It is coming, concentration, effort, powerplay and wins.

In marty writes:

>tarkkone@cc.helsinki.fi (Lauri Tarkkonen) wrote in
>@oravannahka.helsinki.fi:


>> Who says Alexei has lost a step, or they have seen his tricks watching
>> the DVD and his East-West has lost it's magic and the North-West has
>> lost the speed. His moves when he carried the puck in from the left
>side
>> over the blue line and went acros the ice to the right corner was
>> something magic.

>Anyone who was saying Alexi wasn't trying or was playing very poorly
>hadn't watched the games. I think he used up a season's worth of bad luck
>in 19 games. Yes, as the bad luck streak grew longer I think frustration
>set in and he was making some bad plays, but he was still making some
>nice plays, getting some good chances, and nothing would happen. It is
>nice that when the dam finally broke, it burst nicely.

Alexei got assists, so he helped linemates to score goals. Actually who
cares who the goals go to, actually in many cases the passer makes the
hard work and thinking, the scorer just adds the finishing touch.

One of the reasons for the strugle was insufficient movement of the
players without the puck. When Alexei made his magic, the rest of the
team watched him mesmerized, even though the great idea was to get the
opponent to follow the puck and forget about their defensive coverage
and leave them alone. Because the linemates did not move to open ice and
did not position themselves so that the passing lanes were open, Alexei
ended in some cul de sac and ultimately lost the puck.

If I would work the strategy for the Canadiens, I would use the
extraordinary talent of Kovalev in keeping the puck and his ability to
draw the attention of the opposition so that in many cases there are
more than one opponent in his neighbourhood, which of course means that
there must be some free teammates and if they are properly positioned
two passes would lead to an open shot at the net. Saku Koivu gets in
many cases the second assist, when he hangs on the puck in the cornerr
or behind the goal (in Gretzky's vacated office) gives the puck to
Markov at the blueline or the forward at the half boards and they either
shoot or pass and the goal is a tip in or done from the rebound. After a
few such goals the opposition would be more carefull in crowding Alexei,
giving him much more space, even to shoot.


>As kids we were discussing that you have to get a piece
>> of steel inside the puck and a magnet to your stick blade to make all
>> the magic moves we could dream about, he is doing them without the
>> magnet and without tying the puck to the stick blade.
>>
>> With his new found confidence and timing he could be the one bringing
>> the puck in for the powerplay, it would be much safer than shooting it
>> in and then fighting for it. Of course if the opponent are lining up at
>> the blueline then flip it in and have someone speeing over the blueline
>> and past the standing opposition.
>>

>We may be learning that as Kovalev goes, so goes the PP. The more
>dangerous he is, the more opponents have to pay attention to him, put
>their best guys on him, the more room opens up for everyone else. While
>it would be an exageration to say him playing well is the difference
>between 1st and 29th, clearly his play makes a sizable difference.

He can not do this alone. The team must play along. When one has the
puck, the four other skaters must work actively without it. It is their
duty to create the puck carrier or holder at least two possible passing
opportunities.
>
>> I must say, that I admired Laraque more, when he had the puck at the
>end
>> or the boards and went like a freight train and nobody could get the
>> puck away from him, than when he "Put the baby tenderly to sleep".
>> Pewrhaps this has some entertainement value.
>>

>If his groin wasn't a constant issue, I think he'd be about as good as
>our other energy 5th liner types.

But only four lines are playing, so he should match the performance of
Lapierre, Begin, Kostopoulos and to do that one should create him a
role, where is lack of speed would not hurt him.


>> If Koivu and AKostitsyn come back for the next tame, Carbo has an
>> interesting problem, who will replace them in the press box. The usual
>> suspects play now too well. Sergei Kostitsyn will definitely keep his
>> place with Plekanec and Kovalev. D'Agostini will stay with Lang and
>> Tanguay or join Saku and AKostitsyn. Latendresse will fill in the spot
>> not taken by Sergei.
>>
>> Then we have Lapierre and Begin who have been really good and the last
>> place will be fought between: Kostopoulos and Laracque until HIggins is
>> ready to come back.
>>

>All the depth helped us for the injury stretch, but it really does
>present a roster issue now that D'ags has earned a spot that he shouldn't
>lose until his play wavers. IMO, Gainey certainly has the assets to trade
>a forward, draft pick and d-man for a really solid d-man. I wonder if
>he's exploring that?

