NHL 2008-09 regular season thread!

[Doc Holliday]

Kostitsyn brothers linked to organized crime individual

Here's a leak to what may appear in this morning's "La Presse" newspaper. The story being leaked appeared on the RDS website just a few minutes ago. Here's the translation of the RDS article:

Embarrassing Situation

The 'La Presse' newspaper will publish today an embarrassing article on the Kostitsyn brothers, Andrei & Sergei, who have been linked to an organized crime member who was recently arrested in a much publicized police operation dubbed "Operation Axe".

This presumed criminal, Pasquale Mangiola, age 38 was charged with drug trafficking & would have also acted as go-between for various criminal organizations.

During the police investigation which lead to Operation Axe, law enforcement authorities recorded numerous phone conversations involving Mangiola. Many of these conversations were held with the Kostitsyn brothers.

Montreal Canadiens players returned from Pittsburgh at midnight & no charges were made.

According to 'La Presse', Mangiola is a very close friend to the Kostitsyn brothers.

The 38 year old man rendered many services to the two Canadiens players such as when they'd go out clubbing, providing women & luxury cars.

Defenceman Roman Hamrlik supposedly also has links to Mangiola. Hamrlik was spotted in the company of Mangiola & the Kostitsyn brothers in several Montreal bars.

"La Presse" questionned Andrei Kostitsyn in regards to his links with Mangiola at the end of the Penguins game in Pittsburgh. The oldest of the two brothers confirmed he knew Mangiola, but didn't know anything about him.

Don Meehan is the agent of both Kostitsyn brothers and mentionned he didn't not know this indivudual.

http://www.rds.ca/canadien/chroniques/269591.html

 

[master_bates]

The front page of fridays la presse

http://pdf.cyberpresse.ca/lapresse/uneLP.jpg

 

[Doc Holliday]

Watch out for those coach-killing Leafs!!

Two weeks ago, Michel Therrien of the Penguins was fired after the team's loss to the Leafs. Today, it's Tom Renney's turn to get the booth from the Rangers after their loss last night to these same Leafs.

Maple Leafs coach killers?? Who would have thought!!!

To any team playing the Leafs from now on, beware! Beware! Beware!!

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=3928145

 

[anon_vlad]

Two weeks ago, Michel Therrien of the Penguins was fired after the team's loss to the Leafs. Today, it's Tom Renney's turn to get the booth from the Rangers after their loss last night to these same Leafs.

Fortunately for the NHL coaching fraternity, the Leafs barely win once every two weeks.

 

[lgna69xxx]

apparently you have mistaken the "habs" for the Leafs

Fortunately for the NHL coaching fraternity, the Leafs barely win once every two weeks.

 

[JustBob]

In other news, Crosby is still an annoying little whiner who barely gets nudged by Oveschkin and then goes beserk. Of course with the hard-on TSN has for "Sid the Kid" they merely reported on this heated rivalry being good for the NHL.

 

[DUMPTHEPUCK]

In other news, Crosby is still an annoying little whiner who barely gets nudged by Oveschkin and then goes beserk. Of course with the hard-on TSN has for "Sid the Kid" they merely reported on this heated rivalry being good for the NHL.

wait for march 8 rematch.....there's so much hype between them that i have a feeling that the two might drop the glove's.....

$10 on oveschkin...lol

 

[gohabsgo]

trade deadline day is tomorrow - Bob needs to pull the trigger on a big deal to put the Habs over the top

 

[joelcairo]

trade deadline day is tomorrow - Bob needs to pull the trigger on a big deal to put the Habs over the top

If he could resurrect Plante, Harvey and the Rocket he might have a chance - otherwise, forget about this season. The habs tanked for a ton of games (coincidentally these occurred while you were away) and their recent victory streak is largely due to inspired play by Halak, not the team as a whole. To succeed a team needs more than a hot goalie - especially since all hot goalies cool down eventually.

 

[gas]

You know what? At the beginning of the season, i thought the Leafs had a decent chance to make the playoffs. After a couple of months, i realized they were worse than i thought & likely wouldn't make the playoffs. If they weren't going to make the playoffs, i figured they might as well unload the overpaid & underperforming parts, trade away some of their few valuable parts for draft picks or prospects, and make Luke Schenn your only untouchable. So i figured they might as well tank the season, draft a top 3 or 4 pick in a great draft, and rebuild from there.

