The Official Habs Panic Thread

[REV-G]

Like everyone else I have been watching the free-fall of the Canadiens for the past two months and here is what I think needs to happen. I believe the core veteran players that have been counted on to supply both leadership and skill simply have not been able to do it. There are four veteran NHL players that I believe either can't or won't do what it takes to help this team. They are Kovalev, Koivu, Rivet and Samsonov. I believe Koivu and Rivet may not be the players we need them to be. I have the utmost respect for both these players, but I think they may have lost a step and haven't been able to produce the way this team needs them to. Koivu looks tired and worn out. I don't think Koivu is a first line center any more. Maybe a second line center, but no longer a first. I wonder if his leadership is what this team need it to be. To me there seems to be a void. Kovalev seems to be thinking only of himself and I get the feeling his teammates have lost respect. I think Kovalev is no longer helping this team and we need to get leaders both on and off the ice for the young prospects we have coming up. Samsonov was a Plan D for Bob Gainey during last years Free Agent Season. I think he has shown that he is an overpaid underachieving winger. That signing was a mistake. I think the core of this team needs to be changed and these four playwers are where I would start. We can see what we get back in return and then decide if any further changes are needed. If Sheldon Souray wants to be closer to his daughter, and Gainey should know this by now, then trade him by the deadline and absolutely don't lose him for nothing. Whats's the point of just making it into the playoffs and losing in the first or second round and then trying again net year with the same group. Our record the past five years has proven this true. If you're the owner, then a few playoff games would certainly help the bottom line. But if you're a fan, I think many feel it's time to make some changes so we can take advantage of our young assets and have something strong and solid in place for them. I think it's time for change at the core. Let's not wait any longer.

[Strummerman]

Like everyone else I have been watching the free-fall of the Canadiens for the past two months and here is what I think needs to happen. I believe the core veteran players that have been counted on to supply both leadership and skill simply have not been able to do it. There are four veteran NHL players that I believe either can't or won't do what it takes to help this team. They are Kovalev, Koivu, Rivet and Samsonov. I believe Koivu and Rivet may not be the players we need them to be. I have the utmost respect for both these players, but I think they may have lost a step and haven't been able to produce the way this team needs them to. Koivu looks tired and worn out. I don't think Koivu is a first line center any more. Maybe a second line center, but no longer a first. I wonder if his leadership is what this team need it to be. To me there seems to be a void. Kovalev seems to be thinking only of himself and I get the feeling his teammates have lost respect. I think Kovalev is no longer helping this team and we need to get leaders both on and off the ice for the young prospects we have coming up. Samsonov was a Plan D for Bob Gainey during last years Free Agent Season. I think he has shown that he is an overpaid underachieving winger. That signing was a mistake. I think the core of this team needs to be changed and these four playwers are where I would start. We can see what we get back in return and then decide if any further changes are needed. If Sheldon Souray wants to be closer to his daughter, and Gainey should know this by now, then trade him by the deadline and absolutely don't lose him for nothing. Whats's the point of just making it into the playoffs and losing in the first or second round and then trying again net year with the same group. Our record the past five years has proven this true. If you're the owner, then a few playoff games would certainly help the bottom line. But if you're a fan, I think many feel it's time to make some changes so we can take advantage of our young assets and have something strong and solid in place for them. I think it's time for change at the core. Let's not wait any longer.

Agree totally

[PB]

I am not blaming you for thinking that this team is not up to the demmanding challenges lying ahead of them this season.....our freefall status is at odd with the present group of teams competing for the 8th position......at our rate, we wont be part of that group for too long.

Watching a team play that has no cohesive identity or center of gravity is not a fun experience yet inventing

a miracle scenario that could heal all wounds is probably irrealistic.

For me our core is not essentially the cause of our downfall this year.....our team earlier successes where supported by the superlative excellence of Huet and our power play specialists.....this was a steady base that gave Carbo and Gainey an opportunity to fix the vascillating identity of our 5-on-5 game.

Nothing was done from either,....it was clear after a while that scoring goals, our main weakness last year, had not been improved, and that Ribeiro needed an adequate replacement and that our second line and overall line-ups was not working as they where set to play........this team was only a player away from being solid........while Yannic Perreault was waiting in the wings..........also an extra addition of Kotsitsyn down our lines would have provide extra scoring depth to our team.

