paying them because he wants them to succeed and stay with the organization. Ask nieuendyk if he thinks dallas was better after Bob left. Would Carbo be here if not for Bob? I for one love the fact that we have some of the best and smartest and talented former Habs coaching and running this team. Tradition is a Habs thing, we are not like the leafs we appreciate and love the former stars who gave us such glory. I have been a fan of this team for 42 years I have seen a lot of good (mostly good ) and some bad (houle tremblay was a mistake) What we have now is a possibilty of a new Habs Dynasty. Quit with the negative stuff all the time a season or a dynasty is not won or lost on 1 player or game. Bob has never been a loser and he never will be. Nor will the Montreal Canadiens. Keep the faith and trust we are really fortunate to have this group leading us.

What more can be said. Thankx Habs rule.

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Bob has done a very good job with Les Canadiens. How quickly we forget how bad things had become. We had no hope of winning a cup in this century. Do things sometimes not work out as he has planned OF COURSE! Does he fix them and make them right? Yes!! emphatically YES! I believed that Jose would come back as good as ever he did not. Bob fixed it. As to the Audet fiasco look at his numbers when Bob signed him. It looked like a good signing. When it blew up did he fix it ? Yes! We were the dummy's there. And he fixed that one twice. Bob is a very honorable man who will support his people to the limit (check out why he left Dallas) he is a very smart hockey man (see THE CUPS) he believes in doing what is right without fanfare notice no leaks from the Habs when he makes deals we are taken by surprise. He believes in giving people the opportunity to succeed and he is not chintzy about paying them because he wants them to succeed and stay with the organization. Ask nieuendyk if he thinks dallas was better after Bob left. Would Carbo be here if not for Bob? I for one love the fact that we have some of the best and smartest and talented former Habs coaching and running this team. Tradition is a Habs thing, we are not like the leafs we appreciate and love the former stars who gave us such glory. I have been a fan of this team for 42 years I have seen a lot of good (mostly good ) and some bad (houle tremblay was a mistake) What we have now is a possibilty of a new Habs Dynasty. Quit with the negative stuff all the time a season or a dynasty is not won or lost on 1 player or game. Bob has never been a loser and he never will be. Nor will the Montreal Canadiens. Keep the faith and trust we are really fortunate to have this group leading us.

Pretty much sums it up, you guys questioning Gainey's hockey acumen cuz we had a bad month are as bad a leafs fans. SUCK IT UP, we still have an all star goalie and thats the most important foundation for a competitive team.

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not much positives for me really...

id be happy if we were 4th and worked hard every night... but the fact that were 4th and work hard 30% of the time, just makes me angry, cuz we could do much better.

I dont understand how ppl can keep saying were still in 4th place... does anyobody else realise were 4 points ahead of the 9th spot... and anyone else see were still in a slump, playing barely .500... and that every other team is on a hot streak, including the toronto maple leafs... if we keep playing like this, were out of the playoffs, and there is no positives.

Edited by Haboholic
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IN BOB WE TRUST?

YES!!!!!

:clap::clap::clap: :hlogo: :hockey:

YES!!!!!

:clap::clap::clap: :hlogo: :hockey:

Couldnt say it better myself so I didnt

Edited by PMAC
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Yeah Sammy failed, not Gainey.

Here is a great article by Matthew Macaskill:

http://www.habsworld.net/article.php?id=1330

Thanks.

The keyword of the title is "Hindsight". Basically saying it's only a mistake because we know now what happened. When he signed Samsonov everyone, including myself, felt it was a great thing.

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I have to say that in my book Theodore was worth the contract he got when he got it. Its his play after that has made it look like a joke but somehow he was able to make it Colorado's misstake (TAKE THAT u bastards who stole Roy and Keane from us in exchange for junk).

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Given the proper grooming from some brilliant 2 way players, like oh...I don't know Jarvis, Gainey, carbo, or Muller, I think Lappiere has a bright future as a habs.

:puke:

Positives:

- Latendresse excelling when given ice-time

- Bonk finally silencing the doubters

- Huet an All-Star

- Aebischer shining when Huet is off

- Souray nearing 20 goals and raising his trade value (yes, I still think it will happen)

- Carbo not being afraid to make unpopular decisions

It might not be a bad thing either. I agree that Souray may go, but I worry about the PP without him.

