Dude… it’s spelled Aebischer. Not that it matters.

Ever notice that when the Habs score 4 or more goals in one game, the next game they only score one or less??

I predict the Bruins will win the game tonight and La Sainte Flanelle will only score one goal, if that much!!

Sorry Hab fans, but that is the way it is!! Bruins 3 or more, Habs 1 or less.

Anyone here taking bets that David Aebischer ends up in Hamilton to get his **** together? Montreal still wins the Theodore/Aebischer swap hands down $5.5 million to $1.2 million in a classic trade of former number one goaltenders that can’t even hack being a backup.

Like I said, Abby’s game is one of guessing where the play and the puck are going to be rather than using reflexes to stop where it’s going. This butterfly robot style is pretty annoying as more goalies just hope the puck hits them in their positioning rather make an actual save. Huet’s like that too but he manages to keep his head cool where it looks like Abby panics.

Where are the one-leg-shooting-out-kick-saves or stack-both-pads-at-the-side-of-the-net-saves of yesteryear’s style of goaltending? Only Martin Brodeur plays that style now.

Once a goalie’s head is so messed up that he fears the puck consistently, it’s game over, bonjour la visite! Other netminding ’sensations’ to disappear due to this condition include U.S. Olympian Jim Craig in the ’80s, Peter Ing and Allan Bester in Toronto, Jimmy Waite, Jim Carey, John Blue, Blaine Lacher as well as the much documented demise of Jose There’sthedoor of the Avalanche.

Happens in baseball too, Cardinals pitcher Rick Ankiel had to switch to the outfield cuz he couldn’t get his head around the fact that a pitch had to be over the plate. And then there’s the Mets’ catcher, Mackey Sasser, who for some reason suddenly got a mental block and could never throw the ball back to the pitcher’s mound properly, ended up being a DH for a bit then disappeared.

“90% of the game is half mental”
-Yogi Berra

Qoute “5 smiler2729
Posted on March 3rd, 2007 at 1:21 pm. About ‘Abby-horrent’.

Anyone here taking bets that David Aebischer ends up in Hamilton to get his **** together?”

Aebischer is a one way contract, meaning if hes dropped then he is put on waivers or fired, but the remainder of his contract still has to be paid out. Only other choice is to scratch him, which takes away a valuable scratch slot, each team is only allotted so many players on the roster including scratched players.

SOO, if too many guys are hurt,sick, healthy scratches then there may not be any room to scratch Aebischer leaving 1 of 2 options, fire him as I dont think after the trade deadline that you can put a guy on waivers, or leave him in as back up.

Goalies are fickle creatures, and I believe Aebischer has lost his Mojo, at least for his time with the habs.

Either way Aebischer is in a bad state, and cannot play another game for us. Not that I actually have a say in what coaching decides. But we must play Halak and have this new kid as backup, even if he never starts. Halak may not have the greatest amount of experiance, but he has shown calm and consistancy so far.

He should start tonight.
To buld up his confidence

Cory Price is not ready! why would you start a Jr Goalie he will be with the habs when he is ready giving him time to develop. its going to be 2 to 3 years b-4 its time it would be a huge mistake to bring him up b-4 its time.

Who’s Cory Price? Carey Price is the name of our franchise goalie of the future.

I was just watching ” SPORTS 360″, a local sports show in Montreal.Demers is a regular on the show. He doesn’t understand why GEORGES wasn’t dressed for the game against the Rangers, considering all our injuries. He also said, that since RIVET was benched, the habs started going downhill. RIVET apparently was best friends with Koivu. Also stated on the show, why didn’t we pick up a veteran goalie? GOALTENDING IS THE REASON HABS CAN’T WIN. THEY HAVE NO CONFIDENCE IN AEBISHIT , AND IT SHOWS!

What is it with Ryder, he always gets the **** checked outta him, he is worse than Johnson, who at least fights back every now and then. So where is this great forward that was supposed to save us? Ninnima was his name I think. And what about these great defensemen that are supposed to shine? Dandenault and Boullion, or so Carbo said in one interview.

The Bruins I think have done the wrong thing, they woke up Sheldon and now the rest of the team is gonna step up hopefully….GO HABS GO!!!!

Melanson must be responsible for this goalie bullshit,nobody can catch lately.

I’m pleasantly supervised it’s a close game still.Fun game to watch ,eh!

Stick side,again ,****,****,****……..

What is Dandenault doing on the team even? If we need Quebec born players there are better bigger faster Quebecers that could be there. Honestly.

Not making a trade really shows. None of the players are fast enough for Kovalev when he decides to play. No wonder he disappears as soon as he tries, no one on the habs are up to his calibre, except for Kosty maybe, but Carbo has him on another line. Grabby was there for Kovalev though, but where is Grabby?

