"The book that Laraque is talking about is Un bon exemple de ténacité – Maurice Richard You can find that book in any French primary school library..."
Laraque remembers the Rocket
posted by Mike Boone at 7h08 EST on Aug 20
Scott Cullen of TSN is doing a two-part series on the NHL's 50 most attractive trade targets – including Hemsky.
Carey Price checks in at number 29.
• • •
Mark Seidel of The Hockey News rates the Canadiens' 2008 draft a C+
Although
the Canadiens secured the tallest player in the draft with the
selection of 6-foot-8 goaltender Jason Missiaen, the theme for
Montreal’s weekend was small players. Their first pick - 56th overall -
was U.S. NDTP scorer Danny Kristo who stands 5-foot-11, but plays like
he’s 6-foot-5 and at NACS, we love his willingness to compete. Kristo
has good offensive skills and has shown flashes of being a natural
goal-scorer. He still has time to develop these attributes as he is
headed to the hockey factory in North Dakota to play for the Fighting
Sioux, so don't expect to see him in the NHL for a few years. In the
third round, the Habs went out on a bit of a limb by taking previously
passed-over right winger Steve Quailer from the Sioux City Musketeers
of the USHL. After that, the Habs took the aforementioned Missiaen who
hasn’t become the stud that many, including us, predicted he would be
after joining the Peterborough Petes. Like many big kids, though, his
size is an asset and it’ll take a while for his coordination to catch
up to his frame. Missiaen has all the tools to become a good goaltender
down the road. The Habs finished off the draft by taking a couple more
smallish forwards who have overachieved in their careers so far: Maxim
Trunev and Patrick Johnson. It will be a stretch to see either play at
the NHL level and we at NACS feel their highest upside is a career in
the American League.
• • •
The Philadelphia papers are talking up Mats Sundin ... and not even mentioning the Canadiens as a possible destination.
Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren told the Inquirer:
"Personally, I'd like it to all go away," Holmgren said of the rumors that the Flyers were in the mix for Sundin. "What's the sense when we don't even know if he's going to play yet?"
• • •
At Canadiens.com, Part 2 of Manny Almela's conversation with Tomas Plekanec.
Share the agony and ecstasy of Habs fandom and read live blogs from every game with Gazette columnist Mike Boone.
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Robert L,
re the (1917-18 Habs), you may wish to correct the spelling of Silary. It is Sillery.
BTW, would you know the name of the chubby player with the wornout CH jersey (4th pic down) ?
Good read once again.
That's Didier Pitre, first player ever signed by Montreal to a contract in 1909.
1917-18 Malone Paces Canadiens In NHL Launch
http://wwwrealitycheckeyesontheprize.blogspot.com/2008/08/1917-18-malone...
One of the reasons the Habs did not get many tall fowards is there's not any good ones left,they are the most sought after athelets in the N.H.L. AS WELL AS MOST OTHER SPORTS!!!! USAIN BOLT ,Micheal Phelps etc all big and the best ever in the history of there sport,are prime examples. So no more midgets please Mr Gainey,lol
Too many passers and set up guys on the team. habs need a pure goal scorer. anybody in mind?
Warning....if you suffer from Attention Deficit Disorder and aren't mentally equipped to handle reading more than a sentence stop now. Teletoon is waiting for you.
Personally I am hoping that Sergei Kostitsyn is paired with a playmaker and forced to be a shooter as he has a very hard, accurate shot but seemed tentative last year (he was a rookie though). During his time at London he won the coaches award for having the best shot in his conference. I am looking for him to be a 20-25 goal guy this year and Andrei to hit 30-35. Lats should be good for 20 or more (depends on what role is given to him though). Tanguay is a 20 plus guy and Koivu will get his usal 15-20. Higgy is good for 25. Kovy will probably get 25-30again. Pleks will likely be around 25 as well.
