Some time ago I had started a blog on my favorite NHL hockey team the Montreal Canadiens. Writing on it really became a fun hobby..... reading all the other hockey bloggers out there also became quite a fun hobby.

It was first started on a Blogger.com blog and I found there were numerous limitations so I was quite tempted to move it to a WordPress blog on 3rd party hosting.

After seeing a really great deal for a cheap hosting account, I decided to jump in and do it.

I used WordPress's import functionality to get all the content from the old blog onto the new one. This worked very well but there was a hitch. I used Blogger's labels as "tags" and not categories. Of course in the import the labels were treated as categories... so I spent lot's of time re-working the categories and redoing the tags for every post on the blog. Thank God that's over with.

So now I can concentrate on writing some stuff again. My new blog can be found here:

Mostly Habs Talk - Yves on Habs

Tonight is the first game of the pre-season for the Montreal Canadiens and their new acquisitions.

I can say that when I heard that Robert Lang was coming to Montreal and that all the drama that was going on with the never ending Sundin saga.... I was overjoyed.

I firmly believe that having the lineup intact for the pre-season and having the guys get their chemistry going in that atmostphere is the best way.

I know Sundin has been a very capable player, but having a 37 year old who for the most part took the summer off come into your team's lineup a couple or a few months into the season is just taking a bit too much of a risk in my opinion.

That scenario could have brought dressing room drama, injuries could certainly have been more of a possibility because of age and rustiness.

In Robert Lang, comes experience... good vision, consistency (which could also be said of Sundin)... and possibly more important. He's excited to be in Montreal. When I saw the first a video interview of him after his first skate with some team mates last week.... he seemed (pleasantly) surprised to be horded by the media even days before the official start of pre-season.

He's been skating alongside of Kovalev and Latendress in pre-season sessions so far. Could the chemistry they had in Pittsburg still exist? Kovalev seemed happy to have Lang coming over, and Lang seemed to share in that.

All I can say, is I'm looking forward to this season.... so, so, so much.

Go Habs!

Tomorrow, the rookie camp starts up for the montreal canadiens propects. I've been looking forward to all this starting up again since the end of their playoff run and with the addition (early on) of Tanguay and Laraque I can't tell you just how much I'm looking forward to the season.

The centennial year is something special and I must say (once again) that Gainey and Co have certainly put together a great team.... through the drafts and a few trades, this is gonna be an awesome year.

About the rookie camp. There are several players whom I'm curious to see how they do in camp. First, Max Pacioretty will be the most interesting prospect in my opinion. Earlier in the summer he participated in the habs prospect perfection camp and really stood out. He could very well be this year's Sergei Kostitsyn...

Brock Trotter is another player in whom I'm very curious to see. He was signed last spring and finished the year in Hamilton. Seems that Trevor Timmins was quite high on him for his skill.

Ben Maxwell is another player who possesses skill and has some size. I enjoyed seeing him play in last year's pre-season.

Overall, I'm quite interested in seeing what these guys can do, and there may be a surprise or 2.

The lineup in Montreal this year is pretty much set. There isn't much room to sneak in, but anything is possible... and as we saw with Sergei Kostitsyn last year, if you've got great skills and are confident.... anything can happen.

Here is a news clip from the 1986 stanley cup parade.

This is pretty neat... if you're a Habs fan I suppose..

EA Sports is honoring the Montreal Canadiens organisation in their centennial year with a special alltime allstar team of Habs...

Just picture your team with... say Maurice Richard, Jean Béliveau, Doug Harvey, Larry Robinson and Ken Dryden.... how about Guy Lafleur??

Just read this blog post about the game... from Habs Inside/Out

Personally, I've grown tired of this story.

The constant wondering "IF" Sundin will play and where he will play. I had grown fondly of the idea of seeing Sundin in the habs uniform... but before the idea had grown on me I was incredibly excited to see the coming year start up....

Ryder is now in Boston and last year, he really wasn't a big part of the team. I think the split between the Habs and Ryder will be good for both.

Tanguay is in Montreal filling the hole left by Ryder and also giving them a slightly different skill set.... I personally believe that Tanguay will be a better fit in Montreal this year then he was in Calgary last year and that Ryder was in Montreal last year.

And with the arrival of Georges Laraque I was thrilled.

Laraque grew as one of my favorite players while he battle in the playoffs with the Oilers some years ago.

I was really really hoping that the Habs were gonna make  him an offer.. and that Laraque had changed his mind about playing in Montreal. And to my liking, the scenario played out.

With the young players taking a still larger role on the team and more of their great young talent signing on, this year seems much like last year as we see the growth of what Timmins and Gainey have been trying to build. And it's starting to come to fruition.

Pacioretty,  Webber, Maxwell.... these are some of the names that I can't wait to see glimpes of. Will there be another Sergei Kostitsyn type player this year? Last year, the coaching staff almost kept Sergei in the big league out of the gate because he showed lots of upside. He sees the ice very well. This year's pre-season might hold a player or 2 in this same light.

In my eyes, there are much more to the Habs this year as the Sundin saga. The Sundin saga seems to have stolen the spotlight on a team that is coming to fruition in building themselves by choosing the best player (draft) and not filing holes or finding a role player.