The problem is that you have to treat the other GMs as you treat the
vendors of used cars. The product they are selling is not good enough
for them a bonafide #4 defenceman has an market value like an used big
Mercedes or BMW and even if you would get it cheaply, you do not have
money to the maintenance (fit under cap). Meaning that good #4
defenceman uses more cap space than the two young players or prospects
and/or perhaps a draft pick you give in return. The Canadiens had some
decent #4 defencemen especially suitable for the power play, the names
of Souray and Streit should ring the bell. I wonder if it is too late
for Josh Gorges to learn to shoot. Not for this season, but for the
coming seasons. I have seen some players improving their shooting
tremendously by starting to shoot in the summers, 500 shots in the
morning, noon and evening for three months should have some effect. To
practice onetimers you need someone to pass the puck.

I do not know if the Canadiens have at the moment anybody filling the
role of Claude Ruell (before they made the mistake of making him a head
coach), he was helping the players individually by correcting "bad
habits", weaknesses and helping them in many ways.

- Lauri Tarkkonen

>
>> I must say, if the Habs do not have a Crosby, Malkin or Marian Hossa,
>> they have some depth and if they play defence as they can and two of
>the
>> four lines are on fire on every night they can win a big number of
>> games.

>I am hopeful they are using up the bad luck early in the season. Komi out
>for a long time, Saku out for a stretch, Price too, Kovalev's scoring
>slump, Higgins multiple injuries, Pleks slump, some youngsters needing
>benching before picking up their play, the baffling inneffectiveness of
>the PP...I'd say the Habs have had a fair stretch of misfortune and yet
>are still several games above .500. That bodes well if they could get
>some better luck the rest of the way because I believe they are a very
>good team.

>Saku comes back strong, Carbo uses whoever's hot between Price and Halak
>now that Halak's proven himself, and the PP continue the rise from the
>ashes...if these things happen it could be a fun 2nd half. Throw in one
>smart trade and I still believe this team can be a top contender.

>Marty
 >> Stay informed about: It is coming, concentration, effort, powerplay and wins. 

On Dec 21, 4:53 am, tarkk....TakeThisOut@cc.helsinki.fi (Lauri Tarkkonen) wrote:

> The problem is that you have to treat the other GMs as you treat the
> vendors of used cars. The product they are selling is not good enough
> for them a bonafide #4 defenceman has an market value like an used big
> Mercedes or BMW and even if you would get it cheaply, you do not have
> money to the maintenance (fit under cap).
>
> - Lauri Tarkkonen

I think if the Habs want to make a Cup run, one guy that might help
due to having lots of versatility, some International experience, and
the proven ability to rack up points both on the PP and at ES is Mark
Streit over on Long Island.

Streit might even enjoy playing Montreal. I'm told that French is his
second language (after German) and the city probably has a more
European flavour than Uniondale has.

The only problem is his contract. It's really too bad that whoever
signed him did so during the NHL's annual MADNESS WEEK. Surely SOME
TEAM must have been able to sign him much earlier for, say $2.0-2.5
mil.

Hey, wait a minute...........



Victor
 >> Stay informed about: It is coming, concentration, effort, powerplay and wins. 