Gainey has to provide us with the right parts and the coach as to make the whole better than the sum of it's parts.......it seems everyone was sleeping at the wheel this year and that no entrepreneurial and creative innitiatives where set in motion to bring some solutions.

Edited February 17, 2007 by PB

[Colin]

While I respect everyone's opinion, it seems to me there's a distinct lack of knowledge out there (unless somehow I've been completely misled).

Saku Koivu has a NO TRADE CONTRACT.

Talking about trading him is silliness at best.

As for the rest? Sure, if you can find buyers for those players, I don't see moving them as a huge issue.

[REV-G]

While I respect everyone's opinion, it seems to me there's a distinct lack of knowledge out there (unless somehow I've been completely misled).

Saku Koivu has a NO TRADE CONTRACT.

Talking about trading him is silliness at best.

As for the rest? Sure, if you can find buyers for those players, I don't see moving them as a huge issue.

Anyone who has followed hockey understands that players like Sundin and Koivu, if asked, often agree to waive their no trade clause, as long as they were ok with the team they were going to. A no trade clause doesn't mean a trade can;t happen, it just means the player has veto power, but can also agree to a trade. There have been some players who have enforced their no trade clause, but many have been willing to work with the team and come to a deal everyone is happy with. So, if they want to move Koivu his no trade contract may not be that big of a problem, just as it wasn't a problem with the Peter Forsburg trade this week.

[InsaneHABSfan]

Saku stays. Why do people want to trade one of the hardest workers and best players on the team. No he is not a premier centre and he does not put up Joe Sakic numbers. He does provide inspiration, leadership and offense to the team. It is not like Montreal has 4 or 5 guys to take the #1 line center position right now. Give it time while the young guns on the farm team graduate to the big club.

Right now the Habs are stuck in limbo. Sellers? Buyers? I say no way to trading the young guns. But that is just my opinion.

[St-Patrick]

i'd definitely wait a bit more to decide on the future of our core players... As much as i love a guy like Souray, he can fetch us a LOT in return.. we cant ignore dat his value is as high as it'll ever be.. and since it aint really our year anyway, why not build for 2008.. in all reality i think BG's tenure here is to bring a cup home for 2009 anyway.

[Prime Minister Koivu]

More Koivu trade bullshit.

We also need to fire our coach again..... and Gainey sucks right?

Evey time we struggle the same shit.

You ever wonder why Montreal has a bad reputation?

[The Chicoutimi Cucumber]

Fact: Koivu is going to be 33 this November.

Fact: this team has no obvious #1 centre in the system. Heck, we don't even have a decent #2.

If, then, we can include Koivu in a package that will bring us back a bona fide #1 centre, I don't see why we wouldn't. Saying that we CAN NEVER TRADE KOIVU is essentially saying that we could not possibly have anybody better on our team. But Koivu isn't even a top NHL centreman, production-wise, let alone a top PLAYER.

So if trading Saks will make the team better, we should do it.

I love the guy, but come on - it's about winning, not about clinging to quality human beings while the Titanic sinks.

In any case, my preferred option would be to keep Saks and use Souray as the centrepiece of a package that could bring us back a real, or even potential, YOUNG #1 centre. Let Koivu age gracefully as the #2 guy. But this organization will sooner or later have to confront the fact that Koivu - not really an elite C anyway - isn't going to be able to carry the load for too much longer.

[Nesquik]

Poor Koivu, he went through cancer, has never scored over 30 goals during a season, first line center, you got to agree, he wouldn't be that big because of the whole cancer thing, the guy scored an average of 20 goal per season, he shouldn't be a 1st line center, he's far from being 1, and he is 33, never got his team higher then the second round in the playoffs and hasn't shown a lot of leadership in the past months... He needs to do something

[Chris]

No kidding it's time to change the core, i have said that for 2 years now.

[sbhatt]

Saku stays. He does provide inspiration, leadership and offense to the team.

Yeah, those guys look real inspired out there....and Saku is just lighting it up offensively.

