I think Hal is a great piece to the “habs puzzle”. He’s obviously a leader on the team, we’ve heard about his great attitude and his mentoring of the younger Habs defensemen.

While he’s not the fastest skater or the most skilled player in the NHL, he gives his 100% and the amount of shots he directly blocks or alters in the course of a season is a valued statistic.

Glad to see you back Hal!

With all the whoopla over Price not being signed and we’re in september…. well, there you have it.

He just signed a 2 year deal.

To be honest, seeing as there are still many RFAs unsigned in the league and the summer’s generally been slow with deals and signings… I don’t think there was a panic to begin with. Except for those who thought they should panic.

Details on the Price signing are here on the Canadiens website.

Camp is just around the corner…. we can now get back to our regularly scheduled programs.

Canadiens GM Pierre Gauthier announced the signing of prospect Alexander Avstin to a 3 year deal.

I’ve been anxious to see much more of Avtsin since he was drafted. The 19 year old just finished this year’s development camp last week.

The scouting reports said this guy had an physical game and lot’s of offensive skill. There was talk of Alexander possibly playing with the Juniors de Montréal or Hamilton. Now it’s official that we’ll see him in North America.

I would guess that Avtsin will spend the season in Hamilton. I’m sure we’ll see a glimpse of him at camp!!

Check out the official release:
http://canadiens.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=534383

RDS reports that the Habs have re-signed David Desharnais to a 1 year, 2 way deal.

Desharnais’s agent mentions in the article that David preferred to avoid arbitration and wants to prove his worth on the ice. In this age of big business in sports…. and all the big money…. it’s completely respectable to me that Desharnais made that choice.

In fact, another player (not a Habs player) who settled for a smaller contract just last year (I believe it was last season) was Manny Malhotra. He pretty much went in and worked really hard…. put his focus on playing hockey as best he could and this year he signed a 3 year 2.5 million dollar deal.

Not sure that Desharnais will follow that exact path but I think he’s got a shot at sneaking in and taking some ice time this season. Seeing him play last year I can’t help but think a bit about Gionta and Martin St Louis. Not just because Desharnais is 5’7, I mean yeah that’s part of the comparison but the other part is that Desharnais was all hustle.

I look forward to seeing him a little more this year.

According to RDS, Maxim Lapierre and the Montreal Canadiens have agreed on a 1 year $900 000 contract.

Last year, Plekanec had signed a 1 year deal and responded with a big year. I’m wondering if this will light a fire for Lapierre. Hopefully it will.

Lapierre has shown that he can be an effective pest for opponents. I’m always hopeful for every player that wears the “CH”…. and I only wish Lapierre all the success.

Maxim also provided a bit of humor in the playoffs…. anyone remember 2 diving penalties in a playoff game for Maxim?? Followed by 1 for Gionta…. man…. memories. What’s the record for diving calls in a game anyway?

Kyle Klubertanz (photo by Wikipedia)

It was announced that Pierre Gauthier has signed free agent defenseman Kyle Klubertanz to a 1 year deal.

Kyle Klubertanz is a former 3rd round pick of the Anaheim Ducks.

From the Official Press release

The 24-year old Klubertanz is a 6’01” 180 lbs defenseman who hails from Madison, WI. In 2009-10, he played with Djurgardens of the Swedish Elite League. Klubertanz was tied for second in scoring on his team, first amongst defensemen with 31 points in 55 games (12 goals, 19 assists).

It’s a pretty minor signing…. but no sooner then the season and playoffs end do we see a little movement. Another US college defenseman to add into the organisation.

Oh yeah that’s right, the playoffs aren’t officially over are they??

Kyle Klubertanz’s Wikipedia

I wonder what role D’Agostini will play this season. He seems to have a decent shot. Will Jacques Martin play him on the 2nd line? 3rd line? Time will tell.

I’m hopeful that Martin will have success in further developing these young guys just as he seemed to do in Ottawa with the Senators.

After July 1st and the few weeks that followed Gainey has signed many one year deals. That just got me thinking a bit. Here’s a list of players broken down into the length of contracts.

