With Habs LW Michael Cammalleri (pictured here in the garb of his former team) out for six weeks, who will score for the Canadiens?

Habs LW Michael Cammalleri (right MCL) is out for at least six weeks.

The Canadiens have now played twice in his absence, winning 3-2 vs. Vancouver on Tuesday and 3-2 (shootout) at Boston on Thursday.

The injury leaves C Tomas Plekanec without his formerly formidable pair of wings — Cammalleri (26 goals, 22 assists, +10, 15 PPP, 191 shots in 56 games) and RW Andrei Kostitsyn (lower body), who has been out of action since New Year’s Eve with no timetable for returning.

Plekanec is now skating between LW Sergei Kostitsyn and RW Benoit Pouliot. It was this line that picked up the scoring slack in the 3-2 win vs. Vancouver. Kostitsyn staked the Habs to a 1-0 lead on a pass from Pouliot. Plekanec scored the eventual game winner in the third period, assisted by Pouliot and Kostitsyn.

The other Montreal goal came from the third line in the first period, with C Maxim Lapierre capitalizing on a feed from RW Mathieu Darche. All three Habs goals came at even strength.

On its surface, the box score of this game was yet another signal for fantasy owners to grab Pouliot. Still only owned in 19 percent of Yahoo! and 11.7 percent of ESPN leagues, Pouliot was on fire long before the Cammalleri injury. He has tallied 10 goals and three assists in his last 16 games.

As for Kostitsyn, it was a good game, but it seemed like a fluke since he’d gone scoreless in his previous seven contests. Plekanec was not really part of the fantasy conversation, since he is an assists machine who was already a nearly universally owned player (74 percent Yahoo!, 84.7 ESPN).

Then came Thursday’s 3-2 shootout win in Boston. Down 2-0 in the second, the Habs halved the lead on a power play goal from ex-Bruin Glen Metropolit. C Scott Gomez and D Andre Markov recorded the assists. Less than one minute later, the Habs tied it when D Roman Hamrlik scored, assisted by Gomez and Kostitsyn.

In fantasy terms, this game hardly clarified anything. Markov was already a universally owned defenseman. Hamrlik and Gomez have been borderline roster-worthy for several seasons. Metropolit is a classic “good in real life, not so much in fantasy” grinder. But then there was that point from Kostitsyn, making us wonder: Is this 22-year-old with the gifted brother worthy of our attention, now that he’s skating with Plekanec?

Our answer: Yes, but the better fantasy play is Pouliot, who is still out there in the vast majority of free agent pools.

The Canadiens next play Saturday afternoon (2pm) at Pittsburgh, and we’ll be watching to determine if the Kostitsyn-Plekanic-Pouliot line continues to produce.

photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons

With the evil Montreal Canadiens coming to town, I figured this would be the perfect time to talk one of our favorite Habs fans, Amanda Fortier, and get her take on what’s going on with the Boston’s bitter rival.

Image c/o 25Stanley.com

The Habs (26-25-6) come to Boston (23-22-9) still reeling from the loss of their leading scorer, Michael Cammalleri. Cammy was sidelined by a hit from Anton Volchenkov in the Hockey Day in Canada matchup against the Senators on Saturday afternoon. He’ll be out 6-8 weeks with an undisclosed right knee injury.  Like the Bruins, the Habs have struggled with injuries this season. Of the remaining players on the roster, only 4 have played in all 57 games so far this season (forwards Tomas Plekanec, Travis Moen and Maxim Lapierre, and D-man Josh Gorges). 

Montreal is heading into Beantown on the heels of a 3-2 victory over the Canucks on Tuesday night; a lack of secondary scoring has been a concern for the Habs offense. On Tuesday night, Halak stood on his head, stymieing a red-hot Canucks team to keep the Habs in the game. A few players also stepped up in Cammy’s absence to provide the offensive spark that the team will need to keep winning games leading up to the Olympic Break.  My player to watch is Mathieu Darche (#52), a 33-year old winger who is getting his second shot at the big game. After a fairly successful 2007-2008 season with the Lightning, Darche has been putting up solid numbers with the Hamilton Bulldogs in the AHL.  Since being called up on January 18, Darche has played in 7 games and has 1 goal and 3 assists.  He has been playing with a lot of jump and fire, setting up good plays and fighting hard for the puck, despite spending a lot of time on the Habs fourth line.

