Comments on: Think outside the BOX – Line up

By: passionch

passionch — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 00:27:26 +0000

You know, that's not such a bad idea. Hell, if we could, we could try to get both Drury and Briere and then we'd have a pretty good team except they would have big contracts for 2 players…

By: ferron

ferron — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 17:36:03 +0000

How's this for Outside the box line up! I say if i was Gaigney i would do wath the Flyers did, sign multiple players from the same team "Detroit" i would make an offer to Bertuzzi(4mil/year for two years), D.Markov(4mil/year for 4 years) and also Lang(3.2 mil/year for two years). We(habs) have around 14.5 mil left to spend and these guys would cost us around 11mil/year and would already have some kind of chemistry and i don't think would refuse that kind of MONEY!

Higgins-Koivu-Ryder
Bertuzzi-Lang-Kovalev
Latends-Lapierre-Chipchura
Grabs-Plekanec-Kostitsyn/Begin/Milroy/Locke/Lahti

Markov-Markov
Streit-Komisarek
Bouillon-O'byrne/Dandenault/Gorges/Archer maybe give Valentenko a few games just to get a taste the next Volchenkov!

Huet/Halak?Danis/Price

I also think that Huet will be traded at the next deadline IF Halak and Price Keep up the good work. As for Danis he will be a very good Goalie in NHL, lots of you lost faith but he played 6 games in NHL and has 2 SO and 4 wins, he never had a bad season in AHL he was doing the work and taking the Bulldog to the cup before Price showed up, i think that Danis would of won the the Calder cup even if Price hadn't be there, at the exception of a few games the Bulldoggs where winning there games by scores of 4-1 and 6-2. I hope we don't trade him to a teams from the est or he could hurt us one day, the worst thing is the Habs probably wont get much for him.Mtl are set for years to come at "D" with guys like Emelin, Valentenko, O'Byrne, Archer, Fisher, McDonagh Markov, Komisarek, Carle, White ect......

By: maudsley

maudsley — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 00:59:30 +0000

why would any one want to go out as a Hab, If he wants to go out proud, sign with the leafs, he would ruin his career in montreal, well so would briere.

By: passionch

passionch — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 00:40:38 +0000

Ah my bad on these comments, was made pre-draft...
- Draft the 2 best forwards available in the 1st round (12th and 22nd)
- Make a minor deal during draft day to get a bit of excitement for fans...
- If possible, trade Kovalev for picks since he will be unhappy playing in the 3rd line and keep Johnson in 3rd line
Such a shame we went to get d-men when we can just get them via free agency... I would always draft the best players available before what my team needs because there is a high chance (80%+?) none of them will stay their entire career with the same organization.

By: passionch

passionch — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 00:36:30 +0000

I don't think Kariya is interested in coming to a team that didn't make the playoffs last year. He'll sign for big bucks but that guy wants to win the cup. Briere rejected a 5M/year for 5 seasons and has said he is going to test the market so unless Gainey is willing to spend over 6.5M on a player, he's not coming either. Gainey doesn't do flashy moves anyway.

Our best bet is to focus on star players that are in the range of 4-5M. We should be able to acquire 2-3 of them now with the 50.3M salary cap... Also, we can't expect any of the players we sign this offseason (if any) to have better stats in a defensive-minded team like the Habs. Thus, we need a player who can score and handle his own end.

In the worse case scenario, Bob would just be patient like he's always been and the Habs enter the new season unchanged and miss the playoffs by a point... Someone mentionned how the Ducks won the cup by having an active GM who brought in Nierdermayer, Pronger and Selanne.