On Dec 21, 11:00 am, marty wrote:
> Victor wrote in
> 5aac810e6... DeleteThis @l39g2000yqn.googlegroups.com:
>
>
>
>
>
> > On Dec 21, 4:53 am, tarkk... DeleteThis @cc.helsinki.fi (Lauri Tarkkonen) wrote:
>
> >> The problem is that you have to treat the other GMs as you treat the
> >> vendors of used cars. The product they are selling is not good enough
> >> for them a bonafide #4 defenceman has an market value like an used big
> >> Mercedes or BMW and even if you would get it cheaply, you do not have
> >> money to the maintenance (fit under cap).
>
> >> - Lauri Tarkkonen
>
> > I think if the Habs want to make a Cup run, one guy that might help
> > due to having lots of versatility, some International experience, and
> > the proven ability to rack up points both on the PP and at ES is Mark
> > Streit over on Long Island.
>
> > Streit might even enjoy playing Montreal.  I'm told that French is his
> > second language (after German) and the city probably has a more
> > European flavour than Uniondale has.
>
> > The only problem is his contract.  It's really too bad that whoever
> > signed him did so during the NHL's annual MADNESS WEEK.  Surely SOME
> > TEAM must have been able to sign him much earlier for, say $2.0-2.5
> > mil.
>
> I don't think he would have signed for that price. If they had offered
> him $3-$3.5 million before the "silly season" it might have happened. At
> the time I personally thought he was more replacable than that, but I
> surely do miss him on the PP point now.
>
> Still, Streit wanted a role as a full-time d-man. He got that. He got a
> HUGE contract. He's getting a crazy amount of icetime. All this would be
> in the "plus" column for him. There's only one minus, but it is a big
> one, and one that explains all the other three pluses. He plays for a
> dreadful team! He became a big fish in a small pond. Here's guessing that
> he has no regrets, while perhaps allowing himself to miss happier time in
> Montreal where the team was winning and building to something better.
>
> Marty- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

A key area hurt by Streit's loss was the transition game on the PP. He
was effective at carrying the puck into the offensive zone, giving
players such as Kovalev a chance to use their speed to get to the
corners to get the puck, and to get set up. Most of Streit's passes on
the PP resulted in sustained offence. Most of Brisebrois' passes
result in battles for the puck and turnovers. Sure Brisebois can make
1 effective long pass coming out of the Montreal end, but when he is
stationary, handling the puck at the point on the PP he is hardly ever
effective at passing or setting anyone up. Montreal has a few players
who can shoot hard, but they need to be set up. They need a second
skilled playmaker / quarterback on the PP to prevent the other team
from concentrating all their checking efforts on Kovalev.
 >> Stay informed about: It is coming, concentration, effort, powerplay and wins. 

Victor wrote in
5aac810e6333 DeleteThis @l39g2000yqn.googlegroups.com:

> On Dec 21, 4:53 am, tarkk... DeleteThis @cc.helsinki.fi (Lauri Tarkkonen) wrote:
>
>> The problem is that you have to treat the other GMs as you treat the
>> vendors of used cars. The product they are selling is not good enough
>> for them a bonafide #4 defenceman has an market value like an used big
>> Mercedes or BMW and even if you would get it cheaply, you do not have
>> money to the maintenance (fit under cap).
>>
>> - Lauri Tarkkonen
>
> I think if the Habs want to make a Cup run, one guy that might help
> due to having lots of versatility, some International experience, and
> the proven ability to rack up points both on the PP and at ES is Mark
> Streit over on Long Island.
>
> Streit might even enjoy playing Montreal. I'm told that French is his
> second language (after German) and the city probably has a more
> European flavour than Uniondale has.
>
> The only problem is his contract. It's really too bad that whoever
> signed him did so during the NHL's annual MADNESS WEEK. Surely SOME
> TEAM must have been able to sign him much earlier for, say $2.0-2.5
> mil.

I don't think he would have signed for that price. If they had offered
him $3-$3.5 million before the "silly season" it might have happened. At
the time I personally thought he was more replacable than that, but I
surely do miss him on the PP point now.

Still, Streit wanted a role as a full-time d-man. He got that. He got a
HUGE contract. He's getting a crazy amount of icetime. All this would be
in the "plus" column for him. There's only one minus, but it is a big
one, and one that explains all the other three pluses. He plays for a
dreadful team! He became a big fish in a small pond. Here's guessing that
he has no regrets, while perhaps allowing himself to miss happier time in
Montreal where the team was winning and building to something better.

Marty
 >> Stay informed about: It is coming, concentration, effort, powerplay and wins. 

