D- We have 3 guys signed and able bodied: Gorges, Markov and Hamrlik. 3 lefties, one of which looks better on the right side IMHO. People agreed a couple of years ago that, over 4.5/year, Souray was better let go. Ditto for Komisarek this year? I think he should be paid in Brad Stuart’s range (3.5 to 4), no more. How much will Beauchemin command? 2.5? 4? Any chances Ohlund makes it to free agency? The point is: he can be replaced. I hope they throw Weber to the wolves next year and give him a top 6 role; I still am not sold on O’Byrne. I wish they brought Cube back and have him anchor the 3rd pairing with Gorges. Give Weber to Hamrlik, and find somebody to complement Markov. Bouwmeester is a fantasy, but we have barges of cash, so why not? If not, Beauchemin would be nice too, but again, everybody will be knocking on his door offering their sister’s hot friend, so… I’d let go of Komisarek if he asks for more than 4mil. I’d gladly trade some toughness for some passing abilities (altough I already do that pushing Weber in the top 6). Subban and the rest? Give them what was given to Weber, Carle and the others: a year in Hamilton. If Bob desn’t find something worth blowing cash on, I guess we’ll see Carle slide beside Bouillon and Gorges go beside Markov. Sheesh… Unless, that is, Bob goes lateral.

C-If we have to replace Koivu, carzy as it sound, I wouldn’t mind a Guillaume stretched over 4 more inches at C. Face it guys: Jeff Carter-type are available trough the draft, period (Hullo AKost). I would LOVE to see the habs pull a Horton/Damphousse with Pacioretty: he’s got speed, he sees the ice well, he can control the puck, he’s 19: move him at C, now!!! I think Pleks stays put; he’s not a 75 point player, but a 45-55 points/20 goals two way center with above average faceoff abilities (and a tremendous work ethic and drive). Why should we let him go? He’ll be fine. Add Lapierre at 6-2/215 who can eat 14+ min of ES time and Metropolit who is signed trough next year… Anthropov/Pleks/Max/Metro isn’t glorious, but unless Bob pries a Stall from somewhere or Maxwell explodes, well, that may be what we are looking at. If Saku stays, dump Metro and we just shored up the C big time. My point is: everybody needs an excellent player. The question is, what kind of good player do we need? Anthropov/Lang/Big guy who can log minutes and score 50+ points would be great; but Robert may be right: let’s not forget that Kessel, at 60 points, ended up at the 24th rank amongst centers this year. A 21 year-old right shot C who (forget the goals) can shoot 200+ times a year? Let Komisarek walk and throw 4 millions that way instead. If we ar lucky, we get him AND Boston retaliates by signing Komisarek :). But again, don’t be naive people: they’ll ship Savard out before they let us throw our dirty centennial money toward young Phil… So we may be in for the Nik Anthropov era (sigh).

RW- The K brothers are both right wingers. Andrei can actually be somewhat effective on the LW, but he is far more dangerous on the RW. Sergei is flat out lost on the LW. So if we bring back Kovy (I hope they do; dude is mental, but I don’t care: there isn’t enough beauty in this world and that is why I wan l’Artiste back, dammit!), to me the RW pecking order should be: Kovy, AKost, D’Ags, SKost/Laraque. If the younger K brother gets his head screwed the right way, he’ll leapfrog D’Agostini, who just doesn’t have the same level of skill; if not, well too bad for him. I guess we could dump Laraque and get a grinder somewhere in there (to take Kostopoulos spot? Dandenault?), but I’d like to see D’Agostini get a real shot.

LW- We can get Tanguay back I think, that gives the following pecking order: Tanguay-Lantendresse-Higgins-Pacioretty/Stewart. This is where I’d try something, but the pickings are slims… I guess Cole would be nice, but I think Higgins gives us more at this point. My point is: I want someone who can push Pax back in Hamilton where he can learn the ropes and become a center :).

The Lateral — I would love to see Bob take advantage of the fact that he has a shitload of money. Who doesn’t have money right now? The KHL. How much is Yemelin poised to make next year (after the rumored 20%+ paycut)? Perezhogin? We have to understand that, under a 50-55mil cap, 6+ mil is big money, 4+ is somewhat big, but 3 and less for 2-3 years isn’t that big of a deal if you ain’t against the cap. Is 2mil/year for 2 years too high a price for Perezhogin? If he scores 19 points again, yes. At 40 points, he’s a top40 at RW or LW, and overpriced again. At 50 points? Top 30 he has the talent, we know that, and he’s got some defensive chops. That being said, dude is a RW according to Wikipedia; gee, another left shot RW under-performing on the LW for the Habs… Anybody sees a pattern?

