shaking head

I am beginning to believe that Gainey’s patience came from circumstance.

The Habs dodged a huge bullet when Briere said no, but that signing was no different than this.
I just don’t see how this addresses weaknesses? How have these 4 players made this team a
STANLEY CUP contender?

Is that not the goal? This is like shuffling the deck chairs on the Titanic.

My last hope to avoid 1993 t-shirts 20 years from now is that Price/Kostitsyn make the leap.

A very shocking and disappointing day.

To clarify Robert, Komisarek was only an All-Star last season because of a stuffed fan ballot, not because of his play.

A year ago I would have deemed signing Komisarek a priority. However, he regressed badly this year. This season the Canadiens were hoping he would take a step forward. Instead he took two back.

After losing his fight with Milan Lucic he wasn’t the same player. It almost felt as if he had lost his machismo. Furthermore his deteriation exposed other holes in his game. Obviously, he was never going to be an offensive force but his inabilty to make good passes out of his own end combined with his propensity for taking bad penalties spelled the end of his time in Montreal. To be honest watching him in the playoffs without his partner made me question how much of his success could be attributed to his pairing with Andrei Markov.

Honestly, I think many are jumping the gun on Gainey’s moves this year. I find it hard to judge this team when I still don’t know the entire roster. I do however, remember last year’s roster and how it massively underachieved. You’ll notice that during today’s free agent frenzy, there doesn’t seem to be a stampede to sign some of last years Habs (now turned free agents). I think that speaks to how many of us maybe have overvalued their talent.

tc.denault@habsworld.net

Truth be told, both of us wish we could be a fly on the wall in Gainey’s office.

I’m a Gainey fan but a seeming lack of a cohesive plan along with the habit of being reactive instead of active is disappointing to say the least. For the last while it seem’s if the team has been operating without any sort of plan and that’s no way to run a successful operation.

I think the difference was about $500K and perhaps a 2-year differential on contract term. Why the 2 sides did not settle on some sort of a middle ground is beyond me. Speak volume of Komisarek’s loyalty.

Now Gionta as well? WOW

The Cap may go down to the $50M range

and the Habs have a core of Gomez/Markov/Cammallari/Gionta taking up close to 50% of the cap?

WOW

well, they signed Kovalev at least….
Koivu almost certainly gone.

check nhl.com, “News” section.

http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=432992

Are you serious Spacek and Gill don’t make up for Komisarek. I think Komisarek was a key guy on the ice at times throughout his development but his puck movement was suspect at best and take Markov off his hip (i.e when Markov went down to injury) and Komisarek was mediocre at best. His attitude was good but so is Gill’s and Spacek is one of the best puck moving d-men in the league. Forget the 48 points he put last year compared to Komi’s 11. Spacek is a slighly worse Markov as far as passing goes and he has a bullet one timer that was sorely missed last year. If we keep Shneider some how our pp is going to light it up with Spacek feeding Mrkov and vica versa and Shneider filling in on the second unit. The only signing that was a bit disconcerning was Gomez only because of the cap hit but if he and Gionta rekindle even a fraction of the fire they caught in Jersey our team will loook extremely dangerous. Trust in Gainey. the man knows. The room needed a facelift. The chemistry in the room was awful last season obviosly and Gainey has booted out the bad elements with the exception of the k brothers but thier problems were more off the ice than in the room. Tanguay is replaced by a much tougher and better Cammaleri. Our top six forwards look pretty damn fast and skilled to me. The question of size keeps coming up and i hate this idea the anal systs around the league have of smaller players. The NHL changed its rules for a reason and more rule changes will be coming to open up the ice for these players that play thier hearts out and always get pegged as too small for this or that team. its rediculous. is St-Louis too small. Parise, Kane, Toews, Gagner, Cogliano and on and on. No, not too small on thier respective teams but if ever they get traded to Montreal suddenly they will be too small for the Habs. Camaleri was the highest scoring UFA available and still these idiots on tsn, sportsnet, espn, the score etc,, call the Habs too small and Gomez and Gionta too small what a joke.

Wamsley, i have many issues with the comments but i will focus on yours. A cup contender? are you serious man. Who out there would have made us a cup contender. Hossa—twelve years 5.5 a year, Havlat—another player we all would have called too small, Heatley -dream on, Lecavalier-dream again, i mean seriosly who? The Habs are nowhere near a cup, they can’t even say cup without laughing into thier shirt cuffs. So what can Gainey do but make his team immediately faster and more skilled plus add a few character guys to his room. There is no desperation in Gainey did you ever watch this guy play, he never panics and these players were in his sights for years. He has anted Gomez since he came to Montreal as GM, Gionta also has been on top of his list for wingers, a fast, gritty, gifted player, Camalerri he went after already in the past and lost out to Calgary where he scored 39 goals and will probably match that in Montreal if not improve on it. But make us a cup contendere Gainey was not trying to do. let’s be honest with ourselves. When Price learns to stop drinking a six pack an hour before games maybe we’ll have a shot but for know let’s have some of that textbook Gainey patience.

Robert I have to disgaree with you here. Komisarek was a great stay at home defenseman who blocked shots and hit a lot but what else? Not much really. Needless to say he had a subpar season. I listened to what he had to say on TSN and it didn’t make much sense to me as to why he left the Habs. Grossly overpaid by the Leafs. He’s got a lot of heart but the Habs were looking for something different. I think with Gill the upside is that even though he’s huge he moves quite well for a big D and that he can pot a few more goals than Komisarek. The latter was overrated and again, his explanation as to why he left is baloney so in the end he will not be missed. Yes he was a leader and blah blah blah but there is just something missing with Komisarek. I like the acquisitions Gainey has made. It’s time to move in a new direction. The habs of the last few yrs were entertaining but something was missing. They overachieved two seasons ago and this past season they came back down to earth. Not good enough. Gainey is right on and people have to stop giving him crap. One thing’s for sure Robert: the Habs of 09-10 will be entertaining! Lots of speed and grit. I think the lack of size is an overrated issue.
And please next time you’re asked to write an obituary for the Bruins please do it with more venom!!!! But I like the stuff you write most of the time even though I don’t always agree with you here and there.