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Gainey gives up on Sundin, deals for Lang
posted by Dave Stubbs at 20h02 EST on Sep 12
“At no time did I have any feeling that we had (Sundin) locked up, or anyone else did. It’s been a very distant kind of communication. Frustration hasn’t really been part of it. We’ve developed a priority and had we been able to entice Mats Sundin to come back to play with us, we would have done that as early as June.
“In the meantime, we developed backup plans and decided today to move on that rather than continue along a course that didn’t seem was going to be fruitful.”
A face-to-face talk with Sundin last Saturday did nothing to convince Gainey that he was making any progress with the veteran. Hence, last night’s acquisition of Lang, the Blackhawks needing to trim payroll to meet the salary cap.
“(Sundin) didn’t give us any indication that he was going to make a decision,” Gainey said. “Our hockey department and I weren’t prepared to wait for a player who may, or may not, decide that he’s going to play in November or December or January or February.”
In Lang, the Canadiens acquire a 6-foot-3, 216-pound veteran of 14 NHL seasons who also has seen action with Los Angeles, Boston, Pittsburgh, Washington and Detroit. The native of Teplice, Czech Republic, scored 21 goals and added 33 assists in 76 games with Chicago last season, his eighth consecutive season of 50 or more points. He has 234 goals and 401 assists in 875 career NHL games.
Lang will be reunited in Montreal with Alex Kovalev, with whom he enjoyed great productivity in Pittsburgh. In his best NHL season, Lang scored 32 and assisted on 48 more in 2000-01 with the Penguins; linemate Kovalev had a career-high 44 goals and 51 assists that year.
The newest Canadien joked last night that the trade is a dream come true for his son, who turned 4 yesterday, because the lad has been attending French school in Chicago “and now he can speak as much French as he wants.
“Montreal is a great hockey town and you can’t really be in a better place to play,” Lang said. “Alex and I had a great time together in Pittsburgh. Hopefully, we can revisit (that) chemistry.”
He sees his role as that of an experienced skater who will be “a good fit (on a club with) a lot of talent, speed, excitement and skill.”
Gainey has been eyeing the talent teams might have been ready to move for cap reasons, and said that of those situations, “(Lang) was our best opportunity to pick up a player who fit the position, style and experience we were looking for. …
“We’ve been looking to fill in a place at centre with an experienced player all summer. We wanted to improve our forwards, as a whole, from the outside, bringing players in. That spot at centre has been on our minds and stayed in our picture until today.”
Brisebois, meanwhile, re-signs for another season with Montreal, having arrived last year from Colorado as a free agent. He’s expected to earn $750,000 with the chance to double that with bonuses, and expressed enthusiasm that he’ll play his 1,000th career game – he’s just 53 short – in his hometown.
“I was just controlling what I could control,” Brisebois said of the late date he’s finally signed for his 18th NHL season, 16 of them as a Canadien. “Never did I think I wouldn’t be playing this year. I never had talks with another team. Montreal was the only place I wanted to play.”
The 37-year-old might see increased power-play time this season with Mark Streit having gone to the New York Islanders.
Gainey now plans to settle back and await the start of training camp, confident that he’s improved his club with the offseason additions of forwards Alex Tanguay, Georges Laraque and, now, Lang.
“All three moves address the (forward) area of the team we felt we needed to be reinforced,” said the GM, who saw the departure of forward/defenceman Streit and forwards Michael Ryder and Brian Smolinski.
“We have more size, we’re a little stronger group and I think (the additions) match up more in completing our forwards. We’re a little better, heavier, perhaps a little more talented, and have responded to what we defined as our need coming out of last spring."
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Aaahh... Brisbois. My dreams have come true yet again - he is back for another year. I am so excited.
Any of you thinking that he will be a 7 dman (which is what he was supposed to be last year too) think again. He has 53 or so games left to reach 1000 games milestone. I will bet my house that his good buddy carbonneau will go out of his way that he does get there this season.
As for Lang he will be a very good 3rd line center albeit a very expensive one. Still does adress the need for the big strong #1 center but oh well... as long as we finish first in the east it all that matter it seems.
Good season everybody. Glad I could spread the cheer.
Nightmare, While it's true our "D" is young and for the most part unproven, if you've done your research. then you know that they are equally talented and Promising. Ranger had 8 goals before injuring his shoulder on Jan 12th, but still finished the season. With our wide open offense and 3 line rolling Meszaros will be in heaven. I'll bet he has 45+ points including a dozen goals. Our sole weak spot up the middle is of course the goaltending. If Smitty can do .225 and .905 we're in the mix otherwise it will be another long season for the Bolts.