Players with 1 year under contract ’til 2010-2011
UFA – Tomas Plekanec
UFA – Glen Metropolit
RFA – Sergei Kostitsyn
RFA – Guillaume Latendress
RFA* – Maxim Lapierre
RFA – Matt D’Agostini
RFA* – Kyle Chipchura
UFA – Paul Mara
RFA – Carey Price
RFA* – Jaroslav Halak
* = Arbitration Eligible

Players with 2 years, ’til 2011-2012
RFA* – Andrei Kostitsyn
UFA – Georges Laraque
UFA – Andrei Markov
UFA – Roman Hamrlik
UFA – Hal Gill
RFA* – Josh Gorges
RFA* – Ryan O’Byrne

Players with 3 years, ’til 2012-2013
UFA – Travis Moen
UFA – Jaroslav Spacek

Players with 5 years, ’til 2014-2015
UFA – Scott Gomez
UFA – Mike Cammalleri
UFA – Brian Gionta

It’s just my thought but next year will probably bring some more changes. Probably not a whole lot in terms of trades but it’s likely that some of the players we have today will not likely be back.

One of the reasons is going into next year Carey Price will need to be re-signed and he will get a raise.

All trade rumors and speculation aside going into next year Gainey will once again have his work cut out for him replacing and/or re-signing the RFAs and some UFAs to fill out his roster. Some of those young guys will demand a raise next year.

At the same time it could make it alot easier for him to move them if he finds a suitable trade.

Most of the defense is locked in for 2 years. If Weber and/or Subban don’t come up this year they’ll be up next year.

The message I get from all these 1 year deals is:
It’s time to produce guys.

What do you think?

These are just some passing thoughts that I’ve got…

Last year was a disappointment for Plekanec. Hoping that he bounces back this season. It could possibly be a make or break year for him in Montreal if he’s not able to produce points like he did 2 years ago when he showed flashes of brilliance.

Is it possible that Plekanec could still be traded? Likely. But I guess time will tell.

Here’s the press release from the Montreal Canadiens website.

And I’m sure that many of you have heard how Gainey went out and got smaller (at least at first… since then he’s actually made the team bigger and tougher).

Well, one guy who has been mentioned as a new UFA signing and as many have said of him that his “offensive production” has been down the last 3 years… his name is Brian Gionta. I thought I would spend a little bit to get to know him a little better by numbers and try to see a bit more of him in action.

When I looked at his numbers here’s what I saw:

2005-2006 – 82 Games – 48 G | 41A | 89 P | +18
2006-2007 – 62 Games – 25 G | 20A | 45 P | – 3
2007-2008 – 82 Games – 22 G | 31A | 53 P | +1
2008-2009 – 81 Games – 20 G | 40A | 60 P | +12

As we can see, he had his big season in 05-06 where he scored 48 goals and 41 assists for 89 points. Super year.

The next year, he missed some games in an otherwise quite durable career if we were to look at previous years as well as the ones I’ve listed.

Gionta certainly has not produced as much as that super year back in 05-06. But, although his goals have gone down in the last 3 years… his assists are up the last 2 (and of course points totals) as were his +/-.

Gionta at 30 years of age still has some good years ahead. And if Jacques Martin puts him in a system that was similar to the one he played in with the New Jersey Devils along side a familiar player like Gomez… then who knows. I think with the right linemates and system, Gionta can score some goals. I have no doubt.

One thing I like about Brian Gionta is that he plays bigger then he is to. Check out these videos… Gionta will stand up for himself. And that’s important.

Gionta vs Comrie

Gionta vs Marchant

Gionta vs Chara

Winning or losing these fights are irrelevant.. the point is that he’s got a little sandpaper in him.

And here’s a few goals by Gionta:

So welcome Brian Gionta!

He obviously didn’t have much bargaining power this year as he was not eligible for salary arbitration. So the fact that he’s making a little less then last season (it’s reported to be slightly over $800k) doesn’t surprise me but the 1 year deal did at first.

Since I’ve thought about it a little more (not a whole lot mind you) I think it makes a little sense. Maybe it does for both parties.

By signing this 1 year deal this will give Guillaume a whole lot to prove this year. Next summer he’ll be eligible for salary arbitration and if he wants a raise then he’ll have to prove that he deserves one. He’s already come out and said that he wants to play a bigger role on this new team so in a sense I think the deal could be good for him. He’ll have more say (probably) in whether he gets a raise or not next year.

For Gainey I think it’s a conservative move going into next season. I think it will allow them to take stock of what they expect out of him and is he living up to the role they want him to play. Does he fit in the current/future plans of the team.

I’m cheering for Latendresse this year. I’m hoping he can find a way to put some more points up. I’m also hoping that he uses his 230 lbs 6’2 frame to play some hard checking hockey.

From what I’ve read, he’s continued to work on his skating and I’m sure he was relieved to make the playoffs last year…. and get that 2nd half of the season out of the way.

Guillaume is still a young player at 22 years old. Won’t be 23 until playoff time next season.

Hoping he fits well with the new lineup.