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Aaron Downey Update

  • Apparently things are going better for Aaron Downey and he is awaiting the green light to begin skating again.

    Sportsnet reported some fabricated story that he was ready to retire. Well he isn’t which is good news for Habs fans and hockey fans in general.

    Hopefully Downey can make a full recovery and come back as healthy as before.

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15 Comments
  1. #1 PACTUM SERVA says:
    October 20, 2006 at 2:26 pm

    Great news.This is one guy that plays his heart out for the CH.Lets get that left cross workin again.

  2. #2 Razz says:
    October 20, 2006 at 3:12 pm

    Who would you trade Samsonov and Kovalev for?

    I think trading away Samsonov is not a bad idea, but Kovalev?!
    Plus, I don’t think it’s going to happen. Samsonov might leave by the end of the year if he has a bad year, but Kovalev is one of Gainey’s favorite players.

  3. #3 Rob says:
    October 20, 2006 at 3:15 pm

    No worries! Downey has taken on some of the toughest customers in the NHL. This incident won’t stop him. If you ever doubted how tough he was, you should have a look at this video:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJvHZn4MuvA&search=downey

  4. #4 jay says:
    October 20, 2006 at 5:21 pm

    How about a straight trade to philly SAMSONOV for GAGNE?

  5. #5 Jack says:
    October 20, 2006 at 7:35 pm

    Sheesh!!!! Trading Samsonov after a few games?? I’d hate to see what happens if there’s a fire near you, Raz or Jay!! Whoa on the panic!!

    Let’s focus on Downey: a real leader by all accounts. Fact is the Habs need character players as well; people like Downey, Begin and Komi who make up for their lack of “touch” with solid, hard, work.

    I’ll agree with the pessimists on one thing, though: Sammy has a thing to learn about heart from Aaron.

  6. #6 Phil says:
    October 20, 2006 at 7:45 pm

    Downey will be back soon according to his quote.But what he says he won’t forget about that lame hit.Trading this time of the season is just stupid…Unless Gainey gets a chance to MAKE the team better.I believe it is a matter of chemistry. Little tinkering here and there and those two guys will excel.

  7. #7 J-Nic says:
    October 20, 2006 at 8:27 pm

    to Rob : Not because Downy is able to fight that he would recover faster from an head injury. It’s not his first similar injury, so it could be problematic for him in long term. He is a good fighter, but do we really need a fighter ? There is less fight now than there was and we don’t need them as much cause others guys can fight when needed, but we do need some big guys to make big hit on the other team.

    Why is everyone talking about a trade ? Cmon, they already traded Ribeiro, nothing else will happens. Because it’s need time to see what the guys can do after a little more games, you don’t want to give something you consider bad after 6 games, and the other teams won’t exchange something now that they wouldn’t exchange this summer, cause they also want to see what will happens.

    Forget a trade with Samsonov. No manager will trade a guy they signed up in their first year of contract, and no one else want him either or else they would have offered him the money too. Unless a team really wanted a guy, and he refused or signed for more else where and the team accept to trade him for less.

    Does Samsonov or Kovalev have any anti-trade thing in their contract ?

    I don’t think we will see them go this year. May be Kovalev won’t have a great year, but might have another good one.

    My concern is more with Samsonov and Huet than with Kovalev. We signed Samsonov, and he is doing nothing right now, hope it’s change for better. For Huet, he play good but not like last year or like Aebi is doing. It would be hard to get something decent or only to trade Huet, cause he earn a lot (if he can’t play like last year) and not playing well would be he is not the player we tought he was. But Aebi earn less and could give more to a team, so easier to trade.

  8. #8 Rob says:
    October 20, 2006 at 10:09 pm

    J-Nic:

    I am not sure that I understood any of your last post, but…

    Go back in time five years when every other team in the league took liberties with the Habs because they knew no one on the team was a capable fighter. Do you remember seasons when half of the Canadiens’ talented players would be out with injuries? Who are these other guys on the Habs who will fight when needed? Yes, I believe that the Canadiens absolutely need an enforcer on the team. I don’t think that the game has really changed that much! If it has, why does just about every other team in the league still have enforcers on their fourth line? Anyways, it is great to hear Downey saying he feels good and like he is ready to go again after the whack that he took merely days ago. That’s the kind of toughness that the Habs have been lacking since Nilan played for them.

  9. #9 snake says:
    October 21, 2006 at 2:51 am

    Well Rob five years ago (2001) half of our talented players was 1 injury. But yeah Calgary lerned first hand that no one will walk into our building and push us around.

  10. #10 joshtm says:
    October 21, 2006 at 11:15 am

    I think everyone forgets Lindros, before his concussion and related injuries, he was great, I mean a flash in the pan as they say. After his injury he was hit and miss, more miss than hit mind you. You just don’t know what injuries will do, but concussions are usually different than say Mario Lemieux’s back injury and comeback for stanley cup….

