Goaltender Alex Auld has signed a one-year deal with the Canadiens for $1 million.
The team also announced, late today, it had come to terms on a one-year contract for Dustin Boyd, who was obtained in the trade that sent Sergei Kostitsyn to Nashville.
The Canadiens also re-signed Curtis Sanford to a two-way contract that would pay him $550,000 in the NHL. He will likely be the No. 3 guy on the depth chart and play in Hamilton.
He’s big, he’s bald, he’s Alex Auld.
sXJUVBM4__k
The pessimists are out, you would see that most logical posters on this site (95% of HI/O) would strongly disagree with all the crybabies saying we made a bad move and Burke is a genius.
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Enjoy!
http://habsprospects.hockeyhq.net/
http://www.capgeek.com/charts.php?Team=2
I hope you can play all 82 games price……..i don’t want auld on the ice at all………should’ve saved the money and went with schneider or desjardins. Bad move on this transaction!
Shaker
I know Burke is a american but I did not know the Bruins is his favorite team.
looks like more PIM’s for the leafs congratulations to you.
Yeah I agree. Alex Auld is the perfect back up goalie.
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The Habs are making me Bi-Polar.
Who cares?
I don’t see him as having that reputation, he’s hit 2-3 guys hard who weren’t looking and you treat him like he’s this phantom that will haunt our team forever.
Burke paid him 3mil per and he’s a THIRD LINER.
sorry i spelt it wrong
Aebischer
i was way off
oh, and your O’Byrne beatdown plan doesn’t account for JM having him in the pressbox all the time.
As a mentor?
You think a 5’11 guy does the same stuff in nets as a 6’3 guy?
That’s what I’m talking about, Auld can help Price’s game.
You must love this: a big-sounding move for more money than it’s worth for less talent than it seems.
A typically Burkian Toronto-Sun-pleasing move.
How did Gainey’s stand-pattedness do versus Burke’s showy fireworks last seaon?
Just asking…
—Hope Springs Eternal—
habs needed a back up goalie, they sign one. Leafs need scoring wingers, they get third line players for 3 million. I don’t know why everyone is freaking out. We needed a backup goalie and we signed a decent one for just one million. Calm down.
Actually, he’s hit more than one guy over the past 3 years. He’s made his reputation on being a hitter, aggressive on the forecheck and occasionally fighting other guys who aren’t heavyweights. only one way to find out
Agreed. People will act like this is such a great signing by Burke. He’s overpaid.
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The Habs are making me Bi-Polar.
$3M for Armstrong? How is that a great deal?
Twice as much as Travis Moen.
Burke is basically paying a third liner 3mil per.
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Enjoy!
http://habsprospects.hockeyhq.net/
http://www.capgeek.com/charts.php?Team=2
God Amstrong signs with the Leafs and Mcquire just had a orgasm what a idoit. Amstrong and Versteeg are very good third liners and ok second liners sorry the leafs are no better and I say they are worst dam the Bruin win in the free agent signings and they don’t have to sign anyone.
Hell yes
who cares about height?
exactly auld is almost as bad as a 3 year old with a shinny stick
says the leafs fan. good thing east to west head shots are penalized.
Not a bad move, sigining Aul’ Alex. He’ll do as a mentor backup, and the price is right.
As for Colby Armstrong? HA!! Typical Burkian popularity-grab. Throw tons of money at a 3rd liner because his reputation outshines his ability.
God, the Laffs are funny…
—Hope Springs Eternal—
You done calling everyone an airhead every chance you get?
You’re really annoying.
Probably the worst poster on HI/O by far.
Why are you still here? You got your clearance to leave.
Scotty Bowman said it best: “Don’t trade Carey Price.”
Speechless….
I bet Price is very happy about it cuz no oe can push him over.
Biron and Auld are pretty much the same players stats wise at this point in their careers.
Armstrong hit Koivu once and all you people are scared of him. I love it.
He’s the type of guy that will suffer an O’Byrne/Kaleta beat down if he tries anything. I’m not worried.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOu4CZ7jAVE
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Enjoy!
http://habsprospects.hockeyhq.net/
http://www.capgeek.com/charts.php?Team=2
not good
Better than the Leafs.
Truculence.
Yeah I agree. $3 million for a 30-40 point guy is too much.
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The Habs are making me Bi-Polar.
there will be 18 games over the next 3 years where when he’s dropping Cammy Gio and Gomez like flies that you wont be.
backup till November.
So are we booing Dan Ellis next year?
who’s Aebesheir?
armstrong to leafs…now that’s a nightmare
Carey’s 6’3″. Not too much of a difference there.
And since only one of them can be in net at any given time, how does this benefit Carey’s range?
Scotty Bowman said it best: “Don’t trade Carey Price.”
Burke throws 3mil at Armstrong. Now I’m happy we didn’t sign him.
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Enjoy!
http://habsprospects.hockeyhq.net/
http://www.capgeek.com/charts.php?Team=2
%#$’ing Armstrong to Toronto. Sometimes, you’d think they’d sign a guy just to make sure he doesnt spend the next 3 years kicking your ass.
Plan the parade.
But seriously, it’s just a backup goalie. Stop whining.
Ug…. bad move imo. Should have gotton Biron.
Drive For 25 Is Alive!
Well, I don’t really know what to say about this signing. He’s capable and the stats look respectable. I guess that’ll do.
Scotty Bowman said it best: “Don’t trade Carey Price.”
JUST HEARD THE NEWS… PRICE IS NOT SIGNING.. habs have decided to go with Auld and Aebesheir
Uuuuuugh.
I like Auld signing here, got size to help Price’s range. Cheap price tag compared to Ellis, who surely would’ve wanted over 2.5 per.
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Enjoy!
http://habsprospects.hockeyhq.net/
http://www.capgeek.com/charts.php?Team=2
Ha! That’s actually a great idea!
Good move he is just what the team needs he a great team player and will help Price. it would be nuts to sign Ellis as 4+ million a year to be a back up. I just hope SK signs with Nashville and we get the darft choice. PG will not sign Boyd either unless his price comes down.
Better hear the habs have come to terms with Price today after hearing this signing
No way PG would put a french goalie behind Price…
he’s big, he’s bald, he’s alex auld
Ellis wouldn’t have signed as a backup.
Of course the GD Laffs get Colby Armstrong.
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Enjoy!
http://habsprospects.hockeyhq.net/
ttp://www.capgeek.com/charts.php?Team=2
Biron for under a million is a great ROI.
Goalies starting their 4th season, regardless of age – are well passed the “grooming” stage. I would hope, Montreal looks at bring in Prices dad as the goalie coach. May help is attitude and work ethic.
forget ellis. rangers just signed martin biron, who has been a proven
starter at various points in his career (and is at the very least a
very good no2) for 850k per year. yet we go out and pay more (1mil per)
for a career backup/minor-leaguer.
i understand that they dont
want to overpay for a backup since they have decided to go with price,
but given price’s history over the past 2yrs, why not sign a guy who is
capable of carrying the load if price DOES struggle again. it just makes
sense given that biron was cheaper and better
I tried – he won’t answer the door. FYI – I’m only about 3 block from my house to the old crosby home – I am quite sure they moved a couple of years back.
He was prematurely thrusted upon the NHL. He’s 22 yrs old.
Ryan Miller wasn’t even as good at that age. Good thing you aren’t GM, we wouldn’t have a team anymore.
I would have paid Ellis 2.5 million. Grooming? This is prices 4th season in the NHL – we are well passed that point.
Looking at Price – good chance he is no going to be able to handle the booos and the pressure of Montreal.
Did Gauthier/Gainey steal your girlfiend or kick your puppy or something?? You seem to have an unhealthy obsession with them.
If you prorated Darche’s numbers over 82 games, he ends up with ONE less goal and point than Armstrong, yet one is worth $500,000 and the other is worth $3,000,000. Go Leafs Go!
don’t worry guy you’ll be proved dead wrong soon enough, and that’s not a bad thing
but..but….but…..nope. makes too much sense to argue with. unfortunately, others will not see it the same way. c’est la vie
Absolutely, definatelly not Auld, this team needs a goalie that will take them to the finals, someone like,…….Michael Leighton?
its free agency, you’re expecting a bargain? theres an assumption of overpaying. how do you think our first line center got his contract, or the player everyone wants as our captain? he’s worth 2-2.5 in real worth, so whats .5-1m overpayment?
When you have a team that is susecptible to an aggressive forecheck and cant beat a physical team (see Flyers, Philadelphia) you should be adding grit, not letting your rivals get bigger/better. Boston gets Horton, Philly adds Meszaros, Toronto adds Versteeg, Armstrong, Habs get Alex Auld.
I was surprised that Ron MacLean didn’t mention Burke during the ceremonies on Parliament Hill.
Hey Adam. Syd’s dad was a a habs draft pick. Walk over and Knock on his door and ask him if he can still play
*slow clap* for you! LOL
Scotty Bowman said it best: “Don’t trade Carey Price.”
Glass half-empty kinda guy aren’t ya?
Life must suck.
You don’t get it, do you?
Price is being groomed into the starting position. He’s getting help from a very capable backup in Auld.
I don’t get you.
Would you rather pay around 2.5 for Ellis? Have no room for anything else afterwards?
Don’t worry I’ll leave…but first I’m gonna get you to your ship.
McGuire is cut from the same “make a lot of noise because it will hopefully distract people from the fact that I don’t know what the hell I’m talking about” cloth as Brian Burke.
Dork.
—Hope Springs Eternal—
This team needs a starting goalie – someone with the numbers and experience to step in full time after Price fails. Auld is not that goaltender.
To go from Halak / Price to Price / Auld is just depressing.
Hope Desjardins is ready.
Lmao the leafs are getting the best sounding players
They all ready have Finger now they have Crabb haha
ugh…. agreed
WOOOW Penguins…
Michalek AND Martin…wow.
New Jersey is taking a beating with Martin leaving for Pens
Depending on what Price wants and what the Habs have left to sign. I know we’re talking only 500,000 more, but with being up against the cap every cen counts.
To you from failing hands we throw the torch, be yours to hold it high.
Nope….
“Without the strength of the past, the team may face a choice – to win, or to be French-Canadian?” — Ken Dryden
I finally see what Gauthier is trying to do here. It seems to me he doesn’t want the fan base to have high expectations for this season. That way if the Habs make the playoffs, it’s mission accomplished for Gauthier and we can all feel good.
Two-sided coin; they get better on D, they still don’t have any wingers for Crosby or Malkin.
good point
Bill Swett (Will Swett) lol
Goalies in Montreal have two roles, netminder and scapegoat.
How much? I thought Pens didn’t have a lot of cap room…
Pierre LeBrun just wrote on his twitter that MAB is getting lots of action, I hope its not from Montreal, hopefully our weber can step in for him.
It is not like Gauthier is buying used automobiles – the players the final say as to where they sign.
I can only assume habs plan to bring up Cedric Desjardins next year. In addition, I can only assume that the reason we didn’t get Biron or match Ellis is due to the term they were looking for.
Is John Scott still out there, PG ?
Ellis signed for 1.5, i guess he wanted to be given a proper chance at starter, while Auld is more likely to accept being just the backup. The money doesn’t seem to play in it.
Glad to see your on the ball Rob. I dont understand some of the posters here saying what we could not give Ellis 1.5 mil? Taxs in Quebec kill alot of deals.
He had more goals than Gomez
The teams our Habs will compete with are getting better. We had a scoring problem, to which we’ve added a goaltending problem. This has been a lousy post-season so far – not much to make this longtime fan an optimist. Let’s see what’s next.
Boogard to NY Rangers!
Boogard to the NYR
Ellis was never coming here dude. I am pissed off about Biron who apparently was turned down by PG.
Alex Auld???? Really????
“Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.”
which other team got better?
At this point I would say we are a worst team than last year and a couple of teams behind us are better.
Can’t have a media-friendly Francophone as a backup.
Oh oh – the East is turning into the West, goon-wise.
Oh crap, the Boogeyman to the East, nooooooooooooo
ROFL The Habs are going to get steamrolled in their division.
“Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.”
A 1 year deal for Auld. That makes Price the crown prince of the net for sure. It will be interesting to see what kind of deal Price gets ..do they throw all kinds of money at him over a long term or a short term.
Why not sign Biron for what the rangers gave him. Biron is a quality guy geeesh.
I hope they sign Boyd and add some toughness.
Say what you will..Laffs getting tougher to play against with Armstrong.
Auld will be our starter come January.
The guy would have had the starting job by Xmas if PG would have signed him. Scarey Price will almost surely melt down once again.
We didn’t sign him probably because he is looking to be a #1 goalie.
I was hoping we can get Alud cheaper though.
They werent going to sign Biron because they know that once price let in one bad goal everyone would call for his head and want Biron in nets and if they really want price to be our guy they arent gunna get an FC to mess with his confidence
one year ago today habs made a splash…many fans on this board were aghast at the players signed and the $$ they were given. yet the habs went to the final four. here we are today, and all comments are filled with negativity. lets at least give the team 20 games into the season to show us something…even then, we all know the real season starts during playoffs. and for those who think we wont make the playoffs, including brian wild, whatever, go cheer for the leafs.
dudes, i see posts left and right that are leaf sympathetic, just like last year when they signed beauchemin. komisarek, some other tools…whatever. ease down habnation. all will be ok.
We can send Boyd after Boogard and Orr (good luck)
Yo tony, are you Italian already?
Who didn’t? The worst goal scorer for a #1 center in the entire NHL.
Auld couldnt steal a starters job from Dan Cloutier. I think Price is safe. We need to get behind him, cuz there’s no help from the backup. But in terms of the team, unlike Halak he won’t be pushing Price to start, so Price needs to stay motivated on his own.
biron hates montreal… hes a nordiques fan, said it as blunt as that when he played for philly against habs in the playoffs in 2008
TripleX, a steamroller moves faster than Boogaard.
- I shall always remember Captain Koivu.
http://habsandhockey.blogspot.com/
Yup, things are looking dim…..
Ellis signed for $1.5 in Tampa, he must have preferred the sunshine.
no – I would say Desjardins by November
so far Tampa, Atlanta, Philly, NYR, Pitt, Boston, Ottawa, Toronto.
what does that mean? well remember how many games Halak stole last year and how many games Price won. subtract the halak wins, and you got- 13th place.
add to that, the fact that we were dead last in scoring 5 on 5, and we’ve done nothing to add more scorers.
and now our playoff hero is gone, replaced with a perennial minor league goalie as a backup.
it’s bleak, very very bleak.
but on the upside, if we’re lucky, we could land the #1 draft pick.
can anyone tell me who is supposed to be the top pick in next year’s draft?
OH NO…..please no more gelling! Free TIMO!
“Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.”
“apparently was turned down by PG.” Where do you get this from?
Um …. Tony???
P O I S O N …
THAT’s how to spell poison …
Just sayin’!
- 1.5 mil
right on the FC thing, thats always important.lol
he’s not a #1 center.
more like a #4 journeyman center.
and if we miss the playoffs, is Gauthier fired?
oh please god help the habs miss the playoffs.
6.6 Million for 4 years for someone who hasn’t scored in over 4 years. I call that overpaying.
To you from failing hands we throw the torch, be yours to hold it high.
Do you know what two-sided coin means?