As for the Habs, i figured they pretty much had the same team as last year as long as their powerplay was clicking. After a couple of months, i even thought they had a chance to contend for the Cup. However, the powerplay never clicked, the team greatly lacked leadership, and the young talent never played up to expectations. Today, they're a team going nowhere & in serious danger of missing the playoffs. At least 10 players on their starting lineup are unrestricted free agents & most of them are not likely to return. Ten players!!!!!

You know what?? Tonight, i'm realizing that the Habs are possibly in worse shape than the Leafs!!! At least the Leafs know they're awful & have already began to figure out ways to improve the team for the future & make it competitive once again in maybe 2-3 years...maybe more. As for the Habs, i have a sense that they're totally clueless about how bad they are, that there's no leadership or chemistry on the team, some players have been grossly over-evaluated, the coaching staff lacks the necessary experience whenever the team gets into a major slump/crisis....at least 10 players on the present roster will be gone by season's end & nothing appears to being done about it in order to make the team competitive again in the future.

Not only that, but the stock of key players such as Kovalev, Kostitsyn, Price & others is sinking & sinking fast. Gainey will likely expect high draft picks/high prospects to be sent his way at the trade deadline if he decides to part with his over-evaluated players. It likely won't happen this time around. No wonder Brian Burke prefers Canadian players over Europeans on his teams. Look at what's happened with the Habs!!

Doc I think you are stretching it a bit too far. How can you even compare the Habs to the Leafs. The Leafs have 1 prospect in Schenn to build around, their goaltending hope is not turning out as they would have liked, and they have not much in the minors. Their future lies on future draft picks which we don't know how they will turn out and how much time it would take before they flourish if they do.

Habs in nets
Price before his injury and pre all-star game was dominant and I am confident he will be our man for many years to come. Halak has recently proven to us that he can be a number one and the Habs will eventually have to trade him. (Hopefully for something decent)

Leafs in nets
Pogge, hope he wakes up soon cause he has been dreadful everytime they bring him up and is not doing great in the minors

Habs on D
Markov, a proven top D. Hamerlik is a solid number 3. Komisarek has been being playing poorly this year and hasn't been the same since his injury I am sure he can bounce back. Josh Gorges is 23 and doing very well. Schneider has been a pleasant surprise and I hope they can sign him for another year at a bargain price, his contribution to the powerplay has been amazing since his aquisition. They also have probably the best collection of up an coming D prospects in the league, McDonagh, PK Subban are stars in the making and Guys like Yemelin, Valentenko, Webber, and Fischer are all NHL hopefuls. Lets not forget Obryne who I still thin will become a solid dman with time

Leafs in D
Schenn, Kaberle, Schenn, Kaberle, Schenn, Kaberle. Did I forget someone.

Habs up front:
about a dozen guys under 25
Higgins 25, Plekanek 25, AK 24, Lapierre 23, Dagostini 22, Latendresse 21, Pacioretty 20, SK 21, Chipchura 23, Maxwell 20, Kristo 18, Stewart 22. Quite a nice group of youngster to work with for the next 4-5 years. not all od them may pan out but I am sure 8-9 of them will be good to go

Habs will have 34 million in cap space to play with come july 1st, 9 million to make some of the boys happy. Add to that 3 to Koivu, 3 to Kovalev 2 years each to help the transition, 4 to Komisarek and 5 to Tanguay. Thats 26 million leaving the habs with an extra 8 million to play with. Not to bad....


Leafs up Front:
Blake, Grabovski (hab reject), Moore on the block UFA, Antro on the block UFA, Stajan, Poni, who else the whole minor system is already up

Leafs have a little under 16 million in cap space come July 1st, and the only way they can clear more is if they get rid of their top Dman in Kaberle and Kubina at 5 million who says he wont wave his no trade.

I'm sorry to say but you are way off. i may be a pro Habs fan but I still believe we are heading in the right direction.

By the way I didn't make up any of these numbers you can check them out at http://www.nhlnumbers.com/

 

[lgna69xxx]

1-3 years, just wait and see

Doc I think you are stretching it a bit too far. How can you even compare the Habs to the Leafs. The Leafs have 1 prospect in Schenn to build around, their goaltending hope is not turning out as they would have liked, and they have not much in the minors. Their future lies on future draft picks which we don't know how they will turn out and how much time it would take before they flourish if they do.

