Favourite player

[Wamsley01]

I was looking through my closet last weekend and unearthed my stack full of Habs jerseys from over the years.

I have about 7-8 ranging from the early 80s when I was a kid to my most recent purchase of a Latendresse last year.

In order: Lafleur, Shutt, Richer, Roy, Corson, Theodore, Roy (adult size) and Latendresse

Personally I picked up on Lafleur because my dad loved him, same with Shutt. But on my own my first favourite was

Denis Herron, then Wamsley, Penney and then I finally got to worship a truly great goalie in Patrick Roy.

When Theo won the World juniors I had high hopes and he followed through on them in 2002, but never really fulfilled

the goal of winning the title. Now it is Price.

I have always gravitated towards goaltenders (hence the Wamsley moniker) and was wondering what draws

you guys to a particular player? I just read Macaskill say he loves Komisarek and Lil #### and I was just wondering

why? Garon30 is a goalie so i get that.

What about everybody else?

CC, why Bo Gainey?

Edited March 13, 2008 by Wamsley01

[Psycing]

I tend to like the guys who can handle the defensive aspect of the game while playing big, strong, and mean when they need to.

Steve Begin will always be one of my favorites because of the way he plays - but with him injured so often (mostly thanks to his style) I gravitated towards Komisarek last season as my favourite Habs. What's there not to like?

Then, following Serge this season and watching him blossom into an all-around player has been great. When I got to catch some games @ the Bell this season, I really kept an eye out for the things you miss watching the games on TV. One of the things I caught was the defensive awareness Serge has. The kid (then again, who am I to call him a kid? not all that much older than him myself, haha) always has his head on a swerve and keeps to feet moving to make sure he's in the right place at the right time.

I could be mistaken, but with only 40 games under his belt, Serge already has more fighting majors under his belt than Big Gui. Pretty impressive if you consider Kostitsyn the younger doesn't exactly strike fear in opponents with his 5'11, 196 pound frame. Then again, with some of the hits I've seen him throw this season, guys might want to keep their heads up when Hunter's protégé is on the ice.

I'm also a huge Carey Price fan. Just as I was a Hackett fan during Jose's days, I was waiting for Price to overtake Huet since the season began. Since I watched Price defeat (with the help of one, Jonathan Toews) team USA @ the 2007 World Juniors, I believed.

[sbhatt]

Lafleur, Naslund, Richer, Kovy: highly skilled offensive players who could/can bring you out of your seat with plays/shots

Roy: he was clutch, and carried us to two Stanley Cups

Honorable mentions to Nilan and Kordic, who filled the role well back when the Habs actually had some toughness. There'd be less running of our tender and less cheapshots on Kovy and Plex if we had someone like these two guys laying down the law.

Edited March 13, 2008 by sbhatt

[Athlétique.Canadien]

Carbonneau, but all of you already knew that.

[Athlétique.Canadien]

It's what I remember about Carbo. His own timely shot block that should be the trademark of that skill today across the NHL. When he did it he'd throw his weight out from under himself, fall from a vertical position to horizontal one perfectly and it was usually off his shin pads or the skates. Risky for injury. He did it again and again and again and no powerplay or attack could break it. It's true that loose pucks led to goals against that he deflected, but it was VERY rare. To top it all off he was a clutch scoring CAPTAIN :hlogo: . Down a goal or when you needed a goal more than ever - Carbo. He always made those clutch goals so easy. He did it with grace and precision. That's why he's my hero.

again and again again and again again and again again and again :hlogo:

[les_glorieux]

I've always liked to cheer for goalies: Hackett, Theodore, Garon, Huet, Price. I've only been following the Habs closely for past 4-5 years, but my favourite player was always Koivu. The little guy, the underdog, the captain. In times of few things to cheer about in the standings, Saku's personal victories were bright spots.

I'm also a huge Chris Higgins supporter. I know he's having a off season, but I've always been impressed with his combination of grit, hard work, scoring touch, great defensive abilities, and leadership qualities. He's also a bit of an underdog since he was never projected to be a scorer. Sergei Kostitsyn is edging in there and I can see him being my favourite player in 3-4 years. Still, if someone offered me a personalized jersey, I'd have a really hard time deciding between Koivu and Higgins.

Question: does anyone know of any good places to find some good Koivu signatures?