If I was Gainey, I would to the following this off-season (Ah, so fun!):

- Sign #3 center Handzus or Belanger instead of going for big contracts...
- Sign 2 #3-4 defenceman D. Markov and/or Preissing and/or Hannan
- Sign UFA 3rd line LW like Kozlov (Viktor), Nieminen
- Sign our UFAs Danis, Cote, Dancevic and Johnson
- Sign our RFAs Ryder, Gorges, Plekanec, Locke, Milroy, Ferland, Archer and Sanford
- Forget Souray and the rest of our UFA not even worth mentioning
- Draft the 2 best forwards available in the 1st round (12th and 22nd)
- Make a minor deal during draft day to get a bit of excitement for fans...
- If possible, trade Kovalev for picks since he will be unhappy playing in the 3rd line and keep Johnson in 3rd line
- Move up Ferland or Milroy from minors to fill 4th line RW

G. Latendresse - S. Koivu - M. Ryder
A. Kostitsyn - T. Plekanec - C. Higgins
V. Kozlov/V. Nieminen - M. Handzus/E. Belanger - A. Kovalev
S. Begin - M. Lapierre - M. Johnson
Repl: Milroy, Ferland, Grabovski, Chipchura

A. Markov - M. Komisarek
D. Markov/T. Preissing/S. Hannan - M. Streit
F. Bouillon - M. Dandenault
7th: J. Gorges, J.-P. Cote

C. Huet
J. Halak
Repl: Y. Danis (Let's keep Price as no.1 in Hamilton)

Not much changes just like how Gainey works and improved team with cap space for trade deadline moves. After this season, all our young guns should be mature enough to step it up and do some real damage.

Thanks for reading!

By: habsrock_19

habsrock_19 — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 22:22:19 +0000

yes i like this line-up a lot except the defense i like preissing but we need either shneider or rafalski but rafalski wont signt in MTL but shnieder might casue lets afce it he probably wont go to detroit and theres no better place for him to retire in than montreal.

By: ptitrusse

ptitrusse — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 19:18:15 +0000

Latendresse - Brière - Kovalev
1st line: Latendresse with his physic, could bothered the gaoler, Brière is a great playmaker so he could pass the puck to Kovy who can score or he can give it back to Brière who can score too. Latendresse will learned with experienced players.

Ryder - Koivu - Higgins
2nd line: We already know what they can do!

Kostitsyn - Pleckanec - Grabovski
3rd line: Imagine one of the fastest line in the NHL. Grabovski is a great scorer like Kostitsyn. Pleckanec is a great playmaker who can deliver a great pass or score a goal.

Bégin - Lapierre - UFA or rookie
4th line: A line who can hit hard and who has amazing grit.

Markov - Komisarek
1st duo: Markov is one heck of a player and he did well last year with Komisarek so let’s put them together again.

Streit - Preissing
2nd duo: Streit is a great hidden secret and I think he can learn well with a player who has experience. Preissing can score 40 points in a season. Hope he can influence Streit.

Bouillon - Dandenault
3rd duo: They were good last year. But I don’t like Dandenault if they can deal him in a package deal, we could put a young D-man like Georges, O’Byrne, Emelin, Fischer and maybe McDonagh in a few years.

Price - Huet
Gaolkeepers: Huet is a good goalie but we don’t know if he can be in front of the net for the whole season. So we could try Price and if he his ready and good let him be in front of the net for the whole season.

P.S. Lots of interesting facts: - For an organization without leadership (like fans says), the Canadian has the player who won the trophy King Clancy (for the player having contributed for the society and having the best leadership on and outside ice).
- Also, the Canadian has three captains of national teams (Kovalev = Russia, Streit = Swiss and Koivu = Finland)

- Finally, Kovalev, a player which we say that he plays 1 match out of 4 (it is funny, with time it passed from 1game out of 2, to 1 match out of 3, maintaining 1match out of4 and I hear sometimes 1 game out of 5) score a disappointing 47 points. Imagine now that he played each one of his games. We take his poor 47 and multiply it by 4, for a total of 188 points. Do you believe Alexei Kovalev is able to make 188 points in one year? I don’t think so! But he can make an easy 70 points or maybe 80! Then, before throwing numbers like that randomly, think a bit and turn your fingers 7 times above the keyboard.

