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Carbo on Tanguay, Laraque, Sundin
posted by Mike Boone at 20h30 EST on Jul 7
Re Laraque, Carbo said "it's not my style of coaching to have a guy at the end of the bench just to fight."
"I haven't changed my philosophy," Carbonneau added. "I think Georges can contribute. He understands his role and he's a mature player with a lot of experience."
Will Laraque give Carbonneau the kind of minutes he got from his fourth liners last season?
"I hope so. I talked to Georges, and that's one thing we're going to work on this year, working hard in practice so he can put those minutes on the ice.
"I like to use four lines. I always did, and I don't think I'm going to change. He's going to have to be in good shape and reliable defensively. But I know who he is, I've seen him play and I know he can do it."
Carbonneau said that although the new schedule isn't out yet, he expects Canadiens will play more back-to-back and three-in-four-nights sequences.
Carbonneau seemed quite comfortable with the amount of time Mats Sundin is taking to determine his future. His serenity – while describing Sundin as an "extraordinarily good fit" with the Canadiens – suggests the club may be in a better position vis-à-vis Sundin than anyone is letting on.
When asked about Vancouver's offer, Carbonneau said "no one is going to spit on $20 million, but if competing offers are between $7 million and $8.5 million (per season), once you factor in taxes there's a difference of may $1 million, $1.5 million.
"I think Mats Sundin has plenty of money in the bank. Money won't necessarily be the deciding factor in where he chooses to finish his career.
"Everyone who knows Mats says he makes decisions when he's ready. I don't think he was ready July 1, and I think he's still not ready."
And with the Rangers and Detroit spending up to near the cap, Carbonneau says "I like our chances" of landing Sundin.
On Mark Streit: "After the kind of season Mark had, we knew it would be hard to re-sign him. We like Mark, but we have other priorities."
Mathieu Dandenault: "The season doesn't begin until October and he's still a member of the Montreal Canadiens. With the kind of schedule we're going to have, we'll need more than 20 players. We were extremely lucky last season to avoid serious injuries, and we'll need depth in our lineup."
On a possible cap squeeze: "I think we can sign Sundin and still have a cushion"
On the situation at centre: "We've tried Chris Higgins at centre. We can till try Sergei (Kostitsyn) if we want to. Steve Beegin has experience at centre. We have different options. Nothing is in stone. We're laying ine pre-season games and we'll try different combinations."
On the market: "I'm not surprised by the money. They give that kind of money because they can. But I'm surprised by the length of some contracts, especially for average or above-average players."
On Mike Komisarek getting a mega-contract next year: "I'm sure we can reach up. We have the money and some room left. I'm sure they'll figure out something. I don't think he's going anywhere."
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I also agree Latendresse is due for a breakout year. He is big,strong and has the skills. He needs to be used properly on the right line combination and he will excel. I think we are in for a great year.
There has to be a reason why the Habs have trouble attracting star players. For one there is so much pressure in Montreal from the press and the fans. Also the taxes in Quebec are also a major deterent to our money starved hockey heroes. Money is the major concern of most players these days and loyalty is secondary. I wish for the days of the Rocket to return and when real legends played the game.Team loyalty was important and they played their hearts out .Now if a player gets injured they go to the dressing room and sit out collecting their huge salaries. One time we saw a lot of pride and courage on the ice. Two Habs that currently exemplify loyalty and courage would be Begin and Koivu. Anyone agree with my choices?
It does'nt matter if it was Ryder ,Tucker ,Leclair or Roy or whether or not hes from Newfoundland. I dont think he was treated fairly by the Habs and I still blame Carbonneau for placing him in the doghouse early in the season . He broke up the number one line and that may have cost them an even better season than they had. They may have went even further in the playoffs when their powerplay dropped off and Ryder could have been there putting the puck in or at least getting shots at the net. It doesnt matter who it was I would still say the same thing. There were instances back in the eightys when Lafleur was mishandled and had to retire only to return after a couple of years layoff to the Nordiques and Rangers. I'm not comparing Ryder to any of these other players, but the past few seasons he was their clutch guy when it came to scoring goals. So what changed for him? He still has talent and it will show with the Bruins. We are all happy with the Habs this past season ,but fans dont have to agree that everything was done right. We can be even better than last year with a few changes. I believe Tanguay will more than fill the score sheet and I think the Habs will be better than ever. People take it wrong when you suggest a player was mishandled last year . I think Higgins would have been much better if the chemistry wasnt tampered with also and Koivu.So please dont bash me again for my perspective on last season and I'm looking forward to aneven better season next year.
The Fans in here can Praise Carbonneau & Gainey all they want.
