If you’re JUST joining in on the fun of reading a summer recap for the Habs, I strongly suggest you go ahead and read part 1 right here: http://nhlhotstove.com/canadiens-summer-recap-part-1/

Now if you’re ready for the part of the summer recap where I get all pissy and angry against one of the players I dislike the most around the league, then you’re certainly going to want to read on.

The Sergei Kostitsyn trade

June 29^th 2010 marked the beginning of a huge party in many Montreal homes: Sergei Kostitsyn, the player I deem the most cancerous in the locker room in the AHL and second in the NHL (trailing Olli Jokinen, of course), was traded to the Nashville Predators for forward Dustin Boyd and goaltender Dan Ellis. Not two days later, the Habs signed Boyd to a one year contract.

Dan Ellis, on the other hand, was not signed by les Canadiens’ management and became a free agent on July 1^st, leading him to sign a two year contract with the Tampa Bay Lightening. Ellis claimed many reasons leading to not sign in Montreal, one being money, and the second being that he wasn’t comfortable playing behind Carey Price and having to mentor him.

The Habs obtained in Dustin Boyd a gritty, hard hitting and intense forward who can effectively replace the unsigned free agent Glen Metropolit, who is getting old now. Boyd brings a fresh blast of youth to the 3^rd and 4^th lines, all the while playing at a level equal to, if not superior, Glen Metropolit’s.

Yet for me, the biggest gain in this trade for the Habs was being able to get rid of the most difficult of the Kostitsyn brothers. Ever since they acquire him, Sergei has been nothing but trouble in the locker room, and his off-ice antics have been a shame to the team and fans alike, as he has always seemed to take his position on the team as granted. Certainly, the young man has a lot of time ahead of him to develop into a much better player, yet the way he has acted during his young career, i.e. missing team buses, not showing up to practices or storming out of them, etc, have deeply hampered his development as a player and as a teammate.

Sergei is one of those players who I believe will be much better off somewhere else than in Montreal. What he needs is a change of scenery and to play in a new city where the expectations on him are not as high, but where management will still keep a close eye on him to make sure that he is able to focus on hockey and keep himself out of trouble off the ice (see: Sergei’s “friendly” relationship with Montreal mobster Pasquale Mangiola). He was a lost case in Montreal, and the change of scenery will probably help, but at worse well… the Preds will be stuck with a fat hunk of problems on their lap. But hey, at least we Montrealers won’t have to read about it in the newspaper anymore, right? The Journal de Montréal is just going to have to find some other retarded stories to put on their front page!

Oh, and in case you missed it and you’re worried, the Habs replaced potential-second-goalie-who-skipped-town Dan Ellis with another massive goalie (6’5) Alex Auld. Hopefully, the journeyman of seven nhl teams will provide some leadership and mentoring for young Carey Price the way Pierre Gauthier (Habs GM) had hoped Dan Ellis would.

Christopher Nardi
NHLHS Montreal Canadiens Correspondent
cnardi@nhlhotstove.com
Twitter: @dragonlancehuma

While everyone is waiting for Carey Price to agree to terms with the team, Gauthier went to work today by adding Serge Boisvert and Ryan Jankowski to the Canadiens' amateur scouting group.

In addition, Gauthier has hired Vaughn Karpan as a professional scout, while Christer Rockstrom scout for the European leagues as of September 1, 2010.

On an administrative level, the team also announced the appointment of Ken Morin as hockey information coordinator. They also officially announced that Pierre Allard is the new strength and conditioning coach

So another day passes and Carey Price still remains unsigned.

How long will it take and will this start to spill over into August?

And if so, as Mike Boone from the Montreal Gazette pointed out, we might start hearing the dreaded title of "holdout."

Gulp.

Can you imagine if this actually drags out into late August?

Can you imagine the insanity that will ensue if Price actually becomes a hold out?

While I think it is highly unlikely that things will go in that direction, the longer things take, the more explosive this situation becomes since the Canadiens have clearly put all of their eggs into the Carey Price basket.

But, with the dog days of summer truly upon us, at least it will give us something to talk about!

So what do you think? Will the Canadiens sign Price soon or will he become a holdout?

