Montreal Canadiens

[ericdaoust]

emelin has been fantastic the past month or so, he's really coming into his own.

Mcguire called him "an ulf samuelsson who doesn't speak swedish".

169 hits in 45 games, prorated that's 308 over a full season. That would be good for top 2 or 3 in the nhl, pretty much every season.

The sooner they re-sign this guy, the better.

[ericdaoust]

Georges Laraque scored his first goal in forever and was released the next week. Let's hope lightning strikes twice!

[ericdaoust]

Another thought... I think whichever new coach that comes in should keep Randy Ladouceur as an assistant. He seems to be having positive effects in trying to break some bad habits, most notably in the case of PK Subban.

[ericdaoust]

http://canadiens.nhl.com/club/blog.htm?id=261

Pretty good listing of news in the last couple days. The forward lines used yesterday could very well be the lineup for tonight, with Kostitsyn-White-Gomez being the fourth line. I would expect another heavy distribution of ice time towards the top-three lines.

Also, the link mentions that Brendan Gallagher set a Vancouver Giants record for career goals.

[ericdaoust]

French article:

http://www.rds.ca/canadien/chroniques/335297.html

The gist of it is that Kostitsyn is not happy with his ice time (4:20 last game) and if this does not change he will ask for a trade. The writing is on the wall with young players getting more exposure.

[ericdaoust]

This was a very intense game where I saw something new from the Habs. They have the size and physical presence to hang with the bigger teams. The Habs out-hit the Bruins 27-16 in this one. A few mental lapses were the difference.

I thought Carey Price was average. He made some nice saves but also allowed a very untimely goal in the second period to give the Bruins a two-goal lead. He gave up his usual goal in the shootout and the forwards were not able to reply.

Someone call Alexei Emelin's agent now. Give the man a contract for next year and beyond.

Can someone explain to me how Gomez gets 12 minutes and Eller gets six???

Mathieu Darche: I told you so. Shorthanded goal, three shots, two blocks, six hits.

Erik Cole also had a strong roto game: goal, assist, plus-2, 2 PIM, three shots, five hits.

Max Pacioretty is on fire as he scored his 24th goal tonight.

Ryan White was back. He played very well and had a good fight against Adam McQuaid. Nice job all-around. I also like him in deep roto leagues. He has a decent scoring touch and is good for hits, PIM and blocked shots.

PK Subban had another strong game and assisted on Darche's shorthanded goal.

Hal Gill is awful. So is Chris Campoli. I think Markov on one leg is better than Campoli.

Brad Marchand, A.K.A. dirty little coward with his low-bridge crap again on Alexei Emelin: http://www.kuklaskorner.com/index.ph...chand_low_hit/

[ericdaoust]

It's great to have Ryan White back. He is not afraid to fight bigger players. Yesterday he matched up very well with Adam McQuaid and last year he had a great tilt with Johnny Boychuk. Like him or not, Gauthier wanted to change the culture and certainly has in regards to team size and toughness.

[ericdaoust]

Habs play Sabres tonight, who were embarrassed last night by Philly. Expect a chippy one. Ryan White should finish with at least one fight.

[ericdaoust]

http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=388101

To Nashville: Hal Gill, conditional 5th
To Montreal: Blake Geoffrion, Robert Slaney, 2012 2nd

Excellent return for Gill. I had predicted a 2nd, and the Habs were able to get more. The most intriguing sub-plot here is that Geoffrion is the grandson of Habs' legend Boom Boom so expect this to be popular in the city. I'll look more in-depth into this when I get home.

[Carcillo]

The most intriguing sub-plot here is that Geoffrion is the grandson of Habs' legend Boom Boom so expect this to be popular in the city. I'll look more in-depth into this when I get home.

Yeah, Montreal fans should love this trade:

Blake Geoffrion - son of former Canadien Danny Geoffrion, grandson of Habs great of Bernie Geoffrion and great-grandson of Montreal legend Howie Morenz.

That's quite a bloodline.

[ericdaoust]

Some random thoughts about the Hal Gill trade:

-Gill provided some damn good play for the team. He really is a warrior and will serve the Predators well. But the problem with older players is that you never know when the time comes that a player becomes "too old". This is a great return for a guy who will not be around when this team rebounds.

-The arrival of Geoffrion may very well seal the fate of Andrei Kostitsyn. With Louis Leblanc and Aaron Palushaj also pushing for more minutes, it makes no sense to keep malcontent and inconsistent players around. Geoffrion, along with the return of Ryan White, gives the Habs some good depth help along with some quality penalty killers.

-Robert Slaney is just a helper for Hamilton. He has played parts of three seasons in the AHL and has yet to score a single goal. He has done well in the ECHL, for what it's worth. I think his career potential is Andreas Engqvist, a journeyman AHL/NHL shuttle guy that occasionally works his way onto a fourth line for a stretch of time.

-Kudos to Pierre Gauthier for pulling this off. The timing was perfect after the Niklas Grossman trade yesterday. The Flyers paid a hefty price and the Habs did well to use that momentum to lock in a team for a much better return than even my own ambitious prediction.

[ericdaoust]

I missed about 95% of the game tonight drinking with some people that were visiting. I cannot comment on the game but GO HABS GO!

Comments welcome. A game with Gomez, Kaberle and Campoli as goal scorers definitely deserves some analysis.

[ddp]

this team isnt as far off contending as you may think. (the gill not around long enough comment)

this team only needs 1 or 2 yrs in my opinion to be a serious contender.

of course im banking on eller and max p to keep getting better and leblanc becoming a pomminville type.

[ross10019]

this team isnt as far off contending as you may think. (the gill not around long enough comment)

this team only needs 1 or 2 yrs in my opinion to be a serious contender.

of course im banking on eller and max p to keep getting better and leblanc becoming a pomminville type.

I agree, it's an excellent young core when you think Price/Subban/Pacioretty as the focal point and by Year 2 from now we'll still have the vet playoff-experience of Gionta, Cole. The key now is to immediately sign Price to a very very long extension, no *****ing around with this, it is the single most important thing on the Habs agenda (or should be). Then work on Subban. Then Pacioretty.

[mounD]

What do you guys feel the long-term potential of Lars Eller is?

I've been curious about him in my keeper league, and I was wondering what you guys think his upside is... also, with development how long until that upside is reached.

Of course, I'm asking for some pretty unpredictable answers, I just want to get a gauge of your feelings on the situation.

thanks in advance.