The never-ending goalie debate rages on, and the starting goaltender is not usually named until the morning of the game. That is, unless Coach Jacques Martin has finally anointed his #1 goaltender… but I wouldn’t hold your breath on that one. In interviews on Wednesday morning, Martin was cryptic; when asked point blank if Halak would be in net he replied “We’ll see. Price has won two games against the Bruins before…” Halak may have stolen the game for the Habs on Tuesday night, but has started the past 2 games; I expect to see Price in net tonight.

On top of injury woes, lacking secondary scoring and goalie drama, the Habs are having a hard time winning on the road this year, going 13-14-2 away from the Bell Centre.  While this might seem like good news for Bruins fans, the Habs and Bruins have faced off twice so far this season, with the Habs winning both games – including one at The Garden.  (I was lucky enough to be at that game, and was welcomed with peanut throwing, insult slinging and crotch dances by the Bruins fans… but the Habs win was the best revenge!)

****UPDATE**** Start planning the coronation. Halak (15-8-2 this season) is in net tonight against the Bruins.  This will be his third consecutive start, which will probably lead to more talk of Halak being the official #1 goaltender for the Canadiens.  Many already believe it (like this guy: http://www.halak1.com/), but it’s clear that the #1 goalie question is still up in the air. With the Habs playing both Saturday and Sunday (which happens to be a rematch with the Bruins), we’ll either have a clear answer or more confusion… If you want my opinion on the Montreal goaltending “controversy”, ask me on twitter!

You can follow Amanda Fortier on Twitter!

So I’m at the school computer lab right now. Not even lunch or anything, I’m actually in english class. Will informed me earlier that Mike Cammalleri is out with an MCL injury. He is expected to miss 6-8 weeks. This basically means that the one valid scorer is out for 6-8 weeks. This is like going into a knife fight… without a knife. I guess Gionta and Plekanec are still there but it’s not the same without Cammalleri.

Is there any way Bob Gainey can beg Gary Bettman to pause the league for a few weeks? Because that would be ideal right now. Will also shouted to me from across the room saying “Brad Mark Stuart, 3-4 weeks!” I’m guessing he means Mark Stuart of the Red Wings Boston Bruins and by 3-4 weeks, he either means a vacation or an injury. This is a huge hit to the Red Wings Bruins defense who aren’t doing that great to begin with.

Unless Will has something else to say, I guess this is it?

Brian.

According to Ken Campbell of The Hockey News, sources reported last June there was a deal between the Lightning and the Canadiens. The Lightning would have sent all-star centre Vincent Lecavalier in exchange for Carey Price, Tomas Plekanec and a prospect. The deal was not approved by Lightning owner Len Barrie so Gary Bettman blocked the deal. The beginning of ownership troubles.

The Tampa Bay Lightning are reportedly going to be sold and the deal will be done by this weekend. The new ownership group will attempt to move Lecavalier and his huge contact (11yr-85mil). The Los Angeles Kings are reported to be the front runners for Lecavalier’s services but are unwilling to give what back what the Lightning want. It is believed that the package to the Lightning includes Wayne Simmonds, Jack Johnson, prospects and draft picks. Much too pricey for LA.

The Rangers won 6 to 2 against the Canadians last night. The Rangers played hard the entire game…the first period wasn’t pretty. Sean Avery took some bad penalties and Tort let him have it. But instead of benching Avery for his bonehead plays…he let him play in the second! Good for you Tort. What happened after that made this game…the best one of the season

First I’d like to say that the Montreal Canadians are a team of punks who took cheap shots at the Rangers all game. In the first minute of the second Gaborik put a puck in front of the net and Ryan Callahan tipped it in for the first goal for the Rangers. Michal Rozsival took a High Sticking penalty and on the ensuing faceoff that was won by Montreal, Ryan Callahan took the puck on a breakaway and Brandon Dubinsky knocked in the rebound for a short handed goal tying the game at two. (Video Below)

Then Beniot Pouliot of the Canadians took a cheap shot at Erik Christensen drawing a boarding call. It was a cheap shot indeed…SHAME ON YOU POULIOT! But a few minutes later a fight broke out…and guess who did something…Wade Redden! Watch the video below…he dropped the gloves against Beniot Pouliot and they exchanged some great punches. What lead to the fight was ANOTHER cheap shot on Enver Lisin by Tomas Plekanec. SHAME ON YOU PLEKANEC! Good for the Rangers for sticking up for themselves…and good for Wade Redden for doing anything. If your not going to score goals…then you better drop the gloves. (Video Below)

After the second period the Ranger laid on three more goals. Marian Gaborik registered a sick one timer from Brandon Dubinsky. Goals from Ryan Callahan and Chris Drury would seal the deal at 6 -2.

