Permanent Rumour Thread

[Easy Ryder]

Montreal farm team is good, their leadership coming from Don Lever and Doug Wilson

and phenomenal performance by Carey Price won the championship.

There is no phenomenal talent there. There is a lot of skilled players just not good enough to make it to NHL.

Our best prospects are not even there.

Emelin, Fisher, Paccioretti, Mcdonagh, Maxwell, Subban.

The point here is that there will be no movement from actual Dogs. Trade if they come will come from

NHL. We absolutely need an upgrade at the third line center position, that is a fact and that is why Smolinski

is covering wings at the moment while Grabovski get his last chances at not being a threat at center position.

My wishful Trade would be Dandenault for David Backes.

St-Louis are stacked with centers including top prospect Patrick Berglund, Brad Boyes, Doug Weight, Peter Cajanek.

And they are very low on Right D.

[jcc]

Montreal farm team is good, their leadership coming from Don Lever and Doug Wilson

and phenomenal performance by Carey Price won the championship.

There is no phenomenal talent there. There is a lot of skilled players just not good enough to make it to NHL.

Our best prospects are not even there.

Emelin, Fisher, Paccioretti, Mcdonagh, Maxwell, Subban.

The point here is that there will be no movement from actual Dogs. Trade if they come will come from

NHL. We absolutely need an upgrade at the third line center position, that is a fact and that is why Smolinski

is covering wings at the moment while Grabovski get his last chances at not being a threat at center position.

My wishful Trade would be Dandenault for David Backes.

St-Louis are stacked with centers including top prospect Patrick Berglund, Brad Boyes, Doug Weight, Peter Cajanek.

And they are very low on Right D.

Yeah, I too wonder about Grabovski. Too similar in size to Koivu and Pleks with not necessarily the same skills.

That would make 3 centers, each at 5-10 and around 180-190 lbs. I just do not think that will fly.

[alexstream]

Yeah, I too wonder about Grabovski. Too similar in size to Koivu and Pleks with not necessarily the same skills.

That would make 3 centers, each at 5-10 and around 180-190 lbs. I just do not think that will fly.

Too similar to Pleks... maybe Gainey have something in the sleeves concerning Plek?

Or

Maybe they wanna have Plek as the 3rd line center (IMO, Plekanec would be the absolute best 3rd line center, he's speedy enough to be the first BOTH on the forechecking AND backchecking and is talented enough in both areas... )

[MAK]

Too similar to Pleks... maybe Gainey have something in the sleeves concerning Plek?

Or

Maybe they wanna have Plek as the 3rd line center (IMO, Plekanec would be the absolute best 3rd line center, he's speedy enough to be the first BOTH on the forechecking AND backchecking and is talented enough in both areas... )

all he lacks is a mean streak. I like third liners to be more in yourface type of players.

[lazy26]

all he lacks is a mean streak. I like third liners to be more in yourface type of players.

I agree, but Pleks' solid positioning could enable him to be an effective shutdown C, with some scoring upside. His lack of size, to me, is more of a concern.

[JMMR]

Plekanec is a 2nd line center he will show you guys this year. His scoring the 2nd half of last season was not a fluke.

[The-Habby2919]

Thats right... double what he had in the second half of last season and add 10 and thats what Plex will end up with!

:hlogo:

[Habitforming]

Montreal farm team is good, their leadership coming from Don Lever and Doug Wilson

and phenomenal performance by Carey Price won the championship.

There is no phenomenal talent there. There is a lot of skilled players just not good enough to make it to NHL.

Our best prospects are not even there.

Emelin, Fisher, Paccioretti, Mcdonagh, Maxwell, Subban.

The point here is that there will be no movement from actual Dogs. Trade if they come will come from

NHL. We absolutely need an upgrade at the third line center position, that is a fact and that is why Smolinski

is covering wings at the moment while Grabovski get his last chances at not being a threat at center position.

My wishful Trade would be Dandenault for David Backes.

St-Louis are stacked with centers including top prospect Patrick Berglund, Brad Boyes, Doug Weight, Peter Cajanek.

And they are very low on Right D.

I'm not sure St.Louis would have anything to do with that one, maybe if we sweeten the pot a bit.

Backes has amazing vision and creativity and needs to leave St.Louis. He was just starting to feel comfortable at the end of last season and his output for this season looked good....until the Blues decided to bring in UFA's that pushed him down the depth charts again.