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From boom to bust, the Habs off-season started with a bang and has since calmed.

So we’re in mid-July and Ilya Kovalchuk FINALLY sighed with someone, more “the salary cap has once again been rendered useless” talks have sprung up (see: Kovalchuk’s contract), LeBron James ended his endless mind games and told the world where he was signing (the world that has ESPN, that is), and now you MUST be wondering: “but what has happened to the Habs? Is the city of Montreal still standing? Where can I get my poutines from now? Well worry not my friend, because Montreal is still standing, and although the changes brought to the team this summer are not as drastic or unexpected as last summer’s (although there have been quite some surprises), the Habs were not quiet this summer.

Lets go over a few of those changes that have happened.

The Halak trade

The trade that sent Jaroslav Halak to the St. Louis Blues for a couple of prospects, Lars Eller and Ian Schultz, came as a surprise to many, but to those who study the cap closely, it was a little more expected. After his extraordinary season and post-season, Halak was in a position to demand a salary that was equal to/exceded 4 million per year, a salary that the Habs just could not afford, being strapped to the cap ceiling that they were. So, they did the smart thing, and instead of allowing the matter to inevitably go to arbitration, they got the best that they could (or hopefully they got the best that they could) in return for Halak’s rights. If you want my analysis on the whole trade, and a profile on both players, click here.

Needless to say, the trade indicated that the Canadiens’ management wholly trusted Carey Price as the new starter in nets for the Habs. Although the choice may have made some jump in their seats, I, for one, am a strong naysayer about Price. I don’t believe that Carey Price has earned the spotlight at all. For sure, many goaltenders are thrown into the first spot because of necessity (see: Philadelphia Flyers’  whole past season), but when an administration willingly begins the season with a number 1 goaltender set, it’s because that player has proved his value, proved that he is ready and is willing to give it his all, on and off the ice. With Carey Price, I don’t feel any of that. His play last season had become “relaxed” at best, completely indifferent at worst, and even during his post-game interviews he seemed distracted and just generally annoyed at having to be held accountable.

The best thing that a Habs fan can hope for is that Carey is able to return to his 2007-2008 form, the year during which he charmed Montrealers with his speed, size and dedication to stopping every single Bruins puck that headed towards his crease (see: Montreal-Boston series of 2007-2008, the highlight of Price’s career, in my opinion).

Plekanec resigning

Another milestone in the Montreal squad’s summer was the resigning of free agent Tomas Plekanec. The first or second line center just came off of a career high season, notching 70 points, and a playoff series that was more average than anything else. His playoff production was exceptional during the Montreal-Washington series (8 points in 7 games, in addition to being regularly matched to the Capitals’ top line), and although his point production significantly reduced over the next two series, his defensive play was what kept Crosby at a point production low and allowed the Canadiens to move on to the next round.

Plekanec’  contract, an annual cap hit of 5 million, was a big reason why Halak wasn’t able to resign with the Canadiens. Although his contribution to the team has been immeasurable over the last season, his inconsistence over the years has me cringing at the beginning of every season, wondering which Plekanec we will see this season. Will it be the 2009-2010 Pleky, or the dreaded “little girl” Pleky 2008-2009, who was more invisible than Kovalchuk’s defensive play (or just about). Certainly as a young player (27 year old), Plekanec still has much room to improve and to steady out his play, even if his defensive play has been the more consistent aspect of his game over the years. Pleky’s new hefty contract now has most Habs fans praying hard that they will see their new-old center play a hard defensive game while contributing offensively all the time, just to make sure that every penny of those five million dollars a year are spent wisely. And if he doesn’t play up to expections? Well I can assure you that Habs fans will personally hunt him down and get every single penny he owes them back.

That’s the way Habs fans roll. Plekanec has been around long enough to have figured it out by now, so hopefully for Montreal, he’ll be able to tear it up when tearing up will be needed.

Stay tuned for part 2 of my off-season recap, where I will discuss the trading away of Sergei Kostitsyn, and ponder on how much money Carey Price will be making next year.

Christopher Nardi
NHLHS Montreal Canadiens Correspondent
cnardi@nhlhotstove.com
Twitter: @dragonlancehuma