What the 08-09 Habs is looking like+ Sundin.
I read the article about Koivu to the Wild and the horrible trade offer he porposed that Gainey should do and I just had to post something a little better.Now the Montreal Canadiens came off a spectacular year. A few days before July 1st we were informed that Bob Gainey trading for the rights of Mats Sundin. I thought right there and then Mats Sundin was going to sign with the Canadiens. I was surprised that Mats told Gainey that he was going to wait for July 1st and I honestly didnt beleive it was going to take him this long to choose. Retiring is out of the question now, there is no way Mats will retire if he wanted to retire he would of already and i hope he wouldnt pull a Favre:P. Now people who posted comments in other Habs things said the Koivu would move to the wing and I tell you right now Koivu is not moving the the wing he will be hte 3rd line centre(I have my sources). Its very hard to change someones position when they played centre there entire life. And the best thing Gainey has done all year so far is getting Alex Tanguay for the 1st and 3rd round pick. So here is a look at what the 08-09 Habs lines:
Alex Tanguay-Mats Sundin-Sergei Kostitsyn.
Andrei Kostitsyn-Tomas Plekanec-Alex Kovalev.
Chris Higgins-Saku Koivu-Guillaume Latendress.
Tom Kostopoulos-Kyle Chipchura-George Laraque/Steve Begin.
Andrei Markov-Mike Komisarek
Roman Hamrlik-Ryan O’Byrne
Josh Gorges-Francis Boullion/Ryan Mcdonough.
Carey Price
Jaroslav Halak
Let me brake down these lines for you. The first line consists of an amazing playmaker in Alex Tanguay. With Sundin infront of the net it would let Sergei Kostitsyn wide up his amazing shot and Sundin can bary the rebound. If there is a rebound.
Line 2: Are most productive line last year. This line only works if Kovalev gives us 82games again.
Line 3: Higgins and Koivu will never be seperated. And I put Lattendresse there because Koivu needs a big body infront of the net. If you watched last years playoff games against Philly, Koivu was always infront of the net making things happen. Koivu is 5″10 and Lattendresse is 6″2, imagine what type of player Latendresse could become if he stands infront of the net.
Line 4: Basicaly are checking line. You throw in Laraque who is the heavyweight champion of the NHL and nobody will dear to touch Kovalev, Koivu or Sundin. Nobody would dear to touch anyone on the team. Laraque was signed so Komisarek would see less minutes in the box and he wont have to do all the dirty work.
Defence: We have one of the best defences in the league. O’Byrne is a big boy, him with Hamrlik will be a great shut down defensive pairing. Komisarek with Markov gives us that mix of offence and defence. And are line of Gorges and Boullion is are line who gives us 82games. Dont be surprised if you see Mcdonough play a few games cause I find that Boullion is a little injury prone.
Goalies: Carey Price is without a doubt a future Martin Brodeur. Forget about the series with the Flyers the kid is 20 years old and he brought us to 1st in the east and he is the only reason we made it out of the 1st round against the Bruins. Price will play about 55-60 games and we have a solid backup in Jaroslav Halak. If Price or Halak were to go down, we have Marc Denis is the minors who is a veteran. Im not sure but I think I remember a game were Marc Denis played outstanding against us.
Now people are saying we need to shed some salary to sign Sundin. No trades need to be made, all Gainey has to do is buy-out Mathieu Dandenaults contract of 1.85mill a year and we have enough for Sundin.
Hope you like this article.