2013-14 Off-Season Canadiens Chat Thread

[the_nange]

NY media is praising Kristo and sing-songing that the Rangers pulled another Gomez-for-McDonagh trick again. Anything you guys can tell me about Kristo? It seems odd that the Habs would give him up in such a "lopsided" deal (if it really is) ; even if Kristo seems to have poor decision making skills (nearly freezing his toes off, serving alcohol to underage teammates at official events).

[RGM81]

Interesting, as many Habs fans are pretty psyched about the addition of Thomas. Yes, he's another undersized forward, but it's not as though Kristo was a giant either. I never really got much of a sense of what Kristo could do, with him being in the US college programs and all. He's likely to turn out a pretty decent player, but this one is nowhere near the level of Gomez-McDonagh. LOL

[keithman07]

Thomas is a bit undersized but he's fast and he's a sniper, put up over 50 goals in juniors a little over a year ago, and had 19 goals in 73 games in his 1st AHL season this year. I always liked him and am disappointed he's gone, but am happy we got Kristo in return

Good to know. Looks like it could be a trade that works out for both teams, unlike that TERRIBLE Gomez-McDonagh one.

Well we've got our new goalie coach, and no big surprise that it's Stephen Waite from the Blackhawks organization. Bergevin knows first-hand how Waite helped out Niemi & Crawford, and look where it got the Hawks. Hopefully he can do the same for CP.

Read that this morning, thought it was a good hire as well. Was there any statements from Price after Groulx was fired?

[RGM81]

Not that I'm aware of. Carey's pretty low-key.

[keithman07]

According to explosions on Twitter, Briere is on the verge of signing in Montreal for 2 years, 8 million.

Need to marinate on that one for a second.

[RGM81]

Well Briere is a Habs. This should be...interesting.

[jagrnyr68]

Interesting, as many Habs fans are pretty psyched about the addition of Thomas. Yes, he's another undersized forward, but it's not as though Kristo was a giant either. I never really got much of a sense of what Kristo could do, with him being in the US college programs and all. He's likely to turn out a pretty decent player, but this one is nowhere near the level of Gomez-McDonagh. LOL

Definitely not a Gomez-McDonagh, yet I keep seeing that everywhere with this deal lol. Everyone thinks the Rangers stole Kristo, but I think they are undervaluing Thomas, he scored over 50 goals in 10-11 in juniors. Kristo looks to have the edge in playmaking ability while Thomas prolly has the edge in shooting. What helps for Kristo is that he played with Stepan, Kreider and Ryan Bourque in juniors for USA, so he's familiar with them.

Other than a few off ice incidents with Kristo, I've only heard good things about him, so in that aspect I'm happy with the trade, as I was really hoping Thomas would get a fair shot with us. But I hope he gets a solid chance with the Habs, he may be a bit undersized but he can score

[bdiam]

Hilarious! Can't wait to see how the coach reacts to his "defensive" game :))

At least the Canadiens just got allot bigger.

[mooneyes]

For what its worth, 108 play-off games, 109 pts, including 50 goals! For such a little guy, he sure finds away to produce when it counts MOST, when there is so little room to score. As for the size issue, as a B's fan I was happy they avoided the Habs in the play-offs, as their speed gave the B's problems, maybe the Hab's should run with their strength?
Time will tell, at least it is a reasonable 2 years and he has motivation, once again to prove people wrong in his home province.

[cygnusx1]

Briere can certainly help the Habs in dealing with their lack of size and propensity for being thrown around.