Too funny Victor!!!


"Victor" wrote in message

On Dec 21, 4:53 am, tarkk... DeleteThis @cc.helsinki.fi (Lauri Tarkkonen) wrote:

> The problem is that you have to treat the other GMs as you treat the
> vendors of used cars. The product they are selling is not good enough
> for them a bonafide #4 defenceman has an market value like an used big
> Mercedes or BMW and even if you would get it cheaply, you do not have
> money to the maintenance (fit under cap).
>
> - Lauri Tarkkonen

I think if the Habs want to make a Cup run, one guy that might help
due to having lots of versatility, some International experience, and
the proven ability to rack up points both on the PP and at ES is Mark
Streit over on Long Island.

Streit might even enjoy playing Montreal. I'm told that French is his
second language (after German) and the city probably has a more
European flavour than Uniondale has.

The only problem is his contract. It's really too bad that whoever
signed him did so during the NHL's annual MADNESS WEEK. Surely SOME
TEAM must have been able to sign him much earlier for, say $2.0-2.5
mil.

Hey, wait a minute...........



Victor
 >> Stay informed about: It is coming, concentration, effort, powerplay and wins. 

In Victor writes:

>On Dec 21, 4:53=A0am, tarkk... RemoveThis @cc.helsinki.fi (Lauri Tarkkonen) wrote:

>> The problem is that you have to treat the other GMs as you treat the
>> vendors of used cars. The product they are selling is not good enough
>> for them a bonafide #4 defenceman has an market value like an used big
>> Mercedes or BMW and even if you would get it cheaply, you do not have
>> money to the maintenance (fit under cap).
>>
>> - Lauri Tarkkonen

>I think if the Habs want to make a Cup run, one guy that might help
>due to having lots of versatility, some International experience, and
>the proven ability to rack up points both on the PP and at ES is Mark
>Streit over on Long Island.

I believe that they are quite happy to have Streit on the Long Island.

>Streit might even enjoy playing Montreal. I'm told that French is his
>second language (after German) and the city probably has a more
>European flavour than Uniondale has.

Strait has told that he is so happy as he can be a full time defenseman,
he was not at all happy to play fourth line forward and then get some
point duty on the powerplay. Quite a number of Swiss people speak at
least two languages, so that is not a problem, but he speaks good enough
English that he is comfortable in New York and it's surroundings.

>The only problem is his contract. It's really too bad that whoever
>signed him did so during the NHL's annual MADNESS WEEK. Surely SOME
>TEAM must have been able to sign him much earlier for, say $2.0-2.5
>mil.

Just what I told, that the bona fide #4s with some special skill, say
powerplay or penalty kill come with a crazy pricetag.

>Hey, wait a minute...........

It wont get any cheaper, but the cap might gome down quicker and faster
than we could even guess.

- Lauri Tarkkonen



>Victor
 >> Stay informed about: It is coming, concentration, effort, powerplay and wins. 

On Dec 21, 11:00 am, marty wrote:
> Victor wrote in
> 5aac810e6... RemoveThis @l39g2000yqn.googlegroups.com:
>
>
>
>
>
> > On Dec 21, 4:53 am, tarkk... RemoveThis @cc.helsinki.fi (Lauri Tarkkonen) wrote:
>
> >> The problem is that you have to treat the other GMs as you treat the
> >> vendors of used cars. The product they are selling is not good enough
> >> for them a bonafide #4 defenceman has an market value like an used big
> >> Mercedes or BMW and even if you would get it cheaply, you do not have
> >> money to the maintenance (fit under cap).
>
> >> - Lauri Tarkkonen
>
> > I think if the Habs want to make a Cup run, one guy that might help
> > due to having lots of versatility, some International experience, and
> > the proven ability to rack up points both on the PP and at ES is Mark
> > Streit over on Long Island.
>
> > Streit might even enjoy playing Montreal.  I'm told that French is his
> > second language (after German) and the city probably has a more
> > European flavour than Uniondale has.
>
> > The only problem is his contract.  It's really too bad that whoever
> > signed him did so during the NHL's annual MADNESS WEEK.  Surely SOME
> > TEAM must have been able to sign him much earlier for, say $2.0-2.5
> > mil.
>
> I don't think he would have signed for that price. If they had offered
> him $3-$3.5 million before the "silly season" it might have happened. At
> the time I personally thought he was more replacable than that, but I
> surely do miss him on the PP point now.
>
> Marty

