Sergei K has asked to be traded

Anyone else see this article??

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puck_daddy/post/Chatting-with-Sergei-Kostitsyn-about-demotion-t;_ylt=AtfB82YjUdbAtgSBo0163el7vLYF?urn=nhl,193677

He may have gotten away with that attitude last year, but not anymore. 

Note to SK: certain things have to be earned, not everything is about entitlement. 

"... et le buuuuut!"

This story just won't go off the news. I don't agree with the way the team handled his demotion. It was more like a punishment. For what? Missing a bus? C'mon! Driving in Montreal can be daunting for anyone expecially if you're not from here. I can never forget the sight of poor Sergei caught in the riot two years ago without a clue what to do. 

I think both sides have to compromise. This shouldn't be a test of egos between Bob Gainey and Sergei. Bob should know that this will have a negative effect on frere Andrei and should act accordingly without killing two birds with one stone.

Sergei is taking the Grabovski method. Now there's irony! Maybe there is something to their summer truce. I wasn't impressed with Grabovski and I'm not impressed with Sergei. Why use the worst player as  a role model? 

I hope this can be amicably resolved. Both parties have to meet halfway.

BG & CO, needs to clear the air on what actually happen last season. IMO, I smell alot of bad apples still lingering in Habs dressing room perhaps? Like some of the posters here on HI/O stated in previous post that maybe Carey Price could be the next to leave this team. What's going on behind the scenes that us Habs fans don't know is beyond wonders. Carey Price just needs to have one bad game at home and all the fans will be all over him like dirt. Carey Price is going to be a great goalie some day and his days could be short fused if media and fans gets on his cases here. I might not be on the right track here but it sure smells like a train going in the wrong direction and this organization has not taken the right steps to handle these young men who have to face adversity day in and day out over some minor issues that could have been dealt by councilling them first. Has their been one on one councilling with players and management? Does these players know what is expected of them and was there an outline right from the start of training camp what is their responsibility when they are away from the rink? Many ?'s that needs to be answered before everyone gets on certain players cases and all hell breaks out. I believe over the last couple of years this team let go some players who came back and haunted the Habs for years to come. GET WITH THE PROGRAM!!!C'MON!!!

SK will do just fine in Chicago, Edmonton, Boston, Washington. Carolina, Toronto, NY, LA, , etc. Unlike several posters on here, SK has value to a team that can coach him and develop his potential. The Canadiens again have demonstrated an inability to develop and mold players. I am not excusing SK's attitude but Martin and Gainey clearly sent the message that SK was no longer wanted by the way he was cut from the team. You can cut someone without embarrassing them. If someone has told you you are not wanted then it is logical to seek employment elsewhere. It is up to Gainey to extract some value for a player who has some real upside. This is Gainey's weak area. I suspect SK will be just another player we will let go for nothing. We might not like some players but that is no reason to let them  go for nothing. That is not smart business nor is it anyway to run a hockey team. I don't see the Detroit's or Pittsburgh's  of the league discarding talent the way we do for nothing. Either these teams  do not draft players with an attitude or they develop them. Gainey and Co have a problem in this area.

Bob the ball is in your court.

mjames

I think he is just very mad that he can't have a re match with Grabovski tomorrow.

:p

brian burke is definitely picking up sergei, to stir the pot ya know?

SK, AK, and Pleks to LA for Dustin Brown, and a first round pick....any takers? 

Worst case scenario: trade him. AT this stage he's worthless.

Second worst: buy him out. N one else wants him- why bother?

Best case scenario: wait a week for his temper to cool and the money situation starts to dawn on him; let him apologize, accept the apology, welcome him back to Hamilton on major probation.

_______________

Chorske's Rule #1: as the Habs' lead in any given game increases, the probability of a HIO poster predicting an imminent Stanley Cup championship approaches one.

 i haven't read everyone else's comments on the sergei thing but i think he's beinga HUGE baby lala(and thats putting it nicely)..you don't show up on time for a team bus ride..you mess up in practise and expect to be treated like you desreve to be on the team give me a break..i say good riddance to him if he thinks he'll be treated better elsewhere behaving the way he does

The funny trhing about this, is he isnt allowed to go play in the KHL this season the internatioanl hockey federation wont allow it he has to let his contract run out before he runs away to the KHL or he'll be banned from international stuff and i think theres even more things that he loses in the end he better stop being a baby cuz unless we trade him he's staying in hamilton, what a baby lala lol we dont need you lets trae him for a deserving american or candian player.