    Definitely having Downey made up for Souray’s lack of defensive performance and enforcement, and Souray’s injury kind of shows what an injury can do for a player’s main skill sets…like Souray handling the stick like its a curling rock…it’s all right if you are in the Tournament of Hearts but when you have Zdeno Charra or Peca coming down on you, hey, anyone can skate faster than a curling rock….

    Huet is also playing with an injury don’t forget.

    I think a package of Downey, Souray and Huet…hey that rhymes, would probably net you a decent player in return, Toronto is not treating Peca with respect…or heck even Havlat or someone of that stature…maybe another European player than can finish the line and have a totally European line, heck why not repeat the Finnish National Team’s Olympic Performance?

  11. #11 joshtm says:
    October 21, 2006 at 11:20 am

    The other problem with Montreal is its like the Vet hospital for broken down hockey players, we have the worlds greatest hockey doctors…hmmm…nurse nurse…I think it is time to bring up the rookies and send the broken down players to the old folks home perhaps…

  12. #12 Rob says:
    October 21, 2006 at 11:27 am

    Relax. Both boxers and fighters get knocked out all the time. There are lots of extra brain cells up there not being used anyways so what’s a few dead ones? The same principle is involved in drinking JD in the stands. The Lindros brothers, I guess, really did not have that many extra brain cells to spare. Concussions happen all the time in sport, and almost always, they are no big deal. We used to call this “getting one’s bell rung.” You went to bench took a sniff of the smelling salts, and went out for your next shift. Nowadays, it is probably better to sit out at least a week after a concussion, but not every concussion is career ending. Far from it. Downey will be fine, and will be back soon. We don’t need to trade him or sell him off as damaged goods just yet.

  13. #13 ROFL1967 says:
    October 22, 2006 at 7:06 am

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwyqveE_fIM&NR

    looks dirty to me, albeit not intentional. Safe thing to call would be a elbowing minor or at least something.

  14. #14 Rob says:
    October 23, 2006 at 8:03 am

    You are right, ROFL1967.

    With the benefit of replay, it was clearly an elbow. Downey has also indicated that he felt that Regehr should have been penalized on the play, and has said that there is a double standard with the NHL officiating when it comes to players like him. It’s too bad that the earliest that we can see the Flames again this year would be the finals, but Calgary really do not look like they will make it right now. Downey will just have to take Regehr’s number for now.

  15. #15 lavaman says:
    October 26, 2006 at 11:40 am

    The hit on Downey was legal but brutal. Regeir should have benn run the entire game and I’m very dissapointed Surray didn’t personaly pound him. I don’t care who is on the receiving end of that hit- his teamates should have made Reiger regret it!