Holy **** Milroy and Kosty are great! Isn’t it funny how some other cities mock Montreal with our own songs when they are in the lead? Like Buffalo fans mock sing that Montreal FaGot Song ” Oh aye oh Aye” and Boston sings the song we never hear thanks to Koivu and Kovalev..SHANANANAH…

Definitely Montreal needs to free up some serious money for the summer so they can go after Smythe!

Yup, we have Gorges, now we just need some more, get rid of Boullion and Dandenault and the team could rock with just a couple of minor changes. Definitely no Downie or Ninnima or keep Abby off the ice too…

If the Habs threw Mathieu Biron :60 g-7 g-26 a-+11 and a big ******* ,with Dan Janievski: 61 g- 4 g- 20 a +18 aiso a big M.F. and center Kyle Chipchura, it would change every thing for the good.

Phoquen Dandenault’s pathetic passing and horrible give up and rotten passes and then screening Halak, geezuz christ Dandenault really sucked big time this game, even more rotten then he usually is, the same with Johnson!

I agree, bring up butterfly Biron, Janievski and Chipchura and keep the rookies where they are, send down Johnson, Dandenault and Boullion! Bring up Leighton and send Abby down while we are at it!

Great minds think alike

IS IT REALLY ALL OVER.

I’ve never seen a team go into the tank like this team! Aren’t they tired of losing? And Kovalev, that prima donna piece of SH@#$T! Did you see all his giveaways, and bad passes? I would trade him for NOTHING, just to get rid of him. We’re so sick of losing! And the players don’t give a sh@#$%t!
I hope the habs get booed for all their remaining games at the bell center. If I had a ticket for free, I would love to go there, just to boo them. That’s exactly what they deserve! I hope their attendance is very low for the remaining games. I HATE THIS TEAM! I REALLY DO!

Starting to sound like F@CKING HABS BLOG,LOL

Keller,won’t play for me ,but I’ll take your word for it.

chitownhabsfan
Posted on March 3rd, 2007 at 12:56 pm. About ‘Abby-horrent’.

“Bruins 3 or more, Habs 1 or less.”

I’ve never been more embarassed to be a Habs fan. I hate to give up on this team, and I won’t. But, for ****’s sake, I want to see a couple of guys out there put their freakin’ hearts into the game! They’re getting so used to losing that they’re going into the games expecting to give the 2 points away.

chitownhabsfan: I agree totally. This team is emotionless. they’re just going thru the motions. Where is the heart, desire, and grit? There just isn’t any effort on their part.
They just want to collect their paycheck, and they could care less if they win or lose. No wonder Carbo is so frustrated and angry.
You know the old saying:” you can bring the horse to the water, but you can’t make it drink.” I honestly wish we could trade the complete team, and every single underachieving,unworking, and uncaring heartless piece of ****!
I’m at the point of not wanting to watch any more of their games. Why should I care, if they don’t ? I just don’t need the aggravation. I have never been so embarrassed and ashamed of this organization. They are now the laughing stock of the league, and for good reason.
If they would at least try, but no, not them. I HAVE LOST ALL RESPECT FOR THIS TEAM!

Is it the coaching staff? No, they’re in their first season and had this team rolling until New Year’s. Is it the G.M.? No, the roster looks great on paper with talented snipers like Kovalev & Samsonov complimenting the playmaking of Koivu & Plekanec, the checking of Bonk & Johnson and the hustle of Begin and Murray, not to mention the dynamic duo of Souray and Markov leading a solid quick core of defencemen and finally, in goal, the unflappable Cristobal Huet and his capable backup Aebischer.

What the hell happened to strip the team of its guts? There’s injuries and slumps but every team gets through those… Was it one moment? One loss somewhere? Nobody from the players to the coaches can pinpoint why it’s happened or how to right the ship.

We all dream that this team could somehow have that magical run at the Cup… yeah, it’s a dream but in realistically we want them to be competitive and entertaining and with the first half performance we know they can be.

This team doesn’t know how to win anymore… so subtle changes to the core are coming this off-season.

The hardest part is remaining a true fan to these lost boys.

I copied this off of SPECTOR’S TRADE BLOG:

WHY ISN’T MONTREAL ATTRACTIVE TO UFAs?

The sight of the Montreal Canadiens struggling yet again has left some disgruntled Habs fans raising questions about Bob Gainey’s ability to manage the team.

In a recent post on my blog defending Gainey’s moves as the Habs GM (Go. Read. Join the debate), the inability to sign a talented unrestricted free agent (UFA) player was mentioned by one of the detractors.

