This frees up some cap room now.Cullimore will be bought out.Gainey again fixes a problem that he admits he made.Good job bob.Its a alot better buying out a 1.9 mil contract than a 3.5 mil.Lets not make the same mistake twice bob lol.Good job anyways.

Tony Salmelainen this guy is only 25 , maybe he will bloom ? Ok so Sergei is gone!!!good move Bob , I bet Sergei will be a fine player in Shy-town just did nto fit in here .

Ouch the new guy is small …. who knows maybe he got some skills … I dont know him.

Thank God !, the Habs are already a better team after getting rid of that scumbag, I would much rather have a small player who will give total effort,
than a talented one who plays when he feels like it..and that is very seldom !!
Good job Bob, now get rid of that other slug and the Habs will be a WHOLE BUNCH better !

Steve Begin’s play was caused by his blocking shots. You can be the best hockey player in the world,but if your all banged up from 100m.p.h frozen rubber bullits cause your the only player that will block a puck in regular season play on your team,chances are your going to have a **** season.You can blame Carbo for Begins play last year and the funny thing is a lot of goalies don’t like it if you block their view . The only reason a coach would ask a player to block shots in early reg season is cause he don’t trust his Goalies!HUET???????????????????????

It’s got nothing to do with numbers when it comes time for Yashin. This is a guy that’s all about stigma and reputation. Yashin is considered by many including me, to be the definitive greedy, all-about-the-money modern day player. He’s considered a Russian who takes the money and doesn’t produce like he’s supposed to produce. Samsonov’s got nothing on Yashin. Samsonov was a bust for one year in Montreal and one year in Edmonton. Yashin’s been a bust since he signed for big numbers in Ottawa and then went to sleep, and then for bigger numbers in Long Island, and had an even deeper sleep. Montreal doesn’t need a reputation like this. Plus, all my Senator fans and friends will laugh at me if he ends up with the Habs. I’m losing sleep over this.

Ditto, Orillaborn, ditto. Yashin is not someone I ever want to see wearing the CH. EVER.

YAY! Samsonstiff is gone, and we didn’t have to eat his contract! But we end up eating someone else’s contract, for $500 gs less. So it’s not a full yay, but it’s just awesome to be rid of Samsonov. I could care less how he does in Chitown, because even if he puts up some #s, I already am at my limit of hatred for the guy–he can’t make me despise him any more, any how.

I’m not sure about Salma-whatever. He’s pretty small for a d-man, and I don’t know too much about him, having never seen him play. So the jury’s out on this one.

Here is sally boy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmZ13bWzoLM&NR=1

Any way you slice this…this is definitely good. The two guys should be some form of support if not for the Habs then for the BullDogs. You know, Yashin would be a good thing if he can work some give and go with Kovalev if there is another digger like Ryder…so if the salary consists of a small base and incentive based bonuses, then go for it!!! Especially where we can’t get Lacavalier or Ryan. Huet may have to be packaged for a shot at Lecavalier and it might have to take a Higgins. If Blake can be enticed then why not. Just my 2 cents.

I think we will see the big V in Montreal one day…. and again for Yashin it depends on the amount of $ they want for him, he wants to be here and he would play well with Kovalev they have a past together… His numbers are not the greatest but he is a hard worker always has been … if not then why was he “C” in NY ? … its not always about goals and points sometimes its about just plain old hard work.

Trading for Lecavelier is a pipe dream. It’s a nice dream to have but it won’t happen. The only way the Habs would get Vinny is to have a massive package involving Price, and trading him would be the worst mistakes the Habs will have made since trading Roy. You don’t trade goalie’s like this and Gainey knows this.

Vinny will not be a Hab till 2009 at the earliest when he becomes UFA. Look for Marleau at the draft, I have a feeling that a trade with the Sharks to get him.

