You know, I said I thought Vinny was a talented player but he wouldn't be a good fit for the Habs. I also said that I thought his contract would hurt the Habs big time.
Friday night, I was so worried that Bettman would get up on that stage and say "we have a trade. The Montreal Canadiens trade their entire team for Vincent Lecavalier".
He didn't do it.
I thought we were safe.
.....aparently I was wrong.
Bob Gainey has traded Higgins, McDonagh, Valentenko and Janik for Scott Gomez, Pyatt and Busto.
So we couldn't take Vinny and his large contract so we grabbed Gomez and his HUGE contract? I almost wished he had landed Vinny instead....
Bob, I'm just praying that you have something else going on in that brain of yours because if not... You just made Sather of all people look like a flipping genius. And that, Bob, is a bad thing.
Habbies get a new player
Monday, February 16, 2009
Gainey just apparently traded two draft picks for defenseman Mathieu Schneider and a random conditional pick from Atlanta. Apparently the guy was with the Habs the last time that they won the Stanley Cup which makes him borderline ancient in my books but that's okay. As long as does something productive I'm happy. Oh and by productive I mean productive for the Habs. Giving the puck away to the other team and allowing them to score a billion goals is not the general idea of productive. Unless you're the opposing team.
Yes I know I just used the word "apparently" about a billion times.
Sorry Lang, you just lost your place as the resident oldie on the team. Don't worry. We still like you! And at least Brisebois can have some company.
And the Pens just lost in shootouts. To the Islanders. Brilliant.
I'm still in a good mood!
Yes I know I just used the word "apparently" about a billion times.
Sorry Lang, you just lost your place as the resident oldie on the team. Don't worry. We still like you! And at least Brisebois can have some company.
And the Pens just lost in shootouts. To the Islanders. Brilliant.
I'm still in a good mood!
Random info day again!
Friday, January 16, 2009
Getting tired of these? Too bad. I have to ramble sometimes!
Tennis first.
You know, I like Bob Gainey, I really do. But....
This whole non-answer about this whole Lecavalier thing is annoying. Gainey gave a whole cryptic speech on not trading the whole team for one guy. Sounds like he doesn't want Lecavalier? Well, he didn't say that either. The main gist of the speech was that he wants to put the interests of the team above all else. That still indicates that he won't trade for Lecavalier. But again, he didn't say right out that he doesn't want to trade for him. What I took from it was "Yeah, Lecavalier could be great for the team and it would be nice to have him but no, we're not trading half our team for him". I don't know why he can't just come out say that whether they're interested or not. I don't see how it's helping the players by giving cryptic messages about what you're intentions are....but hey, I don't know what goes on behind closed doors or what goes on in the mind of Bob Gainey. Maybe he's more direct with the players. Maybe not. Who knows.
Wingless Penguins take on Sitting Ducks
Okay, so the Ducks are in a better position than the Pens. I like the term "sitting ducks" if it applies to Anaheim. Sue me. I may watch it - my TV will have it so I won't have to suffer through bad announcers in Pensville- or I'll try to catch Wawrinka being demolished by Federer. We'll see.
Stats because we can't live without 'em:
Penguins have gone 2-8-0 in their last ten games while the Ducks have gone 4-4-2. Both come into this game having lost their previous one.
Bad news for the Penguins is that they have one of the worst home records in the league going 9-10-2. Good news for the Pens is the Ducks are ranked 18th in their away record going 9-8-2.
Bad news for the Pens is that they're powerplay is 19th in the league (still better than a certain other team *coughs*) while they're PK is even worse at 24th. Worse news for the Pens is that the Ducks are 9th on the powerplay and 17th in PK.
Penguins are 10-6-1 when outshooting their opponents, but simply flailing away at the net won't help them because the Ducks actually do better when they are outshot going 14-7-2. Go figure. Pens are 10-13-2 when they are outshot and the Ducks are 8-11-1 when they outshoot the opposition. So the Pens have to get outshot to win.....?
