The puzzler

"Is the guy a closeted heroin addict?"

Wow, Boone you better be careful with that kind of accusation. Do you have a photo of him shooting up in the Bell Centre dressing room? If I were Tanguay, I'd call up my lawyer and sue you (and Canwest Publishing Inc.) for libel.

Please go back to "writing" stories about iPhones.

Him not being signed doesn't mean anything really..Why aren't Kovy and Koivu or others signed? Maybe he's sifting through posibilities about where to play next lol

I'm sure you are still happy Mike, BG hasn't dealt Gorges..because I will find it rather difficult watching the habs without Ak27 :( aka the artiste!

Check out Mirtle's latest.

Tanguay is a player.  Whoever signs Tanguay is going to get a fantastic deal.

If 5.25 million is too much to pay for 16 goals then I'm guessing 8 million is too much to pay for 17 goals.

 TO NEXT YEAR...

 ... this afternoon i asked Canes Country's Bubba this question : ..... 

by nightmare_49 on Jul 5, 2009 2:04 PM PDT reply actions   0 recs          ..........................................  Bubba's reply .....  

by Bubba on Jul 5, 2009 3:15 PM PDT reply actions   0 recs    .......   and there were many other responces

This morning i asked The Thrashers top blog a question: to The Falconer ......  In Montreal there is a strong rumor that Waddell is very interested in Kovy to help your PP and maybe play with the other two Russians (Kovalchuk-Antropov). Any truth to the rumor.        ................. I thank The Falconer for his Answer: .....  

by The Falconer on Jul 5, 2009 10:11 AM EDT up reply actions   0

Kovalev was the heart and soul of last year's habs!

Exactly.

Until I hear a better theory, I'll stick to mine which was that all the rumours about Tangs not playing the playoffs despite fairly minor injuries were actually true and the league knows about it now. Either that, or he was an expensive complainer.

There had to be a big reason: the guy is a francophone, was gotten for two high picks and played fairly well. HAD to be off-ice issues unless he asked for $7M a year.

From Hell's Heart I Slap At Thee!!

If Koivu, Kovalev and Tanguay are gone they are gone and I wish them well, but I do think they should put money aside and come back for one year at a 1.5 million each and go get that cup. Those guys would make a great second line, that most teams could not deal with. I don't think the habs lack of size would matter much then. They would probably still need one more D man and of course Price would have to be at his best to win with any line up.

Third line, pleks and the brothers

Fourth line, Maxime with Gui and Max Pac

Greg Stewart and Big Goerge in the press box to be used when needed.

That's my fantasy, 

The cup would be a lot sweeter with Koivu.

Tanguay is a better playmaker than Gomez and Gionta, and has better hands around the net. The only area those two have him beat is defensive play, from their years in Jersey. However Tanguay did lead in plus/minus last season. We need some secondary scoring depth, and forgive me for not being an optimist here, but if the Bros. and Pleks are the players from last season, well we're not going to have any. Tanguay is a sure fire consistent point producer, and last season was the first time he missed any significant time with injury, so don't start with the he's soft, made of glass bullshit because you couldn't be more wrong

Can someone explain to me why there is a bring back Kovy petition when Kovy was offered a contract and HE decided not to re-sign here, or am I missing something?

http://moeymusings.blogspot.com/

Ok I realize there are some people that are taking actions to try and convince BG and Kovy to come to terms and make a deal. I would love to see him back with the team just as much as the next Kovy fan (and Canadiens fan). I will not protest, or collect somewhere to chant his name, but there are those that would and I say more power to you. There are fans that are criticizing them, I say, leave them alone and let them be, it is all positive anyways (which is something this team needs), so don't be negative towards them. Fans will be fans, no matter who they cheer for, they all do the same (actors, actresses, musicians, etc).

Wasn't it fans of the NYI that said they would be refunding season tickets, etc if Snow did not draft Tavares? Fans are crazy, they do crazy and passionate things (I remember going to the Game 7 MTL vs BOS and what took place after the win, CRAZY!)

So cheer up everyone that will miss Kovy, I will as well, but this team is on good hands and I think it will be exciting to watch this season, with or without L'Artiste.

GO HABS GO!

I basically think our biggest concern is our goaltending and how will Martin handle a subpar start by Price (hope not), will he have the option of going with Halak.

I believe that BG is going all out, and will not hesitate to give the green light to Martin to pull the plug on Price.

Any thoughts ??? As I think this is the biggest mystery of the season to come.

_________________________ Scream for me Montreal.....

off topic, but i'm starting to feel sorry for all the ex-girlfriends and boyfriends of the people who won't let kovy go...get over it!

- thanks for everything, saku koivu.

I think it's the receding hairline. He just doesn't look good in team photos.

Today at 1PM, at the Place du Centenaire/Centre Bell, there will be a Bring Kovalev Back 'manifestion'. For those of us who support a bring Kovy back Petition (two of them, plse see my earlier post), this is your chance.

Cheers, GD

I posted on the MAIN that there are two petitions circulating in favor of bringing back Kovalev:

1) at http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/sauvons-kovalev it's up to 8643 and climbing very fast

2) at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/kovalev/signatures.html it's up to 6910 and climbing as well

This totals up to over 15,500 signatures for Kovy being brought back to the Habs.

