montreal canadiens hockey – habs blog RSS

Chris Higgins signs 1 year deal

  • The Montreal Canadiens have locked up one of their key young players for next season, as forward Chris Higgins has agreed to a one-year contract with the team.

    Higgins, 23, will earn $673,000 in 2006-07.

    The Habs just locked up one of their future stars and for quite a reasonable price. Higgins scored 23 goals last season (tied with Kovalev) and demonstrated strong 2 way play all season. Another part of the future core is locked up for at least one more season.

    • There are currently no tags for this post.
Leave a Comment Leave a Comment
20 Comments
  1. #1 dyed in the wool fan says:
    July 9, 2006 at 1:04 pm

    I love Chris Higgins! He is dynamite on the ice, and will only get better. I wish we had 10 players like him! I think next season he will score 40 goals!

  2. #2 habsfasn518 says:
    July 9, 2006 at 2:29 pm

    this is much better than ribeiro Higgins will do well next year I think to bad we didint get arrnot.

  3. #3 Habs#1 says:
    July 9, 2006 at 4:56 pm

    Higgins will be great next sesason along with Ryder as long as Koivu comes back healthy. He’s going to keep getting one year deals for the next couple of years because he’s still young and need’s to prove he can be consistent.

    Canadiac, your right you are entitled to your opinion and I apologize if I offended you. I just got a little angry when you started critisizing mine first! So if you don’t start trashing my opinions first I won’t say anything about you agin.

  4. #4 Phil says:
    July 9, 2006 at 5:49 pm

    Higgins is GREAT in the corners. Love that guys heart and fighting spirit.He has grown into a role player with heart like Begin.

  5. #5 stevejur says:
    July 9, 2006 at 7:36 pm

    I still think Sergie Samsonov, Petr Sykora and Danny Markov should be on our list of “must sign� players.
    All very young and still have a lot to offer.

  6. #6 huet's number 1 fan says:
    July 9, 2006 at 8:02 pm

    FINALLY!! I WAS SO WORRIED ABOuT WHETHER OR NOT BOB WAS GONNA SIGN HIM!!!

  7. #7 Habs#1 says:
    July 10, 2006 at 5:13 pm

    This just in ladies and gents. The Habs have re-signed Komisarek to a one year deal. This seems to be a common thing with RFA’s. This is a great signing as Komi was just coming into has own as a stalward stay at home defenceman in the second half of the season.

  8. #8 Sly Vester says:
    July 10, 2006 at 9:50 pm

    Is there another site like this one, but with more people that post? I love hearin all that gossip and rumours

  9. #9 PACTUM SERVA says:
    July 10, 2006 at 10:15 pm

    this is a great site its just a little slow now in the off season but just wait intill the year starts and it gets crazy but its alot of fun lol

  10. #10 stevejur says:
    July 11, 2006 at 12:06 pm

    Sykora A Hab
    tsn.ca reports that the rumors circulating between the habs and Petr Sykora are intensifying, and that he might end up being a hab next season. Sykora is a solid 20 goal, 50 point scorer, and he should come in handy as a replacement of the no-longer Montreal Canadien, Jan Bulis.

    Rumors are also starting to come up when the name of Sergei Samsonov is mentioned. He would be a perfect fit as a left-winger on that montreal 2nd line, but it seems as though the Detroit Red Wings are also interested. “

  11. #11 Rob says:
    July 11, 2006 at 2:08 pm

    Just my opinion, but those of you who have criticized Bob Gainey in the last few blogs are about as delusional as Maple Leaf fans who believe that “Canada’s team” will go all the way next season because they have procured the services of Hal Gill, Pavel Kubina, (whoever he is) and Andrew Raycroft. Wow, if they can only add Mike Peca’s 10-15 goals next season and get Lindros back, they are surely set to win. Why don’t we just give the Leafs the cup (again) now, and we can skip playing hockey next season. The Leafs are a perfect example that just because a deal can be made doesn’t mean it really should be.

    Gainey has done very well to keep the young nucleus of the Canadiens together for next season. The Canadiens will be a better team as they mature, and the development of future prospects should continue to be priority number one. My opinion is that none of unrestricted free agents that were signed/still available this season will have any significant impact to the teams that have signed them. Historically, UFAs almost never live up to the fans’ expectations.

    When Gainey took over the Habs, he made it clear that he would allow players to have one bad season for the Canadiens, but would not allow two bad seasons in a row (see for example, Jose Theodore and Patrice Brisebois.) Both Mike Ribeiro and Sheldon Souray should take those words to heart for the upcoming season if they wish to remain in Habs jerseys.

    As far as dealing Aebisher, get real. He had much better stats playing for Colorado than the loser that was our “unquestionable” starting goaltender last year! Go back through the games that Aebisher played for the Habs last year and look how often he was a game star in games that he played in. The goaltending tandem of Huet and Aebisher had over fifty wins last season; what other teams can claim to have goaltenders that did that. Buffalo did pretty well last year with two (arguably three) bona fide starting goaltenders, eh. I hope that Gainey is not going to panic, and start making stupid deals because some insane fans are calling for them. He will likely see what his current team is capable of next season, and if he has to make any adjustments, they will likely occur at next season’s trade deadline.

  12. #12 Sly Vester says:
    July 11, 2006 at 3:37 pm

    Hey Stevejur, what part of the TSN site do you find all these rumours at? I would like do go check out that page on my own. It would be nice to have Samsonov playing with Kovalev. Sounds like there’d be some chemistry though. But if he was unhappy in Edmonton, he probably will be in Montreal too. Maybe he just wants to play in the states. DAMN THEM

  13. #13 stevejur says:
    July 11, 2006 at 5:10 pm

    Here’s the site Sly Vester. Go to the top of page, click Habs Trade Rumors.
    The tsn posting is there, enjoy.

    http://www.hockeytraderumors.com/

  14. #14 Habs#1 says:
    July 11, 2006 at 7:35 pm

    Look, Gainey is doing the best he can. Most of the big name free agents don’t want to come to Montreal thanks to high taxes and our favourite bill 101.

