montreal canadiens hockey - habs blog

Super Sunday

Superbowl Sunday and the Montreal Canadiens vs Philadelphia Flyers as the pre-game show. What a fine tradition. The beer consumption should start earlier than normal and the hangover could start at anytime as the Canadiens who are desperate for points take on a powerful Flyer team. 2 goals probably won’t cut it against the Flyers and the Habs are gonna have to bring a stronger game to the table.

The good news is the Flyers have struggled as of late. They also played less than 24 hours ago in a loss to the Rangers. The Habs have also somehow gone 2-0 against the Flyers this year.

Cristobal Huet did a fantastic job in getting the Habs 2 points over the Bruins yesterday. Can you see his confidence rising? When he first arrived in Montreal as a backup, he returned from being injured and having undergone surgery. He had not competed at the NHL level in some time. A new goalie on a new team backing up a Hart and Vezina winner. It may have been a lot for him to walk into but he has handled it extremely well. After the game yesterday he spoke with confidence saying he had ‘found his rhythm’. You could tell he thinks he can be the starter. The way he spoke was almost a challenge to Bob Gainey. Theodore’s atrocious play has given him a chance to prove himself and he has done so maybe even more than he thought he could. I think Cristobal liked the feeling of being named first star in front of 21 thousand screaming fans. Who wouldn’t? He has found his confidence and his game is backing the whole team right now.

Huet starts today and gets another chance to solidify his spot. Another strong game from him and the return of Markov at least gives the Canadiens a fighting chance.

Oh ya, Seattle 28-17. Call Jose to get your bets in quick.

The Canadiens blew another lead and dropped another game 3-1 to the Boston Bruins.

The game rightfully should have been 4 or even 5-1 so it wasn’t even as close as it seemed. The Habs were out of it after 1 period and as usual were brutally out shot. How they expect to win with constantly shooting 50% less then the opposition is beyond me.

Brad Boyes scored a goal that 100% should have counted but for some reason was not reviewed and not counted. Another questionable goal was denied due to a high stick but was very borderline and could have went either way. The Canadiens weren’t even in the game. As usual.

Sheldon Souray got absolutely undressed by Patrice Bergeron which directly lead to a Boston goal. At this point of the season he’s been undressed more times than Patrick Roy’s wife by Mathieu Schneider.

I’m a Sheldon Souray fan but come on. There could be a highlight reel of just players walking around him. It’s pretty clear that the Canadiens without Andrei Markov in the lineup and playing 25-30 minutes a game are hopeless. Don’t count on any wins until he returns which is still undetermined at this point.

Huet stopped a penalty shot early in the game and he played solid like he usually does. He deserves to start again. With back to back games this weekend it’s doubtful he’ll get both starts. The game with Boston is of greater importance and they should stick with him.

If the Canadiens can make it to the Olympic break still in contention they may have a chance but that chance is dwindling with each pathetic effort put forth.