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Wish we could go back to the first 10 games and play like that. Thats my possitive memory of this season so far.

Higgins - Koivu - Ryder (from the first 10 games)

Samsonov - Bonk - Johnson (from lately)

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I have to say that in my book Theodore was worth the contract he got when he got it. Its his play after that has made it look like a joke but somehow he was able to make it Colorado's misstake (TAKE THAT u bastards who stole Roy and Keane from us in exchange for junk).

Hahahaha :lol:

The universe does correct itself afterall. *cough* Brisebois *cough*

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Unfortunatly the Habs are a team that can't figure out what to do ... they're a team at the fork in the road ... do they.

A ) go for broke and trade away some picks / prospects to take a run at the cup ?

B ) hang on to those picks / prospects and contiue to rebuild. And run for the cup with what they have.

BG has always done a great job making trades and aquiring help without giving up alot. Take Ninnima , Sammy ... all that was given away to get them both was Ribs and some cash. The only prospect he's givin up is Hossa ( waiver problem ) .. and we all know how well he's doing in NY :puke: ... so unless BG bucks his own trend and starts to move some prospects to take a run .. it still seems like they're rebuilding. So all we're going to see is a team that's good but not great until the propects develop. I think BG fears to say the word rebuild in a city like Montreal for fear of a fan uprising.

Hopefully this team will look very different next season as about half the roster needs new contracts and they're might be some really good UFA's in the offseason like Doan , Marleau etc.

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Unfortunatly the Habs are a team that can't figure out what to do ... they're a team at the fork in the road ... do they.

A ) go for broke and trade away some picks / prospects to take a run at the cup ?

B ) hang on to those picks / prospects and contiue to rebuild. And run for the cup with what they have.

BG has always done a great job making trades and aquiring help without giving up alot. Take Ninnima , Sammy ... all that was given away to get them both was Ribs and some cash. The only prospect he's givin up is Hossa ( waiver problem ) .. and we all know how well he's doing in NY :puke: ... so unless BG bucks his own trend and starts to move some prospects to take a run .. it still seems like they're rebuilding. So all we're going to see is a team that's good but not great until the propects develop. I think BG fears to say the word rebuild in a city like Montreal for fear of a fan uprising.

We have been rebuilding for years, and we are fortunate that we only missed the playoffs once the last few years, and then got to the 2nd round a few times too. The habs couldve just as easily been the leafs, missing it every year haha. Now we are starting to come out, but there are still some issues obviously. Who will step up to fill the offensive void? will it be the younger guys over the next few years, or do we need to go out and get a free agent? We have a lot of forward prospects, not all will have a place on the roster, so perhaps it makes sense to trade one or two for a more established producer.

Edited by Dirty Harry
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The reason I trust gainey, apart from his indisputable record as a winner, is that his moves ALWAYS make sense. That's not the same thing as saying they always work out.

But take Ribs for Ninimaa. The Habs were in a pinch on the blueline. Ninimaa was a player with a solid pedigree, a record of performance as a near-all-star calibre D-man, who had fallen on hard times. If he could recover some of that form, then the trade would be a steal. And Gainey might have recieved a defencman of comparable quality to Ninimaa back for Ribeiro, but he wasn't going to get anyone else with as high an potential upside as Ninimaa. So, he pulled the trigger.

The trade didn't work out. Ninimaa - ill-used by the coaching staff by being played on the wrong side, incidentally - will clearly NOT recover his old form. But given the information he had, it was a well-thought out, calculated risk. (UNLIKE, say, Roy and Keane for Thibault/Kovalenko/Ruscinsky, or Odelein for Richer, or Turgeon/Conroy for Corson/Baron, or Tucker for Poulin, or V. Bure for Zalapsky...shall I go on?)

Bob's thought process is always careful, thorough, and sensible. Over time, that approach will lead to more good decisions than bad, which is why Bob ends up a winner.

As for overpaying: there's some truth to this. HOWEVER, it is an inescapable fact that if you want to sign UFAs, you will almost certainly 'overpay,' period. (Although it's open to question what 'overpaying' means if you're really just paying 'market rate.') And I don't know how one can say that Souray isn't 'worth' more than $3.5 mil. He's a top-5 offensive defenceman. Many teams will pay at least $5 mil for him. We can arbitraily pull figures out of thin air, of course, and say he's 'worth that.' But you have to work in the context you find yourself in.