The Rangers played a solid game and put those punk Canadians in their place. Take that Scotty Gomez! HA! (Sean Avery got into it with Josh Gorges…Video Below…Avery rocked em!)

Thrashers C Rich Peverley, a fantasy mainstay this season, has gone ice cold.

Thrashers C Rich Peverley has not scored for four straight games.

Despite this dry spell, Peverley (89.8 percent owned in ESPN, 63 percent in Yahoo!) ranks No. 27 among all centers in Yahoo! and 39th among all forwards in ESPN. With 12 goals and 21 assists, he is on nearly a point-per-game pace.

Still, I dropped Peverley in one of my leagues today because I needed a body to replace Senators RW Daniel Alfredsson (separated left shoulder), who is expected to be out until early February.

Why did I cut Peverley? The primary reason is his position. Every fantasy hockey season offers unlimited depth at center. Look no further for evidence than Canadiens C Tomas Plekanec (68.6 percent owned in ESPN, 66 percent in Yahoo!). Though Plekanec is a higher rated player than Peverley in both ESPN (37th among all forwards) and Yahoo! (eighth among centers), he is more widely available.

You can always find a solid No. 2 center on the waiver wire in fantasy hockey. Every now and then you can also find a terrific one like Plekanec, who is second in the NHL in assists. That’s why I never fret about dropping my No. 2 center to fill an injury void. I can always find another. By contrast, a red-hot winger like Red Wings LW/RW Todd Bertuzzi — eight goals and 22 penalty minutes in his last eight games — might not last in the free agent pool very long.

photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Montreal can thank former Czechoslovakia for Pleks and Jaro.

Yesterday’s game was very similar to the last few games Montreal played before Christmas. The habs were badly outshot, and were dominated for large parts of the game. But Jaroslav Halak was hot. Offensively, Pleknec and Kostitsyn keep on piling up points (10 points in 4 games for Pleks, 19 points in 17 games for Andrei). The Habs special teams were excellent again. In the end, Montreal ends up with two points. We’ll take that I guess.

This road trip is a success so far: 4 games, 4 wins. Hard to argue with that. But the way most of those games were won (The Canes game is the exception) leaves a bittersweet taste. It’s clear the habs are just a few bad breaks away from yet another losing streak. It’s really the way this season has been going so far. They win one, lose one, win two, lose  four, win three… and so on. While Markov was missing, the hope was to stay relatively close to the .500 mark until his return. Since he’s back, the Habs have won 4 straight games. Special teams and goaltending are the two main things that allowed he team to stay afloat. On 5 on 5, the situation is much less flattering. The habs 5 on 5 goals for/against ratio is 0.78. That’s the fourth least in the league, above only Carolina, Columbus and the Isles. The return of Markov, the arrival of Pouliot, and the eventual return of Gionta should help the habs. But Montreal needs to keep the opponents from shoting 40 times every game and controlling the puck for most of the night.

There are encouraging signs: Earlier this season, special teams were not very impressive (Montreal was in the middle of the pack for PP and PK), and the team was taking way too many penalties. Those two things were corrected. It shows that the coaching staff knows how to address the issues faced by the habs, and that the team seems willing to listen and make adjustments. That’s a good thing, because there is still a lot of work to be done…

This is what this team is all about this year. These two.

C’est assez incroyable ce qui est en train de se passer chez le Canadien. En moins de deux semaines, l’équipe a perdu, au profit de la liste des blessés, Jaroslav Spacek, Brian Gionta, Scott Gomez, et probablement les deux frères Kostistyn en plus ! Le plus vieux se serait blessé en troisième hier en recevant un tir d’un défenseur de Columbus. Sergei, lui, a une entorse et est incertain.

Je suis excité de voir David Desharnais commencer le match pour le CH ce soir, ça a l’air d’un très bon joueur, mais je préfère quand même compter sur une équipe de partants et de vrais joueurs établis de la LNH !

