I still feel we need an offensive minded centerman to cover the next 3 to 4 years, the time we can promote a center from our prospects. To that extend, other than Maxwell, we lack of prospects that would be able to center the top two lines.
IMO, we did not address this problem at the last draft.
That's why I propose a offer sheet to Pierre-Marc Bouchard.
I say scraps because Sundin is either Retiring (say what you want but i think its one or the other) or hes going to a strong cup contender. Why does he take this long? Hes Mats, but I think if the decision was clear to him he would have signed with Montreal awhile ago, so I'm not convinced hes comming here.
Diamond in the rough would be Jagr or Naslund for me. Jagr still has fight in him but I don't know where he will end up. Naslund I think would have a break out year in Montreal being with alot more talented players, young ones. He also brings a certain Veteran presence. Maybe not a cup winner presence, but experienced.
Discuss. Also mention any trades (probably hundreds of threads dedicated to trades) that you can think of that would give us the edge to compete against the Detroit Onslaught. Also mention any other names that might remotely come here and help us.
Truth be told they both went down hill after they were seperated, I think it is a decent reunion at a decent price.
Truth be told, they're both washed up. Anyone who thinks reuniting Naslund with Bertuzzi will bring back high scoring to their game is living a wet dream.
After we sign Halak, O'Byrne, Gorges and Grabovsky, we should have roughly 8mil$ left. ... I think signing our guys to extension should be our priority instead of signing guys like Demitra or Satan...
I'm ok with this approach. It would be great to keep everybody who is a strong contributor.
I see Sergei eventually replacing Saku, so better start preparing him now.
And please no PMB, we have too many players of his type on our team already, talented, speedy, small, more Assits than Goals........
I am curiouw to why peple insits on moving Sergei to a center position before even trying a guy like Chipchura in a more offensive role (which I think we would have the tools for). He is big, he protects the puck very well along the boards and has a suprisingly good passing game. I think that he would look great along the side of Higgins.
To me the only interesting impact player right now is Jagr, although i'm not sure how Kovalev would react, as we know that both strugled together in NY
I am curiouw to why peple insits on moving Sergei to a center position before even trying a guy like Chipchura in a more offensive role (which I think we would have the tools for). He is big, he protects the puck very well along the boards and has a suprisingly good passing game. I think that he would look great along the side of Higgins.
I'd rather Chipchura center the 4th line because I don't want to see Lapierre at center. Lapierre is more effective with less responsibilities on the wing and he really looks out of place at center IMO.
I'd rather Chipchura center the 4th line because I don't want to see Lapierre at center. Lapierre is more effective with less responsibilities on the wing and he really looks out of place at center IMO.
our top 6 forwards are Tanguay, koivu, Kovalev, A. kostitsyn, S. Kostitsyn and Plekanec. That means our 3rd line has higgins and lats as wingers and either Lapierre or Chichurra as center. we can easily fill an efective 4th line with Begin, Kostopolous, Stewart, Chip or Lappy and we Have at least D'agostini and grabovsky as replacements.
The only peice missing is a strong top 2 center. We don't need a 3rd line center, we have 2 or them who can do the job just fine and for cheap. We develop our youth int MTL, we're not signing players like Fedrov or Shanahan anymore. Sundin is the only player Bob will make a move for unless he makes some sort of trade.
if we don't land Sundin, we should just go ahead with the team we have as is, throwing money at useless FA agents now will hurt us when we have to sign a lot of our players next year.
Right on, Jagr, bert and Naslund....try to bring back a bunch of years gone by magic.
Actually, I really do want the team to sign Jagr though. I wouldn't be opposed to a Naslund signing...or Bert to a decent contract, I'm confusing myself now.
OK, just Jagr.
it might be crazy, but if we strike out with Sundin, i wouldnt be upset if gainey found a way to lure Naslund/Bertuzzi IF they could be had for reasonable 1-2 year contracts (3-4 million/year).
Tanguay- Pleks- Kovalev
Naslund-Koivu-Bertuzzi
Kost jr-Higgins-Kost Sr
Begin/Lapierre-Chipcura-Kostopoulos
that could be a deadly lineup... even if they (naslund/bertuzzi) only put up modest numbers, we'd still have one of the most dangerous top 9 group of forwards in the league...
I suppose we're in ok shape even if nothing happens, but what worries me is that if we don't add any offensive depth to our forward group, we will be (as we were last year, and luckily avoided) one bad injury away from being in BIG BIG trouble.
it might be crazy, but if we strike out with Sundin, i wouldnt be upset if gainey found a way to lure Naslund/Bertuzzi IF they could be had for reasonable 1-2 year contracts (3-4 million/year).
Tanguay- Pleks- Kovalev
Naslund-Koivu-Bertuzzi
Kost jr-Higgins-Kost Sr
Begin/Lapierre-Chipcura-Kostopoulos
I think you'll see them go after one of J.Williams, Demitra, Naslund, Jagr etc once they think that Sundin is no longer a possibility. Right now there are enough guys out there that they can afford to wait...of the potential good forwards only Hossa and Huselius have signed, plus a few depth guys.
mind you, unless he shows up in camp ready to TAKE a spot next to either Pleks/Koivu, I think he needs to spend some time in the AHL.
the guy needs some work in a lot of areas, and I think long term he'll be better off playing a ton of minutes in the AHL for 1/2 a season or more than spending another year bouncing around the lineup playing 10 minutes/game.
mind you, unless he shows up in camp ready to TAKE a spot next to either Pleks/Koivu, I think he needs to spend some time in the AHL.
the guy needs some work in a lot of areas, and I think long term he'll be better off playing a ton of minutes in the AHL for 1/2 a season or more than spending another year bouncing around the lineup playing 10 minutes/game.
Due to the number of games he's played now in the NHL he needs to be waived to go to the AHL.... a 20 year old with 32 NHL goals will not clear waivers....
mind you, unless he shows up in camp ready to TAKE a spot next to either Pleks/Koivu, I think he needs to spend some time in the AHL.
the guy needs some work in a lot of areas, and I think long term he'll be better off playing a ton of minutes in the AHL for 1/2 a season or more than spending another year bouncing around the lineup playing 10 minutes/game.
You're making a good argument for why he should stay. He plays 10 minutes a game, if that, yet has over 30 goals in his first two seasons. Power forwards take longer to develop. There isn't a team in the NHL that wouldn't take Latendresse. Sure he needs to step up but he's got the goods to be a first line NHL winger. This is why I wouldn't object to signing Bertuzzi or Shanahan for a season, just to show GL what it takes to become that sort of power forward.