Edited March 13, 2008 by les_glorieux

[KoZed]

My memory is a bit hazy, but when I started following hockey I was about 6-7 yrs old. It's also the time I started to draw alot. Especially goalies. So I had a huge attraction to goaltenders from all the league. My first fave player was probably Pelle Lindbergh but that was cut short.

I started cheering and following closely the Habs about when Roy hit the scene in 85-86, so that was my first favorite player. A bit later it was Richer because the Habs used to have a "boring defensive" team so having that big shooting 50 goals scorer was so new and cool.

Post-Roy Era, I'd say Koivu in his early days was a fave of mine. Small, creative but played big. Too bad injuries hit him so early and frequently in his career.

I'd say Plekanec is now my favorite Habs. Small, smart, shifty, consistent, great work ethics, not afraid of anyone, extremely reliable, rarely makes mistakes. Everything I tend to like in players.

[Fat Tony]

Dryden was probably my first favourite goalie, but I liked Beliveau, Cournoyer, Lemaire, Shutt, Pete Mahovolich, Plante (Leafs), Parent (Flyers), Penney, Billy Smith, Chico Resch, Kelly Hrudey, Theodore (still like Theo) and now Price. I've played goal since 1973 and been a goalie fan since a few years before that and Carey Price has the most potential of any goalie I've ever seen and I was saying that before he even played a game with the Bulldogs. I'd have to say that Bernie Parent is my all time favourite player, as Carey Price would say...so far...

[JoeLassister]

All time : Roy / Malakhov / Corson / R. Courtnall / Recchi /

Current : Komisarek / Kovy / A. and S. Kostitsyn / Markov

I base my choices on pure talent, courage, speed and a little special something (Recchi famous wrister).

[Helmethead]

Fisty, gutsy little f@ckers who knew no fear and played with their HEART tattooed on their sleeve.

Lemieux, Chelios and Roy from the '80's.

Recchi, Koivu, Tucker from the '90's

Higgins and S. Kostitsyn from today's crop of youngsters.

Honorable mentions go out to Frankie B., Stevie B. and my long lost cousin Tom Kostopoulos. These players have the type of intangibles needed in order for your team to gel.

[Easy Ryder]

All time Habs : Guy Lafleur

Current Habs : Alex Kovalev

All time league Mario Lemieux

Current league : Alex the Grat Ovechkin

Worst all time Habs : Darcy Tucker

Current Habs : Used to be Smolinski now it's Grabovski the Unforgiven

All time league : Ulf Samuellson

Current league : Sid the bitc* Crosby

[bar]

I really like players who haven't had it easy to get to the league, like Ryder, he's paid his dues in the ECHL, AHL, and had 3 good seasons. This one seems to have gotten away from him a bit, but I think he's performing well with what limited ice time he receives.

Kosto is another favourite of mine, its hard not to chear for the guy.

My all-time favourite Habs is Koivu, he's got guts, heart and its with all the problems in his life, he's amazing he can still compete.

Edited March 13, 2008 by bar

[Wamsley01]

Great responses, thanks.

It is funny when Theo left I was pretty much left without a favourite player.

I loved Markov because he does everything so well, I loved what I saw from Higgins at the end of 06 and the beginning of last year and I had high hopes for Latendresse

from what I had seen in junior (especially him stepping up in those QMJHL/Russian All Star games). I always knew that Huet was a stopgap so I never really got attached

to him. Koivu, I always liked him, but I have never gravitated to Centers or setup guys. I usually favour pure snipers, power forwards and goalies.

So it came down to Lats, Markov and Higgins for the latest jersey and when Lats went on that scoring spree when Higgins went down I jumped the gun and put him on it.

In retrospect I wish I had bought a Markov. But I still hold out hopes that Latendresse can turn into that power forward we have been waiting for.

But now my favourite is without a doubt Price. The second he stopped Mueller I began to believe, and when he came in as a rookie and essentially carried the Dogs to the

Calder Cup my decision was made. He is well on his way to becoming that intimidating presence on the back end that the Habs have lacked since Roy (other than the

1 year miracle Theo tossed up in 2002).

[MAK]

as a kid I was a fan of Gainey, roy and richer.

growing up I was a fan of Brunet. Although he was always injured, montreal seemed to find ways to win when he was in. the fact that he grew up in a town near of mine helped I guess.

players I always loved were feisty little buggers and goalies. safe to say that Sergei kostisyn and price will be my favourite.