Fleury - who I'm assuming is getting the start - is 3-7-0 in his last ten games while Giguere is 4-3-2. If it's Sabourin in nets then he's 1-8-1 in his last ten gams. Can we say "battle of the no-so-hot Quebec goalies"?
Infirmary list:
Well, this is quite lengthy. Officially the Pens are without Dupuis (knee), Fedotenko (broken hand), Gonchar (shoulder), Zigomanis (upper body) but they could be missing Talbot, Scuderi, and Crosby who were all injured in the game against the Caps as well.
Update: Yeah, Crosby's out for sure for tonight.
Update 2: Letang is also out!
Ducks aren't exactly the picture of a perfectly healthy team either. They are without Beauchemin (gone for the rest of the season), Festerling (knee), Huskins (foot), Larsen (hernia), Marchant (finger) and Selanne (quadricep injury). Four of those guys are on IR.
Tennis first.
- World no 3 Novak Djokovic has a chance to become world no 2 and what does he do?
Blows it. After I just said that Djokovic was looking good again after what I thought was a freak loss to Ernest Gulbis and was ready to charge into the Australian Open, he goes and blows it big time in Sydney. He was downed by Jarkko Nieminen 6-3, 7-6(3) who will now face a very good looking David Nalbandian. I'm hoping for his sake, that Nalbandian actually performs like he's supposed to in the finals and wins.
I was just mentioning to my sister that Djokovic is getting ignored a bit in the leadup to the Australian Open. It's all Murray all the time and if it's not Murray then it's Federer and "can he win the Australian Open or is he finally finished?". And if there's no talk about those two then it's all Nadal because he's Mr. World No. 1. But no one really expects Rafa to win in Melbourne. While I'm tempted to think that it's really not that fair to be ignoring the defending champion here, Djokovic hasn't exactly been playing awe-inspiring tennis since... well, last year, I guess. He's had his moments, yes, but they haven't exactly translated into a lot of good results. Okay, fine so he won the Masters Cup thing. I think I said at the time that the whole tournament was a bit of a joke considering half the players were first timers and got there because of a couple of good resuls at the end, while the other half were riddled with injuries. Do I think Novak has what it takes to defend his title in Australia? Yes. I think he may actually have a good chance at it because despite the fact that he's the defending champion here, all the talk and pressure is on the other three guys to perform well. This could be his chance to (almost) quietly sneak up through the matches and come out with a good performance in the finals (if he makes it past Federer). - Del Potro to meet Querrey in finals of Auckland
Yup. Delpo breaks the curse of the Argentine people not making the finals of this tournament dating back to 1996 by squashing Robin Soderling 6-3, 6-4 to make the finals. He will face Sam Qurrey who squeaked by David Ferrer. Interesting note: Ferrer was reffered to in the media (in Spanish) ahead of his matchup with Sam Querrey as the "executioner of the Team Argentina in the Davis Cup final" which I found hilarious considering it was Ferrer (the top ranked player for team Spain with the absence of Nadal) who got run over by Nalbandian in the opening match. Oh well. - Wawrinka overcomes Gonzalez in the semis at Kooyong. Guess who he gets to play now?
Roger. I want to see this so badly.... even if poor Stan has no chance. This is apparently the third time that they will play each other and Roger has beaten Stan the two other times in straight sets. Poor Stan....I'm sure someone will be cheering for you Stan so don't worry, you're not alone. Of course no one really wants Stan to win.... that would be.... wow.... - Draws are in for the Australian Open
The only guy of interest/importance that isn't here is Davydenko who pulled out early this week due to injuries.- Nadal gets Simon, Monfils and Karlovic, Gonzalez and Gasquet among others, in his draw. All could make some trouble for Mr. World No. 1 but I doubt any of them are taking away a win over him. Then again... Simon wasnt supposed to win over Nadal in Madrid and Monfils was definitely not supposed to beat him in Doha...And it remains to be seen which versions of Gonzalez and Gasquet shows up. Nadal has a 21-4 record against the seeded players in his draw. Yes, I just wasted a lot of time finding that out.