Sergei needs to go live with Kovy for a bit for some therapy

Good Riddance Sergi have  a great K.H.L. career and don't let the door hit you on the way out....

Good Riddance Sergi have  a great K.H.L. career and don't let the door hit you on the way out....

...crap

Habitant means PASSIONATE HOCKEY

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=423049

SK must have done something to deserve the cut before the Caledon trip.  And of course Martin and Bob discussed the potential fallout of busting him back to Hamilton.  I'm sure they even expected this.

He was once a promising prospect for the Habs and one day might be again.  I doubt it though.

The reality is that he has ZERO trade value.  There is no point in trading him unless he is part of a package, and so for Sergei it is likely that he'll either play in Hamilton this year or he'll play in the KHL.  

That's my opinion, anyway.  I'm a little bummed at the way things turned out but hey, SK made his bed and now he needs to lie in it. In BOB and JACQUES we trust.  I feel confident that they made the right call.

About the kid...

Yes, he missed the team bus (and probably heard quite a bit about it). Yes, he was pretty arrogant in some of the interviews he gave during the camp. Yes, he is an up and down player. Yes, he gives us every reasons to call him a brat... He is unpredictable.

With all that said, I don't think Martin sent him down only because of his attitude and the "missed bus incident". I think he was sent down mostly to capture back his game after a summer in which he went under the knife. He came in camp late because of surgery and had trouble getting back to NHL speed... He took it bad.

I blame him for his lack of patience, but to say that the kid has no talent or that we should trade him doesn't make any sense...

About his talent... 50 points in 108 games, playing 14 minutes per game is pretty decent for a player his age. Also, to pin him down as a heartless european would be a mistake. He is as feisty as they get and plays with lots of grit. He has to the potential to play very well in all 3 zones and is very comfortable with physical play.

About trading him... Because he asked to be traded, he's worth next to nothing. Let him either sit or report to the Dogs. If he decides to head to the KHL, his rights will remain ours and I don't see a problem with that.

Finally, as much as I wish Dags success on the third line, that should of been Serguei's spot and I'm pretty disappointed. Max and Gui could of used a fast, physical and crafty play maker who can play well in his own zone. Dags is more of a north south sniper without a clue in his own zone... Oh well.

In Bob, we trust!

SK74 wants out?  No problem. 

Hey Bob & Co., don't stop with him add his Bros. and PLEKS on that list.  How does anybody in their right mind believe that six small FWDS can last a season and carry you through to the playoffs?  Rediculous roster...

--I will die a delirious fan and never apologize for it!--

Wow, this is rather upsetting. I always liked sk74 because he just had this thing that not all players have. He had speed, a quick burst and when he got the puck you wanted to watch. Also, unlike most Russians (no offense to russians) He isn't a little wuss who backs off. This guy plays with a whole lot of emotion. To me he reminds me of Kovalchuk, except obviously not as skilled, but the potential is there. I wished Andrei could lead by example and help his brother but things look down now. I hope sk74 stays.

Also, check this vid out of Kovalchuk dominating former leaf loser cheapshot mccabe

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2TyqMzIs8s

_______________________________________________________________________ "We in a fight to the finish, so I say why not fight till you finished" READ THIS ARTICLE http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/michael_farber/05/13/fleur...

Well that's disappointing...

I don't even hear his name in tonight's Bulldogs game either.

I really wonder why Sergei didn't make the trip to Caledon along with the rest of the team. I think maybe this situation could have been averted, had he been sent to Hamilton along with the other players and not a couple days before. Did management not want Sergei to poison the trip or were they trying to send an early message to him...I mean the Bulldogs hadn't even got back from Scotland and he was sent down.

I BLEED BLEU BLANC ET ROUGE!!!

