I have kept a keen eye on the off season developments of the Habs and the rest of the NHL, but haven't found, or made time to comment on any of it. I have a few spare hours today so, in an attempt to keep this blog relatively relevant, I will throw my one or two cents out there.
First I'd like to give a little tip of my hat to Bob Gainey for being as active as I have seen him for a long time. The Sundin soup opera, as exciting as it is, has me a little nauseated, all the power in the world to Mats to sit and reflect about his career, and what he wants to do next, but shit, he has Bob and the Habs over a barrel right now. The conspiracy theorist in me thinks this is yet another situation where a big named UFA is simply using the Habs as leverage to land a larger contract. Similar to what Brett Hull, Brendon Shanahan, and Martin Lapointe have done in the past. Mats my simply be suffering from a crisis of consciousness, he is as you know an all-time Leaf great, the idea of signing with the Habs may have him questioning everything he knows. It would be much easier, at least on his Leaf plagued soul to resign with the Leafs, retire, or sign on the dotted line with the Canucks, who have reportedly offered him a ridiculously bloated 20 million smackers for 2 years. Perhaps Mats has been adequately wooed by Bob Gainey, the Habs, and the prospect of living in Montreal, but I just have this feeling that Mats won't sign with the Habs, I can't put my finger on why, maybe its because I feel he is still loyal to the Leafs, maybe its because this is probably the last chance for Mats to cash in large in his career, maybe its because its taking too long....shock me Mats, shock me.
I am content with the other moves Gainey has made this year, Alex Tanguay is a big improvement over Michael Ryder, and the addition of Big George Laraque gives the Habs an elite enforcer that they have been so sorely missing for years. Gainey has also been able to resign a number of key RFAs, like Kostitsyn, Halak, and Gorges. The departure of powerplay specialist Mark Striet remains a bit of a concern, unless either a forward like Tanguay or Kovalev, or a dman like Gorges can be fill the void at the point.
So here we are, the Habs are in a sort of void until Sundin shits or gets off the pot. Rumour mongers like Eklund would have you believe that if Sundin does not sign on with the Habs, that Gainey has a plan B, which would be say Marleau, or the artist formerly know as Forsberg, but I believe that if Sundin does not sign with the Habs, then Gainey will stick with what he has got, and fiddle if need be throughout the regular season. I think the Habs still have two pressing needs, the elusive first line center, and a puck moving defenceman that can man the point on the powerplay. Gainey has feelers out for the centerman, as for the dman, well he might have to try to fill that hole with a guy from within the Habs organization, or wait and trade for one later in the season.
Do I believe this team is as good or better than the 2007-08 squad, hypothetically yes. If Gainey can reel in the big fish that is Sundin, the Habs instantly become an early favorite for the Cup, if not, well the talent level of this team is on par with that of last years squad, as to whether it can perform like it did last year well that is a question that is impossible to answer at this point.
First I'd like to give a little tip of my hat to Bob Gainey for being as active as I have seen him for a long time. The Sundin soup opera, as exciting as it is, has me a little nauseated, all the power in the world to Mats to sit and reflect about his career, and what he wants to do next, but shit, he has Bob and the Habs over a barrel right now. The conspiracy theorist in me thinks this is yet another situation where a big named UFA is simply using the Habs as leverage to land a larger contract. Similar to what Brett Hull, Brendon Shanahan, and Martin Lapointe have done in the past. Mats my simply be suffering from a crisis of consciousness, he is as you know an all-time Leaf great, the idea of signing with the Habs may have him questioning everything he knows. It would be much easier, at least on his Leaf plagued soul to resign with the Leafs, retire, or sign on the dotted line with the Canucks, who have reportedly offered him a ridiculously bloated 20 million smackers for 2 years. Perhaps Mats has been adequately wooed by Bob Gainey, the Habs, and the prospect of living in Montreal, but I just have this feeling that Mats won't sign with the Habs, I can't put my finger on why, maybe its because I feel he is still loyal to the Leafs, maybe its because this is probably the last chance for Mats to cash in large in his career, maybe its because its taking too long....shock me Mats, shock me.
I am content with the other moves Gainey has made this year, Alex Tanguay is a big improvement over Michael Ryder, and the addition of Big George Laraque gives the Habs an elite enforcer that they have been so sorely missing for years. Gainey has also been able to resign a number of key RFAs, like Kostitsyn, Halak, and Gorges. The departure of powerplay specialist Mark Striet remains a bit of a concern, unless either a forward like Tanguay or Kovalev, or a dman like Gorges can be fill the void at the point.
So here we are, the Habs are in a sort of void until Sundin shits or gets off the pot. Rumour mongers like Eklund would have you believe that if Sundin does not sign on with the Habs, that Gainey has a plan B, which would be say Marleau, or the artist formerly know as Forsberg, but I believe that if Sundin does not sign with the Habs, then Gainey will stick with what he has got, and fiddle if need be throughout the regular season. I think the Habs still have two pressing needs, the elusive first line center, and a puck moving defenceman that can man the point on the powerplay. Gainey has feelers out for the centerman, as for the dman, well he might have to try to fill that hole with a guy from within the Habs organization, or wait and trade for one later in the season.
Do I believe this team is as good or better than the 2007-08 squad, hypothetically yes. If Gainey can reel in the big fish that is Sundin, the Habs instantly become an early favorite for the Cup, if not, well the talent level of this team is on par with that of last years squad, as to whether it can perform like it did last year well that is a question that is impossible to answer at this point.
1 comment:
1) We doubt Sundin is using the habs to get more money. If it was about $$ to matts he would have left the leafs for more $$ years ago
2) He could get his 9-10 million in a few [places other than Montreal. We do agree though that he needs to shit or get off the pot, but as this summers last decent UFA he can sit as long as he wants and GM's can do nothing about it
3) As for your teams summer: The Tanguay addition aside: They will be relying heavily on another season from a 36 year old Alex Kovalev, 35 year old Hamrlik, and 34 year old Saku Koivu along with 2nd year goalie Carey Price to get them back into the post season. It will be a struggle.
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