Xhabsfan do you know what your talking about? When did I ever say this team is like the ’93 team? All I said is we are gonna have a better team then the last couple of years. I think we will make the playoffs, and even if they don’t doesn’t mean I’m going to start blaming everyone from the GM to the stick boy. And if Markov is so bad maybe you should suit up Xhabsfan. You sure seem to know how much everyone else sucks. You and Joshtm must be Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemiux. Because you guys talk like your the best players ever. Maybe we should just get rid of markov, if he is as bad as you say he is. I mean clearly he is one of if not the best player for the habs. Its not all about points sometimes. If Steve ****** Wonder can tell who is gonna make the playoffs and who isn’t why do we even have a regular season, Why don’t we just have PLayoffs and he can pick the teams who are in? All you do Xhabsfan is say stupid **** with no back-up and no real meaning or point. I mean look at your last comment. What point are you trying to proove? That our team isn’t as good as in 1993? Well **** Joshtm’s vibrator can tell that! Honestly you don’t know anything about hockey do you Xhabsfan?.. Maybe you should just stop writing on this blog, from my short time being on here I can tell no one likes you or takes you seriously. Go start your own blog called Pointless **** Typing Pointless ****.

Xhabsfan……awsome…you got me on that one……care to share the full length version!!!LOL

What are you talking about with Markov???? He is a solid point producer and is responsible in his own end?????? Isn’t that what a good “D” man does???

Give your boney little head a shake Xhabsfan!!!

RBK…….and little girly-man has the nerve to say that we don’t know what we are talking about???

YIKES!!!!

Joshtm are you serious.. If you will look back in my posts I have agreed with you a countless number of times saying Gainey has made some really bad moves and never once praised him. I don’t like what Gainey has done this free agency but I DO like what has not done with our rookie talent. I ask you why go out and spend 50 million dollars for 6-8 years for one good player when you can spend that much on developing our bottomless barrell of rookie talent and have a great team in easily 6-8 years.
And secondly, Gainey did not LET Souray go, he offered him what he is worth(obviously the same that other teams are offering him because he hasn’t gone anywhere) and Souray and his agent denied that offering. So instead gainey made a smart move by getting Hammer, who is a better D-man then Souray and if you can’t see that you don’t know hockey. Hell Souray is still a UFA, he could potentially still come back( I don’t see how and frankly I don’t care). Joshtm do you love seeing Souray giveaway the puck and then get danced around by other teams players or something?? Because thats what’s been happening. At least with Hammer he will be able to make that crisp break-out pass that begins every play, a crucial pass, not bank it off the glass or ring it around the boards like Souray does, only to have it intercepted and end up in the back of our net. PLus Hammer has a great shot and can replace Souray on the PP. Now he obviously doesn’t have the offensive side like Souray but his great defensive skills will make up for that. I mean what would you rather have a 10 goal scorer who is a +25 or a 20 goal scorer who is a minus 30.. DO the math Joshtm. And you hate Bouillon and Dandenault so much? There combined plus minus was still better then Sheldon Souray’s last year. They are good for thier postion, a 3rd set of defenders, thats what they do!! Are you kidding me, I mean did you see when Bouillon dropped his mits and layed out a little ***** called Darcy Tucker.. You can’t sit there and tell me you didn’t cheer when that happened. Or maybe you didn’t see that happen, maybe you didn’t see any of last season, you and Xhabsfan were to busy practising positions out of the Kama Sutra..
And yes I know last season was a bust.. Everyone knows that including Bob Gainey. And if you weren’t paying attention the guy did everything he could to try and land a big name player here. So how can you blame the guy if those players CHOSE not to come! Yes gainey has made some bad moves, but he has made some good ones too. I mean would you still want to be backstopped by Theodore? Honestly joshtm you wouldn’t know what to do with yourself if you were a GM of any team. You don’t know hockey, all you know is saying random **** and ranting and crying. You should go join xhabsfan’s blog.

