If I learned one thing from the Montreal media.....

With rumor season now in full swing, it's time for everyone to crazy. "Kovalev offered a 6 million dollar contract AND the captaincy?", "Koivu going to Minnesota!","Capitals on steroids", "Komisarek turns down a 6 million dollar contract". It goes on and on and on and on.

The one thing I learned from the media here is that you have to take everything you read about hockey - and in particular, the Habs - with a grain of salt (okay more like a huge tub of salt). When there are no quotes coming specifically from people directly involved, then you have to assume that it's not true until someone comes around an confirms them. A lot of the rumors that we hear are plain false and the ones that do have a grain of truth to them are blown way out of proportion. I'm also particularly wary when the so-called sources are "sources who told the media in another country on the other side of the world". I'm sure things get reported wrong in the Russian media and I'm sure by the time it gets back to us, something is lost in translation. I think someone at one point described it as the game "broken teleophone" and that's a perfect analogy.

Maybe the Canadiens did offer Kovalev a 6 million one year contract. Maybe they don't plan on resigning Koivu. Maybe Komisarek did turn down an offer that seems to change from four million to six million dollars. But until someone from the Canadiens or one of these guy's agents comes around and says "yes, that's true", I'm not going to give them too much serious thought.

It's just too easy to get caught up in the media furor that descends on any and every bit of information and then proceeds to turn it into the major earth shattering news of the day. And there is really no point is getting overly excited about it. Take a deep breath and relax.