Free Agency Bonanza!

Pull my finger.

Bob Gainey has one hell of a poker face. Except for the fact it's his normal face. Hell, even his son, late-signing Bulldogs forward Steve, says you won't get much out of him. But when he's serious, his actions speak volumes.

So many times I hear the same old tune played out by the many rabid vocal fans on various forums at how Bob is way too passive and patient. After yesterday's events however those in the more vocal "Fire Bob" majority have mysteriously been silenced. (Minus the quips about short players, but I've got a response to that too).

In total... 107.8 million after 24 hours. Yowza.

Our n00bs consist of Gomez via trade, newly ringed Stanly Cup winner USS Hal Gill will slowly take his hulking frame into position and hopefully not knock more pucks in his own net like Komisaurus (but at least he's a little better at skating backwards), the speedy little non-Martin St.Louis Brian Gionta gets reunited with his BFF, sucker punching Cammalleri is on his way from the Saddledome, and Jaro 2.0 Spacek who gave me heart attacks whenever he was with the Sabres and zooming in on our net can now zoom in on theirs. Bob appears to be done, but you never know. He recently resigned a few Bulldogs (Henry, Glumac) and is probably still negotiating with our other RFAs or maybe looking for replacements (maybe, but Martin might like the Lady Pleks and may be able to rekindle his form). It was an exhausting day... The information that was streaming out from his office was of Michael Bay proportions.

And who cares about size. DURABLE! A lot of the smaller guys are built like tanks. They're fast, and can skate pirouettes around taller pylons. Remember Plekanec and Kovy (well he's not small) turning Chara's gangly long legs against him? With the exception of Spacek, the three new minis are built tough and built for speed. That was Tanguay's problem: All the skill in the world, but made of glass. Bob can't afford to pay a guy to sit in a shoulder sling forever. Ever watch Desharnais play? Sure he may come up to most players waists and has to cut his sticks in half to use them, but as his vapor trail leaves them with a sunburn and his low center of gravity makes it difficult to knock him off the puck, who would you rather have: A man who gets caught up in his own feet, or a man who can skate right through those feet?

Jokes aside, I'm actually pretty ok with how the team looks (minus the mysterious captaincy issue). I remember how awesome it looked on paper this year and then everyone got hurt so no one ever played together. Media expectations are currently in the "wtf Bob likes seafood?" low category, while they sit around and praise Brian Burke for doing nothing much to better his team. (Orr? Komisaurus? Grabovski? Banking on Kulikov, Hamilton, and Tlusty I guess since they traded away Stapleton). I haven't been paying much attention either but I'm guessing they're praising the Bruins for being 100% grinders now too. (Yes, even the goalies). And maybe the Rangers for whom we have done a great honor in relieving them of some cap with Gomez, appear to be ready to ride Lundqvist into the ground again and hope Gaborik doesn't break upon moving in. (Though I bet Lundqvist is happy Gaborik won't be scoring 5 goals on him anymore, except in practice).

And while we hold our breath and pray our dear Captain Saku goes West and Kovy doesn't sign with the Pens/Caps (for Carey Price's sake and sanity), I wish to make a toast: Here's to a new season my friends. I really want to see how it goes! (And hope there's a proper training camp this year unlike that 2-day fuck up Bettman and crew set up last time). Bob has gambled with beer money, and if it doesn't pan out at least we can sit with the comfort in knowing Calamari is one fun player to watch. Is it October yet?

And so it starts...

It's that hive-enducing time of the year again!

I hate Free-Agency. I hate how players automatically become free-agents, which allows many of their money-grubbing personal agents to go out and find someone willing to overpay a player that is worth maybe half of what they write down.

Scott Gomez is no different. But it's really not his fault Sather offered him that salary. It's not uncommon to see a player break the bank after an incredible run/season. At least it makes more sense than what Komisaurus' agent is aiming to get him for... Could Mike be the new Dion Phaneuf? He certainly doesn't warrant the same type of salary Markov makes though.

However, this trade came out of nowhere. And it has left me in two sets of minds...

On one hand we have a player who has never missed the playoffs, ever. He's relatively healthy most of the season. He's fast and gritty, but can be annoying and oh god am I going to have to become a Gomez Appologist?