The lack of UFAs stampeding to sign with Les Canadiens hasn’t been unique to Gainey’s tenure as the team’s general manager. Since unrestricted free agency as we know it was introduced into the NHL following the 1994-95 lockout, the Canadiens have not landed a single player that could be considered a marquee UFA talent.

There were various reasons for this, which I’ll touch on shortly. In recent years, however, it certainly hasn’t been for lack of trying on Gainey’s part.

Last summer, for example, he is believed to have had serious interest in Patrik Elias, and made a multi-year offer to Brendan Shanahan, who took instead a one-year contract for roughly the same money to sign with the NY Rangers.

Perhaps the biggest “name” UFA player to sign with the Canadiens over the past dozen years was Sergei Samsonov in 2006. Habs fans were thrilled at that signing, but Samsonov’s subsequent poor performance has many of those same fans now wishing Gainey had just saved his money.

No one can say for certain if Gainey will come up short in future UFA markets, but the team’s inability to attract the top players is indeed puzzling.

“Who wouldn’t want to play for the Montreal Canadiens, the most storied franchise in NHL history?”, ask legions of Canadiens fans (of which I am one).

One reader suggested the team may not be marketing itself properly. That may have been the case in the late-1990s, but certainly doesn’t appear to be that way nowadays as Gainey’s recent attempts to pursue UFA talent would suggest.

Money is obviously an issue. In the late 1990s, the team was either unable or unwilling to pay out the big bucks for top UFA talent. While the Habs certainly didn’t struggle with payroll like Calgary, Edmonton and Ottawa, the lower value of the Canadian dollar at that time certainly had an impact.

At the turn of this century, the Canadiens were sold to its current owner, George Gillet, and while he was willing to pay to retain almost all of the Habs best players, the club still didn’t land any major UFA talent.

This could be explained away by claiming the Canadiens couldn’t compete with free-spending rivals under the previous CBA.

Since the salary cap levelled the playing surface under the new CBA, the Canadiens have demonstrated a willingness to spend on UFA players, but two years into the new CBA, the Canadiens have, with the exception of Samsonov (considered a second-tier UFA star), failed to sign a free-agent impact player.

If money is perhaps no longer the significant stumbling block it once was, other factors may be at work here.

One is the tax hit for NHL players to live and work in Montreal. Canadiens players pay more taxes than their peers, which doesn’t help to attract top unrestricted free agents.

Another is the Canadiens status as a rebuilding franchise. If the Habs were still a perennial Stanley Cup contender as they were throughout the glory days from 1944 to 1993, they’d probably be more enticing to UFA players.

Many UFAs want to sign where they can get the most money, but a good number of them also want to sign with teams they feel stand a good chance of winning the Stanley Cup.

Unfortunately for Les Canadiens, that hasn’t been the case since 1995, and their uneven performance this season isn’t likely to have the agents for this summer’s top UFAs putting Gainey’s cell number on speed dial.

Another deterrent is the fishbowl existence that comes with being a Canadien.

Sure, players in other major hockey towns face pressure from their fans, but nothing compares to the intense demands a Canadien faces every day.

Each season’s version of the Habs are automatically held to comparison with the dynasties of the past. Expectations are high, and as the 1993 Cup championship fades a little more into history, the natives grow a little more impatient and demanding, stoked by a constantly critical local media.

Language is also an issue. For many English-speaking players, the notion of playing in a Francophone province isn’t attractive. It’s not bigotry, but rather the uncomfortable thought of having to learn a new language, of having to live and work in a culture that, in their eyes, is a foreign one, something they wouldn’t encounter in any other NHL market.

Family matters also come into play on this as well. The player might be willing to come to Montreal, but if the wife and kids aren’t keen about living in a city where they’d have to learn French, he will scratch the Habs off his list.

The French media are also very demanding when it comes to language. A perfect example occured during last spring’s playoffs, when a Francophone reporter took Habs captain Saku Koivu to task last spring during a press conference over the status of his injured eye.

Koivu has been the heart and soul of the Canadiens for years, beloved by their fans, yet the fact he still hasn’t fully mastered French was a more important issue for that reporter than the status of Koivu’s injured eye. That didn’t go unnoticed.

There’s a misconception amongst some in the English media, and even some hockey fans, that Quebec-born players pine to play for Les Canadiens, and would sign with them if only the Habs would break out their chequebooks.

Sure, many Quebec-born NHL’ers probably grew up dreaming of playing for Les Canadiens, but once they become eligible for UFA status, they’re just like everyone else; they want to sign for big bucks, preferably with a winner.

It’s also interesting that we rarely, if ever, hear of Francophone UFA stars publicly stating their intent to play for the Canadiens. Sure, JP Dumont said last summer he’d love to play for the Habs, but by the time he was available (mid August) as a UFA after the Buffalo Sabres rejected his arbitration award, Gainey had already spent his available cap money on Samsonov and in re-signing other key Habs.