In comparison, with no disrespect to Koivu, at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/bringbacksaku/signatures.html, there are 2573 signatures climbing at a 1/10 th the speed of the above two for Kovy and especially 1).

Without discrediting Koivu's merits, it is obvious that Kovalev is by far a much more popular choice.

GD

Mike

This could prove to be Gainey's biggest mistake, signing Tanguay for two draft picks (first, second) and getting in return only 41 points in 50 games.

Gainey stated that with Gomez in the fold he didn't need another passer but rather more scoring power, which he acquired with Gionta and Cammalleri.

A year ago and a year later with nothing in return. I believe that Gainey will be judged for how little he received for former Habs (Ribeiro, Huet, Souray come to mind) and nothing for the likes of Ryder, Streit, Kovalev, Koivu, Tanguay, Higgins and Komisarek, players with solid value at points in time over the pastyear.

You would have thought that Gainey could have, should have traded away some of the above problems before it was too late. The team was going nowhere in February last and he could have received something for some of these players.

Gainey has certainly rebuilt the Habs and time will tell to what degree he will have succeeded.

One question remains however: is he doing this reconstruction from the point of view of a solid game plan, well thought out and so on; or is doing this "face-lift" in a reactive, somewhat subjective, narrow view of things? I believe the mistakes he has made, and there are many, seem to have left him (in his mind) with little or no alternative but what he has accomplished so far since the draft and UFO's, eh! sorry UFA's. I get confused sometimes since these guys seem to arrive from planets beyond our solar system.

My take on Gainey: he'll not be around after next season. Too many negatives. A bit like with Koivu.

To digress further: if the fans don't support the lack of players who speak French and play hard as well (i.e. read as good as or better than any other option), if Price doesn't respond (and I have some serious doubts here!) among a few more "ifs" which I'm sure many of us can fill in,...then this season could be both painfull and lengthy.

Obviously trades and the Feb deadline can re-direct a team where it wants to go and certainly Gainey can act when it becomes necessary.

We will all continue to analyze and fan-anlyze over the course of the summer. What else is there to do?

One thing is sure, and this would go a long way to stabilizing the situation: bring Kovalev back and make him captain. I'm convinced he's up to assuming the role. The stars were aligned for this to happen. I continue to believe that they are still.

Best regards Mike

Georges Drouin

I've been scratching my head over Tanguay, as well. Maybe it's head lice. Actually, although I hope Gomez and Gionta discover an old goal scoring romance and Cammillari scores 50 too, I'm not seeing it. Boston will still push us around, well, unless BGL has adjusted or thrown out his peculiar code. Is this all there is?    

If we are going to sign one of Kovy, Koivu, Tanguay and Lang...isn't Kovy the safest bet? Isn't he the one that provides the most reward with the least risk? Koivu might be the heart and soul of the Habs, but in terms of production he is not a very valuable player anymore. Tanguay and Lang are both coming off injuries. Tanguay has the reputation of being soft (which I do not agree with) is the least "captain material" of the bunch. For the record, we do not have a single player on our team that can be captain YET. I still have faith in Gorges and Lapierre, but Gorges needs to make a bigger on-ice contribution and Lapierre needs to gain some more respect from officials and other players. Lang (I'm a BIG fan) was a wonderful plan B last year. However, with his injury, we cannot be certain of his status until training camp. Kovy, while he did not have his best year, still had a very decent year. He runs our powerplay. He can astound you with his vision on the PK. He can score goals. He can dish the puck. He is big and strong on the puck and, finally, he is the biggest crowd-pleaser we've had in a while. He would also be the shoe-in for the captaincy (maybe this is why I'm supporting him. I would love to see his play if he was given the C for an entire season). If there was one guy from last year I'd bring back with the 4M or so we'd supposedly have leftover after RFA signings it would be him. Of course, Gainey could also use that money to sign a #2 or #4 defenseman (depending on your opinion of Spacek). Someone like Beauchemin, Seidenberg, Barker (IMO he'd be the smartest pick up) or a veteran Schneider or Zubov. 

Ya know, someone on HIO chastised me a few posts ago for not letting go of the Full Breezer jokes. 

On reflection, I think they were right to do it and we should all let it go and move on. Fact is, there were enough players last year on the Habs who were a joke to make Breezy's mental lapses look small in comparison.

So, no more Full Breezer for me. On October 2nd I'm looking for a new goat.

Tanguay should have been the first player we signed, he's a better playmaker than all 3 of the forwards we picked up. He can't expect a pay raise when he was injured most of last season. He seemed to like playing here, he's another player with valuable playoff experience and is pretty clutch in the playoffs. Those of you who seem to think he's soft are idiots. We need more depth at forward still we can't have too many young guys in the lineup, Tanguay can be considered a veteran now at his age, he's got a lot of points left in him, and would make us that much more of a threat whatever line he ends up on. As much as I like him Kovy and Koivu, if I had to choose one, it'd be Tanguay based on the fact he has the most left in the tank, he has much more to offer in terms of high level play for a longer period of time. Doesn't hurt that he's french and the closest thing we'll have to a french star player until this Leblanc kid develops, which all signs point to at the moment.