My Message for Bob Gainey

[The Chicoutimi Cucumber]

It all comes down to home team fanbases overrating their own players. If you offered Leaf fans Koivu and Plekanec for Sundin they would call you crazy, if you told the habs fans of the same deal they would call you crazy (that is to much for a 37 year old). habs fans are still gun shy from the Roy/Leclair/Desjardin blunders. So they fear trading anybody of consequence away.

Gainey has proven pretty adept at the trade table, so I don't understand the fear. He is not Rejean Houle. I agree that the only untouchable on the team is Price. Nobody else has shown the type of potential he has in his 2 years. Komisarek would be hard to deal as well because they have dealt with the growing pains and he is just about to enter his prime years.

Everybody is screaming for heads, they are fed up with mediocrity yet they don't want to do anything dramatic. So if all the players we have are going to lead us to greatness then just sit back, crack a cold one and enjoy. If this team is the same as the last 10 years then endorse any deal. It cannot be both.

If everybody bought into Carbo's system the impact of Koivu's slumps would be less dramatic because great goaltending combined with strong defense means you would contend in every game. It might save the streaks from being catastrophic.

Koivu has lead this team as far as it is going to go. This team needs to A. acquire a front line scorer or B. be patient that the kiddie corps will evolve into a Cup contender and allow Saku to be a complimentary cog. I am not trashing Saku, I am not questioning his leadership, but if he was as good as some people think he is....we would not have won 3 post season series in 12 years.

Good stuff. But I favour a combination of A and B. The young players form the nucleus of an excellent cast of complementary characters. But I don't see a genuine offensive leader among them. We need to acquire A to get the most out of B IMHO.

[Habsfan]

you don't think Koivu would bring a good return?

I think we could get a 1st round pick for him. But that's not what the Habs need right now. The Habs need a BONAFIDE Power forward, a REAL Scorer, a game breaker.

I hate to say it, but we need a guy like MAts Sundin( a few years younger than Sundin). A guy Like Vinny Lecavalier, Rick Nash, Joe Thornton, Ryan Getzlaf etc.etc.etc. Koivu with a 1st round pick would still not be enough to land one of those players!

Now I love the guy and he obviously has room to grow. However, he's thus far shown disturbingly few signs of becoming anything more than a 30-goal, 50-60 point man - a Long Island version of JP Dumont - and he certainly has given no indication that he can become that offensive catalyst the team desperately needs.

That is what they drafted him for. I remember when they drafted Higgins, they said he'd become a great 2nd or 3rd line centre. A guy who could give you 25 goals and 60 points and at the same time be solid defensively. I don't ever remember anyone in the organization saying that higgins would one day score 40-45 goals with 100 points. He doesn't have enough of that "finishing touch" around the net to be placed in that category!

Edited December 5, 2007 by Habsfan

[CBHabs_fan]

Why did we ever convert Higgins to the wing. I'd be a lot happier with Koivu Higgins PLeks up the middle, provided we had at least one capable winger with each..

[CBHabs_fan]

That reminds me, watching Slowinski out there makes me long to see Recchi on the 1st line instead of that poky bastard..

[tokyohabs]

So we come full-circle.

Koivu's leadership is not in question; it is his role on the team. Cucumber's fears would be greatly allayed, I feel, if Koivu can end up a second- or third-line centre. For that to happen, we have to trade for a top-line centre, which probably (assuming we hang on to Koivu) includes Plex, a d-man, and a prospect. If we package Koivu, it will be difficult, admittedly, because in all likelihood he'll be attractive to contenders, who will hardly be willing to deal away a top-line centre before a Cup run.

In terms of Wamsley's real concerns with players and the coaching system, I confess I'm shocked to see a management team like ours produce as inept a defensive team. Something has to give here. Bob has put himself in a real tough spot, though: if the players are tuned out of Carbo, he has to go; but if he goes and (Lever?) replaces him, the roasting in the media will be insane. Hell, maybe the purge is needed, in order to get the 'kids' in line with the current regime.

If we make no trades, I think that Plex has to become the visible 1st-line centre, logging way more minutes than Koivu.

In response to whether Koivu would bring a high return in a trade, I think with the right package around him, to the right team in need, he would bring an excellent return. It's not like Ryder, who has only one asset - Koivu slumps, but he can skate, pass, sees the ice, great awareness...