En plus, Montréal va peut-être devoir jouer à seulement 19 joueurs ce soir si la décision de Sergei s’avère négative.

Eh merde! Va falloir voir d’où vient tout ça. Malchance, ou un mauvais entraînement ? Il est à remarquer que, des nouveaux venus du Canadien, seuls Paul Mara, Travis Moen et Marc-André Bergeron seront en uniforme ce soir.

Au moins, l’équipe est en train de se batir une personnalité, est en train de devenir, en fait, une VRAIE équipe. Le Tricolore n’a pas perdu en temps réglementaire à ses quatre derniers matchs malgré l’absence de ces joueurs importants. Je ne serais pas surpris par une défaite ce soir, la question est de savoir si le Tricolore va bien ou mal perdre. C’est un vrai test pour la troupe de Jacques Martin. J’espère qu’on gagnera, ou qu’on perdra avec dignité ce soir, sans abandonner Price et lui laisser 40-50 tirs. Ça serait mauvais pour tout le monde.

Parlant de personnalité, deux joueurs retiennent mon attention : Tomas Plekanec et Mike Cammalleri. Le premier a appris à jouer sans Kovalev et en tant que centre #1 “à temps plein”, et il relève très bien le défi avec 24 points, dont 19 passes (!) en autant de matchs ; Cammalleri, lui, en est déjà à 12 buts et semble se reprendre après une passe plus tranquille. L’équipe repose actuellement sur ces deux joueurs… et sur Price, ne l’oubliant.

Un seul hic à tout ça : Plekanec n’est pas sous contrat pour 2010-2011, et si Gainey ne lui fait pas apposer sa signature au bas d’un document au cours des prochaines semaines, il pourrait lui coûter très très très très cher cet été, surtout si Tomas continue sur sa lancée et fait 85-90 points.

Grouille-toi Robert !

YOU WANT ME SHOOT FROM RED LINE?

• some beautiful quotes this week from Andrei Kostitsyn and Tomas Plekanects this week: Andrei ~ (do you think you should be shooting more?) “You want me to shoot from red line?”, and Plekanects ~ “I told (Gui) to park his ass in front of the net and he’ll get the goals.”
• Pavelic completely owned the Senators with a 50 save performance on Sat, let’s hope he spent his wad on that game.
• no word on whether Halak or Price will start
• Matieu Carle has been recalled for tonight after Hal Gill took a shot off his foot in practice. What nobody seems to be saying is what the prognosis will be on Big Hal Gill once the swelling goes down. Players are usually out for a month after they miss a game with a foot injury.
• the Habs now have 4 average-to-wee sized defencemen dressed (I was going to say under-205lb but Spacek is 210lbs if you can believe it)
• Price gets the start, per Habs Insideout
• Ryan O’Byrne is back on skates and practicing after being out a month with an ankle injury

more to come…Edit: I lied. Sucka!

Current Hab fan status: comme si comme ca (everyone seems to be delighted that Gill is injured, though it means 1 rookie and 1 Bergeron in the lineup)

"Just play me with Spacek, and I don't care", says Roman

• Metropolit is a trooper
• the defence account for 2 more goals
• Moen scored again, and Metro had another 2 point game. The Habs need to worry about secondary scoring, but not tertiary
• I was actually worried about the PK going into the year considering the Habs lost Komisarek, Koivu and Higgins. Didn’t know Gomez was effective on the kill
• re: Price…Jacques Martin has stressed that he puts a great amount of importance on how players practice. I don’t want to be one of these goalie controversy ding-dongs but maybe Pricer isn’t practicing as hard as he should
• alright, so maybe MA Bergeron isn’t the skating nightmare I feared he’d be
• so much for the ‘new’ NHL and zero tolerance. Refs tonight were Auger & Peel, big surprise
• Habs took 2 ‘too many men’ penalties. Ay yai yoi
• Double-shifting Cammalleri on the 3rd line paid off. Hard work+talent
• fans really getting on Gill…I mean come on, so he couldn’t keep the puck onside
• Chipchura is getting stronger and stronger
• bad penalty, even worse clear by Spacek that resulted in a PP goal for the Isles to make it 2-2
• what a pass by Plekanects for the OT winner, right over the stick of Streit as he dropped down to block it
• Habs are now above .500 for the first time since the 4th game of the season
• elsewhere around the NHL: DelZotto continues to tear it up and…apparently so does Gaborik, in more ways than one. He left the game with an injury tonight. IIIIIIIIIIIIIT BEGIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINS…

Current Hab fan status: overconfident

Roman's OT winner reminds him of the '93 Canadiens. They're now unstoppable!!!!

