Changeup

The Habs haven’t been too convincing as of late.

Tonight they visit the Senators, whom they handled fairly easily last week and came away with a 4-0 win. Confidence should not be an issue, should it?

New lines for tonight:

Latendresse – Koivu – Tanguay
Higgins – Plekanec – Kovalev
A.Kostitsyn – Lang – Kostopoulous
Laraques – Begin – S. Kostitsyn

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9 Comments

#1 groundworking says:
November 20, 2008 at 4:36 pm

That fourth line isn’t a line, it’s a message. The Kostitsyn’s have each moved one place down the depth chart.

#2 PACTUM SERVA says:
November 20, 2008 at 4:44 pm

Way to go carbo nice line up. What? is this your first day on the job? When most teams that struggle usually only change the first two line carbo feels the need to change all four lines. This is brutal coaching at its best. Here is an idea, why not move brisbois and obyrne to the forward posistion and get youppi to center them. Just when you think carbo seems to be getting better as an nhl coach he goes and sticks s. kostitsyne on a line with laraque and begin and puts kostopoulos on with lang and and a. kostitsyne. Way to go carbo you meat head

#3 groundworking says:
November 20, 2008 at 5:47 pm

lol

I don’t see the problem. Laraque is a pure goal scorer and Kostopolous has hands that could stick-handle an egg. With the Kostitsyn brothers grinding in the corners for these guys, I think Laraque might break out of his 13 season goal-scoring slump and this could be just the combination that Kostopolous needs to show off his new stick-handling moves.

#4 PACTUM SERVA says:
November 20, 2008 at 8:34 pm

LOL

#5 habsobserver says:
November 21, 2008 at 11:14 am

Why can’t we have more players like Brooks Laich?

http://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog/Eklund/Brooks-Laich-With-A-Penalty-Kill-for-The-Ages/1/17985

We just need to limit the shots (get in the way of them) and play defensive positioning.
Losing Komi is such a big blow to us defensively.

I don’t know how many times I see us out of position.
Carbo needs to teach these guys how to play without the puck.

Go back to the basics!

#6 Mats Naslund says:
November 21, 2008 at 3:56 pm

This team is in serious need of some shots. They simply haven’t been doing the things offensively that made them successful last year and at the beginning of this year. Enough of these feeble give-away passes though the neutral zone. Get the puck in and put it on net. There is so much offensive talent on this team that they have forgotten how to score.

#7 groundworking says:
November 21, 2008 at 8:58 pm

Re; Sundin. Win-win for Gaigney. He lets Mats know that the Habs are still an option, and he sends a message to some of his player–hey, you are actually playing for your job!

#8 PACTUM SERVA says:
November 21, 2008 at 9:40 pm

As much as i would like to see sundin in montreal i just cant see him signing here. I was glad to see the whole sundin thing behind us and now its back. I doubt he would ever play for the red,white and blue but strangers things have happened i guess. Watch him sign with nashville lol. My bet is with the leafs though or rangers. I hope he pulls out his tampon soon and makes up his mind.

#9 Joseph says:
November 23, 2008 at 1:23 pm

Sundin is a tool alright, but not the kind that’s used to tweak Stanley Cup contenders. No thanks.

