2007 Pre-Season Begins!

It’s been five long months since the Canadiens have hit the ice to play an NHL game.

Tonight the Habs host the Penguins in the first of back to back pre-season games.

This time last year it was Saku Koivu returning from an eye injury and Guillaume Latendresse’s much discussed second time trying to make it to the show. Whispers and excitement of Sergei Samsonov’s anticipated start with the Canadiens were circulating all over town….Mickey Ribs was sent packing and Janne Niinimaa was looking for a fresh start as a Hab….

Much has changed.

This year the main storyline seems to be Carey Price and what the Canadiens have in store for him in the near future.

It will be interesting to watch and see what he does, and how difficult he will make it on management to send him down.

Roman Hamrlik, Bryan Smolinski and Tom Kostopoulos among others will play as Canadiens for the first time.

Game on.

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21 Comments

#1 DTD says:
September 17, 2007 at 3:02 pm

Price is not ready for the NHL yet. He needs another year with the Bulldogs.

Huet needs to have a great 1st half. And be traded to a cup contender who needs a good goalie. Then Halak will be #1. Halak is a better goalie than price….

#2 Xtrahabsfan says:
September 17, 2007 at 3:07 pm

Can’t wait for the outcome,really hope we smoke em!Go Habs!

#3 DTD says:
September 17, 2007 at 3:21 pm

I bought a LCD TV last year. I got the HD box last night and RDS as well 82 habs games to watch. Can’t wait.

#4 superfan says:
September 17, 2007 at 3:59 pm

DTD, this is not wrestling, one to many knocks on the head…huet traded? halak better than price? what have you been smoking?

#5 PACTUM SERVA says:
September 17, 2007 at 6:58 pm

I would have to agree with u there superfan lol

#6 Dancan81 says:
September 17, 2007 at 7:13 pm

Is RDS HD happening? If so on Bell Expressvu?

#7 Habs Blog says:
September 17, 2007 at 7:17 pm

HD on RDS should be ready for first regular season game of the year.

#8 Xtrahabsfan says:
September 17, 2007 at 8:46 pm

Yo Superfan,I agree with DTD trade Huet mid season,infact send him to the sharks,and start Price and split duty with Halak,let the rebuild commence a.s.a.p.

#9 Jordan Richardson says:
September 18, 2007 at 4:41 pm

Moving a goaltender midseason so that he can play on a “contender” is not going to build anything but uncertainty for the Habs. Huet needs to solidify himself and play the majority of the year, giving his team consistency and helping Price and Halak build.

#10 Habs#1 says:
September 18, 2007 at 6:20 pm

Geez Kovalev why do you tease us in the pre-season when we all know you’ll go back to not caring during the regular season.

The Habs/Pens rivalry is heating up though, too bad till Price becomes a superstar the Habs will get killed by them

#11 DTD says:
September 18, 2007 at 9:29 pm

Same old Habs as last year. Can’t score 5 on 5. Halak was very weak tonight. 2 very soft goals. The top line was a no show again. Dejavu……

As for my #9 post Halak did not prove himself tonight that’s for sure.

Huet will be #1, Halak #2 and Price will be back with the Bulldogs.

THIS WILL BE A LONG YEAR…………..

#12 slyburger says:
September 18, 2007 at 11:47 pm

DTD, you cannot draw conclusions after only 2 pre-season games. I bet you were feeling quite good about the team last night after we beat Crosby and an almost complete penguins team, as did I. I was at the game tonight and while it was disapointing, we gotta remember that most of these players are tests and are not even NHL material. Once Carbs pares down the team then you can start to come to conclusions. But i think we will be a different team by then. Take all the good points of team A and the good points of team B and throw all the bad points out the window and you’ve got yourself a competitive team. And besides, Higgins hasn’t even laced em up yet

So far, Kovalevs lookin good, Huet’s lookin good, Kostitsyn is looking to break out. Add those factors to last years team and we’re in the playoffs.

#13 DTD says:
September 19, 2007 at 7:22 am

I hope that you are right Slyburger …………..

#14 fan3 says:
September 19, 2007 at 1:13 pm

‘And besides, Higgins hasnâ€™t even laced em up yet ‘

Ya, what gives with that? I was looking for him the last two games! Do they not want to show our secret weapon on National Television until we absoloutly have to?