Sorry this was response to our regular contributor ..chorske...they said screw it and made an example of him...they sent him to a team that was overseas from a team about to undergo it's team building exercise.....after sitting him out the game after he responds to Martins tirade and gets the first star.  They also made an example of him last year.....again with poor timing....they didn't send him down when his play was bad, they didn't send him down when he was partying because that was allegedly going onthe whole time...they sent him down rigt after he seemed to get his act together (on the ice anyway) and started to play well.  They embarassed him .......and I am sure he knows he ahs embarassed himself but he didn't it to be handled like it was and whether or not people want to acknowledge it or not it was handled poorly. 

He should have been nipped in the bud early if he was such a problem...if the organization is unhappy with him now maybe they should reflect upon what they continually keep doing wrong because I can't think of any otehr organization that has had this type of recurring problem like we have in the last few years.  If it were just Sergei maybe there is an argument but it isn't.......it's someone or a handful of guys every year lately........at some point we have to look at the bigger picture here....we keep running talent out of town.  Maybe we and the organization take a little too much stock in the history and glory of our Habs.....times have changed....as much as it pains me we aren't all that glorious anymore and it really isn't that much of a privilege to play for the Habs....you get hounded by the media, the fans, us cyber freaks, the whole city knows who you are, the taxes are brutal, your kids need to learn another language, the weather sucks, there is no parking anywhere in the city, .....and worst of all......the team hasn't sipped out of a Stanley Cup in 16 years......so what exactly is it that is such a privilege to a player of the new generation? We need to do some serious self examining and realize that noone is going to replace the Beliveau's, Richards, Roys, Lafleurs........nor should they have to.  A new pride needs to be instilled and a new sense of organziational respect from within and that means under the terms of todays game where palyers have more control than they used to.  This isn't just the players though....management needs to operate under the same principles....a kid is partying too much...you quietly confront him, get him heolp, bunk him with a role model,etc.Teams take care of each other and it seems every year we hang a few guys out to dry anymore...it is wearing very thin with me.

I bleed Habs blood and devote waaay too much time to them but I also know in looking at my 9 year old and other people that the days of us walking ultra tall because we are the mighty Habs are gone......I want them back but the harsh new reality is that we need to earn that and that goes for managment too.  The days of :the hockey sweater" are gone.......2 out of 3 kids in Montreal would probably rather an Ovechkin or Crosby jersey than any Habs.  If they want to rid the organization of these guys than there are better ways of doing it than public humiliation and no asset return.

Hey MikeL...sorry, I've been in and out all day, so I'll reply with a new one to save you going back a bit.

I agree that there is a difference between a North American player demanding a trade to another NHL team and a Russian player going to the KHL.  What I take umbrage with is that the KHL is this nasty entity that the Russians use as leverage against the NHL.  The villification of Russians of late is frustrating.

30 players with NHL experience signed on with KHL teams this season.  The curious thing?  Only 7 were Russian born players.  6 Finns, 4 Czechs, 3 Swedes, 3 Canadians, 2 Slovakians, 2 Americans, 2 Latvians and 1 Swiss.

Disenchanted players of all stripes have gone to the KHL.  In general, they are players that do not have sufficient leverage to pull a Heatley, but don't want to waste away in the minors for a franchise they feel has lost faith in them.  The KHL is a new lever that they can use, and players of all nationalities have been using it.  Only the Russians have been villified.

And it's not just the KHL...players have used European leagues for years to make a living while trying to somehow get their way back into the NHL.  Now the toast of the NHL, both Brian Rafalski and Tim Thomas plied their trade in Finland before coming back to North America to find success.

If I were Gainey, I wouldn't even trade him. Go to Hamilton or sit the season out, punk.

trade him to nashville or phoenix for a pick. end of story. let him discover and enjoy the nightlife tennesse has to offer.

i bLEED BLEU BLANC ET ROUGE!!!

I don't think we are being tough on a kid. He's only a kid because he acts like one. Most functional 22 year olds can hold jobs, manage studies and have lives. This guy's old enough to be his own man. We are responsible for the things we do and the messes we make. He's an adult - why play the game of pretending he's forever a child? He's a grown up acting like a child by avoiding basic responsibilities.