It was pretty clear they are gonna buy out Culli’s contract get a clue all ready … it was brillant to get some poor sod to take Sammi to start with …

So long Sammy! About time…..I never liked that signing from the start! We already had 2 lazy russians in Kovy and Perezhogin. Forget Briere, forget Drury, forget Marleau….go after Hartnell and Allison and then fill in the rest with youngsters.

GO Habs Go!!

You frogs don’t know what you are talking about. Because the Habs-not had a bad season you want to blame it on one person. You will never make it to the Stanley cup as long as you you the same two people coaching and as the general manager. The days of a team with nothing but french players is gone. There are not enough french players left to help montreal. Sergai will do good in Chicago

Allison????? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAH

Why dont we just bring back Turner Stevenson. HE has more foot speed.

Agreed joshtm, It still blows me away that after that horrific signing of Samsonov last year”getting someone to help Kovalev,lol”,and the terrible year our Habs had,some of the praise Gainey’s getting.Realisticly,Bob hasn’t done the things he needs to do and it shows in the stats ! I mean if there going to fire Muckler and his team makes it to the finals ? I think this is a make or break year for Bob and Carbo.

Boy, the Flyers started early! They traded the first round pick they got for Forsberg back to the Preds for the negociating rights to Timonen and Hartnell and then got both of them signed to 6 year deals.

I didn’t want Timonen cause he’s already 32, but Hartnell was only 25 and had tons of grit to go with his skill. I really wanted Hartnell on the Habs. Oh well, the Flyers over paid for the both of them:

“Hartnell, who was scheduled to become a free agent on July 1, signed with Flyers on a 6-year, $25.2 million deal for a cap hit of $4.2 million per year.

The Flyers also agreed to terms with Timonen on a 6-year, $37.8 million contract for an annual cap hit of $6.3 million”

Marleau baby! I still feel it coming! And what has Gainey done to improve the team?

Umm….Price, Carle, Fisher, Latendresse, Valentenko, Emelin, Chipchura, Sergei Kostitsyn, Grabovski, Streit, Mathieu Aubin, MattD’Agostini, Ben Maxwell and Ryan White. All in juniors or AHL and all played extremely well last year and were drafted by Gainey.

If he hadn’t traded for Huet we’d probably still have Jose Theodore as the starter.

This team actually has depth for the frist time in 20 years and he’s done a good job cleaning up the horrible mess that Houle and Andre Savard left behind.

did Emelin sign with the habs? I heard he signed with a Russian team
does anyone know?

sorry guys, Emelin signed a new two year contract with a team in russia.

Higgy21….make fun of my sugg. to sign Allison all ya want….slow or not he is still PPG player of which Les habitants have ZERO!!!!!! He pots em’ and thats what it is all about baby!!!!

Hey joshtm…..i have been looking through all of the different blogs on this site and your messages are all the same…you don’t like bob……you need counselling man…seriously! Get over it cause he is not going anywhere..you are a huge pessimist.

Good for Boston, bad for Habs another team that will be fighting hard for a playoff spot next year. Josh oh man it never changes always the same ….

All I am saying is Cullimore did not use his size never has probably never will. He is just another 6foot five inch 245 pound rag doll. Heck just replace Cullimore’s stats with any other Habs around that size, same thing. Johnson and Ninnima are classic examples, Markov another. Biron down in the Dogs another. The habs have hockey players who are assessed at playing below their capacity, nice way of saying, they are big lazy players who play like the wimps they are.

Crazy Bob has a thing for wimps!

No need to get all work up over cullimore, he will not be on the team

http://boards.chicagoblackhawks.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=13877&pid=257976&mode=threaded&show=&st=&

Note for all you people out there that think Gainey is God once again for dumping Samsonov, Cullimore is a scandinavian version of Samsonov! Oh Gee! Gainey dumped Samsonov’s salary, actually the remainder of Samsonov’s salary plus buying out Cullimore’s…hmm…I don’t exactly see the saving there, either way you cut it, Gainey doesn’t have a lot of cap room left. The details are in the trade. I don’t see what is so great about that, it’s a moving out sale with Gainey paying someone once again at a garage sale price, with the Habs picking up the total tab!