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Senet1 : well nice masks, hope he can stop some pucks with them?
Senet1 : Well I am not sure how to take that comment but my point was that he wanted to be in Montreal and jumped at the chance to play here rather than holding out for more money.
Habs Blog : jaros masks: «link»
Habs Blog : oh jeez how will he pay for gas
Senet1 : Halpern took quite a salary cut from 2M TO $600000.
Senet1 : So where does Lapierre play, I thought he would be on the checking line.
Mats Naslund : Having this many centres on the roster is a good thing - especially in the post season when every faceoff is critical. Martin likes to double up - Moore, Lapierre, Metro all saw more action because of their ability to take a faceoff.
Mats Naslund : Halpern will likely be on the 4th line with Moen and Boyd. He's actually cheaper ($600,000) than calling up one of the young guys to play on the 4th line. RH shot and very good defensively which should help to take some pressure off of Plex on the pk, and in defensive situations.
Senet1 : Where does he play fourth line centre or the wing?
goalie : Jeff Helprin is a good signing up front a swe need some depth in the forward posuitions with players who have proven they can contribute at the NHL level. I wonder, now that we have some depth, if a trade is forthcoming to upgrade the quality of our #1-4 or 1-5 D-men? That would certainly help the squad. PG should scour the league trying to dump Hammer's contract.
goalie : Jeff
Senet1 : That is exactly what met, we now have some $ to make a move when we need to. To me we should be looking for a defenceman,stay at home defensive defenceman. There are some teams still looking for defenceman, that could allow us to trade Hammer to make some room for next year and find a good steady $2M guy out there that an help the team.
Senet1 : That is exactly what I e
goalie : I think you're right Mats, there's no way PG will use all his cap space now. You have to have some left for a move around the trade deadline !
Mats Naslund : Barring a pre-season trade my money is on the Habs going with the roster they have and saving the $$ for injuries and the deadline. That way if we're in the playoff hunt we can add a piece, or if we're out we'll have a little cap space to make a deal for picks or prospects.
Senet1 : Thanks Goalie for the information. So we still have enough to sign someone somewhat significant if we needed to.
goalie : It reported that Price will get $2.5 for 2010 and $3.0 in 2011-12 for an avg. of $2.75 M cap hit each year.
goalie : According to info sent to the NHL, the Habs have $1.953 left in cap space for 2010-11 AFTER the signing of Price for 2 years.
Senet1 : This SPAMMER THING started last winter, I did not realize that he was affecting my postings becuase it seemed it only happened once in a while and not every time I posted. Now it seems that they have done this to me and Pactum. Guess we need to make out passwords more difficult? Anyone have any ideas?
Senet1 : Well somehow who every is responsible for this SPAMMER THING has figured out my password and is back affecting my postings. I guess the only thing to do is either change my user name or continue to change my password. Somehow this person has access to our passwords? I would hope that whoever, is operating the site can figure out who this is and take measures to freeze them out.
Senet1 : If Karlya does not sign by training camp maybe we should offer him a similar deal that he accepted with the Rockies and see if he can help us for a year until our young guns develop.
Senet1 : test
Senet1 : Couple of years ago Karlya played one year for $1,000,000 with I think the Rockies, he now is back in a similar position. Would he be a short term solution for us until our young guys are ready? Last year he made
Senet1 : It would appear that our first two lines are set for now, and hopefully POuliot and AK get off to a good start. But f they don't then one of themm will be allocated to the third line and Eller could be moved up. Boyd is a center and so is Eller so they have some options there. My thoughts are that Pouliot would be a better fit on the third line than AK? What do you guys think.
Senet1 : So with Price's contract now signed, how much cap space does that leave us? I tried to figure it out but could not find a site that shows the cap, based on the one I did find we are on it without Carey's contract, now some of these guys will be with Hamilt on so they will not count. Anyway can anyone help me out here.
Senet1 : What times are you guys on, it would be nice to get some conversation going, but I never seem to be on when you are anymore.
Senet1 : one goalie had his confidence destroyed while the other got it boosted. Yet all the blame went on Carey's shoulders.
Senet1 : I don't knwo if you remember but Carey bot player of the month in October and November last year. He stood on his head and the team did not play well and did not score any goals. As Mats pointed out the Habs only score 3 or more goals 13 times when Carey was in the net. Oh he won 13 games. Then Halak got his chance about the time Markov returned, played some poor times and wond about 5 of 6 in a row and all of s sudden he was a hero The rest is history.
goalie : Good news for the Habs and Carey. We (myself included)have to get over the trade of Halak and move on. On a + note, hopefully the player we got for Jaro will pan out . We certainly need upgrading in our forward positions. Let's really HOPE Carey stands on his head at the beginning of the year to SHUT the fans up! Strong goaltending and VICTORIES are the cure for all hockey woes!
Senet1 : Pactum change your password and see if that works it worked for me?
Senet1 : Well that is good news about Price.
PACTUM SERVA : this spammer thing is brutal
Habs Blog : 2.5m / 3m
Habs Blog : finally signed
Mats Naslund : ON second look it appears to be for 5.25 for 2 years - in other words 2.5 and 2.75... just like all reasonable pundits had predicted - and in the same week that his agent predicted almost a month ago.