When he's forty, he'll be a forty year old %^$%$#. Now he's a $%$# in his early twenties who can't manage to do a job that lets him live a pretty pleasant life. It's a shame for hockey watchers that we won't get to watch him play to his potential, but here's hoping we've seen the full potential of his ability to act like an ***. He's not some puppet of an evil agent. He's a man acting foolishly.

I was looking forward to some more of the rivalry between him and Grabovski. Oh well BIG game comming up and the important thing is that we win as a team.

aww, did Coach Martin hurt your feelings, Sergei?

This is the NHL, and to get there you have to be committed to the sport, to be caring more in their lives to be in the league.  And to think that going to party every night and spend a lot of time having fun, well I guess they deserve to be if they are in the league, but they got to remember their careers are what got them there.

Nobody have to tell Sergei to smarten up, but he really have to figure out for himself what would be his choices for the future.

<-----The future of Georges Laraque.

A lot of people are being pretty hard on this kid. I guess that's justified, afterall... no one here has ever screwed up. No one here has every dogged it. No one here has ever had a bad attitude about their work. No one here has ever quit a job or complained about their work situation.

Everyone here takes demotions with complete grace. Everyone here is a thoroughly class act with impeccable control of their emotions... except when they are doing the tough challenging work involved with the typing of a comment on this website.

If you trash this kid - this 21, 22 or 23 year old (whatever he is) - is it because you'd trash your own kid for a similar mistake? Just wondering.

Friend of mine put it well this aft in an email:

At work, we call this kind of thing a CLM: Career Limiting Manoeuvre.

_______________

Chorske's Rule #1: as the Habs' lead in any given game increases, the probability of a HIO poster predicting an imminent Stanley Cup championship approaches one.

Sigh, I had hope for you Sergei.

What a weiner this kid is... Trade the peckerhead.... what are we gonna get for him? Couple Jezabells?? Buncha Skate Laces??? A Cafe Mocha??

Sergei's problem is much smaller compared to Heatley's case.

We didn't know exactly what Sergei did that led to the coach's decision. In any case, Martin acted very fast. Did he try to use Sergei as an example to show who is in charge. Sergei had a bad reputation. He was the main party-boy as shown in some well-published photos. I wouldn't be surprise that he needs to get more mature.

I hope Sergei can straignten himself out. It would be better for him and for the club.

My opinion was I always believed he was an overrated player in our system with the media, fans and the organization doing a great job in promoting him to play int the NHL with his brother.

If his name were not Kostitsyn, I assure you that he would be playing in the minors for at least 2 years before leaving to Stolichnaya Land.

Sorry to hear he broke alot of young girl's hearts, whose going to be the next Habs idol?

Let him walk, we need heroes on our team not cry babies.

"We will win the Cup one day only with a mature Carey Price in the nets"

What has this kid done to deserve to call the shots? What kind of incredible talent has he shown that the rules don't apply to him??? EVERYONE ELSE, but not him? He can't even make the frikin bus to Quebec City... Players in Hamilton and all over the AHL have had games in the NHL and have records similar to his. He didn't show enough desire to make the team. All he had to do was prove he was responsible and would play hard for the team...He didn't.  Who is going to pick up a player like that?  Why are we going to give him up for something like that.  I say let him cool his heels in Hamilton, or at home where he will slowly lose any chance to play in the NHL. We need to show him who is in charge, and who is the 22 year old kid with next to NO experience... 

There may be other teams, but only ONE Club De Hockey...

Oh Man;;  Tell me that doesn,t resemble the Mike Ribiero saga....and i,ll be damned if he goes on to do as well as Ribiero has done in Dallas

Sergei got "slapped down" to Hamilton not "sent down".

Hopefully it was for the right reasons (which I suspect).

Offensively he had more upside "potential" then our other prospects but potential means only that.

Too bad, but cannot see him coming back.

SK needs to report to Hamilton and get his confidence back. SK does have the potential of being an important player for the Habs. As he matures and takes the game seriously. SK needs to go and get away from it all. Give him a few days to decide what his future with this organization is going to be. SK is young and will change when others steer him in the right direction. BIG BRO needs to tell him so. Go Habs Go!!!

I'm really struggling with that "In bob we trust" stuff that used to be preached on this website...