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Here’s a Carey Price wallpaper I made a little while ago

Carey Price wallpaper

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L’anglais possède une jolie expression pour désigner les gaffes verbales : on dit que la personne s’est « mis le pied dans la bouche ». On a beau fouiller, il n’y a pas d’équivalent dans la langue française qui exprime aussi bien le pétrin dans lequel se met celui qui commet une telle bévue, dont les conséquences peuvent le poursuivre longtemps.

L’ancien premier ministre du Québec Bernard Landry est probablement l’un des meilleurs gaffeurs que la classe politique québécoise ait connus. Il a déjà déclaré à propos des démunis qu’il s’expliquait mal qu’au Québec, des parents puissent envoyer leurs enfants le ventre vide à l’école, « quand on constate que les oiseaux avec une cervelle grosse comme cela – il a alors représenté la tête d’un oiseau avec son pouce et son index – parviennent à nourrir leurs petits ». À propos des organismes féministes, il a laissé tomber : « Ne me parlez pas des groupes de femmes, a-t-il dit, je préfère rencontrer le président de la Sun Life », l’institution financière qui, en 1978, avait déménagé son siège social à Toronto en réaction à l’adoption de la loi 101.

Mais le plus beau but qu’il a compté dans son propre filet, si on peut dire, est sa déclaration sur les « chiffons rouges ». En 2001, le gouvernement fédéral promettait d’accorder 18 millions de dollars à l’Aquarium de Québec, à condition que le bilinguisme y soit respecté et que le drapeau canadien y soit présent. Bernard Landry s’était alors emporté : « Le Québec n’a pas l’intention de faire le trottoir pour des bouts de chiffons rouges. » L’expression, traduite par « red rags » en anglais (ce qui se rapproche davantage de « torchons rouges »), avait provoqué l’indignation au Canada anglais, et Landry avait été accusé de mépris à l’endroit du drapeau canadien. Il a eu beau répéter que l’expression était tirée de la tauromachie et qu’elle ne visait pas l’unifolié, ses explications en ont laissé plus d’un sceptique.

En politique, tout est dans la perception. Bernard Landry a eu beau s’expliquer et s’excuser, ces propos sont revenus le hanter longtemps. Il a fallu des années avant que certains journalistes, dont Lysiane Gagnon, admettent qu’ils avaient peut-être mal interprété sa déclaration.

Invités à s’exprimer plusieurs fois par jour sur des sujets aussi variés et délicats que la pauvreté, l’environnement, la condition féminine, l’éducation et la santé, les politiciens les plus en vue ne peuvent échapper à l’inéluctable gaffe qu’ils finissent par commettre un jour ou l’autre. Les bévues font partie de toute carrière politique. Les joueurs de hockey, heureusement pour eux, ne patinent pas sur des glaces aussi minces, mais ils doivent eux aussi faire de leur mieux pour éviter toute controverse. C’est pourquoi des spécialistes en communications les suivent constamment pour leur mettre dans la bouche des mots soigneusement pesés en fonction des circonstances. Même s’ils n’ont aucune formation en relations publiques, les joueurs en arrivent eux-mêmes à développer des réflexes de prudence lorsqu’ils se font pointer un micro sous le nez.

Malgré toutes ces précautions, il arrive que la gaffe réussisse à se trouver un chemin. Elle est patiente, la gaffe, elle attend son heure, elle profite de la première occasion pour se faufiler et prendre le devant de la scène là où on s’y attend le moins. Lors des séries éliminatoires de 2008, la gaffe s’est trouvé un véhicule pour le moins surprenant : Tomas Plekanec, le deuxième centre, un joueur plutôt réservé et peu habitué à la controverse. Insatisfait de son travail pendant les trois premières parties de la série contre Boston, Plekanec a déclaré : « Je joue comme une fillette. » La journaliste Marie-Claude Lortie, de La Presse, s’est indignée de ces propos, les qualifiant d’odieux et exigeant qu’il fasse ses excuses aux fillettes. Un nombre impressionnant d’internautes se sont empressés de se moquer d’elle et de la traiter de féministe extrémiste, avec une hargne virulente et fielleuse. Son collègue Patrick Lagacé, pourtant en désaccord avec elle, a commenté : « Évidemment, un tas de tatas en ont profité pour dire un tas de vacheries à Marie-Claude, prouvant (mille fois plus que l’”affaire” Plekanec) que la société a encore du chemin à faire et que certains d’entre nous descendent fraîchement de l’arbre (quand il n’y vivent pas encore à temps partiel). » En fait, dans une société dont les repères sexuels sont bousculés, de nombreux hommes se sont servis de cet incident pour tenter d’asseoir leur mainmise sur le sport professionnel, un domaine dans lequel ils ont l’impression de pouvoir retrouver une masculinité plus traditionnelle.

