Should Theo be traded for Luongo?

[Habless in Nashville]

Sorry all you Theo fans. I just read this little bit on TSN and for some reason my heart started to beat with excitement.

"Panthers General Manager Mike Keenan told the media that he made a "very fair offer" during the weekend, which according to Lupien, included no specific dollar amount.

Lupien and his client are reportedly seeking a two-year deal at $4 million US per year that would make Luongo eligible for unrestricted free agency in 2007. A longer term, according to Lupien, would require a higher annual salary.

"I think my numbers are right," Lupien told the Palm Beach Post. "I said to Mike, 'Give him four (million) and four (million) and you've got two full years to find out what number you want to give.' If you go to arbitration, it's over. You'll have to trade him.'"

I like Theo but if I had to play a Stanley Cup game tomorrow I would go with Luongo. I think BG feels the same way so the reason Ryder Theo and Markov aren't signed yet is because Gainey will pull the trigger in the next 72 hours.

I can seriously feel it.

Don't know about giving up Ryder or Markov but these are risks guys like Gainey will take to make something big happen. I do know that with the team we have with Luongo, I think we could contend for the cup strongly this year.

With Theo ................maybe?

EDIT Misleading title

[Edited on 8-24-05 by Fanpuck33]

[Hockey Town PQ]

RE: Habless in Nashville

I like Theo but if I had to play a Stanley Cup game tomorrow I would go with Luongo. I think BG feels the same way so the reason Ryder Theo and Markov aren't signed yet is because Gainey will pull the trigger in the next 72 hours.

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I dont think Gainey is the kind of GM that would go for the blockbuster deal, throughout his gm career in

Dalleas, he has shown to be an rfa signer rather than big trader. To think that we would have to get rid of a Markov or Ryder in addition to Luongo is far too much.

BG wont move untill season is started and he has better picture of what is going on around the league. The Habs have always had a tradition of slow moving, the Mike Keenan/ Mike Millbury type moves are not somthing we should consider, everytime we have we failed, ie: Roy, Chelios, etc.

[KoZed]

I already said in another thread that I would take Luongo over Theodore. But I dont believe the edge Luongo has over Theo is worth a Ryder or a Markov. That'd be just plain silly.

Stephen Weiss as had some sort of falling out with Keenan I believe. He's a good kid with untapped potential. Ask him and give the kid with proven potential in return (Ryder). At least your not losing a valuable asset (Ryder) for nothing.

[Habless in Nashville]

Something about the trail of events is just giving me this gut feeling.

Something is going down!

Just watch........After the arbitration is settled. The only thing that won't work is Keenan still would have to fork big bucks to Theo.....There could be a third team involved or even Price.

Apparently the Habs picked Price because they were going to trade him right away to a team that wanted him. Now the trade fell trough and Gainey has egg on his face or it just hasn't happened yet.

Stay tuned

[beckham]

I'm sure that Pitt would love to get Newfy Michael Ryder alongside Sidney Crosby. Ryder had his career year as a rookie, they would do well to trade him while he has value.

There is no point in dealing Theodore for Luongo, it is a sideways move, and as far as I know Theodore is not unhappy in Montreal. Although I'm sure he would love to live in Florida.

I say Ryder for Morozov + a pick, or perhaps an insurance netminder like Andy Chiodo.

[beckham]

.

Apparently the Habs picked Price because they were going to trade him right away to a team that wanted him. Now the trade fell trough and Gainey has egg on his face or it just hasn't happened yet.

There is no way they drafted Price to trade him. That is silly thinking. Price may not be Quebecois enough for you guys, but he is the best goaltending prospect the team has had since Ken Dryden. Probably better than Dryden at the same age, since Ken was still playing Tier II hockey when he was 17. Price is as smart as Dryden, but doesn't have that egghead flakiness to overcome.

