Begin, Downey and Murray Signed

The Montreal Canadiens made their first signings of the off season inking Steve Begin, Garth Murray and Aaron Downey to new deals.

Great news for the Canadiens. Bob Gainey identified and signed his role players that will make up a core part of the Canadiens next season.
Begin had one of his best seasons last year and newcomers Garth Murray and Aaron Downey fit in quite well.

All of these guys have similar rough and physical styles of play and aren’t afraid of dropping the gloves. Gainey’s assuring early that the Canadiens won’t lack a physical element like they have in so many recent years.

All of these guys have been borderline NHLers and the vote of confidence the Canadiens have just given them should make for an interesting season.

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8 Comments

#1 BJ says:
June 6, 2006 at 10:42 am

This was a great move by the habs. Now we need to worry about Huet and get a Defenceman and a 2nd Line Center. Get rid of Ribs!!!!!!!!

#2 Habs#1 says:
June 6, 2006 at 6:44 pm

The Habs needed to keep their grit togehter and they did that yesterday. Great move by Gainey. The Oilers proved this year that grit will get you far in the playoffs before what I call the curse of ’93 hit them.

(The curse is that no Canadian team has won the cup final since the Habs in ’93 and no canadian team will win it till the Habs do in what I believe to be the next 1 to 2 years)

Get rid of Ribeiro and Zednik immediately, Bonk they won’t be able to get rid of because of his massive contract and he showed at the end of the year to be a good #4 centre.

Keep the defence intact because they were the fidth highest scoring unit in the NHL, they were very good defensively at the end of the season and now I think Souray’s gotten used to the new NHL they will be even better next season.

Kovalev needs a real centreman to play with (i.e. Lang,Arnott. These are the only viable options folks because they’re not getting Richards obviously and unless Gainey is willing to trade Higgins, Ryder, and Komisarek which Tampa would reportedly be asking for, Vinny Lecavelier will not be wearing the CH any time soon, and Savard would want to much and would not want to play second fiddle to Koivu.)

As well as either getting someone like Mark Parrish or Jamie Langenbrunner to play the second line wing or moving Perezhogin up there and having Kostitzyn play on the third line with Plecanek and Murray, both of which I like a lot. Elias would be far to expensive to also go with the more pressing need at second line centre.

By the way, everyone saying that Latendresse will come and play for the big team next season. GET REAL!!!!! He had a good preseason sure but after that he had a very average season in the QMJHL, he apparently has terrible work ethic and attitude( i.e. Ribeiro) and he did absolutly JACK ALL in the world juniors so Gainey will make him go the hard way through the QMJHL one more season, hopefully have a better showing at the ‘Juniors’ and then at least the 3 manditory seasons on his AHL contract.

#3 PACTUM SERVA says:
June 6, 2006 at 7:12 pm

I could’nt say it better myself habs#1 great post

#4 Habs#1 says:
June 6, 2006 at 10:35 pm

There are three rumored people to be in the running for asst. head coach. All are ex. Habs I believe, and all are good buddies with Carbonneau and I think played with him.

They are Larry Robinson, Mario Tremblay(I really don’t think we want to go down that road again), and Kirk Muller.

Robinson retired because he couldn’t take the pressure in NEW JERSEY! so how would he deal with it in Montreal? Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if he’s just an assistent. I never liked Mario Tramblay and the dark days of the Habs/Molson family marriage started with him and got really bad with Vingealt(not his fault that he didn’t have any good players though) and Kirk Muller’s never had a proffesional coaching job before.

There’s risks to which ever one you take. I would like to see Muller. Who do the rest of you loyal Habs fans think would be the better fit?

#5 fan3 says:
June 6, 2006 at 11:48 pm

Definitely NOT Tremblay!!! ANYONE else!!! Nothing good could come by bringing him back into the picture…it’s taken us like a decade to fix his errors. As for the other two, I don’t really care. Like you said, Robinson couldn’t handle the pressure (and Montreal fans provide plenty of that) and Muller has no coaching experience. I’m sure that Gainey will make the best decision in the end (if it’s even up to him).
As for the trades: all for Begin and Murray but I’m indifferent to Downey. Downey hasn’t done anything wrong but he also hasn’t earned his keep; then again he didn’t get that much of a chance to.

