On August 15, 2007, a man that many in the world of hockey remember as one of the greatest hockey minds in NHL history, died at the age of 81. Sam Pollock, was that man. A legend in the lore of the Montreal Canadiens, he started working for the Habs in 1947 as a scout, working his way up the ranks to become the club's GM & vice-president. During his time with the Canadiens' organization, the Habs managed to win 9 Stanley Cups. With Pollock at the helm as the GM, he managed to engineer many wise trades and drafts, landing Hall of Fame players like Ken Dryden, Guy Lafleur, Steve Shutt, Larry Robinson. In 1971, he hired a bright young coach by the name of Scotty Bowman away from the St. Louis Blues. Bowman went on to become the winningest coach in NHL history, and added 5 Stanley Cups in 9 years with Montreal
It truly is a sad day for the Pollock family and friends. Our prayers should be with them.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Monday, August 6, 2007
Habs Sign Brisebois?! It's Deja-Vu All Over Again!
I don't buy for one stinking minute that the Montreal Canadiens' defensive depth is so weak that GM Bob Gainey felt it would be an improvement to sign Patrice Brisebois. For any length of time Brisebois is in the lineup, he's blocking the progress of any Habs farmhand / prospect / 7th or 8th defenceman on the team. That by itself is detrimental enough for the Habs. When you compound it with all the bad plays he will make, and I guarantee they will happen in 2007-08, this signing is a step or two backwards for the Canadiens organization.
I don't see Brisebois as being a good influence on any of the younger players, which is a typical role for an older veteran brought in to any NHL team. The thought of Brisebois being bumped up during a game due to an injury or a long penalty is frightening enough. This signing clearly smacks of nepotism based on Carbonneau & Muller's past playing relationship with Breezy. If Carbo thought he was frustrated with the likes of Samsonov & Kovalev last season, he ain't seen nothing yet.
I don't see Brisebois as being a good influence on any of the younger players, which is a typical role for an older veteran brought in to any NHL team. The thought of Brisebois being bumped up during a game due to an injury or a long penalty is frightening enough. This signing clearly smacks of nepotism based on Carbonneau & Muller's past playing relationship with Breezy. If Carbo thought he was frustrated with the likes of Samsonov & Kovalev last season, he ain't seen nothing yet.
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Mighty Duck Penner Flies North to Edmonton
Dustin Penner must be a happy camper today, given that Anaheim chose not to match the Edmonton offer sheet of a 5 year, $21.25 million dollar contract. Actually, Penner likely started down the road to ecstasy 7 days ago, when he signed the offer sheet. The 7 day wait is a league rule, to allow the original team the chance to match the offer. For Penner, he was going to get a big raise, it was just a matter of whether his home would stay in sunny California, or move to northern Alberta.
In return for Edmonton signing Penner, Anaheim will receive the Oiler's own 1st, 2nd and 3rd round draft picks from the upcoming 2008 draft. I'll give some credit to Edmonton GM Kevin Lowe for making such a gutsy move, especially since Buffalo thwarted his earlier offer sheet move to try and sign RFA Tomas Vanek.
There is a chance that this Penner move will backfire on Edmonton, making him the biggest free agent albatross, since...hmm, Bobby Holik? Penner was the Anaheim player most often benched last season. It's no secret that head coach Randy Carlyle was not impressed with Penner at times, due to his indifference / inconsistency. It's going to be a big test for Penner to rise to the level of expectations of Oilers' fans, duhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gife to the relatively big salary. I'm not saying he won't do it, but at this point I'd say it's a 50-50 gamble that he sinks or swims in Edmonton.
http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=215308&hubname=nhl
In return for Edmonton signing Penner, Anaheim will receive the Oiler's own 1st, 2nd and 3rd round draft picks from the upcoming 2008 draft. I'll give some credit to Edmonton GM Kevin Lowe for making such a gutsy move, especially since Buffalo thwarted his earlier offer sheet move to try and sign RFA Tomas Vanek.