We are so balanced and roll our lines somewhat differently than many other teams. Until that philosophy changes (not under Carbo's watch) we will continue to be balanced and not have a 50 goal type guy (although I beleive Andrei has the potential to be a 40 goal guy and maybe top out near 50 in a good year if the conditions were right). It would be nice to pick up a righ handed shooter (Sundin) but of the available talent the other guy who interests me (but likely has 0 interest in playing in Montreal) is Selanne. He is a threat from the lower circle on the pp and with Kovy operating out of the opposite circle we would be somewhat indefensible. The only weakness in our PP was the dependency on the left handers and the one side of the rink. We really only ran one solid play on the opposite side (Markov dropping down for the one touch...although he is a lefty he pulled it off but a right would have buried several more).
At even strength we are IMO one strong forward from being the most feared offensive force in the league (I know we led the league last year). A top six guy like Mats or Teemu would go a long way for us though. Just to really tick people off I am going to suggest that if all else fails the Robert Lang rumour earlier this month wasn't that bad. Shanny would be interesting for the powerplay and the dressing room but I fear he will be left behind in 5 on 5 play. IF no significant play on Mats or Selanne is successful he can't hurt us given is a UFA and teams don't appear to banging down the door for his services like they used to.
Any of those guys would be great .....any top six guy is great and a top nine scorer (where I feel Shanny is at this stage) will suffice but staying the course is not the right move and is not what we are trying to do. WE need another guy who can put pucks in the net because I can't see us possibly staying as healthy this year as we did last year.
I'm going to get bashed on here for the length of this post anyway so here is another reason for all of the silent folks sitting around waiting for someone to snark at......what is Alexei Yashin up to....is he signed yet this year???? If Alexei Kovalev can be turned into a mentor than ANYTHING is possible. Alexei YAshin would be an interesting project and could still help any team in the NHL if he chose to. I don't believe players amke it to the NHL and have no heart......I believe players sometimes lose focus (young guys all of the sudden given millions of dollars) and sometimes find themselves in situations like Ray Emery or Alexander Daigle ....hmmm seems like a common thread here is the OTtawa Senators. Maybe the organization just doesn't command the necessary respect that a Bob Gainey does.
There folks........noone else has anything to say so here it is ....a "long winded, blah.blah,blah" lol.
kRob - Wow, Rob wants to sign Yashin. Someone mix me a double Rusty Nail right away! Good lord, I have a great day at the golf course and come home to learn that my protege is trying to sign Yashin. I'd rather finish dead last in 09' and draft Hedman:-)
The Original 24 Cups
krob - Yashin signed in Russia before you started changing diapers, lol.
Good for you,this site is for the exchange of opinions and info.We don't have to agree with each other but respect the right for all to have their say .And then there are smart a**es like me who don't always give respect. Be yourself. That said ,can answer your Yashin question which I had asked a few weeks back .He is signed for this season in Russia (KHL).
Nothing wrong with being long-winded if you have something intelligent to say, and you always do krob.
For the second year in a row, we have 8 forwards who can pot 20 goals or more: Kovy, AK, SK, Lats, Higgins, Koivu, Tanguay (in place of last year's disappointing Ryder) and Pleks. I wouldn't be surprised if Markov added 4 to last year's total and potted 20 too. When 8 out of your 9 top forwards are offensive threats, your opponent is left scrambling to match lines and you can really get to work on him. When you build a team around one or two big stars, on the other hand -- like Tampa -- the other team only has to worry about your top line, and you're extremely vulnerable to injuries to a Lecavalier or St. Louis-type. That's particularly true in a salary-cap era where one superstar costs you what two or three good solid Higgins-types would.
And I really like Carbo's line-rolling -- it keeps the players fresh and may even have contributed to the team's ability to stay healthy, since no one line had to carry the team shift after gruelling shift.
I agree that we're one strong forward away from being the beast of the East. Higgins-Sundin-Tanguay would be fearsome, Kovy-Pleks-AK would be terrifying, SK-Koivu-Lats might be the best third line in the league, and Laracque-Lapierre/Chipchura-Kostopoulos/Begin would make for a monster checking line. My only concern is with Price, but we should have the offence to make up for any second-year jitters he might experience, and a solid backup in Halak to boot. And you gotta love Marc Denis as a third goalie.