Carbonneau is an IDIOT. Just like many players that were forced out of Montreal because of the Coach, Carbonneau is another one.
Gainey is a Great Man BUT he will not lead Montreal to the Promise Land.
Carbonneau has always had the "I'm better than you" attitude. He has always had a chip on his shoulder. He went up to Montreal and felt he had to be on the first line. He had attitude in Dallas.....
Montreal Management have always traded away star players and will do again.
Former players on Montreal should never coach that team. It never works out....
What are you talking about? Tremblay gave Colorado 2 Stanley Cups..
Read up on your hockey history.
"Give Koivu a Lifetime Contract"
""I'm sure we can reach up. We have the money and some room left. I'm sure they'll figure out something. I don't think he's going anywhere.""
Carbo, you better pray Komisaurus doesn't go anywhere!!!
_________________________________
"Obviously it would be great, but they don't really hang conference titles in this rink. They raise Stanley Cup banners." - Carey Price
I dont dislike Ryder but the edge has to go with Tanguay for the simple reason that the western conference is much much tougher. If my memory serves me well, out of all the teams in the eastern conf. only Pittsburgh had a winning record against the western conf. this past year. Washington I believe was .500, the rest all had losing records.
I noticed that you decided not to compare their +/- stat's....I wonder why?
Go Habs Go
Tanguay had 23 more points in 2005-06
Tanguay had 23 more points in 2006-07
Tanguay had 27 more points in 2007-08
An huge improvement in anyone's minds to be sure. I don't quite know what you are getting at here?
he's posting that because:
a) he's from the rock and a member of the Ryder chorus line and wants to bash Gainey for letting ryder go
b) he, like a few other "usual suspects", is trying to bash Gainey in his inane ways
c) all of the above.
I would leave you the choice but I'm inclined for the (c) option ;-)
A last note: It appears to me that folks from NL seem to be hellbent in advocating Ryder and lament the loss of him to the bruins to no end. Folks, if you can (or able to) try to see a bit clearly, try to remember that Ryder had a lot of opportunities early on in the season in the first line and in the PP and in PT, but month after month he didn't or couldn't produce and accordingly was demoted in playing time and line.
You guys seem to think that the job of Habs Management is (or was) to prop up your NL idol at whatever the cost, but you are WRONG. The best players of the moment should get to play and the choice should never be on the basis of past accomplishments. Ryder is gone, so wish him good luck where he is and stop the BS postings, enough already, OK?
The NHL managements who cater to past accomplishments of a player are the same ones who are paying nowadays exhorbitant sums to UFA players who mostly, now are no more than average or even mediocre.
I'm glad that Gainey and his management team is not like that and that's why we'll have a very good/excellent team for quite sometime to come. If you don't like it, go cheer for the laffs with their finger et al.
To all other posters: Sorry for the long post.
Cheers,
Ali B.
Ali, you are putting all Newfoundlanders in the same boat. I, for one, have always been a Habs' fan, and always will be, but I am glad for Ryder's sake that he is gone to the Bruins. I would never want to see him have to endure another season like the one he just had.
I also wish him the very best with the Bruins, and unlike some on here, hold no ill will toward him because of his poor season.
I don't get it
"Give Koivu a Lifetime Contract"
Thankfully, there have been a few rightous, clearminded poster's from NL on the site recently. So we wont be inclined to paint the entire province with the same brush...but your point is well taken. "Water anvil" and his cohort's do appear to be having a hellavu time letting it go, as if Mr.Gainey has personaly shamed them for letting Ryder go. I myself am disappointed to see him go, but the truth is that he didn't produce.
Go Habs Go
I stand corrected Lee.
I didn't mean everyone from the Rock nor I wanted to paint all NL'ers with a broad brush, but the ones I have referred to appear to be very persistent.
Ali B.
I have an idea for lines. I know many of you don't want to break up the top line of AK46, Pleks, and AK27, but Carbo sounded pretty positive about the likes of sundin coming to the blu blanc et rouge. So if he does, here a pretty solid lineup.
Tangauy-Sundin-Kovalev --- Wicked 1st line with 3 potential top NHL forwards. Sundin and Kovalev can shoot really well, and Tanguay has the dangles. What defense would stop that scoring machine?
A.Kostitsyn-Koivu-S.Kostitsyn --- Although seen little of it, we all know that the Kostitsyn brothers pass very well together, and always know where each other are. Also, with Koivu at centre, he will be a good example setter on both the young Kostitsyn's
Higgins-Plekanec-Latendresse --- Probably one of the best third lines in the NHL, with Higgins and Latendresse having natural scoring touch, and Plekanec, a 69 point getter, can feed them the puck and also has a good scoring potential
Kostopolous-Begin-Laraque --- Nothing else to say but, boom. Kostopolous and Begin can dig in the corners, and feed it to Laraque who likes to stand in front of the opposing teams goalie. Laraque could also keep up with goons who try to start up with the smallers, Begin and Kostopolous
As for Defense and Goalies, it pretty much stays the same.