#6 SaskHab says:
June 7, 2006 at 1:42 am

As far as the coach goes, I love the possibility of Robinson coming back. He’s been an assistant with us before and did very well. So well in fact that he got plucked from our staff to become a head coach in the show. As an assistant he would shoulder virtually none of the pressure and due to his unwillingness to be a head coach again it would be pretty safe to say he’d be in it for the long haul at that position. Obviously my second choice would be Muller for lack of a better option in Tremblay. To be fair, because one sucks at the head coach position does not mean they can’t be an effective assistant. They are two completely separate and differing roles, therefore I would even be willing to bring Tremblay into the fold. Now let’s sign Huet and find a decent scoring forward.

#7 Don't Know says:
June 10, 2006 at 7:17 pm

Downey sucks. Habs should get Charra, or Redden , or Spezza , or another big name player like Havlat

#8 Don't Know says:
June 10, 2006 at 7:22 pm

i dont think the habs will do good next yr if they dont sign some good free agents this yr

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ShoutBox

Last Message 1 day, 8 hours ago

muller93 : MB is forced to go out and get a big D-man. Missing Emelin for almost half the season is the last thing we needed to hear. Now going out and getting a big D-man is a MUST!!!
muller93 : Now for the Fu**en Bruins who have no business even being in the second round are going to get a nice rest. Yes the same goons who took out one of best D-man for 6 more months. There is NO Fu**en justice. Just venting--Ok i feel better now.
muller93 : So pissed to see the Rangers lay down and play like total crap. How did the Rangers beat the Caps? This team is playing with no heart--a must win and can only muster 23 shots...PATHETIC !!!
muller93 : Senet I did see Galchenyuks goal--Made a great move for the game winner. You can see the kid has so much confidence.
goalie : If Rangers get swept I wonder if Tortorella will get his walking papers? Or Glen Sather? They have tons of 'talent' but zero wins in this series.
goalie : It's really too bad we lost to the Sens as we would have played the Rangers and the way NYR are playing we would have beat them too. If only. If only!
Senet1 : Actually I agree it was a good move for them to play a shorter season and get the experience. He could not have played in the minors this year he would have had to play junior or the NHL. However, he now has a year under him and knows what to expect next year and hopefully take a bigger responsibility on the team. Did you see those two goals in the bronze game? Wow.
muller93 : Good move by the Habs not having Galchenyuk play in the minors. Now Galchenyuk has 1 year in the NHL and playoff experience this is going to pay off big time come next year.
Senet1 : Galchenyuk scores to back to back goals in shoot out to help USA win Bronze metal. I did not see the second goal but the first was a beauty.
Senet1 : So we could pick anywhere from 25th to 23rd depending on who wins these quarter final series.
Senet1 : First, is the 14 teams in the lottery. Then there are 12 teams that did not make the semi finals in the order of the seasonal finish, Then there are the four teams in the semi final the first two eliminated pick in the order of the regular season points total and the last two based on who wins and who loses the cup. So as it stand now if say Detroit beats Chicago then Detroit moves up to pick after us. Boston or NYR will move up and pick after us. LA or San Jose will move up and pick after us
Senet1 : Basically, I was wrong about the draft pick situation. There are three groups of drafting teams within the 30 teams.
Senet1 : seriously ready to challenge for the cup. He will us win games but he will not be the difference between winning the cup and not winning the cup. You pick up players like that once you have the team ready to challenge,.
Senet1 : I am looking at the players to draft and there are a lot of big 6'3-6'5 forwards available ion the draft this year. If we could draft 3-4 big young players in the 2nd and 3rd round why would you want to give that up for a roster player who may have 2-3 years at best. If we are going to build a winner to have to build it with bigger players and there are a lot of good big players available this year. So you sign Ott and he is with us for the short run, but probably not when we are seriously re