Habs in nets
Price before his injury and pre all-star game was dominant and I am confident he will be our man for many years to come. Halak has recently proven to us that he can be a number one and the Habs will eventually have to trade him. (Hopefully for something decent)

Leafs in nets
Pogge, hope he wakes up soon cause he has been dreadful everytime they bring him up and is not doing great in the minors

Habs on D
Markov, a proven top D. Hamerlik is a solid number 3. Komisarek has been being playing poorly this year and hasn't been the same since his injury I am sure he can bounce back. Josh Gorges is 23 and doing very well. Schneider has been a pleasant surprise and I hope they can sign him for another year at a bargain price, his contribution to the powerplay has been amazing since his aquisition. They also have probably the best collection of up an coming D prospects in the league, McDonagh, PK Subban are stars in the making and Guys like Yemelin, Valentenko, Webber, and Fischer are all NHL hopefuls. Lets not forget Obryne who I still thin will become a solid dman with time

Leafs in D
Schenn, Kaberle, Schenn, Kaberle, Schenn, Kaberle. Did I forget someone.

Habs up front:
about a dozen guys under 25
Higgins 25, Plekanek 25, AK 24, Lapierre 23, Dagostini 22, Latendresse 21, Pacioretty 20, SK 21, Chipchura 23, Maxwell 20, Kristo 18, Stewart 22. Quite a nice group of youngster to work with for the next 4-5 years. not all od them may pan out but I am sure 8-9 of them will be good to go

Habs will have 34 million in cap space to play with come july 1st, 9 million to make some of the boys happy. Add to that 3 to Koivu, 3 to Kovalev 2 years each to help the transition, 4 to Komisarek and 5 to Tanguay. Thats 26 million leaving the habs with an extra 8 million to play with. Not to bad....


Leafs up Front:
Blake, Grabovski (hab reject), Moore on the block UFA, Antro on the block UFA, Stajan, Poni, who else the whole minor system is already up

Leafs have a little under 16 million in cap space come July 1st, and the only way they can clear more is if they get rid of their top Dman in Kaberle and Kubina at 5 million who says he wont wave his no trade.

I'm sorry to say but you are way off. i may be a pro Habs fan but I still believe we are heading in the right direction.

By the way I didn't make up any of these numbers you can check them out at http://www.nhlnumbers.com/

 

[Doc Holliday]

Doc I think you are stretching it a bit too far. Halak has recently proven to us that he can be a number one and the Habs will eventually have to trade him. Markov, a proven top D. Hamerlik is a solid number 3. Komisarek has been being playing poorly this year and hasn't been the same since his injury I am sure he can bounce back. Josh Gorges is 23 and doing very well. Schneider has been a pleasant surprise and I hope they can sign him for another year at a bargain price, his contribution to the powerplay has been amazing since his aquisition.
Schenn, Kaberle, Schenn, Kaberle, Schenn, Kaberle. Did I forget someone.

Habs are playing terribly right now, even though they're currently on a mini-streak, thanks ONLY to Jaroslav Halak. He won't last, and 40+ per game on a regular basis has landed him in sick bay with the flu. Markov hasn't playede well this year. Hamrlik is overpaid at $5.5 million per & that's the kind of money most teams pay for a #1 defenceman. He's surely not & has been in the league 15+ years, which means he's on the decline. Komisarek is an ordinary defenceman & he's another free agent at the end of the season. I'm sure some team will overpay him. Josh Gorges is a bum on any other team, no more than a 5th defenceman AT BEST. Schneider is 50 years old & it's not 3-4 games that will determine the impact he'll have on the Habs for the rest of the season.

As for Toronto, you forgot to mention Kubina, who in my books is as good as Kaberle. Anton Stralman is a top prospect & Jeff Finger is a solid #3 or 4 defenceman. In my books he's better than Komisarek. Of course, any bum wearing a Canadiens jersey playing for the Habs is looked at & treated like a superstar in Mtl. In all of the other cities (including Toronto), hockey players don't get special treatment unless they're a top player (e.g. superstar). In Mtl, bums like Maxime Lapierre, Guillaume Latendresse, Patrice Bouillon & many other third-rate players are treated like Gods. Go figure.

The bottom line is that prior to today's trade deadline, the Habs had 11 unrestricted free agents on their roster. That's absolutely unbelievable!! Koivu & Kovalev have seen their better days go by & Koivu is a 3rd line center AT BEST on any other team. Kovalev is approaching his 40's and he'll expect to be overpaid (same with Koivu). Schneider is currently on a $5 million contract (US money!!) which is ridiculous!! He won't sign for cheap if he decides to continue his career.

