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Post by Disgruntled70sHab on Jan 23, 2003 22:11:10 GMT -5
Keep those Christmas cards going out to Bob Clarke and now, Harry Sinden.
I can just imagine Sinden right now. He's from the old school, you know, Lafleur against Esposito, Cheevers against Dryden, yadda, yadda, yadda ... It still has to feel good to pull a fast one on the Habs ... payback for the 70's.
Cheers.
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Post by habwest on Jan 23, 2003 22:39:34 GMT -5
Well Doc, I'm not thrilled about the trade, really ambivalent because I don't know anything about Sundstrum. You seem to but I want to see him play to make up my own mind. Which is all I'm really saying, let's try and keep an open mind until we see what happens when he plays for the Habs under Julien. Personally, I would have preferred more size and abrasiveness, just like you. But I figure Hackett for a 3rd straight up was probably pretty good. Taking Sundstrum might have been a necessary part of the deal for SJ to off load some salary as they'll probably need a good chunk to sign McLaren. And the Habs still come out ahead salary wise for the remainder of the year. The difference was $1.8M so maybe they'll pocket about $800K. Also, according to TSN, SJ is picking up "part of" Sundstrum's salary. So I think that the Habs shedding dollars probably had something to do with this, probably in preparation to pay off Audette. Does anybody know how long Sundstrum's contract is for? If you look at our LWs we're not in great shape. Hossa yes, Bulis looks like he'll be OK. Kilger probably. Blouin, well... Ribiiero, another well....Juneau can do it. And Gilmour has. But maybe Julien has his own ideas about what he wants to do with these last two guys and I would be surprised if he didn't have some input into the trade decision. And the club may be looking ahead to Gilmour not being with the club next year. And when is Juneau's contract up? So another Bulis project is probably what we're looking at. Plus down on the farm it's still pretty sketchy. Perezhogin is next on the depth chart but isn't signed and hasn't played in the AHL yet so he's at least another season after this away. Eric Chouinard appears to be doing a bit better in Utah, but at 22 points in 30 games he's not tearing up the League. Plus they have him listed at center?? From there we go to Ryder, 33 points in 37 games. So who knows if anybody will come out of this crowd for next season or the season after. Seems to me like AS was hedging his bets and, frankly, took the best he could get when it came to a player. Like others have said, he wasn't dealing from a position of strength. he admittedly does like players with skill so may give up too much eslewhere to get it. Actually, SJ could end up being the big "loser" if McLaren proves to be another slow footed dman or injuries wreck his career. Boston do look like they did pretty good, especially if they sign Hack. But if AS were to avoid a trade that might improve the competitors in the East that would seriously limit his ability to do anything as there are a whole lot of competitors. Besides we already have our "McLaren" in Souray. I'm just as happy not to see McLaren in Montreal. So I remain sanguin. I'll wait and see. But then I'm not expecting the playoffs so it's easy for me to say. Cheers.
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Post by Yeti on Jan 23, 2003 22:52:00 GMT -5
We all agree the Bruins are the big winner. IMO McLaren is not part of the NHL elite, and if one day he becomes part of it, Hainsey and Komisarek will also be there. I think both of the latter will become better Ds than Kyle. I'm happy they are still with us. Thus, there was no way McLaren would end up in Montreal. So those who don't like this deal don't mainly because the Bruins got better? That was inevitable, they had a big tough 25 years D on the market. But I figure Hack can still be a good no 1 for a max of 2 years (he will be 35-36). In the meantime, we could have an excellent young duo for the next few years and if we reach a point where Garon (Yes, I'm high on him. Melanson- I trust him- says he's ready big time) wants to be a clear no 1, he will bring us a good return. I still don't understand why he cleared waivers (since he's been on the best prospects list for the past 5 years) but the guy will be a no 1 one day. Now we have more chance to convince him to resign and he will accept 20 starts next year. No more goalie controversy for awhile.
Sundstrum- what you see is what you get, a decent NHL player. Given the fact we are currently 28th on the PK, how can we say he doesn't help us. How many pts did we lose this year because our PK is among the worst in the league. Come playoffs time, we better have a decent PP and PK or we will go down in four.
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