Alright, am I the only person who saw some life in this guy at the end of the season and in the playoffs? I think he's doing EXACTLY what Bob and his new coaching staff want him too. He has done an awesome job as a penalty killer, great on face-offs and in the right situation could possibly put up some really good numbers. He is a great insurance policy if Ribeiro doesn't work out with Samsonov and Kovalev as well. I think he'll net us 20-25 goals this year and everyone will be glad that Bob did the right thing and held onto him. If he can carry the momentum he had at the end of the season he'll be in great shape and should have a better offensive year for us.
Alright, am I the only person who saw some life in this guy at the end of the season and in the playoffs? I think he's doing EXACTLY what Bob and his new coaching staff want him too. He has done an awesome job as a penalty killer, great on face-offs and in the right situation could possibly put up some really good numbers. He is a great insurance policy if Ribeiro doesn't work out with Samsonov and Kovalev as well. I think he'll net us 20-25 goals this year and everyone will be glad that Bob did the right thing and held onto him. If he can carry the momentum he had at the end of the season he'll be in great shape and should have a better offensive year for us.
Bonk did play well at the tail end of last year and in the playoffs. Begin seemed to bring out the best in him.
IF he can show that same consistency throughout the ENTIRE year and scored 25-20 goals, I think most fans would be happy. He has shown flashes of offensive skills, but like Bulis, he teases us which drives fans nuts!!!
I actually have a feeling he could be playing with Samsanov or Perezhogin as one of his winngers this year and we could roll 3 offensive lines.
I am still not convinced that Samanov -Ribero-Kovalev will click or even be the second line.
Alright, am I the only person who saw some life in this guy at the end of the season and in the playoffs? I think he's doing EXACTLY what Bob and his new coaching staff want him too. He has done an awesome job as a penalty killer, great on face-offs and in the right situation could possibly put up some really good numbers. He is a great insurance policy if Ribeiro doesn't work out with Samsonov and Kovalev as well. I think he'll net us 20-25 goals this year and everyone will be glad that Bob did the right thing and held onto him. If he can carry the momentum he had at the end of the season he'll be in great shape and should have a better offensive year for us.
I admit, I like Bonk, he was our PK expert on a not so good PK last year(mainly because of Theo's crummy goals). He definiely woke up at the end. I think this year he'll have a better season, but not a good enough season to have us re-sign him. Nonetheless, he'll find a new home with a different team.
Underachieving overpaid players were always critiqued by montreal fans. If you get big money here, people WILL expect big things from you and they will make sure to let you know if you let them down. Bonk is not an exception to this rule. 2.4 mil for a 4th line plugger is too much no matter how you view it.
Even if you throw out the money equation out the window, Bonk is still a bad acquisition. He could not hold his own offensively and his late energy spurt can be attributed to Steve "sparkplug" Begin. As a matter of fact, the fourth line could very well be called "the motivation line".
As for his vaulted defensive skills, I don't understand why such a defensive juggernaught couldn't help montreal's PK to be better than the 21st in regular season with 81.1% (that's among the 10 worst PK of the league btw...). Furthermore, he finished the regular season with a glorious -3.
Strong playoff performance? The team clocked in a 80% PK average, which is actually worse than its regular season tally. The marvelous Bonk still managed to finish -1.
Of course, you can still try to convince yourself Bonk has all these intangibles and throw salary, PK% and +/- avg out the window, because everyone knows stats are so overrated these days.
I still don't see anything that can convince me Bonk is a valuable asset.
Defensive ability seems to be the last refuge of underachieving, unmotivated forwards these days anyways...
People need whiping boys. Percieved worth vs salary is the cliché culprit.
Bonk was an upgrade over Juneau at the time. I can still appreciate that until we can upgrade.
It may be cliché, but it is still a reality. I hope you can appreciate what an extra 1.6 mil (by replacing 2.4 mil bonk with a 800 000$ plugger) can get us these days...
Alright, am I the only person who saw some life in this guy at the end of the season and in the playoffs? I think he's doing EXACTLY what Bob and his new coaching staff want him too. He has done an awesome job as a penalty killer, great on face-offs and in the right situation could possibly put up some really good numbers. He is a great insurance policy if Ribeiro doesn't work out with Samsonov and Kovalev as well. I think he'll net us 20-25 goals this year and everyone will be glad that Bob did the right thing and held onto him. If he can carry the momentum he had at the end of the season he'll be in great shape and should have a better offensive year for us.
I see him as more like 10-15 goals tops...depending on where we put him he could get some good assist totals. He needs to be more physical and play more of a Lindros-like game...at least while the big E is healthy. I think that Bonk is still young and if he has some willpower he can be great. I think that he'll probably play a solid two way game this year, and although won't probably be worth 3mil he'll probably play a 2mil game which I'd be ready to accept.
Lack of passion. He is such a tease, if he used his big body and worked his tail off, he could be a great 3rd liner with some offense. Last year, he was just an overpaid underachieving 4rth liner.
He could be a little better this year, since it's his contract year But everybody have to forget about him scoring 20-25 goals and being a top 6 forward; he can't do that. If Ribs is injured (or more probably just stinks ) then throw in Pleks; if he gets hurt, try Grabovsky. If he gets hurt, try Chipchura, then Higgins, then Kovalev, then Maxwell, etc etc... Bonk on an offensive line ? NEVER AGAIN !!!