#15 HabsFan4life says:
September 19, 2007 at 2:58 pm

His shoulder isn’t quite ready for the full contact yet.

#16 Stuart-SB77 says:
September 19, 2007 at 3:42 pm

I think AK27 is back! I don’t think he’ll get under 60 pts this year guys. Kovalev is starting to think of finally winning the cup again.

#17 Don Carnage says:
September 20, 2007 at 8:57 am

I am looking forward to seeing who will make the team this year. Let’s hope AK27 is as deadly as an AK47 this year , we need to score tons.

#18 Slyburger says:
September 21, 2007 at 1:04 pm

“His shoulder isnâ€™t quite ready for the full contact yet.”

Wasnt he training like a beast all off season and meditating and all that ****? And now he’s to weak to play? what gives?

#19 gp says:
September 21, 2007 at 1:34 pm

Easy guys..Higgy did work out like a beast, and its just precautionary stuff. It’s preseason and the Habs rather be “overly” safe than sorry. I know he wants to get back as soon as possible too, but he understands the reasons..
GP

#20 Jaker 1 says:
September 21, 2007 at 4:16 pm

I had the chance to see the game Wednesday night in Moncton against NYI. The only thing that really concerns me is a legitimate tough guy.Murray did well in a couple of tussels but I think they need a guy that other team are going to say to themselves “we can’t push around their smaller players or we will pay the price”. Right now I don’t think any team will fear that.That just one small negative but on the positve I think this is going to be an exciting team to watch. When no one expects anything from you, you usually have nothing to lose.

