Game one Flyers/Devils is BOOOOO-RING!! So many missed chances for both teams, and zero hits after two periods. Are they as hung over as me? Is this the problem??
I wasn’t really looking for it, but FWIW the Rangers were often front-page or in the top bit of stories on TSN and RDS (Sportscentre and Sports 30) all season long.
Maybe the problem is that you try and get your hockey news from ESPN? 
I think the Flyers will win, though I prefer the Devils.
I think the Rangers will win (I have no particular preference either way on Rangers vs Caps).
I think the Kings will win.
I don’t know who will win between the Coyotes and Predators. i just flipped a coin - Coyotes.
For simplicity, I’ll say 6 game series across the board.
A Martin Brodeur in his prime would have easily stopped both the non-goal (which was kicked in) as well as the actual game winner-for him they were both very soft goals.
Dustin Brown or Jonathan Quick for the Conn Smythe?
You know, within a week of him turning 40, I still wouldn’t complain too much to have Martin Brodeur as my goalie. You could do much, much worse.
When Brodeur was in his prime I actually saw him in a preseason practice. During shooting drills he was getting beat low on the stick side. Once the shooters picked up on this they started to exploit it. Brodeur started to go nuts. His manhood was being questioned, his dignity was being challenged, he left himself open to ridicule and he didn’t like it, at all. It was only a shooting practice.
That being said, that was his intensity. Brodeur may get beaten because of age but he won’t get beaten for lack of heart and intensity. He has a high expectation for himself.
I know he plays (or has played) year-round, too, while many goalies take quite a bit of time off in the summer. A former coworker of mine once found himself on a local senior men’s league team facing an unbeatable goalie: nothing they did would get the puck past this guy. It all made sense when the goalie lifted his mask for water and it was Marty F. Brodeur, who was in town and was looking to play.
The Habs have announced that their new General Manager and Executive Vice President is Marc Bergevin, most recently an assistant GM with the Chicago Blackhawks. It seems the runner up were Julien BriseBois and - of all people - Pierre McGuire. That sound you hear is millions of Hab fans cheering that they won’t have to listen to McGuire say…well, anything.
Bergevin seems pretty capable and I liked what I read about his qualifications over the past month or so. He also seems like a talkative and funny person, which will make a good contrast compared to Gauthier.
Now they can get down to the business of sorting out the coaching situation, contract talks with RFA and UFA players and building up to the draft and free agency.
I love playoff hockey, but it’s better when the Habs are in it. I’m glad there’s news today
If I were a Habs fan I would, because that would mean Carey Price isn’t starting. 
Well, yeah…other than Price. I love Price. Though a Price and Brodeur tandem would be fun to watch…[daydreams]mmmmm[/daydreams]
I’m just sayin’ that Marty guy ain’t half bad!
…I just got back from the Bell Centre, complete with a round of Olé Olé (for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, naturally)… gave me chills. The Phone Booth needs an Olé chanting crowd well into the summer! Let’s hope Bergevin can get it done!
Also: if you have a chance to see RHCP in concert, GO. They put on a great show. 
So I go online to check tonight’s scores, see that NYR-WSH is well into triple-overtime, I turn on the TV and Marian Gaborik immediately scores. Seriously, less than 5 seconds after the TV turned on.
Depending on what team you’re cheering for, either Congratulations or Sorry.
Preds suspend two of their top players in this years playoffs and beat Phoenix for the first time this series. Wonder if those two will be allowed back on the ice now.
Could you please not watch Saturday’s game?
Nothing tops off an overtime loss like having to sit on a highway entrance ramp for thirty minutes because of construction work.
There’s a chance I won’t see it if plans to go out with friends actually happen, though we might end up in a bar with TVs on, which will always show hockey. Perhaps the crowds will mitigate the effects?
As for the construction, I feel your pain: every bridge, highway and overpass in Montreal seems to be under construction (aka emergency rebuilding to prevent collapse) and the ones that aren’t are closed because of adjacent big-project construction (seriously, the MUHC Super-Hospital is a monstrous construction resulting in the closing of one exit that would be so convenient for me to take sometimes!) Last week, due to construction on the closest bridge to the south shore, I basically spent 45 minutes parked in front of my own house while I attempted to drive about 500m so I could turn and go elsewhere on the Island. What a mess!
OK, OK, hockey talk - I have now seen two interviews with Marc Bergevin where he cries. One from January, talking about his career path and how honoured (but unlikely) he’d be to be a Habs GM one day (replayed yesterday) and then the Antichambre segment where they made him watch that interview. Both times the questions were about how proud his parents - who are both dead, IIRC - would be of his career and the man he is today. They never saw him raise the Cup, and he openly admits that it’s the one topic that breaks him up inside.
