Remember the Habs last summer?
Do you remember the Montreal Canadiens last summer?
Gainey didn’t moved a lot during the summer time… and late that summer, he took what was left by the other teams… and signed SERGEI SAMSONOV!
Everybody was kinda “happy” Gainey finally signed a somehow “good player”. It was a fluke that Samsonov turned to have a bad year… Nobody will ever know the exact “why” he was that bad.
Thinking of our last post season, it made me think about someone who could be fetch by Gainey…
TEEMU SELANNE. He’s still out there waiting to sign a contract or deciding to retire… And IMO, he shouldn’t retire!
He just turn 37 and most teams are looking at younger players. So most of the teams aren’t interested in him…
We don’t have old players that much… Smolinski will turn 36 in December… and Brisebois will turn 37 only in January. So having another old player wouldn’t probably be that bad.
I remember about 2 years ago he almost signed here, but the Ducks grabbed him. He underwent a knee surgery at that moment and then the NHL went to a lockout. After the lockout, with his knee rehabilitated, he got some contract offers… and Montreal did an offer, but chose to go to Anaheim instead. He said in an interview that he liked the city and would love to play for this hockey town and historical dynasty. He was also refering to Koivu being an old friend and a good teammate at the olympics.
This guy just won the Stanley Cup, and he was a big part of the offensive production. He’s not dead yet. He’s an ironman… missing only 6 games in the past 5 seasons in the NHL. (His knee surgery was during the lockout, so it doesn’t count!!!). He posted 48 goals and 46 passes in 82 games last year, and was payed $3,75M.
Even if Gainey could sign him for more than $3,75M, he’d be much better offensively than Kovalev… at $4,5M and posting 18 goals, 29 passes in 73 games…
And thinking about all the players that could sidekick Koivu the best, Selanne is the first that comes to my mind. Koivu’s production would probably reach his apogee too… especially in the ASSISTS section…
We don’t have enough Finnish players in the team… and too many Russian ones!
Instead of signing Brisebois, they could have tried to get Teppo Numminen who’s a great leader and solid defensively. He’s about the same player as Brisebois.
I KNOW that signing Selanne would probably take a spot on the line-up… and I would love like everybody to have a rookie make the roster this year! But we still miss a top 6 (even, top 3) player on our offense. Koivu, Kovalev… then Higgins, Ryder… These are the true top 6 we have… so there’s 2 spots remaining… Plekanec will definitively grab the 5th spot as the 2nd line center… and Kostitsyn will probably reach the 2nd line whether as a left or right wing… but why rely on him if we can have much more deepness on our offense? THAT explains why having Selanne instead of a “BIG CENTER” would be better right now. Plekanec is getting better and better.
So the 6th player to fit the top 6 is Selanne… and Selanne would be the 1st or 2nd best player on our team, no argue on that. (Kovalev is about the same, or less…).
Gainey loves to sit back and watch what’s going on here and there… and then sees what’s left and judges the possibilities.
He did a mistake with Samsonov, but wouldn’t with Selanne. PLUS, he’s a TRUE right winger that shoots RIGHT! Kovalev to the LEFT wing!
That is what I think wouldn’t be that bad for the team scoring.
HOW CAN YOU LOSE IF YOU HAVE CONTROL OF THE PUCK AND ON THE SCOREBOARD?
Get offensive… AWARE OFFENSE is the best defense.
DON’T DUMP&CHASE THE PUCK, KEEP IT! Dump & Chase is WUSS!
You won’t get scored against if you have the puck in control!
Thanks
»»Alex»»