Game 54: Habs/Panthers

The Habs play the Florida Panthers in what has become a broken record cliche – another incredibly important inter-conference matchup. With half of the conference locked within 3 points and the NHL season set up the way it is, the odds of playing a direct competitor for a playoff spot is about 1 in 1. The Panthers are without leading scorer Nathan Horton which is a tough break for a team that generally struggles to score goals. The Habs will be hoping for a lift from new call up Ben Maxwell, although where he will play remains somewhat unclear given the return of Sergei.

I want to pose another question to the group. Sheldon Souray has reportedly given his GM a list of teams that he would consider a trade to. Clearly whether or not Montreal is on that list would be an important factor in determining whether or not the Habs could land Sheldon. That fact aside, would you trade for a guy who has all kinds of physical presence and a blast of a shot from the point? What would you give up?

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6 Comments

#1 wolfbiscuit says:
January 25, 2010 at 10:53 pm

Personally I am not keen on the idea of landing Sheldon Souray. Between Markov and Bergeron I believe we have scoring defensemen. I would rather see the Habs bring in a defensive center.

#2 Senet1 says:
January 26, 2010 at 12:34 am

I for one would not want Souray back, beside I do not think we can afford his salary so he would be a rental player at $5.4M.

I would rather see a power forward if possible to fill in on the PLEK line. That line needs a physical presence.

I am not at all against landing a defensive centre but he would have to be someone who wins a high percentage of faceoffs.

#3 Senet1 says:
January 26, 2010 at 12:39 am

Although the Oilers have marked Justin Penner as not being on their for sale list, now is the time to trade the Kost boys for Penner and a draft pick. I do not like the thought of trading the Kost boys, but AK will be out most of the balance of the season and probably will be slow to come back to his playing status before the playoffs. Sergie has played well since coming back but at this point he has not shown us his offensive side and I think he would be one player that the Oilers could work into their building plan. AK would also be helpful to the Oilers.

#4 Senet1 says:
January 26, 2010 at 12:40 am

Oh between the two we give up $4M in salary cap space. We need to make room to sign Plek and our two goalies.

#5 Mats Naslund says:
January 26, 2010 at 3:52 pm

I’m going to throw a few names out – yea or nea and why you would or wouldn’t pursue them as a trade from the struggling teams out of the playoff picture.

Steve Ott: F. ufa – 1.42 mil – tonnes of sandpaper for a playoff run. On pace for 30 points.

Raffi Torres: LW Grit, UFA skill and determination 2.25 mil – On pace for 40 points.

Milan Jurcina: D, UFA A huge stay at home guy who is one of only a couple players who are not – players for the Blue Jackets. 1.375 mil.

Alex Tanguay: LW , UFA I know it seems silly, but at 2.5 mil dont you like him a whole lot more?

#6 Senet1 says:
January 28, 2010 at 11:47 pm

I like Torres because of his size and his ability to score 20 goals and I think if he were on our like with cammy and Plek he could score 30. I like his size and and his age is in his favour.

I liked Tanguay last year and I wished he had not got injuried becuase I think he could have help us, but I think we have too many of this type of player on our team now so I would not pursue him. His salary is much better now than last year. Too bad he had to be asking so much last year or he would probably still be a hab.

Milan Jurcina, I am not familiar with this buy, but I like his age, size and his plus minus even on a bad team. So yes I would consider him in a trade. Oh and a RH shot which is something we need.

Steve Ott: Age ok don’t like his size even though he plays big. Not what I am looking for in a power forward.

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Last Message 19 hours, 8 minutes ago

goalie : I don't know when they'll announce it but the Oilers will be signing Sutter (Flames ex-coach) to coach their team - that's why Kevin Lowe chose him to coach in the World's. That was the world's worst kept secret.
Senet1 : I guess I wish we could get it done so all the speculating was over and we can get to building out team.
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.