Gainey built a very solid nucleus in Dallas while he was in the organisation.

He's been doing the same here. I personally have been so very pleased to see both Gainey and Timmins in the Montreal Canadiens organisation.

Back to Sundin, so it seems that he's wanting to play with the Rangers....
(Sportsnet article here)

Good for him.

It's too bad he's been most of the media spotlight on a Habs organisation bubbling with talent and potential.

I've noticed that they've been picked near the top of the league be some hockey magazines.... Seems as though some nay sayers have seen the light.

;-)

Go Habs!

I must say that I truely believe that Bob Gainey is now trying to execute the second phase of his plan.

In the first phase of the massive rebuild, it was focus on the draft and attempt to get some key players... key players were harder to come by quite obviously because it was a rebuild.

Gainey, Timmins and crew did a great job in the drafts. Watching a few of the draft shows, the were questioned on their picks.... I remember the reaction when they chose Carey Price. Many questioned that pick.... no one really questions today.

Sergei Kostitsyn was a total steal a few years back. A combination of great scouting and likely a little luck (when it comes to those late round picks).

Andrei Kostitsyn was considered somewhat of a risk because of injury.... but he has certainly shown some major talent. He's got a great looking shot and I believe it will get better.

We've seen the young habs come into their own. Higgins, Komiserak and co. are core components. There are younger guys in the lineup (Sergei Kostitsyn, Latendress..) and there are some future roster players in the system.. I think Chipchura will spend more time with the big team this year.

I personally can't wait to see the training camps begin and here about the development of the young guys.

I was also a bit surprised and delighted by Gainey's move to grab Tanguay from the Calgary flames. When you can get a guy like Tanguay (who fits Montreal's style more so then Calgary's in my opinion) without giving up anyone from your roster (remember the Kovalev deal??) it's a good move.

With Gainey speaking to Mats Sundin.... it all points to that second phase of rebuilding. Gainey had a #1 team in the east last season with the young guys (Higgins,Plekanec,Kostitsyn..etc) really playing huge roles.

I believe.

Gainey's got a plan!

I must say that I love the way the organisation in Montreal have built themselves... they have a greatly talented young core of players.

Interestingly enough, at most drafts and for most picks... at  least the drafts I watched, their picks were always in question. Instead of getting a young player to  fill a hole on the roster, Gainey and Timmins have gone after the best available players left in the draft when their pick has come up.

This year, lot's of the young talent played through the season. We've seen players come of age and others emerge on the roster and may come of age (or take a more prominent role) in seasons ahead.

There is also still an entire crop of great young players to find their place on the team in the next couple of years.

This season was great. Awesome. Great thanks to the entire Montreal Canadiens organisation and to all the players on the roster.

Here is a great article written by Eric Engels on HockeyBuzz.com.

Looks like I'm pretty much on par with the call ups.

I mentioned Lapierre and O'Byrne and they were brought up to Montreal, and now Sergei Kostitsyn was called up to the big league in Montreal.

I don't think Sergei will solve all the problems in Montreal, but when he plays hard, he moves the puck very well, he's got a decent shot and he's not scared to throw some hits.

I really liked what I saw from him in pre-season.

We'll see how it goes on Thursday night!

(TSN article)

Tonight I watched the Montreal Canadiens play against the Tampa Bay Lighting who feature Vincent Lecavalier, a local hero in the montreal area for sure. Rumours of bringing "Vinny" to montreal have been many for some years but VERY unlikely.

Bob Gainey came in some time ago and I believe it was part of his vision to rebuild the Montreal Canadiens.

I would say it's been a pretty hard road for Gainey in one  sense. Trying to rebuild while at the same time trying to win.

The last couple of years have shown promise and at the same time the team has displayed some pretty big slumps.

One of the ongoing problems in the last 2 years seems to be a difficulty to score 5 on 5 goals. This has to be addressed.... but how?

The power play still seems to click, enough to keep us in the top of the PP %.

But how to address 5 on 5 offense?

I'm starting to think that the Montreal Canadiens should start to rebuild their core of players. I say this and think of certain players I'd consider moving while admitting that I am in fact a fan of some of these guys.

I read the rumour today, that proposed a trade.... the rumour was that the Habs would swap Koivu and Ryder to San Jose for Marleau and Bernier.

The more I thought about the trade, I think something of this sort might be a good thing. I'm a fan of Koivu. But Koivu has taken alot of crap in Montreal, and maybe a change of scenery would be good for him, as he's slumping a bit as is Ryder... and for Marleau in San Jose, he's also slumping a bit.

Koivu and Ryder would have new scenery on a strong team and wouldn't have all the media frenzy of Montreal.... while Marleau and Bernier would likely get a bit of a "home town" hero welcome.

This would also address one knock against Montreal, as they are small at forward on average.

Something else I would consider trying is to give Sergei Kostitsyn a shot on the habs roster, even for a few games. He's playing well in Hamilton with 22 points in 21 games and +3 (I think).

Sergei moves the puck well, can play with a physical edge...

Why not? They're dressing 8 D-Men at times.

Anyways..... peace!