Alright…I end it here…..MARKOV….last year….49 pts. and +3, year before…….46 pts. and +14…year before lock-out…20 pts. and -2…..in Russia during the lock-out….23 pts. and + 27……..he has been getting better and better every year!!!! I would say at this rate Markov will be vying for the Norris trophy very soon!!! What in the HELL are you talking about Xhabsfan????? I think joshtm has been sneeking up behind you again and boinkin’ the sense right out of ya!!!!LOL

Xhabsfan…..if this is what you call a bad defenseman then I want a whole blueline of bad defensemen!!!!

I know you are an intelligent fan(most of the time, errrrr.. some of the time, o.k….never really…LOL…kidding!!) but really…..check things out before you spout off would ya!!! Stats don’t lie girlyman!!!!

And OH MY GOD…..you sound just like joshtm!!! WTF!!!!

Hey RBK….any comments??? Care to shore me up here????

I really hope Grabs cracks the line up… he’s very slick with the puck, and will be exciting to watch! Something to look forward to! Go Habs Go!

Xhabsfan……why is it that when someone makes a point that obviously makes you the loser of the argument….why do you refuse to respond and acknowledge that you were wrong????

I stated some facts about MARKOV that are irrefutable yet you do not respond????? WHY???? Scared????

YGFNMF!!!

I have a QUESTION FOR ALL OF YOU.If all the teams have $40,000,000 to spend and you compare lineup “Detroit, Pittsburgh, Rangers ,Tampa, Ducks and the like against our un mity Habs team,how in the hell did we spend it all???and on what???? At the very least we could of saved moneys for the half way point!!! Right now John Ferguson jr looks like a better G.M. than Gainey
;and thats very,very bad Bob !!!!!

Xhabsfan……WTF….your right…you did not say he was a bad “D’ man but you certainly described him as bad????? Read your own ******’ words moron!!!!

I never put any words in your mouth…..you put them there yourself!!!

You make no sense?????

These are your words…..does this not describe him as a bad defenseman???

He’s soft, he’s got no shot, he cannot fight, spotty play and we’re in trouble if he is our best defenseman???

Markov has NO SLAPSHOT AND I cringe when he does take one cause its guaranteed to hit a fan or something. He’s a good playmaker ,skater and a passer but he’s soft as well,oh yeah he’s rich,that’s it that’s all!Good wrist shot and no snap shot and he couldn’t fight his way out of a wet paper bag….a very quiet leader and his play can be spotty,here’s the problem,he’s our best D man !!!!

Please see the stats Xhabsfan…..Markov is a top tier NHL defenseman girlyman!!(see below)

Alright…I end it here…..MARKOV….last year….49 pts. and +3, year before…….46 pts. and +14…year before lock-out…20 pts. and -2…..in Russia during the lock-out….23 pts. and + 27……..he has been getting better and better every year!!!! I would say at this rate Markov will be vying for the Norris trophy very soon!!! What in the HELL are you talking about Xhabsfan????? I think joshtm has been sneeking up behind you again and boinkin’ the sense right out of ya!!!!LOL

Xhabsfan…..if this is what you call a bad defenseman then I want a whole blueline of bad defensemen!!!!

Your worse than joshtm you sissy!!

Yo mysterygoof,since when is it other peoples fault when you can’t figure **** out,ydf !You need to have more accountability in yourlife don’t you?
You are not trying to say our Habs have a stanley cup defence now ,are you?Cause if you are I told you put your money’s where your really big mouth is,sadly it will be like taking money from the handycaped,”not very karma good”,but for you I’ll do it! Noproblemo yfwmfdbcsd 2]Plus you haven’t answered where the missing 40 millions at PUSS NUTTS !!!

What the hell, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. I’m with RBK. Dude, you make a lot of sense. Sounds like you need a tag team partner anyway. LOL.

joshtm…in post # 103, you said Gainey was chasing out the high scorers…then why did he get rid of Samsanov and keep Ryder? What the hell are you talking about, moron? And what’s so special about Souray? He led the team with 135 penalty minutes last season. Yeah, he had 26 goals, but -28 rating. Take him off the ice completely, and there’s the extra 2 goals we needed to beat the Leafs to get into the playoffs. I know it doesn’t really work that way, but it almost makes sense, doesn’t it? Yeah, he’s got a wicked slapshot, I’ll give him that, but 19 of those goals were on the PP. If Hamerlik can’t replace him there, then Carbo does like Murray did for the Sens and drops a forward with a hard slap shot on the point for the PP. Souray won’t be a huge loss…especially since his defensive game is so lacking.

