Message to Bob Gainey: GET A GOON!

Following Saturday night's 7-4 massacre of the Boston Bruins on home ice, the Montreal Canadiens had plenty to be proud of, but their lack of a quality fighter to defend those star players is evident.

Games against the B's are always intense, leading to a few fights, notably Tom Kostopoulos dropping the mits twice, Andrei Kostitsyn learning a lesson a hard way to the hands of Mark Stuart, and Guillaume Latendresse taking a few swings at the monstrous Zdeno Chara.

Besides Kostitsyn's newfound fondness of dropping the gloves at an unexpected time (just kidding) and Kostopoulos getting slapped with a 1-game suspension for instigating a fight in the final minutes of the games, Latendresse showed Habs managment they need size and they need it now.

Taking on Chara is a big feat, someting your average player wouldn't dare image to attempt in his most twisted dreams, but when the antagonist attempts to concuss Alex Kovalev, who ducked out of the way near the end of the 3rd period along the right wing boads with Chara deliberately trying to make a sandwich out of his head and the glass, and you got a sophomore like Latendresse coming to his defence, it's sending a strong message to Mr Gainey up in his posh pressbox.

GET A GOON!

I'm not a big fan of what I call useless fighters, such as former duds like Aaron Downey and Garth Murray, but rather for the Habs picking up some muscle to defend their star players, in this case Kovalev.

Sure no one really wants to get a piece of Zdeno Chara, but in the end, when a guy like Jeremy Reich, who played a total of 4:10, is sent out onto the ice with a mission to knock down Carey Price, you need to have a goon there to show him who's boss.

GET A GOON!

Pick up Todd Fedoruk, who has just been waived by new co-GM's Brett Hull and Les Jackson in Dallas, to add some punch to the puzzle on what is poised (barring another December 23rd meltdown) to be a fine Canadiens campaign, and perhaps one for the ages.

On a side note, The "Big Bird", Larry Robinson, is getting his number retired tonight by the Habs en route to their centennial 2009 season...congratulations to him!

Until next time with your biased Montreal Canadiens post,

-BBeR

Tasty Brownie! Kings ink young phenom to 6-year extension among others

The future is now for the Kings

There have been a few contract extensions handed out in the NHL recently, topping the list are the Los Angeles Kings, who signed forward Dustin Brown to a 6-year contract extension today.

The former 13th overall pick from the 2003 draft has 4 goals and 4 assists so far in 11 games with the Kings and has been a star on the rise ever since his definitive entry to the NHL in 2005-2006, putting up 14 and 17 goal seasons since then.
His points total have been on a uprise as well...from 28 to 46, and if his current pace continues, he will finish the season in the 70-point area.

Brown is poised to become a 30-40 goal scorer with huge upside, and he's a mainstay in Los Angeles for at least 6 more years.
All this at such a young age, the 22-year old Ithaca, New York native will turn 23 on November 4th.

Kings GM Dean Lombardi on "Brownie":

Dustin is an integral part of what we are building here with the Kings.
We like how he competes; we like his toughness; and we are very pleased with how his overall game has developed.

"An integral part" is not far off with guys like Mike Cammalleri (10 G, 3 A), sophomore sensation Anze Kopitar (4 G, 8 A) and star Alex Frolov (3 G, 7 A) all destined for superstardom (or at least come close to it).

On defence? They're well equiped with former Hurricanes prospect Jack Johnson (1 G, 1 A), veteran goldie Rob Blake (1 G, 4 A), the dangerous Lubomir Visnovsky (1 G, 7 A) to go along with new faces Brad Stuart (1 G, 2 A), Tom Preissing (0 G, 2 A) and another guy who's been around a while, Jaroslav Modry (0 G, 1 A).

On paper? They're awesome...but the defence has had its own problems this year totally a paltry -14 rating with Modry being the only blueliner in the plus column (+4).

Kings fans are calling for Rob Blake's head because of his shoddy defensive work and inconsistent performance on the attack...Stuart and Preissing are off to slow starts...Johnson is still adapting with Visnovsky and Modry leading the way.

The future is definitely bright in sunny LA, but can the Kings finally pull out of their misery with the younglings and big names picked up this offseason?

Their current 5-6 start could be better, but if you look at last year, it could be worse.