Well, his agent told everyone last winter that Mark wanted $2.5M for
2-3 years, and Mark has stated, since landing in LI, that he would
have signed for "around $2M" had it been offered. The two statements
taken together make perfect sense to me.

The lesson, and I hope to God it's learned for this year:

You can't wait for MADNESS WEEK!!!



Victor
 >> Stay informed about: It is coming, concentration, effort, powerplay and wins. 

Victor wrote in


> On Dec 21, 11:00 am, marty wrote:
>> Victor wrote in
>> 5aac810e6... RemoveThis @l39g2000yqn.googlegroups.com:
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> > On Dec 21, 4:53 am, tarkk... RemoveThis @cc.helsinki.fi (Lauri Tarkkonen)
>> > wrote:
>>
>> >> The problem is that you have to treat the other GMs as you treat
>> >> the vendors of used cars. The product they are selling is not good
>> >> enough for them a bonafide #4 defenceman has an market value like
>> >> an used big Mercedes or BMW and even if you would get it cheaply,
>> >> you do not have money to the maintenance (fit under cap).
>>
>> >> - Lauri Tarkkonen
>>
>> > I think if the Habs want to make a Cup run, one guy that might help
>> > due to having lots of versatility, some International experience,
>> > and the proven ability to rack up points both on the PP and at ES
>> > is Mark Streit over on Long Island.
>>
>> > Streit might even enjoy playing Montreal.  I'm told that French is
>> > hi
> s
>> > second language (after German) and the city probably has a more
>> > European flavour than Uniondale has.
>>
>> > The only problem is his contract.  It's really too bad that whoever
>> > signed him did so during the NHL's annual MADNESS WEEK.  Surely
>> > SOME TEAM must have been able to sign him much earlier for, say
>> > $2.0-2.5 mil.
>>
>> I don't think he would have signed for that price. If they had
>> offered him $3-$3.5 million before the "silly season" it might have
>> happened. At the time I personally thought he was more replacable
>> than that, but I surely do miss him on the PP point now.
>>
>> Marty
>
> Well, his agent told everyone last winter that Mark wanted $2.5M for
> 2-3 years, and Mark has stated, since landing in LI, that he would
> have signed for "around $2M" had it been offered. The two statements
> taken together make perfect sense to me.
>
> The lesson, and I hope to God it's learned for this year:
>
> You can't wait for MADNESS WEEK!!!

OH, well, err, if that's true, than I would say Gainey blew that one.
Certainly he was providing offense and versitility and I think numbers
like that were thrown around be even the stingiest Streit fans such as
Gerry and me. Darn. I wish I hadn't known that. That was a fair price.
Good price even. :(

Marty
 >> Stay informed about: It is coming, concentration, effort, powerplay and wins. 