Give me a break.

I was so pissed when I found out that Bob extended him for the number of years he did at that price, I remember I kicked a garbage can across the room. It was a stupid move. Watching Sucku this year has just confirmed my worst fears.

[Pierre the Great]

With Huet done for the year.

Time to rebuild, seems to me we've got a lot of dead weight sitting around.

[kaos]

Yeah, those guys look real inspired out there....and Saku is just lighting it up offensively.

Give me a break.

I was so pissed when I found out that Bob extended him for the number of years he did at that price, I remember I kicked a garbage can across the room. It was a stupid move. Watching Sucku this year has just confirmed my worst fears.

Nobody can complain to Bob about that or anything else because he's not talking to the media.....what a joke. I think he needs some more time off to deal with his personal issues. I don;t believe he's doing himself or the Habs any favours by continuing to work.

[kaos]

Not a chance in hell of that happening. Your gonna see most of the same roster next year with the exception of Souray who'll leave as a free agent as well as possibly Bonk and Rivet.

[Strummerman]

The habs didnt play badly tonight. However, I think it may be over after the loss to the Hurricanes. I feel more sorry for the fans who fill the arena every night and their team won't even make the playoffs. Meanwhile the Devils can only muster 7000 fans and they got a team that contends for a Stanley Cup year after year. Life is not fair

[Wamsley01]

We have 1 bullet left in the gun boys.

It has to strike 9 people at once, but we still have 1 bullet.

Jaroslav Penney

[zumpano21]

Apparently, we want Angelo Esposito RRRRRRRRRRRREAL BAD.

[Pierre the Great]

Well the team is just washed up I guess. Somebody needs to bring new life in .

[REV-G]

I have been a Canadiens fan for many years. I have followed and supported no other team. But they have been mediocre for too many years. We have missed the playoffs more than we have made them for quite a number of years now. I am now at the point where I think we have overrated the current key players we have. Missing the playoffs more than we've made them, and not making it beyond the second round for many years when we did make the playoffs has become the pattern for us. This year we have done very poorly five on five against the other teams. As soon as our goaltending wasn't spectacular we began to fall in the standings. I just watched Carolina beat us and other than the first period I didn't think we did very well against a team that has also struggled this year. We have not brought in talented players via trades or free agency and that is now showing up. I believe we have fallen behind other teams talent wise and that may be why we are falling so quickly out of the playoffs this year. I remember last year hearing hockey analysts say that they thought Montreal had overrated their team. I now believe they are right. I hope we begin to do something to correct this. I hope we don't think one free agent signing this summer will turn this around. It's time to move some bodies and make some changes.

[stjrandy]

The team needs to be reinvented sometime but that's probably not before the off season. Right now the problem with the team has been lousy goaltending. This causes the skaters to try harder to score and that leads to breakdowns and stone hands. Perhaps losing huet for the season and the emergence of Halak will right the ship.

[Pierre the Great]

The whole entire island is now on fire the fire is out of control. panic reaches its zenith people are lost oh my oh my, what thou has happened to this team which many a thought was going far. oh my oh my.

[InsaneHABSfan]

Yeah, those guys look real inspired out there....and Saku is just lighting it up offensively.

Give me a break.

I was so pissed when I found out that Bob extended him for the number of years he did at that price, I remember I kicked a garbage can across the room. It was a stupid move. Watching Sucku this year has just confirmed my worst fears.

OK smartypants, who in the Habs organization is the #1 centre?

I feel your pain about the term and amount of dollars, however if there are few horses in the stable you have to go with what you got. Should Montreal have promoted Chipchura to take over the #1 spot?

The fact that Montreal is playing to their talent level in no way should surprise anyone here. Also I am observing an overtone of general dissatisfaction wih each other here which is unfortunate. I like this board except when it falls down with people calling each other out instead of just good old plain arguing.

All is not lost as there are some good young players in the system that really should be on the big club to learn and develop. Montreal fans are very impatient and from this years performance I would hope everyones eyes are now open and expectations of a cup this year is muted.

I think it is time to try and get some young talent for the UFA's Montreal has next year. This is not giving up, just smart player management. Unfortunately, me thinks Bob Gainey believes a little to much in this roster and will do nothing.

