Trades

Big new of the day… bye bye Jaroslav Halak

I was stunned to see the news come and go. Jaroslav Halak traded to the St Louis Blues!?!?!?!

It had been my hope that Gauthier try to keep both young goaltenders, but in all actuality I figured the chances of that happening were quite low.

Halak had played second fiddle to Price for some time despite showing that he certainly could play and play well. Not sure if Halak had wanted out of Montreal although I wouldn’t necessarily blame him if he did.

Let’s remember, before everyone got on the whole “Halak” stop sign trip…. he had been in numerous trade rumors all season. And even though Carey Price took alot of heat from some fans….. it’s not that long ago that Halak was seen as quite average….. and was continually thrown into trade rumors by fans…. probably some of the very fans who voiced their opposition to this trade on Facebook and Twitter.

Imagine that.
Read more…

Habs trade Kyle Chipchura to Ducks

It was reported earlier that the Montreal Canadiens traded Kyle Chipchura to the Anaheim Ducks for a 4th round draft pick.

Chipchura was a first round draft pick who has many leadership skills and although he showed them very well in Hamilton in his time with the Bulldogs he was never able to cement his spot in Montreal.

Chipchura is a guy I had hopes for and this year at times he showed his smarts and grit dropping the gloves. But he also continued to struggle and in the end didn’t quite fit into the team’s plans.

So the Habs grab a 4th round draft pick in 2011 (edit: I thought it was 2010 but it was in fact a pick in 2011) and Kyle gets a shot at helping a new team in the Ducks.

I hope that Chipchura gets a good shot at getting his spot in Anaheim. He went up and down to the minors and in the bigs, played his game and never complained. He’s got hockey smarts…. best of luck to you Kyle!

Reported by:

TSN
Sportsnet
RDS

Guillaume Latendresse traded to the Wild for Benoit Pouliot

Mon Guillaume was probably the guy… or at least one of the guys who was almost always brought up in some kind of media reports.

One part of fans and media may have thought that Guillaume hadn’t been given a fair shot… and others thought that he had been given a shot.

In my opinion, from what I saw and heard this season, I thought a message was sent to Guillaume when the Canadiens signed him to a 1 year deal.

But I don’t think the message passed to him was all negative. Of the players that Jacques Martin met with in the off season, Guillaume was one of them. And through camp and the start of the year, I remember hearing Martin talk about what he wanted and what he expected out of Guillaume… on the top lines.
Read more…

Mathieu Carle wants to be traded??

This caught me off guard…

Steve Begin to Dallas

Over the last several years one of the players who was a guy with incredible heart for his team was Steve Begin.

Always 100 MPH, always physical, always gave his %100.

We’ve seen Begin take numerous injuries…. .I will never forget when he went into the boards and hit the top of the boards mouth first…. only to come back missing a bunch of teeth and wearing a mask.

Steve Begin certainly became one of my favorite players on the roster, to me he was a real Hab.

It was frustrating for him not playing much and from my perspective, I could feel for him… and as he voice some frustration at not playing he never came out and tore apart his coach or really publicly complained he displayed true class.

Thank you for the years in Montreal Steve! I will miss not seeing you in the “bleu,blanc et rouge”.