Who wants Hossa back?

[M. Beaux-Eaux]

By the sounds of discontent coming from Rangers' fans it seems that he's playing in the fashion we came to see and expect when he was with the Habs:

www.hfboards.com/showthread.php?t=196938&page=1&pp=25

[BadCompany]

Shouldn't this be in the non-Habs forum, or the Trade Rumours board?

Seems like the debate is rather evenly split to me. Some think he's been okay, some think others are more deserving. Most admit he hasn't been a liability, something not all current members of the Montreal Canadiens can claim. Ranger fans being critical of there own. Hmph. Whodda thunk?

Anyways, a perhaps more complete question would be "Would you rather have Pierre Dagenais or Garth Murray in the lineup, instead of Marcel Hossa?"

[BadCompany]

Lets do a statistical comparison :

Marcel Hossa:

Age: 24
Size: 6’2, 215
Salary: $585,000

Games: 28
Goals: 5
Assists: 6
Points: 11
Plus/Minus: +4
PIM: 10
Shots: 56

Pierre Dagenais:

Age: 27
Size: 6’4, 217
Salary: $550,000

Games: 22
Goals: 4
Assists: 3
Points: 7
Plus/Minus: -5
PIM: 16
Shots: 48

Garth Murray*

Age: 23
Size: 6’1, 205
Salary: $450,000 (assumed)

Games: 25
Goals: 1
Assists: 1
Points: 2
Plus/Minus: -5
PIM: 46
Shots: U/A

* AHL Stats

[Bob]

I doubt Garth Murray is making over $75,000 otherwise he would have to clear waivers to move back and forth between Montreal and Hamilton.

[M. Beaux-Eaux]

Dagenais, Hossa, Murray. A fair comparison.

Hossa seems to be on the verge of floating himself out of the starting lineup, making himself a veritable Dagenais clone for the Rangers. Giiven time he may well, like Murray, find himself in the AHL once again.

How many Dagenaises do the Habs really need? We kept the genuine article and traded the pretender. Besides, Pierre and Marcel are presently headed in opposite directions on the stats sheet.

Ah yes, stats:

Here's something that looks very familiar. Hossa - 3-5-8, +3 in his first 9 games; 2-1-3, +1 in his last 19, (including 0-1-1, -1 in his last 11).

Dagenais in his last 11 games is 3-2-5 (not including his shootout winner), -1—in considerably less ice time than Hossa.

Dagenais total ice time over his last 11 games was 98:57. Hossa's over his last 11 games was 149:37.

Murray seems to be a fair exchange for Hossa. He doesn't have the latter's talent but is a solid enough player. He shows nightly that he wants to play and provides an energy boost to his team. He is also the type of grinder that is in short supply in the Habs organization.

So, as far as fringe players go, I'd rather have in reserve the guy who has a solid work ethic and uses his body and finishes his checks, over the guy who briefly catches fire and then becomes a long trail of smoke. Apparently that was Gainey's preference as well. Can't really blame him.

[clear observer]

I, for one, still wish he were in our system.

CO

[Habs_fan_in_LA]

I'm not sure "Who wants Hossa back?" but I do know with some certainty "who doesn't want Souray back!"

No Baywatch reruns.

[nilan30]

Anyways, a perhaps more complete question would be "Would you rather have Pierre Dagenais or Garth Murray in the lineup, instead of Marcel Hossa?"
IP:

Yes and Yes.

[Habit]

Hey... I aint no "Hossa Back Girl"...

Bad joke I know... but the habs have a week off and I'm board...

[Habs_fan_in_LA]

nilan30 said:

Anyways, a perhaps more complete question would be "Would you rather have Pierre Dagenais or Garth Murray in the lineup, instead of Marcel Hossa?"
IP:

Yes and Yes.

Marian Marcel
Wayne Brent
Frank Peter
Peter Marian
Bobby Dennis
Maurice Henri

Which two don't fit?

[MC Habber]

mrbozo said:

So, as far as fringe players go, I'd rather have in reserve the guy who has a solid work ethic and uses his body and finishes his checks, over the guy who briefly catches fire and then becomes a long trail of smoke. Apparently that was Gainey's preference as well. Can't really blame him.

We could use that burst of fire right about now.

[franko]

machabby said:

mrbozo said:

So, as far as fringe players go, I'd rather have in reserve the guy who has a solid work ethic and uses his body and finishes his checks, over the guy who briefly catches fire and then becomes a long trail of smoke. Apparently that was Gainey's preference as well. Can't really blame him.

We could use that burst of fire right about now.

But the embers have already died down . . .

[Skilly]

habsfaninla said:

nilan30 said:

Yes and Yes.

Marian Marcel
Wayne Brent
Frank Peter
Peter Marian
Bobby Dennis
Maurice Henri

Which two don't fit?

Wayne and Brent ....

Brent Gretzky amassed 1 goal and 3 assists in 13 career NHL games. His best "pro" year was here in St. John's with the Baby Buds when he got 41 points.

EDIT: forgot he played in the IHL .... ok ... so 54 points one year in the "I".


The other "poor" brothers all got more points than Brent.

[MC Habber]

franko said:

machabby said:

We could use that burst of fire right about now.

But the embers have already died down . . .

But if we had (or could have) kept Hossa in Hamilton/the pressbox all season, we could put him in the lineup now (or rather, a few games ago), and take advantage.

[Habs_fan_in_LA]

skilly said:

habsfaninla said:

Marian Marcel
Wayne Brent
Frank Peter
Peter Marian
Bobby Dennis
Maurice Henri


Which two don't fit?

Wayne and Brent ....

Brent Gretzky amassed 1 goal and 3 assists in 13 career NHL games. His best "pro" year was here in St. John's with the Baby Buds when he got 41 points.