Markov-Komisarek -- Great Chemistry last year and Komisarek can take out the pests and the other teams top player(s) for the whole game
Hamrlik-O'Byrne -- Played together for a bit and both are bone crushing hitters. Hamrlik can also shoot the puck on the point, and maybe replace Streit on the PP.
Bouillon-Gorges -- Also, very good together, and Bouillon is a nice guy who will make Gorges a very good D soon.
Goalies
Price - Showed last year that he IS the number one goaltender when Huet got dealt on the trade deadline.
Denis - A solid backup goalie, who can play some NHL games, and give Halak some more time to redeem himself in the minors.
*Please reply to this because i think this is a very solid lineup. If you think there can be any changes tell me.
Everyone scores with Saku Koivu. Even Lats.
What about Kyle Chipchura? Max Lapierre? I imagine these guys will split duties on the 4th line? I see no reason why one of those guys (Laraque?) can spend some time with Higgy and Saku on a line.
The gameplan for that line should be: Laraque-make room. Higgins-Get open in the room offered by Laraque. Saku-find Higgins.
I would have to agree on most of your lines...
One downside : AK46, Koivu and SK...that to me, doesn't fit well. I don't know, something tells me Koivu wouldn't necessarily like playing with 2 "kids"...Allthough he didn't hate playing with Latendresse...we never know!
The other thing, I would definitely keep Halak permanently in the lineup. From what I've seen, he's more than ready to be backup goalie in Montreal and he can be a great trade bait to get a player in during the season (if injuries occur etc). Then, and only then, would I call up Denis to be backup.
Halak has had enough time in the minors.
Sundin is not coming. Why is it that everyone thinking he is?
On to Plan B without him.
"We will win the Cup only with Carey Price in the nets"
How do you know that Sundin is not coming to play in Montreal next year? Plus, why do you pretend to know more than Carbo regarding Mats Sundin?
I'm not pretending. Face the facts. March deadline of this past season we had a great opportunity to snag him before the playoffs. Sundin did not waive his no trade cause, kept saying he wants to retire as a Leaf, that Toronto is the mecca city of Hockey.
No. 2 Draft Day 2008. Fletcher boasted to the media that we had exclusive rights to negotiate with Toronto to land Sundin in Montreal than the rest of the NHL teams for a second round pick which was all a bunch of nonsense. Fletcher gave the Rangers negotiating rights as well.
Sundin, if he wanted, would sign in a heartbeat for 7 million considering Bob went accross the ocean to visit Mats and attempt to pursuade him to play for us, a team that is a contender in the Eastern conference and a legitimate shot at a Cup in our Centennial year.
Still no answer from Mats.
I have said all along that he he will not sign, he's quite content to retire as a Captain for the Leafs than win a Cup with us. The facts are all there.
Don't keep your hopes up for him to arrive. To win a Stanley Cup in Toronto is more special to Mats than to win one in Montreal and to go back in Toronto wearing a Habs jersey??? Mats would never do that, he would be booed by all those Leafs fans wearing his No. 13 jerseys at the ACC.
"We will win the Cup only with Carey Price in the nets"
Why would you argue the fact that Carbo said he likes the chances of Mats Sundin signing in Montreal? Who would know more about player/team negotiations .. you or the head coach of the Montreal Canadiens? You sound like you know Mats personally and if you do I will appologize, but I don't believe you do. If you are a Habs fan you would welcome the opportunity of a player of Mats Sundin caliber to play for your team, I do. When Mats signs with Montreal please don't be one of the knuckle heads that boos him when he touches the puck because if you do you are one of the reasons that players do want to play here.
P.S. Bob Gainey never went across the pond to talk to Mats
Bob did not go across the ocean from what I recall.
Good question.
I will bet any one of you guy's and gal's that Latendresse has a breakout year.
I'll take that bet.
I hope so, the kid has matured, now onto his 3rd year in the NHL.
"We will win the Cup only with Carey Price in the nets"
i'll be the first to take that bet
I hope so. Improved greatly by the end of last season and was actually beating people to a few pucks in some big games. I hope he really focuses on his skating becuase if he gets that going he will be a totally different, and much much better player.
I fully agree, especially if Sundin shows up in a Habs jersey!
No bet here. I say 23 goals.