Among other tidbits...Francis Bouillon next one out?

Can Francis Bouillon's time in Montreal be over?

Got this off of Spector, it's very interesting to say the least (corrected the spelling and grammar)

"Daniel" recently sent in the following on the Canadiens

This is probably not possible to check if it's true or not but former referee Ron Fournier said yesterday on popular radio show "Les amateurs de sports" that Gainey's plan is to have Huet as a starter next season and have Halak or young Carey Price as a backup. On defence, the 7 starters planned are Dandenault, Markov, Streit, Komisarek, Gorges with young Jean-Philippe Côté and Ryan O'Byrne leading to the speculation that Sheldon Souray and Janne Niinimaa won't be signed and Francis Bouillon will be traded somewhere this summer. He also said that Gainey wants to pursue a big UFA name such as Bill Guerin, Daniel Brière and Chris Phillips. Fournier said that there's some big surprise for the forwards and doesn't want to reveal it until the Habs season ends. He also said that he has a source from
the Habs management but don't want to say who it is.

This was broadcast on CKAC 730AM around 5PM Tuesday.

Well, Ron Fournier is definitely a good journalist and radio host and I'm sure this isn't far off.

Sheldon Souray will probably command around $6-$6.5 million per season, and I doubt the Canadiens can give him that(I had a post earlier in February on how the Habs could re-sign Souray, but the price has risen now.)
And besides, Souray's only asset is his booming slap shot, besides that, he's not a very good defenceman (he's hovering around -20 these days), and his 5-on-5 play is just plain ordinary.

I know he'll get that kind of money elsewhere, but seriously, it's not the end of the world if the Canadiens let Sheldon Souray walk and invest that money in bringing in a prime-UFA scorer this offseason.
Ok, ok, the powerplay will likely suffer without him, but, look at the bright side, a Daniel Briere, Bill Guerin or Chris Drury would be an even better addition.

Francis Bouillon is having a mediocre season by his standards.
After having an oustanding 2005-2006 campaign, Bouillon's play has declined sharply this season.
The problems start in his own end, despite being able to put up that bone-crushing check often, where he coughs up the puck way too much and shoots the puck up the middle instead of around the boards.
He looks like Sheldon Souray on defence and is nothing close to him on offence.
His offensive input has been miminal this season (3 G, 11 A in 61 games), but an injury he suffered late last season, could be the reason for his inconsistency.
He had 22 points last year, not much off from this year, but it looks like he felt more into it last year. He had 3 powerplay goals and 20 more shots on goal than so far this season.
I wouldn't be sad to see him go, he was a scratch once or twice this season and he has only himself to blame for that.
He's making close to $2 million this season, and if this keeps up, I'd rather have a guy like Ryan O'Byrne or Josh Gorges out there.

Janne Niinimaa...I've already said it, he's having a horrible year all-around, but his play has picked up recently.
He's making a push to get a contract offer from Bob Gainey this summer, to remain as the possible 7th defenceman, but no way for the price he's getting now ($2.5 million).
With that said, I'd rather have him that (blech) Jean-Phillipe Cote up here.

And again, everyone wants these Brieres, Drurys, Guerins, Shanahans to come and put on the Montreal Canadiens jersey, but, every year we get dissapointed.

And if the defence looks like that next season, we're in for a long one.

With respect to O'Byrne, Dandenault and Gorges, that's a pretty crappy defensive back.

Maybe that "surprise" is that a guy like Alex Kovalev, Michael Ryder or even (shudder) Saku Koivu are on the move?

God, I hope not.