It means it’s a good move but also a bad one.
Just stop posting, you’re giving me a headache with your idiocy.
Did you also think NJ “got better” when they signed Kovalchuck?
FREE TIMO!
Tell Triple X that. My guess he was asleep when Biron said that.
This just in 3 reasons why Ellis didn’t sign:
1) length of contract
2) less money
3) didn’t want to be second fiddle behind Price as he was last year in Nashville with Rinne
OMG….you dudes have to keep up with the news.
“Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.”
biron approached habs says the rumor mill.
Fine, the Habs attempted a splash last year and did a bellyflop.
Halak took the Habs ALL the way & he’s gone.
Leafs are rebuilding with some key pieces Versteeg & Armstrong so far and PG gets Auld.
Fine, try for the playoffs now Habs….muahhh!
Well lots of people have accused Jiggy of having illegal shoulders but K.W. is thorough and always checks. I don’t know about Millers chest pad, maybe it’s cause he’s small and is using an XL (like all goalies do, ex: I’m 5’11″ and in a Small vaughn pant (I have a thin waist) while Theo wears an XL pant).
Either way, the new rules are geared towards making equipment proportionate to the size of the goalie using them, giving an edge to taller goalies.
Boogard and Orr? Just do what ever other player that is paid for more than fighting does, and ignore them.
More often than not those guys are out there at the cost of somebody with better skills…
Or maybe the Habs should give Laraque another contract, that way everyone can ignore him and the Habs can sit out somebody.
He is a handsome little guy. Why begrudge him a little action?
Still, I wonder if he’ll get signed.
Youppi ain’t goin’ Anywhere! (Not unless the Expos come back.)
It shouldn’t be about Price being “safe”, though – it should be about him being the better goalie. Well, now he is, but we had to get the WORST goalie on the market to make that statement a reality. What a joke this team is…
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“Peoples will only be truly free when the last king is strangled by the bowels of the last priest” Denis Diderot
See, this is why everyone tore you apart the other day. ***ing ridiculous.
Tyler Seguin…yes he is a nice building block for a rebuilding team…err…wait…
Plus the Rangers aren’t in our division. What a regrettable deal.
Yeah, I’m sure they’re just waiting with bated breath for your comments because you’re a veritable cornucopia of hockey knowledge. Don’t you have any shoes to polish.
Paul Martin signs with Pittsburgh. Yikes!
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The Habs are making me Bi-Polar.
lol, i think tom pyatt had more goals than gomez in the playoffs, or just as many. but i dont expect goals from gomez, he only scored 20+ once I think, which was his UFA year.
Metropolit replaced by Boyd it seems, but we have to replace/resign Moore, as well as resign Lapierre and Price while hopefully adding more size/grit. Another dman wouldn’t hurt either.
Boogeyman has 2 goals in his 255-game NHL career. He can barely skate.
We’re all getting Auld.
While Ellis is a good goalie, he wears Reebok Revokes, the ugliest bad evar. PG and the rest of management knew that with ultimate beautiful gear Carey Price as the starter, the dirtyness balance would be completely out of whack with Ellis’ ugly ass revokes. So he went with a user of the Reebok PS3, and not one that whites his pillows out. The gods will be pleased.
In all seriousness, Kay Whitmores new pad sizing regulations HEAVILY favours taller goalies (who can now wear pads larger than last years 38″ maximum). Height in goaltending is becoming even more favoured than it ever was before. At 6’3″ and 6’4″ we’ve got goalies that won’t be restricted by these new roles the way a guy like (hate to say it) Halak would.
With all the fantastic signings Burke has managed to put together, the Bruins might actually have another top five first round draft pic this time next season. That’s what really scares me.
Elis 2 year 1.5 mil cap hit tampa
Dan Ellis signed for two years 3 million. I would have paid an extra 500,000 for him or LESS for Biron.
“Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.”
Ellis 2 yr @ 1.5 per year….we couldn’t offer that to him??
“Without the strength of the past, the team may face a choice – to win, or to be French-Canadian?” — Ken Dryden
This will make the Laffs apower house. They sign a forward named Joey Crabb LOL
To you from failing hands we throw the torch, be yours to hold it high.
Wow. We could have matched that.
What the hell! Ellis signed for 1.5 M!
It’s an ok signing i mean I am not expecting much from the habs unlike last year, but I feel if we had tried to keep Ellis it would make Price have to try harder to keep the number 1 spot. I just hope price plays a lot better than he did last year. Personally though when the numbers go up for how much price costs its gunna be a small contract i think for now.
wait till ryan miller’s shoulder pads shrink…is there a goalie with bigger shoulder pads in the league?
For people complaining about Ellis signing in TB… he probably didn’t want to sign here and be a backup. He’s going to have a chance to play a lot more games in Tampa.
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The Habs are making me Bi-Polar.
Yes, but could we offer him the number one job?
no income tax in florida. Be the equivalent of signing a 3 million dollar contract in montreal. Plus he can probably start there
if he lost more games than he won, then his numbers areen’t good. see the logic.
I was in Europe with the 82nd Airborne Division as an infnatry anti-tank paratrooper. I would not have had the whits about me to carry the Montreal Canadiens on my back, that’s for sure.
Auld is the only goalie signed so is the starter as of July 1, 2010. Price has yet to sign his BIG contract.
“Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.”
what makes you think he’s recovered?
when he replaced Halak in a few playoff games, he was just as bad.
hi problem is between the ears, and that’s not something you can teach.
Players just have to pull a Lucic and skate away.
When halak was 22, 2.69 gaa and 0.906 sv%. Puts him close to 30th
Leafstv “telling their fans they deserve to win for over 40 years”
yahoo! now we win the cup for sure.
Price apologists will never compare stats to a goalie who played for exactly the same team. They would much rather compare him to goalies from different eras who played on completely different teams.
I guess realistic and relevant comparisons don’t favor their boy.
“Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.”
I have decided to turn over all my bitching this summer towards the salary cap.
Saw this too late for a quick response. Too many idiot posts here today. I don’t agree that Biron is better than Auld today. Was he a better tender in the past? Yes, according to the stats for a while he was. Is he a better backup today? No better no worse I say and that comes from looking at the stats only. They’re fairly equal and going on about it is just a waste of your time and mine really. We’re arguing about a backup, not a starter, not a trophy winner by any stretch. A backup. Lets just leave it for now and come back to it at Xmas shall we? We’ll have a few games to assess then.
FREE TIMO!
Oh? Who’s the couple? Is Komi engaged to Kessel? Who’s the couple? Come on, tell!
FREE TIMO!
if Price craps like last year, Auld will become our #1 goalie. oh god forbid.
tho I know that’s exactly what will happen.
Saw a comment of yours on the page previous, thought I’d just say thanks for your service.
About time. He was getting a bit rank there after having not showered for the past month.
FREE TIMO!
As good a season as Halak had, it pales in comparison to the season Tim Thomas had two seasons ago. How was Thomas last season? What do you expect from Halak next season?
Take a look at the comments during and just after the playoff run dude. The majority were saying exactly that.
Now a lot of the same people are backtracking saying don’t put too much pressure on Price because the team is not that good.
Which is it?
“Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.”
Halak is long gone…
Time to move on….
if the Habs are to be successful, Price, the # 1 goalie has to be happy, right?
he can’t feel cheated.
Price is my favourite current Hab but I concede that Halak is the better goaltender right now. However, I agree with the Canadiens management, Flyers management, Blues management and Scott Bowman that Price will be better than Halak over time. That is the reason Canadiens management have chosen to keep Price. Only time will tell who is right. For the sake of the team, I hope Price realizes his potential starting next season.
Sorry man but your constant harranging over this “Backup Trade of the Century” is wearing thin now. Ellis is a backup. Biron is a backup. Auld is a backup. It’s just not important in the grand scheme of things, really. I’m more concerned with our lack of scoring wingers, the fact that we still have AK, our thiness on D. The 3 main issues we had last fall are still there. so a backup tender is hardly an issue when you’re talking $100K difference.
FREE TIMO!
Tim Thomas had stats better than Price in EVERY category dude. He did not have a bad season just that Rask was better.
Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.”
Who is this Halak you speak of?
FREE TIMO!
Stabbing him in the back? Give me a break. If he stops the puck and actually wins a game, I’ll cheer.
4 seasons is a long time to wait.
It’s just getting to me Clay. He soaks up so much space with his repetitive whining and it becomes distracting at times. It’s lke the kids in the back seat on the long trip; “Are we there yet, are we there yet, are we there yet”.
FREE TIMO!
Anyone who overlooks the French thing is deluding themselves. I am not coming down on the issue one way or another, but the best scenario for Price and the Canadiens this year is to have Price as the undisputed number one with no ammunition for the elements in the French media to add the extra pressure of hollering for ‘the French backup’ everytime Price fails.
I am not sold on Price. But the die is cast and I applaud Gauthier. He signed a goalie cheap who everyone… both goalies included.. understand is a backup to Price. Whether Price fails and Auld plays more games than expected or supercedes Price because of ability, it doesnt matter.
We are entering the season with no confusion. Price is it and he can live up to number one billing or fail and then we will address that next year. But the stage is set and Gauthier wisely has removed ANY of the factors which would have contributed to meddling with Price’s mind.
The path is clear! He has no excuses or nothing to worry about but to show up, practise hard and improve and own the spot which he seemed to have been handed by management since he was drafted. I want him to succeed. I am glad that neither Biron or Lalime or anyone french is gonna complicate the situation this first year of the Price era. I applaud Gauthier for the foresight. It’s a distasteful topic but it is a reality and would only have affected Price’s already fragile confidence.
Our Goalie situation is settled. Let’s move on!!!!!
unfortunately no
Bring back Saku! He’s a UFA!
Missing the point Punkster. It is about the difference in abilities not the 100,000.
Biron by any analysis is the far better goalie. Is it prudent not to have a quality backup? If Price falters or gets injured how smart does this trade look then?
Having a decent backup IS important, ask Calgary or the Devils.
“Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.”
Delicious commentary on TSN about an hour ago: Dave Hodge, Michael Faber, others, essentially saying that Burke is a dinosaur with an outdated view of how to build a hockey team.
For all the truculence, and sandpaper, one goal scorer, Kessel.
Paid $3 million for a third line player in Armstrong.
With Burke calling the shots for the next several years, we can always find solace for any of our misery by thinking of the Laffs.
Habs don’t have a coaching or a goalie problem, and haven’t had one since Roy pulled a tantrum on Tremblay. Auld is fine. So is Price (and trade bait on top of it!)
We need some talented size and toughness up front to complement our starters.
Versteeg just said that Toronto reminds him of Chicago a few years ago in the way they are rebuilding.
Except that when Chicago’s draft picks were Kane and Toews those players didn’t end up in Boston.
He’s the only guy I’d take over Moore (for around the same cost)
I am not opposed.
We have almost 6 million left, with 4 forwards and 1 goalie to sign. Can we afford him?
Where did the pens get the cap space to sign both Michalek and Martin to these deals? Gonchar comes off the books but they’ve got to be right against it.
Thanks for the response. Too bad for the team that bought a player, good for the player though! lol Making probably twice what they’re worth. Of course, there are more than a few players (in most sports) making more than they’re worth! lol
So out of Tony242, Habs4last & Jeff…Which one is most likley to be this guy??
http://www.coxbloc.com/LeafBlower.jpg
Discuss…lol
“I went to see a fight the other night…And A hockey game broke out!” ~Rodney Dangerfield~
Zing.
_______________________________
The Habs are making me Bi-Polar.
I wait for the day that will never come when a guy talks about his trade as “My GM is an ***hole for sending me here, I just won a Cup with my team and now I have to go where they couldn’t win the Memorial Cup.”
- I shall always remember Captain Koivu.
http://habsandhockey.blogspot.com/
He couldn’t come out and say: “I gave up hope for money.”
Tony Lydman to Anaheim 3 years, 9 million
LOL
Yeah, Hawks won the cup when Toews and Kane are still cheap (the 6 mil contracts kick in this coming season). Too bad tanking for a few years and scoop up some high end talent at low cost seems to be the only way to win the cup (except for the Wings…).
Fine with me but do not give him the “C”
Go Habs Go!
lol…how true. i really would like to be a fly on the wall when this happens to players and see the reaction.
Question for all of you – what makes you think price will bounce back this season and become a confident / capable NHL starter?
dave hodge rules
bahahaha. win.
Andrew – I smiled at your comment because you have a great sense of timing with your jokes!
but…….
Armstrong, Versteeg, Kessel, Phaneuf, Kaberle….
The leafs will be winning a few games next year – and will not be a joke.
Let me ask YOU a question:
What makes you condemn Price, who is only 22, who’s had an attitude problem he has completely recovered from AND has been working his ass off like crazy?
LAwl atm nothing hopefully a lot of praying LOL Hopefully his attitude has changed then we’ll see ow that goes.
Because he’s 22 years old. Where were you at 22?
Price had awful, AWFUL luck last year. How many cheap bounces destroyed his confidence?
He needed to buck up. I think we all agree that the skills and size are there. If his head kicks in we’re in good shape. It’s a simple fix…
because of the contracts we have we cannot add any top players..we have to hope that pyatt,pouliot,white,maxpac,aller,ak46, moem,lapps will produce….our top forwards cannot play much better than they did in the playoffs so it is up to the lesser players to produce…this is where the gomez and hammer salaries makes it difficult to improve by getting established players instead we have to hope that our in house players step up
Volchenkov and Hamhuis left on the board as top D. We may have a market for Hamrlik afterall, specially if ANA & LA both strike out! Foster may get his big payday soon.
EDIT: Lydman gone to ANA. Add Buff to my list. You have to feel for Buff: they keep loosing good guys every July 1st. They’re lucky they have a great coach!
Tony242 – I’ve seen Jeff and he ain’t pretty, hahaha.
Jeff is some old, overweight guy who is 3/4 balding.
Jeff – %100 Jeff.
Price had a .912 SV% last season in 41 games.
By ‘bounce back’ you mean he stops all 100% of the shots, I don’t think so.
Has an other website signed Tony242 yet?
Luck is how losers justify failure.
Its now or never for Price (and Gauthier if Price doesn’t pan out). Will he be able to lift his game a notch? I’m concerned about his reaction to the fans if he doesn’t perform at least at the level Halak did. Has anyone heard comments by the Habs players on the Halak trade?
Only 22, very skilled, way ahead of most star goalies in history already, has always had good numbers, Last year his numbers were good he just didn’t win that means it’s an outlier year, he did so on many levels previously … all the signs are pointing in the right direction here. The odds are definitely better towards him becoming great that they to him becoming the albatross that too many want him to be.
That Boogard deal makes the Laraque disaster look like signing of the century.
Ah if Price were truely the #1 goalie he would take one for the team and take a pay cut..lol
please answer mine first.
too bad thought maybe we could convince them to take Hammers last year
…and what makes you so sure that he has recovered from his attitude problem? in his ONLY start of the playoffs, he took 2 petualnt cry-baby penalties, and lost the game.I see no evidence of a good attitude. I do see evidence that we signed a terrible back-up, so now Price is the “better” goalie. LOL at that.
