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brinshannaraI have not yet talked about hockey at all because I haven't wanted to jinx Les Canadiens de Montreal.
Seriously, I'm still wary.
But! I have hockey things to say!
First things first: The draft. I have no problems with us having selected Carey Price as the #5 pick overall. In fact, I think Bob Gainey's a genius. Yann Danis is a pretty decent goalie right now, he's 24 and he played well for the Bulldogs last season. He had a 2.34 GAA and a .924 save percentage in 53 games. Pretty decent numbers, although I would expect the GAA to balloon a bit if placed in NHL conditions.
Carey Price, not even quite 18 years old, had a 2.34 GAA and a .920 save percentage in 63 games with the Tri-City Americans of the Western Hockey League last season. He's 6'2", 175 pounds, he plays a hybrid standup/butterfly style and I'm thinking he's a little bit like Patrick Roy/Olaf Kolzig. I think the kid's going to be a great goalie.
Bob Gainey is a genius for picking a goalie. The other choices were small forwards (we have enough of them. Koivu, Ribeiro, Zednik...) or big defensemen (we have enough of them, too. Hainsey and Komisarek... plus Souray.). This way, Gainey gets a bit of insurance in the future for the eventual departure of Jose Theodore. Or, if Theodore signs with us for a long-term contract (more below!), Carey Price is prime trade bait for a big, young forward.
As to my boy Theo...
Theo has said he wants to sign a 4 year contract with Montreal. He's said to be asking 22 million (5.5M/season). I think Gainey can probably talk him down to 5M/season, due to the salary cap, and the fact that we've just signed TWO awesome free agents today (one just a few minutes ago!).
First of all, we re-signed (and yes, people, it's got a hyphen. "Resigned" means to leave your position voluntarily. "Re-signed" means to sign again.) Alexei Kovalev! I honestly didn't see that one coming. I thought he was gone and lost forever to Pittsburgh. But no! He's ours for FOUR YEARS at 18M (4.5M/year).
And now, the breaking news, we just signed Mathieu Dandenault, a free agent formerly with Detroit for 4 years at 7M (1.75M/year). Sweet. I don't know a lot about him, but he seems to be a versatile player, having been trained as a forward, but is now a pretty solid defender with a +46 over his career. I'm sure we'll use him on the blue-line, but we've used defenders for the left-wing-lock strategy on occasion, and I'm sure he's going to be a good fit if we pull that off. Or just a good fit in general now that Brisebois is gone. (I might actually miss Breeze-by.)
Wow. Free agent season, and the Habs are active. Dandenault. Kovalev. Re-signed Bouillon (Frankie Bouillon, the smallest and fiestiest defender EVER!)... Now we just need to sign Theo and all the other restricted free agents and I think we might have a good chance at getting to the conference finals of the playoffs. :D
Must go get ready to go to work, now.
Seriously, I'm still wary.
But! I have hockey things to say!
First things first: The draft. I have no problems with us having selected Carey Price as the #5 pick overall. In fact, I think Bob Gainey's a genius. Yann Danis is a pretty decent goalie right now, he's 24 and he played well for the Bulldogs last season. He had a 2.34 GAA and a .924 save percentage in 53 games. Pretty decent numbers, although I would expect the GAA to balloon a bit if placed in NHL conditions.
Carey Price, not even quite 18 years old, had a 2.34 GAA and a .920 save percentage in 63 games with the Tri-City Americans of the Western Hockey League last season. He's 6'2", 175 pounds, he plays a hybrid standup/butterfly style and I'm thinking he's a little bit like Patrick Roy/Olaf Kolzig. I think the kid's going to be a great goalie.
Bob Gainey is a genius for picking a goalie. The other choices were small forwards (we have enough of them. Koivu, Ribeiro, Zednik...) or big defensemen (we have enough of them, too. Hainsey and Komisarek... plus Souray.). This way, Gainey gets a bit of insurance in the future for the eventual departure of Jose Theodore. Or, if Theodore signs with us for a long-term contract (more below!), Carey Price is prime trade bait for a big, young forward.
As to my boy Theo...
Theo has said he wants to sign a 4 year contract with Montreal. He's said to be asking 22 million (5.5M/season). I think Gainey can probably talk him down to 5M/season, due to the salary cap, and the fact that we've just signed TWO awesome free agents today (one just a few minutes ago!).
First of all, we re-signed (and yes, people, it's got a hyphen. "Resigned" means to leave your position voluntarily. "Re-signed" means to sign again.) Alexei Kovalev! I honestly didn't see that one coming. I thought he was gone and lost forever to Pittsburgh. But no! He's ours for FOUR YEARS at 18M (4.5M/year).
And now, the breaking news, we just signed Mathieu Dandenault, a free agent formerly with Detroit for 4 years at 7M (1.75M/year). Sweet. I don't know a lot about him, but he seems to be a versatile player, having been trained as a forward, but is now a pretty solid defender with a +46 over his career. I'm sure we'll use him on the blue-line, but we've used defenders for the left-wing-lock strategy on occasion, and I'm sure he's going to be a good fit if we pull that off. Or just a good fit in general now that Brisebois is gone. (I might actually miss Breeze-by.)
Wow. Free agent season, and the Habs are active. Dandenault. Kovalev. Re-signed Bouillon (Frankie Bouillon, the smallest and fiestiest defender EVER!)... Now we just need to sign Theo and all the other restricted free agents and I think we might have a good chance at getting to the conference finals of the playoffs. :D
Must go get ready to go to work, now.
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Date: 2005-08-04 02:47 am (UTC)Well, good luck with him. Hopefully he's better for you than he was for me.
I mean, if Scotty Bowman can't find you a place where you're productive... ;)