They have the talent, time to fully exploit it...look for the Kings to be serious contenders now or possibly in the near future

Draper stays in Detroit:
The Red Wings have retained former Selke winner Kris Draper, signing the 36-year old to a new 3-year contract that will pay him $1.6 million per season.

Kenny Holland calls Draper an essential part of the team's core:
Kris has been such an important part of this organization's success.
We are fortunate to have secured a player with his leadership qualities and work ethic for the next three seasons.

He has 5 assists to start the season and has put up double digits in goals for the past 4 campaigns.

Minnesota locks up Burns:
Brent Burns is only 22 but already a force on Minnesota's blueline.
The Wild locked him up to a 4-year contract worth about $14.2 million or an average payout of $3.55 million per season.
Minnesota's former 1st round pick is +6 this season and hopes to repeat the +16 rating he put up last year.

I like Doug Risebrough's reasoning when it comes to these big long deals being thrown around:
Long-term contracts are about projection now.
Not about what they'll make, but their ability to earn it and make things happen during the length of the contract.

Panthers sign Cullimore:
The Florida Panthers have reportedly signed defenceman Jassen Cullimore to a 1-year contract including a 2-week conditioning stint in the minors, likely to replace the injured Noah Welch as the team's 7-8 defenceman.

Markov to Russia:
The Danny Markov free-agent saga is officially over...the veteran signed a contract to play in Russia with Dynamo for the upcoming season and TSN reports that his deal includes an out clause that would allow him to come to North America and sign with another team next summer.
Markov was rumoured to be seeking between $2.5 and $3.5 million, but teams like the Boston Bruins and New York Islanders backed out because of salary cap constraints.

-BBeR

In case you missed it...Toews's unreal goal!

And the best part is, it was on Jose Theodore...sorry Mike and Avs fans, hehe.

He and Kane are really doing well to start the season...

Have a good day,

-BBeR

BBeR's Standings and Leaders predictions for the 2007-2008 season

Close, but no dice.

Gritty prediction: The Habs will get their revenge in the final game of the season, with both teams inching for the final playoff spot, against the Leafs in Montreal and earn the 8th seed.


Hey loyal readers and hockey fans!

I know it's been a while since I've posted, but I can assure you the wait and the drought for hockey is now over, the season is about a week old and it's to no one's surprise that fans all around the nation are going crazy.
Well, I went crazy a few days before the Ducks and Kings dropped the puck in the UK, crazy making up predictions for the coming season.

Yes, I also know that the season's started and I'm a little late, but hey, who really cares except the people who insist over useless details?

Feel free to speak your mind or bash me to your heart's content.

1. New York Rangers
   
2. Ottawa Senators
   
3. Carolina Hurricanes
   
4. Buffalo Sabres
   
5. Pittsburgh Penguins
   
6. Philadelphia Flyers
   
7. Tampa Bay Lightning
8. Montreal Canadiens
   
9. Toronto Maple Leafs
10. Florida Panthers
    
11. New Jersey Devils
    
12. Washington Capitals
    
13. Boston Bruins
    
14. Atlanta Thrashers
    
15. New York Islanders
    

1. Detroit Red Wings
   
2. San Jose Sharks
   
3. Colorado Avalanche
   
4. Dallas Stars
   
5. Calgary Flames
   
6. Anaheim Ducks
   
7. Vancouver Canucks
   
8. Los Angeles Kings
   
9. Minnesota Wild
   
10. Nashville Predators
    
11. Columbus Blue Jackets
12. St. Louis Blues
    
13. Edmonton Oilers
    
14. Phoenix Coyotes
    
15. Chicago Blackhawks
    

Eastern Team Leaders (PTS):
Bruins -- Savard
Canadiens -- Koivu
Capitals -- Ovechkin
Devils -- Parise
Flyers -- Briere
Hurricanes -- Staal
Islanders -- Comrie
Lightning -- St. Louis
Maple Leafs -- Blake
Panthers -- Jokinen
Penguins -- Crosby
Rangers -- Jagr
Sabres -- Roy
Senators -- Alfredsson
Thrashers -- Hossa

Western Team Leaders (PTS):
Avalanche -- Sakic
Blackhawks -- Ruutu
Blue Jackets -- Nash
Blues -- Kariya, P.
Canucks -- Sedin (pick one)
Coyotes -- Doan
Ducks -- McDonald
Flames -- Igingla
Kings -- Frolov
Oilers -- Hemsky
Predators -- Dumont
Red Wings -- Datsyuk
Sharks -- Thornton
Stars -- Morrow
Wild -- Gaborik

-BBeR


(P.S. -- look for a redesign soon!)