On Dec 21, 6:39 pm, tarkk....TakeThisOut@cc.helsinki.fi (Lauri Tarkkonen) wrote:
> In marty writes:
>
>
>
>
>
> >Victor wrote in
> >
> >> On Dec 21, 11:00 am, marty wrote:
> >>> Victor wrote in
> >>> 5aac810e6....TakeThisOut@l39g2000yqn.googlegroups.com:
>
> >>> > On Dec 21, 4:53 am, tarkk....TakeThisOut@cc.helsinki.fi (Lauri Tarkkonen)
> >>> > wrote:
>
> >>> >> The problem is that you have to treat the other GMs as you treat
> >>> >> the vendors of used cars. The product they are selling is not good
> >>> >> enough for them a bonafide #4 defenceman has an market value like
> >>> >> an used big Mercedes or BMW and even if you would get it cheaply,
> >>> >> you do not have money to the maintenance (fit under cap).
>
> >>> >> - Lauri Tarkkonen
>
> >>> > I think if the Habs want to make a Cup run, one guy that might help
> >>> > due to having lots of versatility, some International experience,
> >>> > and the proven ability to rack up points both on the PP and at ES
> >>> > is Mark Streit over on Long Island.
>
> >>> > Streit might even enjoy playing Montreal.  I'm told that French is
> >>> > hi
> >> s
> >>> > second language (after German) and the city probably has a more
> >>> > European flavour than Uniondale has.
>
> >>> > The only problem is his contract.  It's really too bad that whoever
> >>> > signed him did so during the NHL's annual MADNESS WEEK.  Surely
> >>> > SOME TEAM must have been able to sign him much earlier for, say
> >>> > $2.0-2.5 mil.
>
> >>> I don't think he would have signed for that price. If they had
> >>> offered him $3-$3.5 million before the "silly season" it might have
> >>> happened. At the time I personally thought he was more replacable
> >>> than that, but I surely do miss him on the PP point now.
>
> >>> Marty
>
> >> Well, his agent told everyone last winter that Mark wanted $2.5M for
> >> 2-3 years, and Mark has stated, since landing in LI, that he would
> >> have signed for "around $2M" had it been offered.  The two statements
> >> taken together make perfect sense to me.
>
> >> The lesson, and I hope to God it's learned for this year:
>
> >> You can't wait for MADNESS WEEK!!!
> >OH, well, err, if that's true, than I would say Gainey blew that one.
> >Certainly he was providing offense and versitility and I think numbers
> >like that were thrown around be even the stingiest Streit fans such as
> >Gerry and me. Darn. I wish I hadn't known that. That was a fair price.
> >Good price even.  :(
>
> But it came in wrong time. If Gainey had not even tried to get some big
> names, but signed Streit and then traded for Tanquay and Lang, how many
> people would have written here, that he should have gone for Sundin, he
> would come here, if someone just told him he is wanted, and followed the
> path of Frank Mahovlich and Doug Gilmour.
>
> - Lauri Tarkkonen- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

Speaking of Mahovlich, Pollock was willing to trade potential for a
veteran, who was able to help the team for more then just a single
season. Could Gainey pull off a similar trade today? Without the
recent injuries D'Ags would still be in Hamilton, and we would still
be waiting for Gainey to make player decisions, is he willing to move
players to free up room for potential help down in Hamilton, or will
he wait till injuries makes the choices easier
 >> Stay informed about: It is coming, concentration, effort, powerplay and wins. 

In Victor writes:

>On Dec 21, 11:00=A0am, marty wrote:
>> Victor wrote in
>> 5aac810e6... DeleteThis @l39g2000yqn.googlegroups.com:
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> > On Dec 21, 4:53=A0am, tarkk... DeleteThis @cc.helsinki.fi (Lauri Tarkkonen) wrote:
>>
>> >> The problem is that you have to treat the other GMs as you treat the
>> >> vendors of used cars. The product they are selling is not good enough
>> >> for them a bonafide #4 defenceman has an market value like an used big
>> >> Mercedes or BMW and even if you would get it cheaply, you do not have
>> >> money to the maintenance (fit under cap).
>>
>> >> - Lauri Tarkkonen
>>
>> > I think if the Habs want to make a Cup run, one guy that might help
>> > due to having lots of versatility, some International experience, and
>> > the proven ability to rack up points both on the PP and at ES is Mark
>> > Streit over on Long Island.
>>
>> > Streit might even enjoy playing Montreal. =A0I'm told that French is hi=
>s
>> > second language (after German) and the city probably has a more
>> > European flavour than Uniondale has.
>>
>> > The only problem is his contract. =A0It's really too bad that whoever
>> > signed him did so during the NHL's annual MADNESS WEEK. =A0Surely SOME
>> > TEAM must have been able to sign him much earlier for, say $2.0-2.5
>> > mil.
>>
>> I don't think he would have signed for that price. If they had offered
>> him $3-$3.5 million before the "silly season" it might have happened. At
>> the time I personally thought he was more replacable than that, but I
>> surely do miss him on the PP point now.
>>
>> Marty

>Well, his agent told everyone last winter that Mark wanted $2.5M for
>2-3 years, and Mark has stated, since landing in LI, that he would
>have signed for "around $2M" had it been offered. The two statements
>taken together make perfect sense to me.

