I was at the game last night, and went there very depressed and pesimistic.
I left however with a smile on my face. I was upset that they lost on a weak goal like that. But I think they went out on their best game of the season.
The reason why I wasn't so upset though was because I started to think about the offseason and how we are going to lose (so we think) some of the dead weight. And that I'm hopeful for a trade and some free agent signings to finally round out this hockey team into a conference final contender.
I think the Nucleaus is there, with Saku, Kovalv, Higgins, Perezhogin, Ryder(they'll sign him), Begin, and Markov, Komi, Dandenault (who had a great series) on D. So it will be interesting to see what Gainey does.
It is time to look at the team as an assembly of roles. It is time to think of the team, not be a fan of indivual players.
First line center- win face offs and controls the play, feeds his wingers, has salary of $X million a year. 1st left winger- scorer, intense, $x million a year. First right winger etc....
Now, how does your roster fit into those roles? What holes need to be filled in? How much are you going to pay them?
Because... do you think our players are being used effectively? Do they have the talent to achieve success in the role that we give them?
Take any player. Kovalev. Does he perform the role of 2nd right winger well for the price he demands? Yes, could have more offensive output.
I'm certainly depressed. Knowing that I've watched my last Habs game of this season. The offseason is long but I know this team is in good hands. We are heading in the right direction and these types of defeats will be good for our young players. Now they know the taste of the playoffs and the taste of defeat in the playoffs. Which means they will want to be there even more and not want to experience what they are going through now again.
I believe it was Scotty Bowman who once said (maybe not exact words) "Players need to feel defeat before they can know how to win".
I was at the game last night, and went there very depressed and pesimistic.
I left however with a smile on my face. I was upset that they lost on a weak goal like that. But I think they went out on their best game of the season.
The reason why I wasn't so upset though was because I started to think about the offseason and how we are going to lose (so we think) some of the dead weight. And that I'm hopeful for a trade and some free agent signings to finally round out this hockey team into a conference final contender.
I think the Nucleaus is there, with Saku, Kovalv, Higgins, Perezhogin, Ryder(they'll sign him), Begin, and Markov, Komi, Dandenault (who had a great series) on D. So it will be interesting to see what Gainey does.
Gainey better wake up if we want to move in the right direction . Folks I WANT A CUP , not a cup of coffee in the playoffs .
1) first of all enough with this KOIVU loss issue, we lose this series with or without him . Remember they lost thier best winger in COLE , who was on pace for 40 goals. When WARD took over and played solid goal , we got shut out , GERBER
was the reason we won the 2 games.
2) 5 goals in 4 games- THIS SAYS IT ALL . We HAD OUR CHANCES to win this series , no excuses , we CANT FINISH and our forwards were beaten down low and along the boards, THIS HAS BEEN A SERIOUS ISSUE FOR YEARS .
3) We need a shut down defender , 2 SCORERS , who can finish and create
thier own scoring chances ( I THINK WE HAVE THEM IN PEREZ AND KOSTY )
but we have to give them top 6 forward minutes)
4) the following have to go , and be replaced , SUNDTSTROM, RIBS,ZEDNICK ,
BONK, and Bulis if he wants the moon.
5) GET A TOP END CENTER- sorry folks # 11 and # 71 this duo CANT CUT IT , Saks
is injury prone, Ribs can`t handle the 2 spot . WE NEED A MAJOR UPGRADE .
this is not a ***** session , its fact IF YOU WANT TO MOVE TOWARDS A CUP .
6) give Huet his money , it won`t be outrageous , sign him , he is a major reeason we made the playoffs.
7) IF BG , has no intention to play KOSTY or PEREZ as core forwards, move them
for help in other areas. Don`t do another Hossa move, wait too long to maximize value, YOU CAN GET a solid young defender for one of these kids , it will be a good deal for both teams.
8) we have a decent young team moving in the right direction , but we need work
to get to the next level.
I felt bad for the guys, they gave it everything last night.