Cullimore’s name was mud in Chicago, oh great, for someone who’s contract is supposed bought out and he will never don a Habs uniform, guess again genuiuses, Cullimore’s stats show on the habs site, not exactly saying he ain’t never gonna play. Great, so we trade one nose bleeding Russian in the Bell Centre rafters with guess what, a Scandinavian nose bleeding prima donna!

Salamander ain’t exactly hot neither, his TSN stats ain’t promising, they rate him as an underachiever as well….

This is from the Internation Herald Tribune”Cullimore spent the last two seasons with the Blackhawks, appearing in 118 games and scoring two goals while totaling 117 penalty minutes. Salmelainen played one season with the Blackhawks, appearing in 57 games and scoring six goals.”

And from the Daily Herald in Chicago: “Samsonov has one year remaining on his contract for $3.5 million, which the Canadiens desperately wanted off their books. Montreal GM Bob Gainey said after last season that the team did not want Samsonov back.

In dealing Cullimore and Salmelainen, the Hawks moved out a total of $2.7 million in salary of players that did not fit into their plans either.

“Basically we got a top-six forward for 800 grand,â€? Tallon said.”

Guess with Chicago only paying 800 grand for Samsonov, guess who ends up footing the rest of Samsonov’s salary, yup, Montreal. So where’s the cap room eh guys? What so Great About Bob Gainey in that one?

And getting rid of a prima donna whiner in return for two players who were a bust and basically replacing one crappy player with two, what is so great about that, it still leaves Montreal out 3.8 million! All we’ve done is free up Chicago’s cap space! Oh ya, Chicago just loves Bob now too! Further down in the Daily Herald’s story about Cullimore and Salamander: “The Hawks had been looking to move the disgruntled 34-year-old Cullimore and his $1.9 million salary since early last season.

“It was not so much Cullimore’s play, it’s just that we wanted to open up a spot for one of our young defensemen such as (James) Wisniewski, (Danny) Richmond or (Dustin) Byfuglien,� Tallon said.

According to a report by Canadian Press on Saturday, the Canadiens already have agreed to buy out the final year of Cullimore’s contract, making him an unrestricted free agent.

Salmelainen, 25, was a big disappointment to the Hawks after arriving from Edmonton via Europe in the 2006 trade for Jaroslav Spacek.

Salmelainen had good straight-ahead speed, but he never showed he could play in traffic or create his own chances and finished with just 6 goals and 11 assists in 57 games.

“He didn’t get off to a good start and then some injuries hit him,â€? Tallon said. “It just didn’t work out for him with us.â€?”

So here we are paying for two broken down concussion and hip damaged players who are exactly veterans, but play like the wimps they are. Hooray for Crazy Bob! Trading one crappy player for two!

That ain’t exactly earth shattering stats for either player. Trading Samsonov and buying out Cullimore doesn’t give Gainey room this year, or later in the year and early next year. Gainey has to wait two years to take advantage of the cap room created with getting rid of Samsonov. Essentially its a continuation of Gainey’s Great Welfare Plan for Russian Prima Donna’s…next to Crazy Bob’s

Right we will pay after the fact … take your meds today Josh?

Looking forward to the draft always exciting !!!

It ain’t wrapping up to be a summer of big players for the habs. Continuation of the downsizing to fit Koivu. Great, small habs playing with lazy larger size habs who would rather get knocked around than use their size to advantage ala Ninnima-style/Johnson-fall down style!

And the Habs pre-draft promises Esposito, who may save us in the future, at least Gainey is planning, whether he keeps the rookies when they are just good enough, or whether the rookies get worn down because of crappy small forwards and crappy defensemen to play with, in otherwords, hey we have great rookies, they just don’t have veteran hockey players who want to protect them, instead you have rentals who don’t give a hoot, wasting salary cap, Gainey trading garbage for garbage and not making significant moves. He woulda been better just to buy Samsonov outright and start clean.

