87 replies to this topic

[ahtikullervo]

39 Cristobal HUET 3.000.000
30 David AEBISCHER 1.900.000

52 Craig RIVET 2.470.000
44 Sheldon SOURAY 2.432.000
79 Andrei MARKOV 2.000.000
51 Francis BOUILLON 1.850.000
25 Mathieu DANDENAULT 1.700.000
8 Mike KOMISAREK 946.827
32 Mark STREIT 600.000
Jean-Philippe COTE 495.000

11 Saku KOIVU 4.750.000
27 Alex KOVALEV 4.500.000
15 Sergei SAMSONOV 3.525.000
14 Radek BONK 2.394.000
73 Michael RYDER 2.200.000
71 Mike RIBEIRO 1.900.000
20 Mike JOHNSON 1.900.000
Andrei KASTSITSYN 801.800
21 Christopher HIGGINS 673.000
22 Steve BEGIN 646.000
42 Aleksandr PEREZHOGIN 627.000
57 Garth MURRAY 575.000
Maxim LaPIERRE 562.500
47 Aaron DOWNEY 475.000
35 Tomas PLEKANEC 450.000
Jonathan FERLAND 450.000

[DropThePuck]

So what now? "Actually, we're on Plan D," general manager Bob Gainey mused yesterday, between sessions of the week-long Canadiens development camp at Martin Lapointe Arena.
...
Suddenly, it appears Montreal has become the gulag of the NHL.

"I think you've taken a couple of hypotheses. Tell me if (Shanahan) is making more and then ask the question," the erudite Gainey said. "I don't have access to certain things in a person's mind, why they choose to sign with one team and not another."

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[drew15]

Komisarek re-signed for one year, $946,900.

[DropThePuck]

As the Montreal Canadiens hockey club nears their 100th anniversary, reports are saying that the team plans to mark the occasion with a feature-length docudrama.
...
The Canadiens are also planning to retire several former players' jersey numbers in celebration of the centennial, and have put in bids for the 2009 editions of both the NHL's all-star game and the entry draft.

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[DropThePuck]

Canadiens captain Saku Koivu said the shootings help players and other residents "realize how much more important your family, your friends and your health is. It's a tragedy. It touches everybody."
...
Guy Carbonneau, who takes over as head coach from Gainey, said this summer he will try putting Ribeiro at centre between Samsonov and Alex Kovalev. The two wingers played have played together on the Russian Olympic team.

"We had good chemistry," said Samsonov, who joined Montreal after helping Edmonton reach the Stanley Cup final last season. "He's a good player and he's fun to play with."

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[DropThePuck]

Montreal Canadiens' Michael Ryder, left, and Chris Higgins take to the ice during the first team practice in Montreal, Canada, Friday, Sept. 15, 2006.
(AP Photo/Paul Chiasson,CP)


Montreal Canadiens captain Saku Koivu is seen during the team's first hockey practice in Montreal, Friday, Sept. 15, 2006.
(AP Photo/Paul Chiasson, CP)

[Moses Shatsby]

I think Samsonov will fit in nicely there. The Habs seem to like their fair share of fancy and soft players. But no disrespect to Samsonov, he's one hell of a player.

[DropThePuck]

Serge Savard, right, laughs as Ken Dryden shows a picture of the duo, with Buffalo Sabre Rick Martin during their playing days, at a news conference to announce the impending retirement of their numbers in Montreal on Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2006. The photograph shows Dryden in a relaxed pose despite the puck being played near his crease.
(AP Photo/Ian Barrett, CP)


Montreal Canadiens hockey greats Ken Dryden,left, and Serge Savard don their sweaters one last time at a news conference in Montreal on Wednesday, September 20, 2006 to announce the impending retirement of their numbers.
(AP Photo/Ian Barrett, CP)

[DropThePuck]

Mats Sundin says he wants to be a Toronto Maple Leaf for the rest of his National Hockey League career.
...
If the Leafs pick up Sundin's option for 2007-08, they would be charged $6.33-million (all figures U.S.) under the cap, but Sundin's actual salary will be $4.56-million.

However, there is a chance the Leafs will decline Sundin's option and still keep him next season. While general manager John Ferguson has not made his intentions public, he could refuse to pick up the option and negotiate a new deal with Sundin that would pay him in the $5-million range.

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[DropThePuck]

Long after he shot the puck that gave him 500 career goals and his team a 5-4 overtime win against the Calgary Flames, Mats Sundin stood by himself on the ice.

The game was over. The rest of the Maple Leafs were already taking off their equipment in the dressing room. But the Toronto captain was not going anywhere.

