joshtm, i love how you throw random stats at people with out backing it up. like how jamie rivers falls all the time. do you even know who that player is! and bouillon and dandenault werent our biggest liabilities on defense, it was souray u fcking idiot. -28 anyone.

Excuse me, I didn’t write that Rivers falls all the time fool! Get your facts straight! Honestly, you are so petty! You are a wimp! A Fool! A JERK!!!!!

I said Rivers should make for exciting hockey!

Where were you Habsfanforlife? Excuse me, last season all we saw was the duo of Dandenault and Bouillon get scored on time after time. Dandenault a better defenseman that Souray? Souray at his worst at least kept the net clear, what did Dandenault do? Compete with Markov to see who between the two would injure Huet…..

At least I do my research, like Degon, ranked 213 overall, man that just sucks. And Hamrlik’s total goals? some 900 some odd games and he scores what, the total number of goals Souray did last year….and that is Hamrliks total NHL career, some seven or eight years! That is pathetic! And Smolinski? Supposed to be a forward? Scores every seven games, every ten games at his worst? Honestly….those stats are just horrible! And if you look at their sizes and weights, and ages, man that just sucks. That is washed up used broken down veterans FOOL!!!

Listen up joshtm…some good points here for ya!!

This person actually knows what they are talking about!! Read and learn jack-***!!

Bob Gainey finally pulled the trigger on Monday by signing UFAs Roman Hamrlik and Bryan Smolinski to contracts. The Canadiens were unable to sign the big name UFAs like Daniel Briere, Scott Gomez or Ryan Smyth but it wasn’t from a lack of effort. Numerous reliable sources (including the players and agents involved in the process) stated that Montreal had made very attractive offers and were in the running right up to the end. Briere was allegedly offered a 6 year/$42 million while Smyth was supposedly offered a 5 year/$32.5 million. Both contract offers were allegedly more money annually than what Philadelphia and Colorado had given them.
As Habs fans, we can all speculate and debate the reasons why these players went elsewhere: higher taxes, constant media pressure, non playoff contender or language issues to name a few. The media have already started the “blame game” and are unfairly criticizing the Montreal Canadiens for not landing these players (especially Daniel Briere). Some media outlets have even questioned why Bob Gainey, Pierre Bovin or George Gillett did not travel to Los Angeles to hand deliver the contract offer and persuade Mr. Briere to sign with the Habs. Can you imagine Gainey leaving his office at the Bell Center and abandoning negotiations for other UFAs to attract one player.
Thank god, Bob Gainey has the courage and for a lack of a better word, BALLS!!! to stand his ground so as not to be persuaded by our wonderful local media “experts”. The Ronald Corey and Rejean Houle era has come and gone when it was common practice for the french media to influence their decision making process (Patrick Roy would have retired as a Hab if cooler heads had prevailed and management had settled things down).
Yes, Gainey did not land the “big fish” UFAs but the additions of Hamrlik, Smolinski and to a lesser degree, Tom Kostopoulos have improved the team. Roman Hamrlik is a better all round defenseman than Sheldon Souray and will provide much better defensive zone/one on one coverage. Hamrlik won’t score 26 goals next season but neither will Souray who had a career season offensively. When you factor in the plus/minus and goals scored stats, then Souray is a-2(26 goals and -28) while Hamrlik is a + 29 (7 goals and +22). A bit simplistic but at the same time rather revealing don’t you think!! Hamrlik will also help tutor young prospects like Ryan O’Bryne or Pavel Valentenko when/if they make the Habs roster. He was credited with helping develop Dion Phaneuf in Calgary so Hamrlik has some successful experience in this area.
Bryan Smolinski will not be as good a shutdown center as Radek Bonk but he will provide more offensive punch. Smolinski is a better face off guy and even at 35 years old, he is still a better skater than Bonk. I think Maxim Lapierre will be the shut down center while Koivu, Smolinski and Plekanec will center the more offensive lines. Tom Kostopoulos will provide more grit and bring a solid effort every game. He is very strong along the boards and is a good skater who will improve the 3rd and/or 4th lines (will replace Mike Johnson).

In the end, there will always be critics who will have something negative to say no matter what is done to improve the team. If Bob Gainey would have signed Daniel Briere or Ryan Smyth, there would have been criticism that the player was paid too much and his salary would cripple the team’s financial ability to add other players to the roster. Let’s take a step back and take a deep breath (especially the media) while Mr. Gainey continues to improve the team with the recent additions as well as giving some of the younger players a chance to shine.

Here is some info on the Beauregard kid!!

Wow, this kid could be a steal of a deal!!

