The end of an era... Koivu signs with Anaheim

Saku Koivu is no longer the captain of the Montreal Canadiens as he signed a one year deal with the Anaheim Ducks yesterday. This marks the sad ending to the Koivu era in Montreal and he will surely be missed. While he never won a cup with the Canadiens, Koivu showed class, leadership and perseverance while at the same time inspiring people all over the city during his time here.

The greatest sporting event I ever attended was Koivu's first game back after winning his battle with cancer. Captain K will never be forgotten, and we should all be grateful that we had the privilege of watching this guy become the man and player that he is today.

OUCH! Kovalev signs with the Senators...

Another tough blow today for all Montreal Canadiens fans. Alex Kovalev has signed a two year contract with the Senators... First Komi, now Kovy? At least get these guys out of the division!!!!

Screw you Komisarek!!! Komi signs with the Leafs...

Mike Komisarek has signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs and I'm pissed! Can't wait to boooooo his ass next season when the maple losers come to town.

GHG!

Habs sign Camalleri, Gionta, Spacek and Gill...

Camalleri: Love it. They guy potted 39 goals last season!
(5yrs. $30 million)

Gionta: Lovin' it as well. A speedy scorer and playmaker who will bring a lot to the team.
(5 yrs. $25 million)

Spacek: Rock solid puck mover and decent on the PP. No physical game though...
(3 yrs. 11.5 million)

Gill: A beast with a cup ring, but I naturally don't like him because he came from the Leafs...
(2yrs. $4.5 million)

Higgins out, Gomez in...

I like it, but why did we have to throw in Mcdonagh? Gomez is a money player (and has a cup ring), but he's small..

Details: Higgins, Mcdonagh and Janyk to the Rangers in exchange for Scott Gomez and a couple of scrubs.

Bruins win again, lead series 3-0

No Markov + no Tanguay + no Schneider + no Lang = No Good.

The Habs got smoked again by the Bruins tonight in game 3 at the Bell Center and it looks like this is the end of the road. Without Markov and Schneider we just can't move the puck well enough to compete nor can we accomplish anything on the power-play. Combine that with the fact that some of our other players are playing the worst hockey of their lives (Komi, Pleks, Kostitsyn X2...) and we've got nothing but Kovy and Saku, who clearly can't do it by themselves. The Bruins are a good team and it would've taken all of our top guns to beat them.

I hate to admit it, but the season is over. Let's just hope that we can somehow steal game 4 and save face before the B's drop the axe on us.


GHG

So close, yet so far... Habs lose game 1

The Habs lost game 1 to the Bruins by a score of 4-2. We were right there with them, but a few tricky bounces and a couple bad penalties was enough to give this one away. Despite the outcome it was an encouraging game and if the Habs can get Markov back soon we should have a good chance to win this series. Don't get me wrong.. as much as I hate the B's, they're pretty f*ckin fierce and are a good team, but I still think that the Habs should take them down.

The only thing I didn't like was that Gainey gave Laraque 13 minutes of ice time in the game. That's more than AK46, Plekanec or Latendresse got! Gainey should and will scale that down in game two.

Expect a wild game 2. Saturday Night at 8pm.


P.s. Kovy's second period SNIPE was the sickest shot I have ever seen. Kovy owns Timmy Thomas and that's one of the reasons why I think we can win this series.


GHG

Do you smell what the Habs are cooking?

Don't look now but the Habs have won 4 straight as the momentum continues to build...

GHG

CARBO FIRED... Gainey takes over.

Guy Carbonneau is no longer the head coach of the Montreal Canadiens and it will be Bob Gainey replacing him behind the bench. Gainey shocked the hockey world today in a move that most surely didn't see coming. Gainey felt that Carbonneau had not been getting the best out of the team and with only 16 games left in this precious '100th year' season something had to be done.

It's hard not to feel bad for Carbo who was likely blindsided by Ganiey's decision but at the same time I think it was the right move. Guy Carbonneau was a great player and a great captain but unfortunately he really isn't a very good coach. I think Gainey is better suited to be the leader of this team right now and he's likely to be able to get more out of these players.

I've been calling for Carbo's head for a few weeks now and I'm relieved that it's been done. Carbo looked lost behind the bench since day one and I never thought he was the type of guy that could lead the Habs to the promise land. Guy always appeared soft both behind the bench and when talking to the media, and in turn the team seemed to go soft. The reason I thought he should be fired was simply because he consistently made bad coaching mistakes in almost every game. Not knowing when to take a timeout, having the wrong line on the ice in critical situations, never talking to the players behind the bench, not knowing how to manage his players etc. I hate to say it because I've always liked Guy and think he's a good person, but he just wasn't a very good coach.

Shut it Laraque.

Georges Laraque is telling the media that he's frustrated with his part time role on the Canadiens, and I couldn't give a sh*t.

Can he skate? No. Can he shoot? No. Can he pass? No. Can he dangle? No. Can he hit? Not really.

It's nothing personal, but there's no place on the Habs for him. Gainey should dump the guy to any team willing to take on his contract.

GHG

The Habs are back?

Hold your horses, it's more like HALAK is back.

