EHM The Blue Line

Yes the trade isn't THAT bad but come on, it's been two straight year that Halak bring the Habs in the playoffs.....that's a slap in the face of the fans to me, Price isn't ready IMO and they should have trade him instead. But anyway we're use to that at MTL to get rid of the players who can help the team right now.....We will not see another Conference final in a couple of years...

Habs officially really really really stupid and sucky now. Dumb move

Now I have been away for a bit.

Dion Phaneuf? Talking to the press after every game? before every game? On off days? Oh this is gonna be hilarious.

So Dion..what do you think about the performance tonight?

Dion: Duh...per....four...what? Mance? Duh, I dunno, duh guess we uh did ok uh. Did we win? I dunno? I look good...

Oh boy.

LOLLL

duh dunno but my teammates wives suck and in a good way.

Great trade for St. Louis. Eller is a solid prospect but they finally have a true #1 goalie for the first time in a long time.

From a Montreal perspective this trade doesn't make much sense. Price has potential to be a good goalie but I would rather have the guy who has already proven himself. Also, this trade puts even more pressure on Price. If he couldn't handle the pressure in Montreal before, whats he going to do now?

Squak sqauk squak...

Lars Eller is gonna be one hell of a player...

Plus people need to realize that Halak was going to want minimum Hiller type money/years...

So they decided to get a top level prospect who will be a very good player and went with the goalie who will have a brighter future and sign a cheaper deal.

If STL somehow signs Halak for less than 3 per, I will concede that it's a bad deal...

If Price wants a brighter futur he needs to step up right now. Stop that lazy attitude and move your ass in the practice. I hope it would work for him but for another 1-2 years Habs won't do that much I think.

Gauthier is danged if he does, danged if he doesn't. Trade Halak..he has good year, and Price is well....Price...Gauthier hanged.

Trade Price and he goes and plays the way people thought he could...shafted for giving up on him too early.

Only way is if he dealt either one and they suck in the new town. Which Halak will.

Maybe he will suck, but earlier you said Habs suck for trading him....or you were sarcastic has always. Right at the start Halak will not have the good chemistry he got at MTL with the team and St-Louis is not good too....for now.

Halak will suck, because he will be in one of (if not the) toughest division in the NHL. Plus he will get good $ and term, and since he is a Euro...he will suck. Still, the Habs suck for dealing him, because Price will still suck worse.

Hahahaha ok I understand now.

Blues are really strenghting up their roster.Now they acquire TJ Hensick from Avalanche in swap of minor league forwards and they gave Julian Talbot to Avs

Yep. He blew all of his chances in COL. I thought he'd be headed to Sweden.

As an aside, do you really think that ownership of the Habs would allow their former 5th overall pick to be traded and basically admit that they failed with him?


Nope.

Won't happen.

Ramsey steps down in Minnesota

Sabres legend Mike Ramsey, who has been an assistant coach with the Minnesota Wild since its inception, has stepped down.

alexob18 wrote:Yep. He blew all of his chances in COL. I thought he'd be headed to Sweden.

As an aside, do you really think that ownership of the Habs would allow their former 5th overall pick to be traded and basically admit that they failed with him?


Nope.

Won't happen.

It's not the same ownership from back to the 05 draft. That's what disapointed me.

Goalies are absolutely overrated nowadays. If a team pays more than 3mil bucks at one, they do wrong. You're better off putting your money into quick puck moving defensemen, guys who can take away pucks, and keep them in possession. Stay at home guys plus franchise goalie just doesn't work anymore.

Eh you need good shut down D-man and a pretty good goalie. Obviously Philly is the exception where they had 4 great puck movers and a garbage goalie but still, the norm that seems to be working the best is 2 top end all purpose D-Men (see Keith and Seabrook), 2 good puckmovers (Campbell and Hjalmarson) and two decent guys who can chew up minutes (Sopel and some other guy).

You could say what you said Alex about every team who has ever won a cup. You need a little bit of everything to win. Youth, experience. Skill, grit. Goaltending. Phys play. Shutdown. Puckmover.

Chicago has all of that right now. So did Philly save the goaltending. That was the difference in the final. Plus Pronger being 200 years old. But the second best team has a little bit of everything as well.

You always have needed a little bit of everything. Anyone who says anything different is not someone who has knowledge about the game.

Goaltending is crucial. A good young one is great as it allows you to spend $ in other areas. But it is still essential. Just because a high paid goalie did not win the cup the last little bit, does not mean a Brodeur, Luongo, or any one like that won't.

And when it does happen...then all of a sudden those high paid goalies will be hailed as "what you need to win". It is dumb. What you need to win is a balanced team with something of everything, that has a MOTIVATION to win. Chicago had that, and Philly did too.

Exactly. I was only touching on the goalkeeping aspect of the finals and how it was nearly irrelevant as the defensive corps were great for both teams.

Some teams will just surprise you with their skill. I had no expectations of the Avs making the playoffs, and I thought it'd be a sweep when they were in.

Look at Phoenix. They had the lowest payroll in the NHL (IIRC) and did absolutely amazing this year.

What's funny with the Yotes is that their best scorer was Doan with 55 pts I think. That proves they do well the tactics of their coach, plis like Batdad said, they have a little bit of everything, still, Bryz did alot for them.


On a side note the Yotes sign Aucoin for 2 more years at 1.8 and 2.2 millions. He's getting old but it's still a great veteran to have in PHO.

He has a NTC as well.

Same with Big Bert. Both have NTCs.

The main reason I would assume that Halak went instead of Price, is because Carey Price is the plan in between the pipes. He's the goalie drafted in the first round to be their guy, the franchise goalie between the pipes.

They didn't plan on using Halak as their number one guy, they just rode him while he was hot. His performance netted them a deal for what is hoped to be some beneficial prospects, but they never had any intentions of handing him the keys to the franchise.

That's what I think too. But Jacques Martin seem to really like Halak so I wouldn't be surprise if sometime Martin was taking is own decision to let Halak in the goal to win instead of listening to the second floor and make Price play.

The team winning will always come first, but I think they knew all along that Price was going to be the one they commit to in the long run.

Paul Martin will be testing the FA market.