Beauregard scored 71 goals in 69 games in the Q last season so he knows where the net is. He is on the small size (5’11″ 185lbs) but has an excellent shot with good wheels. He went undrafted three years ago as he was injured most of his draft eligible year. See below sites for more information and video:

http://www.lhjmq.qc.ca/lang_en/index.php?page=11194745&an=0607&v=v2&typ=reg&seasonSubType=&report=PlayersLeadersGeneral

IN OUT
� Andrei Markov, D (RFA, re-signs)
� Janne Lahti, F (UFA, Free-Agent)
� Chris Higgins, F (RFA, re-signs)
� Mike Komisarek, D (RFA, re-signs)
� Jassen Cullimore, D (trade, Chicago)
� Tony Salmelainen, LW (trade, Chicago)
� Roman Hamrlik, D (UFA, Calgary)
� Bryan Smolinski, C (UFA, Vancouver)
� Tom Kostopoulos, F (UFA, Los Angeles)
→ Alex Perezhogin , F (RFA, Russia)
→ Aaron Downey, F (UFA)
→ David Aebisher, G (UFA)
→ Mike Johnson, F (UFA)
→ Radek Bonk, F (UFA, Nashville)
→ Sergei Samsonov, F (traded to Chicago)
→ Michael Leighton, G (traded to Carolina)
→ Jassen Cullimore, D (UFA)
→ Tony Salmelainen, LW (UFA)

I heard that Bettman was considering waiving the rules regarding equipment, to allow Sakku Koivu and Roman Hamrlik use their walkers on the ice, and an additional waiver for Sakku to use his seeing eye cane and german shepard…maybe that way instead of hooking players Sakku could actually play hockey!!!

Hey Bob, instead of water bottles, the Habs are gonna be giving out Ensure to half of the team during the game!

I feel sorry for the Habs trainer, he’s gotta get those adult pampers for Sakku and Roman!

I also heard Gary Bettman is considering hiring a researcher so Bryan and Tom there, the other old age pensioners that Bob Gainey hired, hiring a researcher to find out ways in which they can transfer their social security cheques to Canada…..

There was a replay on the old CBC HNIC black and whites, and Sakku, Tom, Bryan and Roman all looked old in those too! I think half of the Habs were born just after they invented electricity!

Man, the NHL is considering making the nets larger just for Sakku’s behalf! That’s cause Sakku’s so old he can’t see for trying.

I also heard Gary Bettman is considering waiving the hockey stick rule for the habs forwards, seems on top of getting larger lighter pucks, they are considering allowing Roman, Tom, Bryan and Sakku to be allowed to use Goalie sticks in the hopes that the bigger blade will allow them to actually pass the puck!

I have never seen such a wide range of players, one side of the bench is the old folks home for retired worn out used up broken down veterans in pampers and the other side are for Tim Bits players who are still in potty training!

Man is that sad or what?

And you know what is even funnier? There are fans out there who think Bob is Hockey God cause he can find a way to still allow old folkies to still play hockey and on the flip side, be a walking talking ad for Tim Bits peewee hockey!!!!HAHAHAAAA!!!!!

Thanks for the stats on Beauregard Josh,omg another small dude,what gives with that? Even Brian Murray and Brian Burke are shaking there heads at the Habs and there anti stanley cup mentality,at this point me thinks Downie be a better G.M. boys!lol

Tke your eklund blog down, that guy knows jack s-h-i-t, he was wrong 100% of the time on trade deadline day, and 99.9% on FA day, he’s a moron who thrives off dumbasses like you. His bloggers are mostly full of **** too, they are paid to reiterate everything eklund says.

Some of you guys are so dumb! Joshtm is telling the truth about this team and you guys are calling him a JERK!!! I’m on Josh’s side!!! LOSERS!!!!!

I don’t even bother reading josh’s comments anymore. That would be a waste of my time.

… wonder why Shelly is takeing his sweet time to sign anywhere? Maybe the offers have ceased? Could it be he is that greedy? Personally, I wish we could see him back for the upcoming season… which I know will not be the case.

Shelley’s taking his time cause all the GM’s in the league know that he’s drastically overrated.

The cure is firing Gainey and Carbo and actually hiring a real GM and a real NHL coach who will in turn draft, sign, trade for real NHL hockey players.

It is pathetic, today Gainey is now drafting 11 and 12 year olds at the end of today, he is going to use the rest of the salary cap to sign the best of today’s Habs day camp for kids to long term contracts in the hopes that one of them won’t grow beyond 6feet 1 or 200 pounds and if possible to be shorter than 6 feet and weigh just above 187 pounds but no more. Man is Gainey picky or what? He only goes after hockey players who are shorter than 6feet one inch and lighter than 200 pounds!

Lapierre is overated

Montreal is the Edmonton of the East. Bottom line, nobody wants to play here.

I really do hope that the Oilers offer Ryder a real whooper of an offer sheet now that they’ve missed out on Vanek. Ryder is the most one dimensional player I’ve seen in years. He can shoot. That’s it. Not a good skater, doesn’t hit, has no heart, is soft, can’t pass and isn’t very smart with the puck.

And next years draft is supposedly as good as 2003 which was the draft that produced most of the good young players in the league today(Horton, Staal, Vanek, Perry, Getzlaf, Suter, Phaneuf, Seabrook, Mihaclek, Bernier, etc.). And even with Ryder the Oilers would suck so the Habs would be getting a possible top 5 pick in an extremely deep draft. So go for it K-Lowe, please make my day!