>The lesson, and I hope to God it's learned for this year:

>You can't wait for MADNESS WEEK!!!

Hindsight is sweet, but we have to remember that at that thime Gainey
was focusing on bigger fish. He did not want to commit too much of the
salary cap, before he had some knowledge of the Sundin case. When we
know that Sundin did not sign with the Canadiens and we know that the
Habs have trouble with their powerplay, it is easy to say, Gainey should
have signed Streit. In waiting (invain) for Sundin, he lost Streit.

I agree with you it is not smart to wait for the MADNESS WEEK, but then
you only can sign your own free agents and you are not likely to get any
big ones. Gainey has been critiziced for being too cautious and not
getting any really significant free agents to come to Montreal, now he
thought he had a buona fide star in the loop.

- Lauri Tarkkonen
 >> Stay informed about: It is coming, concentration, effort, powerplay and wins. 

In marty writes:

>Victor wrote in
>

>> On Dec 21, 11:00 am, marty wrote:
>>> Victor wrote in
>>> 5aac810e6....TakeThisOut@l39g2000yqn.googlegroups.com:
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> > On Dec 21, 4:53 am, tarkk....TakeThisOut@cc.helsinki.fi (Lauri Tarkkonen)
>>> > wrote:
>>>
>>> >> The problem is that you have to treat the other GMs as you treat
>>> >> the vendors of used cars. The product they are selling is not good
>>> >> enough for them a bonafide #4 defenceman has an market value like
>>> >> an used big Mercedes or BMW and even if you would get it cheaply,
>>> >> you do not have money to the maintenance (fit under cap).
>>>
>>> >> - Lauri Tarkkonen
>>>
>>> > I think if the Habs want to make a Cup run, one guy that might help
>>> > due to having lots of versatility, some International experience,
>>> > and the proven ability to rack up points both on the PP and at ES
>>> > is Mark Streit over on Long Island.
>>>
>>> > Streit might even enjoy playing Montreal.  I'm told that French is
>>> > hi
>> s
>>> > second language (after German) and the city probably has a more
>>> > European flavour than Uniondale has.
>>>
>>> > The only problem is his contract.  It's really too bad that whoever
>>> > signed him did so during the NHL's annual MADNESS WEEK.  Surely
>>> > SOME TEAM must have been able to sign him much earlier for, say
>>> > $2.0-2.5 mil.
>>>
>>> I don't think he would have signed for that price. If they had
>>> offered him $3-$3.5 million before the "silly season" it might have
>>> happened. At the time I personally thought he was more replacable
>>> than that, but I surely do miss him on the PP point now.
>>>
>>> Marty
>>
>> Well, his agent told everyone last winter that Mark wanted $2.5M for
>> 2-3 years, and Mark has stated, since landing in LI, that he would
>> have signed for "around $2M" had it been offered. The two statements
>> taken together make perfect sense to me.
>>
>> The lesson, and I hope to God it's learned for this year:
>>
>> You can't wait for MADNESS WEEK!!!

>OH, well, err, if that's true, than I would say Gainey blew that one.
>Certainly he was providing offense and versitility and I think numbers
>like that were thrown around be even the stingiest Streit fans such as
>Gerry and me. Darn. I wish I hadn't known that. That was a fair price.
>Good price even. :(

But it came in wrong time. If Gainey had not even tried to get some big
names, but signed Streit and then traded for Tanquay and Lang, how many
people would have written here, that he should have gone for Sundin, he
would come here, if someone just told him he is wanted, and followed the
path of Frank Mahovlich and Doug Gilmour.

