Chipchura traded to Anaheim

[habs rule]

Chpchura will score 45 goals next season with the Ducks, and he'll be twice as fast.

rotflmao

[BCHabnut]

well, i hoped he would be good, but I like either of Pyatt or White a lot more for that role. Good luck Chips. I hope you get some confidence in Anaheim.

[huzer]

I remember when Chips was drafted it was as a character/captain guy, something he never evolved into with the Habs. Man, does the 2004 draft ever look crappy.

[brobin]

Say what you want about Gainey, but it looks like the last part of last year and this year have clearly shown him what he has, and what he hasn't. I would say that Price and Plek are the last guys Gainey is still holding out hope for (I don't consider Markov needing hope, he is everything we hoped for already).

This is the biggest gutting of a team I have seen in the NHL in a long time. Gainey is really rolling the dice with what he is bringing in and the jury is still out.

Laps might be next, but that would probably require a player swap ala Lats, not a pick. Halak may also go given Gainey has made it clear he has no future with this team. Might as well trade him and use a more vet backup who is content to play 15 games.

So we have changed 75 percent of the team, the coach, and even the owners... Gainey might be next if this doesn't start turning into a team...

[sakiqc]

Let's just give kudos to Pyatt and White. They came out of nowhere and kicked out of the team 2 ineffective players.

It is actually not a mystery how they did it: they played at full speed and gave it all. You cannot sit on your abilities or on your potential.

This is a strong message to the rest of the team, and a message that I'm sure can translate well with many of us Habs fans in our own personal life.

This is a wake up call. Let the real leaders stand up­.

[kaos]

Gainey turned a 1st Rd pick 18th overall into a 4th round pick. And they could have had Zajac or Wolski instead. Everybody knew they should take Wolski. Everybody knew that Chipchuras skating was not NHK worthy. Everybody knew that Chipchura would never be anything better than a 3rd line centre at best. Just terrible management

[CoRvInA]

I think the rule changes that stress stronger skating and general skillset really hurt Kyle. He would have been more effective in the old NHL, and was drafted for it. Oh well, it was time to go - good luck to him......

This is what STRESSES me out. He wasnt drafted to long ago, The old NHL was already gone when these guys were drafted. Proof is HE and Lats were both sidelined in the National Canadian team final games, WHat was it that Timmins saw in them is my worry!!! they were talented enough, they were both smarter and showed more character than most other players of their age. So what went wrong? bad luck? players with low incentive? were they getting laid too much in mtl? I don't know. The habs have screwed 4 more years of development and crap yeah it happens, its part of the game, but tell me it wasnt Timmins fault and if so what else is wrong in the prospect environment?

[Colin]

This is what STRESSES me out. He wasnt drafted to long ago, The old NHL was already gone when these guys were drafted. Proof is HE and Lats were both sidelined in the National Canadian team final games, WHat was it that Timmins saw in them is my worry!!! they were talented enough, they were both smarter and showed more character than most other players of their age. So what went wrong? bad luck? players with low incentive? were they getting laid too much in mtl? I don't know. The habs have screwed 4 more years of development and crap yeah it happens, its part of the game, but tell me it wasnt Timmins fault and if so what else is wrong in the prospect environment?

No Boucher.

[Prime Minister Koivu]

I wish Chips the best.

He showed some amazing promise at times but equally amazing junk at times. Good luck with the Ducks.

[redondo]

This is what STRESSES me out. He wasnt drafted to long ago, The old NHL was already gone when these guys were drafted. Proof is HE and Lats were both sidelined in the National Canadian team final games, WHat was it that Timmins saw in them is my worry!!! they were talented enough, they were both smarter and showed more character than most other players of their age. So what went wrong? bad luck? players with low incentive? were they getting laid too much in mtl? I don't know. The habs have screwed 4 more years of development and crap yeah it happens, its part of the game, but tell me it wasnt Timmins fault and if so what else is wrong in the prospect environment?

Nope, he was drafted in 2004, the New NHL is supposed to have started in 2005. And there was no way of telling early on if it was gonna be any different - remember there have been rule changes and "stricter inforcing" of the rules before, and they gradually got loosened as the season goes on. In any event his weak skating would have been less of a glaring hole before the crackdown on obstruction and holding. That said, honestly I don't think even Boucher could have done miracles with this kid had he gotten him early enough, there's just no single part of his game that feels NHL-caliber to me, judging from what we've seen. This one feels like just bad drafting and nothing else to me. But good luck to him in Anaheim.

