Habster:
Most of the big UFA fishes have been signed to contracts while Mats Sundin is still twisting in the Stockholm wind, deciding if he wants to continue playing and where he wants to play.
With all that being said, the additions of Georges Laraque and Marc Denis to the Canadiens family certainly wasn’t what most Habs fans had in mind when the UFA market opened on July 1st.
Laraque isn’t the most skilled player but he can play a solid two way game and is very effective along the boards. During the playoffs, the Ruutu/Hall/Laraque line was very effective for the Pittsburgh Penguins especially in the first three rounds.
I have to admit that I like the acquisition of Laraque to the Habs roster (I’m indifferent concerning Denis). His presence in the lineup will definitely keep the opposition honest while giving the Canadiens’ finesse players more confidence to move about on the ice without being pushed around.
While the more skilled players will benefit from the reigning NHL heavyweight champs presence, there will also be a beneficial aspect for players like Mike Komisarek and Tom Kostopoulos. Laraque also understands his role to help his teammates.
“I know my role and I hope to make the jobs of certain teammates easier,” explained Laraque, who boasts over 1,000 career penalty minutes. “Having played against him, I know that a guy like Mike Komisarek is much more useful when he’s on the ice and that he shouldn’t really feel the need to drop his gloves out there. I want to take that pressure off Mike’s shoulders and give players like Max Lapierre and Steve Begin the chance to play their physical game without worrying about someone going after them.”
There were too many nights when Komisarek had to come to the defense of his teammates and was sent to the “sin bin” with a role player from the other team…..an unfair exchange!!!. On other nights, it was left to the willing and truly brave Tom Kostopoulos to drop the gloves. While Kostopoulos is the ultimate teammate, he definitely isn’t a heavy weight fighter who will strike fear in the opposition’s mind. Let’s just say that players like Milan Lucic, Jarkko Ruutu or Chris Neil will think twice before they take a run or cheap shot at any Canadiens player.
I’m a bit more surprised by the Marc Denis addition. Some will say that Jaroslav Halak doesn’t have enough NHL experience but let’s be serious here, Denis has 10 NHL years of experience and his quality of play the last few years hasn’t been NHL caliber. The guy was waiver by the Tampa Bay Lightning not once but twice this season and was demoted to the AHL this season.
To say Denis has had consistency problems is putting it mildly. He was a starter on two occasions with the Columbus Blue Jackets between 2002-2004, playing 143 games. His best season was in 2003-04 with a very bad Blue Jackets team when his stats were pretty good (2.56 GAA and Save % of .918). Other than those two years, Denis has been a backup or a shaky starter. At least Gainey signed him to a two way contract if he doesn’t cut it during training camp.
Bob Gainey may have had some concerns that if Halak or Price get injured, there isn’t another goalie with NHL experience (only Cedric Desjardin and Loïc Lacasse are on the farm) so it’s a low risk situation to sign Denis to a two way contract. Gainey may also want to have some trade options available to him, having Denis as Carey Price’s potential backup may allow him to shop Halak in a package deal.
Grabs a Leaf!!!
I think we can safely say that Mikhail Grabovski was the player the Maple Leafs would have gotten if Mats Sundin signed with the Habs.
I thought the writing was on the wall for Grabovski when he pulled the disappearing act in Phoenix and headed to LA to cry to his agent about his lack of playing time. The players, coaches and team management were not impressed with the selfish act and his overall play certainly didn’t justify the runaway episode. As Bob Gainey told the Gazette at yesterday’s news conference:
“That (AWOL) didn’t help him,” Gainey said, “but young players sometimes make mistakes and I don’t think we held it against him. It was just time for him to move on.”
Granted, Grabovski is a talented offensive player and could possibly hit the 50-60 point mark at the NHL level but he still needs a lot of work on his defensive game. He also has to get physically stronger to compete in the NHL and be less of a perimeter player.
The Canadiens have Grabovski like clones throughout their NHL/AHL rosters and there simply wasn’t enough room for him on the top two lines.
“He had asked us to find him a place where he might be able to play a bit more,” Canadiens general manager Bob Gainey told reporters in Montreal last night. “He wasn’t going to play on our first two lines or on our power play.”
Gainey got a half decent prospect in Greg Pateryn as well as a 2nd round pick in the 2010 draft, not a bad return for a good prospect with potential like Grabs.
Now, if Mats could only get his head straight and sign with the Canadiens, then the Habs will have the complete roster needed to defend their Eastern conference championship and even get to the Stanley Cup final………ah! we can dream can’t we!!!