    Lava

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Last Message 6 hours, 14 minutes ago
3 guests are online.
  • goalie : I can't type.... what a faux pas on my behalf...
  • goalie : I just realized what I said adn didn't say yesterday. What a fayx as on my behalf. Regarding coaching Randy Cunnyworth MUSDT stay as an assistant- he deserves at least that after the tremendous job he did in the latter part of this past season. I'd still mlike to have Robinson, Carbo adn Allard on the staff also.
  • Avatar37 : I agree Senet, my choice if we can't have Cunneyworth would be Crawford, Robinson on defense, Cunneyworth for offense, and Carbo as offense/faceoffs .
  • Senet1 : I think if I had my choice it would be Crawford and see if he could get Carbo and Robinson as assistants. That would be my idea coaching team.
  • goalie : I witnesed Marc Crawford MANY times when the Avs, etc. played against Oilers and let me tell you - he is constantly on the referees asses virtually game after game. He is the complete OPPOSITE of J. Martin. Crawford is calm on TSN but he is one excited coach behind the bench. A friend of mine who was an NHL linesman for 26 years said they dreaded Crawford he was so tough on the officials!
  • goalie : You know, I've bee thinking about the coaching situation. I'd be really excited if the Habs had Hartley as head coach and Carbo adn Robinson as his assistants. I also read it somewhere about a month ago that Toronto's goalie coach Allard (?) wants to relocate back to Montreal where he has his goaltending school/business. Add him to the mix and I'd say the Habs would be in great shape coaching wise.
  • Avatar37 : Well, from what I recall, Hartley didn't do all that well with the Thrashers. But, I don't know enough about him to judge one way or the other. Crawford I do know, and he always seemed to be a good, level headed coach to me.
  • Senet1 : even Pacioretty two years ago did not impress any of us. Younger players have to play and make mistakes and learn from those mistakes. If they sit in the press box they are learning nothing.
  • Senet1 : Of course if he have some good assistants like a Larry Robinson to teach the young defence and someone like Carbo to teach faceoffs etc. then your coach does not have to be as good at teaching. If Hartley fits the bill you get no argument from me. My only previous point is that if he is impatient with your younger players to the point that he does not play them, then we are right back where we were with Martin. Martin was a good coach too, but how he handled Emelin, PK and even Pacioretty two
  • goalie : I would like to see the Habs sign a coach who realizes that our team isn't tough enough (we need to get bigger and somewhat more nastier),the coach needs t be a great TEACHER and be a coach who can get the players to understand and buy into his system. Other than that I couldn't care what lingo he speaks. I wnat to see our team become a ligitimate contender fast!
  • HabsLoseAgain : Well we dont know if he is or is not a teaching coach. I woukd just hate to paint Hartley something that he is not. There will always be questions but if Hartley was hired as the habs new bench boss i for one would not be overly upset.
  • Senet1 : My thoughts are not that he is or is not a good coach but rather that when he won the cup he had an experience team of superstars on that team. Where as we have a group of young inexperienced players, is he a teaching coach or a tactical coach or both? I am not question whether he is a good coach, but my question therefore is he the coach for us at this point in the deveopment of our team?? Not sure we are all purely speculating at the moment?
  • Senet1 : Something happened to my first post. I will try again.
  • Senet1 : That is why I said I am not sure he is the coach for us at this time? Right now we are all speculating including yourself, because non of us know for sure?
  • HabsLoseAgain : Crawford also won a cup with Patrick Roy so would you say he is a good coach or did he just have great players and one of the best goaltenders of alltime?
  • HabsLoseAgain : Senrt so please give me some reasons why you think Hartley is not the coach the habs need right now. What is it that you do not like about him or his coaching style?
  • HabsLoseAgain : Well all great coaches had great players playing for them so i guess you you add a a pile of other coaches to that list including Bowan......
  • Senet1 : Hartley, was he a good coach or did he just have great players and one of the best altime goaltenders of all time. I am not sure that he is the type of coach that this organization needs right now. Unless of course we sign a ton of free agents.
  • Avatar37 : However, my feelings may completely be wrong, Hartley may turn out to be a good fit.
  • Avatar37 : I didn't say Hartley was unknown, I said we demoted a good coach in Cunneyworth and now have an unknown quantity because we don't have a coach. I don't have that great a feeling about Hartley, I'd be much more comfortable with Crawford.
  • HabsLoseAgain : In my opinion i think he might be a good fit in montreal. Oh and he also likes to have a tough team.
  • HabsLoseAgain : Also this year he coached the ZSC Lions to the swiss championship title.
  • HabsLoseAgain : lol the so called "unknown" won a cup in 2000-2001 with the colarado avalanch.
  • HabsLoseAgain : lol Bob Hartley is not an unknown lol.....sheesh.
  • Senet1 : I think he has until the trading deadline to show us that he deserves to be on this team. If he does not get back on track then he could be simply a 2nd round draft pick to whoever we can trade him to.
  • Avatar37 : Bourque reminds me of Pouliot, size, skill, and invisible. He needs to get back to playing a physical game and bang people around and maybe he'll start getting some of those garbage goals again. Need to get to the front of the net. I hope he can find his game again.
  • Avatar37 : We had a good coach in Randy Cunneyworth. Now we have an unknown, with Bob Hartley rumoured to be the front runner. I'd rather have Cunneyworth.
  • goalie : A player like Rene Bourwue has al the physical attributes of what would be a beter than average player. Hwever, he certainly didn't play that well especially after being in Montreal about three weeks. We NEED players like Rene to play hard AND produce points on a REGULAR BASIS in order for us to be competitive.
  • Senet1 : MONTREAL – Rene Bourque had a rocky start to his career as a Hab, but he’s planning on using the next four years to make up for it. After arriving in Montreal under less-than-ideal circumstances in January, Bourque spent the following 38 games hoping to find the spark he needed to rekindle his offensive production. Despite flanking Tomas Plekanec on the team’s second line to close out the season, the 30-year-old sniper suddenly found himself firing blanks in his new NHL home.
  • Senet1 : I think we have to be patient and not expect too much too soon. Let's get a strong management team in place, make a good choices in the draft get a good coach and then see what we need at the free agent market. I will not be too disapointed if we miss the playoffs again next year if it means a long term team success. We have the opportunity to make some major strides over the next two years at the draft table. Then we fill in the holes.
  • goalie : I certainly agree that we need to get some impact forwards who will sign for 5 years, not for a season then walk away. That's not going to help us.
  • goalie : I wouldn't trade PK for Ovetchkin no matter what. He is a coach's NIGHTMARE and a poor team player.
  • Senet1 : I believe he will as we graducally put better players around him and build this team.
  • Senet1 : Goalie I agree with Avatar. PK is the present and future of this teams defence. I would not even take Staal from Pittsburg unless I had him tied up in a long term contract of a Minimum of 5 years. Also once has to consider the salary difference. Pk is on the move up probably 3M plus for his next contract and then eventually 4-5M if he keeps on improving. He has moved his game up two gears since he came into the league 2 years ago. He now has to move to the next level and I believe he will as w
  • Avatar37 : pressure playing in Montreal, since he has problems with the expectations in Washington and Montreal isn't any easier. Then again, the media were very easy on Kovalev, so maybe it's a Russian thing? No idea. Anyway, yeah, it would have to be an established star that gives us an immediate drastic upgrade at forward, that's the only way I'd trade PK, because we'd be giving up a potential QB on our blueline for the next decade.

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