There is a chance that this Penner move will backfire on Edmonton, making him the biggest free agent albatross, since...hmm, Bobby Holik? Penner was the Anaheim player most often benched last season. It's no secret that head coach Randy Carlyle was not impressed with Penner at times, due to his indifference / inconsistency. It's going to be a big test for Penner to rise to the level of expectations of Oilers' fans, duhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gife to the relatively big salary. I'm not saying he won't do it, but at this point I'd say it's a 50-50 gamble that he sinks or swims in Edmonton.
http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=215308&hubname=nhl
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Isle Be Back? - Yashin has left Long Island
The five season, love-hate relationship between Alexi Yashin and the New York Islanders is finally over. Today, the Islanders owner Charles Wang announced that the team decided to buy out the remaining 4 seasons of Yashin's 10 year contract. The two-thirds payout will amount to $17.63 million dollars, which will be metted out at approximately $2.2 million per year for 8 years. That $2.2 million figure will also go against the Isles salary cap over the same period.
http://www.newsday.com/sports/hockey/islanders/ny-spisles065244241jun06,0,5819060.story?coll=ny-sports-headlines
Wang, head coach Ted Nolan, and Yashin himself, had nothing but positive things to say about each other, at least to the media. Behind the scenes, I'm sure it was a different matter. I believe that Wang had to be convinced by his current coach, GM and other advisory staff that buying out Yashin was best for the team. For years now, Wang has been told otherwise about Yashin from the team's then GM, Mike Milbury. Since it's Wang's money, Wang should have the ultimate decision, especially since it must be particularly difficult to pay an ex-employee to do nothing for your organization for 8 years!
If anything, Mike Milbury leaving the hockey organization must show how much of a Yashin supporter he was. 'Mad' Mike was the one who had the idea to sign Yashin, and he must have convinced Wang that the idea of such a long term (10 year), big salary contract was a great idea. Milbury's short-sightedness [ie. rating Yashin's talent over his professional committment, previous history of money over playing for sitting out a contract year] was not just a matter of "hindsight being 20-20". If he had talked to any Ottawa Senator's fan, he would have discovered why. Yashin is a money player, but not in the traditional sense of being reliable whenever the pressure is on, such as when the playoffs have arrived. He managed a mere 27 points in 48 postseason games, including 12 in 22 games for the Islanders. However, he had no points during this season's 5 games first round playoff defeat to the Buffalo Sabres, during which time he was demoted to the 4th line and subsequently benched during a few of the 5 games. During his stay in Ottawa, Yashin kept saying to the media, his agent and anyone else who would listen, that he was worth more than what he "earned" from his salary. I don't believe he's proven his point.
Since he's just become an unrestricted free agent, it will be very interesting to see how much appeal Alexei will have from the 28 other NHL team's. It's difficult to predict how much a player of his type of talent and excessive baggage will draw. Currently, there are three big name centres that will be available: Scott Gomez, Daniel Briere and Chris Drury. All three are younger than the 33-year old Yashin. Alexei will be slogging it out with the likes of centres Eric Lindros, Dainus Zubrus and Michal Hadzus; in the end he'll be fortunate to sign for more then $1 million.
It's no coincidence that Yashin and Milbury both left the Islanders organization within 1 week of each other.
http://www.newsday.com/sports/hockey/islanders/ny-spisles065244241jun06,0,5819060.story?coll=ny-sports-headlines
Wang, head coach Ted Nolan, and Yashin himself, had nothing but positive things to say about each other, at least to the media. Behind the scenes, I'm sure it was a different matter. I believe that Wang had to be convinced by his current coach, GM and other advisory staff that buying out Yashin was best for the team. For years now, Wang has been told otherwise about Yashin from the team's then GM, Mike Milbury. Since it's Wang's money, Wang should have the ultimate decision, especially since it must be particularly difficult to pay an ex-employee to do nothing for your organization for 8 years!