__________________________
“Peoples will only be truly free when the last king is strangled by the bowels of the last priest” Denis Diderot
can’t speak for anyone else, but probably a similar form of prognostication as you are using to forecast his demise. one group will be right, one will be wrong. in the meantime, a lot of irritating name calling will occur.
He had a .912 save %, which was good for 19th in the leauge, tied with the Cup winning goalie as a 22 year old. Something tells me there is a chance he becomes a “capable” NHL starter.
How about is 4 – 11 record down the playoff drive?
Yeah, in one way, that way being that Chicago was a joke around the league a few years ago, and Toronto is now.
Burke’s plan is to let all the big name defensemen sign with other teams, and then shop Kaberle as the teams would be more desperate and his value would be higher. Smart move.
here’s the tougher question which will need to be answered first.
will the Habs fans who were crazy about Halak allow Price the time to become a confident goalie?
If Price plays badly IN THE FIRST 10 GAMES – will the crowd be patient, or will the booing start immediately.
It only takes a few guys, the ones who boo the U.S national anthem, for example, and then it all begins to snowball.
I hope Price has a great first month in October;
Not finding the money to at least play 1 more season with both Halak and Price – thus allowing Price the time
he needs to re-gain his confidence,
will cost Gauthier his job if Price does not have an outstanding START TO THE SEASON.
Montreal hockey fans are very knowledgeable.
BUT THEY ARE ALSO VERY EMOTIONAL!!
Playoff production out of the top players would be great. We were over .500 against the best teams in the east. If any of Pouliot, AK, or Eller step up than we could be pretty good. You would think Pouliot would be better with a year under his belt, AK will have a month he takes over as usual, lets hope Eller fits the bill as well.
What, between his coaches saying he was the hardest working guy on the ice during practices at the end of the year and during the playoffs, supporting all his teammates, INCLUDING HALAK 100% during the playoffs, too?
Telling Sergei he needs to work to be a part of this team, something he has been doing by all Habs staff accounts?
Pay attention to the team instead of whining about Price cause you didn’t like what you saw in the papers.
LOL…people get upset that we pick up Auld and “lose” Ellis or Biron. Look at Ellis getting $1.5 per year (for 2 years) and tell me who the heck else would pay him that much money apart fro the Leafs of course. He’s a backup and he’s looking after his family and future with this one. We get Auld for $1M (one year only), a tender who is no better or worse than Ellis, a backup, no more no less. Now Biron, another backup at $900K per (for 2 years) who can’t really be deemed any better or worse than Auld. It’s a tossup. You want to complain? Complain that we may have paid $100K too much for Auld over Biron but not that we got robbed or screwed. Either tender is a backup in the traditional sense, nothing more, nothing less. If anything everybody so far has overpaid for these 3 backups. In a week or two guys like this will be going for much less.
FREE TIMO!
Seriously…can’t he be banned ? At the very least, can’t someone find a way to just make him go away ?
Ray Whitney to Phx 2 years, 3 mil per
My question was sort of a double-entendre.
That’s my answer and it’s a question to you. Answer.
Haters gonna hate.
Saving for a PS2. I was NOT getting ready my 4th NHL season.
We are not coming back to the “the team doesn’t play for Price cause they want him to fail” argument again are we. You need to score 3 goals to win games.
Umm, don’t we already have top players ? I thought Cammalleri, Gionta, Pleks, Gomez and Markov fell into that catergory.
Enough with your logic, get out of here!
Because if he doesn’t, I’m going to find him, and I’m gonna hurt’m real bad.
Keepin it real, I be chillin as
L.Bugs Potter, esq. Brotha to the Man with the Plan, Product-runnin Lead Houndogg with the Voodoo Flannel Posse, and Pimp Extraordinaire of Habsbros Mama Jones Snow Cones, muthafugga: http://habsbros.blogspot.com
Wow…a logical, sensible post. Those are getting more and more rare.
Touché!
Hi, Ed. I’m going to respectfully disagree with you; since I’m a relative newcomer, and you’re one of the most respected commentators on here (by me and others), I hope you’ll excuse my presumptuousness.
It’s not for the Habs organization to ensure Carey Price (or any other player) doesn’t feel cheated by the terms of any contract he might sign–it’s up to him, his agent, and any other close advisors he might have! In the unlikely event that Price simply signs his name to the qualifying offer the Habs have already made, I’d expect you and most other readers of Habs I/O to agree he’d be vastly underpaid–but “cheated”–no! Unless it’s possible to cheat Oneself…
[Edit: Fixed typo.]
It is
Good for the Wizard. A stand-up player.
price will be fine…the problem is that many fans dont realize that despite the great playoff run we are still not a top 10 team…there will be many nights when we have problems scoring and the d makes major mistakes….i hope the posters will be smarter next season on goals allowed….last year there were very few goals that price or halak gave up that they were not blamed for….
Yes, because it’s so terrible to read another perspective on anything. Religious dogma at its best.
__________________________
“Peoples will only be truly free when the last king is strangled by the bowels of the last priest” Denis Diderot
You are correct sir
Yes…
Why does it seem like everyone is hoping for Price to fail?
Perspective? Gainey is running a puppet regime and everyone in the Habs organization is too old posted 50 times a day is trolling.
- I shall always remember Captain Koivu.
http://habsandhockey.blogspot.com/
if I was Burke – I keep Kaberle – he’s very good!
Tony, it’s time for you to say goodbye to all the good folks here at HI/O. You have outlived your usefullness here.
FREE TIMO!
What’s it like living your life so angry and negative all the time? It must be freaking depressing. I feel sorry for you.
So you’re complainng over the $100K difference then? That’s your position?
FREE TIMO!
First 10 games? First bad goal from the blue line the fans will let him have it. He has had more oppourtunites then many in Montreal. Even though he has been statically beaten in every category by his counterparts – he still gets the starts. No results came from these starts.
Can Price handle this mental pressure? History and logic say no. In fact, I see no logical reason to even suggest he has the ability to bounce back form 4 – 11 in 2010 thus, I posed this question.
So far – a solid save percentage is the only retort. Waiting for someone to remind us of this drat position and the fact he is an all star.
Not tooling here – just looking for a sound, logical reason to believe in this guy. The fact he wears my team jersey isn’t enough.
Oh, well then…he SUPPORTED his teammates! How silly of me…let’s make him the number one goalie based on that then…merit? What’s that? Who cares about merit.
What I saw in the papers (nothing, BTW, as I live overseas) means nothing to me. On-ice performance means everything. Price did not impress me. If he impressed you, well, then I guess you are happy with the situation. The situation being we have one decent back-up (Price) and one not good back-up (Auld).
_________________________
“Peoples will only be truly free when the last king is strangled by the bowels of the last priest” Denis Diderot
Et tu Phoenix?
Bugs – you rock my friend.
He must be worried now Bugs.
that’s an interesting question?
before I asked,
why aren’t the price supporters posting their support for Price to be paid as a legit # 1 goalie??
does Price have any fans on this site?
Anyone know how Sather is employed?
we do have top players…but we need 2 more players who can hit the 20-25 goals mark…because of our high cap we cannot sign players that have shown last year that they can do this…we have to hope that the many 5-8 goal a year forwards we have can at least add 6-8 goals to their totals
man, Glen Sather is responsible for so many terrible contracts. Why don’t they him already. Redden, Brashear, Boogard, Voros, Rissmiller, the list goes on. Can’t remember if him or Neil Smith signed Holik and Kasparaitis, but that team needs to be banned from FA.
What did you expect to get for the little shirker? I would have been happy with a bag of used pucks and a kiss from a fat girl. He was a cancer to the team, sort of like you here.
Well than at least you questioning Price’s dedication makes sense now?!?!?!??!?
Dave…not you too? I thought you had more sense than that. Everyone has a right to their opinion. Tony is not rude, and never attacks personally. Much like your man Timo, whose cause you are championing.
__________________________
“Peoples will only be truly free when the last king is strangled by the bowels of the last priest” Denis Diderot
Gomez, Drury…
I said that the playoff run was an aberration a fluke that happens in sports. That without Halak standing on his head it would not have happened.
I was summarily shouted down by the majority of HIO, who said the Montreal Canadiens were the THIRD best team in the NHL by the fact they were one of three teams left. That is was NOT a fluke but rather we were finally witnessing the team that Gainey had envisioned all along. That HALAK was just one component of a well oiled legitimate contender.
FINE.
No excuses. If the Habs do not improve on last season then Price and PG have failed.
“Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.”
Price was 13-15-5
Halak was 26 -12- 2
Same team, same group of players. An equal amount of starts with Markov out of the lineup. Explain this without using the phrase ”Price was unlucky”
Why is it, when the Leafs acquire a couple of second/third liners they are going to light up the world? The Habs sign a pair of 30 goal scorers and they overpaid.
When the Leafs acquire a young player that hasn’t quite played up to his potential it is no where but up?
Habs acquire a similar player, and they gave up to much..
Why is it when the Leafs keep a veteran defenseman, it’s for the best?
Markov for Staal anyone?
Kessel is the best goal scorer in the NHL..or at least I’m lead to believe that by all the hype.
Seguin + (Couturier, Larrsson, Saad, or Siemens)
Can someone please help me, I seemed to be confused…
Alex Auld is a career 0.500 goalie (83W and 82L) and that is what I expect from him. Get 20-30 starts and get 10-15 wins. For 1M, it is reasonable.
The season will therefore hinge on Carey Price. He will need to be over 0.500 goalie for us to get into the playoffs.
(FYI, Ellis is a 50W 42L career goalie – over .500, much less experienced)
We are Canadiens fans who like Price a lot. Our hope is for the team to be succesful, and to sign some good players in free agency. Not for Price to get paid. That would be being a Price fan, not a habs fan.
the problem is many fans think the habs are better than they really are and it is easy to blame the goalie …there were so many games in the reg season where we looked really bad and we were dominated but fans forget that
I’ll hold him while you hit him …. then REVERSE …
I don’t think anyone would argue that Halak played better last season.
But I believe only fools would give up Price so early.
The fourth period’s David Pagnotta is reporting on his twitter page that Andrei Kostitsyn’s name is on the trade rumor radar.
He also mentioned the Habs are interested in Hamhuis and Volchenkov
http://twitter.com/TheFourthPeriod
The last time the leafs won the cup it was still just a bowl!!
Haha…I’ve been looking in here every once in a while today and it just amazes me. I’m convinced that some of these posters, and I mean some of the regulars, are doing nothing more than saying things to stir up the shit. Getting worked up over $1M backup goalies? Petty and short-sighted. The Habs don’t have the space to play big time in the pool July 1. They’ll likely wait this out thru the summer, run the camps and keep an eye on the market thru the fall before making any big moves (if “big” is even possible). I’m OK with the team so far. It wo’t be the same lineup come January 2011 as there’s bound to be injuries, trades, promotions and emotions before.
Edit: I wrote “emotions” instead of demotions but I think it works just as well
FREE TIMO!
Man, it’s so frustrating to see ppl bash PG on this Auld acquisition. We are not looking to replace Carey Price (we made it clear that he was going to be our guy of the future when we traded Halak). Why on earth would we sign a potential starting goalie (biron, ellis…) when we want to build Price into a starting goalie. We are looking for quick 1 year contracts for guys that can fill in for 10-20 games, while our #1 gets a rest. We arent looking to make the starting role a competition!! Those days are gone, and good riddens….
Are goalie position is set, and was set the second Halak was peaced…now lets look to fill in the 3rd and 4th lines, and maybe add a 1-2 mil big bruiser on the back end. I’m actually hoping we land Andy Sutton…man would he protect markov!
Statistically it happens. Similar example: Sometimes teams win or lose an inordinate amount of one goal games. Usually the split in one goal games should be close to fifty/fifty. Smart prognosticators know that a team with a statisctical anomaly like this will tend to go in the opposite direction the next year and pick for or against them in turn. Often times in baseball analysis the savy analyst will look towards something like run differential.
Players get on streaks. Chechoos one big season does not define him as a superstar.
Prices underlying numbers were quite good other than wins and losses, this is a really great sign.
They’ll be better than they were last year, but seriously, they have 2 proven top 6 forwards. TWO. And their defense was terrible last year even with all that money thrown at it.
Not to stir the pot, but … where were you at 22 Max?
You make too much sense! Something’s fishy.
Hah, great post bud.
I think it’s more that a guy who can challenge price for the starters job will push him to be better, whereas a career back up makes him feel secure in his job. we’ll see how he reacts.
Has Price signed yet?
Over 3 months until the new season starts. Does that mean 3 months of people bitching about Carey Price, a situation they have zero power to change and that has been debated to death and the point of boredom? Or will there at some point be anything new and interesting discussed like mature adults?
Too bad their shopping Kaberle, in an attempt to find another offensive player to their one man attack. They have all of their cap space devoted to their D. Phanuef isnt scoring over 20 goals. Where are the goals going to come from?
Well said! Would like to see Sutton or Volkenchov, would be even better!
People will get worked up over anything. People just like to be angry.
It’s also worth noting that Montreal has a ton of cap space next summer, and will likely be able to improve the roster much more successfully then.
On emotion/demotion; it definitely works, I like it!
Clay, the guy’s a one trick pony who rarely deviates from his “88 wins” and “PG, BG and JM are too old” schtick. He does occaisionally post a real comment, I’ve actually seen them, but the drivel is getting to even me…and I have almost infinite patience.
FREE TIMO!
look – I supported keeping both goalies – I know there were many people who agreed with me that that was the most logical and prudent thing to do.
but, here’s my answer to you.
Price trained his whole life for this.
He has succeeded along the way leaving thousands of competing goalies behind.
First he was the best goalie in his community, then in BC, then in Canada by the time he was 17 years old.
The fact that Price made it to the World Juniors was a remarkable achievement.
The fact that he was unbeatable in the AHL was equally remarkable for a 19 year old.
He came up and was red hot in his first NHL season, so he showed he could win at the NHL level.
That’s all there is right now – because he is only 22.
The Habs seem to believe in him, and although I supported Halak all of last year, AND, I supported keeping both goalies for next year,
as a Habs fan, I will support Carey Price (because he is the Habs goalie)
The answer to your question is Price has handled mental pressure all of his life to get to this point in time.
He has fallen back since the All Star game in Montreal.
But, inside his own head, he has to be confident – or he will never succeed as an NHL player.
Great athletes believe in their own ability – they are cocky and self-assured.
He accidentally happened upon Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier 30 years ago. Henceforth he has been crowned a genius, and the New York owner don’t know enough about hockey to realize how much he sucks.
They can fill Madison Square Garden with a peewee squad playing. They just need a team to show on TV.
dream on.
I have to agree somewhat crab. I was impressed that he put it to Sergei. I didn’t expect that from him and that was impressive.
As far as supporting Halak … Let’s face facts. He had no choice. If he didn’t show support, he would have been prepping his own rope for the hanging.
3 months of bitching, absolutely.
Patrick Roy 68 wins in 138 games during his first 3 seasons
Carey Price 60 wins in 132 games during his first 3 seasons
Look where we would have been if any you geniuses were running the show back then. Why do guys just relax and let the kid become the player he can be, instead of stabbing him in the back every chance you get?
We need to get bigger! I wish we signed Armstrong.
It is nothing more then a trend for some of the sheep on here.