Now we got Cullimore who may get dressed if the defense get thin and the rookies buckle under the strain, or worse, do really well only to have Gainey shunt them down to the dogs so he can go after another Calder Cup run, way to go Crazy Bob, destroy your chances at first round Stanley Cup action and revenue so you can have a mini-habs ring instead of the real thing!

Oh ya, Gainey is still stuck in his Looney-Store mentality, you can promote that eastern townships goon and make him GM of the Habs but hey, he’s still gonna live on plastic cheese and two dollar shoes and draft small midget players and think he gets a big deal signing used-Russian players who were yesterday’s news, oh ya, like Salamander is gonna do anything more than skate fast, another young Johnson in the making. Skates fast but can’t handle the puck worth damn!

So we got Markov who can’t defend his own goalie, we are gonna see Gainey try and dump Sheldon’s big contract in return for two more used-broken down veterans and used-broken down rookies (who woulda thought that trading for a used-broken down rookie actually exists?) But hey leave it to Crazy Bob to actually find a Used Broken Down Rookie!

Honestly, as if Gainey would be able to realistically dump 3.8 million total, and as if Chicago would accept taking the whole amount. Honestly Habs#1 you are living in a dreamworld of Gainey Is God….oh well, ignorance is bliss. Only the bean counters at the Hawks and the Habs and most of all Bettman and the Governors are gonna know just what the final deal is. On the face of it Gainey is pretending he is freeing up salary cap space, but listen to his words wisely won’t you? Over the next two years. Guess what Samsonov had two years left on his contract. Cullimore only had one. So if it was a real buyout, Cullimore would clear the books this year, not over a space of two years. We didn’t have a hockey lockout for nothing. A deal is a deal, a contract is a contract.

Guess what Samsonov cleared waivers, Gainey promised that he wouldn’t play him, as did Carbo, but guess what, all of a sudden Gainey and Carbo and Samsonov were the best of friends. Do you really think Gainey would let Samsonov sit around next year? Do you really think Gillett would allow Gainey to buy out Gainey’s mistake? No, Samsonov would be helping the other habs to destroy yet another promising season.

Get real. Stay real and most of all Habs#1 live in the real world won’t you?

Whatta you bet that Cullimore is gonna be suited up? Heck Gainey thinks Dandenault is God’s Gift to defense for God’s Sake! Heck Cullimore would fit naturally to the next horrible defenseman Ninnima. Instead of one really crappy line of defense, now we have the promise of Cullimore and Ninnima, fighting it out with Dandenault and Bouillon for the worst defensive line.

And you think Gainey is still God? We sure as heck ain’t seeing Ninnima on the chopping blocks! Not signing Sheldon means that Gainey will use up the money which would have gone to Sheldon to buy another used broken down veteran no one wants and an equally used broken down rookie that no one wants, heck, we all thought Gainey was great for buying out a used broken down defenseman and also taking a used broken down rookie!

Honestly. These are warning signs, it shows number one: habs fans are the most gullible, number two: that Gillett doesn’t care for Montreal or the Habs!

Montreal is not on the hook for ANY of Samsonov’s contract. You dont trade away half a contract, you trade the whole 3.75 million. This trade was dead wood for dead wood. It wasn’t meant to improve the team, it was a salary dump. In this days NHL you have to do that free up some cap space. Salimander is going to play in hamilton, no doubt about that. Janne Lahti will play with the habs, not salimander. So all Gainey did was find a creative way to save the habs 1 million on the cap over the next 2 years. it’s gonna cost 700 thousand on the cap instead of 1.2 mil. I dont see whats wrong with this. It’s like the theodore trade. it didnt matter what we got from colorado, the main issue was getting rid of theos contract. not every trade is made to make a team an instant contender.

And you guys no nothing about the CBA, I think you’ve proved that.