- Lauri Tarkkonen
 >> Stay informed about: It is coming, concentration, effort, powerplay and wins. 

tarkkone DeleteThis @cc.helsinki.fi (Lauri Tarkkonen) wrote in



>>OH, well, err, if that's true, than I would say Gainey blew that one.
>>Certainly he was providing offense and versitility and I think numbers
>>like that were thrown around be even the stingiest Streit fans such as
>>Gerry and me. Darn. I wish I hadn't known that. That was a fair price.
>>Good price even. :(
>
> But it came in wrong time. If Gainey had not even tried to get some
> big names, but signed Streit and then traded for Tanquay and Lang, how
> many people would have written here, that he should have gone for
> Sundin, he would come here, if someone just told him he is wanted, and
> followed the path of Frank Mahovlich and Doug Gilmour.

Yes, there's some hindsight in this, but I suppose at that price it would
have been possible to find a way to remove Bouillon or Dandenault from the
books, and keep pursuing Sundin. But yes, hindsight shows that Streit's
game really helped the PP. I think Kovalev and Markov are still the more
skilled players, but he had his niche in between them that no one else has
filled properly yet.

Marty
 >> Stay informed about: It is coming, concentration, effort, powerplay and wins. 

On Dec 21, 10:31 pm, marty wrote:
> Chuck wrote innews:0998a9ea-e752-4098-a28f-a55fec9d5c30@f11g2000vbf.googlegroups.com:
>
>
>
> > Speaking of Mahovlich, Pollock was willing to trade potential for a
> > veteran, who was able to help the team for more then just a single
> > season. Could Gainey pull off a similar trade today? Without the
> > recent injuries D'Ags would still be in Hamilton, and we would still
> > be waiting for Gainey to make player decisions, is he willing to move
> > players to free up room for potential help down in Hamilton, or will
> > he wait till injuries makes the choices easier
>
> Chuck, I don't know how you cannot see that, if anything, Montreal has
> been one of the league's biggest pushers of young players the last few
> years. Carbonneau pushes young players all the time, and only falls back
> to vets when the young guys aren't playing hard or can't the job done.
> You speak of D'ag's, but not many coaches would have immediately thrown
> him on the top line to see what he had. On the player personnel side,
> Gainey had promoted many young guys. Few, if any, other GM would have
> traded Huet and thrown the goaltending duties to two rookies.
>
> There are no legit complaints about this team not pushing young players.
> They do, however, have the common sense to not gut their team of
> veterans, meaning that when a injury flood happens, they are able to call
> up AHL players who can play acceptable and occasionally might be lucky
> enough enough to find that one is ready to stick in the NHL. That's
> preferable to having to call up guys who have no business being in a NHL
> rink unless it is to sell peanuts. If the Habs didn't have any spare
> vets, that would mean the likes of Maxwell and D'ags would having been
> warming NHL benches to start the season, and when a slew on injuries
> occured, God-knows-who would have had to been called up. I'd prefer 3rd
> line AHL talent never has to play for the Habs.
>
> Marty

Montreal has too many players who disappear from the score sheets for
lengthy periods. If they want to move up and push the teams at the
top. They still have players they will need to upgrade. They can go
the trade route or promote from within. They will be waiting a very
long time before Brisebois plays a role in pushing the PP to the top
again or even up to just average. It would be silly to bring up too
many players at once. But when the team is healthy, even bringing up 1
player is not an option unless someone is waived or traded.
Fortunately, with D'Ags getting called up as a injury fill in has been
a great gain for Montreal. Without any injuries, and with a few
players struggling would they have called him up? I just think it
would be in the team's best interest to have one of the spare roster
positions open for players who could be called up, to push under
achieving players for their job. They may end up creating one if they
can ever decide what to do with O'Bryne, he is not going to improve
much in the pressbox, it makes no sense to warehouse him there until
the trade deadline. Unfortunately it would take more injuries to
create roster space to get any defenceman up from Hamilton who could
maybe step up and leap ahead of O'Bryne and Brisebois on the depth
charts.
 >> Stay informed about: It is coming, concentration, effort, powerplay and wins.