Game 51: Habs/Blues

I love when Western Conference teams come in to play at the Bell Centre. Its not that the Habs ever do very well, but it is a nice break from the usual drudgery of the Buffalo, Boston, Toronto, Buffalo… again drone of the NHL season. Tonight the Habs face the Blues who seem to be in perpetual 13th place season in and out. They have been playing well of late, but will be trying to rebound after a loss on Monday to Columbus. The game is on TSN tonight for all those who might normally catch it online.

Go Habs Go!!!

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4 Comments

#1 Mats Naslund says:
January 21, 2010 at 11:14 am

The Habs are off tonight which will allow some of the teams that we find ourselves tied in 9th place with to try to catch up. There has been a lot of rumour mongering going on out there, and while its always best to expect nothing in terms of trades, I thought it might be fun to play ‘what if?’ As we near the trade deadline I’ll continue to post (from time to time) a single player from an opposing side. Tell me if you would want said player and who you would trade to aqcuire that player. I’ll start the ball to get it rolling.

We may as well start at the top.

Ilya Kovalchuk. He’s currently engaged in contract talks that seem to be going nowhere. His cap hit is 6.39 (essentially), and will undoubtedly go up after this season. Still, you’d be hard pressed to find a more talented offensive player in the NHL. He’s a guy who has put up enormous numbers with very little help throughout his time in Atlanta. He’s 26 years old, on pace for 53 goals and just about 100 points and is an absolute game changer. There are some who knock his defensive play (although he is a plus player on a bad defensive team), and suggest that he is enigmatic (although I personally tend to think this has to do with cultural stereotyping more than anything else). Atlanta is no doubt looking to cash in if they are indeed going to lose their star.

Would I? No question. Who? Andrei Kostitsyn, Carey Price and Ryan O’Byrne, and most likely a 1st round pick. A tall price to pay for one player, but the contracts match, and Montreal fans would finally have the Kovy they have pined for for so many years. Kovy gets the big stage and the opportunity to play in a city that will stop at nothing to win the Cup. Atlanta fills in young affordable pieces to their roster with one swoop, including players who have already proven their worth at the NHL level.

#2 Avatar37 says:
January 21, 2010 at 3:55 pm

Except AK, Price, and O’Byrne wouldn’t free up enough cap room. Also, Price is considered the future of this team. Kovalchuk is also a winger, we’re short on centers, not wingers. And, if you’re going to be wanting to trade defensemen, I prefer keeping O’Byrne to Gill, as I stated before the season started, Gill is a horrible player. He’s either on the ice for most of the goals against, or he’s in the penalty box. I’m thinking, to free up enough room under the cap, any trade would have to include Hamrlk or Gomez. It’s hard for me to give this adequate thought, however, I’m shocked and disgusted by the buyout of BGL and Martin’s attitude. As far as I’m concerned, Martin needs to go, and I’m not one to usually dump on the coach or GM. I was a Carbs supporter and a Martin supporter up until this. We need to find a coach that understands how hockey at the NHL level works, and that includes physical play. This isn’t some non-contact house league.

#3 Mats Naslund says:
January 21, 2010 at 11:14 pm

Kovy makes 6.4. Together those contracts more than cover the space we need. I was also thinking of the deal in terms of people Atlanta would take hense obyrne and not Gill. Yes it would cause a centre issue.. but in my mind you can ease that pain by having one of maybe 3 top goalscorers in the league. Montreal still has some capspace to play with. Atlanta isn’t going to be interested in bad contracts so it would cost us youth.

#4 wolfbiscuit says:
January 23, 2010 at 5:13 pm

Kovy would be a nice addition but I don’t see that happening. The Habs definitely need a dominant star forward but I don’t like the idea of trading for one. They are failing by not developing one through the farm system. As far as George Laraque goes, I am happy he is gone. I am tired of seeing games where other players had to take care of the heavy stuff while Laraque sat back and watched. I didn’t count but I can say that I saw him drop his gloves more than ten times in the year and a half he was on the team. That is his job and since he wasn’t doing it well, he lost it.

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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.
Senet1 : Really a heathly Habs team would probably win more games against the Pens that we did against the Sens. Reason they Pens would not play as physical against us as against the Sens. If we get good goaltending we win at least two games.
zpezada4ok : hello all «link»
stuo11 : hes a tougher big guy too! Just a minor adjustment but will help a bit
stuo11 : hes better than markov, and hes french who was in mention for defenceman of the year
goalie : Markov for Beauchemin - an injury prone d-man for an ;old timer'd-man. Beauchemin is NOT what the Habs need in my opinion. He is a HUGE defensive liability.
goalie : Stuo 11 I'd make that trade with Oilers fast BUT I doubt the Oilers will make that. Two marginal d-men at the best for a switch of first round picks - not a chance .
stuo11 : markov for beachemin?
stuo11 : let moen go
stuo11 : maybe try and get steve begin back
stuo11 : we wouldve kicked out all other teams but pens, sens,
stuo11 : pens have alot of forwaRDS same with us but we have better goaltending
stuo11 : theres styles of play goalie. Sens played us good, but lost games to southeast teams florida and tampa and get crushed by leafs EVERYTIME. sens and leafsd cant beat bruins but we do frequently