Cet exemple démontre la difficulté de se prononcer en public sur quelque sujet que ce soit : tout y est interprété de façon manichéenne, selon la lentille que l’on veut bien porter. Honnêtement, je ne crois pas qu’il y avait dans les propos de Plekanec de quoi le pendre aux portes de la ville. Mais sa comparaison demeure tout de même une indélicatesse. On aura beau dire – et c’était l’argument le plus couramment opposé à Mme Lortie – que jamais les filles ne se tailleront une place à la LNH, il demeure que se servir de l’image d’une fillette pour dénigrer son propre travail, c’est dévaloriser indirectement les fillettes. Lorsque j’étais enfant, mon idole était Patrick Roy, et mon rêve, de devenir la première gardienne de but du Canadien. Si Roy avait tenu des propos semblables à ceux de Plekanec, j’aurais été inconsolable. Les fillettes prennent tous les commentaires au premier degré; vous aurez beau dire que je n’aurais jamais fait la LNH, je n’étais quand même pas à un âge ou on avait le droit de me piétiner mes rêves. Les années et la maturité s’en seraient très bien chargés, de façon beaucoup moins brutale.

La réaction de Marie-Claude Lortie était franchement exagérée, mais Tomas Plekanec s’est quand même mis le pied, ou plutôt le patin dans la bouche avec ses propos. Si les journalistes étaient revenus l’embêter avec cette déclaration, comment aurait-il pu s’en sortir? La meilleure solution aurait été l’humour. Il aurait pu déclarer quelque chose du genre : « Vous avez raison, je jouais tellement mal que même des fillettes m’auraient battu », ou encore : « Je suis content que mes fans s’inquiètent de mon rendement au point où même les fillettes viennent me botter le derrière ». Ainsi, il aurait pu se dédouaner auprès de ses plus jeunes admiratrices sans s’abaisser à d’humiliantes excuses au nom de la rectitude politique.

En vertu d’une sorte de justice karmique, Tomas Plekanec paie encore pour sa déclaration percutante, puisque de nombreux partisans s’en servent pour le traiter de fillette chaque fois qu’il connaît une quelconque baisse de régime. Toutes celles qui trouvaient ses propos misogynes doivent se consoler en constatant qu’il est maintenant lui-même victime du machisme de certains fans. Malgré tout, il est désolant que les propos des politiciens comme des joueurs de hockey soient interprétés de façon si subjective, et de toutes les façons possibles, au point où ils en sont forcés de recourir à la langue de bois pour se protéger. Si nous étions plus indulgents à propos de leurs gaffes, les personnalités publiques se permettraient peut-être de parler de façon plus spontanée. Se mettre le patin dans la bouche ne veut pas dire être obligé de se trancher la langue avec.

Here is a quick summary of the latest happenings in the NHL, partnered with a brief snippet of what I think regarding each.

• San Jose signs Scott Nichol to a 1yr deal worth $750k — this is a great pick up for the Sharks. Nichol is good depth guy who will energize the 3rd/4th line. Night in and night out Scott Nichol plays with his whole heart.
• LA re-signs Jack Johnson to a 2yr contract — great move by the Kings in keeping Johnson in LA. He is a terrific young defender with a lot of potential. As long as he avoids injuries this season, he will be an solid defensive asset.
• Calgary signs Nigel Dawes to a 2yr deal worth $850k per year — good depth pick up for the Flames. Dawes is a great two way player who is still young (only 24). He has some offensive upside, and the potential to produce more.
  