And god I miss hockey. This is a long, cold summer...
1. www.flickeringpictures.com - not a hockey site, but still kinda neat
2. Josh Gorges on Montreal's attack: "They're comin', they're comin' and they keep comin'. Just line after line, wave after wave..."
I can't wait either......I think we shold start lobbying now (someone from Quebec anyway) to get RDS to show more preseason games.....they will draw a better audience than non-montreal regular season games and would allow fans to see the kids who are in the pipeline. During our centennial season it would be great if we got to see them from start to finish. As Brian Wilson says Wouldn't it be nice?
Just to note, TSN is showing 2 preseason Hab games:
Sept. 27 Montreal @ Ottawa
Oct. 1 Boston @ Montreal
Good post K1000, except for the Yashin comment. There's greedy players and then there's Yashin. You can pull that renegotiate crap once and get away with it but this guy knows no end to asking for more. IMO, he deserves to stay where he is.
carol alt (ex-super model) is yashins wife..shes been wispering in his ear.
Then how the hell is the man supposed to think about hockey......I forgive you Alexei.
True but you always have to wonder too how much these guys are influenced by family, agents, etc....who knows what someone is whispering in their ears. These guys are hockey players not businessmen and they instantly draw more income than 90 percent of businesses in existence. I can't help wonder how many of these guys just aren't too bright or are easily influenced.
Do you ahve a link to he Yashin thing because I couldn't find anything that wasn't about his original signing last year.
The Morning Skate : All-time Islanders fan favorite Alexei Yashin has re-signed with HK Lokomotiv Yaroslavl in the KHL. Yashin actually is quite popular in Yaroslavl, where he was the top playoff scorer, leading Loko to the final, where they lost in the deciding game to Salavat Yulaev Ufa. In reporting on Yashin’s re-signing, Sovietsky Sport commented, “One can only rejoice for Yaroslavl fans.”
With yashin leading the khl in scoring during the playoffs, this is an indicator of the quality of playoff hockey is like in russia. One word, sad. But hey, some players would rather play for the easy money in a much weaker league then have to earn it playing in the best league in the world.
alexi CASHIN
nice post!
For Mr. Boone, the book that Laraque talking about is:
Un bon exemple de ténacité – Maurice Richard
You can find that book in any french primary school librairy...
Calgary Flames Salary Cap Issues .. Five Hole Fanatics ..... http://fiveholefanatics.blogspot.com/2008/08/closer-look-at-flames-salar...
Revenue Disaster for the NHL .. by Tom Luongo .. NHK Fanhouse ..... http://nhl.fanhouse.com/2008/08/19/revenue-disaster-for-the-nhl/
Imagine if they all left .. by Eric The Hatchet .. Globe & Mail ..... http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080819.wsptduha19/GSSto...
NHL Morning Papers (Wednesday Edition) .. by Richard Pollock .. illegalcurve.com ..... http://www.illegalcurve.com/2008/08/20/nhl-morning-papers-wednesday-edit...
That news about Stefan Legein is very weird.
Ml - He's known for pulling pranks and i hope he is cuz i really enjoy his style and love his game though he's not big.
This would be one of those pranks that is NOT funny.
This sounds like an emotional / personal issue, and I hope the kid gets better regardless of whether or not he ever plays again.
Glad that deal was squashed. Hemsky's good but he'd be a way better F.A signing if you got the chance, wouldn't trade core players for him.
I can't imagine any GM dealing Hemsky's four-year $4M/yr contract for Higgins and an untested Subban.
1. www.flickeringpictures.com - not a hockey site, but still kinda neat
2. Josh Gorges on Montreal's attack: "They're comin', they're comin' and they keep comin'. Just line after line, wave after wave..."
I don't like it from the Habs point of view either. Hemsky is one of the more pure passers in the NHL. He rarely scores and is criticized for not shooting enough. We just added Tanguay, who has also taken similiar criticism. With Koivu, Tanguay, and Sergei K, we already have enough set up men.
Plus, we need to keep the heart and soul players like Higgins.