Off topic, but there are rumours of someone signing Laraque. Does anyone know, if Laraque signs with another team, does that take Montreal off the hook for the amount they him bought him out for?
they have no brains tho
Curtis Sanford signs in Montreal. $550,000 over $200,000 (ahl)
You WANT Boogard? The dude’s an ANCHOR. In the bad, really heavy sense.
I’m thrilled he’s in NY.
As for Shelly- that’s more of the same for the Flyers, who forgot to address their goaltending issues. That transaction leaves me saying meh.
Why add muscle for the sake of adding muscle? How did that work out for us last time? Answer: not well.
They have nothing better to do.
anybody who thinks the habs are the 3rd best team in the nhl is a moron…70% of the games the habs played this year they were outplayed….when teams started to pinch and put pressure on us in our zone we were life and death just to get the puck out…and we did win some of these games….we won 1-0 ivs the flyers but in the third i have not seen a team so dominated as we were….we has a great playoff run but we were not a dominant team…
100 per cent agreed!!
tony has every right to be here, and every right to hold those opinions.
OK, so that answers my previous question: Is Auld for MTL or Hamilton. Now we know.
not Price, and he has never succeeded at the NHL level, and has only proven that he can’t handle the pressure. maybe Gainey and Gauthier have a man crush on him. maybe they’re gay.
Biron 208-176-25 with a .910 save percentage. And he is cheaper than Auld. Any way you look at it, PG made a bad move.
Ellis was never in the picture, his agent said negotiations never even got off the ground. Have to wonder why PG even dealt for him. Biron was rebuffed by PG.
The question to ask is not why not Ellis but rather why not Biron.
“Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.”
He doesn’t attack personally? All he ever does is attack Gainey and Gauthier.
BTW I’m not suggesting that Tony242 should be run out of town, but he shouldn’t be surprised when people start responding to his constant whining.
Exacty — other teams are getting stronger, we’re struggling to keep our 09-10 team together. It is disappointing. What do we have now (most likely):
Cammy-Pleks-AK46
Pouliot-Gomer-Gio
Moen-Eller-Lapierre
Pyatt-Boyd-White/Darche
Marky-Subban
Gill-Gorges
Hammer-Spaceman
OB
Price
Auld
We’re going to get physically owned…. again.
Schultz?
Definitely not easy to get back, especially after the calibre of players they’ve given up.
Wow. Calagary gave Jokinen $3M/year for 2 years.
He’s already got a prospect and a 2nd rounder from Ladd. He knows what he’s doing. Maybe not a repeat this year (never happens 2 yrs in a row anyway) but they will still be a top team for years to come.
Ok I know we all hate the Leafs but Armstrong fits nicely into their roster. He definitely would’ve helped our team.
It’s not hard for a 29th place team to improve. It’s no more difficult for a two year old to turn three!
Every season matters but a Cup run will be very difficult losing some key contributors and Niemi as their guy. Bowman kept his core intact and made the best of a bad situation by rounding up as many picks and prospects as he could to restore the team’s future. I don’t see what he could have done differently really.
- I shall always remember Captain Koivu.
http://habsandhockey.blogspot.com/
Armstong/Byfuglien/Neil – One of these things is not the same. I want the team not to be push overs too – I hope White make the team, and Boyd would hurt someone, thats great – but lets not in anyway say the leafs made a huge move in any department by getting Colby at 3 million.
*ignore*
Is there anyone you like or respect? You really are an endless pit of hatred and evil.
–
You’ll have to speak up – I’m wearing a towel.
Chicago will still be a cup contender. They will probably not win 2 years in a row (which never happens anyway) but they will still be a top team for years to come. They kept their core: Toews, Kane, Hossa, Sharp, Keith, Seabrook, Campbell. Not bad at all if you ask me.
Just for the record, the Leafs were a 29th placed team last season..We finished in the playoffs and were in the final 4..I understand Halak was a big reason why we got there, but why would we over pay for guys like Armstrong and Versteeg? The Leafs have nowhere to go, but up..They will suck again this year, BTW..
I think the changes PG have made were great considering our cap issues..We have all summer to make more deals to get some relief and improve the team..Some of you have no patience..
*ignore*
———————————-
Fate leads the willing, and drags along the reluctant.
98 days until the season’s start. They’re not even on the ice. Do you know something about what they’re doing off the ice that I don’t?
Do you think they can play (or not play) or get arrested or something before you accuse them of being an embarassment? Please?
–
You’ll have to speak up – I’m wearing a towel.
Oh – he is one hell of a tough guy.
He did talk about toughness, didn’t he.
*ignore*
———————————-
Fate leads the willing, and drags along the reluctant.
He would fit in perfect with some of the bunch in here
remember, leafs with their crappy team, beat us consistenly last year, and now they’re much better.
mark my words. habs won’t a single game vs the leafs this year.
none!
If beating the Habs is priority over making the playoffs so be it lol your a monkey enjoy the golf season….again!
“I went to see a fight the other night…And A hockey game broke out!” ~Rodney Dangerfield~
If I was GM I would take Frolov anyday of the week for Hamrlik.
3-3 record, that is what I call consistency.
And yes, they will beat us. All of their two top-6 forwards who are ALL above 6 feet and 200lbs will show us, who’s the boss. I am shaking already.
In this market there are going to be good rewards for sitting on your cash and being patient.
usually you have pretty interesting things to say … note the 3 key words “Stanley cup team”
and we don’t have a single top 6 line. Gomer-4th liner,
Pouliot, invisible 4th liner,
Pleks- plays invisible in the playoffs and not great during the season,
AK- sleeps during every game.
so that leavers us with 2 scorers, wow!
what a phenomenal offense!
Patience jackass, patience….
get a mirror if you want to locate clueless posters. Price and Ellis at 5M for 2 year or even 3M for 1 year is much better than Price and Auld at 1M for this team and for Price. Price gets around 50 games and Ellis gets the rest- that should have been an easy sell to Ellis but I guess Gauthier went to the same negotiating school as you. Now they have zero insurance in case Price stumbles – smart.
If Nabokov gets signed the Habs should trade Auld and Sanford and see if the team that signed Nabokov that would accept the trade proposal.
you know the Habs have no cash to spend right .
lol..Ellis as insurance? What? The guy had brutal numbers..It would have been nice to get him at, say, 1-1.5M, but what are we gonna do? Put a gun to the guy’s head?
He simply didn’t want to play here…McKenzie said talks didn’t even get off the ground..He wasn’t listening..Geez..
Ugghhh! I just posted that and they deleted it, that’s why I replaced it with the boring version above!
Are you one of them weasle-snitchies?
fine but he is much better than Auld and definitely capable of carrying the load – which is why I called him “insurance”. Auld is not.
I get it that he didn’t want to play here – but PG should have figured that out before he made that trade or changed his mind.
I’m just pissed off at this team not doing enough – I do feel T.O and Boston have gotten much better – so has Ottawa, NJ, Pit, ATL – etc..Habs have gone laterally and are no more difficult to play against – will lose more games to the aforementioned teams and could easily miss the playoffs.
YOu can always team with Tony and cheer for the Laffs.
PeeBee. Peebster. Peeb. I am the one and only HH. I saw that and that it was gone so I repeated it to give you a chuckle.
If I was a Mod I would:
1) re-instate Timo
2) delete Tony242′s account
3) delete SmartyPants’ account
4) disable the swear filter
5) unblock the Gunfight at the Big OK Corral thread
6) delete whichever accounts email flamed Chris
amongst other things.
Sutter should be fired.
Let’s get Bieksa from Vancouver — he’s strong, plays fiesty, and can play on the PP.
Or, I’d go after Willie Mitchell if he’s healthy.
Chris Mason is Atlanta’s new No. 1 goalie, signing a two-year deal with yearly salaries of $1.6 and $2.1 million.
Mason signs with Atlanta for 2 yrs
I suspect what happened is the owner told Sutter “all your deals of the last few years sucked” so now he is reversing them all.
With the way Sutter’s going, I say PG goes hard for Iginla haha.
I feel bad for Iggy. He and Kipper will once again have to carry the team.
I don’t see why anybody should be surprised to see the Habs not go hard after these UFA defenseman. With Hamrlik and Gill coming off the books next year, they’re set for the upcoming season. With a potential #1 defenseman in Subban, this D-corps will be much better than the one from last year. And don’t forget Markov’s an UFA next year, he’s a main priority. If anything, this team has too many D-men with O’Byrne as the 7th and others waiting in line in Hamilton.
However, I’d love to see Frolov on a line with Pleks and Cammalleri (former teamates in LA), he’s an absolute beast on the boards, something which the Habs, especially that particular line, can definitely use. But he’ll probably be overpaid, and I wouldn’t mind seeing what Andrei Kostitsyn could do without the headache that is Sergei.
And hey, look at it from the bright side, at least we’re not the Calgary Flames
.
Hamrlik for Iginla straight up.
*Ignore*
So Nabokov turned down 2 mil from Philly, but after today I think he might take something close to that…we paid 1.6 mil for Auld and Sanford…just saying.
Hamrlik straight up would probably be all it would take. Just in case, throw in a chair from the Forum that “allegedly” one of the Flames’ owners sat in when they won the Cup in ’89.
Scotty Bowman said it best: “Don’t trade Carey Price.”
Toronto has gotten “much better”? They have TWO proven top 6 forwards. TWO!!!!
Maybe this is so Iggy will ask to be traded. If i’m him i ask outta there ASAP. he deserves to play on a cup contender
The Sutter brothers are real men folks. Brent dared Daryll to bring Jokinen back. “Not even you have the balls to do something as stupid as that Daryll.
“Well, I’ll show you Brent”
Look at Calgary. now THERE is a GM who has the balls to make the tough descisions. This whole time the big, strong, skilled center the Habs have needed for over a decade now is just sitting on the UFA list and… and…. nah just kidding can’t believe my eyes!
Still a prospect..
From within? Besides Schultz (who we’ll only see in ~2 yrs), who do we have that fits that description? We already dismissed Stewart who seemed like he might make it at first. Artyukin’s not bad…
Ladd -> ATL
definitely.
For a second I thought you’d gone insane.
Being a Habs fan isn’t what It used to be.
They’re becoming to be an embarrasment on and off the ice.
The only way to follow them is by lowering your expectations, and you won’t be dissapointed.
*Ignore*
I’d like to see Hamrlik (and even AK) traded, for a draft pick(s). A number of reasons… 1) he was great, but he’s getting older (can he still be great?) 2) Moving him opens a spot for Subban, Weber, etc. 3) it frees up money ($5.5 million) go to after some scoring help, i.e. a Frolov or even Kovalchuk! Who would you rather have, Hamrlik at $5.5 million or Frolov at $5.5 million? (Not sure if that amount would get him signed or not, just asking)
Never thought about it that way. Thanks.
Andrew Ladd traded to Atlanta!!
Yep and i’m sure you were the loudest one in the bar talking about how great our run to the conference final was. Putz.
*ignore*
———————————-
Fate leads the willing, and drags along the reluctant.
yes especially when we all know it was a fluke.
and because we got to cheer for a couple extra rounds, the fans will pay for that , and now the team will NOT make the playoffs for the next 3 years.
Went insane a long time ago, still doesn’t mean I’d want Olli on my team!
That was nice of you to say, but you don’t have to thank me. They paid me while I was in, I got to see the world, paid for my college, and I have a nice mortgage rate now. It was still nice of you to say, and I appreciate it.
Stan Bowman must want to murder Dale Tallon. Chicago has been torn to shreds.
Devils have 18 players signed (11F, 6D, 1G), 5.4M in cap space, and Lou is saying he’s “still in on Kovy”??
Fully agree with you here. I saw some where that Lombardi is expecting to get over 4 mil per. Mini were going to give him 4 mil for a few years and he turned them down.
Felt compelled to say it, it’s a tough job no matter what you’re paid.
lol..Letting Ellis walk…WTF are you talking about?..He didn’t want to play here..He said he didn’t want to be buried behind Price..He wanted a legitimate shot at the number 1 goalie position..
If we wanted him, we would have given him more than what TB gave him..At the very least, 3M..Would you give him 3M and take playing time from Price?..Some posters have no clue…
Good point!!
I wonder if Darryl Sutter’s Brain Damage is painful to him or not.
What the heck is he doing?!?
Tallon is a great trader, but his cap management is horrific, that and his memory about mailing RFA offers.
- I shall always remember Captain Koivu.
http://habsandhockey.blogspot.com/
I wouldn’t give up on AK so quickly. He’s got one year left in his contract, he’s got chemistry with Plekanec, his brother’s out of town (out of the country actually, maybe out of the continent soon?). This can be a make or break season for Brother Andrei.
And to answer your other question, I’d rather have Hamrlik at 5.5 million for 1 year than Frolov at the same price for 3-4 years.
At this rate, they’ll have a full Top-6 forward group for the 2014-15 season.
- I shall always remember Captain Koivu.
http://habsandhockey.blogspot.com/
Boston? Who did they sign?
Ottawa? Buffalo? Who did they sign? Any tough guys?
Toronto – Armstrong at 3M who had 74 hits in 79 games last season? HELL YEAH!
Don’t be embarrassed..
Toronto in no way can be compared to the B’s in the getting way better department. No contest – end of story.
I love it. Now the two guys who built the blackhawks into a cup winner are being dissed.
Chicago has lost a ton very good hockey players this year, no way they repeat.
Tony. We get it. Stop. You’ve said it way more than 242 times.
–
You’ll have to speak up – I’m wearing a towel.
It’s disappointing that the toughness issue hasn’t really been addressed. I don’t mean Boogard/Laraque/Cote tough, I mean Armstrong/Byfuglien/Neil tough. I hope we at least get Boyd. He seems to be feisty and has grit. I’m also hoping White makes the team.
But seriously i really do think that with the right 4th line combo if we offered BGL a…. nah… one more for the joke book!
Agree, Bowman knows this and is planning to get back to the Cup Finals in 2 or 3 years with his moves. Get a ton of prospects so he’ll have cap-friendly talent throughout the lineup when the time comes.
- I shall always remember Captain Koivu.
http://habsandhockey.blogspot.com/
someone mentioned artyukin…hes a wrecking machine.
isnt he free agent, he would look great as a hab.
but i read hes a bit of a headcase..
It’s been a rough six weeks, hasn’t it? Get serious.
Scotty Bowman said it best: “Don’t trade Carey Price.”
Wow, Atlanta sends D Ivan Vishnevsky and a 2nd round draft pick for Andrew Ladd. Big time overpayment by Atlanta. According to hockeysfuture.com, Vishnevsky was Atlanta’s #2 prospect.
SF09 – Remember who was the capolagist for Tallon during his stay with the Hawks, ‘Stan Bowman’.
HIO posters trade Tony for 16 different incarnations of Timo.
(what ever happened to him? I know Boone gave him the boot, and although I did find his pessimism insufferable, he did have a great sense of humour within the senselss bashing he was throwing out!)
Don’t think Ilya will sign within the first few days of free agency.
gorram it, you are awful.
bowman recognized Tallon’s contributions with a Stanley Cup ring
what an evil, slimy bastard that bowman must be. pff
Yeah you’re right. Tallon is such an a**hole for putting together a Stanley Cup team.
I agree, but I can’t seem to find this kind of players that are UFA. No way we’d pay 3M to Armstrong and Buff was pretty expensive.We should promote this kind of player from within.