[Habless in Nashville]

I don't know if Theo for Luongo would be sideways. Theo is a great goalie but I just keep thinking of the Tampa goals in the play-offs. They were chessy goals he should of had and that has always bugged me. I guess it didn't help that our forwards coudn't score on the BUllin wall. I do think Luongo would give us that.

If we are up a goal Roy would never let one in,Bullin.....never, Luongo I would trust.....Theo he always blows it in the end. I just don't trust him when it's the dying seconds of a close game.

[Fanpuck33_]

Originally posted by beckham

I'm sure that Pitt would love to get Newfy Michael Ryder alongside Sidney Crosby. Ryder had his career year as a rookie, they would do well to trade him while he has value.  I say Ryder for Morozov + a pick, or perhaps an insurance netminder like Andy Chiodo.

That is preposterous. Ryder in his rookie year was better than Morozov has ever been. To assume Ryder has already peaked is silly as well. I'll be the first to agree that he isn't a proven talent, but to call last season his career year is crazy. I don't think at all his best season is already behind him.

[Hockey Town PQ]

Again, i am not a big Theo fan, but we definetly did not hear this kind of dissing of Theo when he was saving all kinds of pucks a few years back, and i don't believe it was a fluke. i'll be honest i think this sounds like a good year for Theo to step it up and show that he is a franchise player, vezina and hart contender.

[Habless in Nashville]

Apparently the Habs picked Price because they were going to trade him right away to a team that wanted him. Now the trade fell trough and Gainey has egg on his face or it just hasn't happened yet.

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quote.....

There is no way they drafted Price to trade him. That is silly thinking. Price may not be Quebecois enough for you guys, but he is the best goaltending prospect the team has had since Ken Dryden. Probably better than Dryden at the same age, since Ken was still playing Tier II hockey when he was 17. Price is as smart as Dryden, but doesn't have that egghead flakiness to overcome.

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I don't disagree with you Beckham , I'm not making it up though. I read it in some draft analysis article. I don't know how true it is ....but with everything going on my thoughts believe something will happen invoving all those names soon.

P.S I'm not french....born in Toronto,hate the leafs and now living in Nashville

[Edited on 2005/8/24 by Habless in Nashville]

[KoZed]

Originally posted by beckham

Price may not be Quebecois enough for you guys [...] Price is as smart as Dryden, but doesn't have that egghead flakiness to overcome.

Why do you feel the need to regularly include digs at Quebecois/Europeans and/or player's alleged intellectual capacities in your posts?

Can't you discuss hockey without straying into slander territory? :nono:

[Hockey Town PQ]

What does Quebecois or not have to do with all this?

Wow that is one ridiculous comment, if i may recall some like Roy and Plante were quebecois, and it does not make them better or worse because of it!!!

[Habless in Nashville]

Maby Price should become a lawyer and GM for the Leafs. Ha Ha

I want him around he sounds like a great Hockey player for the future. Theo I love too, but there is a reason for Great one himself going with Luongo instead of Theo as number 2 with team Canada

[Habless in Nashville]

Guys stop with the french/english bull........We have goalie issues and they are all reall born and raised italians anyway.

[Edited on 2005/8/24 by Habless in Nashville]

[beckham]

Reading it in "some draft analysis article" doesn't make it true in any way. The 5th overall pick in a draft is way too valuable a commodity to play around with. Even if they did what you suggested, there is absolutley no way they would let the information out. I would say the odds are about 99.8% that the info you read is B.S. Carey Price is miles ahead of Theodore, Luongo, Thibault, Fleury etc. when they were drafted. He has a much better resume at 17, is bigger, smarter, more mature, better looking..........whatever standards you want to apply, Price is head and shoulders above those other guys at the same age. The only goaltending prospects who came close, I think, were Dryden, John Davidson (before the injuries ruined his career) and Tom Barrasso (without the toxic personality). Also Hasek, but he was in Europe before they were able to come over as easily. Guys like Brodeur, Roy, Belfour, etc. didn't come close to equalling Carey's accomplishments and potential at the same age.