Habs#1,I can’t understand some of you guy’s and your memory issues,Ryder took on THE MAPLE DICKS ALL ON HIS OWN THE LAST GAME OF THE YEAR AND SHOWED ALL KINDS OF HEART!!! Was it two or three goals that he potted that nite???Where was the rest of the Habs ,eh? He’s our only sniper now that Souray history?Do you think the Great White Russian Kovalev IS GONNA SAVE USE????I swear ,the remarks some of you guy’s make,make me think the Blogs headquartered in the head trama wing of some hospital and some of the patients are never too be the same!! Like I said earler,it do or die for Gainey and Carbo and they just made there bed,now they get to lie in it,
;I’ll predict a new G.m. and coACH BY December!!!!

I wonder what mysteryfan will call himself next???lol

Ah mystery man, I am starting to figure out it is you that is using my blog monaker.First off you paroinoid little pee brain,Josh and I are two different bloggers,secendly we have been the most accurate on this site to what will happen scenarios since I have participated on said site.Thirdly ,you don’t know hockey and your frustration is showing all your character flaws ,which there are many.And four,you should not participate on Blog sites period.You have a problem accepting other peoples opinions ,to the point where you make an *** of yourself,so GO back to your birthplace ,where there are no freedoms and in brief stupid,YGFNMFAH!!!!

Just in Souray to play for the leafs, Not good news

XHabsfan, you and josh have been the most accurate in your own opinion, not everyone else’s.

Ryder and Souray are both overrated, deal with it.

RBK,YOU ARE ONE RUDE NO MINDED WANNABEE,LOL!!! Are you related to JO-JO the FUTUREST,LOL. How do you know how young unprovin talent is going to preform in the big leagues,HUH? Mix in with noname generic old-timers and just add ice,eh and we have a contender? lISTEN,BEFORE YOU THINK ,TRY THINKING WITH YOUR HEAD FIRST AND THEN YOUR HEART……free addvice.

xhabsfan…….aaaahhhhh…this is so fun! First of all….good job with the YGFNMF…..impressive!! Secondly(noticed that I spelled it right?…take notes!), the reason I say that you are one in the same as joshtm is because you were always at odds with joshtm until recently? Now you are his shadow??? WTF?? Are you guys an item?? Hmmmm….well are ya pretty boy!!

Third, it is not me that is using your moniker(TRUTHFULLY)…I may change mine from time to time, but I would not steal someone else’s…..sorry to let you down there small fry!! By the way, it is my understanding that you are a 105lb. weakling who once broke his arm lifting an empty tea cup??? Is this true skinny-boy!!! At least that is what joshtm tells me???LOL……..YGFNMFAHCSDW!!

Seriously though, the habs will be fine…they will shock a lot of people this year. They have a good solid mix of veterans and youth and Huet will rebound from a poor season last year to push for Vezina consideration.

I have faith in the Habs and besides, better to be a HAB fan than a Leaf fan!! Agree??????

How the hell am I a “wannabee”?
But seriously,…young unproven talent?… Isn’t that what every rookie is. Did anyone have a doubt that Crosby wouldn’t perform in the NHL.. I think not, anyone who is around the game can tell who is gonna make it somewhere and who isn’t. Especially GM’s and NHL Scouts… THATS WHAT THEY GET PAID FOR! What do you think the Hab’s establishement was made by drawing names from a hat! NO! Use your heads,xhabsfan and joshtm, you guys think you can do a better job with the team! Honestly guys, if you could do something better then you wouldn’t be here typing on this blog would you now.. get real. And to say we have no veteran smarts is ridiculous, these guys play internationally, professionally and everything in between. Hammer has helped develope the soon to be best d-man in the league in a guy named Dion Phaneuf. And as much as I and everyone else despises Kovalev, he is always on the bench giving advice because he has an extreme knowledge of the game. Koviu too!
But this doesn’t mean anything because the Habs will not have to break everything down and rebuild. Where already almost there.. We are gonna have a good team this year, and even if we don’t, I’ll still be there cheering my *** off every game, and thats what makes a fan, not a guy who as soon as something goes wrong starts to cry and blame the GM or the coach or everything else that can be blamed, because blaming and crying is easy to do.. Xhabsfan and Joshtm might as well be leafs fans because all they do is cry, isn’t that what the tm stands for anyway josh?.

RBK AND mysteryfan,HAVE YOU BEEN WATCHING THE SAME TEAM SINCE 93″habs”???Idont think so!!!Listen,you two pretty boys got to stop hobnobbing with your eye’s closed,your like a MARKOV slapshot missing everything! I’ll tell you what ,if we get into the play-offs I’ll be real happy ,but realisticly it’s not going to happen,Steve ****** Wonder can even see that!!!So YGFNMFALICSDW-DFG!LOL