Less than 1 hit a game? And to think half of those hits will be banned and suspendible next season.
Campbell for 7.1 and Huet for 5.625, I wouldn’t object to those deals on issues of the salary cap if I was the capologist, I’d object on the issue of common sense. Tallon was too loose with the checkbook the last few years in FA.
- I shall always remember Captain Koivu.
http://habsandhockey.blogspot.com/
It’s brutal isn’t it. Nothing worse than cheering for a team that went to the ECF after battling injuries all year.
I think it was quite fair, Ladd is a strong winger and he is only 24.
You’re just killin’ it today!
artyukhin
TSN’s Colby Armstrong montage featured him playing against the Habs…specifically Koivu and Souray.
If he was overrated before, as a Leaf, he’ll definitely become overrated now.
Truculence FTW right?
If not for his RFA screw-ups last June, they could have repeated. Now – not so sure anymore.
Atlanta GM wants his team in the playoffs to placate the owners with some cash, trying to make moves to get there and ensure some job security.
- I shall always remember Captain Koivu.
http://habsandhockey.blogspot.com/
Wonder if he meeting with James, Bosh and Wade in Miami. I mean, what is the benefit to him to wait? I can’t figure that out.
It is nice for the habs, but at the same time disturbing to see so much money and term going to so many free agents who aren’t that good.
It’s a good year to have no cap space to save ourselves from this insanity. Plekanec was a fricken steal at these prices.
Love how a good 66% of the comments are huge over reactions to anything. Somehow it seems the ship is always sinking on this website.
Thanks for the others who post insightful comments.
Really? Only 24? Well, that beard sure fooled me.
One thing’s for sure – we need 1 player of this kind!
So, the next couple seasons don’t matter? Handcuffed by Huet and Campbell, Bowman has spilt his team’s guts. That is not easy to get back.
I like Plekanec and AK, but I’m not 100% sold on both. Neither produced significantly in the playoffs (even though we made it to the semi-finals), Pleks did play good, but only had 4 goals and 11 points. My points on Hamrlik are that I don’t think he can still play at the same level at his age, we need to bring the younger players and we need more scoring. But then again, Frolov could turn into another head-case!
A Stanley cup team that’s been torn apart in the offseason by necessity. A Stanley cup team where 2 of the highest paid players contributed next to nothing.
I’m embarassed by what Habs have done so far – i.e. letting Ellis walk and then signing Auld – no offense to him. Have not addressed any toughness at all and teams around us – Boston, Toronto are getting much better…
If he could read dates on a calender and have some extra stamps around, they wouldn’t have had to dump so many players. They had a great team for a Cup for 2010, but now they have to tear a lot of it down because of some very bad FA contracts and unforgiveable mistakes with handling RFAs.
- I shall always remember Captain Koivu.
http://habsandhockey.blogspot.com/
Aw crap, we lost him to the Nabs? Friggin Nabs… Who are the Nabs again?
Sorry, posted wrong,it was for 1 season at 500,000
To you from failing hands we throw the torch, be yours to hold it high.
Sanford jusr re-signed with the Nabs 2 years. I think for 500,000.
To you from failing hands we throw the torch, be yours to hold it high.
Ellis got the opportunity to start in TB – that’s why he signed there. That being said, could we have waited to see what else was out there as far as backups go? Sure. We probably could’ve saved $250k, which is neither here nor there really. I get the impression that management didn’t want somebody who could be a potential starter – Price is the starter, full stop.
But as far as bona fide backups are concerned, the pickings are mighty slim – maybe we’d have gone with a Legace, Sabourin, Caron, Dubliewicz, or Danis? Out of those, I’d say Auld is as good as any.
I suspect he meant by MTL and as much as Biron said he looked at MTL, every French Canadian says that as a free agent, than they go somewhere else when offered more money or just don’t feel like playing in MTL.
- I shall always remember Captain Koivu.
http://habsandhockey.blogspot.com/
Loved koivu but I loved muller more
wasnt offended when koivu sported the 11
its just a number
This is the 2nd time Biron has snubbed his nose at Montreal, and/or used the Habs to make his value grow.
Biron can go to h3ll for all I care.
Buddy. You’re very negative and propose very little in thought other than to say Gionta was a bad signing. It’s easy to keep writing negative comments. tell us-what do you like about the Habs.
I know I will get slagged for this but I don’t care. This all goes in hand with what J.T. said about this current managements inability to do the classy thing. To leave the 11 alone for a suitable period of time would show respect to a former captain and GREAT person.
Why? What demented thought process put this on the table? I grow more and more disenchanted with this franchise. Believeau is too good to be connected with this current embarrassment.
Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.”
Trading your best player for two prospects is in fact very drastic. And not exactly smart.
Did anyone notice how those Maple Leaf fans are such sheep? They support management no matter what. It’s no wonder they haven’t won in 43 years.
Value grow? He go 875K. At 12:01. He didn’t need leverage; he might have in fact benefited from patience.
I am not your “buddy”. I am sorry if you feel my comments add little to the overall discussion on HIO.
I will endeavor to follow your example of intelligent, knowledgeable and thoughtful commentary.
I am positive when I see things to be positive about. I am critical when I see a continuation of questionable management moves.
I fail to see how this calls for insults.
“Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.”
K true enough lol
Previous time was more about the money.
Yeah your right, weird that he signed so quickly for so little.
According to Arpon Basu, Biron was turned down by PG. PG was the one who did not want Biron dude.
“Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.”
With so many so-so goalies they are mightily afraid there won’t be a chair when the music stops. Making almost a million is better than he will do in a Laval Reno Depot.
Just what I expected. You’re quick to criticize bud and very defensive with little to add other than negativity to the site.
Dustin Boyd signed $650k 1 yr – as per McKenzie.
I have read some of your comments. For you to stand in judgement of the relative value of anyone else’s is quite laughable.
As far as I can tell you have not made a single original comment or idea for changes that could help propel this franchise forward.
All you do is defend every decision management makes without any critical analysis. What you add is simply the company line BUD.
“Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.”
Good deal as far as salary but wonder why only one year?
“Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.”
I recently came across your blog and have been reading along.
Crap I forgot Sutter gave the ham sandwich 3.5 million over 3 years … just keep Hamrlik for the one year I guess.
At least there will be no more controversy; Carey Price is definitely the number one goalie now.
How does a guy manage to sign at 12:01? You can’t even complete the phone call that fast. Something has to be fishy with this, it is my understanding that you cannot negotiate guys under contract on other teams. Isn’t that correct?
Nice
He only got one because now we have Eller, Leblanc, Gomez, Plekanek, Lapierre … even cammy can play center. We have a little bit of a glut right now.
I actually heard there is a rule that allows agents to start negotiating (no contract signings though) as of 12.01am on July 1st.
Could explain why so many contracts are signed right after noon
Alex Auld is as ok of a backup as anyone else, and for a guy who plays 15-20 games he’s perfectly fine for a million, but I don’t like gambling this much on Price. I still have faith in his talent, size, and all that jazz, but I don’t know if it will all come together this year, and if it doesn’t, I don’t know how many more games Auld would be able to play.
My two cents.
few players sign 650k long term
Ask Nikita Filatov anything
http://www.formspring.me/filat28
Dear Tony242, (reprinted by permission)
You are not an idiot, close but not entirely. You are a cry baby though. Man up. The Habs are in a tankless rebuild. The hardest kind. Only the bravest of GM’s dare do in the salary cap CBA revenue sharing NHL ponzi league. Only the hardest of fans can endure it like men. The weak. They bitch and moan like little girls. I feel great, how about you?
Truly,
HH
Matt Cullen headed to Minnesota! Big blow to the Sens!
Why would any GM decide to take the hardest route to success? Hardly logical or the guide to job security.
I propose a GM would only take such a course of action when ownership dictates the other road is not to be taken. It is hardly bravery but rather part of his job description.
It is clear and it is with a sad heart I come to this conclusion, the Molson’s are primarily driven by profit considerations not the Cup.
“Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.”
Haha it’s not him!
Not the way I read that tweet message if we’re talking about the same one as follows:
RT @TheHockeyNews: @dellis39 to TB. 2 years/$3 million. Really, P. Gauthier? $500,000 & an extra year made you say no to this guy? Pffft
…
And this one a bit earlier:
@DanLom No, #Habs clearly wouldn’t sign him for two years, and Ellis absolutely wanted that
I can’t seem to find any further tweets from him confirming that PG actually did turn him down in a fashion that would suggest anything other than Ellis wasn’t prepared to meet PGs terms. C’est la vie, I say.
FREE TIMO!
Raycroft to Dal 2 year deal.
So what advice would you give to the Molsons?
What advise would you give to PG?
What did you think of our UFA signings from 2009?
“It is clear and it is with a sad heart I come to this conclusion, the
Molson’s are primarily driven by profit considerations not the Cup.”
ummmmm anybody who owns a business puts the bottom line above all else… thats why they are called businessmen…
M A Godin Tweets – I heard #Habs were in the hunt for versatile Christoph Schubert. Defencemen get a lot of money today. Will the Habs be willing to pay?
Hard to believe : Bob Mac Tweets – Andrew Raycroft to DAL, as per The Stars. Two year deal.
Pierre LeBrun tweets – Spoke with Don Meehan, Nabokov likely to take a few days after look at options. KHL in Russia a real option but won’t close door on NHL
Oh, heaven forbid a business owner should want his BUSINESS to be run in a profitable manner. Tanking for high picks is not, and should not be an acceptable avenue in this league.
If we had to take an ex-Bruins Goalie, glad we took Auld.
The UFA disaster of July 1, 2009? That one?
Gainey’s folly?
The have no advice to give to the Molson’s even if they would take it. I just wish we had an owner like Mike Illitch or Steinbrenner with no shareholders to bow down to and is single minded in the desire to WIN.
Look at the great franchises the Montreal Canadiens are compared to, the Yankees and Lakers. They continue to win or at the very least compete year after year, while the Habs talk about 1993. 1993 was a LONG time ago.
“Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.”
Afternoon all
Grateful for an update on the Dustin Boyd situation – has he signed somewhere or is he still in play ?
Thanks -
ALWAYS Habs -
Dave Mex
Man, that Kobe and Jeter would look great in a Habs’ uni..
They’re businessmen. The 1st goal of any business is to generate profits. Of course they want to win too. They’re proud people and they won’t tolerate failure. But the Habs are far from being a failure (considering the long run in the playoffs) so that’s why no drastic changes have been implemented.
You are an idiot. Halak’s play aside, without cammaleri and Gionta, we don’t get a sniff of the playoffs.
Gionta was a bad investment? Our frontrunner for captaincy? Mike Cammalleri, the goal scoring leader of the 2010 playoffs? Hal Gill’s brilliant shutdown work in the playoffs? Jaro Spacek who worked his *** off when Markov was down and was strong against Ovechkin in the playoffs? Travis Moen’s playoff work was questionable? Tell me, what exactly was wrong with the high-profile UFAs that were acquired? I seem to recall them all contributing to our playoff success.
- I shall always remember Captain Koivu.
http://habsandhockey.blogspot.com/
Boyd is still in play.
James Mirtle tweets – The Flames may have just signed Raitis Ivanans.
Winning the Cup would bring the most profits, would it not? I don’t think it ia very accurate to say the Molson’s are not interested in winning, unless you are a close personal friend of the family. I think it is fair to say that none us on this site or the vast majority of Hab fans and media have the patience for a tank-then rebuild scenario. It is us, and I include myself, who demand a competitive team every year. Lots of other American teams can disappear for a few years because no one cares.
Outside of Kovolchuk, there is no proven scorer on the market. If the Habs dump AK for a pick as many have suggested, there would barely be enough $ for Jokinen. I would take AK over him everyday.
I have tried very hard to be mature in my interactions with you.
” you are an idiot” an unprovoked and typical childish response to a viewpoint that is in opposition to yours.
You have the nerve to call out Tony242 who has never resorted to insulting others even though he is insulted over and over again. While you resort to insults even when there is no reason for such a response.
Tony242 is more mature and more of a man than you can ever hope to be.
“Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.”
Its like they think the molson’s paid half a billion dollars to aquire the team based on nothing but hippy vibes…
Why exactly would we need another defenceman? We have 7 guys that can do the job. Let’s say they somehow get rid of Hamrlik, shouldn’t we give O’Byrne a chance? We don’t need Schubert, not even on the bottom 6 forwards.
TripleX, I know you have it for the management but honestly, Tony242 being mature? He logs in to complain that Gainey is running a puppet regime and we’re all delusional and think it’s okay the Habs had 88 points last season and that the team is suddenly going to be outdone with a Loafs squad that doesn’t even one line of Top-6 forwards available.
Guy is a net troll, through and through.
- I shall always remember Captain Koivu.
http://habsandhockey.blogspot.com/
Lets not kid ourselves, the habs arent a risky investment.
You lament the fact the team is in cap trouble and any player moves are severely hampered. Yet you fail to make the connection to the high priced player acquisitions made last July.
Some of us predicted exactly this cap situation a year ago. No one is deputing Cammalleri and Gionta are excellent players. What is in debate is the wisdom of using UFA’s to fill out your core.
“Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.”
I think it is just analysts/bloggers etc trying to look smart by guessing correctly. In this case, for the last several years the Habs have had bottom end D-men (MAB, Streit, Dandenault) that played both D & F so obviously we must be in the market for the next one.
We had a good show to watch last year, Gomez’s salary notwithstanding. I would love to see such fireworks again, but with the cap, it couldn’t happen. I don’t like what I see of the Habs strategy, and I think this is a weaker team than it was at season’s end. But, all we do know is now we have to wait for the intangibles.
There were guys with off years. There are young guys. There were injuries. Pouliot, Eller, Kostityn and Lapierre could give us some good surprises. Subban is here, and Markov will be back. The core of the team is good, and like in most years in recent memory, they will only go as far as their thin lineup will allow. They’re good. Many other teams are getting better. On paper, it’s bleak. But they are our Habs.
Sergei’s gone to Laraqueland, and good riddance to him. I don’t believe Price is an NHL goalie, so I had better be very very wrong. I doubt they’ll make the playoffs. But I was a fan when some of the Habs forwards were questionable AHLers, let alone NHL players. I’ll be a fan for the two years or so it will take to see if Gauthier knows better than Tony 2-4 there. If I have those longevity genes they recently identified, I may even see another Cup parade.
Peace out, have a good summer all, and remember, if you feed the trolls, they’ll follow you home. And they’ll get into your soul….
Was at a wedding all day and just got back. My first impression from free agent frenzy: GLEN SATHER IS AN IDIOT!
Confirm or deny!
“I gotta feeling…that tonight’s gonna be a good night!”
Well this is very interesting indeed.Would love to read a little more of this. Great post. Thanks for the heads-up…This blog was very informative and knowledgeable
Jm got rid of sk now he has to wait a year to dump O Burne
Mature in the sense that he does not bring himself down to the level of mudslinging.
Mature in the sense that he can turn the other cheek and ignore the insults.
Resorting to school yard tactics simply because you disagree with a viewpoint is unnecessary on HIO. I have more problems with these individuals than Tony242.
“Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.”
where did i say that?
and even if I did?
Definitely confirm but have you seen what’s going on in Calgary?
