Robert Lang

The Canadiens most potent line has been broken up – at least to start the exhibition season.

When the Canadiens take on the Boston Bruins Monday night in Halifax, Tomas Plekanec will still have Andrei Kostitsyn on his left wing. But coach Guy Carbonneau says Sergei Kostitsyn will play RW on the line.

Has Alex Kovalev been placed on waivers?

Of course not. Kovy will make his exhibition season debut Wednesday night in Detroit, Carbo  said, with the linemates who joined him at this morning's practice: Robert Lang and Guillaume Latendresse.

Another new line that Carbonneau will try Monday: Prized acquisition Alex Tanguay with two rookies: Ben Maxwell and Max Pacioretty.

This is what training camp is for. Carbonneau, an inveterate line-tinkerer, can really go to town.

How do you spell relief?

OK, maybe not L-A-N-G. But no one is going to miss the Sundin soap opera, which dragged on way past its best-before date.

Let us rejoice. This was a good week for your Montreal Canadiens.

Patrick Roy, Robert Lang, Patrice Brisebois ... all good moves.

And to top it for the guy who signs the cheques, George Gillett was in the director's box at Anfield today, watching Liverpool beat Manchester United 2-1.

•  •  •

OK, I'm flip-flopping on Roy. When his number was first mooted as a retirement candidate, I thought Roy's method of leaving the team disqualified him for the honour.

I was wrong.

Robert Lang: He and Alex Kovalev made beautiful music together in Pittsburgh in 2000-01.
Bill Smith, NHLI via Getty Images

DAVE STUBBS
The Gazette

The Canadiens’ 11-week, casually serious courtship of free agent Mats Sundin last night reached the dead end most expected it would when the club announced the acquisition of centreman Robert Lang of the Chicago Blackhawks.

The Canadiens also announced the re-signing of veteran defenceman Patrice Brisebois to a one-year deal.

Montreal sends a second-round, 2010 draft pick to Chicago in exchange for Lang, 37, that selection acquired in July from the Toronto Maple Leafs with defence prospect Greg Pateryn for forward Mikhail Grabovski.

Canadiens general manager Bob Gainey said on a conference call that Sundin, an unrestricted free agent, no longer is on the team’s radar.

The deal for Lang, who will earn $4 million in 2008-09, moves along the strategy the team had developed as it waited for Sundin to make some kind of decision on his NHL future, assuming the fence-sitting Swede chooses to have one at all.

“It’s not been a rollercoaster at all,” Gainey said of the team’s pursuit of Sundin, a view probably not shared by those fans who have figured the former Maple Leafs captain was a lock to come here, given the Canadiens’ exclusive, if brief, negotiating rights for him secured in June and subsequent simmering discussions.

Cue the Stones:

You can't always get what you want
But if you try sometimes well you might find
You get what you need 

I like the move.

Lang is big, good on faceoffs and a righthanded shot. He and Kovalev played well together in Pittsburgh.

And as the pic suggests, he has the kind of dark, brooding good looks that have been missing since José Theodore was traded. 

Robert Lang isn't Mats Sundin. But as that sorry soap opera has played out, maybe Plan A was never meant to be.

Canadiens enter the season with three solid centres  and brisk competition between Maxim Lapierre and Kyle Chipchura for fourth-line duty.

Pat Hickey, on the DL rehabbing his new knee, says "Once again, the Canadiend prove to be masters of the late Friday afternoon news release.

"Now, I'm hoping that every team runs out of money and the Swede has to sign with Atlanta or the Kings. This is a good deal which turns out to be Mikhail Grabovski for Lang and prospect Greg Pateryn. Hope people focus on that and not harp on Gainey letting another one get away." 

Robert Lang doesn't make the Canadiens the powerhouse that Sundin would have.

But like Mick says ...

And let's add a Stephen Stills line:

If you can't be with the one you love, love the one you're with ... 

Well, it was fun while it lasted.

And the Mats Sundin story gave Canadiens fans something to talk about through the dog days of summer.

Yogi Berra said it ain't over till it's over, but he was a baseball guy.

When a hockey man like Ol' Velcro Lips says he's "not optimistic" about signing Sundin – as Bob Gainey did yesterday at Guy Carbonneau's golf tournament – you know that the Rubenesque soprano is clearing her throat and approaching the microphone.

Which brings us to Plan B. The Canadiens still need a centre – preferably a big lug who can win faceoffs.

Jean Béliveau is too old to come out of retirement, so any suggestions? 

Eric Engels at Hockeybuzz likes Michael Nylander as a possible acquisition. 

A terrific analysis by Daniel Tolensky.

And the new kid on the blog, freelance journalist Arpon Basu, has launched his Daily Hab-it by making a strong case for Robert Lang (that's him in the picture, channeling Colin Farrell.) 

More later.