Hey guys, we play our first pre-season game a week tomorrow. Finally! I'm really anxious to see how the boys fare against Detroit, we play them twice, hope we get at least one win, two would be wonderful.
Preseason means squat. Don't care if we win or lose, really.
"Give Koivu a Lifetime Contract"
Stefan Legein May Play Hockey Again and much more (TB) .. NHL.com ..... http://www.nhl.com/nhl/app/?service=page&page=NewsPage&articleid=381911 .
Sunday Smiggins : Angelo Esposito Impressive in 1st game at Traverse City Tournament .. BlueLand ..... http://thrashers.portspaces.com/post/blueland/brad_hollands_thoughts_on_... ................................................ An NHL Without Borders .. by Jamie Fitzpatrick .. Jamie's Hockey Blog ..... http://proicehockey.about.com/ .......................... Islanders Coach Scott Gordon's Challenge - Blend Vets With Youth .. by Greg Logan .. Newsday ..... http://www.newsday.com/sports/hockey/islanders/ny-spisles145842845sep14,... ................................. Pens Busy GM Ray Shero - Q & A .. by Bob Rossi - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ..... http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/penguins/s_588162.... ................................... NO NHL Morning Papers This Weekend , paperboy has lower body injury or hockey tryouts , i forget.
I, for one, really appreciate your links, nighttime49.
Keep'em comin'!
Special request? I REALLY dig the ones from foreign beat writers that say what a great team we have.
Anyone can throw in their two cents but it takes SKILL to flatter sincerely.
Could ya?
Thanx.
Peace Out
B - Everybody is a Stanley Cup winner in September , even the laffs, lol.
Now, you're just being silly, darknight49.
A choice between the Cup and Tavares and the leafs'll take Tavares.
A pox on the ridiculous leafs and all leafers who follow them, shouting praise where none exists, a pox on them, I say.
Let us never mention them again.
The Blues, I like. A nice jersey like that should be rewarded with SOME measure of success, I think. Not TOO much, cuz it's all ours at the end of the day, but SOME.
Uhhh, sorry, was that out loud?
Find me those links, darknight detective!
Peace Out.
Noticed that the Canuck blog is titled "Waiting for Stanley"...think they had just better get used to enjoying Stanley Park ...for a long while.
Vancouver's Take : Canadiens acquire Robert Lang .. Waiting for Stanley ..... http://hockey-madness.blogspot.com/ .................... Nice - NHL Approves Brandon Sugden's Reinstatement Request .. http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=249415&lid=headline&lpos=secStory_nhlTSN... ....
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly .. by Bruce Garrioch .. Sun Media ..... http://www.torontosun.com/sports/hockey/2008/09/14/6761596-sun.html
Interesting article. I thought this comment was good, in particular given the changes made to the Canadiens with 3 significant changes that improve the club.
"4. Vancouver: GM Mike Gillis did a lot of talking, but accomplished nothing. He sat around all summer waiting for Mats Sundin to sign a contract and it never happened. He made a lot of promises, but about all he did was allow Markus Naslund to walk away. Here's a guess: The Canucks won't improve. "
NM49 - great read but I can't see Anaheim being ranked as the #3 team in the NHL, even with Selanne on board later in the year.
The Original 24 Cups
Don - Our Roman Hamrlik (D) has played 1076 games in the NHL , your starting 6 "D" in Tampa has a total of 976 games in the NHL , think about it.
We have a team down south that's pretty stong at the center position as well. Sundin used to have his way with us, but Lang doesn't worry us at all. Do you throw your third line out there as your checking line against the opponenets top line? If so I know that Vinny and Marty will be chomping at the bit to play you guys. Good luck.
Yeah... For some reason Tampa Bay (while it is a decent team) simply doesn't worry me at all. Looking at your roster you're not a very fast team, so we'll eat that up. You only have 3 real assets (ok four if you count Stamkos, who does apparently have extraordinary talent but is yet to prove any of it), none of which are on your defense or netminding squads. If you're smart and you keep Stamkos in the minors for a year or two, then in a few years with the right moves you could have really good chances at going far in the playoffs. Yes I know "Keep Stamkos in the minors, are you nuts???" Right? That's what you're thinking. Or you could bring him up on a weak team, knowing absolutely nothing about how he's going to perform anyway, and watch a guy who everyone says should be scoring tons of points get somewhere around 35. OR you could build on time (after you see his strengths, real strengths and weaknesses while playing in a pro league) and then bring him up when you have the players to compliment his talent. After all how many should Vinny really be scoring a year? Not 75 or 92. More like 110 or so, like he did just a few years ago. But you never did build around him either sooooo. Kind of makes me think on the right team he could probably be scoring 120 a year, but that's his mistake. Ugh Jason Ward is still in Tampa? My deepest sympathy... Not to insult your team further, but when a guy like him plays 79 games you have to realize at some point that you need better hockey players.
