Great regular season guys….my hat is off to you for that. Lots of high-flying, goals, excitement….first time in years a Montreal Canadiens team was a pleasure to watch and my appreciation is heartfelt.
I think most Habs fans like myself, although somewhat upset that our boys are gone, were really expecting it. Without wearing blinders, buried deep down inside we could see this was not a strong playoff team, and every game they played was a little extra entertainment. This is not a bad thing though….Gainey has a great blueprint now for next year and for years to follow. It was so easy and obvious to see what this squad was lacking in the way of playoff hockey, that it should make Gainey’s job easier next year. A few of the right lineup insertions, combined with a few severances should get us that much closer to the promised land.
Time to break with tradition…time to get a couple of strong, hungry, good old Canadian boys in that lineup that play a role much higher than 4th liners, and that come from some of the other 4 or 5 big provinces in our country. I think the new legions of Hab faithful that fill the Bell Centre every night really aren’t concerned any more with the primary language of the stars on the team, if it brings us to a shot or 2 at the mug.
Please don’t think this is biased or racist, it really could’nt be futher from the truth. It’s just the fact of the matter is, that with 30 teams snatching up players now, the amount of Quebec born stars that will be heading to Montreal are thinning out from past decades. We gotta catch up to the new NHL. Toughness, desire and grit is STILL what wins playoff series’. Thats where the Morrows, Getzlafs, Richards, and even Umbergers of the league play their biggest roles. We have the makings here Bob, and you’re the man to get us over that hump.
Once again, thanks so much for all you have given your loyal fans this season…it was very memorable. GO HABS GO !!!

Players I doubt will be back next year:

Smolinski
Ryder
Brisebois

Two free agents i’d love to see sign with the habs:

Langkow
Hainsey

It was a great year to be a Habs fan and the reason it was ,change. With last years new additions of up and commers and this year crop,things look brite for 100.If you listen to Coach Carbo’s press talk you’ll see he knows whats wrong and how to fix it.The Habs have learned this important lesson,the regular season and the playoffs are two shows and you have to show up for both with the proper attire.You will see a sharing of goal Price and Halak,increased size and grit up front and new defencive members “with size”…can’t wait.We all seen the size difference at last night’s hand shake,some thing I’ve drivin you all crazy with since I began posting on Habs Blog,sorry bout that,and that will be addressed for shure and I see lots of changed on the veterans core of players:Streit ?,Ryder?,Kovalev?,Brisbous?,Dandy?Smoke? Saku?trades ?it will be an exciting off season of changes ,can’t wait,And we gots new Habs ,Valentiko,Chipcura etc oohhh yeahh!!!!See I’m getting excited.So enjoy your off season Habs fans and get ready for 100 YEARS OF THE CANADIENS de MONTREAL.PEACE….GO HABS GO GO HABS GO GO HABS GO GO HABS GO GO HABS GO GO HABS GO……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Sorry for the typos,I’m typing from my Blackberry.

Last thoughts on a great year:

This series reminded me a lot of a series with the Oilers in the early 80′s,
I really believe the Habs were the better team, they had 0 puck luck.

Biron played outstanding, so did Moog, maybe Biron will prove me wrong, but
flash in the pan playoff performances by goalies are by no stretch uncommon.
(Richard Brodeur, Brian Boucher, Kirk McClean, John Davidson, Gilles Gilbert
Cam Ward)
None of these goalies would make my all time top 25.

So I tend to disagree in that this team IS a playoff team, if they add some parts, great, but only if the chemistry is right (Samsonov, cough cough)

In retrospect, did they shoot their wad in playing for first?
Maybe, but in the Philly series, they carried the majority of the play.
(Was I watching through rose colored glasses?)I saw a lot of lucky/unlucky bounces in every game including the last one, the series not only could
have gone the other way, it by all rights, should have gone the other way.
That’s why they play the games, luck is part of the equation.

I have a lot of confidence the core that has been assembled, Bob Gainey and the current coaching staff.

Here’s to a great season, and many exciting years to come!!

Now for next year.

Our young kids got to learn what it feels like to loose in the playoffs and should learn from this years playoffs and be better players for it.