…
The Other Wing
I meant the organization could concentrate more on hockey and not have it hurt the bottom line that much.
which is FAIR but you are feigning that this has been the ongoing MO of the team when in fact up untill last season the habs biggest critique was not being active enough in the UFA market
so we shittin today or gettin off the pot?
then the prophecy is complete.
…
The Other Wing
Cap issues can be handled, there’s cap trouble for every team that looks to contend for anything in the 10-11 season. We’ve got a leadership core, some clutch scoring and some players to build up over next season. Pouliot with better conditioning, the new kid Eller, the rookie sensation that is Subban and Andrei without his brother to distract him.
- I shall always remember Captain Koivu.
http://habsandhockey.blogspot.com/
I dont see how they havent focused on hockey… lets not forget that one of the main reasons were in the cap situation is its hard to attract players to this team for a plethora of reasons.. its not all about management… so some drastic decisions were made last summer and here we are…
He’s confirmed on a Russian newspaper that it really is him.
I’d say the inmates are running the asylum, but that would be rather cruel to those suffering from psychological illness.
- I shall always remember Captain Koivu.
http://habsandhockey.blogspot.com/
Scott Gomez #11.
Get used to it boys!
Stubbs tweets that gomez will be sportin #11 next season
Gomez just went down a notch in my book, that number should have been left alone for years.
- I shall always remember Captain Koivu.
http://habsandhockey.blogspot.com/
Gionta was a bad investment? Our frontrunner
for captaincy? Mike Cammalleri, the goal scoring leader of the 2010
playoffs? Hal Gill’s brilliant shutdown work in the playoffs? Jaro
Spacek who worked his *** off when Markov was down and was strong
against Ovechkin in the playoffs? Travis Moen’s playoff work was
questionable? Tell me, what exactly was wrong with the high-profile UFAs
that were acquired? I seem to recall them all contributing to our
playoff success.
I agree all these players made us the best Habs team we have had in quite a few years. They all played hard every game and had a great playoff run. Halak didn’t do all the work it was these guys who got them there too!
Could the team not have ponied up another half million dollars and signed Ellis instead of Auld. What happens if Price pulls a groiny or gets suspended for shotting a puck at a player after he scores a goal. I am OK with Price being our number 1 but I am not comfortable with Auld playing 30-35 games this year as our backup.
damn you
Ellis wanted about 2 million or more because of the higher tax rates in MTL, it’s an issue that holds the team back from easily bidding for UFAs.
- I shall always remember Captain Koivu.
http://habsandhockey.blogspot.com/
I just got Twitter today to keep updated on signings, sorry haha
stupid double post
Where was there no interest in Biron?
welcome to the reality most teams face when their number 1 goes down
we certainly have been blessed the last few years
pwned by a twitter n00b… fml
What is your alternative? Tanking 5 years in a row a la Pittsburgh/Chicago in order to get top picks? This is not an option in Montreal. Yes, we did fill out our core with UFAs (Cammalleri, Gionta) but weren’t those positive moves?
Our cap issues stem from guys like Hamrlik, Gomez and AK who get paid more than they’re worth (or are showing, in the case of AK).
Gomez was a necessary evil in a way, because judging from Plekanec’s performance last year, we had no #1 centre. No one knew Plek was going to get 70 pts this year. So now this is what we’re stuck with. But as long as Cammalleri, Gionta and Gomez keep performing, their salaries won’t come up as often.
What we can do, is get rid of the useless players who are paid too much.
What an insult. Another reason to dislike Gomez.
IF IT COME WITH THE “C’” I MIGHT SCREAM.
“Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.”
Oh ya the taxes. 2 million is too much for a backup. Auld all the way.
huh ? He was like the first one signed at like 12.01pm – by the Rangers.
Whatcha mean no interest ?
1 million in cap space could be the difference this season for call-ups and such, CGY cut themselves off so badly with the cap in 08-09 they had nights of dressing 15 players.
- I shall always remember Captain Koivu.
http://habsandhockey.blogspot.com/
I guess we have something in common when it comes to providing ideas for improving the team. However the difference is I don’t attack others. I asked you point blank for ideas and you provided none other than to note I’m not your buddy and that Gionta was not a good signing. Sorry if calling you a buddy offended you. Where I come from, we refer to all as a buddy. Whats that -school yard tactics Triple XXX. You’re comments earlier today to Kevin Mio. Classic you. Change your name to Timo II. It’s more fitting.
Tony is that you?
but so did gainey and gauthier…Remeber your words you mutt…its about results…isnt that why you keep complaining about the habs? because we havent won a cup? yet we made it to the playoffs 5 our of 6 years i think and made it the ECF last year./…yet burke made it…nowhere…no playoffs…and gave up a franchise 2nd pick overall and you keep comparing them and trying to make them sound godly….honestly dude your too easy Tony lol its hard not to laugh at you
“I went to see a fight the other night…And A hockey game broke out!” ~Rodney Dangerfield~
now they’re signing scorers. how many have we signed? oh yes Ellers, a minor leaguer nobody has heard of.
thank you. I totally agree.
honestly, how can you say the leafs have a better team than the habs do?
if burke is on a 5 year play, this is year 3 and he looks like a bubble team…so in 2 years from now, he’s going to win the cup? i can’t see it.
http://www.nhl.com/ice/player.htm?id=8467913#&navid=nhl-keymatch
Auld has been a back up before, he won’t fight for number 1. he will help Price. Good signing.
Leafs are starting to look big and tough
Alex Auld?
Bleh.
What happens if someone offers Price a fat offer sheet now?
As for Biron, having a media-friendly Francophone as a backup would have been a complete nightmare. Because the French media would have few others to talk to, they’d hit up Biron every single day. At some point, he’d say something innocuous like “sure I’d like to play more” or “Carey is struggling a little” and the controversy would be on and it would last all year.
Big quiet guy happy to be in the league and cup Carey’s nards once in awhile is probably a safe bet. Auld’s No. 1 job should be monitoring Price’s off-ice antics.
i like the proce 1 million good since we are already handicapped by the cap…also i didnt watch alot of Auld’s games last year but didnt he take over for Turco for a while and do a res[ectablle job?
Cammalerri missed a total of 23 games the past 4 years, 19 of them in 2007/8 with LA.
Gionta missed a total of 21 games the past 4 seasons, 20 of those were in 2006/7 with NJD
Hardly injury prone for years. Hey Tone, answer me this, do you ever get tired of talking out of your ass?
Why do people think Biron would sign with MTL. Why do people care?
Biron NHL totals: GP 463, SV% .910, GAA 2.63 32 years old
Auld NHL totals: GP 207, SV% .904, GAA 2.78 29 years old
Their top 6 is just as small as the Habs is… Kessel’s only 5’11, and Versteeg is 5’10.
Plus they don’t have a #1 centre. They still won’t be able to score.
_______________________________
The Habs are making me Bi-Polar.
It’s “Einstein”, Einstein!
Biron was pretty bad last year.
But it’s hard to get excited about Auld.
starting to look big and tough? they lost sundin 6’5, poni 6’4, and antropov 6’6 in the last 3 years…they’ve gotten smaller if anything.
armstrong is quite possibly their only top 9 forward that’s over 6’0
GONCHAR to OTTAWA for 3 yrs? Does this come with OAS/CPP application paperwork? Dumb dumb GMs.
– I will not apologize for being a delirious HABS fan! –
malhotra gets 2.5 a year from van for 3 years with a no trade, and people are making fun of burke for signing armstrong for 3 mill.
Ellis has a deal. Let’s see what he signed for…
San Jose sign Nyttimaki?
As backup or number one?
Derek Morris gets 4 years? Whats going on here?
Price was 4 – 11 in 2010, no one is going to toss him an offer sheet.
Lol, Malhotra is a better play than Armstrong, dolt.
We made the top 4 because of the goalie we traded…
__________________________
“Peoples will only be truly free when the last king is strangled by the bowels of the last priest” Denis Diderot
hate to say it, but I prefer leaf team over ours.
and remember who’s on our top 2 lines- AK and Pouliot. want to take a guess on how games they show up for? and physicality and grit? forget it.
face it, we’re a very soft team and by resigning Pouliot, now softer.
leafs on the other hand, sign physidal players. why can’t we do that?
that will be our GM’s legacy- softness first.
would is not be even more strange to be “excited” about a backup goaltender? I mean…isn’t it usually the role of the backup to remain unexciting? i think when the backup becomes a story is when you have problems (see Halak/Price 2008-2010)
Rumor has Leafs signing Mathew Lombardi next?
hey douchebag, i know you find it comfortable, but you wanna crawl outta my ass? its an opinion, you don’t like it, dont read it.
Dan Ellis to Tampa
Philly has 1.6M in Cap and still need two or three forwards. That’s pretty tight. But their D, wow!
Auld may be the backup, or he may be the starter in Hamilton. Sanford is UFA and it sounds like he blew the last two games in the AHL.
Gimme an S-E-G-U-I-N! what does that spell? a franchise pick lost by Your Reacharound buddy Burke, enjoy the leafs…This year May be there year…or not lol
“I went to see a fight the other night…And A hockey game broke out!” ~Rodney Dangerfield~
#1
Go Habs Go!
Yeah, I guess losing Savard for half the season had nothing to do with it. Where do you come up with this stuff? Tarot cards?
You’d trade our roster for the Leafs roster? Seriously? They barely have a first line.
We saw how far the ‘big physical Laffs’ got last year.
Newsflash: You Need Skill to Play Hockey.
—Hope Springs Eternal—
who are the leafs top 6 that are over 6’0 tall?
Minus the dolt part I agree :-)
Malhotra is a solid 3rd line centre + he scores just as much as Armstong who is not as good in his zone as Manny.
Good signing.
forgive him, Father, for he knows not what he says
that would be nice if we could add him
Keep talking, I feel like you’ll be a longtime poster on this site.
Then go root for them. All you do is troll here all the time. Nobody cares what you think about the Laffs.
I dont think Amrstrong is a great defensive player, but I think he brings what the team needs, which is a guy who bangs and hits on the forecheck and forces the other team to keep their head up. Moen is the only one close to that on this team. Borderline 2nd liner, but yes a 3rd liner. he can score 15-20 goals, can bang, he’s what this team is missing.
Sounds like the Habs last 5 year plan or 7year, or whatever.
your not very smart
Dan Ellis to TB.
Edit: aah, DraftBeer beat me to it.
lol i’ve been around longer than you have.
XXX does but maybe after he looks at the stats he will come around.
They have the most solid third line players in the world.
perhaps, Father….you can overlook the forgiveness for this one though. :P
They lack offensive skill at the moment. Obviously if they sign Kovy II and land Savard that will change.
Maybe you could go over to Tony’s nursing home on Saturday nights and watch the Leafs on CBC with him. He needs the company.
it’s “you’re not very smart” einstien
your buddy Burke is an amazing GM!!!….Have you seen how well hes building the Bruins! Hahaha
“I went to see a fight the other night…And A hockey game broke out!” ~Rodney Dangerfield~
Go be a Leafs fan then.
Scotty Bowman said it best: “Don’t trade Carey Price.”
Ok, gramps.
Learn to speak to people properly. All you’ve been doing is crying and bashing anyone with a difference of opinion.
Right. Just what we need. A guy who won’t push The Anointed One. Are you serious?
Did anyone notice how those Maple Leaf fans are such sheep? They support management no matter what. It’s no wonder they haven’t won in 43 years.
Why can’t the mods here get rid of these Leaf trolls?
Evvsies.
—Hope Springs Eternal—
Leafs fans are blindly loyal. 1967.
Gainey is jealous?
He has a Conn Smythe, Stanley Cups as player, captain and GM, and his number is hanging on the ceiling of the most famous arena in hockey.
You’re getting nuttier and nuttier.
as ive said before:
people are saying the auld signing is genius because we got him for “cheap”…thats a very superficial analysis given that the rangers just signed martin biron,
who has been a proven
starter at various points in his career (and is at the very least a
very good no2) for 850k per year. yet we go out and pay more (1mil per)
for a career backup/minor-leaguer.
i understand that they dont
want to overpay for a backup since they have decided to go with price,
but given price’s history over the past 2yrs, why not sign a guy who is
capable of carrying the load if price DOES struggle again. it just makes
sense given that biron was cheaper and better
2 years though for Biron. You usually pay a little more for a shorter term, and it’s very possible that the Habs did not want to commit to a backup for more than 1 year.
i hate to say it, but you started it with the dolt comment. i was agreeing to disagree (see my “only one way to find out” comment
I don’t know anything about Auld, but Biron is not good. He was OK in the past but at 32 he is not revisiting those years of mediocrity.
Price was 4 – 11 in 2010 – no need to have a quality backup. We’re solid in nets.
Price was 4 – 11 in 2010 – no need to have a quality backup. We’re solid in nets.
“Je voyais Manny Malhotra comme une légère
amélioration vs Dominic Moore. Mais à 7,5 M pour 3 ans, le CH fait bien
d’avoir passé son tour…” – MA Godin on twitter
Hahaha
Darren Pang : “Hw’s big and bald, he’s Alex Auld!”
Ever take the time to think that maybe Gauthier tried to get Biron?
Other teams are in the NHL too, ya know…
Bull! you love the leafs…when you start comparing a “great” team like the leafs…its obvious you like them…Cammalleri is twice the player kessel is…and that solid defense?? was 2nd to last in the league lol you need not say more to prove your love for the leafs lol
“I went to see a fight the other night…And A hockey game broke out!” ~Rodney Dangerfield~
Alex Auld as our so called back up goalie? LMAO! What a joke. Paying him a million dollars? I just don’t get it.
Halak must have a big grin on his face.
“We will win the Cup one day only with ? in the nets “
You prefer the Leafs team over ours???? Why? They have 1 player that should be on a top 2 line in this league. And their D are pathetic!!! No prospects in the whole orginization and continuing to give them away for players who would be key role players on GOOD TEAMS ONLY. Can’t be serious!!
Hey, the Leafs and Habs scored exactly the same # of goals last year. The Leafs have gotten better up front, the Habs stand pat, so stop being such a hypocrite and see that your team isn’t exactly an offensive machine either./
Yeah we had serious goaltending problems last year. Right into the 3rd round.
Did anyone notice how those Maple Leaf fans are such sheep? They support management no matter what. It’s no wonder they haven’t won in 43 years.
Couldn’t we go after jablonski or hacket or theo or t-bo or garon or even darren pang? Price……first goalie in league history to play all 82 regular season games!
Shaker
Say it one more time, one more time, I dare you.
Why don’t you add something new to the conversation, instead of the same ol’ Tony’s Make Believe World drivel? Isn’t there a bridge you can go stand under with your kind, at least do something constructive, besides spout the same ridiculous crap day in, day out.
From Twitter account of Arpon Basu:
@mikeyofarrell Biron apparently approached#Habs when he was given permission to speak to teams early by NYI. #Habs weren’t interested6 minutes ago via web in reply
“Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.”
i thought they were a playoff team last year? and the year before? and the year before that? lol Seguin is already ready, he will be on the bruins squad this year ya schmuck lol
“I went to see a fight the other night…And A hockey game broke out!” ~Rodney Dangerfield~
We just signed Alex Aude!!!!