[KoZed]

Gainey turned a 1st Rd pick 18th overall into a 4th round pick. And they could have had Zajac or Wolski instead. Everybody knew they should take Wolski. Everybody knew that Chipchuras skating was not NHK worthy. Everybody knew that Chipchura would never be anything better than a 3rd line centre at best. Just terrible management

You'd have thought someone in the organization would have reminded Gainey about Matt Higgins, Terry Ryan and Jason Ward.

[Chips]

You'd have thought someone in the organization would have reminded Gainey about Matt Higgins, Terry Ryan and Jason Ward.

Correct me gentlemen if I'm wrong but I believe one of the major factors in drafting players for the Canadiens... is. "How coach-able the play is.."

For once can the Habs Scouting team draft players with high skill, and franchise goal scoring abilities. I'm fed up with drafting three or five year BUSTS!

GO HABS GO!

[Habsy]

For fun, take a look at some of the scrubs drafted before Kyle. Alexandre Picard, selected 8th, 2 career assists. Boris Valabik?? Lauri Tukonen?? You get my point...

[l<OV4L3V]

I wont be missing Chips at all. Not so sure why people on here were so high on him? He never did much anyway. Good Luck in Anaheim staying with the big club is all i have to say...not good luck...because he was nothing short of a failure for us.

[JCPetit]

Don't forget that Chipchura was good enough to play on the Canadian Junior Hockey Team. He showed enough leadership to be the captain of that team. With the Bulldogs, he was chosen as the captain once again (if my memory is good) of the team when it won the Calder trophy. He was not that bad, I guess, but for some reason he stopped improving.

[saskhab]

Don't forget that Chipchura was good enough to play on the Canadian Junior Hockey Team. He showed enough leadership to be the captain of that team. With the Bulldogs, he was chosen as the captain once again (if my memory is good) of the team when it won the Calder trophy. He was not that bad, I guess, but for some reason he stopped improving.

He's what in baseball is referred to as a AAAA player. Almost too good for the minor leagues, but not able to play at the majors. Not that he was an offensive star in the AHL, but he was a defensive stud who played against the top lines in the AHL and ended up with good offensive totals and a solid plus player.

[KoZed]

Don't forget that Chipchura was good enough to play on the Canadian Junior Hockey Team. He showed enough leadership to be the captain of that team. With the Bulldogs, he was chosen as the captain once again (if my memory is good) of the team when it won the Calder trophy. He was not that bad, I guess, but for some reason he stopped improving.

History is full of guys who got on the WJC and were good there but never amounted to much in the NHL; and of players who were never selected but had brilliant NHL careers. The WJC always needs to be taken with a grain of salt.

[JCPetit]

He's what in baseball is referred to as a AAAA player. Almost too good for the minor leagues, but not able to play at the majors. Not that he was an offensive star in the AHL, but he was a defensive stud who played against the top lines in the AHL and ended up with good offensive totals and a solid plus player.

You've got a point. I remember Ken Macka (it may not be the good spelling). He was an outstanding player in the Pirates farm system. Never made an impact in the majors and became a coach later on... Puzzling.

[JCPetit]

I had an argument about a co-worker yesterday who was reading a story about how the Habs first picks did not make it. I told him that was easy to do that kind of critic when you compared the Habs to teams like Pittsburg, Chicago or Washington. But the real work is to compare Montreal to teams who picked at similar ranks in first round. So far I haven't seen such comparisons, although it looks pretty easy for me to gather the stats -- most of the work is done on Hockey DB.

http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/draft/teams/index.html

Of course, it doesn't mean that Montreal wouldn't look bad after such comparisons are made, but at least it would be fun to see some journalist showing some professionalism and doing his due diligence.

[Nilan25]

Two things:

With three francophones on the team, Gainey will not trade Lapierre. He sure doesn't look like the same player.

Chipchara never did a thing for me, never saw anything he did to even be in the league. When I saw that play the other night I thought buh-bye Chips. He was sent to the West Coast faster than Bouchard was after being pummelled by Stan Jonathan. I am still puzzled by Timmins, when I knew him with the Sens he was strictly a gofer, arranging players cars, housing arrangements. Always struck me as the weirdest promotion.