Well I am off this Board for a few months until things calm down as I see a big storm approaching and it is time to duck and cover....

Edited February 18, 2007 by InsaneAVSfan

[hab29RETIRED]

Saku stays. Why do people want to trade one of the hardest workers and best players on the team. No he is not a premier centre and he does not put up Joe Sakic numbers. He does provide inspiration, leadership and offense to the team. It is not like Montreal has 4 or 5 guys to take the #1 line center position right now. Give it time while the young guns on the farm team graduate to the big club.

Right now the Habs are stuck in limbo. Sellers? Buyers? I say no way to trading the young guns. But that is just my opinion.

I'm a big Saku fan. BUt for the past 2-3 weeks the effort has NOT been there. In the past when his line was struggling, it was bcoz his linemates were not finishing on his setups. this year he has NOT shown any signs of being a leader, nor is he showing that he can carry this team on his back and out of this slump. And he is only getting older. Even during the first half of the year, where he was on pace for one of his best years, a lot of his success was on special teams.

Right now the whole team stinks.

They are not showing the courage necessary to get of a slump. They are spending the entire PP time on the periphery, guys are not willing to pay the price and go to the net. They'll have three guys battling in the corners and cylcing back and fourth, but no one is in front of the net. There is no one willing to take the punishment to stand in front of the net to screen the oppostion's goalie. Early in the season both Higgins and Koivu were paying the price in front of the net and were deflecting or banging in rebounds from Souray's shots. Now, Souray is only a threat if he scores himself. No one is showing the courage to screen the goalie or stand in front of his shots. They need guys willing to pay the price like Ryan smyth did against the leafs on his goal tonight. They have to have their forwards willing to put their ass in the goalie's face and force the oppositon's D to take penalities by moving them.

Instead, all we see is a team playing like a chicken with their head cut off, staying outside or passing back to the point.

Right now, i don't think anyone on their roster should be untochable except for Komisarik, Latnedrese and Higgens. ANd if I was GM, i'd even move them if there was any chance of gtting someone like Lecavalier (higly unlikely). But at this point, if Koivu did waive his no trade and someone was offering a can't miss prospect or someone like Getzlaf, I would not even think twice about it.

This team needs to be blown up. The core (Kovolev, Rivet, Souray (only bcoz how much he is going to cost, and bcoz he is our most tradeable commodidty), Bouillon, Dandenault and ryder should be moved.

One of Bonk or Johnson (both UFA's), should be moved.

By Feb 27, you may even have someone willing to take Niinemma or samsonov, even if it is just for draft picks, the habs should do it.

Koivu, i would only move if it was for someone you can't pass up on (i.e. Getzlaf, Marleau).

Bottem line is that the habs have a lot of young promising forwards coming up, but they are lacking the guy who can carry the team on his back and get 90-100 points in the future.

Apparently, we want Angelo Esposito RRRRRRRRRRRREAL BAD.

we have no hope in hell of getting him. As bad as we are, we can't possibly get as bad as the flyers, LA or columbus or chicago - all of who I might have probably have a much brighter future then the habs do!!!!

While I respect everyone's opinion, it seems to me there's a distinct lack of knowledge out there (unless somehow I've been completely misled).

Saku Koivu has a NO TRADE CONTRACT.

Talking about trading him is silliness at best.

As for the rest? Sure, if you can find buyers for those players, I don't see moving them as a huge issue.

yes he has a no trade contract, but given the disaster this season has turned into, he may waive it for the right situation (i.e. Wild, Ducks).

Edited February 18, 2007 by hab29RETIRED

[Dutch_Habs_Fan]

After tonights loss, and the loss of Huet for the season i believe Bob has to focuss on next year. How hard it may be. Offcourse we still have a shot at being number 8(and from that every team had a shot at the cup). But i think we gotta face it that this team without Huet doesnt have that big shot.

I think we need to get as many picks or young talent we can get at trades. (offcourse important people like Koivu/Markov/Higgins/Komisarek etc should be kept) But if we fill the empty places with good UFA's next season (like Smyth f.e.) added with talent. We might have something better than we have now..