[Habsfan]

All time favourite Habs: King Patrick. You all know why!

present favourite Habs: Komisarek. Just bought a jersey with number 8 on the back. I was interested in Komisarek from the moment the Habs drafted him. I followed his exploits in Michigan as much as I could. I really started to like Komisarek in the 2004 playoffs vs Boston when he levelled Joe Thornton into the boards. Thornton was never the same for the rest of the series afte that hit. Komi is Big, strong, plays solid defensively and has a bit of a mean streak in him. Plus he,s respected by the other players in the league...let's not forget that he'll be our next captain!

All time favourite in the League: Mike Bossy...he's the only player to ever score 9 straight seasons of 50 goals. The purest goal scorer to ever play the game. bar none! Had he not been injured and reitred so early(30 years old) he would have surpassed gretzky's record of 892 goals.

Current League favourite: Vinny Lecavalier. The perfect player!

Player I used to hate: Dale hunter(when he was with the Nords) as well as Michel Bergeron(the Coach). I hated his arrogant look and the way he chewed his gum like a cow.

Player I hate today: Avery followed by Tucker in second place.

By the way, this is a Great idea for a thread !

Edited March 13, 2008 by Habsfan

[Wamsley01]

All time favourite Habs: Patrick Roy

Present favourite Habs: Carey Price

All time favourite in the League: Patrick Roy (non Habs) Mario Lemieux

Current League favourite: (non Habs) Alexander Ovechkin

Player I used to hate: Ray Bourque!

Player I hate today: Eric Cole

Edited March 13, 2008 by Wamsley01

[Fat Tony]

Great responses, thanks.

It is funny when Theo left I was pretty much left without a favourite player.

LOL, I was in the same boat. I tried to make Huet that guy but while he was great for us he just wasn't if for me...now that I've got Price, I hope I don't need to look for a new favourite until about 2030

[Neech]

Is it possible to change the Fav Habs thing in our profile information? I can't figure out how.

[Wamsley01]

Is it possible to change the Fav Habs thing in our profile information? I can't figure out how.

My Controls

Edit profile information

[Neech]

My Controls

Edit profile information

Thanks.

But now it doesn't want to let me change it, my birthday information is already blank, but when I try to 'amend' my profile with the new Fav Habs info it says that I haven't entered valid birthday info, although that is in the optional section.

[KoZed]

All time favourite Habs: Patrick Roy

Present favourite Habs: Tomas Plekanec

All time favourite in the League: Bossy, Denis Savard, Pavel Bure.

Current League favourite: (non Habs) Lecavalier, Kopitar, Radulov.

Player I used to hate: Wayne Gretzky, Rob Ray, Cam Neely, Matthew Barnaby.

Player I hate today: Cole, Tucker, Neil.

[SAKS-AVENUE]

Ever since this thread was posted I've had a massive spiral backwards into my youth. I can seriously attach almost all my memories somehow and in some way to the Habs. At first it was Dryden, than Lafleur. I actually was a part of a Guy Lafleur fanclub. Some notebook of lined paper I got at Shoppers drug mart. It had a picture of Guy on the front, but not like a hockey card action shot. It was him dressed in jeans, and a dress shirt leaning on a tree with the wind blowing through his hair. He looked like Neil Diamond and quite gay actually. LOL!!!!!! Anyways, in the back of the book was an application for the fanclub, I still think I have the membership card which had that goofy autograph of his, where he puts the flower at the end of his name.

I ended up finally getting a Jersey when I got older. Richer!!!!!!! The man! at that point anyway. Ended up being my lucky Jersey for years until 1993. In the first round I got a little worried against Quebec. So I carefully cut off his numbers and name. Need I say more. It's still my lucky Jersey.

Two more Jerseys made it into my closet after that. Kirk Muller which is signed, and believe it or not Lyle Odelein. The big 24!!!!!! Wonder if they'll ever retire that one. He did get 5 assists in one game to tie a Montreal Canadiens record held by Doug Harvey. Wish we had a guy like him now. A good solid stay at home defenseman who can fight his ass off. I loved that guy, who knows why? Maybe that's why I like The Cube so much now. To a lesser degree he reminds me of Cornelius(Lyle looking like an ape joke)

My favourite Habs now? Saku. Don't want to argue with anyone about this, but he's one of the greatest people to live, let alone be the captain of my favourite team.