If anything, Mike Milbury leaving the hockey organization must show how much of a Yashin supporter he was. 'Mad' Mike was the one who had the idea to sign Yashin, and he must have convinced Wang that the idea of such a long term (10 year), big salary contract was a great idea. Milbury's short-sightedness [ie. rating Yashin's talent over his professional committment, previous history of money over playing for sitting out a contract year] was not just a matter of "hindsight being 20-20". If he had talked to any Ottawa Senator's fan, he would have discovered why. Yashin is a money player, but not in the traditional sense of being reliable whenever the pressure is on, such as when the playoffs have arrived. He managed a mere 27 points in 48 postseason games, including 12 in 22 games for the Islanders. However, he had no points during this season's 5 games first round playoff defeat to the Buffalo Sabres, during which time he was demoted to the 4th line and subsequently benched during a few of the 5 games. During his stay in Ottawa, Yashin kept saying to the media, his agent and anyone else who would listen, that he was worth more than what he "earned" from his salary. I don't believe he's proven his point.
Since he's just become an unrestricted free agent, it will be very interesting to see how much appeal Alexei will have from the 28 other NHL team's. It's difficult to predict how much a player of his type of talent and excessive baggage will draw. Currently, there are three big name centres that will be available: Scott Gomez, Daniel Briere and Chris Drury. All three are younger than the 33-year old Yashin. Alexei will be slogging it out with the likes of centres Eric Lindros, Dainus Zubrus and Michal Hadzus; in the end he'll be fortunate to sign for more then $1 million.
It's no coincidence that Yashin and Milbury both left the Islanders organization within 1 week of each other.
Friday, May 11, 2007
B-Bye, Perogi (Perezhogin)
http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/sports/story.html?id=5fcb30e4-a875-47fe-9f5c-ea23ba5dfb1f
So, after 3 seasons in the Habs system [excluding the year he spent in Russia during the lockout], Perogi [aka Alexander Perezhogin] has left the organization, signing what appears to be a 2 year contract for $1.7M U.S.; the reports are fuzzy about the length of the term, as some have interpreted it to be a one year contract. Given Perezhogin's relative success at the NHL level, I highly doubt he would command $1.7M for only one season.
Part of me is disappointed, because I had hoped Perogo would develop into more of an offensive
player. This season, he seemed to excel at times on the 3rd line, and at times he was excellent at forechecking the opposition due to his quickness. However, I said "at times" because he was very inconsistent in his play. At one time this winter during a shootout, I remember Perogi winding up for a slapshot and missing the net! How can a forward miss the net in a shootout!?!
The Habs must feel strongly about their other offensive oriented forwards [eg. A. Kostitsyn, M. Grabovsky ] that are closer to NHL-ready to not worry about Perezhogin. Maybe he will show up in the NHL again in the future, but for the next couple of seasons we shouldn't bother thinking about him. All in all, if Perogi strictly wants to play for money, then he's better of going back to Russia. If he wanted to help the Habs by doing whatever's necessary to win a Stanley Cup, he would have stayed in Montreal, period.
So, after 3 seasons in the Habs system [excluding the year he spent in Russia during the lockout], Perogi [aka Alexander Perezhogin] has left the organization, signing what appears to be a 2 year contract for $1.7M U.S.; the reports are fuzzy about the length of the term, as some have interpreted it to be a one year contract. Given Perezhogin's relative success at the NHL level, I highly doubt he would command $1.7M for only one season.
Part of me is disappointed, because I had hoped Perogo would develop into more of an offensive
player. This season, he seemed to excel at times on the 3rd line, and at times he was excellent at forechecking the opposition due to his quickness. However, I said "at times" because he was very inconsistent in his play. At one time this winter during a shootout, I remember Perogi winding up for a slapshot and missing the net! How can a forward miss the net in a shootout!?!
The Habs must feel strongly about their other offensive oriented forwards [eg. A. Kostitsyn, M. Grabovsky ] that are closer to NHL-ready to not worry about Perezhogin. Maybe he will show up in the NHL again in the future, but for the next couple of seasons we shouldn't bother thinking about him. All in all, if Perogi strictly wants to play for money, then he's better of going back to Russia. If he wanted to help the Habs by doing whatever's necessary to win a Stanley Cup, he would have stayed in Montreal, period.
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