By: ptitrusse

ptitrusse — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 19:15:05 +0000

Latendresse - Brière - Kovalev 1st line: Latendresse with his physic, could bothered the gaoler, Brière is a great playmaker so he could pass the puck to Kovy who can score or he can give it back to Brière who can score too. Latendresse will learned with experienced players Ryder - Koivu - Higgins 2nd line: We already know what they can do! Kostitsyn - Pleckanec - Grabovski 3rd line: Imagine one of the fastest line in the NHL. Grabovski is a great scorer like Kostitsyn. Pleckanec is a great playmaker who can deliver a great pass or score a goal Bégin - Lapierre - UFA or rookie 4th line: A line who can hit hard and who has amazing grit. Markov - Komisarek 1st duo: Markov is one heck of a player and he did well last year with Komisarek so let’s put them together again. Streit - Preissing 2nd duo: Streit is a great hidden secret and I think he can learn well with a player who has experience. Preissing can score 40 points in a season. Hope he can influence Streit. Bouillon - Dandenault 3rd duo: They were good last year. But I don’t like Dandenault if they can deal him in a package deal, we could put a young D-man like Georges, O’Byrne, Emelin, Fischer and maybe McDonagh in a few years. Price - Huet Gaolkeepers: Huet is a good goalie but we don’t know if he can be in front of the net for the whole season. So we could try Price and if he his ready and good let him be in front of the net for the whole season. P.S. Lots of interesting facts: - For an organization without leadership (like fans says), the Canadian has the player who won the trophy King Clancy (for the player having contributed for the society and having the best leadership on and outside ice). - Also, the Canadian has three captains of national teams (Kovalev = Russia, Streit = Swiss and Koivu = Finland) - Finally, Kovalev, a player which we say that he plays 1 match out of 4 (it is funny, with time it passed from 1game out of 2, to 1 match out of 3, maintaining 1match out of4 and I hear sometimes 1 game out of 5) score a disappointing 47 points. Imagine now that he played each one of his games. We take his poor 47 and multiply it by 4, for a total of 188 points. Do you believe Alexei Kovalev is able to make 188 points in one year? I don’t think so! But he can make an easy 70 points or maybe 80! Then, before throwing numbers like that randomly, think a bit and turn your fingers 7 times above the keyboard.

By: Robby

Robby — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 10:25:17 +0000

I know it sounds strange my solution. I dont do this for this year but im preparing next year. We know that whatever we do this year we wont win the cup so lets prepare 2008-2009. We better trade Huet right now, we wont win anyway, give ice time to both other goalies. After that, im saying not to sign a D man because there is not a D man of the caliber we need, lets wait for next year when our team will be ready.

For Briere, its not because he is French Canadian, I would say the same thing for Drury that is my second pick. Both got nice quality the habs need. Drury : leader, makes a lot of winning goal, he is at his best in playoff. Briere is just exciting to see and im expecting him to a 80-85 points with the hab, not the 95 he did this year. Serioustly forget the french canadian thing im not those kind of freaky quebecer that wants absolutely a quebecer, I am before everything a guy that wants the best player.

For Ryder, he wont be there in 2008-2009 and im not seeing im in the habs future. He is a good player, thats it, he is not the kind of player that makes the difference. The reason why I wanted to trade both for nothing is for cap space to sign kariya and briere. I know its impossible to do that because Bobs has to do that in 3 days ...but, in theory, my proposal is logical .

For Coté, yes i know him a bit but it is not the reason why im doing that. If you had red what i wrote, I was saying that komisarek will be the defensive guy to permit Streit to be more offensive and play on the second PP. Bouillon and Dandenaul;t are the defensive duo and Im only placing Coté with Markov to equilibrate the duos. Markov is the best and Coté the spot 6. Coté proves in the AHL that he is very solid in defense. So , let markov go offense and Coté do the defense job. So we have three equilibrate duos and 2 goalers that are learning and progressing with the other kid. The year after, it will be time, when one of both goaler will be ready, to sign a top D man to complete the puzzle.

Think about it, the habs wont win this year, the D man available are good but not excellent and this is a good year for offensive player. More, a lot of team need goaltender so if we dont want to lose Huet for nothing next year it is our best time to trade him. Im not saying my plan represent the best team for next year but probably the best plan for the next 4-5 years.

Thanks

By: maudsley

maudsley — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 23:14:16 +0000

Such wisdom from mrdude75. Thats describing the habs being nice. The habs stink, move them to Quebec City and have a reall chance at bringing the cup back to Quebec.