- Murray got a fairly easy draw. The toughest opponent in his draw is/was probably Tsonga but he's looking really doubtful right now with a back problem. Mezler, Stepanek, Verdasco, Blake, Andreev, and Schuttler round out the seeded players in the draw. Murray holds a 13-3 against them and I doubt that any of these guys will be beating Murray.
- Nole got Roddick in his draw again. Hopefully he doesn't say something stupid this time around. He really needs to work on the public relations aspect. The perpetually under-achieving David Nalbandian is also in this draw. As is Kohlschreiber, Robredo, Soderling, Fish (Fish!) and Mathieu. Nole has a 16-4 record against these guys.
- Roger has some interesting people in his draw including Del Potro, Berdych, Cilic, Ferrer, Wawrinka, Feliciano Lopez (booo!) and Safin. I doubt Delpo and Cilic will be too much of a challenge if Roger meets either of them. Sowwy Delpo! Ferrer can play unbelievably well but I've never watched him win a single match. Every time I've seen him over the summer, he's lost. Wawrinka is doomed if he plays Federer. Berdych and Safin could be the real challengers here. In case you're wondering, Federer has a whopping 37-3 record against these guys. Should be interesting to see what they can do here.
- Nadal gets Simon, Monfils and Karlovic, Gonzalez and Gasquet among others, in his draw. All could make some trouble for Mr. World No. 1 but I doubt any of them are taking away a win over him. Then again... Simon wasnt supposed to win over Nadal in Madrid and Monfils was definitely not supposed to beat him in Doha...And it remains to be seen which versions of Gonzalez and Gasquet shows up. Nadal has a 21-4 record against the seeded players in his draw. Yes, I just wasted a lot of time finding that out.
You know, I like Bob Gainey, I really do. But....
This whole non-answer about this whole Lecavalier thing is annoying. Gainey gave a whole cryptic speech on not trading the whole team for one guy. Sounds like he doesn't want Lecavalier? Well, he didn't say that either. The main gist of the speech was that he wants to put the interests of the team above all else. That still indicates that he won't trade for Lecavalier. But again, he didn't say right out that he doesn't want to trade for him. What I took from it was "Yeah, Lecavalier could be great for the team and it would be nice to have him but no, we're not trading half our team for him". I don't know why he can't just come out say that whether they're interested or not. I don't see how it's helping the players by giving cryptic messages about what you're intentions are....but hey, I don't know what goes on behind closed doors or what goes on in the mind of Bob Gainey. Maybe he's more direct with the players. Maybe not. Who knows.
Wingless Penguins take on Sitting Ducks
Okay, so the Ducks are in a better position than the Pens. I like the term "sitting ducks" if it applies to Anaheim. Sue me. I may watch it - my TV will have it so I won't have to suffer through bad announcers in Pensville- or I'll try to catch Wawrinka being demolished by Federer. We'll see.
Stats because we can't live without 'em:
Penguins have gone 2-8-0 in their last ten games while the Ducks have gone 4-4-2. Both come into this game having lost their previous one.
Bad news for the Penguins is that they have one of the worst home records in the league going 9-10-2. Good news for the Pens is the Ducks are ranked 18th in their away record going 9-8-2.
Bad news for the Pens is that they're powerplay is 19th in the league (still better than a certain other team *coughs*) while they're PK is even worse at 24th. Worse news for the Pens is that the Ducks are 9th on the powerplay and 17th in PK.
Penguins are 10-6-1 when outshooting their opponents, but simply flailing away at the net won't help them because the Ducks actually do better when they are outshot going 14-7-2. Go figure. Pens are 10-13-2 when they are outshot and the Ducks are 8-11-1 when they outshoot the opposition. So the Pens have to get outshot to win.....?
Fleury - who I'm assuming is getting the start - is 3-7-0 in his last ten games while Giguere is 4-3-2. If it's Sabourin in nets then he's 1-8-1 in his last ten gams. Can we say "battle of the no-so-hot Quebec goalies"?