What does that have to do with anything? We got Huet in the trade and Garon had mostly an average season last year. IMO we won that trade so far, hands down.
Well you do need veteran players if you hope to go far in the playoffs. We need to realize that we have some guys going in only their 2nd year, which for most of them they encounter something named a slump. And then we think there's room for at least 1 if not 2 rookies. That's a lot of spot taken for guys under 2 years of experience.....
Having said that, I can't wait till he's long gone and Lapierre fills his spot nicely with his grit and speed, we will then know what a 3rd liner center should really look like. I have tons of confidence in this player, more than a lot of some other rookies in front of him in the depth chart, and when given the opportunity I'm sure he won't dissapoint us....
Bonk played most of the season with a major, major groin injury. How can people say he has no motivation or heart? If you play as many games as he did in constant pain, you've got be in it for more than the money. When he's healthy he's a capable 2nd-line center, but by the time he was healthy last season he'd already established his niche as a 4th-line PK specialist.
BTW, our PK after Theo was traded was amongst the best in the league, which definatly has to be taken into account when talking about the PK%. He also was a -3, but considering how many points he had and the fact that he was often playing againts the top line, a -3 is a very good number.
What does that have to do with anything? We got Huet in the trade and Garon had mostly an average season last year. IMO we won that trade so far, hands down.
What does that have to do with anything? We got Huet in the trade and Garon had mostly an average season last year. IMO we won that trade so far, hands down.
True though at the time, LA was more desperate in looking for a goalie than we were for a 3rd line center. That's why I would have loved to get Bélanger out of them instead of Bonk.
Obviously we don't know if they would've accept it, but I don't see why not, I don't think Bélanger that untouchable for them.....
It may be cliché, but it is still a reality. I hope you can appreciate what an extra 1.6 mil (by replacing 2.4 mil bonk with a 800 000$ plugger) can get us these days...
A 800 000$ plugger is just that, a plugger. It doesn't make the team any better. If you clear the salary, sure there's potential for improvement, but what and how ? It's not like dumping salary is a magic wand kfor better performance. Maybe you'll get better performance for the buck, but if the overall net performance of the team declines, you're at a loss. Determining what a player should do for a team depending on his salary is always a one dimentional view. And it's easy to be blind to the whole picture.
I've met Bonk a few times when he was playing with the Sens. He is a complete *******! One of the biggest jerks in hockey!! Even Yashin was a nicer guy than him!!
Simple because 2.4 million for a fourth liner is way to expensive. I would take a 650 000$ Steve Begin twice before Bonk with that money. Begin deserve more that 2.4 then Radek. Mike Johnson who got a lot more constant statistic and do 1.9 million. Bonk is overpaid for the job he got to do..
No way if Ribeiro stink Bonk gonna take the second line. No way.
If that happen, we gonna see Plekanec 1000 times before Bonk on the second line. And put Johnson center on the second before put Bonk.
Bonk he's done. But he's on the team right now, he not gonna be traded, that is his last year contract, so he gonna do nice job on PK i hope and in ES. So after that , its gonna be old stuff because no way in real life or dream you can even think Gainey gonna resign him .
A 800 000$ plugger is just that, a plugger. It doesn't make the team any better. If you clear the salary, sure there's potential for improvement, but what and how ? It's not like dumping salary is a magic wand kfor better performance. Maybe you'll get better performance for the buck, but if the overall net performance of the team declines, you're at a loss. Determining what a player should do for a team depending on his salary is always a one dimentional view. And it's easy to be blind to the whole picture.
I'm sorry, but I don't see a "whole" picture when I look at Bonk. What I see is: a plugger. A plugger who's payed at the rate of a second line center. Replacing Bonk with another plugger will do exactly that: clear salary. You want to tell me there is no other "defensively responsible", washed up, over the hill, 20ish points a season center to be had in the league for under 1 mil?
I have no fantasy about dumping Bonk's salary: it will never happen. A player like Bonk is undumpable. The initial poster asked why we hated Bonk. I don't "hate" Bonk. He bugs me. He bugs me like a 2.4 million splat on your windshield. Its the signing of Bonk that was the mistake. I have nothing against Radek Bonk, its his contract that makes everyone try to justify his "hidden" abilities.
Would you pay Downey 2.4 mil a year to show up on the 4th line? Oh, yeah, that would be a mistake. That would be a mistake because we would be overpaying by 1.6 mil+. When you overpay for an underachieving asset you affect your whole team. Its 1.6 million that cannot go into other contracts, cap space on a trade or a richer UFA.
Paying 4th line pluggers a 2nd liner salary is shooting yourself in the foot. It gives you less space to work with. To me, that's an even bigger picture than keeping the services of a slacking 4th line boy wonder.
But everybody have to forget about him scoring 20-25 goals and being a top 6 forward; he can't do that. If Ribs is injured (or more probably just stinks 
) then throw in Pleks; if he gets hurt, try Grabovsky. If he gets hurt, try Chipchura, then Higgins, then Kovalev, then Maxwell, etc etc... Bonk on an offensive line ? NEVER AGAIN !!! 
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