Is he better than Koivu? Well, not really. Sort of the same type of player, but minus the leadership part... But the Habs have tons of leadership, so as much as I don't want to say it, they won't lose out there. Gomez is the type of player that will produce when on a line with skilled players. And if Martin can fix this team to have a proper system, there won't be much shortage of skilled players to work with. Plus Gomez' best years were when he played on the defensively solid Devils team that brought him 2 Stanley Cups. Last year was crap though. However, he was still the Rangers' best player! (Yea, I don't count Antropov because he got most of his points with the Leafs, but he was only like 4 points above Gomez). And when they fired Renney and brought in Torts, he was like a completely different player. I saw the fire return in his eyes. Just a little bit, but it was there and it was visible.

My other set of mind is on what we lost for him. Higgins, well...we don't know every year what he will do and it's mostly because of injuries. It's a shame though, since he really found his role when Gainey put him on Metro's shutdown line. His offense came back even when he was in a defensive mode. He's excellent on the PK so that role seems like a no-brainer to me anyway. While I don't really have much fear in him becoming Jon LeClair part 2, I'll be sad to see him go. Happy he's going home though. Happy he won't have to sit in a restaurant and have "YOU SUCK" yelled into his face by some idiot Habs fan (who should be slapped). Happy I won't have to cringe when he "tips it wide" time after time. But I'll miss his work on the PK, his shorthanded goals, his goals from impossible angles, and his hilarious celebrations. I just hope Torts uses him properly, unlike what I saw from Wilson at the IIHF.

My brother is probably pissed though. He just bought himself a #21 Higgins tshirt at the Habs store on Saturday. At the time while I was showing him the Markov and Kostitsyn shirts, I told him "watch he gets traded" and he grumbled "I bet he will". Voila.

And then there's Ryan McDonagh... Well, he was our top defensive prospect, so that sucks. But things haven't been going so good for him recently in his sophomore year, which sort of puts me on the fence. Does the jinx happen in school too? Maybe. He's been on a semi-decline this year, which, well he is a stay-at-home defenseman on a bad team so that could have someting to do with it or the NCAA just has nothing left to teach him. But as a top rated prospect it was disappointing to know. The players that ended up ahead of him were one other sophomore and some junior players. The problem with McD is he is just what he is: a defenseman. He's positionally smart but has problems moving the puck up. I guess you can say he's like Hammer in a way. I'm starting to think the trade was Gomez for McD and the rest were just add-ins, ya know, since Higgy is the only one in the package from the Habs capable of playing in the NHL right now. Either way, the Habs have a busload of defensemen left that most fans don't even know about who are working hard to make the team one day. And just because you're drafted in the 1st round doesn't automatically dictate how you will develope. We'll only really know how McD pans out in about 2 years.

There's Tank and Janik, but Tank is happy in Russia eating money and Janik is on yet another team's AHL depth chart again. Nothing I'm choked up about. Though I wish Tank were BACK in fucking Hamilton! But I digress...

Trades always hurt. As fans, we become attached to these players. The team itself is like a family, and we the fans are an extended part of this family, bound by a sweater and a name. We become excited for guys that are coming up. We hope for them to make the impact we've been told they might make. I'm no different. If it had been PK Subban, as I've been fearing for months, I'd be pretty upset. But there would be nothing I could do about it except rant my mind on this blog... But it makes you wonder. Will McD turn into the solid player we've seen a guy like Versteeg turn into? There's a guy Boston should be kicking themselves in trading for, well, nothing now as the player they got in return isn't even in their system. (Though I think Hnidy came through a draft pick along the way, but I don't really know).

It's kind of funny though. Habs fans and Rags fans are sounding exactly alike today concerning the trade and their GMs. Rags are pissed that they now have a big hole at center, just lost their #1 guy and the only one able to move the puck in the powerplay, and appear to be expecting Lecavalier and Heatley to be signed tomorrow while Sather trades away "more junk" or loses Callahan and Rozsival. (Think Habs fans are bad towards Saku? Rags fans call their Captain Drury "Dreary"). They're in a rage because they wanted Pacioretty or D'Agostini instead of the blue chipper blue liner. At least Habs fans can rest assured that Gomez has a limited NTC (it's a little weird and very open and the GMs didn't even follow it anyway), he can still be traded if things don't look to be going good. But coming from a guy who was openly embarrassed about his point total this year, he's just dying for that new start to happen. So let's give him his chance. He's got an office right next to the net where Tavares plays on the PP. He goes to the net when he's not passing. And when he is, let's watch him feather some passes to hopefully Kovy or Patches who keep their sticks on the ice, ready and waiting to tip a puck in.

Boing!

After all, I remember Habs fans going apeshit when Gainey brought in Kovy for pretty much nothing. Now he's our star and our best scorer and if you hate him for what he is, then you don't know Kovy...

Habs still have 27,5mil left to play with people. Let's not explode all at once ok?