This blog has turned into an absolute joke and it’s not even fun anymore.

Seriously. People complain about how much certain players, and sometimes I agree that they suck or that they’re cancers(ie. Kovalev) but no one offers A REALISTIC OPTION(go read and understand the freakin CBA some of you) on how to get rid of them or improve the team. Everyone wants instant results with no patience and no actual feasable ideas on how to do it. Everyone complains about Gainey and Carbo yet they don’t bring up anyone to replace them with accept people who are already employed and wouldn’t come or dream about Scotty Bowman coming back(get real, he has no loyalty to the Habs anymore, his loyalty is to the Red Wings).

Until people actually come up with some constructive, REALISTIC ideas on how to improve the team this blog will continue to be an absolute gong show.

Avatar37…I stand corrected. I honestly didn’t know that PP points didn’t count towards +/-. Either way, as much as I loved seeing that shot of his from the point, I can do without it if it means we have a stronger defense. We’re not going to win games 7-2, so we need to assure that our defense can keep the opposing teams’ scores down.

I’m not a Souray hater, but with Hamrlik on the team, I’m more confident.

Tommy K can fight.. I think he loses alot but he will do it..

Komisarek, Bégin & Murray can fight.

Unlike a lot of people seem to think on here, I like Smolinski. If nothing else, he’ll add great leadership to our rooks. I just remember seeing him play for Ottawa. He’s another player who just seems to have a natural love for the game. I really do think he’ll help bring a positive attitude to the dressing room.

The Habs need a heavyweight to compete in the East. Almost all the big time teams have one: Ottawa-Neil and McGratton / Buffalo-Peters / New Jersey-Cam Janssen / Pittsburgh-Laraque and Cairns / Rangers-Orr / Tampa-Roy, etc.

And if you want to intimidate a bigger Leafs squad you have to have a guy that can beat up Belak.

This is why I’d love to see Boogard in a Habs uni.

Ya that would be nice, we also missed out on Laraque. But with the instagator rule the way it is fighting can sometimes harm a team. But you guys are right in the way we need a big physical presence. And Avatar you are totally right in the fact the Hammer was probably over-payed. And thats because of the ridiculous amounts mediocore players are recieving. Thats why it’s better to aqcuire a big name player through a trade or to draft him and develop him. But hell we are screaming at Bob because he didn’t get a big name player and overpayed mediocore ones. But I don’t know how the Rangers did it! I still feel like the Habs will be better then previous years and I trust Gainey still even though I’m not happy with the moves. Even the experts on TSN say Gainey is the guy, so why wouldn’t I?

Nobody seems to get it. Gillett hired Gainey, cause Gainey was supposed to be some Hockey God and we would get into the playoffs and, well guess what, its the second year with Gainey and a second year of being shut out of the playoffs!

Now we are going into year three of the Gainey Gong Show, and we have the threat of losing Ryder through arbritation. We have seen Souray go, and while Bonk was not a high scorer he did play on many lines and assisted in quite a few, he was a playmaker in his own right, a quarterback of sorts. It was good we kept Markov cause when he wants to he can score, but he sucks totally as a defenseman though.

People still don’t get it, Sakku is a one man show. He is not a team player, he is not a leader. Kovalev is a friggen prima donna! What do we have to replace Souray and Ryder? What so we don’t get to see the Habs score so the next big thing is we get to see Krusty the Clown drop his gloves? Wow, move over Sakku, you are gonna finally have some visitor, cause poor Sakku felt kinda lonely in the P-Box with his King of the Minor Penalties.

