First things first—Montreal Canadiens tickets will be available starting September 6. If you are familiar with the wristband thing, the distribution is on September 5, at 5 pm, at the Bell Center.
More details at the team's website.
On another matter, Bob Gainey had a talk with the media yesterday. French sports channel RDS reported that the Montreal's GM is not optimistic about the Sundin's situation. Uh, with all due respect, Mr.Gainey—DUH!
The man showed no sign of interest whatsoever, I hope the organization did not really expect anything.
"We did not get the message that he is interested by the Canadiens." Yes sir, no message was the message!
Of course, never say never. Gainey said at the end of his interview that there is still a place for the Nordiques/Maple Leafs (the Habs' two BFF!) former player. Don't tell us, tell him!
But you know your GM. Whenever a plan A gets screwed, count on him to have a plan B. Last year, plan A was Daniel Briere, while plan B was Kostopoulos and Smolinski! See, it's close enough! ( Actually I don't think those signings had anything to do with Briere.)
So this year, Gainey's plan B will include working with other teams. Obviously, the Habs are not at a point where they have to watch every cent of their salary cap. So the organization is thinking about working with teams which do.
- B/R Ticket Guide
"There are a few teams which are already over their cap. And if there is a chance to talk with them to improve our roster, we will work on it."
Who do you think would fit in? Nick Murdocco has a few suggestions.
The GM is not the only one who actually got over the case. Training camp is less than a month away, and Guy Carbonneau is starting to plan his lineups "as if Sundin wasn't there."
"August is ending, and if Sundin did not take a decision yet, that might be because he doesn't think about pursuing his career. I was enthusiastic at the start of the summer, but I'm not anymore."
Carbo is then thinking about moving Sergei Kostitsyn to center to start the camp. Talented as he is, we'll see how it goes from there.
If you allow me to speculate a bit (let's get crazy, it's summer!), I would see it this way:
Higgins - Koivu - Tanguay*
A.Kostitsyn - Plekanec - Kovalev
Kostopoulos - S.Kostitsyn - Latendresse
Begin - Lapierre - Laraque
(*Tanguay already said he would not mind playing RW)
Okay, the third and fourth lines are subject to changes without notice!
Recall that Gregory Stewart*, Kyle Chipchura, and Matt D'Agostini are aslo on their way from Hamilton.
My headline was talking about a rumour. If you got to this point, you must really want to know what is going on, so here:
HockeyBuzz.com said today that Anaheim Ducks defenseman Mathieu Schneider might be coming to Montreal "this evening or tomorrow morning."
As you have been kind enough to get though the whole article, here is another one, still from HockeyBuzz:
It seems Brian Smolinski will be heading to the Pittsburgh Penguins or the Ottawa Senators.
Find out more on Eklund's blog.
Keep you posted,
Note to the reader: Gainey's interview was in french, so this is a free translation.
*(Ben Maxwell was the original posted name. But as mentioned in the comments below, Greg Stewart was what I had in mind)
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2 months ago
Thanks for the link!! very sweet of you !
2 months ago
Can't rely on anything that Eklund says!
2 months ago
Schneider coming back after 15 years, and we're supposed to get excited about that ? We're rich enough in defence, as pure defencemen go. There's no place for him on the roster at close to age 40. Or maybe it's a sympathy move to get him into enough games so he contends for the Stanley Cup team picture once again !
This Eklund dude must be bored or have a lot of time on his hands to come up with something like this.
ROTFLMAO
Come on, Miah. You can much better than that.
from 2 months ago
don't tell me, tell eklund! lol!
no, actually the rumour came to me after the rotoworld published it first, and they got it from eklund ...
still, agreed, I dont see what a defenceman would do for the team as we're speaking ...
2 months ago
Maxwell is not coming FROM Hamilton, but going TO Hamilton, unless he has a spectacular camp.
from 2 months ago
did I say maxwell? sorry, I had to check back in my article to actually realize I messed up with the names.
but still, talking about maxwell, not sure he will make the jump. but if he does, along with chipchura, that will make another rookie C. if Kositsyn really brings it on as a C this year, he won't feel his original position if he plays.
thanks for the correction, I won't change it, I'll just put a * next to correct
2 months ago
I'd be tempted to mix up the lines more than that. I'd like to see Koivu centre a line with Latendresse. I think Lats would be better served to play with people who can help him step up his game. Lats played well with Koivu for a few games last year. Let's try it out for a few months to see how it could work.
My lines would look more like this:
Higgins - Koivu - Latendresse
Kovalev - Plekanec - Tanguay
Kostitsyn - Kostitsyn - Laraque
Kostopoulos - Lapierre - Begin
This would keep the Kostitsyn brothers together, and with Laraque on the line, he could go to the net and let them have freedom to move around.
from 2 months ago
you are probably right. Latendresse is playing well with koivu. I dont know how the kovalev-pleky-tanguay will adjust, but they are all talented players, it should be fun.
the two kostitsyns, great one. but I dont know how Laraque will actually work on that trio.
great suggestion Tom,
2 months ago
I'd be tempted to mix up the lines more than that. I'd like to see Koivu centre a line with Latendresse. I think Lats would be better served to play with people who can help him step up his game. Lats played well with Koivu for a few games last year. Let's try it out for a few months to see how it could work.
My lines would look more like this:
Higgins - Koivu - Latendresse
Kovalev - Plekanec - Tanguay
Kostitsyn - Kostitsyn - Laraque
Kostopoulos - Lapierre - Begin
This would keep the Kostitsyn brothers together, and with Laraque on the line, he could go to the net and let them have freedom to move around.
2 months ago
Sorry for the double post. Something screwed up.
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