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?

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.

Being a GM…. it would be a hell of a job. Especially in hockey mad Montreal. I’m not sure if I’ll like this deal… but no one really can.

Trading a young guy for another young guy or two…. it’s a crap shoot. There are no guarantees as much as we’d like to think there are.

Halak could go on to be a top notch goaltender. He could. At the same time folks, Carey Price could also go on to be a top notch goaltender for many years. Yes…. he could as well. There are NO GUARANTEES. At the end of the day, a GM (Pierre Gauthier) has to pick one moving forward and stick with his choice.

Gauthier managed to get a good prospect in Lars Eller. How many of you thought that he could get a Lecavalier for Halak? Alot of people voice pretty strong words…. I was on facebook when the news broke…. (yeah, I appologize to my twitter friends… I find it harder to take time away from twitter when I get on there)….

A young restricted free agent goaltender who will certainly demand a raise…. and you’ve got another young talented goaltender waiting in the shadow of this season…. probably wanting a raise. Pretty hard to keep both and build your team up front.

Do I like this trade?

I don’t know. Honestly. I watch and follow the habs alot. But I’m not a GM. And I’m not about to start saying that Gauthier should have gotten a top six forward…. or top centerman. Because I’m not a GM. Chances are, you’re not either. Pretty hard for us to really know what “market value” is when we’re not in the market. We can speculate. But let’s not get too carried away thinking we’d do better. Me and you, we can find out what market value is for a car…. if we go shopping around.

But if you start calling Chicago, Pittsburgh, St Louis or Detroit’s head office to try and discuss a trade for a Habs player…. will they take you seriously?

Anyways, I’ll stick with hindsight on this one. It kind of went without saying that one of the two goaltenders would be moved. So we could pretty much all see it coming…. (right?)

Remember hindsight? That terrible move that Gainey made that brought us some kid named Josh Gorges and a draft pick… some Max guy…. Yeah, that one actually worked out well.

Breath folks. Give this a chance to play out. Don’t let your emotions get the best of you. This is NHL hockey, moves will always be made in an attempt to improve teams. This is one of those steps taken by Mr Gauthier.

Like it or not….. Pierre Gauthier has balls.

For that, I give him my fullest respect….. he didn’t waste time lighting a fire.

First off, I’d like to say congrats to the Philadelphia Flyers on their win and the trip to the finals. It stings a bit because the Habs were battling as a team so well.

But credit to the Flyers and Peter Laviolette for the way they played the Canadiens. I thought they played a very different game plan then the Penguins and Capitals did.

The big difference was that they didn’t seem to concentrate so much on “scoring goals”.. or how to beat Halak. They collapsed defensively much better then both the Pens and Caps. They played a better defensive game against the Canadiens.

And they battled hard for loose pucks in front of their net.

Canadiens had the early momentum tonight by scoring that early goal…. but when Richards came out with a break while Halak came out…. there was a costly defensive error… Hamrlik hits into Halak…. they struggle to get up…. Richard scores.

Momentum shifted.

Playoffs, much more so then the regular season, are games of momentum, confidence, work ethic… belief….

Again, congrats to the Flyers.

I’m very satisfied with how the Canadiens battled to make it to the 3rd round. Would have loved to see them win the series?? YES!!

Win it all?? YES!!

But I’m not and have never been a “wagon jumper”. I’m looking forward to seeing if there are signings made, draft day, and “UFA season”.

My interest never dies.

Here are some game highlights by Sportsnet.

The year was 1993 and the day was the 14th of May 1993. It happened to be a friday night (just like tonight) and it was also my birthday (as it was today).

I had been watching the Montreal Canadiens season coming into the playoffs and was glued to most of those games just as I am today with Habs games.

Had just seen the the Quebec Nordiques win the 2 first games of their series vs the Habs and then the improbable comback of 4 straight wins vs Quebec.

Then there was the Canadiens – Sabres series that saw the Canadiens make short work of Buffalo in 4 games with the last 3 in OT. Lot’s of OTs that year.

While that Habs – Sabres series was raging on… there was another series that really had my eye. It was of course the Mighty Pittsburgh Penguins of that time with Mario Lemieux at the helm.

