Press review

Yikes, aren't we usually the OVERACHIEVING Canadiens? What a difference a year makes.

I keep looking at TK's TKO on Mike Van Ryn...People in the media are making Kostopoulos seem like an axe murdered...I'm thinking it's gotta be because it happened against a Leaf...I'm not saying TK was not at fault...it was a clear hit from behind...Van Ryn lost God knows how many teeth and got concussed...No way you can let TK off scot free and he does deserve atleast 1 game...All I'm saying is...the media (mainly in Toronto including the Toronto Sports Network (TSN) are making the hit worse than it was...the hit...the intent to injure...they're making a Sean Avery out of Tom Kostopoulos... I've looked at the hit many times...In TK's defence he finished his check...he didn't drive his elbows into the back of Van Ryn's neck...He didn't lift his feet while hitting...Van Ryn did absolutely nothing to protect himself...he had time to elude the hit instead he turtled with his face towards the boards...He made the hit worse than it was and caused himself more damage...damage alone is causing the controversy here...wanna know why? Here's Proof!!! Why the hell isn't anyone talking about what Grabovski pulled in the crease on Price? Was there no intent to injure? The guy tries to 6 inch a future star player...injure the future face of the habs...What the hell was that? NO CALL...CBC doesn't even show it...Don Cherry did though which surprises me that he would make a Leaf look bad...That was clearly premeditated...there was clear intent to injure...Wanna talk about careless? That's was ludacris!! You wanna tell me that gets no suspension? Hey you're honor...I blew up my neighbor's car but unfortunately he wasn't in it so what i did was fine...BS!! The league has a lot of reviewing to do on its rules...If they let guys go around and 6 inch anyone they please as long as they miss...No one is talking about Grabovski cause he intended to injure but didn't...and Kostopoulos looks worse cause he didn't intend to injure but did...Luck of the Irish...no...Luck of the Leaf (doesn't apply to Championships though) Knowing is Half the Battle...

The NHL Morning Papers (Monday Edition) : Journalist Mark Zwolinski - Is he Accusing the Habs of Bullying his Beloved laffs, Olaf Kolzig faces his Ex Mates and Bruins survibe a Difficult Early Schedule .. by Ari ..... http://www.illegalcurve.com/2008/11/10/nhl-morning-papers-monday-edition... .................................................. Spector on Whose Getting Sundin and Shanahan ..... http://msn.foxsports.com/nhl/story/8777336/Getting-Sundin,-Shanahan-is-t... .............................. The New York Times Morning Skate : Unruly Habs, Rashomon Rangers and Roberto-O .. by Stu Hackel ..... http://slapshot.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/09/the-morning-skate-rashomon-...

Speaking of redundant, let me say that Stephen Brunt's article is a great read. Redundancy squared, if I don't say so myself:-) Going For The Brass Ring - 25 Cups In 100 Years

There's a stinging review of Bouwmeester in the SI column, from an anonymous NHL scout saying he's got a weak point shot and hasn't developed as much as hoped.

Interesting article on our millionaire 4th liners. I was at first excited at the signing of Georges Laraques but so far he hasn't really delivered for the amount of money we're paying him. There probably isn't much we can do about it this year but I suspect we'll let go of a lot of our current 4th liners or sign them for less than a million each. I'd like to see Dandenault back on D just to see what he can do there for a game or two. Whether our team can push themselves to the next level will depend strongly on the younger players particularly the performance of the Kostitsyn bros. It seems that when they don't put up points in a game our overall team play is poor. Guys like Koivu, Kovy & Tanguay are veterans that are playing at high levels so you can't expect much more from them. After being best in the West last season, Lang's been struggling in faceoffs, any ideas why? Markov has been a beast offensively but defensively he's been awful. I don't know why the only thing I'm sure of is that sometimes he looks a bit slow. Hamrlik is certainly the key to our D but Markov has to play much better defensively. He's shown he can do it so he just needs to get back to that level. OB was pretty good for us last season, so what's changed this season that has him struggling? As for our coveted right point trigger man. I think we need to have a bit of patience. Players who occupy that position will need to practice getting hard slappers on net. Before Souray's 26 goal season, he was notorious for missing the net with his canon slapshot. It took him multiple seasons before he managed to learn how to direct it on net. Still our pp has relied on that play way too much. It's so predictable that teams have learned how to nullify it. We need more variety in our pp options.

Look -it,I love my Habs and watching good hard hitting N.H.L. hockey,"wish all our players would hit,lol" and I know Tom the Bomb was doing his thing,but if the players are injured ,in Hospital,CRIPPLED or worst case DEAD then game over.I don't know Van Ryn or like Van Ryn"LAFF'S" but brain injury,broken hand ,7 missing teeth and broken nose,man the GUY NEEDS A PRIEST.If that hit was any harder from behind,at the very least it would of blown his skates off his feet or???????I would like the Habs to hit real hard,but don't play ignorant like the Fliers ,Laff's etc.It's the 100 year of Les Canadiens ,don't kill that too!

Like everyone else I was shocked at Saturday's debacle! I am now rethinking our record and wondering if it's inflated. What is going on? Are the LAFFS better than everyone thought? Has Wilson played the "no expectations of glory" card to perfection? What about our "star studded" lineup? Are we worse than everyone thought? Does Carbo hold any cards? Cetainly there are a few jokers in our deck. Bring on some Hamilton hustle and bench Mr.Was (Bris), Mr.Never Was (Dand) and Mr. Never Will Be (Lats). Put Pleks with the brothers Kosti. Welcome the bros to the NHL and remind them that they belong. Put Kovalev with Lang and Higgins. Put Koivu with Tanguay and D'Agos or Pac. Tell George to beat someone up on his next shift if our goalie gets run. Tell everyone that someone must pay immediately if our goalie gets run. Accept that a few lost PP opps are worth the message sent. Tell O'Byrne to get nasty or sit out. Trade a good prospect and draft pick for a top 4 D. Put someone else in the right point shooter position on the PP. (Tanguay?) Play Begin. Okay...I've vented...

They need the forwards to come back into the zone for the outlet pass. It's fairly simple really.

true van ryan did turn at the last split second.tom.k. drove thru and finished his check, didnt pull back.tom.k will prob get 3 games or so. habs better wake up and get it together. all the habs d need to play stronger, and as a team stop taking dumb penaltys which end up killing us.go habs go.

Nothing Wrong With Kostopoulos Hit http://wwweyesontheprize.blogspot.com/2008/11/nothing-wrong-with-kostopo... Includes video of hit and the Milac Lucic smashing of Van Ryn one week prior.

Gotta go with Damien Cox on this one if Van Ryn had grabbed the puck and continued skating forward he would've been hit hard but most likely not injured. As it was he reversed and made a back pass and at the speed those players are going it's hard to pull back at the last second because Van Ryn turned. A lot of hits from behind I've seen are because the player getting hit tries to do something a little fancy and turns his back right as he's about to get hit. A game misconduct and a short suspension are requisite and probably won't hurt the habs to much but I don't think there was anything wrong with that play.