Injury Bug

The Canadiens went through the majority of the season with little to no injury problems.

On the brink of clinching their Division and in a good spot to clinch their Conference, the injuries flood in.

Time to panic? Can the Canadiens play the way they’ve played missing these key players? Will it cost them the Conference and home ice advantage?

More importantly, when push comes to shove and the playoffs begin, will the Habs be ready?

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115 Comments

#1 Habman says:
March 31, 2008 at 11:33 pm

NOW BED!!

#2 Habman says:
April 1, 2008 at 1:08 am

I had a dream…..Washington made the Playoffs..and knocked off Pittsburgh……
1st and 8th sound real real good right now….

#3 Habman says:
April 1, 2008 at 1:14 am

You called it directly!,,my friend..LUCK!…and time…i hope Washington gets in!…we do need some luck….

#4 Habman says:
April 1, 2008 at 1:17 am

#

Senet 1, I see more of a Lemieux-Jagr scenario playing out in Pittsburgh than I do a Gretzky-Messier one. They learned to played together, but Jagr (I know him) had difficulties playing in Lemiuex’s shadow. That being said, Pittsburgh won’t be able to afford them both for long, which is probably why they have their eyes on a championship right now.

Wow!,,absolutely right, it money making time for both Characters on this team,i like the way describe the fact that , both will end up leaders on opposite sides sooner or later…ones worth a lot ,and one will stay!

Very very cool prediction, Please stand by, Im gonna write that down and record it on my blog collection, I would love to be the manager of that block buster trade!!!!
GOOD CALL!!!!

#5 Ice Man says:
April 1, 2008 at 7:43 am

Good morning my fellow Hab Brothas & Sistas.

I hope it turns out to be a good night as well. Have those Sens to knock off tonight. If we could do that in regulation the Sens playoffs hope get a little weaker.

For those of us who believe in the Lord above, lets say a little prayer:

Our Dear Lord up in Heaven please bless our Habs and help our players that wounded bruised and battered to heal quickly. Bless all of the Hab Fans and their families. Oh and Lord bless the Leafs and their fans as well for they know not what they do.

Amen.

#6 Xtrahabsfan says:
April 1, 2008 at 8:40 am

Well Iceman,as far as prayer go’s I’d help us out with that for Les Habatant but being brought up as a Jewish and french Canadian”Catholic” ,with a wee bit of first nations in me ,nobody wanted me in thier institution’s of Faith or belief as a young lad cause of all muttley attributes”Canadian” ,which turned me into an atheist with Buddhist tendencies ,lol.So that being said ,it’s to bad cause I don’t see us winning this game”again ,hope I’m wrong”.And I don’t understand Gainey and Carbo for not bringing help from the Dog’s “thier not making the playoffs” and seeing if there is a little surprise in the mix,good for the spirit and energy levels.

#7 Ice Man says:
April 1, 2008 at 9:00 am

My Lord Xtrahabsfan. You are acombination of many things…LOL….

If the Habs are to win everyone has to take it up a notch. The D-Men have to keep the net clear for Price. Keep the shots on net from outside the circles. The Habs have to pound Alfie & Spezza. Take the life out of them. Don’t let them breathe.

But the Question is;

Do we want to come out with full force to beat Ottawa and the other 2 games, gain confidence going into the big dance and to make top spot risking more injuries. If that happens then they are finished.

OR

Do the Habs just play a La Di Da hockey to prevent futher injuries going into the playoffs. If this is the case we could loose the last 3 games and slip down into the standings and have everyone, the media, bashers etc say that the Habs have not got the dept to play Win with a couple of key players missing.

So we are Damned if we do & Damned if we don’t.

#8 Donnie says:
April 1, 2008 at 11:21 am

Damn injuries at this point of the year is awful. But no time to put your heads down…gotta play hard like winners. Not like it can’t be done…look at the other teams this season and late injuries and what they’ve achieved…..Savard and Kobisew go down, and Boston are playing their best hockey of the year….the Leafs did fine and made a little push without Sundin (didn’t work though, haha)…..same with the Oilers……look at the Avs and the Canes…Avs had all their big guns out at once and still won, and still have a spot as of now….and Carolina really turned it on when Brind’Amor went down to join Williams and the other half of their team, again, still winning, still in the playoffs. Even the Pens without Crosby to some point, although it doesn’t hurt having Gino there to keep things together.
Folks, this is a time when young players and players who have had other roles on their persepctive teams have to step up and win games…and as these other teams have shown, you gotta wanna win games and play inspired hockey to keep things afloat when dealing with injuries to big players. They can all do it, be kind of sad if nobody thinks our boys can wouldn’t it ? Come on Ryder and Higgins, time to get off Kovy’s coattail and do some consistent scoring of your own…O’Byrne and Gorges, time to slam bodies and pick up where Komisarek left off. Pull together and give that extra effort here. Don’t bury your heads in the sand like a handful of games this year and give nothing…this is where “iffy” guys for next year earn a signing. Even 3 points in these last 3 games would be satisfactory and give us the #2 spot at least…thats only 500 hockey, and with or without these guys, we got players here who can do that. GO HABS GO !!!

#9 Ice Man says:
April 1, 2008 at 12:16 pm

I agree Donnie with everything you posted. Except Ryder.

It is hard for Ryder to step up when he gets 6 mins a game.

#10 Donnie says:
April 1, 2008 at 1:15 pm

Very true Ice…maybe he’ll get more now.

#11 Ice Man says:
April 1, 2008 at 2:05 pm

I hope you are right Donnie.

#12 Habman says:
April 1, 2008 at 2:13 pm

I would like to see someone come up for a game or two, maybe the Cote kid, he played Ottawa Nov 29, hes got the best plus/ minus record for two tears with Hamilton, he Quebec’ born, His dad played 700 games with the Nordiques 1980-89, he would be great right now…

#13 Ice Man says:
April 1, 2008 at 3:12 pm

I don’t care what the Habs do as long as the keep Price in net and Win.

#14 Donnie says:
April 1, 2008 at 4:51 pm

Gotta hope the Sens win a couple more also…..they drop one more notch to 7th and we could be meeting them first round………..and I’m sure the team and all of us on here would rather the Bruins….or even Philly…just not our nemisis.

#15 Warren says:
April 3, 2008 at 5:26 pm

What happens if Washington slips in with Huet on a 7 game win streak???
Would ya believe it???

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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.