I hope he can handle being the number 1 goaltender in Montreal
Sure. He can bang. My thought is that 3 million is a to much, that Malhotra can play D (which is good for Van), and that the leafs need a scorer. So I am still smiling right now that Burke is rushing to save his rep as a great GM by making signing like this: they need scorers. Van got a player they need while the Leafs did not get exactly what they need. Both teams paid a lot IMO.
Cause you’ve been crying this whole time about the Leafs making all the “right” moves and us doing badly.
Why are you on this site, then?!!? To complain about our team?
Then you proceed to lose it and go on with much harsher name calling (didn’t know dolt was so offensive!!)
Good job.
so much stress over a backup goalie. gotta love it
biron deal also 2 years not one. maybe the habs want a 1 yr deal to really see if price is hte man…idk. also cedric D in the minors may be backing up price next season.
secret mod
Comment from Tony242 parent’s garage. “Hey Tone, quit bogarting the glue.”
Why ? Unles they do something ( which they might) they are loaded with 3rd liners. They just paid $3 million for a 29 point 3rd liner.
He’s also a 22-year-old who won 47 games in his first two years coming off a Calder Cup win and a world junior title and was widely regarded as a future superstar. If I’m a team like Atlanta or Tampa Bay or Phoenix, I might take a shot at that potential
They could offer him a three-year, $9M deal and only have to fork over a second-rounder. I’m guessing Montreal would match that, but who knows?
A better team like a San Jose, Nittymaki notwithstanding, could offer him a three-year, $13.5M deal and only have to give up what might be a low first-rounder and a third-rounder. That might be worth a shot too.
I’m not saying it will happen, but it would be interesting.
wow another repectable fan…..congrats A-Hole
Go Habs Go!
ha ha thanks for the laugh – only wish we knew who you were.
secret mod
Yeah, it had nothing to do with the timely goals Gionta and Cammalerri scored, or the shot blocking by Gill and Georges, or the shutting down of Crosby and Malkin by Plekanec and Gomez. Don’t forget they did this without our best player too.
Last time I checked this was a team sport, but if TSN told you that Halak could have won it all by himself and no team in front of him, well I guess it must be true.
Even though Alex is a Thunder Bay lad, I have to agree. It’s astounding the lengths this franchise will go to reassure Saint Carey that he is indeed the Second Coming. He is being babied like a super-super-star, and he has been no better than average the past two and a half years. Oh – and now we’ll throw some huge money at the big baby.
Auld is a backup. What is a joke about that. Is he an AHLer? I’m missing something.
If the Leafs D is “more solid” than why did the team give up the second most goals in the NHL?
oh come on man, you want me to put a positive spin on anything? if we go out and get andrew ladd or a big tough guy i wont be upset on armstrong at all, but for now he’s the type of player i want on this team. we’re fans, we’re supposed to cry and whine and be happy at the most unusual times! i’ve been crying for a head coach with experience for years, then when we got JM i was crying for Guy Boucher! thats why we don’t run the team
How is it relevant to the Canadiens that the St. Louis Blues’ RFA goalie is smiling?
Scotty Bowman said it best: “Don’t trade Carey Price.”
Looks like this team is a definate lotto pick next year then, going about 20-55-7
What has two thumbs and is not happy with the direction of this franchise? Me.
well, biron got 850k, and based on what auld got we were obviously willing to pay 1mil, so why not offer more money that rangers did to biron? im sure he would have said yes to play for 1mil-1.25mil, we would have gotten a much better goalie (never mind those who say hes 32, thats not that old for a goalie, especially a guy who is supposed to be our backup)
but i do get your point, i just think we could have done better.
Must be a sad life to be so bitter all the time, eh? Maybe you should change your avatar to a Hull or Gretzky Blues jersey and GTFO of I/O? Obviously you’re a fan of a player and not the team.
are you forgetting our 3 top guns gionta, cammalleri, and kostitsyn all missed 20 games each? gionta had 28, cammy 26 and ak 15…if they had 20 more games each gionta would have had 38, cammy 33, and AK21.
and increase of 23 goals, putting us 3rd in the east for goals at 240….not too shabby if you ask me.
leafs on the other hand traded their 2nd top scorer poni, and if kessel played 82 games he would have had 5 more goals. wow. just wow.
And we made to the top four in the play-offs, while playing most of the season without our best player and two of our best scoring forwards. The leafs and that genius Burke, well they gave away the second pick overall to a conference rival.
but are we capable of winning 25 games?
I’d say 22 games. this team is definitely worse than last year. I’m thinking 13th place and the #4 pick.
free agency, where the worst contracts are handed out, but thats the league, and you have to keep up.
Agreed, with Scarey Price being handed the #1 role, after tanking all of last year and the better part of the year before, you would think that PG would at least get some kind of safety net to back him up, in the case Price fails for the 3rd year in a row. So what does he do? He gets maybe the worst option out there. So now we have an AHL goalie and a guy in Price who is more of a back-up than starter. Halak isn’t here to save this team this time and things could get real ugly, real fast come Fall.
Biron contacted the habs and they said bo thanks. same thing happened with Larry Robinson.
what’s with this organization snubbing their nose at these people. do they thin they’re so much above them.
Molson so far, is a very bad owner
And how it is relevant with your last sentence with reference to Scotty Bowman’s quote, Don;t trade Carey Price”?
“We will win the Cup one day only with ? in the nets “
quoting:
“Submitted by TripleX
on Thu, 07/01/2010 – 14:16.
From Twitter account of Arpon Basu:
@mikeyofarrell Biron apparently approached#Habs when
he was given permission to speak to teams early by NYI. #Habs weren’t
interested6
minutes ago via web in reply “
confirms what i suspected
considering we don’t have any 1st liners, not too bad.
lol where did burke bring the canucks? what did Burke build in Anaheim? that was Brian Murrays team minus pronger…lol your not helping your arguments numbnuts
“I went to see a fight the other night…And A hockey game broke out!” ~Rodney Dangerfield~
sounds like you’re talking about the habs.
whoah, so he’s backing HIMSELF up?
is he the Matrix??
well i’m assuming he’s backing up cedric desjardins…making him the 4th string!
terrible move.
Lol, Andrew I saw it too and tried to edit it but was too late.
To you from failing hands we throw the torch, be yours to hold it high.
Had to tease you, couldn’t resist. Gotta hate hitting post comment and then seeing a typo as the page loads!
Sens sign Gonchar — ouch!!! 5.5M per 2 year term and a NTC.
December 4, 2009 – Elmer Lach’s jersey took its rightful place with the Rocket’s in the rafters.
3 years.
Really? I would have paid Volchenkov the money to stay.
They should;ve jumped on hammer’s contract! That would’ve been nice to shed that jabroni and his high contract!
Shaker
bah i dont play the lottery that much so its a flawed bet Krobber lol but the time i do play it…and win…ill send ya some dough! lol
“I went to see a fight the other night…And A hockey game broke out!” ~Rodney Dangerfield~
World economics are comletely different. Most other countries hold assets in US dollars, since it is the most secure currency in the world. As this is the case the borrowing rate for the United States is absurdly low. The Chinese and everyone else want lots of US assets, which makes the financially astute thing to do is issue T-bonds. Also this allows the US to print money to keep pace with the growing desire for US $, which is basically free money to the country once a year or so. So the United States is more prone to run deficits than any other country yes based upon the workings of international finance, your analogy makes no sense Price is a stud, he will be fine.
never….I’ll bet ya
and what form of doppler radar are you using to ascertain this forecast? :P
TELL ME WHEN I WILL WIN THE LOTTERY OH WISE ONE! LOL
“I went to see a fight the other night…And A hockey game broke out!” ~Rodney Dangerfield~
Good thing the game is played on ice and not on paper. Try and enjoy your day Adam.
Have you not watched the last 2 years? It’s not a big stretch to say Price will likely bust. It’s like will the US run a defecit in 2010? You don’t really need to be psychic to look at past results and say yes, they will.
Even if Auld goes 80-0-0 and then wins the Conn Smythe, Price is still the team’s #1 goalie.
lol you know it!
Go Habs Go!
Calgary is now officially the Twilight Zone
No tax in Tampa Bugs. Ellis would have taken 1 mil more to come here.
Personally, I woulda gone the extra .5 mil for Ellis.
Unless, of course, it’s that .5 mil it takes to sway Ilya…
Keepin it real, I be chillin as
L.Bugs Potter, esq. Brotha to the Man with the Plan, Product-runnin Lead Houndogg with the Voodoo Flannel Posse, and Pimp Extraordinaire of Habsbros Mama Jones Snow Cones, muthafugga: http://habsbros.blogspot.com
Hey Tony
Could you put your avatar back on your profile?
It makes it a lot easier to skip your postings….
Thanks a lot!
LMAO
Good one!
You leave me little notes on my pillow. Told you 158 times I can’t stand little notes on my pillow. “We’re all out of cornflakes. F.U.” Took me three hours to figure out F.U. was Felix Unger!
Flames trying to sign Olli Jokinen – TSN
Wha the hell? Tanguay, Jokinen..what’s next Phaneuf?
Bring back Theo Fleury!
Doug Gilmour.
FFS, why are the Canadian teams so often content with screwing themselves?
- I shall always remember Captain Koivu.
http://habsandhockey.blogspot.com/
Hakan Loob!!
so what is taking so long with Carey.
Gauthier MUST be looking at other players first, whatever is left over, he works it out with a long term deal for Price (5 yrs, just a guess)
Whose left?
http://www.nhlnumbers.com/freeagents.php?team=none&pos=none&summer=2010&status=ufa&type=capnumber
So I was thinking that with all the big names on D signed we should be able to find a taker for Hamrlik to create cap space. Then I looked at who’s left and realized there’s still plenty of good D left on the board for cheaper that Hamrlik. So I guess that’s not going to happen.
NHL Players on the Leafs
Forwards
X – X – Kessel
X – X -Versteeg
X – X – Armstrong
X – X- X
Defensemen
Phaneuf – Komisarek
Beauchemin – Kaberle
Scheen – Finger
Tornto Maple Leafs: 3 Forwards, 6 Defensemen and 1 Retarted GM.
Bravo for irony. If you’re going to call somebody retarded (which, by the way, is bad taste. You call your friends retards when they are acting retarded) you might want to spell it correctly.
Scotty Bowman said it best: “Don’t trade Carey Price.”
lol Finger.
so you think Burke is worse than Gauthier?
at least Burke goes out and gets scorers. and they have a good D as well.
what scorer has Gauthier signed?
and the funny thing is, Toronto always beats the habs no matter how bad they are.
ha ha. No worries they fill in the x spots with the returns for Kaberle.
Do you just cut and paste the same old stuff???
now we have 3 AHL goalies.
according to tsn the Habs just resigned curtis sanford
Flames going hard after Olli Jokinen. Working on a 2 year, $3 to 3.5 million per year deal.
WTF? Sutter has no shame.
“Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.”
Kovalchuk about to sign with the Kings (edit: according to The Fourth Period)
Kings said they have an annoucement. TFP just said it isn’t for a signing.
_______________________________
The Habs are making me Bi-Polar.
3 years worth not enough?
I like Colby Armstrong’s game a lot, but he’s a 3rd liner on a great team, who can fill in on the 2ed line. FYI, Metro had more goals in less games than him last year. $3 million a year is a bit much for the type of player he is.
You want to talk about overpaid, look at the Habs roster.
Guess we’re done with the goalie controversies for awhile.
That was a comment with regards to artyukhin`s hands of stone.
Yes hes a good player the times I ve seen him. Seems lots of teams could use a guy like him and yet it seems he doesnt generate that much interest.
To quote Pierre Mcguire, ” When the puck goes to his stick, it goes there to die.”
Help me out man, is that a compliment to his toughness or an insult to his playmaking? Just to make sure I am talking about Artyukin and not Carcillo.
Basically he’s saying he’s got no skills. But no one expects him to be a sniper or a playmaker, that’s not his role. So it’s irrelevant.
Auld and Pyatt. It’s the Thunder Bay connection. Good CHaracter players. Go Habs!
Can you guys imagine Artyukhin on a line with Gomez and Gionta? Haha…
yes. that would be awesome.
i could also imagine him parked in front of the opposing goalie during pp.
also, i could imagine his elbows and shoulders smashing into leaves and brooons.
LA to announce Kovy signing?? Let’s see..
That’s BS, the majority of all experts, including former coaches, GM’s and current scouts that commented on this deal, said PG did the wrong thing. I’m sure the majority of GM’s would have dealt the goalie away who has laid an egg the past 2 years, instead of the man who has brought the goods.
Can you quote some of the comments you mentioned?
Did you not watch or listen to all the talk when the deal was done? RDS and almost the whole French media thought the deal was terrible, including Bob Hartley, Red fisher, many TSN guys including McGuire. TEam 990 Marinaro and others. I mean I really don’t recall anyone saying it was a good move. Either they said it was terrible or stayed neutral. There was a poll of Montreal fans done and over 70% said it was a bad move. That’s because it was a bad trade.
Yes I did heard a lot of BS from RDS and the media but I don’t recall hearing anything from GMs and head coaches.
Poll from fans can be ignored.
Price is only 22 with all that potentials. I can’t imagine anyone would give up on the kid so early. Don’t get me wrong, if we could keep both, I would not hesitate to spend money on both goalies, but apparently management thinks that we could not afford both thus we traded away Halak for a couple of prospects.
All GMs in NHL would have sent the ‘huge one’ away and kept Price.
Its either we keep both, or we keep Price. No brainer.
Troll Leaf Fan….Member for 2 hours….
guess no controversy now who’s our #1 goalie- both are backups.
Kovalchuk to LA?
Sabres announced three year deal with Jordan Leopold.
Run through Leafs discussion boards. 50% of them are not too happy with Armstrong signing for the given price. One of the posters has added advanced stats:
Qualcomp: 7th among Thrashers Fs
Corsi QoC (basically, qualcompy measured by corsi rather than +/-): 5th
Corsi rel. QoC: 2nd.
Qualteam: 12th
corsi QoT: 10th
Corsi rel QoT: 9th
Ozonestart: 2nd
“So basically he played fairly soft minutes with crap teammates and had mediocre performance in view of those things (good corsi rel QoC, bad corsi re. QoT).”
“7th in QCOMP for a guy who’s supposed to agitate other teams is really bad.”
Haha TSN: If Calgary signs Jokinen, the reaction of the fans would make the g20 summit look like a rose parade.
Something like that hahaha
That entire Jokinen segment from every on TSN was absolute gold haha. Hodge completely destroyed Sutter and Olli in about 3 minutes flat.
Pfft, and everyone slags BG and PG?
Goalies in Montreal have two roles, netminder and scapegoat.
What I find funny about Armstrong, is that for a guy with a reputation of being a big hitter, he had 74 hits in 79 games last season. He hits less than Andrei Kostitsyn.
bell messed up my programming so i don’t have tsn for the day…..(PO about it)
what did they say?
D. Tolensky: June 2011 – BREAKING NEWS: Flames buy out the final year of Olli Jokinen’s contract. Cap hit $1-1.17 mil for the next two years.
Daryll Sutter and Glen Sather, Brian Lawton, how on earth did/do these people have jobs?
edit: forgot the greatest of all time, Milbury
I would take Armstrong on the Habs in a freakin second – 3 million? so what.
that’s not a lot of money these days.
it just seems like a lot because Our team, the one that made 15 million in additional profit with Jaro in the net,
has 0 CAP SPACE, and is dead broke!