Unlike some of you I do not blame for our losson
Carbo, Price, Gainey, anyone of our rookies or 2nd and 3rd year players who never were in the S.C. playoffs before.

Here are the players that I do blame. Kovalev, Markov, Streik, our defense in general.

Firstly, Kovalev was suppose to be our game breaker and our offensive leader and for the most part he did not lead nor did he provide the necessary offense when we needed it.

I thought Markov play well below his potential considering he was an allstar defenseman. Streik never did get back to his normal game, whether it was because he was still hurting from his hip injury or not only he knows for sure. He basically had the same injury that Komy had and Komy was out for three weeks whereas Striek only missed a couple of games. Komy, I did not feel he played up to his potential but he did not play bad either, I still think the Flyer took advantage of his hip injury and pounded it every chance they got.

Some of you thought that the players lacked heart, I guess I look at it the other way, we lacked leadership on the ice. Kiovu did his best but he is not a game breaking player, he is a very good second line centre. Our older more experence players who had been there before did not show any leadership.

We accomplished more than I thought we would accomplish this year, just making the playoff was an accomplishment let lone winning first play in our division and conference.
WE accomplished getting our young goaltenders some playoff experience and really when you get right down to it that was what the goaltending trade was all about especially when Huet was leaving as an UFA.

We accomplished getting the Kost. Bros, Plex, Obryne, Komy, and most of our other first, second and third year players the playoff experience they needed to take this team to the next level. Rome was not built in a day and neither was a Stanley Cup winning team. Most great teams take two to three years to develop that winning formula. With the advent of FA sometimes this can be excellerated. That is what Philly was able to do although I do not believe they will go any further.

Our coaching staff also got experience as well as they are all in the same learning curve as the players at their positions and I think overall they did an excellent job unlike some of you who would like to put it all on Carbo. He made some difficult decisions and had they worked he would have been a hero unfortunately they didn’t. Did he make some mistakes, of course he did, and so do most coaches, does that mean he should be fired, Hey he coached your team to first place in our conference, that in itself is an accomplishment. So I would suggest you quite being so hard on the coaching staff, he got a lot of input form his coaching staff as well, they are all first timers to the show as coaches.

So what do we need to go forward. Well we have to sign a couple of big strong forwards that can skate. That can play on the first or second lines. Personally I would make a couple of trades if the right player is out there then I am ready to trade the following players, Kovalev, Koivu, Markov,Smolinski and one of our bottom four defenseman. If we could get a big strong centreman who can score goals, win faceoffs and cabable of being our #1 centreman, then one or two of the above could be moved.

There are a few players on the bubble. Brisebois was signed for one year to give our young defenseman timem to develop, he is gone. Dandenault I like his utility to play both forward and defense but we have Streit so we do not need both of them. He also becomes trade bait. Smolinski, although he played well at times he is getting long in the tooth and he served his purpose in Montreal, I believe we have two or three players in the minors that can replace him.

Boulon I am afraid it is time for him to move on. To me he is too small to be effective as a defenseman and we already have Jorges who is a similar type player. We also have a couple of defenceman in the minors that should be given a good look next year. Bottom line we need to add more grit to our defence for next year because as much as I feel our forwards did not score, I feel that it was lack of solid defence that lead to Price’s downfall most of these games. If you analysis most of the goals he let in they were deflections, screens and bad breaks, yes he looked a little weak on some of the goals too but most goaltenders let in a weak goal from time to time and he sure looked strong on a number of breakaways when we needed him.

So if I had my choice, I would trade for a number one centremen who is at least 6’1″ and 200+ pounds.
I would also look to add a big strong power forward who likes to be in front of the net, something we were lacking this entire playoffs. I would also like to add one additional 6’2″ 225 pound defencemand who can handle the puck but can take the touch going when the game becomes physical. You see every team has its small players, even Philly ie. Biere, but they have the bigger guys who can protect them and play large in the corners. This is what we lacked was the players to play along side Plex, and A. Kost.

Two or three of the right players I feel could make this a championship team. So we either find them from within our organization, trade for them or try to signa FA or two. We have some good third and fourth line players what we need is a couple of first and second line players to be added replace our current players on those two lines. I am not saying to make wholesale changes but some players like Sergie or even Higgins could play a valuable roll as third line players that could be moved up to the first two lines when there are injuries or someone need to be given a night off etc.

