What is going on?
Ever since the rumours of a pending Lecavalier trade to Mtl, the Habs have played terrible hockey! Kovalev played well at the all star game, but there really wasn’t anyone trying too hard to stop him. He stated after the game that he would keep it going for the rest of the season..what happened there?
There were many players names tossed out in the rumoured trade for Vinny, is that what has affected them. Has it put a strain on the room? Pierre McGuire says that in his opinion it is that too many players will be either restricted or un-restricted free agents at the end of the season. He says because Gainey doesn’t traditionally negotiate contracts during the season, these two factors are causing the problems.I don’t buy that since the players know the way Gainey works and because normally, players in the last year of their contracts, play hard to get a better one!
My opinion is that the injuries have hurt, some guys have regressed ( Plekanec, the Kostitsyn’s) and the rumoured trades. Kovalev hasn’t helped either. Age aside, he is trying too many times to be a one man show and then gets frustrated when he can’t beat the whole team and then takes dumb penalties. He tries to be too fancy too often. It is almost like he wants to prove to guys like Ovechkin that he is still the wizard.
Now that they are struggling, maybe they do need to shake things up a bit. From what was reported yesterday, Florida is officially taking offers for Boowmeister and they aren’t asking for half the team like Tampa was for Lecavalier. They say it would take a d-man, a prospect, a draft pick, and a another roster player. As Much as I like Gorges, I would offer;
Gorges, Emelin, Higgins, 1st round in 2010, 3rd round 2009. I don’t think that Gainey would want to give up the first round this year since the draft is in MTL. I added the 3rd rounder as compensation. Pierre McGuire says that Emelin is NHL ready now and will probably be a top 2 with a mean streak. That would be something Florida should be interested in. Gorges has proved to be a solid 3 or 4. Look at him come back after what Gauthier did!! Mtl still may want to pick up another depth forward. Maybe they could get Eric Cole for not too much. There are rumours of Gaborik, but he would cost a lot, and as talented as he is, he isn’t a warrior type like Cole and that is what you need in the playoffs. I know it was said that the Wild would take less than they originally were asking for Gaborik because of the injury, but someone will still drive his price up!
Pacioretty looks very good, but is young, and Latendresse was starting to look more comfortable. A big centre would still be a nice piece to add, but there really aren’t any available that would help, and the ones that would, come at a steep price. At this point, Mtl has brought up just about all the top end talent available in Hamilton. The next wave is still in junior or US college, so there is still a ways to go before they are legit contenders. Price needs to find the mental and physical talents that he used to be successful in junior and with Hamilton. He may be young, but so were Brodeur and Roy. It might be best to send him down for “conditioning” and get him ready for the playoffs. That is if they start playing ike they did to start the season, instead of the way they’ve played since all the trade talk!