But this team has a great core, with many talented young players, and is moving in the right direction. So, I while I am upset the season is over, realistically, I knew this was not their year so any playoff experience is good for this team. This team will be better next year. Future looks good.
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While disappointed with the result, I was actually happy with the play of the Canadiens overall. They played a much deeper team in Carolina pretty much straight up and the reason for their loss was a very, very hot goalie. A few observations....
The team has a totally different mentality without Koivu. With him they are more focussed and show much more determination and accountability. Without him there is a lot of floating out there.
Ribeiro will always be a regular season guy. When checking gets tight he completely disappears. He is either unable or unwilling to fight through it. I don't care if all we get is a draft pick out of it, but I really hope that's the last I see of 71.
While he got a lot of grief throughout the regular season, I thought Bonk got stronger as the series went along and played very well last night. He blocked shots, did great work in the corners and behind the net, won battles, won draws and did a nice defensive job. I think a lot of that coincides with the arrival of Carbo and Jarvis. Maybe he's not worth the huge jack he was getting but at a lower price I'd take him back in a heartbeat.
While Huet surely feels terrible, he wll be back as long as he doesn't dwell on it like Salo did. I like Huet a lot and I think the fatigue was starting to catch up to him. He hasn't had this workload before and played so much of the last month and then faced so much rubber in the first 5 games I just think he was starting to tire. His movements in game 6 were not as crisp as game 1.
The defence needs tweaking, not being blown up. Overall it was pretty good but for some mental lapses. Souray looked like he put the regular season behind him and looked much better. Markov and Rivet were solid and made good decision with the puck (usually). Komisarek is just getting better and if the team shows some patience they will be rewarded. Bouillion was effective for his size, but the Carolina matchup was tough for him because their forwards are all big (except Recchi). If an upgrade is coming it would have to be Rivet or Souray who goes but the upgrade needs to be a forward move, not a lateral one.
I feel bad so far knowing that they did the best they can with the players they had. But I'll be feeling much worst when Jersey will finally go through Ward and beat the Canes fairly easily......
Well it definitely hurts this morning, but to be completely honest with you, something just didn't feel right as soon as Koivu got hurt. For some reason I lost my nerves.
I was completely gutted when we lost Saku and if I can feel that from my family room in Toronto, then I can just imagine what the room felt like.
At least it looks like Saku will be ok *fingers crossed* but I'm happy with the effort in game 6. I just think we didn't have the depth at center and Carolina exploited it.
As for the future, it looks good. Cut some of the passengers on this team, replace them with guys that feel a bit more pride in what they do and we'll have a playoff team for sure in the off-season.
My desires would be a top 2 centerman. A top 4 d-man. And another 2-way player capable of 15-20 goals.
All in all, it was a great year filled with many surprises.
Back in our season kickoff polls, I believe I voted for the Habs to be a 6th-8th place team, with outlying possibilities from 5th to 10th.
Now, if you told me in advance that:
- Theodore would self-destruct and get traded
- Kovalev would struggle to score 20 goals (none of Koivu, Ribs, or Zed would even get 20, and Bonk would get 6)
- Julien would get fired in mid-season
- Carolina, Buffalo, and the Rangers would finish ahead of us in the standings
(- Chris Higgins would be on our #1 line and our top clutch scorer at season's end )
...
Well, I probably would have had a heart attack and even that worst-case 10th place outlier wouldn't have looked very attainable.
So clearly a lot of amazing stuff has gone on. All in all, I call it a successful year for the Habs. Young players stepped up (esp. Higgins, Plekanec, Komisarek), our defense corps established itself, we started to see some grit and players sticking up for eachother, and I think the team and organization as a whole took another important step forward in the process. (The process being the hope of seriously contending in 2009, of course).
It hit me more this morning knowing that was the last Habs game of the year until October than it did last night right after the loss. It was a good year and we saw lots of positives. Let's sign Huet and get ready for the draft and next season.
