Habs sign Yanick Lehoux

[Habitforming]

Nice depth/veteran move for the farm.

Nothing more.

[MAK]

Nice depth/veteran move for the farm.

Nothing more.

yep !!

he's ahl material at best.

[KoZed]

Nice addition, at 26 Lehoux isn't extremely old and he's a PPg in the AHL.

I actually scouted Lehoux for HF back in 2000 when Lehoux was a junior player. Kid always had good offensive upside, good skating, good puckhandling. I think LA and PHO didnt develop him properly.

Lehoux was from the same draft class as Antoine Vermette. Both were pretty similar in juniors and had comparable offensive upside and Vermette was on a very strong team in Victoriaville (Mallette, Lombardi, the Thinel Bros, while Lehoux was basically carrying Baie-Comeau on his back . Vermette was actually the softer, least defensive of the two but he had the best skating and hockey sense.

So, in short, I think Lehoux's upside is still there. If there's a rash of injuries he could be a deserving candidate for a call-up. In any case, I think right now he's automatically the Bulldogs best offensive weapon due to his track record. Since there's probably going to be a whole lot of very young & unexperienced guys on the farm next season (Pacioretty, Maxwell, Weber, Desharnais, Beauregard, White, etc.) having two vets who can put up point in the AHL like Lehoux and Glumac can only take pressure off the kids and allow them to come around slowly but surely.

[Easy Ryder]

Good acquisition for offensive purpose at the C.

Cannot ask Trotter and Maxwell to perform a PPG in the AHL in the first year.

Pac-Lehoux-D'Agostini would be a nightmare for the opposite team.

[simonus]

Nice addition, at 26 Lehoux isn't extremely old and he's a PPg in the NHL.

perhaps you mean the AHL?

[blaze53]

perhaps you mean the AHL?

Most likely

[Trizzak]

perhaps you mean the AHL?

Maybe he's played 1 game in the NHL and got a point?

[jetsniper]

Whaddaya know, I never thought I'd see his name again outside of HWL.

[Easy Ryder]

I don't understand why the sarcastic comments on Lehoux signing, i think

Julien Brisebois is building a team to contend for the Calder Cup and a prooven

scoring centre was needed.

Next move for the Dogs is to have a veteran defense and Dandenault could fill Karl Dykhuis old skates.

[TheAussiePosse]

I don't understand why the sarcastic comments on Lehoux signing, i think

Julien Brisebois is building a team to contend for the Calder Cup and a prooven

scoring centre was needed.

Next move for the Dogs is to have a veteran defense and Dandenault could fill Karl Dykhuis old skates.

That's like asking Mario Lemieux to come back and lead our forward corps - a man among boys

No, I'm sure we can get Patrick Traverse from the Sharks. He's 6'4, and hasn't yet peaked. He's got a future on him, if only we can give him a chance!

And best of all, he's Quebecois! I mean, isn't that the way we're going anyway? Tanguay, Laraque, Denis ...

[Habitforming]

Maybe he's played 1 game in the NHL and got a point?

10 NHL games actually.

And he scored 2 goals and 2 assists in those 10 games

[simonus]

That's like asking Mario Lemieux to come back and lead our forward corps - a man among boys

No, I'm sure we can get Patrick Traverse from the Sharks. He's 6'4, and hasn't yet peaked. He's got a future on him, if only we can give him a chance!

And best of all, he's Quebecois! I mean, isn't that the way we're going anyway? Tanguay, Laraque, Denis ...

OK, now let me second Easy Ryder's statement.

Like Easy said, this is an AHL signing. This is a guy signed to help the minor league team. KoZed talked about the fact that when he was drafted he seemed to have good upside. KoZed hopes that he is a reclamation project, and I certainly don't know enough to disagree with him. I think everyone agrees that the kid has a pretty horrible shot to ever make an NHL team at this point.

Seriously Aussie, as far as your last statement, are you saying:

1) The Canadiens are going back to a Quebec over skills strategy, or

2) People on this board want more Quebecois on the team no matter what and assume Quebecois will be better when wearing the tricolore.

I read you as saying #2 and dude, c'mon. This is overwhelmingly an anglo board and the number of people who advocate something even close to a blind quebecois policy number in the single digits. Easy certainly isn't one of them.

[TheAussiePosse]

OK, now let me second Easy Ryder's statement.

Like Easy said, this is an AHL signing. This is a guy signed to help the minor league team. KoZed talked about the fact that when he was drafted he seemed to have good upside. KoZed hopes that he is a reclamation project, and I certainly don't know enough to disagree with him. I think everyone agrees that the kid has a pretty horrible shot to ever make an NHL team at this point.

Seriously Aussie, as far as your last statement, are you saying:

1) The Canadiens are going back to a Quebec over skills strategy, or

2) People on this board want more Quebecois on the team no matter what and assume Quebecois will be better when wearing the tricolore.

I read you as saying #2 and dude, c'mon. This is overwhelmingly an anglo board and the number of people who advocate something even close to a blind quebecois policy number in the single digits. Easy certainly isn't one of them.

Haha, c'mon man, really? I'm having a dig at most of the comments on this board, from him being a reclamation project (like Traverse was), to him being brought back because he's Quebecois, to him being too good for the AHL.