So maybe Bob shouldn't sign UFAs or keep the ones he already has. But how would we look without Kovalev, Koivu, Souray, Markov, Rivet, etc.? Probably not too good, eh? So the problem of overpaying is systemic, not merely a matter of Bob's delusions. (And nobody anticipated Theodore's total meltdown, so that wasn't 'overpaying,' unless you're a psychic...)

Go Bob! :hlogo:

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Gainey's hands may also be tied. Everything that I have read is that with the tax situation and the intense media scrutinty, it may cost more to get players to come here. So it may just seem like he is consently paying over asking price. May be the sad facts of managing the Montreal Canadiens.

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with the tax situation and the intense media scrutinty, it may cost more to get players to come here. So it may just seem like he is consently paying over asking price. May be the sad facts of managing the Montreal Canadiens.

Very good point...it just doesn't make sense for free agents to chose Montreal most of the time.

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Personally, I think time is the key word here. Give Gainey time to work with the team. Like many have pointed out on this board, star players haven't exactly been lining up to sign with the Habs for a long period of time. And it does take a lot more time to build something up than it takes to tear something down. It took Gainey years of hard work to make the Minnesota/Dallas franchise into a Cup-winning franchise, and they actually only won it once. Still, if that is what waits at the end of the rainbow, I'd be willing to wait just a little while longer.

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I feel like with the way this team has been playing lately, BG won't be a buyer at the trade deadline - there's no sense that one more centre or whatever will get the cup, even if it's a healthy Forsberg. But I don't see him selling Souray, either, even if he doesn't have much sober hope of keeping him. That kind of move would send a real vote of non-confidence down to the dressing room, the fans, etc, even if BG actually feels that way about the team's chances. The externality cost would be huge, so unless there would be some shocking benefit, I don't think he'll do it.

All this just to say that I think Gainey, unlike a lot of other GMs, has a sense of the big picture that is very welcome.

Edited by Oleg Petrov
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The reason I trust gainey, apart from his indisputable record as a winner, is that his moves ALWAYS make sense. That's not the same thing as saying they always work out.

But take Ribs for Ninimaa. The Habs were in a pinch on the blueline. Ninimaa was a player with a solid pedigree, a record of performance as a near-all-star calibre D-man, who had fallen on hard times. If he could recover some of that form, then the trade would be a steal. And Gainey might have recieved a defencman of comparable quality to Ninimaa back for Ribeiro, but he wasn't going to get anyone else with as high an potential upside as Ninimaa. So, he pulled the trigger.

The trade didn't work out. Ninimaa - ill-used by the coaching staff by being played on the wrong side, incidentally - will clearly NOT recover his old form. But given the information he had, it was a well-thought out, calculated risk. (UNLIKE, say, Roy and Keane for Thibault/Kovalenko/Ruscinsky, or Odelein for Richer, or Turgeon/Conroy for Corson/Baron, or Tucker for Poulin, or V. Bure for Zalapsky...shall I go on?)

Bob's thought process is always careful, thorough, and sensible. Over time, that approach will lead to more good decisions than bad, which is why Bob ends up a winner.

As for overpaying: there's some truth to this. HOWEVER, it is an inescapable fact that if you want to sign UFAs, you will almost certainly 'overpay,' period. (Although it's open to question what 'overpaying' means if you're really just paying 'market rate.') And I don't know how one can say that Souray isn't 'worth' more than $3.5 mil. He's a top-5 offensive defenceman. Many teams will pay at least $5 mil for him. We can arbitraily pull figures out of thin air, of course, and say he's 'worth that.' But you have to work in the context you find yourself in.

So maybe Bob shouldn't sign UFAs or keep the ones he already has. But how would we look without Kovalev, Koivu, Souray, Markov, Rivet, etc.? Probably not too good, eh? So the problem of overpaying is systemic, not merely a matter of Bob's delusions. (And nobody anticipated Theodore's total meltdown, so that wasn't 'overpaying,' unless you're a psychic...)