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ShoutBox

Last Message 4 hours, 59 minutes ago

goalie : I can't type.... what a faux pas on my behalf...
goalie : I just realized what I said adn didn't say yesterday. What a fayx as on my behalf. Regarding coaching Randy Cunnyworth MUSDT stay as an assistant- he deserves at least that after the tremendous job he did in the latter part of this past season. I'd still mlike to have Robinson, Carbo adn Allard on the staff also.
Avatar37 : I agree Senet, my choice if we can't have Cunneyworth would be Crawford, Robinson on defense, Cunneyworth for offense, and Carbo as offense/faceoffs .
Senet1 : I think if I had my choice it would be Crawford and see if he could get Carbo and Robinson as assistants. That would be my idea coaching team.
goalie : I witnesed Marc Crawford MANY times when the Avs, etc. played against Oilers and let me tell you - he is constantly on the referees asses virtually game after game. He is the complete OPPOSITE of J. Martin. Crawford is calm on TSN but he is one excited coach behind the bench. A friend of mine who was an NHL linesman for 26 years said they dreaded Crawford he was so tough on the officials!
goalie : You know, I've bee thinking about the coaching situation. I'd be really excited if the Habs had Hartley as head coach and Carbo adn Robinson as his assistants. I also read it somewhere about a month ago that Toronto's goalie coach Allard (?) wants to relocate back to Montreal where he has his goaltending school/business. Add him to the mix and I'd say the Habs would be in great shape coaching wise.
Avatar37 : Well, from what I recall, Hartley didn't do all that well with the Thrashers. But, I don't know enough about him to judge one way or the other. Crawford I do know, and he always seemed to be a good, level headed coach to me.
Senet1 : even Pacioretty two years ago did not impress any of us. Younger players have to play and make mistakes and learn from those mistakes. If they sit in the press box they are learning nothing.
Senet1 : Of course if he have some good assistants like a Larry Robinson to teach the young defence and someone like Carbo to teach faceoffs etc. then your coach does not have to be as good at teaching. If Hartley fits the bill you get no argument from me. My only previous point is that if he is impatient with your younger players to the point that he does not play them, then we are right back where we were with Martin. Martin was a good coach too, but how he handled Emelin, PK and even Pacioretty two
goalie : I would like to see the Habs sign a coach who realizes that our team isn't tough enough (we need to get bigger and somewhat more nastier),the coach needs t be a great TEACHER and be a coach who can get the players to understand and buy into his system. Other than that I couldn't care what lingo he speaks. I wnat to see our team become a ligitimate contender fast!
HabsLoseAgain : Well we dont know if he is or is not a teaching coach. I woukd just hate to paint Hartley something that he is not. There will always be questions but if Hartley was hired as the habs new bench boss i for one would not be overly upset.
Senet1 : My thoughts are not that he is or is not a good coach but rather that when he won the cup he had an experience team of superstars on that team. Where as we have a group of young inexperienced players, is he a teaching coach or a tactical coach or both? I am not question whether he is a good coach, but my question therefore is he the coach for us at this point in the deveopment of our team?? Not sure we are all purely speculating at the moment?
Senet1 : Something happened to my first post. I will try again.
Senet1 : That is why I said I am not sure he is the coach for us at this time? Right now we are all speculating including yourself, because non of us know for sure?
HabsLoseAgain : Crawford also won a cup with Patrick Roy so would you say he is a good coach or did he just have great players and one of the best goaltenders of alltime?
HabsLoseAgain : Senrt so please give me some reasons why you think Hartley is not the coach the habs need right now. What is it that you do not like about him or his coaching style?
HabsLoseAgain : Well all great coaches had great players playing for them so i guess you you add a a pile of other coaches to that list including Bowan......
Senet1 : Hartley, was he a good coach or did he just have great players and one of the best altime goaltenders of all time. I am not sure that he is the type of coach that this organization needs right now. Unless of course we sign a ton of free agents.
Avatar37 : However, my feelings may completely be wrong, Hartley may turn out to be a good fit.
Avatar37 : I didn't say Hartley was unknown, I said we demoted a good coach in Cunneyworth and now have an unknown quantity because we don't have a coach. I don't have that great a feeling about Hartley, I'd be much more comfortable with Crawford.
HabsLoseAgain : In my opinion i think he might be a good fit in montreal. Oh and he also likes to have a tough team.
HabsLoseAgain : Also this year he coached the ZSC Lions to the swiss championship title.
HabsLoseAgain : lol the so called "unknown" won a cup in 2000-2001 with the colarado avalanch.
HabsLoseAgain : lol Bob Hartley is not an unknown lol.....sheesh.
Senet1 : I think he has until the trading deadline to show us that he deserves to be on this team. If he does not get back on track then he could be simply a 2nd round draft pick to whoever we can trade him to.
Avatar37 : Bourque reminds me of Pouliot, size, skill, and invisible. He needs to get back to playing a physical game and bang people around and maybe he'll start getting some of those garbage goals again. Need to get to the front of the net. I hope he can find his game again.
Avatar37 : We had a good coach in Randy Cunneyworth. Now we have an unknown, with Bob Hartley rumoured to be the front runner. I'd rather have Cunneyworth.
goalie : A player like Rene Bourwue has al the physical attributes of what would be a beter than average player. Hwever, he certainly didn't play that well especially after being in Montreal about three weeks. We NEED players like Rene to play hard AND produce points on a REGULAR BASIS in order for us to be competitive.
Senet1 : MONTREAL – Rene Bourque had a rocky start to his career as a Hab, but he’s planning on using the next four years to make up for it. After arriving in Montreal under less-than-ideal circumstances in January, Bourque spent the following 38 games hoping to find the spark he needed to rekindle his offensive production. Despite flanking Tomas Plekanec on the team’s second line to close out the season, the 30-year-old sniper suddenly found himself firing blanks in his new NHL home.
Senet1 : I think we have to be patient and not expect too much too soon. Let's get a strong management team in place, make a good choices in the draft get a good coach and then see what we need at the free agent market. I will not be too disapointed if we miss the playoffs again next year if it means a long term team success. We have the opportunity to make some major strides over the next two years at the draft table. Then we fill in the holes.
goalie : I certainly agree that we need to get some impact forwards who will sign for 5 years, not for a season then walk away. That's not going to help us.
goalie : I wouldn't trade PK for Ovetchkin no matter what. He is a coach's NIGHTMARE and a poor team player.
Senet1 : I believe he will as we graducally put better players around him and build this team.
Senet1 : Goalie I agree with Avatar. PK is the present and future of this teams defence. I would not even take Staal from Pittsburg unless I had him tied up in a long term contract of a Minimum of 5 years. Also once has to consider the salary difference. Pk is on the move up probably 3M plus for his next contract and then eventually 4-5M if he keeps on improving. He has moved his game up two gears since he came into the league 2 years ago. He now has to move to the next level and I believe he will as w
Avatar37 : pressure playing in Montreal, since he has problems with the expectations in Washington and Montreal isn't any easier. Then again, the media were very easy on Kovalev, so maybe it's a Russian thing? No idea. Anyway, yeah, it would have to be an established star that gives us an immediate drastic upgrade at forward, that's the only way I'd trade PK, because we'd be giving up a potential QB on our blueline for the next decade.