Obviously it's not a serious post. Just like I'm not a serious poster. Just like Vancouver is not a serious cup contender.

So go Dogs.

[BTH]

I don't understand why the sarcastic comments on Lehoux signing, i think

Julien Brisebois is building a team to contend for the Calder Cup and a prooven

scoring centre was needed.

Next move for the Dogs is to have a veteran defense and Dandenault could fill Karl Dykhuis old skates.

Maybe this is our answer to missing out on Briere? A message from Brisebois to Gainey that the Bulldogs are closing in on us and are ready to switch leagues and take over the NHL?

Given the amount of young players on our NHL team it seems like that transition is half done.

[Habzmaniac]

I see the signing as a positive. a depth move and provides some veteran help in Hamilton. In the world of hockey you never know what could happen. We picked up Steve Bégin off waivers when he couldn't make the Calgary team. Daniel Briere bounced around a lot before he became the player he is today. Martin St-Louis too. You never know when a player can just burst out.

[CerebusClone]

Worst case scenario: Yannick Lehoux performs as expected during training camp, and becomes a great addition in Hamilton, where he can help our young guys like Pacioretty perform better, gain confidence, and play on a winning team.

Best case scenario: Yannick Lehoux proves everyone wrong, and pulls a Martin St-Louis (although he doesn't really have an excuse for not making it thus far, he was never limited by his size like St-Louis or Briere). In that case, we get another offensive winger while a different good player goes to Hamilton to help the kids.

Realistically, I hope Pacioretty and Lehoux become an increasingly dominant duo for the Bulldogs next season, to the point where we'll have to make room for Patches before the playoffs.

[w00t_n00b]

Worst case scenario: Yannick Lehoux performs as expected during training camp, and becomes a great addition in Hamilton, where he can help our young guys like Pacioretty perform better, gain confidence, and play on a winning team.

Best case scenario: Yannick Lehoux proves everyone wrong, and pulls a Martin St-Louis (although he doesn't really have an excuse for not making it thus far, he was never limited by his size like St-Louis or Briere). In that case, we get another offensive winger while a different good player goes to Hamilton to help the kids.

Realistically, I hope Pacioretty and Lehoux become an increasingly dominant duo for the Bulldogs next season, to the point where we'll have to make room for Patches before the playoffs.

We may be making room for Patches right now. Word is we're sending two young forwards West and expecting only one back, to make room for the Max Pack.

[kenadian]

Sigh..........another one on Ek's "rumors" :puke:

[CerebusClone]

We may be making room for Patches right now. Word is we're sending two young forwards West and expecting only one back, to make room for the Max Pack.

Personally I hope this isn't the case, I don't like players skipping steps unless they are elite talents like Sidney Crosby or Alex Ovechkin. Pacioretty just made the jump from high-school to the NCAA, and after only one year he'll be playing for a profesionnal team against bigger, older, and stronger opponents.

Let's see how he does in Hamilton before making a hasty decision.

I was also not in favor in bringing up Latendresse so quickly, and so far everything I feared is materializing. He needed to play lots of minutes, improve his overall game, learn to be an offensive leader on the ice, hopefully help Canada win the Gold at the WJC, and then join the Bulldogs to learn how to do all the these things (well, not the WJC) against profesionnals.

Instead, he's been getting little ice-time playing mostly the role of a marginal forth-line player. I haven't seen much improvement on his overall game, especially not offensively, and he's not even half the player he was during those first two training camps. Had he not skipped all those steps, he might actually be with the Canadiens today, but as a much better player.

He's still very young and can still fulfill his great potential, but I think he's behind in his development... I hope he really is working hard this summer, and I hope Carbonneau gives him every chance to play an important role on this roster (and not be stuck with Begin and Laraque on the 4th line).

[saskhab]

I finally saw some improvement in Lats' game around the trade deadline, but in the playoffs very little was shown as his line was not given much ice. I hope the improvement that I saw in him was not just another flash of what he could be, but a genuine step forward.

As of right now, I see him potentially playing with Higgins and Lapierre, or with Sergei and Lapierre, depending on how the Koivu line works out with Tanguay now in the fold.

And I don't see Pacioretty making the team unless there are a couple of injuries in camp.

[CerebusClone]

I finally saw some improvement in Lats' game around the trade deadline, but in the playoffs very little was shown as his line was not given much ice. I hope the improvement that I saw in him was not just another flash of what he could be, but a genuine step forward.

As of right now, I see him potentially playing with Higgins and Lapierre, or with Sergei and Lapierre, depending on how the Koivu line works out with Tanguay now in the fold.

And I don't see Pacioretty making the team unless there are a couple of injuries in camp.

Assuming we don't sign Sundin and that Carbonneau won't break the current Kovalev line, I'd like to see a lineup similar to this:

A.Kostsitsyn-Plekanec-Kovalev

Tanguay-Koivu-Latendresse

Higgins-Chipchura-S.Kostsitsyn

I could see Tanguay and Latendresse having very good chemistry together as their abilities seem complementory, and with Saku Koivu in the middle, this could be very interesting. Also, I would rather have a faster, more dynamic Sergei Kostsityn play with Chipchura; otherwise two players with low accelaration playing on the same line could be problematic.