I'm not depressed at all. I didn't expect us to get out of the first round but I was pleasantly surprised at how good this team can be. I'm very optimistic about the future and with slight adjustments, this team could be next year's Buffalo or Carolina. I think the Habs are not far from being a top team. Just take a look at our youngsters, the future is bright my friends! This team hasn't been that good in years and it will only get better. I look forward to Gainey's moves during the summer, I bet most of you won't be disapointed.
It hit me more this morning knowing that was the last Habs game of the year until October than it did last night right after the loss. It was a good year and we saw lots of positives. Let's sign Huet and get ready for the draft and next season.
Hey don't put it off so long, preseason starts in September only 5 months away. And between now and the we have the draft, UFA/RFA signings, trades and hopefully the prospects training camp and mini tourney in Ottawa again.
I was completely gutted when we lost Saku and if I can feel that from my family room in Toronto, then I can just imagine what the room felt like.
I don't think we have to imagine, I think we saw it in games 4 and 5. The life was sucked right out of the team, losing their heart & soul like that. As for last night, TSN reported that Saku went into the room prior to the game and talked with the team. I don't think it's coincidence that the boys responded with what might have been their hardest-working game in the series.
If he'd been in the lineup, we'd have won this thing. I'm sure of it. Saku Koivu means that much to this team.
It hurts a bit more this morning. Seeing how the boys played yesterday, they put a smile in my face even after a loss. But now... like you guys said... fall is a long way to go
I kinda feel like there is something missing this morning
I feel cleaner my beard is gone
But i really feel optimistic about next year and the years to come
We have a bunch of young prospect coming to habs and the future couldnt look brighter.
Cant wait to see Kost and lats with real numbers 46 and 84 look really bad...
Tears jerk their way out, feeling weak, sadness rips through my body like a tornado through the midwest. I look out to the skies and see a shinning star up and far away. For one day, our time will come, for we shall look back on these days, and feel proud of the adversity and difficulties it has surmounted. One day we shall also BE that bright star in the skies, beaming to the world that we have done it again... Our time will come, and i will be there. You will be there. We shall all be there to admire the accomplishments and then we shall all be one and united again...
... which just made me clue in that I'm listening to the song "In the Shadows" from the album "Matters of the Dark", by the band Tad Morose. I kid you not. Just random play from my mp3 player...
I didn't really expect us to get out of the first round against the Canes, even though I hoped the contrary watching every single game, so I can't say I was shocked when it all ended, but regardless, I can still say I was wrong anyways, we did much better than I anticipated, we hung in there with them the whole time and with Koivu in the lineup, I believe we could have gone passed the Canes. The Canes had a clearly better team down the middle, and that just got more obvious with the loss of Koivu. But aside from that, in hindsight I believe we were neck and neck, and that's to our team's credit. You know what you have to do Bob, get us a 1B center this summer and we're all set.
But anywho, what is done is done and I'm not overly sad to see them lose in the first round, I don't see it as regression at all, this was the team's edition I enjoyed watching the most in the last decade. This year was a process to getting better, our young guys (mainly Higgins, Plekanec, Perezhogin and Komisarek) got some invaluable experience during the year and will be counted on for much bigger roles next year. And we can expect a steady influx of young and more importantly cheap talent for years to come (Latendresse, Kostitsyn, Price, Chipchura, maybe even Emelin) and I think this is a key part of the equation.
So I guess I would have been devastated had we had a team of Ottawa's caliber, knowing we would lose a key part of the team' success during the summer for monetary reasons, but we weren't in a "now or never" mode entering this series and we're not endangered of losing any key component (there's no reason Bob can't re-sign Huet if he strongly feels he's his guy) so I never thought of this possible elimination as a failure, just a learning process. The only somewhat sad part is I won't be seeing the Habs for a few months but I'll get over it, the best is still to come with this team and there's lots of exciting playoff hockey left, as well as the draft and the UFA frenzy.
If we can just make sure we'll get steady goaltending next year and sign one key UFA down the middle (or trade for him), I'll feel positive about the short term future of this franchise.
)
only 5 months away. And between now and the we have the draft, UFA/RFA signings, trades and hopefully the prospects training camp and mini tourney in Ottawa again.
