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Canadiens sign Tom Kostopolous

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  1. #1 Rubberman says:
    July 10, 2007 at 1:05 pm

    I agree with “Dan Im feed up”. I read the most comments (almost daily)on this blog but I’m tired of the **** that’s going on. One guy keeps bashing the Habs, Gainey, or whatever. Others always address his comments and encouraging him. Isn’t this blog about hockey??!!?? So, I too am finished with this bullshit. Habsblog you got to put your foot down, if not see ya…

  2. #2 Xtrahabsfan says:
    July 10, 2007 at 2:35 pm

    Thank-you coutNY, for stating the obvious about the postings on little blog,you a good HabsBRO. I’m sure H.B. knows who’s been the ***-dits making those messed up postings and he should let us all know who the idiot is,you bet I’d love to know!!!! As for some of my other Habs bro’s ,WHAT A BUNCH OF HYPERCRITICAL RAT ******** ,some of you guy’s should be extras in the remake of Mississippi burning,lol!AND RUBBERMAN you want to talk hockey ? nobodys stoping you so lets talk Hockey,but please don’t be so naive to believe I’m going to agree with everything you post,most chanses are it ain’t going to happen,eh.lol.Question for all ,how do you think our Habs year will go???

  3. #3 fuzz16 says:
    July 10, 2007 at 2:44 pm

    It all depends on Huet….we will go as far as Huet will take us

  4. #4 Dan Im Fed UP says:
    July 10, 2007 at 6:03 pm

    They will struggle to make the playoffs. Because of this Habs Nation and the media will freak out and pressure the team to make a push for the final playoff spot. They will pickup a deadbeat, over the hill, former 40 goal scorer and trade the farm to do so. This pickup will not re-sign the next year and before you know we will be back at square one.

    This team is like Edmonton, to a tee almost. Except Edmonton has the problem of being in the middle of nowhere and is a small market and Montreal has the problem of the french media and high tax rate.

    PS. Koivu is the worst captain. Get rid of the Euro Trash.

  5. #5 BarrieHabFan says:
    July 10, 2007 at 6:29 pm

    thanks Xtrahabsfan. Happy to contribute to some REAL hockey talk.
    I actually think that this team isn’t as bad as many think. They have replaced those they lost with perhaps even a little more grit, they have great prospects coming up and the young players they have that are playing well (Ryder, Higgins, Komisarek, Halek or Price, etc) are most likely going to be better this year. Pair that with improved performances from the coaching staff and I beleive that this team can do well. Probably still a few years away from serious contention, but I think a good bet for playoffs.
    And frankly, I can’t see why so many are down on this team. The development of prospects seems to be going ahead of schedule and that’s how this team is going to be built. Not through the signing of over-paid veterans.

  6. #6 Habs#1 says:
    July 10, 2007 at 7:24 pm

    “Koivu is the worst captain. Get rid of the Euro Trash.”

    Saku Koivu is the best captain the Habs have had since Guy Carbonneau. You obviously don’t watch the Habs game in a game out. When Saku is there the team has a chance, when he isn’t they’re screwed. Or did you not watch the Carolina series a couple years ago?

  7. #7 Higgy21 says:
    July 10, 2007 at 7:28 pm

    This team will be better prepared for battle this year then last: why?

    - Hamrlik, Smokey and Greek are an improvement over Bonk, Johnson and SS.
    - HIggins, Komi, Pleks Kost, Lats?, Laps? and streit will be better.
    - Our goaltending duo will be competitive every night. No Abby
    - Carbo will make less rookie errors.
    - Kovy cant get any worse
    - Gainey should not have to leave the team again in January. HE is our general without him we sunk fast.

    negatives:
    - Lats will still be the slowest skater in the league
    - Laps will get too confident and think he is a 6 goal a year superstar
    - 5/6 d are weak

  8. #8 Higgy21 says:
    July 10, 2007 at 7:30 pm

    I love Josh.

