Gainey not optimistic about acquiring Sundin

[Stephane Richer]

Associated Press reports that Habs GM Bob Gainey is not too optimistic about signing Mats Sundin. He met with Sundin\'s agent last week and didn\'t receive a clear signal that he wants to sign with Montreal. Gainey also said that he would like to know if Sundin is in good physical shape. See article in French http://www.cyberpresse.ca/article/20...1/CPSPORTS0101

[fzusher]

So, before Sundin snubs them, Gainey tries to make it look like he\'s actually doing the snubbing ... smart. Cue in the Robert Lang rumors again ...

[Stephane Richer]

Could very well be the case FZ. The article also says that Gainey is doing a follow up on teams who exceed the salary cap in order to find adequate players. Lang could be a nice fit. However, the Bob Mackenzie rumor is apparently an invention whose source is a discussion forum according to radio station Team 990 where Mackenzie talked about that rumour.

[fzusher]

Assuming - quite realistically - that they\'d be looking at experienced centers, here\'s what you have on teams that need to dump salary to get under or away from the cap:

Getzlaf/Morrisonn on ANA (extremely unlikely)

Langkow/Lombardi/Conroy on CGY (Langkow has no replacement in the system, Conroy not what Habs are looking for, Lombardi may be expendable if Boyd or Backlund are ready, but is he that much better and more experienced than Kyle Chipchura to merit trading for? I think not. Plus they are known as looking to dump other players)

Brindy/Staal/Cullen on CAR (who are looking to dump salary to get under their self-imposed cap, but are unlikely to move either of these three because they are too much of a fit in CAR)

Lang on CHI (Lang is expendable with all the youth knocking on the door)

Ribeiro/Richards/Modano in DAL (have no replacements in the system, and built the team pretty much around them; extremely unlikely)

Zetterberg/Franzen/Draper on DET (extremely unlikely; too much of a fit on the team)

Gomez/Drury on NYR (we\'ve been through that in the Gomez to VAN thread; this happens only if they sign Sundin and would be a stupid move on NYR\'s part; at any rate, nothing happens here until Sundin decides)

Briere/Richards/Carter on PHI (if they sign Sundin, somebody will have to be moved; Briere is a possibility, but he has an NTC. If I were Gainey, I\'d definitely send a feeler there of the \'if you get Sundin, we\'d love to talk Briere\' type, but the Habs themselves have a shortage of what PHI needs most, namely, a puck-moving D)

Marleau/Thornton on SJ (Big Joe ain\'t happening, Marleau has an NTC and it seems their new coach wants him on the team)

Prospal/Lecavalier/Halpern/Gratton/Tarnasky/Ward/Jokinen on TBL (TBL are looking to move forwards, but not Prospal, Lecavalier, or Gratton, who were all resigned recently. Tarnasky and Ward, who can play C, are 4th liners and not what MTL needs, Halpern is expendable, but only after Gratton returns from injury. I actually think he\'d be a good pick up for the Habs, but they may need to wait a bit into the season to get him. The forecaster has C as one of Jussi Jokinen\'s positions, but I can\'t recall when he played C, and at any rate, i\'m not sure he\'s the kind of player the Habs need or would want)

Nylander/Fedorov on WSH (Fedorov won\'t be moved, and Nylander has a multi-year contract and thus doesn\'t fit MTL\'s plans)


So Lang makes the most sense of the lot, unless Marleau, Briere, or Gomez become available, and the chances of that I think are slim. Halpern is probably the only realistic plan B. Start with Chipchura and wait for teams to drop off the playoff race seems the most sensible plan C.

Personally, though, I think it is better for the Habs to see if they can actually deepen their D with one more good body and add a C during the season. Though with almost 7M available in cap room they could be able to do both now.

[Stephane Richer]

Detailed insight once again FZ, and it all makes sense. Gainey is like a kid in a candy store, but the inventory of that store is pretty low indeed.

[Shoeless]

I might have missed this somewhere in the discussions but if the Habs land Sundin who will play with who?

[repenttokyo]

if carolina dumps salary, it will be a defenseman.

[Stephane Richer]

Shoeless said:

I might have missed this somewhere in the discussions but if the Habs land Sundin who will play with who?

Even though it won\'t happen either way, here are the options many have talked about:

Tanguay-Sundin- S. Kostitsyn
or
A Kostsitsyn - Sundin - Kovalev

Today\'s La Presse newspaper quotes Gainey as saying that Sundin still hasn\'t decided if he would play.

[mbrown]

I don\'t think he\'s coming back

This is a guy that loved to play in Toronto, and you could see the joy on his face when he was on the ice. That multimillion dollar smile sure didn\'t show up in the dressing room.

The Skills are still there, and he\'s healthy enough to go, but his heart is broken. I think Sundin may be a suffering a little depression with how things went last year. His loyalty basically shit on. Can\'t say as I blame him.

[Shao]

mbrown wrote:

I don\'t think he\'s coming back

This is a guy that loved to play in Toronto, and you could see the joy on his face when he was on the ice. That multimillion dollar smile sure didn\'t show up in the dressing room.

The Skills are still there, and he\'s healthy enough to go, but his heart is broken. I think Sundin may be a suffering a little depression with how things went last year. His loyalty basically shit on. Can\'t say as I blame him.

Well said.

+1