And in response to the 'would you trade the Kostisyn's for Ovechkin?' question, I'd phone the Caps and ask, 'Are you sure that's all you want??? Shall I drive the boys down personally?'

[Habsfan]

And in response to the 'would you trade the Kostisyn's for Ovechkin?' question, I'd phone the Caps and ask, 'Are you sure that's all you want??? Shall I drive the boys down personally?'

Washington would have to be NUTS to trade Ovechkin for the KOstitsyn's. As much as I like our boys, especially the younger K-#### brother, i doubt either one of them will ever become as good as Ovechkin is today. Let's not forget, that Ovechkin is only 21 years old! He will be a force in this league for the next 13-14 years!

Edited December 6, 2007 by Habsfan

[Seb]

We're better than last year for the simple reason that Plekanec has matured, and Andrei Kostitsyn is maturing as well. Plekanec is good enough to play with Kovalev, and when kostitsyn is good enough to play with them, they'll be our first line.

[tokyohabs]

We're better than last year for the simple reason that Plekanec has matured, and Andrei Kostitsyn is maturing as well. Plekanec is good enough to play with Kovalev, and when kostitsyn is good enough to play with them, they'll be our first line.

We missed the playoffs by a point last year. Think it will be that close this year?

And I agree about Ovechkin, it was a question put to me, not my idea.

[hab29RETIRED]

If there aren't a lot of options out there at this time of year, either:

a) make them an offer they can't refuse (not Ryder and Huet; more like Koivu, another experienced player, a prospect plus our draft choice next year - that at least will get noticed)

b ) bide your time, hope that it turns around because it's still early for us too.

Option a anyone?

I firmly think Koivu had his last push last year. He has been great for us, no doubt; but to ask him to still be the first line ctr, the first option, the focal point on O, is bordering on absurd. He's 34? Had cancer? Bad injuries? Give him a chance to reduce his minutes (3rd line?) and, with more energy, maybe be more effective. Or trade him to some team that will.

By the way, does Smoked's no-movement-clause mean he can't even be waived???

back in the summer when i was complaining about the habs not only signing another dead weight 4th liner line Somolinski AND offering the stiff a NTC, i was blasted by everyone saying a 1 year NTC is not a big deal. In today's salary cap nhl, every contract is a big deal. Having Lapierre here for the whole year woud have been cheaper and probably more effective then Lapierre.

How many 4th liners is Bob going to continue to sign without addresing the need for a true number one line game breaker. How many players like Begin, Kostopolus, Chipchura, Striet, Dandenault (when they are playing forward), Murrey (i know he is FINALLY gone now), Lapierre and Somolinski does one team need.

Why the hell was Breeze by signed again. I don't care how much they are paying him, he is still WASTED dead weight. Why does bob keep signing or trading for 6th/7th defencemen like Streit, Dandenault, Gorges, Bouillon and Breeze by. If we had moved Souray last year they could have got a REAL d-prospect. THis year if the habs don't move Huet and Ryder they WILL WALK for NOTHING as well.

I was saying at last year's trade line what the hell is Ryder still on this team??? The only way the habs are going to get that impact player in the draft is to be one of the worst three teams in the league. Which nobody wants to see - a leaf fan maybe satisfied with that approach, but in the name of Sam Pollack, make a trade already!!! We already know we cannot sign a UFA - NOBODY wants to come to Montreal and pay the high taxes and deal with the idiotic french media. The only way the habs are going to get the impact player they need is to make a trade. They NEED to move Ryder and Huet NOW or they WILL lose them for nothing.

Why not make a push for Marleau or a Hossa (although i doubt he would re-sign), offering a prospect, Ryder, 1st rounder and a grit guy like Begin that SJ could use. Guys like Begin have been around since Houle got raped by the Avalanche and are easily replaceble. What we need is a stud on the first line and let Koivu, Plekanac and Chipcura taking the remaining centre positions.

Anyway, enough of a rant. But i came to montreal and shelled out $180 for a crap game and felt like wearing a bag over my head like the leaf fans did in the 80's. I'm also getting fed up with this annual 2nd qtr collapse by the habs. Clearly the habs ARE NOT good enough to compete with the current lineup. Can't the brain trust see this????????????

[BTH]

Even if Smolinski didn't have a NTC, there's absolutely no chance that Gainey trades him, no matter how terrible he performs. It's really only a sign of assurance and commitment to Smoke, so he can sleep at night.