Infirmary list:
Well, this is quite lengthy. Officially the Pens are without Dupuis (knee), Fedotenko (broken hand), Gonchar (shoulder), Zigomanis (upper body) but they could be missing Talbot, Scuderi, and Crosby who were all injured in the game against the Caps as well.
Update: Yeah, Crosby's out for sure for tonight.
Update 2: Letang is also out!
Ducks aren't exactly the picture of a perfectly healthy team either. They are without Beauchemin (gone for the rest of the season), Festerling (knee), Huskins (foot), Larsen (hernia), Marchant (finger) and Selanne (quadricep injury). Four of those guys are on IR.
Habs take on Bruins tonight
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Last thing I'll say on Lecavalier
I'm not saying anything more on him until something more concrete comes along. Management in Tampa Bay says they don't want to trade him but they did say that he's not exactly "untouchable" although apparently that goes for every other player they have too. Eh. Go figure. Vinny actually says that while he wouldn't actually say no to playing here, he likes it in Tampa Bay and would like to stay there.
Good for him. I still don't want him here because it still means giving up a ton for him. End of story. For now.
Now onto the pre-game rant!
Well, things have definitely changed a lot since last year when it was expected of the Habs to simply go and walk all over the Bruins. I think this time around it's definitely the other way around and it should be interesting to see how the teams do tonight. The Habs are obviously missing people who could be rather helpful tonight *coughsPRICEcoughs* but the Bruins too are missing some guys. Beregon has been out since suffering another concussion a few weeks ago. Philip Kessel - the team leader in scoring - is out with mono and I suspect it will be a while before he comes back. Andrew Ference is out with a broken leg. Someone else who's name escapes me entirely is out with a knee problem. Manny Fernandez is out with something (but that's not an issue unless Tim Thomas also comes down with something in the next few hours and the Bruins will be forced to use their backup-backup goalie) and there is also strong possibility that Milan Lucic will also be out tonight with some type of upper body injury. I personally wouldn't mind if Lucic wasn't in the lineup until next year, but that's just little old bitter me.
Given how the Habs have been doing and considering I think they want to prove that they can indeed beat the Bruins, it should be interesting. I just hope Halak's up for the challenge and everyone's ready to help him too. While this is not a "must win or we'll all die" game it's probably a "can we please win because we need 1) we need the points 2) the Bruins don't need the points 3) we want to prove that we can beat them and 4) it would be nice to continue the winning streak"
I'm not saying anything more on him until something more concrete comes along. Management in Tampa Bay says they don't want to trade him but they did say that he's not exactly "untouchable" although apparently that goes for every other player they have too. Eh. Go figure. Vinny actually says that while he wouldn't actually say no to playing here, he likes it in Tampa Bay and would like to stay there.
Good for him. I still don't want him here because it still means giving up a ton for him. End of story. For now.
Now onto the pre-game rant!
Well, things have definitely changed a lot since last year when it was expected of the Habs to simply go and walk all over the Bruins. I think this time around it's definitely the other way around and it should be interesting to see how the teams do tonight. The Habs are obviously missing people who could be rather helpful tonight *coughsPRICEcoughs* but the Bruins too are missing some guys. Beregon has been out since suffering another concussion a few weeks ago. Philip Kessel - the team leader in scoring - is out with mono and I suspect it will be a while before he comes back. Andrew Ference is out with a broken leg. Someone else who's name escapes me entirely is out with a knee problem. Manny Fernandez is out with something (but that's not an issue unless Tim Thomas also comes down with something in the next few hours and the Bruins will be forced to use their backup-backup goalie) and there is also strong possibility that Milan Lucic will also be out tonight with some type of upper body injury. I personally wouldn't mind if Lucic wasn't in the lineup until next year, but that's just little old bitter me.
Given how the Habs have been doing and considering I think they want to prove that they can indeed beat the Bruins, it should be interesting. I just hope Halak's up for the challenge and everyone's ready to help him too. While this is not a "must win or we'll all die" game it's probably a "can we please win because we need 1) we need the points 2) the Bruins don't need the points 3) we want to prove that we can beat them and 4) it would be nice to continue the winning streak"
If there was ever a time for TSN to be wrong...