  9. #9 nigelski says:
    July 10, 2007 at 9:30 pm

    I expect a tough season, myself. Replacing Bonk and Johnson with Smolinski and Kostopolous is still not guaranteed to be an upgrade, to me at least. Smolinski has probably a better offensive sense than Bonk, but Kostopolous is an unknown factor. The media say good things about his work ethic and drive, so I’m hopeful…

    Hamrlik isn’t an upgrade, he’s a stopgap. He’s coming off a season in which he had 26 fewer points than Souray, isn’t a factor on the power play, is no more physical than Souray, and isn’t appreciably faster. He gets too much credit for the play of Dion Phaneuf–I saw Phaneuf at the world juniors, hitting everything in sight, scoring and setting up plays, and Hamrlik was nowhere to be seen. If you ask me, he has been insulated by playing with Phaneuf, not the other way around. Phaneuf is a star, and future Norris winner.

    Hoping on our rookies from Hamilton to make a big difference has some basis in fact, as they just won the Calder Cup. Or Price won it, I should say. When I was reading the boxscores during the ‘Dogs playoff run, I thought I was looking at Canadiens’ stats. They were outshot almost every game, just like the Habs usually are, sometimes by more than 20 shots.

    And AHL stardom doesn’t always translate into NHL success–just ask Jason Ward, former AHL scoring Champion.

    I don’t believe the team’s most glaring weakness, the lack of a big offensive threat, was addressed. I certainly hope that we see improvement from guys like Higgins, Plekanec and Lantendresse, number-wise, but will it be enough?
    The pessimist in me says no.

    That said, nothing would make me feel better than to be wrong. I hope I am…

  10. #10 BarrieHabFan says:
    July 10, 2007 at 9:46 pm

    I agree that Hamrlik certainly is a step down from Souray on offence and he may be slightly overrated, however he is a big upgrade defensively. Not to say Hamrlik is one of the best defensive players in the game. But for as good as Sheldon Souray was offensively, he was that bad defensively.
    The key this year may be how much offence the habs can pick up from the forwards. They will lose offensive production from the defence, so they have to pick it up somewhere else.
    And you’re absolutely right, nigelski, when you say that AHL success doesn’t necessarily turn into NHL success. But to elaborate on what I had said about the farm team, I think they are drawing form a pretty large pool of AHL talent (relatively speaking)and although many will turn out dissapointing, some will undoubtedly turn out to be legitimate NHL talent. A strong farm system is a key to most if not all of the strongest and most successful teams in the NHL. They suplement their lineup with trades and free agent signings, but the base is made through the draft and farm team.
    I think Montreal finally has a good development system. The rest will follow. It’s hard to be patient, but the best is yet to come.

  11. #11 Dan Im Fed UP says:
    July 10, 2007 at 11:42 pm

    Habs#1. First of all I have RDS out in Calgary so I never miss a game. Second two years ago? A lot has changed, I think he’s tired of carrying the team and the was evident during druing the HAbs slide last year, remember last year! He was horrible. Taking stupid penalties, not caring, pretty much acting like Kovalev or Samsonov. I give him credit for the end run but by that time it was too late. Souray was a more consistent leader even at -25(?). Now with Shelly leaving and Koivu most likely not caring anymore, who will lead? It won’t be Koivu,Gainey gave him no reason to be optimistic. Carbs?

  12. #12 wpgghabsfan says:
    July 10, 2007 at 11:43 pm

    I think the solution to the habs problems has to be drastic…as much as i love koivu..i believe we should use him as trade bait for marleau or lecavalieror even richards ….I think we should get rid of kovalev at any cost..and also ryder. I know this sounds like i have no faith in the habs but I really do believe we need a change at the top. I think we need a star centerman…and i dont believe koivu is him.

  13. #13 Signings says:
    July 11, 2007 at 9:23 am

    As far as the awarding of contracts go, wouldn’t it be a lot better to pay the players based on performance? For example, a player like Kovalev could have a 1.5 million dollar guaranteed salary. Give him an extra million if he plays at least 41 games. Give him an extra million if he passes the 50 point mark. An extra million if the team makes the playoffs. For what is expected of him this next season, that would earn him 4.5 million, which is what he now gets anyways. That way, he will be sure to really try.
    One could do this with every player. You get paid to perform, after all.

