jordan456789

Looking at what the habs have done so far i am wondering if you think they will be better or worse. First as a third line center Smolinski should be an improvement over Bonk. I like Hamrlik over Souray because he is better defensively. He won't score as much but they will give up less goals. I think both moves are good. What i think the habs have that some other teams don't is a lot of young players that should develop and be better than they were last year. I can see Higgins and Plekanec both hitting the 60 point mark. Plekanec was the habs best player most nights for the last part of the season and I think Higgings has showed a lot over the last couple years. Latendresse should also put up more points. With all them developing it is almost the same as signing a good player. Streit played well and i think if Bouillon stats healthy he is a solid D man. I think a lot of people are worrying about signing players that they forget that the habs have a lot of young players who will be better this year. The wild card is if Kovalev can put up 60 points or more. He has the ability and if he does this team should be able to score which they couldn't last year. What are your thoughts?

habguy

This is where I feel that we're not bein completely rational. Shelly was a -26 on a Montreal squad that let truth be told was not the most solid defensively.

Hamrlik was on a team which featured the likes of Phaneuf,Kipper, and Regehr.

Lets look at Rivet for instance, was a -7 on the habs in 54 games. Then poof goes to San Jose and in 17 games he's a +8. Yes the Sharks are a good team but not exactly the greatest defensive team either.

There was a solid corp though. Which was exactly what Souray was lacking to become a complete defenseman in Montreal. Mind you I do not know if he will fare any better in Edmonton with Pitkanen being his sole comrad.

Good luck to Souray and the Oilers, hopefully this marriage will turn out better than the previous one with a top 4 d-man **cough**PRONGER**cough**

That being said Hamrlik was not given all the oppurtunity possible on the PP this season with the flames. I expect him to have more ice time on the PP with the habs. Hamrlik has one of the most underated shots in the league IMO.

The one thing that Souray has over Hamrlik is the leadership, not only does Shelly have the shot but has the mouth in the room as well. Hamrlik though has helped tremendously in the development of Phaneuf and hopefully he will be able to do the same with Valentenko and O'byrne.

keep the faith habbers!!

In Bob we Trust!

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jordan456789

You can't compare +/- between two teams. It is better to judge players on a team. Calgary had a lot of + players but of all the D the only one with a better one than Hamrlik was Regehr. With that said it says something about him. As for Souray even though the habs had a bad +/- for the team he was by far the worse +/- D on the team. I think that he will help the defense play better defense and with more PP time maybe he will have more points. Maybe i am really bias for the habs but i think they are building a team the right way by developing young players. They had a lot of young players last year that should be much better this year. That alone makes this team better than last year. Some teams have a lot of vets and are forced to sign UFA to get better (Rangers) and some teams have young players that get better by the players developing. I know the habs wanted to sign UFA but nobody wants to play here but they still have young players to fall back on.

Kurt

I think we'll be in a dogfight to make the playoffs once again. Although I'll say an optimistic 7th place.

I think we all agree that we're set in goal.

On D, I still say we're missing a top 4 D-man to pair with Hamrlik.

Markov-Komisarek
Hamrlik-?????????

I know that many assume that O'Byrne or Valentenko will get that spot but is that really the place for a rookie? IMO, the rookies should be replacing guys like Dandenault and Ninimaa (i.e. slot them into the #6 and 7 spots). This is why I think Gainey should have gone out and signed an extra veteran D-man (Danny Markov would do nicely) for a year to give O'Byrne and/or Valentenko a year to adapt to the NHL before thrusting them into that #4 spot.

As for the forwards, I think it all comes down to Kovalev and the kids. If Kovy steps up and gets 65-70 points, then I'll be satisfied. We're also going to be depending heavily on Pleks, Higgins, Lats, and Kostitsyn for secondary scoring. I guess we can only hope that they respond well to the pressure.

I'm also looking forward to seeing guys like Locke, Grabovski, Ferland, and Milroy get a shot in training camp.

Losing Souray will hurt the PP but as has been already stated, Hamrlik is underrated in this role and I also think that Streit can contribute here as well.

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jordan456789

Kurt i agree with you a bit about getting d Markov but i think with A Markov and Komisarek as the first pair they can shut down the top line and Cote with Hamrlik. If Cote makes a mistake he will still have a good defenseman to help him out. Kind of like how he played with Pheneuf in Calgary. I really like Boullion even after last year. The year before he was so good and should be a pretty good 5-6th guy.

I really think the youngsters will develop and provide some scoring for the team. Kovalev is the key. If he gets 60-70 points like he has the ability to than we will be really good. If he repeats last year it will be tough.

sentinel20

hopefully worse

Habs4Life

Were not any better and were not any worse, will still struggle for playoffs

capebretoncanadien

Slightly worse.

Edit: Why? I think they've lost more talent than they've brought in to this point. However...one big plus....Aebischer is not the backup anymore. Luck plays a role as well. I guess we'll see!!

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Tell you to pray, while the devils on their shoulder

jordan456789

capebretoncanadien
There are a couple ways to improve. One is though free agency and the other is by the farm system. I think the players they signed are about equal to the players that left. Where i think they are better is the young guys developing. Last year they were just behind Buffalo for top spot when the whole team got sick and Huet got injured. The young players are a year older and a year more mature where they may not fall apart the same way they did last year.

Quintessence

They should have done well LAST year, in my opinion, but didn't. I'm not expecting much more out of them this year either. I fear Smolinski may be this years Mike Johnson. Hamrlik will be good defensively and may have a better offensive season this year than last. But Rivet has not been replaced and neither has Souray's heavy shot. Their powerplay could falter as it was so heavily dependent on Souray. Plus, Kovalev is not happy in Montréal at the moment and his numbers are dropping. He may very well not finish the season with the Habs. Higgins needs to prove he's not the next "Mr. October" and Ryder and Koivu need to prove they can play defense. The only thing I really like about Montréal going into this season is their goaltending. Huet, Halak, Price. It's amazing how deep the Habs suddenly are in goal. I say they finish worse.