Dumont, however, has been a rarity. For all the chatter of Francophone stars supposedly dreaming of signing with the Habs, I can’t recall many other than Dumont publicly stating that intent.

Perhaps the “hometown boys” don’t consider the Montreal fishbowl, taxes and the thought of playing for a rebuilding team as attractive options.

All these circumstances present Gainey with significant obstacles in attracting UFA talent that his peers don’t have to face.

Given those factors, I long ago realized that it was pointless in counting on the Canadiens to sign a signficant UFA star every summer or two.

Besides, it may also be that Gainey and company are more committed to the players they’re developing than in having their cap space gobbled up by the salaries of one or two expensive stars.

If the Habs are to become a Cup champion again, they’ll have to do it the old fashioned way, via the draft and shrewd trades, and by retaining their stars who have gotten used to live in the Montreal fishbowl and are willing to stay.

Big name help from the UFA market ain’t coming.

-

Who cares if Huet returns, he also SUCKS!
Did you check his record in the last 15 games?
Did you notice all the soft goals?

Please stick with the young kids and let Halak finish the season.

This team sucks anyways!

That’s also the style you incorporate for a team with a lot o rookies,make’s up for mistaken judgement .It’s supposed to keep the score close.lol.

BIG NEWS…Souray is most likely re-signing with Montreal. And yesterday on HNIC, Don Cherry said if the Sabers dont re-sign Briere, he’ll most likly come to Montreal, so thats just hope that they re-sign Drury, because Briere would be a sweet fit in the Habs lineup:)

GO HABS GO

2007 playoffs here we come!!!!!!!!

Jack,I’m surprised you didn’t notice Souray constantly being double teamed? He’s the best player Montreal has and he’s got no back-up in the defencive end ,remember it’s a team sport Jack.

You Hab fans have to wake up ! We have only one brite ray of sun this year , and his name is Souray ! And with all the hart RYAN SMYTH has about edmonton ,he still went to N.Y. for a hundred thousand more ,but Souray’s staying,he’s got true hart and we fans are very lucky to have him.

Actually Ryan Smith could have accepted the paycut, he chose to pay off his agent. Same thing could happen with Souray, you never know eh?

Smiler, this is not the first season for the coaches buddy, this is their second season, while Gainey was behind the bench, the coaches were still there. So good try. Was it the GM’s fault? Well, the GM chose to keep the players, and no they don’t look good on paper, their stats suck big time. Unless of course you like seeing ten goal seasons as payoff for a big salary. Most other teams just trade em, why do you think we got Samsonov, Johnson and Bonk? Okay Bonk has a good season, but he has not physical size to speak of.

Smiler you gotta do better, at least try your “everything is great in Baghdad” speech like Rob. What, it was a bad game and these players went into a slump? Hey Smiler, they are ten goal scorers, they were before they came to Montreal and guess what? They are still ten goal scorers. Except for Souray of course.

So what is your other great excuse Smiler?

So why did we keep Souray? He is going to be gone at the end of the year. In the alternative, we sign him but probably lose Markov and don’t have enough money left over to deal with the team’s offensive problems through free agency. I heard that the reason they did not trade him was that with him they had a chance at making the playoffs thus making the ownership some money. Is that what this team is about; not building for the future so that we can sneak into the playoffs and more than likely lose in the first round. This team (the core group)has been spinning their wheels for several years now. Getting some new blood for Souray would have been a fresh start and possibly new identity for the team. Did we mortgage the Hab’sfuture so that there was enough money for Liverpool?

Yeah… you’re right josh…

They suck. I hate ‘em. Trade or release them all and fire everybody in management. Yeah, that’s the ticket.

Screw it, I’m just gonna start rooting for Ottawa or Jersey. See you guys.

If Souray is so bad why would every other team in the NHL want him? I see now that Rivet is gone it’s time to tear apart Souray who’s next after him? Markov anyone else you would to run out of town.

Geeze, the NHL players, ya right, as if they have an option, in a market where it is tough to crack into the NHL you are telling me that pro hockey players have a choice of coming to Montreal or not? Man, what have you been smoking. That is the oldest cop out since, when, geeze for years the downhill mens ski team used every excuse in the book, like the media was too hard, the taxes were too high, they didn’t speak the language, but mainly because, hey the rest of the world was just better than they were.

In Montreal we don’t get good players, because guess what? We keep hiring loser GMs and management who don’t care if they get the best or the worst.

Now lets get back to talking about how we can improve Hockey in Hockeytown. Simple, get the best GM, the best management, then you can get the best hockey players who love bathing under the media attention, love making the big bucks so they can comlain about taxes and most of all love playing hockey, regardless of where they play.