He’s good for one or two highlight hits per season, so that has everyone believing he’s a monster on the ice.
Henrik Tallinder signs in NJ. 4 years x $3.375.
His hitting reputation probably comes from some of his (dirty) hits that were publicized/highlighted, not from him being an effective and frequent hitter, I think.
Armstrong’s contract makes Latendresse’s one look like a friggin’ steal.
Not a single one of our third liners is making more than 1.5 mil per year. 3 mil for a third line is a ton of money. That’s what AK makes, and people are whining that he doesn’t score 30.
Either bad ownership or the old boys network, most of the major errors in team management go back to an owner putting an idiot in charge or the old boys getting one of their own a job.
- I shall always remember Captain Koivu.
http://habsandhockey.blogspot.com/
Cmon bud, you gotta agree Sutter and Sather are putting on a show here!
Flames? Tanguay and Jokinen?
Rangers? Boogard to 4 years??
I give that one a 2 on a scale of 1 to 10. Keep trying, Tony, you’re starting to suck.
Kurtis Fosters agrees to terms with EDM. Two years, $1.8M per year
WHAT A STEAL!
Nik “wah wah he’s so soft” Antropov had more hits than Colby Armstrong last year.
Mind you, they play on the same team; the subjectiveness in hitting comes down to each rink’s scorer awarding hits.
AK can’t even score 20.
That’s another big loss for Buffalo. First Lydman now Tallinder. Who is Buffalo going replace back there?
To you from failing hands we throw the torch, be yours to hold it high.
good deal this one!
Edmonton makes their best signing in years in Foster.
OK, Buffalo now officially has money to spend on D – if only ownership let them! Pssst, PG, it’s Hamr time….. They’d rather have Kaberle, you say? Who wouldn’t! But Hamr will be real cheap in a trade!
Hamr- Nevermind
With Sutter, it is definitely a product of the old boys club. The Sutter family is almost royalty in Southern Alberta.
The majority of Flames fans were calling for his head but ownership did not even consider firing him. I think they even said Sutter had the GM job as long as he wanted it. LOL Great way to run a company.
I think with the moves he made today the fans will be very unhappy.
“Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.”
If Tyler Myers has a sophomore slump Buffalo is looking at a lottery pick.
He had two years at 26 and 23, and would have easily gotten those #’s again if he hadn’t been hurt.
Agreed 100%
HAHAHAHA…..Erik Engels has a good one:
Is glen sather advising darryl sutter?3 minutes ago via Twitter
“Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.”
Typical Burke player.
And PM thinks it’s too much, proving his idiocy once again.
I really think Hammer could be moved if PG wanted to.
“Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.”
sutter was a better coach than gm.
Since Calgary likes signing guys who used to play for them, I think PG should call up Sutter and try to trade Hamrlik!
It’s going to be weird to have Auld in our net. All Pricey/Halak trashtalking aside, we’ll actually have a “bad” goalie in nets some nights with zero expectations.
The last one of those we had was Aebisher and man did he ever get RIPPED for his play…
That’s a great deal for both. Nice signing. probably one of the better deals done by a team today.
That’s an awesome deal! I don’t get why Tampa let him go when he ends up signing for so little!?
Philly gets another tough guy?? Shelley! We couldn’t get him? Any progress with Boyd?
The guys on TSN tink it’s overpaying though. Last year he made $ 600,000 now he got a $ 1.2 millon dollar raise. $ 1.8 million total. I was think that the Habs should have tried to get him. I was only think $ 1 million per season.
To you from failing hands we throw the torch, be yours to hold it high.
Perhaps should go after Volchenkov or Hamhuis?
PG may not be the greatest (given local language requirements, our options for management will always be limited, we’ll never be able to hire the best) but Sutter needs to go, oh wait, his brother is coach? oh, then i guess both need to go.
And a guy like Detroit’s Nill doesnt have a GM gig yet. That guy learned from the best gm in the league for the past decade. Him and Yzerman are the future.
They probably (and by probably I mean certainly) know stuff that us posters don’t!
Basically every single person on the panel trashed it and said that Sutter should be fired and that Olli was only good in Florida. Everyone trashed them like crazy haha.
Wow, Can you imagaine ? Sutter must be smoking something strong these days
He’ll have to wait for Hamhuis and Volchenkov to sign first so the FA market is dead and Hamrlik is a more attractive option beforehand.
- I shall always remember Captain Koivu.
http://habsandhockey.blogspot.com/
seriously…1.8 for a top 4 PP qb is a very reasonable deal. good singing by tambellini. Oilers are genearlly a poorly run team, but they seem to be pulling their heads out of the ground. IF they can dump the deadweight contracts they have they’ll be in a good position for another lottery pick this year, and then they’re on the upswing.
Tough guys don’t really fit in the JM system. Tough guys who can skate don’t really fit into the salary cap.
Well, here’s hoping. Wouldn’t mind swapping Souray for Hammer, to be honest. We’ll lose out on cap space next year, but it would certainly shore up our defense for next year and do wonders for our PP.
Markov/Souray
Gorges/Gill
Spacek/PK
Boyd doesn’t fight that much either. But he’s gritty, just not an intimidator. But with Rangers, Flyers both getting goons maybe we’re seeing a revival of the goon in the east.
I’m more worried about Price… and Lappy…
Hammer, Kostitsyn, Gomez for Iginla and White.
Sutter’s lost his damn mind, he’ll probably do it.
I like Hamrlik, but with his salary Hammer for a ham sandwich is a good deal right now.
Shelley can skate. And he only went for $1.1M.
We might be surprised by Auld, he was very good in Ottawa and Boston.
I hear Dave Morissette’s agent is gettin’ excited…
I totally agree with the Shelly suggestion
Shore up our defence? Souray’s a career minus player and his 20G seasons are matched with -20s on his differential! Not to mention he’s become increasingly fragile. We’re giving up 1 year of a hard cap hit for 2 years of it for a player who’s more fragile and less reliable defensively. Subban is here to boost our PP with his shot, Souray’s slapshot is not worth his cap hit by a long shot.
- I shall always remember Captain Koivu.
http://habsandhockey.blogspot.com/
I love how they think that’s overpaying, and they love the Tallinder and Lydman signings. Those guys are nuts.
There’s no doubt in my mind they’re going to sign Price. No worries there.
craziest part is that boogards signing apparently is getting BGL contract offers.
HAHAH Eklund: It is rare that I am afraid to report a trade rumor, but what Calgary may be about to do is terrifying.
I am so waiting for this one. There are several reports on Jokinen coming back, but let’s see.
Calgary is turning into a joke!!
***
MA Godin tweeting Habs are interested in Schubert.
It is rare that I am afraid to report a trade
rumor, but what Calgary may be about to do is terrifying. – Eklund
It’s Ek, but I still believe it after Sutter’s recent history!
Who Cares………………. Next
That would involve spending money, something Buffalo management refuses to do.
To those of you who provide solid, thoughtful comments– the following does not apply.
The silliness here is the kind of toxic crap I’ve come to expect from the angry, and unrealistic folks who seem to infest the internets.
A player, any player, on a team is expected to contribute as best they can. This is the contract they sign–to play. If the guy plays well, then he is rewarded by $ and the love of the fans. If he doesn’t play well (but what will be well enough for some of you?) then he fades into obscurity and less $.
But to suggest that lack of success is a moral failing– well that’s just a bit much for me.
Luck is for losers? I don’t know read “Outliers’, or if that proves too much heavy lifting google Guatemala garbage dump people.
The issue here isn’t that there’s a goal-tending debate, or an underperforming winger debate, a problem child-debate or any other you care to dream up. Instead they are merely the latest iteration of the constant ad hominem attacks we are supposed to respect as somebody else’s opinion. These always start off with claiming rationality, or clear-eyed pragmatism, and end up in a swamp of hazy moral assertions all of which ask us to equate success with moral superiority and look down on any player, who at any time fails in his performance task. Should success occur it doesn’t remove the initial stain and stench of failure from these fans’ minds. The arguments are made but they lack sincerity or rigor, as the goal-posts are moved should any tainted player seem about to be rehabilitated.
How do I know that it’s this that’s going on? Because they can’t hide the aniticipatory glee these posters take in constructing nightmare scenarios of future calamities for the players on their “naughty” list. Sure it may look like a rational a posteriori exposition, but we all know that they are arguing in bad faith. And it makes perfect sense that these folks (whichever camp they represent) seem oblivious to the role luck plays or the ability of a player to outperform previous expectations– because people who don’t succeed are morally suspect–they are bad people. Once you are a bad person, you are no longer worthy of respect or consideration. Instead you are the traget for every pissed off crank who’s looking for an outlet. People on here are bitching about Price’s crappy play– next year!
This isn’t hockey talk, it’s some nightmare version of a Church Ladies’ Supper Club snark fest.
He’s a big boy who was an early second round pick. When I say “bad” I mean lowest NHL tier. For sure the man has some talent, it would not suprise me at all to have both Price and Auld in the point nine low teens sv%, a man can dream can’t he?
Double post.
“Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.”
Shelley is not a guy i ever want on my team. Doesn’t really bring anythign to the table, for me at least. But it’s true he’s not some BGL-esque guy who cannot skate.
Apparently the Boogieman was signed to play wing on Hossa’s line.
I guess Hossa will have LOTS of room now.
“Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.”
The only Hossa currently in the NHL plays for Chicago. Gaborik, perhaps?
Scotty Bowman said it best: “Don’t trade Carey Price.”
You mean Gaborik right? Hossa is in CHI.
- I shall always remember Captain Koivu.
http://habsandhockey.blogspot.com/
hamhuis for 4.5 million/yr apparently to vancouver…
Sorry, always get the Marion dudes mixed up. LOL
“Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.”
Biggest thing about today is a lot of players get signed for big money. PG may be wise to wait, not everybody is going to be signed today. After today the contracts should fall more in line. PG may be able to pick up a decent player for a lot cheaper than he would have if he signed on July 1st.
To you from failing hands we throw the torch, be yours to hold it high.
I read that elsewhere but I just don’t wanna believe it. Unless he has an amazing agent who can really “proove” that his back is NHL ready, or that he signs at a BARGAIN BASEMENT price, i will be very dissapointed in the pro scouting department of whoever gives him significant money or term.
I second the motion.
They needed a better blue line in VAN, but the Ballard deal still confuses me.
- I shall always remember Captain Koivu.
http://habsandhockey.blogspot.com/
In order: Volchenkov… Kaberle… Hamrlik
Is this a joke, because he has never averaged more than 6 minutes a game during his career?
How bad does the Hamuis contract make Hamrlk? Different off-seasons mind you but damn lol.
Some points from recent Halak interview in Slovakia:
Halak about the trade to St. Louis: “I was surprised
and disappointed.”
How do you feel
about the season?
At the beginning I was not in nets so often, but as
season continued, I was getting more and more chances and you saw as it ended,
we were in the finals. So I do feel positive about the season.
Despite
the great performances they did trade you.
They were choosing between me and Price. It is
business you have to count with this posibility.
How did you feel, when
they told you, that you are moving to St. Louis?
I was
surprised, I did not expect that it will come so soon, even before draft.
General manager called me that they have a chance to make a good trade and so
they did. I was surprised with one thing, no-one from Canadiens talked to me or
asked if I wanted to stay… So yes, it was disappointing.
What will you be missing
the most from Montreal?
It is
hockey-town. People during the whole season did cheer for the team and in the
playoff they were amazing. Even when we were loosing, they still believed.
Montreal was my first club in NHL and it was great experience to play for
Canadiens.
When you
hear St. Louis, what will you imagine as first?
Curtis Joseph. He was my idol and he started his
carrer in this club.
St.
Louis in the last season did not enter playoff. Don’t you want to go to a
stronger team?
It is true, but for an example they did acquire more
points that Montreal in the season. They have young perspective team and I
would be happy to stay there.
http://hokej.pravda.sk/halak-o-trejde-do-st-louis-bol-som-prekvapeny-a-sklamany-pi6-/sk_nhl.asp?c=A100630_151828_sk_nhl_p28
Hamius to Vancouver and Volchenkov to the Devils.
“Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.”
Thanks, but this is a Habs site, not a Blues one. Bringing Jaro back up is just going to keep stirring the **** on this site.
Must be a nice life to be so bitter all the time, eh?
And if he were a UFA right now, would we have the space to sign him?
Big Buff is not the type of player we are discussing here. As we saw in the playoffs he can skate and score where the time is right, i really don’t see the connection here other than your dire, dire attempts to gather attention by stirring things up and saying the exact same things over and over again to every single post.
i personally think that they underpaid to acquire Ballard, but it was an unnecessary move.
There are those of us who worry that he will sign – with us.
You must be a very well connected guy to know what’s going on in the Price talks. I’m impressed.
Interesting to get the viewpoint from Halak. Thanks
Some of us still care about news from ex Montreal players. I will always be interested in news about Saku and Jaro. So excuse me.
“Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.”
2 things he said and I don’t see there:
1) I don’t like to talk to reporters after games (on media in Montreal)
2) My agent will try to get as much money as possible (on contract negotiations)
(www.hokej.sk)
This should be reposted in every single thread.
–
You’ll have to speak up – I’m wearing a towel.
In summary, this FA day wasn’t as boring as I thought it would be- it was TEN TIMES more boring than that. I think Pittsburgh improved somewhat but not to a scary degree. I am pleased that OTT has saddled itself with a huge contract to an aging Dman whose best years are behind him. And I don’t care about Toronto- theyu are so gawd awful that Versteeg- a second liner at best- and Armstrong- a third liner at best- don’t frighten me one bit. Philly got more of the same with J.Shel- no surprises there- and NYR saddled themselves with a Laraquian deal to Boogard, the biggest pylon of this years FA crop.
CGY went back to the future- it didn’t work in 2008, why would it now- and my poor Hawks got plucked. Only team that did concrete things to improve are VAN and STL, and to a lesser extent ATL.
So am I afeared? HELL NO. All the chicken littles need to sit back and appreciate the fact that sometimes the moves you don’t make are the smart ones.
Flames fans –
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31g0YE61PLQ&feature=player_embedded
Flames suck.
ouch.
Hey HALAK guys – GET OVER IT!
Yes the guy had a spectacular 40 game regular season and playoff, nobody will question that. What’s the point of paying him $4 to $5M per year when the rest of the team is missing so many more parts? AULD at $1M and TBD PRICE at (likely) $3.5M is better than two goalies at $7M which is what was coming down the pipe. Let’s not forget HALAK and PRICE would not compliment each other as both are #1 goalies.
Stick with the cheaper one i.e. PRICE
Build up that DEFENSE where possible with UFA.
– I will not apologize for being a delirious HABS fan! –
Where’s all these missing parts that the Habs got to improve their team. Still missing size and skill for the top 6. So we downgrade on goalie, and do nothing to improve our weak and crappy offense. Looking good so far.
Why would you take Price at $3.5 mil over Halak at $4 mil? Halak is worth more than Price…
__________________________
“Peoples will only be truly free when the last king is strangled by the bowels of the last priest” Denis Diderot
speaking of irony…