With the crowd still cheering, Sundin tapped his stick on the ice and then, taking a cue from professional wrestling, pointed the curved blade towards the coloured seats that filled the Air Canada Centre.
...
"I realized the applause and the people standing up in the rink for me," he said of lingering on the ice after scoring three goals, adding an assist and being named the game's first star. "It was just an appreciation for that. It doesn't happen too often. I've been here for many years and it was just a special moment for me."

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[DropThePuck]

It is hardly the grand return to Boston that Sergei Samsonov wanted.

The veteran winger, who was the Canadiens' big off-season signing, arrived at practice yesterday to find he was demoted to the fourth line in favour of rookie Guillaume Latendresse.

"I'm not shocked," an angry Samsonov said. "If you keep track of my ice time, that's what I'm getting right now, I'm a fourth-line player.

"When I came here, I thought I was going to be a go-to guy and obviously, that's not the case right now. What is it going to take? I don't know. We'll see."

<link>


________

Samsonov downplays trade talk, hopes to stay with Canadiens

[DropThePuck]

Coach Guy Carbonneau, who also caught the virus, said eight or nine players as well as the training staff and other team personnel had fallen sick. Some who didn't have the fever, vomiting or diarrhea simply felt weak. The illness lasts between 24 and 72 hours.
...
The entire team was told to stay home Monday while the dressing room, training room and all equipment was washed and sanitized.

"They took everything out," said Carbonneau. "All the equipment, all the gym equipment, the underewear.

"They washed all the sticks. Everything a player can touch, they cleaned."

He was relieved to see the extra energy players had in practice.

"It was fun to hear the players this morning all say they had good breakfasts," he said. " It's not something you can get rid of easily.

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[Dark Knight]

Lost in Translation?

Alex Kovalev says it was all made up.

The Montreal Canadiens right-winger insists he didn't criticize coach Guy Carbonneau or his teammates in an interview with a Moscow radio station two weeks ago. An alleged transcript of the interview, in which he says Carbonneau doesn't like Russian players, appeared later in the Russian weekly magazine Football-Hockey.

Read More >>

[Dark Knight]

Samsonov regrets signing with Montreal

"I've been blamed for everything that has gone wrong. Why stop now?" Samsonov told the Gazette.

"Obviously, looking back, I regret my decision (to sign with the Canadiens). All you can do is make things different and learn from your mistakes. Things could have been done and handled differently."

Read More >>

[Dark Knight]

Kovalev uninjured in motorcycle accident

The Montreal Canadiens are breathing a sigh of relief after forward Alex Kovalev escaped serious injury after an accident in Grande Riviere, Quebec on Saturday.

Kovalev flew to the town on his own plane to visit one of his fans, and while there he managed to damage a Harley Davidson motorcycle that belonged to the mayor.

LINK

[ladiesandgentlemen]

Rioting in Montreal after playoff victory

So just after midnight, more than two hours after the Montreal Canadiens claimed victory in their National Hockey League playoff series... About a half-dozen Montreal police cruisers were already burning, or about to be burned, as post-game celebrations dissolved into rioting early Tuesday morning. A handful of storefront windows were smashed and some stores were looted along Sainte-Catherine street, where most of the damage seemed to be concentrated.

According to a Canwest News Service report, police arrested 16 people, who face a number of charges -- including breaking and entering a business, armed assault on a police officer, mischief on a police vehicle, assault and various bylaw infractions.

Two 17-year-old males and another 14-year-old boy are among those arrested by police.

"After the Canadiens won their game, people started attacking private businesses, attacking police officers and throwing rocks or any objects they could find at police cars," said Montreal Police Const. Laurent Gingras.

"Officers had to call for backup from the riot squad and from other parts of the city and control was taken back at about 2 a.m. this morning."

Const. Gingras said 16 police vehicles were badly damaged and had to be towed away. As many as six of those vehicles were torched by rioters. A number of private vehicles were also damaged Monday night....

One female police officer was injured in the fracas... Read more>>

They love their Canadiens...

[Cassie8236]

That is freakin ridiculous!!

I don't know how anyone, no matter what the "occasion" would think that it is OK to destory property.

[ladiesandgentlemen]

To be fair, this was not a new thing, or unique to Montreal:

There were similar outbursts here in 1993. Vancouver had a brutal riot in 1994. But those explosions came after the Stanley Cup Final. As one Montrealer said, "This is only the first round!"

Several locals were embarrassed as the carnage unfolded, knowing it would be a stain on a beautiful city’s reputation.