#21 PACTUM SERVA says:
September 21, 2007 at 6:19 pm

Totally agre with you on that one jaker

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ShoutBox

Last Message 2 hours, 5 minutes ago

Avatar37 : Apparently only one offer for Carter on the low side so far, I think Montreal would be foolish not to investigate the possibility of a trade for him, and if there is low interest, the deal might be able to include moving Gomez. Gomez/Darche/Cam poli and a third round pick? Maybe not, but I'd be in serious talks with Columbus right about now.
Avatar37 : «link»
Avatar37 : for him had we held on to him until now and created a bidding war. There are more buyers than sellers currently on the market and it would have been the perfect time to have traded him.
Avatar37 : Goalie - I'm not sure how we could have obtained more for Halak. We showcased him, everyone knew he was available for trade, and in the end, we took the best offer. Any asset is only worth what a purchaser will pay for it. The Halak trade wasn't like the Cammalleri trade where you had GMs afterwards saying they didn't even know he was on the market. The Halak trade was done properly, the Cammelleri trade was a knee-jerk panic move, and while my opinion is that we could have received more
Avatar37 : I saw the game, the Islanders first goal came from a shot that was clearly above the height of the crossbar. How is it possible for a play to go to review where they have the advantage of mulitple camera angles and the ability to pause and they STILL get the call wrong?
goalie : I agree don't get dilusional over our three game winning streak. Changes MUST be made. I am however, glad to see the effort being put forth by the players.
Mats Naslund : I just went to capgeek to see who the Avalanche might be dealing for a rental - and I see they have only 6 players signed for next season!!! There are a couple young D men on that squad who are RFAs who would do very nicely next season.
Mats Naslund : One thing I know - the 3 game winning streak had better not get PG thinking about holding onto guys for a PO run. Trade them, build the value and move on to next year.
Mats Naslund : How about Max Pac though.. 21 goals and on pace for 65 points this year. That is absolutely monster for a guy at his age/experience and especially coming after a horrific injury. Huge cornerstone moving forward. On pace for 33 goals.. could he get 35?
Mats Naslund : Didn't get to see it either - and while I don't really care about the win, I am very glad that Gomez scored so we don't have to endure all of the negativity in the media about him for the rest of the year. He still su@ks, but at least it won't be a topic every shift he takes.
goalie : Didn't get to see the game at all but it's great to see Pacs get a hat trick and fpor Cole to be + 3. When was the last time this team won three games in a row? Great victory -looks like they're giving 100% effort!
Senet1 : 4-2 win habs
Senet1 : Gomez scores, Yea!!!
goalie : As I said yesterday it will be interesting to see what our lame ass GM gets for players he ships out. Bourque is good and he'll help us but I still think we could have gotten more for him and for Halak when he was traded.
Avatar37 : round those picks occur (probably 3rd).
Avatar37 : An interesting article. If we slip to the 5th or 7th draft pick, a very interesting case could be made for drafting Galchenyuk. If we wind up with the second or third pick, I'm not sure who I'd draft, because clearly Yakupov is going to be drafted first overall. Our second round pick also becomes interesting, I know I'd take Vasilevski if he were still available. It will also be interesting to see if we can turn some of our veteran players (Moen, Gill, Campoli) into draft picks, and what
Avatar37 : «link»
Avatar37 : That is why PG should have waited on trading Cammalleri. Right now, there is a high demand for a top 6 forward, we could have gotten much more than Bourque in return. That isn't a knock against Bourque, but a knock against a knee-jerk reaction trade that didn't maximize our return on a top asset.
Avatar37 : «link»
Avatar37 : chips fall where they may. After all, the only difference between finishing 17th and 29th is how good a pick you get in the draft.
Avatar37 : We currently sit in 26th place in the league. We are 15 points ahead of Columbus, it's safe to bet at this point they will place last. We are, however, only 4 points ahead of Edmonton so it's still wide open as to who is going to finish second last. I still think that it's time to sit the veterans, play the youth, let them get experience, and regroup for next year. I'm not suggesting deliberately tanking like the Penguins, but give all our young players lots of playing time and let the c
Avatar37 : goalie - If it were not for the play of Cammalleri, we would never have made it out of round 1. Cammalleri played as big a part, if not bigger, than Halak did. Sure, Halak played well, but remember the team collapsed in front of him, making his job much easier. We had lots of blocked shots and the ones that got through were typically from the outside.
Senet1 : Goalie you are absolutely right, of course the one thing we had the two previous years that won the games that we are losing this year was our power play. If you look at say 10 games that we should have won had we had a similar power play, again we would not be having these conversations. When your PP goes from first to last in the league that is a lot of goals.How many games have we lost this year by one goal. Again poor management who did not prepare for Markov's possible absence.
goalie : I'll put it another way.... we need more players who are willing to get their noses dirty.
goalie : Two years ago when our goaltending stole series adn our players suddenly scored the coaches / GM believed that that was our true team . Well time has proven that was not. Though I was very glad to see the Habs knock off some very good teams we were very fortunate. And fortunate that spring was spelled HALAK!
goalie : The wrst mistake management could possibly make I believe is to say, we played well some games and we believe the team can play to that level more often in the future. This team CANNOT adnb DOES NOT play to a high enough level. Please do not kid yourself mamngement. hat is partially why we're in the lace we are.
goalie : Senet is correct when he says that if we had more games with a better efort this year we'd likely be in the playoffs. It has been very inconsistent effort but much more than that. We lack big, tough playing and finishing. Never mind fighting for a moment. We did not compete for the pucks nor along the boards nor in front of both nets enough this year. Thus we are in 29th. If the coaching staff doesn't see that then they shouldn't be there.
Senet1 : Surely Molson is not going to keep him as the GM?
Senet1 : when he knows he will be fired at the end of the season. Nothing really makes since in this whole process.
Senet1 : I am not sue why PG has not been fired by now. They could be waiting for another GM to come available at season end, but why would you not set up a committee to manage the team in the short run until a new GM can be named. There is no since in chaning coaches because whoever the GM is he will want to name his own coach. Gainey and a committe of other executives can manage the team through to the trading deadline and onward. What motivation does PG have to making any worthwhile trades when he is
Senet1 : I am too mch of a competitor to want my team to tank to. However, If these players played like they ae cabable of playing all year we would not be having this discussion right now, we woud be talking about the playoffs and who we would rather meet in the first round.
rocky : Exactly, and Senet nails it when he says we have not had an elite top 5 in the nhl player since lafleur.
goalie : I too want the Habs to get the best possible draft this June. We all need SOME hope!
rocky : He is persona non grata in habville, and a ghost in every sense of the term.
goalie : It remains a miracle how we have heard from our mighty GM twice since Christmas - the trades involving Spacek and Cammy and those comments were extremely brief. PG just does not cut it in my world. Part of a GMs job is to go public from time to time. PG never does that in fact he's a ghost GM!