I agree though, he would look very nice on the CH

[SAKS-AVENUE]

Since there is a strange undecided air about the roster in our final week of pre-season, mostly concerning a few D and goaltending situation, I'm going out on a limb and predict Halak, Dandy, and Grabs will be gone by wednesday. I have no idea who's coming our way. Something is going on. Not to mention the fact that there isn't a real rumour going around the internet. That is usually when BG strikes. Then again, whenever I go out on a limb, the opposite happens. Take what you will from that, but I'm feeling something.

[jcc]

Since there is a strange undecided air about the roster in our final week of pre-season, mostly concerning a few D and goaltending situation, I'm going out on a limb and predict Halak, Dandy, and Grabs will be gone by wednesday. I have no idea who's coming our way. Something is going on. Not to mention the fact that there isn't a real rumour going around the internet. That is usually when BG strikes. Then again, whenever I go out on a limb, the opposite happens. Take what you will from that, but I'm feeling something.

Saks-A, i do believe your are right.

Some have been harping that Chipchura is a role player. But, who is not??? Defensive-minded forward, goal scorer, hustler, etc. everyone has a role in a team. Chips will do the job centering 3 or 4th line. O'Byrne will do the same in lieu of Dandenault, and Price instead of Halak.

And I would not be surprised either if a Begin or Kostopolous constitute part of the departed: the first is injury prone and the second, well..., has not been too visible.

[BTH]

I agree that Dandenalt will be traded this week. Grabovski I think will be traded sometime, but not this second. I expect him to keep Halak but again, he may be packaged with a guy like Grabovski later in the year.

[JMMR]

I agree that Dandenalt will be traded this week. Grabovski I think will be traded sometime, but not this second. I expect him to keep Halak but again, he may be packaged with a guy like Grabovski later in the year.

Why Trade Halak just means the Habs have to sign another back up next year and who can they get as good as Halak who is yet to lose at home and as cheap as he will come.

[BTH]

Why Trade Halak just means the Habs have to sign another back up next year and who can they get as good as Halak who is yet to lose at home and as cheap as he will come.

Yeah, I just said I don't think he will be traded but I could see it happening later in the season, if it meant bringing in an impact forward.

[Punkned]

Trade Grabovsky? Actually I don't think he has much value on the market. He's a 23 years old, 5th round choice player who has still to score a point at the NHL level and has played only one year in the AHL (without breaking anything; 54 pts / 66 games while playing with AK46 most of the time). He has some potential, but if he shows it and gains some trade value, then it will be because Kovy's line is putting up points, and then we won't want to trade the diminutive #59... I really hope we keep him on the 2nd with the AKs

I don't think that Begin or Kostopoulos will be traded either, because whe have no one else to fill their role on the 4th. Moreover, it is rare that teams trade for 4th line player - most of the time those needs are filled via waivers or the farm team...

By the way, I still believe that Bégin is a great checking line player when healthy, and that we should keep him.

[BTH]

The other teams watch the games though, they don't just check the stats. They know the potential he has and I bet they saw him blow by forwards like he did vs the Rangers. I could see him being part of a package for a good player.

[The Chicoutimi Cucumber]

The other teams watch the games though, they don't just check the stats. They know the potential he has and I bet they saw him blow by forwards like he did vs the Rangers. I could see him being part of a package for a good player.

Rule #1: fans of a team always overrate its prospects. We've seen this time and again around here.

I could see Grabs being of moderate interest to some other franchise, but don't expect to get much back at this point (try a 4th round pick, maybe?) and don't expect him to represent anything more than a mild 'sweetener' to a deal involving bigger-name players. Just my 2 cents.

[BTH]

Rule #1: fans of a team always overrate its prospects. We've seen this time and again around here.

I could see Grabs being of moderate interest to some other franchise, but don't expect to get much back at this point (try a 4th round pick, maybe?) and don't expect him to represent anything more than a mild 'sweetener' to a deal involving bigger-name players. Just my 2 cents.

Not so different from what I just said. I don't think Grabovski will ever hold a permanent roster spot with our team, but that other teams will be willing to take a flyer on him.

Grabovski + Ryder could probably get us a decent enough upgrade on the wing. We can also throw one of our other chips into the deal if we feel the loss of youth is worth it (and of course that we have higher prospects on the depth chart - not because, these guys suck, but because we just have lots of depth)

[SAKS-AVENUE]

Why Trade Halak just means the Habs have to sign another back up next year and who can they get as good as Halak who is yet to lose at home and as cheap as he will come.