# 27 Paul
Posted on June 17th, 2007 at 8:27 pm. About ‘Sergei Samsonov Traded to Blackhawks’.

You frogs don’t know what you are talking about. Because the Habs-not had a bad season you want to blame it on one person. You will never make it to the Stanley cup as long as you you the same two people coaching and as the general manager. The days of a team with nothing but french players is gone. There are not enough french players left to help montreal. Sergai will do good in Chicago

Your aware that when we were winning all those cups back in the day we didn’t have all francophones so those days your talking about never happened. we actually had close to a 50/50 mix of french and english canadians. so when someone says something like that it tell me they don’t what the hell they are talking about, then throw in the frog comment and it just comfirms the presence of an idiot.

yes we need to add far more canadian content to the team. and before some folks get there panties in bunch about this comment let me elaborate. in europe they play on a bigger ice surface and get penalized for what would legal plays over here. so naturally they are going to have a different/softer style than whats played in North america. it has nothing to with nationality and more to do with the style of play, rink size and enforcement of the rules.

I don’t understand some of the comments I read here…. what did you guys expect in return for Mr. Samsonov….friggin Vinny Lecavalier??? mabe Ovechkin … it’s like some of the other people noted … both these guys will probably be bought out anyways at a lower cost than it would have cost the Habs to buy out Samsonov’s contract … this was a good move we got rid of one of our biggest under-acheivers … it’s too bad that the complainers can’t see this …
just my two cents

Habs#1……no-one out there is currently questioning or ever has questioned Espositos work ethic, grit, mental toughness or desire. All of the critics however have questioned his consistency…..that is different than the other qualities. Consistency is hand in hand with maturity. Maturity comes in time…..give this kid 2-4 yrs and he WILL be a star, possibly at the level of Crosby, Ovechkin and Malkin. He has all of the tools and with the proper guidance he will blossom into a verifiable star. THIS IS FACT!!

Mark these words…..if Montreal does not draft this kid, they will regret it more than they did when they missed the boat on Denis Savard….this is the exact same situation as that.

With this said though……I fully expect the Oilers to take Esposito at #5.

Any comments from the peanut gallery???

No one questions those things? He’s being compared to Mike Ribeiro, Alexei Yashin and Alexandre Daigle! Come on!

And I live in deadmonton and I can tell you for a fact that they have no interest what so ever in Espo. They want Alzner, Cherepanov, Gagne or Voracek. They WILL NOT draft Angelo. They view Gagne and Voracek as better centres.

Boston wants Esposito. They would need to trade up to #7, just in front of Boston to get him. And the draft is a **** shoot. Esposito is not a sure thing. He will be boom or bust. He will be a star or the next Daigle.

PACTUM SERVA….sorry to leave you out man…..I had the feeling that Bob was going to swing something today but you could be right…maybe Thursday, for sure Friday. I would be shock n’ awed if he sits tight. I really feel Montreal has to pull an Edmonton(pronger/peca)kinda deal in order to make this coming year as success. They need something huge to get their offence going. These past years(noted exceptions to Ryder/Higgins)have been soooooo bad for offence.
I don’t necessarily like Carbo as the coach(i loved him as a player)…he is all defence and that is why so many offensive minded players die out in Montreal when they sign there. No wonder players like Shanny and Arnott refused to sign there…bring back the flyin’ frenchman…so to speak!

We need OFFENSE!!!

Hey, by the way…what the @#$! is PACTUM SERVA????

I am so surprised we were able to trade off that cancer Samsonov. He was pathetic last season, Gainey should have saw that coming. I’m glad he’s back in the west, we don’t have to see his sorry *** for a while. Good work Bob! Are they going to play Cullimore at all or what? He’s a pretty decent D and if we lose Souray, he could be quite an asset.

Habs #1- Ha that is a big laugh. As long as you have Ganey and Carbo running the team it won’t happen. Watch Chicago next season. Sammy is going to help bring them back. They way Carbo treats his players it is no wonder some players would never want to play for Montreal.