EDIT: forgot he played in the IHL .... ok ... so 54 points one year in the "I".


The other "poor" brothers all got more points than Brent.

Pour yourself a pint of Blackhorse.

The Hab's have had the wrong brother a couple of times.

[jkr]

badcompany said:

Lets do a statistical comparison :

Marcel Hossa:

Age: 24
Size: 6’2, 215
Salary: $585,000

Games: 28
Goals: 5
Assists: 6
Points: 11
Plus/Minus: +4
PIM: 10
Shots: 56

Pierre Dagenais:

Age: 27
Size: 6’4, 217
Salary: $550,000

Games: 22
Goals: 4
Assists: 3
Points: 7
Plus/Minus: -5
PIM: 16
Shots: 48

Garth Murray*

Age: 23
Size: 6’1, 205
Salary: $450,000 (assumed)

Games: 25
Goals: 1
Assists: 1
Points: 2
Plus/Minus: -5
PIM: 46
Shots: U/A

* AHL Stats

Not much of a choice.

I'm not all that happy with Dagenais but Hossa's stats bring up his old pattern.

Yes, he has 5 goals but there were 3 goals in his first 4 games. Since then he has had 2 goals in his last 24 games, one of those into an empty net. And he has just one assist in his last 11 games while averaging about 11-12 minutes of ice time. ( game log below):

sports.espn.go.com/nhl/players/gamelog?playerId=1369


We may disagree on his future because all I see BC is the same Marcel Hossa. Anyways, I thought this topic was put to rest in another thread - about a month ago.

[Habs_fan_in_LA]

Who wants Hossa back?
Maybe Hamilton?

[PTH]

admin said:

I, for one, still wish he were in our system.

CO

I think many of us would prefer having Hossa than Murray in the AHL. Problem is, that scenario just wasn't going to happen.

[jkr]

admin said:

I, for one, still wish he were in our system.

CO

He would be a 3rd liner in Montreal - the same role he fills in New York ( and not too well lately). Other than Dagenais who would you have him replace?

[BadCompany]

jkr said:

He would be a 3rd liner in Montreal - the same role he fills in New York ( and not too well lately). Other than Dagenais who would you have him replace?

I, for one, would have him replace Dagenais.

But even if you don't agree with that, Hossa could have filled the open spot on the roster - the "Ivanans" spot - which has been vacant since Game 2 of the season.

In fact, since Kovalev went down, Montreal has not had a healthy scratch at forward, simply because there is nobody to scratch, and nobody in Hamilton has warranted an extended callup. Not exactly a meritocracy, if you know you are going to dress no matter what, eh?

Consider the time missed by Zednik, and Bulis, and Bonk, and I bet you there were two open roster spots for at least two-thirds of our games. Think of all those games Dandenault played forward.

Hossa probably wouldn't have been an integral part of our team, but he certainly would have been more useful than Garth Murray.

[clear observer]

badcompany said:

jkr said:

He would be a 3rd liner in Montreal - the same role he fills in New York ( and not too well lately). Other than Dagenais who would you have him replace?

I, for one, would have him replace Dagenais.

But even if you don't agree with that, Hossa could have filled the open spot on the roster - the "Ivanans" spot - which has been vacant since Game 2 of the season.

In fact, since Kovalev went down, Montreal has not had a healthy scratch at forward, simply because there is nobody to scratch, and nobody in Hamilton has warranted an extended callup. Not exactly a meritocracy, if you know you are going to dress no matter what, eh?

Consider the time missed by Zednik, and Bulis, and Bonk, and I bet you there were two open roster spots for at least two-thirds of our games. Think of all those games Dandenault played forward.

Hossa probably wouldn't have been an integral part of our team, but he certainly would have been more useful than Garth Murray.

What this fella (and folks, don't let the frilly lingerie fool ya) said.

CO

[M. Beaux-Eaux]

Hossa in last night's NYR 5-1 win against Nazzville: the fewest minutes of any Ranger dressed for the game (8:19), no points, no shots, no hits, 1 giveaway, and 1 penalty (though he was +1 ). And so it goes...

Garth Murray is looking better and better.

[clear observer]

mrbozo said:

Hossa in last night's NYR 5-1 win against Nazzville: the fewest minutes of any Ranger dressed for the game (8:19), no points, no shots, no hits, 1 giveaway, and 1 penalty (though he was +1 ). And so it goes...

Garth Murray is looking better and better.

At the end of the day, the Montreal Canadiens were a "stronger" franchise WITH Hossa in-the-fold than WITHOUT Hossa.

It behooves me to this day why he was punted, especially after having such a solid camp.

[Bob]

Looks like Hossa has officially been replaced on the Habs depth charts by Francis Lemieux. If they sign Andre Benoit, he will replace Hainsey on the depth charts.

You can almost look at it like Hossa and Hainsey for Lemieux, Benoit and Garth Murray along with a saving on the payroll.

Neither of these guys cost Montreal a draft choice or a player and at the same time, the Habs dump about $750,000 in salary (Hossa $500k and Hainsey $250k) while picking up less than $150,000.

[jkr]

admin said:

mrbozo said:

Hossa in last night's NYR 5-1 win against Nazzville: the fewest minutes of any Ranger dressed for the game (8:19), no points, no shots, no hits, 1 giveaway, and 1 penalty (though he was +1 ). And so it goes...

Garth Murray is looking better and better.

At the end of the day, the Montreal Canadiens were a "stronger" franchise WITH Hossa in-the-fold than WITHOUT Hossa.

It behooves me to this day why he was punted, especially after having such a solid camp.

I know Murray hasn't played yet but how could you look at those numbers ( and his numbers for the last month or so) and think Montreal is really better off with this guy. His training camp now looks like a mirage. He's been given a good shot in New York & now it really isn't working out there either.