This is how I see it anyway.

It’s too bad the defense wasn’t up to shape. But lose Huet, and look what you get. Bad move Gainey, and even worse, Carbo. Huet got TWO teams into playoffs, and even if they didn’t get the CUP, you have to admit it was thickheaded to throw him away, especially so ungraciously.

Donnie,

What is “the backyard rule”?…and why?

2 Pricefor#1job
Posted on May 4th, 2008 at 8:31 am. About ‘Canadiens 07/08′.
0h streit’s gone so powerplay is finnaly dead…:(

That “position” creates Hero. Last year, after Sheldon Sourey left some people were worried about Habs PP, but Habs still had super strong PP. SO, if Streit leaves, each and every existing Habs defenseman can take the role. Never worry this.

Donnie,

You saying most talented players in hockey are Quebec born?

No….talented players come from all over. We don’t get the most talented French players anymore is what I’m saying.

Habs cannot have enough talented Canadian players, so more European players on Habs roster. No choice!

Don’t even need to think about other provinces, there are so many talented Quebec players in the league, but we couldn’t have one of them…

Can we expect more leadership from Koivu and Kovalev? the answer is NO, not at all. They are reaching the retiring age. They have NOT brought any leadership to the team so far, HOW CAN WE expect their leadership this game and next game???

Habs needs a REAL MOTIVATOR, no matter in the defense line or forward line.

Please remember my word: IF WE COULDN’T HAVE A REAL MOTIVATOR IN THE TEAM, WE WOULD SUFFER THE HEART BREAKING FEELING AGAIN AND AGAIN…

31 Joseph
Posted on May 5th, 2008 at 3:45 pm. About ‘Canadiens 07/08′.
Brendan Morrow.

That could be a No Deal just because of the son-in-law-in-father relationship.

Joseph, alternative way, fire Carbonneau.

You cannot fire Carbo just because he does not meet you ideas. Personally, I think he and his staff did a great job this year. He made some mistakes sure but we should not crusify him for a few mistakes. He is a rookie coach just like a lot of our rookie players. He took a team that had been written off by most and made them an exciting team. Now it is up to Gainey to get the two or three players that we need to go over the top. Big strong centreman, big strong power forward and one more big strong defenceman. To me we have the rest.

Brisebois, Patrice 36 MTL D UFA 0.700
Gorges, Josh 22 MTL D RFA 0.495
Grabovski, Mikhail 23 MTL C RFA 0.700
Halak, Jaroslav 22 MTL G RFA 0.500
Kostitsyn, Andrei 22 MTL L RFA 0.612
Lapierre, Maxim 22 MTL C RFA 0.562
Locke, Corey 23 MTL C RFA 0.495
O‘Byrne, Ryan 22 MTL D RFA 0.590
Ryder, Michael 27 MTL R UFA 2.950
Smolinski, Bryan 35 MTL C UFA 2.000
Streit, Mark 29 MTL D UFA 0.600
MTL’S FREE AGENTS Guys this might be a dumb question, but what does restricted mean?

“Restricted Free Agents (RFA) are players who have completed three accrued seasons of service and whose contracts have expired. They have received qualifying offers from their old clubs and are free to negotiate with any club until April 21, at which time their rights revert to their original club. If a player accepts an offer from a new club, the old club will have the right to match the offer and retain the player. If the old club elects not to match the offer, it may receive draft-choice compensation depending on the level of the qualifying offer made to the player.” (Source: Wiki)

Does anyone know if Lecavalier has expressed interest in playing in Montreal? Legitimate interest.

I’m looking foward to seeing more of that Stewart kid,I am sure he is going to suprise.

I’m looking forward to next season. I think we’re on the right path. I believe in Gainey. I think he’ll make all the right moves this summer and give us an even better team to watch next season.

Cheers to ’08/’09

I think Gainey might get Jarret Stoll from Edmonton or get Chris Gratton from Tampa. I’d like that or just get Avery and another defencemen.

Sean Avery is a punk!!!!!!!! He’d be a disgrace to the CH