I watched as much of that series as I could and on the night of the 14th of May 1993 I was having a little party. While the party was happenin’ there was a TV all fired up with that game 7 NY Islanders vs Pittsburgh Penguins. I and a few friends watched closely….. while some other people were practicing their social skills….

The hope was that somehow the NY Islanders would take the Pens out. And for the whole series it seemed to me an improbability. After all, the Mighty Penguins had finished the season with the league best 119 points while the Isles had squeeked in with 87 points. That was also back in the day of the 84 game regular season.

But somehow the Isles had kept it close and the series was in it’s 7th game…. all without their star Pierre Turgeon. I learned something really important during that series. Never count out a team in the playoffs until the series is OVER. That simple. A team that plays together and plays hard until the end always has a chance. Both the Habs and the Flyers of 2010 have shown us that.

I remember the youngster Darius Kasparaitis checking hard and was on Mario and company every chance he got (Darius would later play for the Pens). He was completely frustrating Mario and co. And I remember Ray Ferraro was lights out that series.

In the end, that game that night of the 14th went to Overtime! And then in the OT the miracle happened. A fellow by the name of David Volek scored the winning goal at 5:16 of the OT. It was pandemonium at my little party. That completely made my night and was one of the best birthday presents I’d had. One of the fondest birthdays in my memory actually.

Why? Because looking at the teams still in the mix I would much rather have had my Habs play the Isles then the Pens. And it seemed to be a year that the stars had aligned for Montreal. That’s the feeling I got watching that year. Unlikely heros, unlikely wins….

And then of course the Habs went on to beat the Islanders and the Kings to win their 24th Stanley cup.

In no way is this to compare with the run the Habs are having this year. Different players, different era…. still though, impessive show of team play and heart by the 2010 Habs! Loving this and looking forward to the Habs – Flyers series.

But this time of year, the 14th, my birthday, I always remember that Isles – Pens series… cheering for Ray Ferraro…etc.

The other night, the 12th of may 2010 really reminded me of that time so many years ago when the Habs were on that historic playoff run.

I just wanted to write a few words here to you who so choose to riot and loot downtown Montreal whenever the Habs win or loose. I’ve noticed that it doesn’t seem to matter to you folk whether it’s a win or a loss… just seems that you’re filled with fervor to get out there and break stuff.

You see… in life people tend to generalize and associate. It’s happened again and again throughout human history and for a wide variety of reasons it will continue to happen. Sometimes when these generalized associations happen you get lumped into a category or into an idea by the person or group of people doing the associating.

Get it?

So yesterday on CNN Rick Sanchez’s show they showed and he talked about your looting and your seeming love of wrecking your own downtown businesses.

Rick Sanchez refers to the fans here… “they”… etc.
Click here to see the footage

The point of this is not to criticize Rick Sanchez. Not at all. He’s reporting what he’s seeing in the everyday news media fashion we see.

What the point here is folks, is I’ve been associated with you looters. Because I’m a fan of one of the most storied franchises in sports history. Le CH. Les Canadiens. The Habs. The Montreal Canadiens.

I don’t really care for being associated with you folks who go out and loot your own downtown community whether your team looses or wins. You make every honest, passionate Habs fan look bad.

A friend of mine, Josh who happens to be a Leaf’s fan and does a great job in video work, made this little parody NHL commercial because of what he saw.

Thanks for the video Josh!

So in the end, I just wanted to say that by you’re actions you’ve made some of us look like you did by association in some people’s minds and in the media.

And you acted like shitheads.

Support your team. Support your community and your local businesses. Don’t destroy them.

Here’s a segment by Sportsnet on the Montreal Canadien’s success done by R.J. Broadhead, John Garrett and Doug MacLean.

They also preview tonight’s Boston Bruins vs Philadelphia Flyers game 7.

Here’s short game 7 post game interviews by Mike Cammalleri and Hal Gill or the Montreal Canadiens along with Sidney Crosby and Bill Guerin of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

1 on 1 interview after game 7 win for the Montreal Canadiens vs the Pittsburgh Penguins.


(Courtesy of Sportsnet)

Here’s the game highlights of Game 7 of the second round between the Montreal Canadiens and Pittsburgh Penguins summarized in about 8 minutes.