Go Bob! :hlogo:

I have no doubt that souray will get close to $6M on the market maybe even more. That will be by those gm's that haven't figured out that you can't pay a guy who is not either 1) your number 1 defencemen, 2) your top forward, or 3) a broduer level goalie, that kind of money and have success. There are only a handful of defencemen that i think are worth that kind of money: Neidermeyer, Pronger, Lidstrom (phaneuf and other will be part of that group once he is a free agent in 6 years). It would not make sense for the habs to shell out that kind of money for Souray, coz he is essentially a one trick pony. The guy the really need to re-sign is Markov. I would love for the habs to keep souray, but not at the expense of not being able to have the salary left to field a contender.

I also don't think Bob is delusional - like i said before - compared to Houle, Gainey is the second coming of Sam Pollack and has brought back respectablility to the CH. I don't wknow what it is, maybe as a former player who gave it his all, night in, night out (this IS after all the guy who played in the playoffs with TWO separted shoulders), that he thinks the guy he signed will try to live up to that salary. But these days there are just too many players who mail it in, and just don't even come close to giving it their all. That's why i just don;t understand why he wanted Arnott. The guy has all of the tools - size, skill but just does not have that extra desire that is needed to be an elite player.

I think you have to factor in a guys character these days as well, before you start throwing big money at them. Coz, you can't be making the mistakes like the NYR and the leafs have made for years, by just keep on writing big checks in the hope that some of your signings will work out.

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I have no doubt that souray will get close to $6M on the market maybe even more. That will be by those gm's that haven't figured out that you can't pay a guy who is not either 1) your number 1 defencemen, 2) your top forward, or 3) a broduer level goalie, that kind of money and have success. There are only a handful of defencemen that i think are worth that kind of money: Neidermeyer, Pronger, Lidstrom (phaneuf and other will be part of that group once he is a free agent in 6 years). It would not make sense for the habs to shell out that kind of money for Souray, coz he is essentially a one trick pony. The guy the really need to re-sign is Markov. I would love for the habs to keep souray, but not at the expense of not being able to have the salary left to field a contender.

I also don't think Bob is delusional - like i said before - compared to Houle, Gainey is the second coming of Sam Pollack and has brought back respectablility to the CH. I don't wknow what it is, maybe as a former player who gave it his all, night in, night out (this IS after all the guy who played in the playoffs with TWO separted shoulders), that he thinks the guy he signed will try to live up to that salary. But these days there are just too many players who mail it in, and just don't even come close to giving it their all. That's why i just don;t understand why he wanted Arnott. The guy has all of the tools - size, skill but just does not have that extra desire that is needed to be an elite player.

I think you have to factor in a guys character these days as well, before you start throwing big money at them. Coz, you can't be making the mistakes like the NYR and the leafs have made for years, by just keep on writing big checks in the hope that some of your signings will work out.

I think people are really underestimating the value that Souray's 20 goals & 45 points have for them team, it's worth 5 mill.

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29, I think it's significant that Bob pulled away from Arnott once he saw the kind of big-money, long-term offer Nashville laid down. He WAS, however, sensible to go after Arnott: as a second-line centreman, he would be light years ahead of Ribeiro or Plekanec, would offer an important dimension of size and toughness on our top two lines, and produce enough offence to be a valuable complement to Kovalev, Samsonov, or whoever. I don't think that gainey saw Arnott as a saviour, just a useful piece of the puzzle. Which, frankly, is what he's been in Nashville, it seems to me.

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Everybody seems to be looking in the wrong direction. Bob's gotta make a deal. Guy's gotta fix the lines. How about the 18 guys wearing skates and helmets not going through the motions for a third of the game? How about somebody in the room breaks some carbon fibre over a table and shakes everyone out of their self-induced sleep-skating? How about somebody gets some balls and drives to the net more than once a period? How about somebody makes an extra effort?

I would dearly, dearly love it if, just once, an owner or a GM had the cahones to tell his coaching staff to take the night off and have the players coach themselves for a game. I know it will never happen in a million years, but wouldn't you just love to see it?

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Picking up Traverse when the team already lacks quality d-men.

For now, all I'll add to this thread is that that was a completely irrelevant and useless point. Adding a bad player doesn't make the guys we've already got any worse, it's just adding depth. Plus, he was a player for the AHL team anyway. Plus, he was later swapped for a better defenceman in Biron anyway.

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