Monday, January 12, 2009
Later
NOW WOULD DEFINITELY BE THE TIME! I'm just praying here that Bob McKenzie is so wrong on this whole Lecavalier thing that it's not even funny. Now the elusive "sources close to the club" are saying that that whole Plekanec, Higgins, GORGES, PK Subban and whatever the heck else they want are actually being discussed to some degree of seriousness. Well of course we all know that those "sources close to the club" may in fact just be some random people who have no clue what they're talking about and I really hope that this is the case. Call me stubborn and stupid but I don't Pleky and Higgy or Gorges to go anywhere. Especially not Gorges. And I really want to see Subban in a Habs uniform. Sorry but the guy really grew on me in the Juniors even thing. I don't want to see Subban as a Lightning. That would be... awful...
Gack.... this is.... no.... BOB DON'T DO IT! Please! It's not worth it! Your epic fails in signing Briere, Hossa, Sundin and whoever else you wanted were a good thing! Do we all really want Briere's over large contract now? No. Aren't we glad that Hossa dumped the Pens instead of us? Yes. And Sundin... well, don't get me started on the big hypocritical Swede.... Bob, you have to keep those guys here. Lacavalier is NOT the answer. Pleaaaasseeee Bob... don't do it.... the Habs were just starting to get some chemistry going and were WINNING! Imagine that? They're fourth in the conference without Briere, Hossa, or Sundin.... Now, I know you're saying "but look where they could be with one of those guys". But....but....like I said, it's a good thing we don't have those guys right now! Pleaaseee Bob... don't mess with the chemistry. Please!!!!!!
Someone please step in and offer the Lightning an even better deal. PLEASE! Save Bob from the allure of the over hyped impact forward who probably doesn't want to be here anyway! ANYONE! C'mon Toronto.... Ottawa... you guys could use Lecavalier. Please save the Habs from themselves. OFFER THE GUYS IN TAMPA BAY SOMETHING! Toronto could deal half their team, nab Lecavalier, and no one would notice there was any difference. Ditto with Ottawa. C'mon guys! Do it! Do it!
*collapses*
You know, after all this, it's going to turn out to be just a stupid rumor and Vinny's going to be staying put. *keeps saying that over and over again*
Earlier
Well okay, so either way we'll have an answer on this Lecavalier thing by March, so it's not going to be another Mats Sundin Saga. BUT already I'm seriously annoyed with this whole thing. I don't know why but I'm not liking the idea at all of getting this guy. I don't know why. I don't pretend to know a ton about hockey but I think I know enough about it to say that even if we do get the guy he won't necessarily carry this team to a Stanley Cup win. Anyway.. because I'm more awake now than I was last night when the news got out here's something a little more coherent.
Pros to signing Lecavalier
NOW WOULD DEFINITELY BE THE TIME! I'm just praying here that Bob McKenzie is so wrong on this whole Lecavalier thing that it's not even funny. Now the elusive "sources close to the club" are saying that that whole Plekanec, Higgins, GORGES, PK Subban and whatever the heck else they want are actually being discussed to some degree of seriousness. Well of course we all know that those "sources close to the club" may in fact just be some random people who have no clue what they're talking about and I really hope that this is the case. Call me stubborn and stupid but I don't Pleky and Higgy or Gorges to go anywhere. Especially not Gorges. And I really want to see Subban in a Habs uniform. Sorry but the guy really grew on me in the Juniors even thing. I don't want to see Subban as a Lightning. That would be... awful...