Depends who they trade halak for. We all think our team is so loaded with prospects and we're the envy of all NHL teams since the calder cup win. It's all mostly hype that we have created in these forums. I'm not saying we don't have talent but it's not like other GM's are calling Gainey and saying We must have O"byrn or we must have Grabs, or we must have Sergei, at least we are not hearing about it.

We are hearing Edmonton and San Jose want Halak. We can afford to trade him without it hurting us. Especially if it brings us back something that truly makes us better right away. Gainey needs to stay strong and demand a great player in return or we will get stung. Like the Garth for Hossa trade.

I guess my point is Halak is the hottest thing we have right now because other teams want him. Package him with Ryder and Grabs and make sure we get something back that makes us better right now. We CAN afford to do this .

[Chris]

Hossa? He is a fringe player with the Rangers. How did the Habs get burned on that? They got what they wanted, a tough griity player with some size. Murray isn't the best but he does his job.

I agree about the trade of Halak + Ryder to get something better. I say they need a top line LW. Why? If they move Ryder, Kovalev can move up to the top line with Koivu, Higgins moves back with Pleks and Kosty, habs best line down the stretch last year. Then you get another LW to play with Kovalev and Koivu.

I like the 3rd and 4 th line combos.

[SAKS-AVENUE]

Hossa? He is a fringe player with the Rangers. How did the Habs get burned on that? They got what they wanted, a tough griity player with some size. Murray isn't the best but he does his job.

You are right about Hossa being a fringe player with the rangers. At the moment. I feel that there is still a lot of room for that kid to get better. I don't think he will be as good as his brother but I think he will be a 30 goal man in this league one day.

Murray has already shown us what he's all about. A spare tire . Every team needs a guy like this, he has value. Not at the expense of a Hossa type player though. We could argue this into the ground, not what I want to do. I feel Hossa is the better player in that deal , that's all

[Mr. Nasty]

It would be a pretty amazing accomplishment if Hossa were to suddenly become a 30 goal score. His career best is 10. How long is a team suppose to wait?

Edited September 30, 2007 by Mr. Nasty

[BTH]

Last I heard, Hossa was going to be starting the season on the first line with Gomez and Jagr.

[JMMR]

You are right about Hossa being a fringe player with the rangers. At the moment. I feel that there is still a lot of room for that kid to get better. I don't think he will be as good as his brother but I think he will be a 30 goal man in this league one day.

Murray has already shown us what he's all about. A spare tire . Every team needs a guy like this, he has value. Not at the expense of a Hossa type player though. We could argue this into the ground, not what I want to do. I feel Hossa is the better player in that deal , that's all

Only way he scores 30 goals is if Jagr demands him on his line in NY. He is a very streaky player and cold 80% of the time.

[SAKS-AVENUE]

It would be a pretty amazing accomplishment if Hossa were to suddenly become a 30 goal score. His career best is 10. How long is a team suppose to wait?

A team should wait as long as it takes when they believe in a player. I took John Leclair in my hockey pools for years. I remember my friends would laugh at me for it. He would always score ten goals in ten pre season games and then go cold in the regular season. Montreal gave up and look what happened. I don't care what line he was on or who he played with.

Only way he scores 30 goals is if Jagr demands him on his line in NY. He is a very streaky player and cold 80% of the time.

Well according to BTH that just might happen

Last I heard, Hossa was going to be starting the season on the first line with Gomez and Jagr.

There is no denying Hossa is better then Murray. It's a GM's job to realize potential in a player and along with a coach bring out the best in him. The habs did what they had to do but I feel we got robbed. Time will tell.

Now back to my point that started all of this. Halak is a great goalie and we can afford to have him go be great somewhere else .But let's make sure we get the better player in the deal this time. I don't feel that happend in the Hossa deal. Halak has way too much of an upside to only get a Murray type player in return.

Edited September 30, 2007 by SAKS-AVENUE

[Athlétique.Canadien]

Halak has way too much of an upside to only get a Murray type player in return.

Trading Halak only makes sense if a GM out there is truly willing to make an exchange that is equal to Halak's "potential" stock. Montreal showcasing Halak as the season goes on will turn "potential" stock into "real" stock. I don't see him being moved, at least not yet.