Cloutier on waivers, followed by many more...

Los Angeles Kings goaltender and former Vancouver Canuck, Dan Cloutier has been placed on waivers as the team has been unhappy with the veteran goalie ever since they acquired him 2 years ago from the Canucks.

Originally sought for the number one job in LA, the Kings swung a deal and sent a second rounder up north with hopes that the Quebecois native would solve their goaltendings woes that included losing Felix Potvin to the Boston Bruins, their "franchise goalie" Jamie Storr's career, the unorthodox Roman Cechmanek to Europe and even Cristobal Huet...whom they traded in order to acquire Mathieu Garon in 2004.

The Kings goaltending future might have gotten a little brighter with the cutting of Cloutier.

Jason LaBarbera is looking like gold and youngster Jonathan Bernier is being hailed as the second coming of Jamie Storr.

LaBarbera, a former prospect for the New York Rangers, spent the entire 2006-2007 season with the Manchester Monarchs in the American Hockey League and posted elite numbers with an impressive total of 39 wins, a very good 2.20 GAA and an excellent .933 save percentage.

The Kings had been hesitant to recall LaBarbera last season, despite injuries to both Dan Cloutier and Mathieu Garon due to the fact he'd have to clear waivers to be called up or sent down.

So instead the club went down to the ECHL and brought up the short-lived Japanese "named" sensation, Yutaka Fukufuji, minor-league scrub Barry Brust and even went as far as giving 41-year old Sean Burke a crack at stopping a puck again.

But now, with Garon signing with the Edmonton Oilers via free-agency and the cutting loose of the horrendous Dan Cloutier...what? have you forgotten his 2006-2007 line?

Hehe, a W-L record of 6-14-2, a goals against average a tick under 4.00 and a save percentage that makes me cringe at .860%.

Ok, where was I?

Ah, ok, so no more Garon, Cloutier has just been cut loose...that leaves us with two phenomenal youngsters: Jason LaBarbera and, we shouldn't forget Jonathan Bernier, who shone for Team Canada at the Summit Series recently.

So it's now expected that Jason LaBarbera will get the majority of the cookie with Jonathan Bernier popping in for a more than occasional start in the crease as well.

I can already tell that Kings fans are celebrating, there's no doubt that Cloutier definietly lost that spunk he portrayed with the Vancouver Canucks in the pre-lockout era.

Here's the official reason from Kings' GM Dean Lombardi:

The reality is, he hasn’t played for three years.

The only way to really get his rhythm back and to get him where he needs to be is to get him to play.
You see this in baseball all the time, where established pitchers have to do a form of rehab assignments if they lose their fastballs and the only way to get it back – to get totally confident – is to go back to the minors and do it.

Obviously, we gave this a lot of thought. The bottom line is, we thought this was the only way we could get him back to where he was comfortable. Physically, he’s totally healthy. But as we all know with goaltending, a lot of it has to do with his confidence and his state of mind. The only way he was going to get it all together was to play and to play a lot and not have to do it at this level.

So he says *rolls eyes*.

As for the rest, here's an inside look from our buddy Eklund of who's been placed on waivers (NEVER forget the source of this, but then again, why would he lie for something not so important and jeopardize his spectacularly marvelous career as the anonymous hockey blogger?)

Penguins
Deryk Engelland

Hurricanes
Wade Brookbank
Tim Conboy
David Gove
Brandon Nolan

Blue Jackets
Dan Smith
Andrew Murray

Thrashers
Kevin Doell
Jesse Schultz

Capitals
Jason Morgan

Islanders
Steve Regier
Tim Jackman
Kip Brennan
Matthew Spiller
Drew Fata
Joey MacDonald

Ducks
Joe Callahan
Mike Hoffman
Matt Keith
Dan Lacouture

Kings
Brendan Buckley
Petr Kanko
Oleg Tverdovsky
Cloutier, Dan

Stars
Trevor Byrne
Marius Holtet
Toby Petersen

See anyone that would interest your team?

-BBeR