The Habs have won two straight (Sens and Canucks) on the shoulders of Jaroslav Halak who is all of a sudden red hot and clearly the starting goaltender (for now). If Halak doesn't stand on his head those past two games the outcomes might have been a lot different. That being said, having the goalie steal a couple games is exactly what the Habs needed. It's hard to be confident when your goaltender's letting in 4 or 5 goals a game and Halak's recent performances seem to have given the Habs some more confidence as a team. Combine that with a re-energized Kovalev, an almost healthy Tanguay, and the addition of Matthieu Schneider (who's been money so far), and the Habs are cooking up something that smells like a tiny little bit of momentum. Will it last? Only time will tell...

Let's all take a moment to tip our hats to Bob Gainey. Giving Kovy three days off appears to have been a stroke of genius and the addition of Schneider has clearly provided a much needed spark on power-play.

When Kovalev is playing well, the power-play is scoring and the goaltending is strong the Montreal Canadiens can hang with any of the big dogs in the NHL.

GHG

Kostitsyns/Hamrlik story fizzles...

What a bust (no pun intended).

So what, Kostitsyn(x2) and the Hammer know a guy that is involved in some sketchy business. Big Deal. I was expecting something far worse given all the hype leading up to that Friday morning story. The only part of it which I didn't like was how it hinted that some of the Habs young guns are spending too many wild nights out on the town. I didn't like that part because I know it's true. Look at the team right now: Sergei is in the minors, Higgins has 8 goals, Komisarek and Hamrlik have gone missing and Price is riding the bench.

Buckle up.. It's about to get bumpy

WOW. Supposedly the Kostitsyn brothers and Roman Hamrlik have been linked to a criminal that was recently busted in a drug sting by Montreal police. La Presse is set to drop the story tomorrow morning and all hell is likely to break loose.

Happy 100th anniversary season everyone!

Schneider shneids back into town...

Blast from the past! It's official, the Habs have acquired defenseman Mathieu Schneider from the Thrashers in exchange for a second round draft pick (the pick we got for Huet). Consequently, Mr. O'Byrne has been sent back to minors for what's probably going to be the rest of the season.

The Habs did need to add an experienced defenseman and Gainey claims that Schneider was the best guy available so let's see what happens. I personally don't love the move, but I'm willing to give Schneider (and Gainey) a fair chance before I start ripping them both. Let's hope it doesn't come to that...

P.S. I would like to point out that Schneider and the Breezer are both defenseman on the 08-09 Habs. What's the world coming to??

GHG

Signs of life... Habs win 3-2

Yessssssssssssirrrrrrrrr.. The Habs have finally won a game, and we can all breathe again.

But don't take too deep of a breath. The Habs barely snuck away with the win last night in Colorado and most of the credit has to be given to Jaroslav Halak who slammed the door shut with an insane 46 save performance.

Halak stole this game for the Habs, but at least we're seeing signs of life right? Late in the third period it was easy to tell how badly we wanted to win this one as players were finishing their checks, diving for loose pucks, skating hard, and working hard. I hope this game will remind the team what it feels like to work hard, really want to win, and win.

The Habs are not a shit team, but if every player isn't giving 100% they become one very quickly. If they're going to get this ball rolling again it's going to take great goaltending (*cough* carey?) and a strong desire to win every time they take the ice. It can be done, but as they say 'Rome wasn't built in a day'.

Let's hope that the team can build on this momentum (yes 1 win = momentum at this point) and get back on track. I still think that we need to make trade and that Guy Carbs should get fired... but........... GO HABS GO

Desperate times call for desperate measures...

This is getting ridiculous and I felt the need to start posting again, even if only to have a place to vent on my current frustrations with the Habs.

This blog left off in mid August just as summer was turning to fall and the 'scent de la coupe' was ever so slowly beginning to fill the air in Montreal. Now, I wake up in mid February, its raining outside, and the Habs are a complete fucking disaster! IS this what the armageddon is going to look like?

I consider myself to be a superfan type. I'm the guy that never leaves the game early no matter what the score is, the guy that always has a positive comeback for those who doubt the Habs, the guy that always believes we're going to make a miraculous comeback when trailing in a game and the guy that always thinks we miiight just have a shot at the cup..... I'm not trying to toot my own horn here or anything, the point is that right now the Habs are even making me sick...and the more I think about it, the worse it gets. I hate to say it, but if you look closely you can see holes the size of the grand fuckin canyon all of over this team, top to bottom, forward and defense, coaches and management, goalies too..

It's true that teams can always pull out of a slump or recover from dry spells during the season, but it seems like the Habs might have passed the point of no return in that respect. Carbo's lost the team, our stars and leaders (of which there are few) are nowhere to be found, and were getting smoked every time we take the ice.

Something has to be done now, and I think it's Carbo that should get canned. I like Carbo, I really do. He was a great player and a great captain, but let's face it, he's a shit coach. He has no idea what he's doing, makes huge mistakes every single game and clearly has no idea how to manage things off the ice either. It's time for the Habs to go out and get hard-nosed veteran coach to whip this team into shape, and it has to be done now if the Habs want to make the playoffs this year. Carbo has mismanaged his stars, most of the games, and at this point essentially the entire team. He' a good guy, but can his ass already!

Stay tuned...