Well I certainly hope now with Bob Gainey running the show behind the scenes that the Habs can continue to add some brand names to their lineup to add some much needed assistance to the gifted Kovalev and Koivu punches. Elias would be an amazing catch….but its hard to envision the Canadiens actually getting it done, they always seem to let these top guys slide through their fingers….especially if they are not of french-canadian descent. Another name they should be hooking in Pronger…yes the price is high, but Ribeiro has proven to be a wash here, but has potential and they can also throw the oilers a bone with say Boullion and add maybe even Kovalev if the signing with Elias works out. I am sick of seeing these guys with at best what has been lackluster defence going on more than a decade now. No more ed ronin and David Wilkie’s please…lets get a name defenceman here to assist with the talented Markov, and the gritty Souray (hopefully in the off-season he can get over his wife leaving him and can come out and find his game again)

The salary cap is 44 million this year. Does anyone know how much of it do the canadiens intend to use? Also, how much has been used already and for what players? Is there a webpage with the details?

Day 1 of free agency for the Northeast division:
- Bruins sign Chara and Savard
- Sens get Gerber and Corvo
- Leafs nab Gill and Kubina

Habs? Stand pat with Bouillon.

I checked out that website left by fan 3 and did some calculations. The habs are roughly at about 30 million so far. That gives them 14 million to work with. I guess theodore made a lot of room! I dont know how close teams usually go to the cap though but hopefully with 14 mill Gainey can make something happen. Sure Patrick Elias is now out of the question but lets not forget there are still some good players out there. What about someone like Chris Simon, or Mike Peca (he was unhappy in Edmonton), hopefully gainey does something soon though before we have to resign Bulis hahahah.

By the way does anyone know whats going on with Pronger… theres all this talk of him movin around but is he even a free agent? Whats all that about?

Arnott has supposedly signed with the Predators. Looking down the list of UFA free agent centres, I still see Jason Allison. Maybe the return of Perreault, the man Ribeiro supposedly made expendable?

I never understood why Perreault was let go either. He was had 20+ goals in 4 of the last 5 years I think, was one of the very top faceoff man on the league, and a work-out freak, and he was asking under a million. I think Nashville signed him for 550K.

Look for new bargains? We f@ck’n need 3 pieces to the puzzle (#1 d-man, a scoring winger and a true #2 centre)
and this cheap bastered is letting them slip away!
Pay the f@ck up! We need a #1 D-Man, Pronger and Lidstrom are the only one’s left. Did someone forget to wake this f@ck’n guy up? he just missed the main event. How could you let Jovo go? I can’t believe this is happening, I’m in a state of panic. If Ribiero returns I will never here the end of it!

I think Lidstrom already re-signed with Detroit. Pronger isn’t a free agent, and the Oilers predictably want a lot in return. They signed Roloson, so they don’t need our most valuable expendable piece (Aebischer).

I’m disappointed we didn’t get Savard, Arnott, Blake, Chara, et al but I’m willing to be patient — so far Gainey has re-signed everyone he should have at this point, except his RFA’s. And the rumours show he is concentrating where he should.

Sorry riser8 i’ve been away for 3 days you are right about Lidstrom.
However, Montreal offered just under 7M for Elias, NJ did give him more.
Not getting a Jovo or a Chara is inexcusable, they must make a serious pitch for Pronger.
I don’t think there is another #1 d-man out there?

canadiac
Where’s my Office???
Dagenais, Pierre 04/07/2003 Free Agent Free agent – 07/04/2003
Danis, Yann 19/03/2004 Free Agent Free agent – 03/19/2004
Dandenault, Mathieu 03/08/2005 Free Agent Free agent – 08/03/2005
Juneau, Jo̩ 15/06/2001 Free Agent Free agent Р06/15/2001
Perreault, Yanic 04/07/2001 Free Agent Free agent – 07/04/2001
Yes only a couple of OK players thru FA….trades would be better Ribber gone…Zednick gone…..Abeischer gone….Perezogin gone send they all to the Avalanche!!!!

REMAINING FREE AGENTS that might help this team:

C – Jason Allison – upgrade from Ribeiro. Point a game his whole career
If he can become the Allison of old he could be a steal.
LW – Eric Daze – Home town boy. Is injury prone, but could dominate if healthy.

D – Eric Desjardins – I still believe he has some gas in the tank.
At 37 we could get 2 good years out of him, would always be welcome back!
LW – Jeff Friesen – Could change his career playing the other wing with Kovalev. He has talent.

LW – Bill Guerin – POWER FORWARD! Everyone has 1 bad year, could be the steal we’ve been waiting for??
Gainey, Muller and Carbo know him well.

Not much left guys who would you take? I

PRONGER A DUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow intersting deal…a smart one too. I think Burke and Lowe are two of the smartest GM’s in the business…to bad we dont have them on our side lol. Anyway the trade works out well for both, getting what they both needed. Pronger and Neirdermyer on the blue line together???? Wow looks like Ducks stanley cup champs in 06/07

I think Gainey is doing fine not overpaying these UFA. He has also shown a willingness to get a top-notch player, and it can come through trades (not UFA’s). As long as he gets rid of the garbage (e.g. Ribeiro), and ends up bringing two solid players (at least one ‘star’) by the end of the month it will be fine.

Stevejur and Habs#1 are right on the money! Gainey has no idea what to do to get quality players to come here. He was certainly a great hockey player, but hockey players don’t always make good coaches or GM’s! Why can’t we ever attract top notch players? I don’t get it! The Montreal Canadiens, the most storied team, with so much tradition and glory! Oh! how they have fallen from grace. But as long as the fans are willing to pay top dollar for tickets, for a mediocre team, then the Canadiens brass figure, why changes? The fans don’t seem to mind! Fans, it’s time to boycott their games! let’s show them that this behavior is not acceptable! Please Gainey make some changes!

Also, a fact , i had one of the highest points on the team last season. I know i must improve on shooting and scoring more instead of always deking too much by what fans themselves have told me and I will work on this as much as possible to help the organization in the upcoming season !

By the way, im ***.

So I think that Montreal still has a good chance to get players such as Anson Carter , Samsonov , Shannahan etc. eventhough Brendan Witt and Bill Guerin were signed by other teams yesterday.

Gainey is doing an excellent job….outof all the teams in the Northeast, the Bruins are the only ones who improved…Toronto got slower on D, Ottawa lost scoring and D, Buffalo will be dumping guys to cut down on their salaries as the whole team has been pretty much awarded a raise by arbitration…Gainey re-signed our best and added some great guys in Samsonov and Johnson. Also they should offer Daze an incentive filled contract…he would look great in the rouge, bleu et blanc…GO HABS GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!