    As far as Kovalev is concerned I think he will try hard to have a good season this time because his contract expires by the end of the year and he will be looking to sign for the most possible amount come next summer.

  14. #14 fan4066 says:
    July 11, 2007 at 10:00 am

    all comes down to – no playoffs this year either. Nobody wants to play here, thats the bottom line, its obvious

  15. #15 habsandwich says:
    July 11, 2007 at 1:39 pm

    still waiting on those t-shirts HB

  16. #16 nigelski says:
    July 12, 2007 at 6:08 am

    http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=213273&hubname=

    There’s Yashin’s latest crybaby story, if anyone cares…

    While I agree that performance based signings would be good, Signings (post#162), the problem is that the collective agreement only allows for such after a player hits a certain age, and has had health problems in the past limiting them to a certain # of games. I don’t have exact #s on the requirements, but past incentive laden contract getters include Jason Allison, Lindros, and most recently Hasek last season.

    By far, the best solution, is to go after guaranteed contracts in the next CBA, and eliminate them altogether. Buyout issues would become a thing of the past, and you’re only as good as your last season. It seems to work well for the NFL–the NFL being THE model for pro franchising, revenue sharing, and television contract.

    To quote Homer Simpson,”…I liked your hustle out there…that’s why it was so hard to cut you…” Let the cuts begin!

  17. #17 netcase says:
    August 7, 2007 at 4:35 pm

    I always waited for Gainey to make that stellar move that makes us understand what he’s doing.
    I’m still waiting.

  18. #18 TrueHabFan says:
    April 4, 2008 at 2:09 pm

    Well, solidly in the playoffs and division champions.

    Now, it’s been a while since all the experts on this thread gave us their opinions. Time to explain yourselves.

    Go Habs!

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  • Senet1 : Also the addition of Blunden and even Leblanc is not shy to throwing body checks. Also PK has been more aggressive lately
  • Senet1 : That is partly because of the change in coaching styles and the addition of Bourque.
  • Senet1 : If we kept Plekanec and Bourgue then we need a shooter on that line. So to me from a forward standpoint we need to add a goal scorer, but one who goes to the net and is not knocked around. To me based on our offence this year that is the most needed position to fill on our forward lines. When you consider that we got ride of Cammy, and if we trade Gionta and Gomez disappears we are no longer a small team. The team has more grit now than at the first of the year.
  • Senet1 : So we have to add some muscle as well as skill to our second & third lines and upgrade our fourth line as well. I could see Leblanc moving in as the centre on the second line if we got something good Plekanecs, otherwise, he could play the wing on either the second or third line. Blunden seemed to score faily well in the AHL not sure if he has it in him but would like to seem him on a line with Eller and maybe Leblanc next year all three players like to use their bodies and therefore should be
  • Senet1 : Not counting Markov if he plays. If we trade or let go of our UFA defenceman then we will need at least three D-men, I would like a good look at Nash to see if he can play at this level. If not he is gone, I do not think any of our other defensive prospects are ready quite yet. Our junior and college players should be coming on stream for Hamilton next year so we will get to see how much they have developed and whether any are ready for the big time.
  • Senet1 : While I agree we have quite a few players that could be made available, I do not see a need to make wholesale changes only the necessary one. obviously Gomez, Gionta, AK46(if he will not sign) I keep our top line of Cole, Pacman and David. I keep Eller and Leblanc, Blunden, Bourque, probably Plecanec unless we can really improve on his positin. I keep PK, Emelin, Gorges, Diaz and Naturally Price. Probably Budaj. That basically gives us two functional line and two sets of defence, not counting
  • goalie : Great to see Pacs gets su=ome success after the devestating dirty check last season that could have paralyzed him for life.
  • goalie : Given ho the team has played this season one thing in our favor is that we pretty much need to clean house. Other than about 6-7 guys everyone else would be available in my mind.
  • goalie : After how the tes]am has
  • 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.

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