• Montreal signs Curtis Sanford to a 1yr deal — Sanford gives the Canadiens a dependable #2 goalie behind Price
• Edmonton re-signs Denis Grebeshkov to a 1yr contract worth $3.15m — personally, I feel as though the Oilers over paid extremely for Grebeshkov…I guess that’s what happens when you can’t wrestle Dany Heatley out of Ottawa
• Montreal re-signs Tomas Plekanec to a 1yr, $2.75m contract — not great, but not terribly overpriced at the same time. As long as he can bounce back from a disappointing 2007/08, Plekanec will be an effective 2nd liner for Montreal.
  
• Pittsburgh signs Brent Johnson to a 2yr contract at $1m per — good move by the Pens in shoring up their goaltending. With Garon gone to Columbus, Johnson gives Pittsburgh an experienced, capable back-up for MA Fleury.
  
• New Jersey re-signs Travis Zajac to an undisclosed contract — rumoured to be a deal worth $4m per year, I believe the Devils have overpaid for Zajac. However, I do believe he is a player that they could not afford to lose. Looking at it in that light, the Devils are paying for potential rather than immediate impact, and I do think that Zajac has the potential to be a major franchise & impact player soon down the road from now.
• NY Islanders sign Martin Biron to a 1yr contract worth $1.4m — a very interesting move by the Islanders. This definitely leads me to believe that franchise netminder Rick DiPietro is still not fully recovered from his knee injuries of last season. With Roloson and Biron in the fold, the Islanders have a reliable set of netminders to fill the gap while 15 year- #1 man DiPietro recovers. As a short term fix for the Islanders, Garth Snow couldn’t have done much better than employing these two NHL vets.
  
• Carolina re-signs Tuomo Ruutu to a 3yr contract worth $11.4m — while Ruutu is a solid impact player when healthy, the key is his health. Ruutu has only once played a full NHL season and that was in 2003/04 during his rookie campaign. While he played 79 games last season and was effective for the Canes, it will be interesting to see if he can continue to play similar game totals over the duration of this contract. As a player, I really like him and he will be a key in Carolina’s success….when he is in the line-up.
  
• Boston signs Derek Morris to a 1yr, $3.3m deal — considering that Morris is an offensive defenseman and he is coming off one of the worst offensive campaigns of his career, it will suffice to say that the Bruins have overpaid for his services. While he is dependable in his own zone, he is not spectacular. Morris has always been paid for his powerplay effectiveness, and his offensive contributions. Hopefully he will  find less pressure in Boston and bounce back offensively with Zdeno Chara holding down the fort…in both ends of the rink.

While other signings occurred, the above were the signings that I found to be of the greatest significance and impact.

While it is safe to say that the large majority of “big name” free agents have found homes for the 2009/10 season, there are still a few notable names left on the market. They include:

• Mats Sundin
• Mathieu Schneider
• Sergei Zubov
• Alex Tanguay
• Manny Fernandez
• Robert Lang
• Miro Satan
• Maxim Afinogenov
• Mike Comrie
• Todd Bertuzzi
• Manny Legace
• Mike Peca
• Jeremy Roenick

Above is not a complete list, but some notable free agents who are most likely to find new homes prior to the commencement of NHL training camp season.

Quickly before I leave you, there is one question that I am searching for an answer to. Assuming that Rick DiPietro is not available to start the season healthy with the Islanders, who do you choose as your replacement number one netminder, Roloson or Biron?

-m.o.b.

Eklund suggests that this may just be the case, and it may be involving Plekanec and Halak, both of which the Sharks have great interest in. He is also suggesting that an “interesting” prospect could be heading to Montreal, which sounds to me like a three-way trade.

By dumping these two players we would free up about 3.5 million in cap space and would need to add a second line center in the deal, which just doesn’t seem feasible to me. Every possibility I can think of just doesn’t work out for not just our salary cap, but for our needs as well. Unless of course we pickup John Tavares out of the deal and then we would be all freakin’ set since he’s currently sitting at 3.75 million .

Pouir le Canadien de Montréal, il reste 10,45 millions pour Latendresse, D’Agostini, Plekanec, Chipchura et Stewart.

On peut facilement croire que
Guillaume Latendresse obtiendra 2 millions.
Tomas Plekanec obtiendra 2,25 millions.
Kyle Chipchura 1,25 millions.
Matt D’Agostini 1 million.
Gregory Stewart 0,75 million.

Il resterait donc par la suite que 3,2 millions, de quoi embaucher un gardien auxilaire ou un bon plombier.