You always hear the same thing: These aren’t real hockey fans. Real hockey fans wouldn’t loot a store, burn a patrol car, or toss a brick though a window. But sports fans can be such an angry group that sometimes I wonder. Link

[EdDucks916]

Has shades of what Staples Center fans did when the Lakers won the NBA title in 2000. But this is only the first round!

[Duck304]

You'd think rioting would happen when teams lose, but it actually happens when they win.

[QuacksMeUp]

But this is only the first round!

Or the next-to-last round....it depends....

[ladiesandgentlemen]

More disturbing news from La Belle Ville:

For the record, there was a distinct lack of civility at the Bell Centre Monday night as fans shouted and booed while Charles Prévost-Linton sang the U.S. national anthem.

LINK

[ladiesandgentlemen]

Old Velcro Lips

In his state of the team session with media this morning, Bob Gainey said Guy Carbonneau has signed a new contract.

Old Velcro Lips would not disclose duration of the deal and, God knows, did not reveal any $$$ figures. Habsinsideout

[Dark Knight]

Habs call on Kim St-Pierre

MONTREAL -- Goaltending coach Roland Melanson had a surprise for the Montreal Canadiens at practice on Thursday -- a two-time Olympic gold medallist filling in for sick goalie Carey Price.

That much-decorated athlete was Kim St-Pierre, surely the first woman ever to take the ice with the Canadiens.

Read More >>

[ladiesandgentlemen]

Drafting Russian players is more of a risk than ever:

MONTREAL - The Montreal Canadiens suspended Pavel Valentenko without pay on Friday after the prospect left the Hamilton Bulldogs of the American Hockey League to sign a three-year contract with Dynamo Moscow.

Valentenko was in the second year of a three-year, entry-level deal with the Canadiens organization, but opted to sign with Dynamo at the urging of his family, the player's Ottawa-based agent Rolland Hedges said....

... Hedges said Valentenko did not want to return to Russia, but he supports his entire family on his hockey earnings and was unable to do that on an AHL salary....

... Hedges said Valentenko has been supporting his family since he was 15 * *, and took a pay cut to pursue his NHL dream when he signed with Montreal before the 2007-08 season...

TSN Link

Also, it will be interesting to hear if that agent gets a cut of that KHL contract.

[QuacksMeUp]

Kostopoulos is susended for 3 games

"While it is my determination that Kostopoulos did not deliver a check to an unsuspecting opponent, his actions caused injuries," said NHL Senior Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations Colin Campbell.

"We came out with an edge but when you see something like that to one of your best D, you really want to make them pay," Leafs forward Matt Stajan told the team's Web site. "It was a dirty hit and it's something that can't happen in the game. Luckily we made them pay."

"I was trying to get in there, get a hit and get the puck," Kostopoulos said. "Like I said, I didn't anticipate him turning and I couldn't stop myself. And I hope he's all right."

[DropThePuck]

NHL suspends Kostopoulos for check from behind


Maple Leafs defenceman Mike Van Ryn suffered a concussion, broken nose and a broken bone in his hand following a checking into the boards by Montreal's Tom Kostopoulos.
(Nathan Denette/Canadian Press)

The NHL determined Monday that Tom Kostopoulos's check from behind against Toronto defenceman Mike Van Ryn was worthy of three games in the press box for the Montreal Canadiens forward.

[ladiesandgentlemen]

To me, that hit was the perfect example of the notion that the real key to cutting down on these dangerous hits from behind into the boards has to come from the players themselves.

It's called RESPECT.

They are privileged to be able to earn a very good living and support their families playing hockey. Not one of them wants that taken away from them. They need to respect each others privilege as much as they do their own.

As John Davidson and Phil Esposito put it, they need to make some changes to their own code of ethics before someone winds up in a wheelchair for life.

[432j]

To me, that hit was the perfect example of the notion that the real key to cutting down on these dangerous hits from behind into the boards has to come from the players themselves.

It's called RESPECT.

They are privileged to be able to earn a very good living and support their families playing hockey. Not one of them wants that taken away from them. They need to respect each others privilege as much as they do their own.

As John Davidson and Phil Esposito put it, they need to make some changes to their own code of ethics before someone winds up in a wheelchair for life.

To which I'd add that removing the instigator penalty could go a long way. This cheap sh, er, stuff will stop when players know they will have to answer their own abandon with a barrage of haymakers.

[QuacksMeUp]

A Loonie Tune

Boivin declaring that Canada may suffer. Oh, boo hoo!

He also says the NHL's post-lockout revenue-sharing deal to prop up weaker U.S. teams has also left Canadian organizations at the mercy of the dollar's performance.

He's aligning himself early to avoid the finger pointing....