The next big thing in Montreal, and who I find myself pondering the idea of getting another Jersey for old times sake is #74.

Back to the Spiral. See who remembers this stuff. I was looking for something else. It was a video with "The triple crown" line of Marcel Dionne, Charlie Simmer and Dave Taylor and came across this. Have a laugh boys.

*DISCLAIMER- Not Habs related, but very funny none the less.

Hurtin for the Certain

[The Chicoutimi Cucumber]

This is an odd thread for me, because I tend to be more of a 'sweater' man - the individual players come and go and I tend not to get too fixated on any one guy. I also idolized the Flower, but that doesn't count to me, because my childhood hockey memories are so hazy. Still certain players do stand out.

Favourite players:

Kirk Muller. I just loved his game. Crushing hits, great playmaking, he did it all. To this day I maintain that he would have been a respectable back-up choice for the Conn Smythe in 1993, and we wouldn't have won without him. My regret with him is that he got old really fast, and is now remembered mainly as a grinder instead of the 40-goal scorer he was with us.

Saku Koivu. I will always regret that this organization failed to give this great-hearted player the opportunity to win, and to be the player he could have been. (Not only did we condemn him to playing with losers, we also contributed to his injury problem by failing to surround him with players who might have drawn checkers away from him).

Patrick Roy. Obviously.

José Theodore. I loved his swagger and style, the fact that he was a bad-ass, and that he had so much talent. His implosion was painful and puzzling...I'm glad he's found his game again.

Kovalev. Big, moody, mercurial, intimidating Russian who makes amusing comments to reporters and comes off as a force of nature. There's comedic value to go with ridiculous talent. That he takes entire seasons off merely adds to the charm for me. (Not that he doesn't piss me off ).

Honourable mentions go to Carbo (one of the smartest and most irritating players I've ever seen) and Craig Ludwig, for his outrageous elbows.

What I can't understand are people naming Stephane Richer. There is a gentleman who in my opinion made a concious choice NOT to live up to his jaw-dropping talent. Muller for Richer is one of our great deals. That we traded rock-solid Odelein to get him back merely seals my disgust.

[Neech]

Kovalev. Big, moody, mercurial, intimidating Russian who makes amusing comments to reporters and comes off as a force of nature. There's comedic value to go with ridiculous talent. That he takes entire seasons off merely adds to the charm for me. (Not that he doesn't piss me off ).

Yeah, for the two previous seasons Kovalev was exasperating, but I always found him amusing. Like when he just glides into the offensive zone really slowly with the puck on his stick, and it throws defenders off because they don't know what to do about it. Or other times it would fail and he would look foolish. His style is just inherently funny in a way, and there's something funny about his face as well.

He seems to be among the more intelligent hockey players I've seen interviewed. Plus I saw this TSN feature on him, and apparently he plays the sax and is a pilot. The image of Kovalev sitting in a cockpit flying a plane is amusing as well.

If Kovalev won a Cup with us he might become my all-time fave. As of now I don't have one.

[The Chicoutimi Cucumber]

Yeah, for the two previous seasons Kovalev was exasperating, but I always found him amusing. Like when he just glides into the offensive zone really slowly with the puck on his stick, and it throws defenders off because they don't know what to do about it. Or other times it would fail and he would look foolish. His style is just inherently funny in a way, and there's something funny about his face as well.

He seems to be among the more intelligent hockey players I've seen interviewed. Plus I saw this TSN feature on him, and apparently he plays the sax and is a pilot. The image of Kovalev sitting in a cockpit flying a plane is amusing as well.

If Kovalev won a Cup with us he might become my all-time fave. As of now I don't have one.

Hey, cool, I thought I was the only one who thought about Kovalev this way

My guess is that Kovalev has a certain sense of the absurdity of it all. This probably comes from being so naturally gifted that everyone else usually seems like a bit of a joke. You know, he can go and crush Tucker with his elbow like a giant swatting a fly, or he can casually walk around a defence in seeming slow-motion. But he's a giant with sometime feet of clay, which likely compounds his sense of absurdity.

And it also probably comes from being a Russian in North America and thus intrinsically a fish out of water.

I will say that if I were a rookie Kovalev would intimidate the shit out of me. I would probably try to hang out with Higgins and Komisarek at the other end of the dressing room.

Definitely one of the most interesting Habs, as a human being, or so it seems.

Edited March 14, 2008 by The Chicoutimi Cucumber