I think it’s really sweet and the sign of a confident man who knows what’s really important in life. That openness and honesty is refreshing (especially in the post Gainey/Gauthier wall of silence era). I think, whatever Bergevin accomplishes, I will have a ton of respect for him.
Also from the January interview, Bergevin said that the thing he missed the most from Montreal was poutine. So the first order of business on the Antichambre TV show was to give him one. Ah, Québec!
ETA: for those of you who speak French, here’s the emotionalinterview.
News is out that Montreal may be buying out the last two years of Gomez’ contract, which if true is interesting for several reasons.
Firstly, it suggests that Montreal may believe that the new CBA will come with an amnesty buy out clause for teams to get out from under one contract without it affecting their salary cap. I find this option far more likely than their thinking this:
2012-13: $3,523,810
2013-14: $4,523,810
2014-15: $1,666,667
2015-16: $1,666,667
in dead space on their books for the next four years is a good idea. Sure it saves them $3.8m this year and $2.8m next year, but it’s still ~$11m in dead cap space over the next four years and their problems run deeper than Scott Gomez not living up to his contract so they’re probably going to need every dollar.
Secondly, it suggests that Montreal isn’t douchy enough to just bury him in the minors or Europe and so kudos to them for that. Buying him out is, while perhaps not the best business sense, at least admirable from the perspective of not abusing a loophole in the CBA and in giving Gomez a chance to sign a new contract somewhere else and actually play in the NHL.
If it does happen, I expect there will be a few suitors. I think any team that can pick him up on a 1 or 2 year deal for ~$1m is taking a low-risk, high-reward chance. Buying low on players is the way to go and he can’t get much lower. He’s still a strong possession player and it’s hard to imagine he’ll continue to suck as much as he has if he’s used properly (that is, not on the first line and/or where he’s expected to score 20-30 goals).
While it’s a possibility, it’s a bit silly to even suggest that Montreal will do anything at this point - we’ve had a general manager for all of a day! Besides, this isn’t that much of a new rumour: the cap situation and what to do with Gomez has been hashed out on blogs and HI/O and radio and in bars and everywhere else possible for months.
Bergevin flat out said yesterday that he hasn’t studied “the Gomez situation”, he’s going to take the time to evaluate his staff, evaluate the team needs, evaluate the cap and plans for moving forward and make a decision accordingly. He’s only seen Montreal play twice live in the past year; he’s going to take a bit of time to understand everything.
Similarly, Bergevin has said that he’s going to keep the head coach job hunt as confidential and discreet as his hiring was; I don’t imagine he’s going to be leaking many plans about anything weeks before he does it.
I know people are impatient, but I say we let the GM find his way from his office to the cafeteria first, then we can discuss the validity of any given rumour started by Tony Marinaro.
I agree that it’s too early, and it could just be the culmination of months of speculation, but it’s gone from a possibility and wish of countless fans to being reported on as probable by a fairly reliable journalist.
Puck Daddy cites quotes by Louis Jean of Sportsnet on a radio show as his source, who said, “This looks like something that will happen even before Bergevin comes in. It’s Geoff Molson saying, ‘OK, let’s get this done.’”
I don’t know who Louis Jean is or what his connections to the Canadiens are or even if he’s considered a reliable source, so take it with a grain of salt I guess, but that it’s being reported as a probability and not just speculation gives it some traction.
As a Rangers fan, I’d like to sincerely thank the Canadiens organization for the the gift that keeps on giving: Ryan McDonagh. 53:17 minutes of icetime last night with 8 blocked shots
As long as you guys crush the hell out of Washington, that’s all I care about. (Although I think I’m leaning towards the Rangers now, at least in the Eastern conference. I haven’t decided for the West)
Oh, and don’t forget to vote for [sub]Evgeni Malkin[/sub] NHL 13 cover!
soulmurk - I think I’ve read some of Jean’s work in La Presse. I basically don’t believe any speculation whatsoever with regards to the Habs; too many media people in this city just make shit up to get more readers.
I’m not saying a buyout isn’t going to happen - it might - I just won’t believe it until the Montreal Canadiens themselves announce it!
As for McDonagh… :smack:
We don’t even have Tom Pyatt anymore to make us feel a tiny bit better about the whole thing. I wonder if he’s been allowed out in the sun in Tampa? He was so awfully pale when he was in Montreal!
Back to the playoffs. Wow, Kovalchuk looks like Will Wheaton.