This is a team with 11 unrestricted free agents, a $5.5 million #3 defenceman (Hamrlik) & a $5 million 40 year old defenceman on its roster. It's leader is a 35 year-old Russian who's on the downside of his career. They're paying some goon $1.5 million to spend most of the games either warming up the bench or eating hotdogs in the pressbox. The current crop of prospects won't be any better than 3rd liners if they ever make it & stick with the club one day. It's #1 goaltender currently has alcohol issues (okay, rumoured) & he's not focused on his game. The team is now afraid to put him in the nets since he couldn't stop a beach ball even if he wanted to. He's a sieve!!! The GM is making questionable moves...why the hell did he pick up Glen Metropolit?? Two of its top Russian prospects, the K brothers, have been linked to an underworld figure. The younger brother who's been a bad influence on the team has been sent down & since then, the older brother's play has stunk.

At least Toronto knows it has a bad team & has been trying to find ways to rectify the problems since the season started. They've been under the cap all year long & are fully aware that the cap will drastically go down 2-3 years from now. Other teams like the Habs have barely any cap room to make any move at the trade deadline in order to improve the team. Right now as i see it, the Habs will likely unload only a few marginal players such as Mathieu Dandenault & cross their fingers that they don't miss the playoffs. My guess is that they'll sneak in & get eliminated in 5 games in the 1st round.

What more can i say?

 

[JustBob]

What more can i say?

Since according to you, most Habs players are either overpaid, overrated or bums, maybe you could write something that is not filled with exaggeration and hyperbole? lollll

 

[Doc Holliday]

Since according to you, most Habs players are either overpaid, overrated or bums, maybe you could write something that is not filled with exaggeration and hyperbole? lollll

MANY, not most. There are some decent players playing for the Habs. However, most Habs fans appear to be totally delusional when it comes to their team & the 'deux-de-piques' that dominate a good part of the team's roster. Just look at the various boards & blogs where people suggest what they should offer the Rays in return for Lecavalier & you'll see what i'm talking about. I mean, they want to peddle away their rejects & other pieces of their scrapyard in return for a masterpiece & expect that the people at the other end will go for it!

 

[gas]

MANY, not most. There are some decent players playing for the Habs. However, most Habs fans appear to be totally delusional when it comes to their team & the 'deux-de-piques' that dominate a good part of the team's roster. Just look at the various boards & blogs where people suggest what they should offer the Rays in return for Lecavalier & you'll see what i'm talking about. I mean, they want to peddle away their rejects & other pieces of their scrapyard in return for a masterpiece & expect that the people at the other end will go for it!

Doc very sorry but you are very much exageratting in what you say
we have nothing to envy the Leafs

As far as Lecavlier is concerned I wouldn't give anything for him. I don't want an over-rated ex superstar that is no longer a point a game player carrying a 10 million dollar contract. Lecavaliers stats have been going down every year. He's good he's charming and he's a francophone, but definately worth 10 million on a cap that may go as low as 46 Million in 2 years. Let him stay in Tampa. they'll probably be begging for someone to take him in 2 years.

11 players as UFA's to me is not a bad thing, gives us over 35 million to play with in an era where Contracts will be going down cause most salary cap loaded teams won't be able to pick any up.

i'd keep my young duo in nets over an average at most Pogge

At least we have a dozen bums (as you say under 25)

Finger LOL, what a joke

FYI, Habs are paying less than a million for Schneider, he's 39 not 50 and has 6 points in 6 games, nice aquisition to me as a loner

Markov is number 3 in scoring for all d, 1 point behind #2 and 6 behind Green #1 whom people are raveing about. He had a 4-5 streak under par after the all-star game probably due to burnout.

anyways I think I'm wasting my breath, there is no comparison to be made, long term or short term. Habs have the Assets now and one of nicest groups of D-men coming up.

and if we make it only to the first round and lose in 5 that will be 5 more than TO

By the way if you are following the trade deadling TO just made another great move. They have picked up Gerber, outstanding LOL

 

[JustBob]

However, most Habs fans appear to be totally delusional when it comes to their team & the 'deux-de-piques' that dominate a good part of the team's roster.

I will repeat this again. Hardcore fans of high profile teams in any pro sport tend to be "delusional". You just keep blabbering about how Hab fans/management/players are somehow the exception when it's clearly not the case...

 

[gohabsgo]

The asking price must have been pretty high for rental players, so Bob was smart not to make any deals today

 

[Doc Holliday]

The asking price must have been pretty high for rental players, so Bob was smart not to make any deals today

Look who's back among the living!! I guess Mtl must be on a winning streak these days!!

 

[G1GBallday]

Mtl must be on a winning streak these days!!

Hey Doc how many more wins will it take before you flip flop, abandon your soon the be TavarLESS Leafs, and once again become a Habs fan?

Maybe after Price's shutout win tonight?

 

[G1GBallday]

Maybe after Price's shutout win tonight?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3FnpaWQJO0