no koivu, no sellout

i wanted to take a picture of saku koivu scoring a goal in his last game as a hab, but he didn't. he did get on the score sheet though, and i took this picture of him in the penalty box.


scary centennial summer recap
-jacques martin is our coach. this is like a little car flag that says "presently, we know we stink."

-we trade higgins and prospect mcdoughnough and valentenko for gomez and some others. i like gomez, but he is small. and because captain k is still in the mix, this move makes me feel awkward, both for the soon to be displaced koivu but also because gomez is another second line center.

-we sign spacek (a former sabre), gil (a former BRUIN?!), gionta (from the NJ devils) and mike camallerri from out west and spend something like $180 million american blooddollars in an afternoon. gionta is the smallest player in the league, and cams is not much bigger. spacek is signed for 3 years, his contract taking him into his 39th earth year. the addition of gil and gionta feel right immediately, while i am more concerned about cammallerri and spacek. later, travis moen is added, a big upgrade on kostopolous and begin combined. paul mara is here too.

-kostopolous goes to carolina and begin signs in boston (BOSTON?!). higgins signs in NYR and komisarek signs a huge deal to play in toronto. on the morning of the 1st it is reported that kovalev resigns, which made me both nostalgic and warm and pretty damn irritated. later it turns out he didn't, like, he wasn't answering his phone or something, so gainey got bored and signed cammallerri instead. i'll take cams over kovalev, i've riden the K train and it's too bumpy for me. dandenault is gone, bouillon is gone, and koivu is a duck, together with temu after all these years.

henri richard: "i'm surprised they didn't resign that koivu guy, he works like hell."

INTERESTING QUESTIONS

-if gainey suspected he didn't want to resign any of his 11 free agents, why did he sack carbo with 16 games left? if the habs missed the playoffs in their centennial would Both carbo and gainey have been fired? who would fire gainey, gillet or molson? was the team being for sale a big influence on gainey in stepping in on the coach's bench?

-why the split with higgins & komisarek along with koivu & kovalev? and why not a split with the kostitsyns? who was responsible for the awful locker room all these years, koivu, or a rotating cast of everyone else?

-if we are rebuilding, why did we bring in $30million american blooddollars of salary?

-with the early age of free agency, what makes gainey think he can keep carey price here and happy when the same could not be done for komisarek?

-why cams at $5 million USBD and not tanguay at $3 USBD?

training camp opens in six days and i miss: michael ryder, mike ribeiro, mike komisarek, christopher higgins, mark streit, even cristobal huet. maybe even sheldon souray.