    Gainey is trying, it’s not his fault that Elias, Arnott and Shanahan didn’t want to deal with those things.

    Of all the UFA’s after this season (Ribeiro, Zednik, Rivet, Souray and Markov) I’d expect that Gainey will aggresively try and keep Rivet and Markov, for Souray it would depend on how his season goes, put the two heartless puke forwards will be let go barring a miracle.

    Something people will have to understand is that the Habs will never have another dynasty. Not with the new CBA and the age of UFA’s lowering. No team will ever have another dynasty. The Habs, like every other team will go through 4-5 year stretches were they will be contenders then they will have to rebuild.

    Get rid of Zednik and Ribeiro to make room for Kotstisyn and Ferland.

  15. #15 Sly Vester says:
    July 12, 2006 at 10:32 am

    Does anyone know a website that shows how much time is left on players’ contracts? Like how do u guys know that Markov has one year left and so on… Thanks a lot guys and thanks for the web site Stevejur

  16. #16 Rob says:
    July 12, 2006 at 1:44 pm

    All this talk in the media of why players don’t want to play in Montreal is damaging both to our team and the younger prospects currently coming through the system. Who cares if a bunch of over-priced, HAS BEEN UFAs don’t sign with Montreal! We don’t need any of them. Parachuting UFAs into new teams almost never produces the expected results. The talk in the media can only harm the Canadiens if Habs’ fans allow this to happen! We don’t build championship teams by hiring rent-a-players! If it worked, both the Toronto Maple Leafs and New York Rangers would have been the dominant teams for the last decade. Toronto will probably be weaker next year for their free agent signings this year; their supposed top four-D (combining for approximately 17 million bucks) were all negatives in terms of ice time last season; whatever scoring that they may have contributed to last season was offset by the fact that they were on the ice when scored upon even more often.

    The message that should be heard in the media is that Montreal is without question the most storied and winningest hockey team ever, and players should be honored to be part of such a system/tradition.

    Does anyone remember any significant UFA signings that contributed to the Habs dynasty of the 1970s and early 1980s. That’s probably because there weren’t any that did; the team was built from within, and only one to two major transactions took place per season. Some of the big UFAs that the Canadiens signed subsequently were arguably the dumbest moves in recent Habs’ history. Signing Trevor Linden really payed dividends for the Habs, eh.

    UFAs?? Forget about it. Look at the bigger picture, guys. Gainey has a team to build! Rent-a-players can go live in Disneyland for personal reasons if they want to. That kind of hockey player, however, probably believes that there is, in fact, an “I” in “TEAM” and probably lacks the heart/desire required to win a Stanley Cup for his team.

  17. #17 Candiac says:
    July 12, 2006 at 8:17 pm

    I hope that isn’t true for Samsonov! Do you want to rethink that last comment,Rob? After all, not ALL FA are busts!

  18. #18 Sly Vester says:
    July 12, 2006 at 8:31 pm

    Busts my ***. If you get someone with chemistry it will all run down good. And if Kovalev and Samsonov are chillin on the second line yelling russian obsenities to each other they’re gonna score a lot of goals (ha ha i dont know where that came from).

    Everyone just gotta have faith. Lets hope Huet is the next Roy, and that Sammy and Kovy are gonna rock it out, and that Koivu will come back without a freakin eye patch, and that we resign ryder for a reasonable price, and that our young talent starting this year is kickass. We just gotta have faith. These are the habs were talkin about. Things will fall into place. So lets quit worrying and BRING IT ON

  19. #19 Rob says:
    July 13, 2006 at 10:37 am

    Candiac:

    I think that you misunderstood the point that I was making. No, not all UFAs are busts, but you don’t go out randomly pick up UFAs hoping they will be the solution a la the Toronto Maple Leafs. You build the T-E-A-M, and then you carefully select one or two players per year that fit into the system that you have built. This is why Gainey is so brillaint; he is like that guy who traded up a paperclip for a house. Every year the Canadiens get better, and they now have a strong roster of young prospects to fill the future gaps.

    So why are so many Habs fans criticizing the guy for having done such an excellent job, and why are so many Habs fans saying stupid things like no one wants to play in Montreal when the message that should be heard is that the Montreal Canadiens are the most storied and winningest hockey team ever, and any player who is selected to be part of such a tradition should feel honored to have been chosen!

    If the rumor that Detroit are really interested in Aebischer, why don’t the Habs upgrade and sign Legace (37 wins-.915 save percentage- 7 shutouts last year) and trade Aebischer to Detroit. Legace actually costs less money than Aebischer does, and would have a chance to compete with Huet for starting duties if Huet turns out to have a sophomore slump.

  20. #20 Candiac says:
    July 13, 2006 at 7:30 pm

    Why should Detroit pay more money, for a goaltender. After all, they have a good one in Legace, if he wants to resign with Detroit.They should resign him, because he is much better than Aebischer, and he’s cheaper! The player I’d love to see play for the habs, is Mike Peca! What a good fit. We need a centerman, and I believe he wants to return to the east! C’mon Bob! Go get him, provided he is not too expensive!

Leave a Comment
ShoutBox
Last Message 11 minutes ago
4 guests are online.
  • 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.

You must be a registered user to participate in this chat

Archives
Blogroll
RSS
montreal canadiens hockey – habs blog
Copyright © 2010 montreal canadiens hockey - habs blog