This guy is starting to impress me

[rattus rattus]

Corey Locke for Shawn Belle!?!

Hey, look, I\'m a Habs fan, born and bred.
I\'ve seen the Glory Days, and then the dark interegnum of Ron Corey.
And I\'ve always been a Bob Gainey fan, player and GM.
Hey, Bo knows!

But, and despite tax and language issues here, this guy is REALLY pulling it off.

Five years ago - no players in the system, an abysmal scouting/front office team, and no team direction.
Five years later - the system is stacked with talent, the management team is a winner, and the hockey team is the reigning East champion and a definite contender for the Cup.

Yeah, he\'s made some mistakes (where are you Francois Beauchemin?), but this guy is the best in Montreal since Sam Pollock.

Grabovski and Locke, two skilled but small centers who had no future here.
For this we get Pateryn, who\'s looking so god in pre-camp, a Leaf\'s 2nd rounder in 2010, and Shawn Belle - former first round pick of Dallas.
Talk about maximizing your assets.

To think that Bob was going to go as GM to Toronto had Ken Dryden had his way, only to be thwarted by the chronic infighting there.
How much we owe to our sister city.

[lockedge]

Gainey has done well in getting the right staff in and making the right moves, but while Locke had no future in MTL, neither does Shawn Belle. I don\'t see Belle becoming a regular NHLer.

[mister_mcgoo]

Gainey has definitely been a godsend, he has delivered us from the dark days of Rejean Houle where I cried myself to sleep every time he traded away a superstar for nothing or drafted someone no one had pegged til the 3rd round.

The way I see it, this trade is an upgrade, even though neither player may see appreciable NHL ice time. And contrary to some, I actually do think Belle will get a chance to play this season. The thing you guys need to remember is that the Habs are weak at D and aside from Komi, they lack toughness, I can easily see Belle being the 7th D man or slotting in for injuries, its up to him to prove he deserves a chance

[rattus rattus]

I do agree with that comment.
We have lots of D in the pipeline, but not much ready to step in for an injury.

Belle may not be Bobby Orr, but anyone who has ever watched Corey Locke \"skate\" down the ice will realize that this is an upgrade for Montreal. Are you listening Angus?
Locke may do very well in Minn, but he had no future whatsoever on the Habs.

Furthermore, D is a harder position to play, and many D - esp the big bodies (incl, famously. Larry Robinson) don\'t hit their stride til they\'re 25 or so.

Time will tell, but meanwhile this deal looks very astute from the Habs point of view.
My op.

[Briarpatch00]

Gainey has always been a tactician. Even in his playing days, he was never the best at anyting other than thinking and seeing the future before it happened.

Look at the Huet move. Makes more sense seeing the money that he brought in through free agency. He got something for nothing.