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For depth : Two sleepers for the Habs to watch and they will come cheap and could help with our depth. Ryan Johnson 31 years/old 6'1" 202 C/LW L good skater , good fore checker and very decent defensively and versatile and good on faceoffs but limited offense , the Blues like him but are going with youth (reserve forward). ..... Matt Walker 28 years/old 6'3" 236 D/R uses his size well , good defensively , limits errors , gets puck out and will mix it but brings no offence and average skater, Blues have an abundance of young "D" studs (numbers game) , two way contract just like Jamie Rivers had last year but bolted.
I think we're in good shape when it comes to our 3rd and 4th lines - Lats, Max, Chipchura, Begin, Kosto, Grabs, Stewart... not to mention Higgy and Koivu may drop to the third line depending on if we get a top center.
Who?
no thanks.
The talks with Mats weren't just about Mats; they were about laying the foundation for all of the potential scenarions that could affect the Habs come July 1st. At least Bob will know going into the free agent signing frenzy knowing his status with Sundin, and just how tenaciously he should pursue him.
Gainey undoubtedly has a plan B, C, D, etc., and will enact on them accordingly because of the framework of his free-agent strategy that he's put in place from the day that he got Sundin's exclusive negotiating rights.
Who knows? Maybe Sundin told Bob that he wants to pull a Selanne; "Go ahead and make the changes that you're interested in, but leave 3-million free for when I give you a call at the All-Star break..."
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Plan B - Hossa - too much money, contract too long
Plan C - Rolston - going to Tampa
Plan D - Streit, Breezer, Slowinski..... oh no... here we go again.
Let's go for Plan S - Stay where we are. Opportunities arise later for GOOD teams with CAP SPACE ... AND who have GREAT PROSPECTS to trade. Some team with an expensive sniper will be glad to swap big salary for solid young guys. But if we fill the cap space with bad deals... we're done like dinner.
~Listen to the smart dog!
It wouldn't surprise me if Gainey's Plan B is to stand pat, or to maybe make a small tweak, rather than to go for the biggest fish remaining in the pond. The one thing that you can't replace as the season goes along is cap space.
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Hope you're right Chuck. I think we have a good team now. Maybe a 1 mil tough guy with a smidgen of talent and we see where that takes us.
~Listen to the smart dog!
We had a chance to get a 6'4" 240 lbs bruising and gritty forward and we let him slip out of our fingers. Ryan Malone would've brought some much needed brawn to our team chemistry. Let's hope we don't pick up another small player that other teams can throw around like a rag doll come playoff time.
No, we didn't have a chance to pick him up. He wasn't available until July 1st. Tampa traded for his rights and thereby was able to convince him to sign with them. The fact that his dad was recently hired in the organization somewhere might also have something to do with it...ya think?
I didn't know about his father being in the Bolts' organization. Sure, I guess that would persuade him.
Tampa can waste their money on him.
no thanks.
It's about winning a Stanley Cup, not money. You make it sound like you're writing the team payroll cheques.
Well, they're not winning the Cup either lol.
I never said they (Lightning) were going to win the Stanley Cup. I just mentioned that The Habs would have benefited enormously from an acqusition of a Ryan Malone type player.
Buffalo signs RFA Paul Gaustad to 4 year deal , that's one player i would love to have on the Habs .... TSN>CA .... http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=242088&lid=sublink01&lpos=headlines_nhl
And Buffalo got him at a great deal.
This NHL sometimes.
We don't need another defenseman, we need to give O'Byrne more playing time. And remember this, Habs fans:
Every year, we think the Habs are going to sign great big free agents to bring us closer to the cup. And every year, we're wrong. So how about this for a plan B. We have the same team with a few minor changes, and we look forward to the playoffs being the real test.
If we sign no one else, we're still better that we were last year (+Tanguay, -Ryder) and we were pretty good last year and look better next year (Philly-Umberger).
Good article on HockeyBuzz (an extremely rare phenomenon) about different stages of team development the other day. Basically, old teams have to pay up for quality because they only have one more shot. Up and coming teams have less to worry about because their core is improving. Then there's Detroit, which finds Swedish Yzermans in the 5th round every year. Damn them.
HEY, the nickname is the FLYING FRENCHMEN! I don't give a rats a$$ if the other team scores 10 goals per game, so long as we score 11...to paraphrase some old buzzard in laff-land. "Defense, Schmefense"! I want OFFENSE!...the best defense is a strong offense!
young d coming out the wazoo, and only a year away from them making a splash in the lineup. No need to sign a big name d.
I don't think anybody was complaining when Bouillion plastered opponents into the boards or stuck up for anyone of his team mates.
D isn't our main concern, it's a BIG centre. Which we've lusted for every time Sundin would hide the puck on his stick,or when Florida with their large swedish Captain would have their way with us for so many years or even when the Habs would rarely play the canucks and get caught watching Bert dangle the puck between his legs and score in OT. I could go on.
BTW I only remember Bouillion playing for two other organizations.
I BLEED BLEU BLANC ET ROUGE!!!
Florida's EX-captain is from Finland
Federov is a pretty decent alternative.
I think Bob waits Sundin out.
I just phoned Sweden and asked him what tomorrow might bring for him and he said he would call me in about 3 or 4 weeks after he knows if he will play next year or not to let me know. I know him to be a man of his word. Sure hopes this helps everyone out. Boone said he would flip me the cost of the call.
Postie Jim, thought I could get you to bite on this one, your just to sharp in your old age.!!
Where do you think Michael Ryder will end up? I'm guessing with the Dallas Stars.
He'll team up with Raycroft and do standup.
Their first joke of the night:
"So we were 1 and 2 in the Calder Cup voting"
Audience:
ROFLMFAO
That was funny. LOL
~Listen to the smart dog!
I would bet on Boston or Toronto. Boston because of Julien, Toronto because Ryder may come cheap enough and they have skewered their roster.
Tommy B. - Fletcher did mention he was interested in the UFA's but they had to be under 30 years old and no white hair so Ryder fits , good call.
Vancouver's interested because they need a RW to snipe for the Sedins. We'll see in about fourteen hours, I guess.
http://habsloyalist.blogspot.com
Canucks. Yep, I agree, I was saying that all last season. Ryder could play just on the PP with the Sedins and score another 30 easy.