Thanks to revenue sharing (Teams like Montreal, Toronto, NYR..) your team down south bought themselves a pretty good team. I love the teams in the South, every time I'm down there, there's always a 3 for 1 seat sale to games.
sholi2000.com
God Bless Our Infantry
2PPCLI
They also have to come out with a new "third jersey" every couple of weeks to keep the fans interested. I actually think their fans buy tickets to see a lap-dog talent show and stay to watch the hockey game afterwards.
On most teams, the third line is the checking line. On the Habs, our checking line is the fourth line. Our fourth line will be depended on to not only play an energy role, but also a sound defensive game. We have 5 or 6 players that could fill that role nicely and we won't have to worry about players strugglOn most teams, the third line is the checking line. On the Habs, our checking line is the fourth line. Our fourth line will be depended on to not only play an energy role, but also a sound defensive game. We have 5 or 6 players that could fill that role nicely and we won't have to worry about players struggling because of the depth we have in that area.
I last year's playoffs we saw Begin go from just banging bodies on the fourth line to playing an important defensive role on the third. The same goes for Kostopoulos. Now obviously we have players better suited to play an energy role, and other better suited to play a more defensive game. Begin and Kosto are examples of players that provide enery and spark, where as Chipchura is more of a defensive specialist. Lapierre is sort of a blend of both. I trust that Carbo will balance the two on the fourth line to create the best possible line.ing because of the depth we have in that area.
Poor Vinny, will be playing, shinny hockey this year.
Ohh the goals,the goals against.
Hey! Don!
Now ask if we prefer Lang to Smolinski. The Sundin Dream is over. The alarm went off and now, it's time to got to work.
Whether you say it down there or up here, it don't make no nevermind; you got no Defence!
Don't worry about OUR 3rd line; worry about yours!
Peace Out
Sorry Melrose, do your own scouting!
Tampa's still out of the loop with that ragged ass defense. Carle and Mez won't get you too far!
Thats all fine and dandy(speaking of dandy if we traded him to tampa he would be their best dman). Which one of their 6 third pairing quality dmen is gonna stop anybody? Losing dan boyle will ensure tampa doesn't make the playoffs yet again, even while playing in the worst division in the nhl. Vinny and sundin have something in common, both play(or played) on a team with zero support. Last time i looked it takes more than one player or line to win hockey games. I guess the good news is tampa will no longer be the worst team in florida.
I don't know about that.One will be all offense ,no defense and the other will be all defense ,no offense.This could be a perfect opportunity to check out which actually wins hockey games... or not.
The Lightning will be the NHL's most exciting club next season - for all the wrong reasons. Mike Smith and Ollie the Goalierilla will see more rubber than a dead cat on the Trans Canada Highway!
I think all the forwards they signed will blow up in their faces like it did for the rangers when they used to do the same thing back in the late 1990's. You can't buy team chemistry, their new owner is gonna find this out the hard way this upcoming season. His prediction of winning the southleast division 2 months ago is just another example of how clueless this guy is. He should ask Paul Maurice about why you shouldn't make arrogant comments like that.
Regarding BOB's comments about Sundin, somethings just sounds weird:
"Our hockey department and I weren’t prepared to wait for a player who may, or may not, decide that he’s going to play in November or December or January or February.”
Am I reading between the lines in that that have got Lang for nothing because Sundin or another big trade will come about in March?
(Did Sundin tell Bob he plans to come out of retirement in January if the club is doing well, as he is not prepared to have another play-off-less season- ala the laffs??)
Why didnt Bob just say "a player undecided to return" instead of mentioning those specific months, and stopping in March?
CONSPIRACY THEORY HAS STARTED! BOB IS A MAN OF FEW WORDS AND EACH WORD MEANS SOMETHING!
_______________________
"ITS NOT EASY BEING GREEN...FOR A SUPERSTAR"
You're reachin' Vince. Get a holda yehself. Let go of the preserver and just get in the boat, would ya?
Peace Out.
I was hoping that your post was a sarcastic piece about how silly this whole affair turned out to be...... but gee its not ! come-on man pull yourself together for God's sake !