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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Senet1 : I want the Bruins to win anyway so that we pick ahead of them in the Draft.
Senet1 : Muller you got your wish NYR won game 4. So the Bruins will have to play another game at least.
Senet1 : He may just bring all three of the kids up.
muller93 : MB is forced to go out and get a big D-man. Missing Emelin for almost half the season is the last thing we needed to hear. Now going out and getting a big D-man is a MUST!!!
muller93 : Now for the Fu**en Bruins who have no business even being in the second round are going to get a nice rest. Yes the same goons who took out one of best D-man for 6 more months. There is NO Fu**en justice. Just venting--Ok i feel better now.
muller93 : So pissed to see the Rangers lay down and play like total crap. How did the Rangers beat the Caps? This team is playing with no heart--a must win and can only muster 23 shots...PATHETIC !!!
muller93 : Senet I did see Galchenyuks goal--Made a great move for the game winner. You can see the kid has so much confidence.
goalie : If Rangers get swept I wonder if Tortorella will get his walking papers? Or Glen Sather? They have tons of 'talent' but zero wins in this series.
goalie : It's really too bad we lost to the Sens as we would have played the Rangers and the way NYR are playing we would have beat them too. If only. If only!
Senet1 : Actually I agree it was a good move for them to play a shorter season and get the experience. He could not have played in the minors this year he would have had to play junior or the NHL. However, he now has a year under him and knows what to expect next year and hopefully take a bigger responsibility on the team. Did you see those two goals in the bronze game? Wow.
muller93 : Good move by the Habs not having Galchenyuk play in the minors. Now Galchenyuk has 1 year in the NHL and playoff experience this is going to pay off big time come next year.
Senet1 : Galchenyuk scores to back to back goals in shoot out to help USA win Bronze metal. I did not see the second goal but the first was a beauty.
Senet1 : So we could pick anywhere from 25th to 23rd depending on who wins these quarter final series.
Senet1 : First, is the 14 teams in the lottery. Then there are 12 teams that did not make the semi finals in the order of the seasonal finish, Then there are the four teams in the semi final the first two eliminated pick in the order of the regular season points total and the last two based on who wins and who loses the cup. So as it stand now if say Detroit beats Chicago then Detroit moves up to pick after us. Boston or NYR will move up and pick after us. LA or San Jose will move up and pick after us
Senet1 : Basically, I was wrong about the draft pick situation. There are three groups of drafting teams within the 30 teams.
Senet1 : seriously ready to challenge for the cup. He will us win games but he will not be the difference between winning the cup and not winning the cup. You pick up players like that once you have the team ready to challenge,.
Senet1 : I am looking at the players to draft and there are a lot of big 6'3-6'5 forwards available ion the draft this year. If we could draft 3-4 big young players in the 2nd and 3rd round why would you want to give that up for a roster player who may have 2-3 years at best. If we are going to build a winner to have to build it with bigger players and there are a lot of good big players available this year. So you sign Ott and he is with us for the short run, but probably not when we are seriously re
Senet1 : Boullion is a great mentor for the young D-men
muller93 : Boullion is one of MBs great additions--Boull ion is a definite Keeper.
muller93 : Getting rid of Kaberle frees up a lot of cash. Boullion is small but is reliable and doesn't back down from anyone.
muller93 : Exactly Goalie any thoughts on a punishing D-man?
goalie : They;re showing determination adn skill vs Ducks and Blackhawks.
goalie : REd Wings could turn out to be the surprise team of this year's playoffs!
goalie : WE need to rid our team of Kaberle and Webber. Step two would be to then move Diaz. If we get that big d-man I believe that would push Boullion to # 7 on the chart. We'd then go with Georges, PK,Markov (to continue mentoring Ememlin) Tinordi as our starting six . THEN I'd be excited about our chances. We could then work on getting bigger forwards.
goalie : I too would gladly give up a 3rd round pick for Ott- the type of player we sadly lack. AND if we could get one more rugged, expeienced defenceman it would help immensely.
muller93 : Senet what you are saying makes sense but if we can get Ott for a 3rd round I'll take that all day.
muller93 : MB should be looking at a big D-man first, even though I like our blue line with the addition of Tinordi. We need that insurance just in case one gets injured. Also I'm a firm believer in starting with the goalie first then-defense-for wards-and we already have good goalie. We have all noticed when we have the lead Price is tough to beat.
Senet1 : So sometimes you have to sacrifice for one year or two to build that team in the draft. then add the finishing touches through FA and trades.
Senet1 : Muller, Detroit is another good example. They have been in the hunt every year with good well balanced teams yet only one or two cups to show for it. However, they have built a team that has a chance every years for the last 10+ years. That is what I think we have a chance to do this year with a good draft. It reminds me of the habs teams of the mid 80 and 90's we built a team then with sold draft picks and won the cup twice during that time period. So sometimes you have to sacrifice a one
muller93 : Very true Senet, you do need luck and we haven't had any luck it seems since the habs moved to the Bell Center. We had an incredible run in 2010 with some crazy goal tending from Halak. With Galchenyuk-Tinor di-Gallagher all in 1 year--not too bad, even with an early exit in the playoffs.
Senet1 : Muller I guess we all have our own ideas, but there has never been too many times that were successful when they traded their draft picks away. We have a chance to build this team so we have a shot at winning the cup over the next 10 years. Even as good as Pittsburgh has been they have only won the cup once since Crosby and Malkin have been with the team. That is because you not only need great players but you need luck to win, but one thing about Pittsburgh they have a chance every year. The
muller93 : Good point on Torres, he might be a liability. Torres has to tone it down a bit, but that's his game-very aggressive.
goalie : Though I don't condone what Raffi Torres did - thos shows you how repeat offenders or near offenders are going to be treated. His hit was NOT illegal BUT what the rap sheet adn reputation Torres has he got severly punished. Lesson to be learned by OTHER players because Torres dopesn't learn fromk his mistakes.
muller93 : Senet normally I would agree with you on not trading draft picks but we are not in a rebuilding stage. Sometimes draft picks can be a roll of the dice and it can take up to 3 years to be NHL ready. We have a good team and I agree with Stuo players like Clowe-Torres-Ott -Scott will make a big difference. Somebody has to protect Gallagher, he can't keep getting hit the way does--we need a tough forward so they think twice before going after Gallagher.