Well folks, it’s almost that time again. After a small hiatus I am once again redesigning YourHabs.com with a sleak new look and many new features, and will hopefully have it done by the end of August. I hated leaving the blog empty for so long, and it was even done for a good month as I didn’t have the time to maintain it. Well, the good news, is that I’m back and ready to go with new content, images, and whatever else my crazy imagination can come up with.
I hope everyone is enjoying the off-season thus far, I know I am. I just wanted to update the blog as it hasn’t been in quite some time, and wanted to let you guys know to keep checking back as I’m coming up with some great new posts to fulfill your Hably urges until next season.
Go Detroit! (I don’t like the Pens)
Now that the wound has healed a little bit, Bob Gainey and Guy Carbonneau had their year end press conference for the media yesterday, and it didn’t appear that either were one bit rattled over the early departure of the Montreal Canadiens from the Stanley Cup playoffs, and why would they be? I mean, the average age of this team is like 22, one of the lowest in the NHL. This team is going to be great for years to come.
Bob Gainey will definitely be looking to make some moves over the summer, looking for a guy or two that fits in with the Montreal Canadiens’ style of play, which he described as being quick and exciting, and that would help the current players get better, and more prepared for the playoffs.
One member of the Montreal Canadiens not likely to be back next season will be Michael Ryder, not because he didn’t try hard, or didn’t want it, but because the Montreal Canadiens reorganization of lines and special teams just wasn’t in Ryder’s favor, and you can’t blame the guy for that. Using Mike Rebeiro as an example, I believe that Ryder could have a breakout year with a team who needs a sniper at RW.
On the other side Gainey is looking to resign UFA Mark Streit for another season, and who could blame him. Streit had a breakout year with 62 points, his best year since…well, ever. This strong Offensive/Defenseman gives us a great shot at the point on our PP, and could move up to our fourth or even third line if need be.
The Montreal Canadiens will be looking into resigning Andrei Kostitsyn, who is RFA next season, but the possibility of him return to the RSL, or going to another NHL team is viable. Gainey believes that Kostitsyn is comfortable in Montreal, especially now that his brother playing here, and believes we’ll be seeing Andrei Kostitsyn back in the Bleu, Blanc, et Rouge, next season.
Montreal is said to be a frontrunner for Swedish start, Fabian Brunnstrom, who just happened to be in Montreal for two days on the weekend, checking things out. Brunnstrom is also said to have visited Detroit and Dallas, but should make a decision by the end of the week who he wants to go with.
All in all, I think we’re going to have a great 08-09 season.
Now that the Stanley Cup is out of our reach this season, some Montreal Canadiens have decided to take a different route to victory by participating in the IIHF World Hockey Championships.
Six Canadiens in total will be playing for their countries which include Saku Koivu for Finland, Andrei Markov for Russia, Tomas Plekanec for Czech Republic, and Andrei Kostitsyn, Sergei Kostitsyn, and Mikhail Grabovski for Belarus.
In his first game with Belarus, Andrei Kostitsyn racked up a solid 12 penalty minutes, as he served a misconduct with four minutes left to play in the third, while Sergei Kostitsyn joined him there soon after, as Belarus got caught with too many men on the ice.
I want everyone to head on over to NHL Tournament of Logos and vote for Carey Price’s mask, in their NHL Tournament of Goalie Masks. Price is up this week against Dany Sabourin, and I mean, come on. We can’t lose to Sabourin. At this time 6:23 EST, Price is winning with a total of 276 votes, which is 60% of the total votes. This poll ends April 28th, so hurry up and vote!
NHLToL also provides us, Your Habs.com, with the awesome team images you see in the game day posts, and other places around the site. Another thing that I wanted to add, is that the Montreal Canadiens are also the reigning champions of the Best NHL Logo.
Here is the Pic in the Tournament
[flash]http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=F5erhY_xNSk[/flash]
I love watching Kovalev do things like this. I still haven’t gotten a chance to pick up his DVD, but that’s the next on my list Habs memorabilia.
As Montreal Canadiens fans, we’ve seen the Habs grow to a true playoff contender over the last few years under the reigns of Mr. Bob Gainey. He’s been scrutinized for just about everything that he has done, by both the Montreal media, as well as the Montreal Canadien fan base. But when you really think about it, he has made excellent decisions, and hasn’t traded away youth for a quick fix.
The Hockey News recently came out with their annual report of GM Rankings, and our very own Bob Gainey is ranked at #4. You can see the full story here, but for those of you who don’t like to read, here is the excerpt about Gainey.
4. Bob Gainey, Montreal
Gainey took a considerable amount of heat for not landing a big-name player at the trade deadline and for dealing away No. 1 goalie Cristobal Huet for a second round pick. But Gainey doesn’t take his morning coffee without ruminating on what effect it will have, so he didn’t take his actions/non-actions at the deadline cavalierly either. First, he decided Huet would never carry the Habs to a championship and dispatched him. It’s called being decisive. He also realized Marian Hossa wasn’t worth the package Atlanta was demanding. Gainey surrounds himself with competent people and, while a consensus builder, he also allows them the freedom to do their jobs without meddling. He remains one of just seven current GMs to have won a Stanley Cup.
CAREER 546-380-149 (.577)
CUPS 1
PLAYOFFS 12-8 series record
Hey folks, I just wanted to post this as I feel more people than I think have been looking for something like this. I’ve created a pretty simple screensaver in Flash that has a bouncing Habs logo moving randomly around the screen with a Habs blue background. Here is a video showing what it does.
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lLpVy_afyE]
Installation
1. Go ahead and download the Zip file and unzip the .exe file inside. Don’t worry it’s just a screensaver, no spam, no spyware, just the screensaver.
2. Run through the setup, it’s pretty straight-forward.
3. Once the setup is done it will automatically set it as your default screensaver, so you can go into your display settings and preview it.
4. Enjoy and let me know what you think!
Seriously! I live on Prince Edward Island so to watch my Habs games I normally have to watch them on RDS, which as you’ll probably already know, is french. The rare game I get to see in English is a very nice change and I appreciate TSN, CBC, and sometimes SportsNet for showing these games. Tonight “was” one of those games, and I was really looking forward to seeing and hearing my boys in English, but apparently those of us who live on PEI and are subjected to having the Vancouver/Dallas game on instead, while everyone else in the East is watching the Montreal game in English. All of this, just because Brad Richards is from Murray Harbour, PEI.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ll watch my Habs in French, English, Spanish, it really doesn’t matter, but I just think it’s stupid that CBC is playing that game of fan favorite, just because some people probably bitched about not having enough Richards. The worst part is, I doubt very many people would even watch that game past the first period, due to the boring play of the Canucks.
Most of you may think I’m going a little overboard about Richards being an icon on PEI, just because he made it to the NHL, but let me give you this example: When Richards was traded to Dallas at the trade deadline, Dallas merchandise sold out in almost all of the sports shops here, and they couldn’t get rid of Lightning merchandise even if they gave it away. For those fans of Vancouver and Dallas, I truly due hope you enjoy the game, and even though I have to watch the Habs game on RDS, I will too.
I’d like to welcome everyone to YourHabs.com, a site dedicated to the evolution and domination of the NHL’s favorite hockey team, the Montreal Canadiens. This is your source for the latest Habs and Bulldogs news, from accurate sources. Providing you with exclusive game coverage is only the beginning of what we plan to be giving you.
Just sit back, enjoy a nice cold beverage, and ask yourself one question, “Could it be 2008?”.