There is still no guarantee that the rookies are gonna stay in Montreal. Imagine Corey Price making the grade in camp, only to have Gainey yank him back and forth between the dogs and the habs and destroy his confidence like he did to Halak, to (insert rookie goalie name here, pick any rookie goalie the past two years)….

Anyway we still have to wait and see, if Gainey’s picks that have been untested will come out big, like Biron, will Butterfly Biron float like a butterfly and get stung like a bee…will he fold? Will this be the year?

I’m not gonna hold my breath. The trades this summer, and even the rookies, all have mediocre stats. And unfortunately, Gainey is king of the mediocre. Like the man can’t even crack a real smile for God’s sake!!! It’s like Gainey is operating at two speed slower than everyone, like he is in perpetual slow motion!

joshtm, what are you smoking, bud?

RBK never said Hamrlik was brought in to be an enforcer. Where did you read that? And why do you keep saying that this is the second season that we’ve been shut out of the playoffs? Did you miss the 2005-06 season? Yeah, Carolina knocked us out of the 1st round, but they were the eventual cup winners.

And about Gainey…remember (in ’06) when the team started bombing, so fired Julien and took over the coaching duties (like a man) because he admitted that it was his fault that the team was doing so poorly? And then he helped them get into the post season? Remember that?

Dude, you’re full of more **** than a Leaf fan.

PS…are you miserable every day in your real life too?

yo joshtm ,I think it’s the french hater habs4ever or habs4life thats writing that filth,man that’s one sicko.It strikes me funny that we can’t have the truth around here but people can hijack this site ,make arses of them selfs,be weird and perverse and nobody bats a eye.LOL . The best part though josh,is months after we say something ,you know about the time an ego heals,every-one else makes the same statment.It’s the very best .

JOshtm you are being a bad boy again. Dont upset me.

Souray has priced himself out of the market. What is he thinking. HE will get screwed at the end of the day. I bet you no one has offered more then the 5.5 4 year deal we did. IF he is not careful he will end up on the island and he will turn into the next Aucoin. Should of tookt eh deal shelley!!!

Souray will end up in either:

1) NYI – career killer
2) NJ – ehhh, will average 6-8 goals a year
3) SJ – Proabably the best fit for him
4) MTL- wont happen now, you really screwed yourself Shelley.
5) CLB- That should be fun, for opposing forwards.

The only people making fools of themselves are the 2 of you. Your mad cuz I told the truth about certain french media and french fans needing french players to somehow make them feel better. Ridiculous, you guys are not hockey fans. You bring politics into hockey, doesn’t matter to me if a player is french, english, italian, mexican, american, russian, swedish male or female, black or white. Quebecers are insecure about themselves and theyre spepartist movement and try to bring it on the ice. Do you see any other organization crying for players form theyre home town or speak a specific language. Your part of the reason this team is in turmoil and players don’t wanna come here. I remember Joe sakic wouldn’t get a raise with the Nordiques, cuz he didnt want to learn french. The Nordiques are gone, and people like you wish to take the habs down a similar path. You wanting french Canadians is like LA wanting actors or models, or dallas wanting cowboys, we got french players on the team, soley because theyre french, like dandy, boully, begin, all below league average, but here to plz ppl like you. Gainey has a hard enough time signing FAs. Imagine if he was to target french only. HAHAHA Xhabsfan, you shouldn’t be allowed on this brd or to talk hockey. Your the racist, wanting french players to make u feel better. I’ll take the best player. French or not!!! Loser

This site has gone to S>H>I>T! I used to enjoy reading the blogs and not getting invovled. I grew up in MTL and moved to Calgary a few years ago and this is one of a few sites I visit to get news and perspective on my dear Habs. But recently the spats between hockey dorks has left me wondering why do I even bother? Until hockey is the main topic, i won’t be coming back.

148 Joshtm
Posted on July 9th, 2007 at 6:11 pm. About ‘Canadiens sign Tom Kostopolous’.

But what did Gainey do? Okay so he traded Samsonov, but hey now we have to suit up two more mediocre Samsonov types!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Are you referring to Salmelainen & Cullimore? Their contracts were bought out on June 29.