Gack.... this is.... no.... BOB DON'T DO IT! Please! It's not worth it! Your epic fails in signing Briere, Hossa, Sundin and whoever else you wanted were a good thing! Do we all really want Briere's over large contract now? No. Aren't we glad that Hossa dumped the Pens instead of us? Yes. And Sundin... well, don't get me started on the big hypocritical Swede.... Bob, you have to keep those guys here. Lacavalier is NOT the answer. Pleaaaasseeee Bob... don't do it.... the Habs were just starting to get some chemistry going and were WINNING! Imagine that? They're fourth in the conference without Briere, Hossa, or Sundin.... Now, I know you're saying "but look where they could be with one of those guys". But....but....like I said, it's a good thing we don't have those guys right now! Pleaaseee Bob... don't mess with the chemistry. Please!!!!!!
Someone please step in and offer the Lightning an even better deal. PLEASE! Save Bob from the allure of the over hyped impact forward who probably doesn't want to be here anyway! ANYONE! C'mon Toronto.... Ottawa... you guys could use Lecavalier. Please save the Habs from themselves. OFFER THE GUYS IN TAMPA BAY SOMETHING! Toronto could deal half their team, nab Lecavalier, and no one would notice there was any difference. Ditto with Ottawa. C'mon guys! Do it! Do it!
*collapses*
You know, after all this, it's going to turn out to be just a stupid rumor and Vinny's going to be staying put. *keeps saying that over and over again*
Earlier
Well okay, so either way we'll have an answer on this Lecavalier thing by March, so it's not going to be another Mats Sundin Saga. BUT already I'm seriously annoyed with this whole thing. I don't know why but I'm not liking the idea at all of getting this guy. I don't know why. I don't pretend to know a ton about hockey but I think I know enough about it to say that even if we do get the guy he won't necessarily carry this team to a Stanley Cup win. Anyway.. because I'm more awake now than I was last night when the news got out here's something a little more coherent.
Pros to signing Lecavalier
- Well, obviously he's talented
- he has WINNING experience
- SALARY CAP. Maybe I'm wrong on this one, but I feel that keeping Price and Komisarek here is more important than having Lecavalier. And with Lecavalier's huge contract, Gainey's going to have to skimp on other contracts which is not cool. Just ask the Flyers' GM on why spending a pile of money on one guy isn't a good idea. He's looking at some serious problems right now with the imminent return of the perpetually annoying player.
- The guy just signed an eleven year extension worth 85. million dollars. Refer to point one why this could be a problem
- his winning experience hasn't exactly helped his team that much in recent years.... but then again, the whole team has gone down the drain for multiple reasons that aren't exactly his fault. But still.....
- What will the cost be for getting this guy? And will the cost in terms of which players/prospects/picks be too much for one or two guys? The question really is: Is Lecavalier really worth three or more players and several prospects/draft picks? I'm not saying that he's not good but.... I think Montrealers tend to have an over inflated view of players from this province and they all seem to think that he's worth it.... but... is he really?
- Does he even want to play here? Obviously we can't get into his brain but I'm inclined to think that he wouldn't mind avoiding the pressure cooker that's Montreal. As a guy who's from not only this province but who's exactly 15 seconds away from this city, there will be a lot of attention on him. So Gainey goes to all this work to get him and he doesn't perform well and instead of helping the team, makes them worse.
- What about this whole deal with his agent saying that the management doesn't want to trade him? Then again, if the rumors are true then the management people haven't exactly agreed on whether or not they want to trade him.
- Why does Tampa Bay even want to trade him? If they resigned him with the idea of trading him then they were really stupid in signing him to an ELEVEN year contract worth a gazillion dollars. That makes it really unattractive for other teams to want to sign him.
- Can it really be true that Gainey wants Lecavalier? We know he's been looking for that big impact forward and has failed just about every time. I'm not saying that he's quit on that idea now, but I think the Habs are actually finally getting things going and by messing with all of that now who knows what's going to happen to the team? In other words: Why mess with a good thing? Unless that good thing could be an even better thing but um... I think the Penguins have proved what happens when you go all out for one good thing and that good thing turns around and bites you before taking off (I think Hossa would be out of there one way or another even if his contract had lasted longer when he was dealt to the Penguins). And also... I thought Gainey's been shopping around for that extra defenseman? Just how much tinkering is he going to do here?
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