Eastern Promise

How do you follow up one of the most exciting and historic games in Habs history?

A gem like Tuesday’s game is unlikely. Another win and 2 points in the bank is what the Habs need.

The race for 1st in the Division and Conference is still very tight. The Penguins only two points behind the Habs, Senators and Devils. You’d expect the Canadiens to carry that momentum forward and be strong down the stretch in important games like tonight’s.

Less than a week remains until the trade deadline and rumors are all over the place. With only 2 games left before the deadline, tonight could potentially be the last time you see certain player(s) in a Habs uniform.

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58 Comments

#1 BarrieHabFan says:
February 23, 2008 at 3:24 pm

Probably right HJ. I don’t think Tanguay wants to play in Montreal. And I don’t think Sundin is going to waive his no trade agreement. If Gainey is making a move he is most likely going to get Hossa, or go for the addition of a couple of lesser players to improve the quality of the depth on the team and perhaps fill an area that needs addressing such as penalty killing or faceoffs. Don’t be surprised to see a smaller deal to bring Fedorov, Perrault, or Stoll and possibly the addition of someone who would cost a third or less draft pick such as Recchi. I think the additon of one or two cup winners would be great. Players with playoff experience would be huge for the younger players on the habs.

#2 BarrieHabFan says:
February 23, 2008 at 3:27 pm

I’ve stated several times that I think Ryder will be traded. Even though I though I hope he’s traded so that Montreal gets an upgrade on the top lines I’d like to see him go somewhere where he would do well. Where do you think Ryder would fit in, personally, I think he would do well in Toronto or Calgary.

#3 patrick says:
February 23, 2008 at 3:34 pm

for richards i think it’ll take more then Ryder/Huet, they’re both going to be ufa’s! maybe halak, chipchura, and i don’t know, something else. tampa will be thinking long term.

#4 Senet 1 says:
February 23, 2008 at 3:51 pm

It seems just when we start to write someone off they start playing the way we expected them to play all year. Koivu, Higgins and especially Ryder are prime examples of this. Ryder finally discovers that if he shoots the puck at the net it will go in and so he has started to score. His goal almost helped us pull out another come back last night against Pittsburg. On the other hand Huet did not look good in the net last night there were a couple of pretty soft goals where he just did not control the rebounds. After taking a 4-3 lead we should have won that game, but our defense got a little sloppy where as they should have been protecting that one goal lead in the third. Getting back to Ryder, His market value should have gone up in the last two weeks and maybe since he is a UFA this summer he will have to be moved because after this season I doubt he will want to go through the uncertainty again next year. Hopefully, Gainey can use his good play to his advantage. Now back to Huet, he is a UFA at the end of the year, he sees the writing on the wall with two very good yound goalies in the system. He will not sign with us, that is why I would make a pitch to tampa Bay who needs a goalie maybe we could pry one of their top stars away. Lecavilier would be nice but St. Louis could not hurt. My only problem with everyone but Lacavilier is I have a hard time justifying the salary in or around 6-8M.
Although a as habs fan since the 1950′s I do not think we have a goal tending problem, our yound kids are good and yes they will have some bad games. I would love to see us win the Cup this year but this organization has been gearing toward the 2008-2009 season our 100th anniversary. What better present for the fans than to give them a Cup in the year of our anniversary. That is why I would not trade for Sundin unless he is willing to sign a contract nor would I trade for anyone else if we cannot get a guarantee that they will sign a contract for next year. We do not need rent a players we need to improve towards next year. Any trades should be geared towards improving the team long run not short run.

#5 Senet 1 says:
February 23, 2008 at 4:22 pm

There is only one player out there that may be available that I would consider based on a 7M contract and that is Lacavalier. If we cannot make a trade for him I would not trade for other players if I have to give them that kind of salary.

I am not sure what Hossa is asking in his new contract request but hopefully not more than 5M. I would hate to make a trade for him if I cannot be assured of signing him.

Unfortunately Ryder has to go, I agree he will not sign in Montreal next year.

#6 Don Carnage says:
February 23, 2008 at 4:51 pm

And the days go by!!!

#7 Jaker1 says:
February 23, 2008 at 5:39 pm

Lecavalier is going to be with Tampa For a long time. Part of the reason Tampa is shopping Richards is to free up money to make Vinny a member of the Lightning for life and the other is to re-sign Dan Boyle. Montreal may get him but I think he may be at the end of his career ala Denis Savard. I think Gainey may have to settle for minor deals like Federov. Got a feeling this guy may change dressing rooms tonight if Montreal beats Columbus.Ryder to Columbus.Purely for the playoffs.

#8 habs4ever says:
February 29, 2008 at 10:08 am

Thank goodness most of you are not the GM. The best thing to do with Michael Ryder is to keep him. You never sell low. Ryder’s worth on the market is nothing, we wouldnt get a 3rd round pick for him. The best thing we could do was keep him. You sell high. Always, thats why we should of got rid of Streit. He won’t duplicate this years performance and hes liability defencively. I think he would of brought a very rewarding return. Perhaps Bob plans on signing him, anything over 2.5mill/year is to much.

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Last Message 4 hours, 21 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.