[Habless in Nashville]

That just goes to show that the order in the draft players are picked means nothing. I don't feel price is a lock for the vezina trophy just cause he went high

[beckham]

Originally posted by Hockey Town PQ

What does Quebecois or not have to do with all this?

It has everything to do with every "trade" discussion on these (and most other) Montreal boards. Don't kid yourself. Do you hear anyone screaming for them to sign Joe Thornton when he becomes a F.A.? Or trade Theodore for Nikolai Khabibulin? Virtually every fantasy discussion on the boards is ethnic/culture driven. If you don't accept that you have your head in the sand.

[Hockey Town PQ]

I agree that Price has a fabulous resume and most definitly a great future ahead of him ... but his future is 3-4 years away from here.

Getting rid of Theo for Luongo, and loosing in addition another guy like Markov or Ryder, wont make us go forward, but rather backwards.

We have a great netminder, or at least over the average, why not fix the D situation. If we get rid of Markov, that would be another position to fill, where we are already lacking.

PS: Sorry about getting on my high horse for the previous french/anglo bull!

[Hockey Town PQ]

I dont want to get into this ethnic division thing, i deal with it everyday as son of immigrants living in Montreal. Of course you have to think that Montrealers will give more credit to Local talent, after all ... it is fair to give the job to an equal talent to a local.

I do not disagree that Price will be a great goalie, whether french, english, yellow ... does not really matter. Francophone players evidently have more pressure when playing in MTL, but it is also easier to identify with the team when you live here. Obviously, the habs have fans all over the globe, but the truth is that traditionally the Habs had the edge over the best Local players, and tradition paid off (thinking of the Richards, Beliveau and Lafleur but also the MTL anglo coaches: Blake Bowman) now all local players refuse to play in Montreal. And some of us would like to be able to see Vinny, St-Louis, or Luongo land in MTL to prove that it is not so bad.

[beckham]

This might also be the best chance they would ever have of getting Evgeny Malkin from Pitt. Michael Ryder seems like the perfect fit for a Sidney Crosby line, and I'm sure that Ryder would probably sign with the Pens for the league minimum for a chance to play a season alongside Crosby. I think that Patrick is having some problems with signing the Russian players, and may decide that a bird in the hand (Ryder, Hainsey, Higgins?) is worth two in "the bush" (Morozov, Malkin?). I'd like to see Gainey take a big chance, because I don't think the team as it sits is a Cup contender. Perhaps even Theodore, Ryder, + for Thibault, Morozov, Malkin. I really don't think there is a big difference between what Thibault could bring and what Theodore does.

[Hockey Town PQ]

And no I would not speak of Thornton to be signed as an FA because he constantly choked with his Big Bad Bruins when against Montreal. That is why... not because he is an Anglo! But i would have definitly have taken Iginla, Heatley, or Selanne, and so would most montrealers even though they are not French!

No one is speaking of starting an Athletic Bilbao (like in Spain - Basque country), but just to have some representation.

[Fanpuck33_]

Come on, you think Ryder would rather earn 450,000 in Pitt to play in Pitt than he would to earn 1,000,000 to stay in Montreal? I'm sorry, but Crosby hasn't done ANYTHING at all yet. If he becomes the star he's supposed to, then people might want to play there. But what player would want the chance to play with some rookie who could end up being a bust?

[beckham]

Originally posted by Fanpuck33

....  But what player would want the chance to play with some rookie who could end up being a bust?

Can I save that remark for future reference....:eyes:. Michael Ryder would walk from Montreal to Pittsburgh carrying all his equipment in a bag, for a chance to play with Crosby for the next 5 years.

[Hockey Town PQ]

Who would refuse to go play along Mario, Sydney, Recchi and Leclair!

[Fanpuck33_]

I can understand Ryder wanting to play with Mario. He was the best player in the 90's. But to want to play with some rookie? For all we know, Crosby could be the next Alex Daigle, and the Pens will suck for years to come. Why risk leaving a good team for a team with a potential rookie star, an against super star, and poor defense?