Senet1 : Boullion is a great mentor for the young D-men
muller93 : Boullion is one of MBs great additions--Boull ion is a definite Keeper.
muller93 : Getting rid of Kaberle frees up a lot of cash. Boullion is small but is reliable and doesn't back down from anyone.
muller93 : Exactly Goalie any thoughts on a punishing D-man?
goalie : They;re showing determination adn skill vs Ducks and Blackhawks.
goalie : REd Wings could turn out to be the surprise team of this year's playoffs!
goalie : WE need to rid our team of Kaberle and Webber. Step two would be to then move Diaz. If we get that big d-man I believe that would push Boullion to # 7 on the chart. We'd then go with Georges, PK,Markov (to continue mentoring Ememlin) Tinordi as our starting six . THEN I'd be excited about our chances. We could then work on getting bigger forwards.
goalie : I too would gladly give up a 3rd round pick for Ott- the type of player we sadly lack. AND if we could get one more rugged, expeienced defenceman it would help immensely.
muller93 : Senet what you are saying makes sense but if we can get Ott for a 3rd round I'll take that all day.
muller93 : MB should be looking at a big D-man first, even though I like our blue line with the addition of Tinordi. We need that insurance just in case one gets injured. Also I'm a firm believer in starting with the goalie first then-defense-for wards-and we already have good goalie. We have all noticed when we have the lead Price is tough to beat.
Senet1 : So sometimes you have to sacrifice for one year or two to build that team in the draft. then add the finishing touches through FA and trades.
Senet1 : Muller, Detroit is another good example. They have been in the hunt every year with good well balanced teams yet only one or two cups to show for it. However, they have built a team that has a chance every years for the last 10+ years. That is what I think we have a chance to do this year with a good draft. It reminds me of the habs teams of the mid 80 and 90's we built a team then with sold draft picks and won the cup twice during that time period. So sometimes you have to sacrifice a one
muller93 : Very true Senet, you do need luck and we haven't had any luck it seems since the habs moved to the Bell Center. We had an incredible run in 2010 with some crazy goal tending from Halak. With Galchenyuk-Tinor di-Gallagher all in 1 year--not too bad, even with an early exit in the playoffs.
Senet1 : Muller I guess we all have our own ideas, but there has never been too many times that were successful when they traded their draft picks away. We have a chance to build this team so we have a shot at winning the cup over the next 10 years. Even as good as Pittsburgh has been they have only won the cup once since Crosby and Malkin have been with the team. That is because you not only need great players but you need luck to win, but one thing about Pittsburgh they have a chance every year. The
muller93 : Good point on Torres, he might be a liability. Torres has to tone it down a bit, but that's his game-very aggressive.
goalie : Though I don't condone what Raffi Torres did - thos shows you how repeat offenders or near offenders are going to be treated. His hit was NOT illegal BUT what the rap sheet adn reputation Torres has he got severly punished. Lesson to be learned by OTHER players because Torres dopesn't learn fromk his mistakes.
muller93 : Senet normally I would agree with you on not trading draft picks but we are not in a rebuilding stage. Sometimes draft picks can be a roll of the dice and it can take up to 3 years to be NHL ready. We have a good team and I agree with Stuo players like Clowe-Torres-Ott -Scott will make a big difference. Somebody has to protect Gallagher, he can't keep getting hit the way does--we need a tough forward so they think twice before going after Gallagher.
Senet1 : Really a heathly Habs team would probably win more games against the Pens that we did against the Sens. Reason they Pens would not play as physical against us as against the Sens. If we get good goaltending we win at least two games.
zpezada4ok : hello all «link»
stuo11 : hes a tougher big guy too! Just a minor adjustment but will help a bit
stuo11 : hes better than markov, and hes french who was in mention for defenceman of the year