Habs' Gauthier Stands Pat on Deadline Day

[RGM81]

http://www.montrealgazette.com/sport...496/story.html

At no point should Canadiens fans have reasonably believed their team would be a major player at trade deadline. Not after Gauthier did his early shopping to shore up a blue line that had/has been decimated by injury.
There's always a quiet satisfaction in the dressing room when a team isn't blown up at the deadline or a new ingredient or two is stirred into the mix and upsets the chemistry, when management sends the message it's comfortable going to battle with the arms it has.
In truth, Gauthier would have liked to have added an impact player. But he pretty much ran out of gauze trying to bandage a defence that is cut deeper still with Jaroslav Spacek's right knee that might yet require surgery.
Now we'll see how much the relief at not being uprooted transfers to performance on the ice tonight in Atlanta and through the next 18 games.

I had some hope that there would be a move made at the deadline for that big power forward that has long eluded the Canadiens. After I saw the fake tweet about Tinordi and a 1st for Penner, I'm glad that Gauthier didn't mortgage the team's future for a short-term burst this year. Contrary to what the wise and esteemed Pierre McGuire had to say yesterday, Montreal's "window" is not closing nor is their core comprised of aging veterans. They're realistically two years away from being a legitimate Stanley Cup contender - sooner, if Price has some miracles in him this spring or next.

Yes there are some big dollars tied up in Gionta, Gomez, and Cammalleri. These are the guys who are expected to be the offensive leaders of the team and provide that calming influence that only veterans who have been there before can provide. Yes the blueline is mostly made up of older guys like Hamrlik, Spacek, Gill, and recently Mara. Those folks will be coming off the books in the near term, surely to be replaced with younger, fresher faces and the returning Josh Gorges and (probably?) Andrei Markov.

But the young heart of the Canadiens is made up of the 4 P's: Price, Plekanec, PK, and Pacioretty. All of them are under 25, except for Pleks, who is a hardly long-in-the-tooth 28. Price is a leading Vezina candidate. Plekanec has been the best and most consistent forward this year. On a blueline corps decimated by injury, the rookie Subban has stepped up in a big way. Pacioretty has been a jolt of energy to the team since his call-up. These guys will all be with the team for a long time.

When I look at what the Oilers were supposedly asking for Hemsky--1st, blue-chip prospect, young roster player...pass, pass, pass. Yes, at $4.1M he wouldn't break the bank next year. But a 1st, say Louis Leblanc, and Pacioretty for him? Absolutely not.

They say that sometimes the best trade is the one you don't make. I think that Gauthier adroitly plugged the holes in his blueline as best as possible. That may save the Habs' season and help them secure a playoff spot. There's not a ton of room for advancement in the standings. 6th may be as good as it gets unless the Bruins collapse down the stretch. The success of the team this year is dependent primarily on Carey Price, and will need a serious rejuvenation from Gomez and Kostitsyn to get the rather moribund offence going. Upsetting the team chemistry with a trade just to appease the jackals on Habs Inside/Out would overlook the fact that the Canadiens are capable of a good playoffs run with the horses they've got. Now, it's up to those guys to come together and make it happen.

[centrehice]

I had some hope that there would be a move made at the deadline for that big power forward that has long eluded the Canadiens.

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True Dat...............

Just reminds one that it's been a very long time since Bob Gainey's retirement. I think the Habs are gun-shy when it comes to power forwards.

Lamenting so by claiming publicly that first Perry Turnbull, then Shane Corson were both the next Gainey.

It's like the White Boxing World tripping over every fat white slob since Marciano claiming he could the be next great white hope. Turns out the decent white guy was a pair of journeymen brothers from Ukraine, that few cared about in North America.

When Montreal played little guys with good hands, it won Stanley Cups by the wheelbarrow full. When the best players stopped being Quebecois born, they ran into trouble, and have been in that quasi-panic ever since.

The Habs oddly enough sans Le Gros Bill and Gainey, are little again, this time American.

Had you told me in 1977 when I didn't get drafted because I was too small, that 34 years later the Habs would have guys smaller than me,...... and American, I would have called Social Services regarding your mental state.

GM is tough job, and in Montreal, the most demanding job in Professional Sport in the World.

[jolivei2008]

as a habs fan I am frustrated by the fact that once again our team made no impact at the trade deadline
its becoming more and more clearly that many players shun montreal for many reasons due to language issues and the level of stress in a hockey mad city
I can't understand why we didn't go after a jason arnott type of player
and the caps gave up little to get him
in the foreseable future we have some players to built around such as the ones Richard mentioned and lets include david deshernais in that mix as well
I'm not at all convinced that our team is two years away from contending as many players have been drafted over the years such as maxwell, agostini, higgins were absolute busts
montreal's weaknesses have been so glaring for years now and even though we got on a unexpected run last year it showed against philly how
far we really are from contending
the tsn guys can't believe mtl is even in a playoff spot to begin with so with all the injuries its hard to fathom mtl has any magic this year to surprise anybody in the playoffs if they make it

[centrehice]

as a habs fan I am frustrated by the fact that once again our team made no impact at the trade deadline, its becoming more and more clearly that many players shun montreal for many reasons due to language issues and the level of stress in a hockey mad city.

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This is a Quebecois problem, not a player fear. Language does not really enter into the equation, why so when Mtl. greats Like Howie Morenz (Ontario), Toe Blake (Ontario), Larry Robinson (Ontario), Elmer Lach (Sask), The Mahovlich Brothers, stalwards Terry Harper, Dick Duff, and on and on, none of whom were expected to utter or speak a word of French.

You can thank Rene Levesque for the language nonsense, and all the bleeding hearts that think that Quebec is not unique.

It is stressful playing in Montreal because it is Hockey Mad. it shouldn't be an issue of language. The Quebec public needs to keep politics out of the Sport.

Winning Hockey has no language

[RGM81]

Arnott had a NTC and would have had to agree to waive it to come to Montreal. Of course they can't disclose whether or not they even had those talks but the possibility exists that he wouldn't have been interested.

People tend to get the expectation that making trades in the NHL today is as easy as picking up the phone, offering up your garbage and voila! you've got a superstar in return. Other teams have scouts too, so it's not as if we can just say, "Here's Andrei Kosititsyn, we'll take Dustin Penner, please" to Tambellini and just like that we've improved our team while laughing all the way to the bank.

Just because Gauthier did not complete any trades does not mean that he wasn't actively working the phones in an attempt to improve the club. But as we saw with the Penner deal, prices were incredibly high yesterday. This is because there are really only 5 or 6 teams that are in true seller mode - Atlanta's not going to part with Bogosian or their key pieces while they still have a chance at the playoffs, same goes with Dallas and Brad Richards, or any number of others. A limited pool means high prices, and if teams were looking at taking our top prospects and picks for rentals Gauthier did the right thing by walking away.

[centrehice]

Arnott had a NTC and would have had to agree to waive it to come to Montreal.

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Thank your lucky stars that Gauthier didn't take a run at him. He's lazy and moody.

The Devs just bent the Caps over in this trade. Arnott is not far from worthless.

[sholi2000]

I'm betting that there was no one available otherwise that big forward that almost every team in the running was looking for would have been traded for. Arnott? Bah we already have enough old guys that add tot he room.

There simply wasn't anyone available.

[jolivei2008]

I am just sick of seeing some of our talented players get hit all over the ice and pushed around
that's our team's biggest weakness and has bee the case for far too long!

[xelloss1012]

The Habs rarely make any big trades, especially at trade deadline since a lot of resources have to be sacrificed in the return.

It might have been nice to have someone like Chris Stewart or Dustin Penner, but look what was given up in the exchange...