What goes for Perezhogin goes for Yemelin too, of course (and Valentenko, I guess). The idea is, we hava a lot of room, so we can overpay. Overpaying for middle-tier, captive talent may be less destructive (I insist: les destructive) than overpaying for middle-tier, free-agent talent.

G- I won’t even bother. Bob’s logic escapes mine in that department.

It is a no lose situation, it is why the Bruins made a huge mistake signing Thomas to that deal. Add in Ryder’s $4M per and the Bruins are in salary cap hell. Krejci and Kessel are essentially UFA’s right now if you offer them $6-7M per season.

http://fantasysensehockey.blogspot.com/2009/04/5m-for-thomas.html

The Bruins are in trouble if they give them market value, if they have to pay them double with Lucic and Savard up next season with a likely declining cap, this could quickly become a 2009 window for the team they have in front of them right now.

Thanks, it is from my site. Your success is definitely inspiration for what can be accomplished with hardwork :)

The Bruins have MAJOR issues moving forward, and I hope Gainey takes the advantage to really give it to the Bs. Kessel is a dynamic player and a much better $6-7M investment than Vincent Lecavalier. It would force the Bruins to A. scramble to unload 3-4 guys and watch Krejci walk, or B. Let him go.

I don’t see Gainey doing it though because of the cost of the draft picks.

my thoughts are that Gainey wanted to bury any ideas of Lecavalier by the recent finger pointing with the Lightning.
I think it’s a good move. Suppress any of that before the offseason signings get started.
Kessel would be a much better signing for the money and as a long term investment.
I think Cole would be a great sign. He played for the same college team that Rejean Houle’s son played for and now is an assistant coach for (Clarkson), which is only 15 miles south of the Canadian border and less than an hour from Montreal. Cole grew up near that area in “upstate New York” and many of the kids around there are Canadiens fans.
I don’t think Higgins will ever be as good as Cole. If Cole is healthy, he can bring more to the Habs than either Higgins or Tanguay. Size, speed, everything. He’s better.

I know we’re talking UFA signings, but with respect the draft, Bob and Trevor should have a very strong focus on the NCAA players, particularly the WCHA. That conference in particular is loaded with talent, and many of those teams play on international ice surfaces. Why is Kessel so fast? He played for Minnesota, along with Vanek, (and you’ll see a lot more coming), which has a large ice surface. Watch any of those games and you will be really impressed with the skill level. I would not be worried at all of Bob started collecting high draft picks as well. Look how rapidly Kessel and Vanek developed and at what cost in compared to an expensive free agent?

Robert – I could go on for pages about this topic but I’ll just make one point. We need to re-tool the team on a short term basis. We have no chance of winning a Cup until Price is ready to excel in goal. That may take a few years and I think we all have to come to grips with that reality. With that in mind, I think we should only focus on obtaining players that will be able to help us win a Cup a few years from now. We also have to acknowledge that there could be a financial crisis in the near future and we don’t want to make moves now that will put us in jeopardy in a few years. Personally, I’d rather break the bank on a centre rather than Kessel. Krejci is good but I want more seeing we will only get to do this once.

It is a shame we have to “wait for Carey”, but I suppose that is our situation. Of course, what will be the first thing he does after he has some success here and becomes a free agent? Sign with another team.
I think “24” and Olivier bring up good points though and we should plan for the future and be careful financially in the meantime. There’s a ton of talent out there in college hockey now, and we could rebuild into a perennial contender with the right choices, and in the meantime, keep a low profile salary-wise. It’s tough to let guys like Kovalev and Tanguay go, but compare them to guys like Kessel and Vanek. Who’s more producive? And in the future? And, which ones are more cost effective? Rather obvious.

…I’d be comfortable with the team agressively “rebuilding via the draft”. There is enough talent out there to do that, and save money in the process.

where would I start

1. Bouwmeester will not sign in Montreal…he’s going home to Alberta
2. Cole better than Higgins really…Higgins is a premier 3rd line winger who can score, be an elite PK guy, and can work up on first 2 lines in a pinch…Cole is just more injuries waiting to happen and how was he in Edmo ?
3. Kessel & Krejci nice players but if you cause that move the offer sheets on your RFAs will pour in…and in a cap world you will live and die in the draft…giving up first rounders, which you must have in hand btw and hoping that these players will be the same in Montreal is just dumb…I refer to Gomez & Drury signing for NYR—-lots of wasted money
4. we need D who grow hair on their palms….ie Komisarek, buy out or trade Hamrlik and use the money on Mike. entice Emelin to come over with Valentenko…the assets are in house…if you can entice Beauchemin great but why would he come to this media schmozzle as a francophone

-weather is too nice to comment further…interesting read although