Holy Campoli, more like Holy Shit!

Remember what I wrote about panic moves! Probably not since nobody reading this shitty blog anyway. Go read my previous post...


Alright let assume you are up to date I said Gauthier was under tremendous pressure to deliver now or face a clean up imposed from the top soon. I also said that he was the lesser of two evil better him GM than another Rejean Houle. So yesterday Gauthier made another move that reflected his ejection seat situation. Defensively the Habs spent the better part of the camp throwing shit at the wall to see what stick the problem was none of it did. The two reason why they did it is that beyond Markov, Subban and Gorges the talent drop faster than an ACME anvil on top of Wile E. Coyote and Markov setback make that only two quality d-man likely to start the season. The rest are either getting too old Spacek, Gill not good enough Weber or had a so so camp Yemelin. And all the kids at least on defense are NHL ready.


Gauthier boss/owner who just paid a shitload of money for the fabled franchise and may well be eyeing the GM/Coach ejection button a lot lately. Picture a black box with a big red button under a  breakable glass cover. If press it will send a signal to a team of lawyers who are on 24 hours standby ready to draft Pierre Gauthier "resignation" letter. While two security guard also on constant standby will escort him to his car with his stuff in two cardboard box. lolll Yeah it not likely to end that way only the small fish in the corporate ladder get treated like shit!


After all none of these guys are his men and a new owner is really tempted the clean house even under the best of circumstance. When he look at his new team throwing money down the drain (Gomez) Mr Molson is likely getting heartburn. Make no mistake this is roster that got a middle of the pack result at best while spending to the cap in the past two years. And with slim to no chance at a meaningful playoff run except for a fluke Halakinan run. Hell if it was my money I would have likely fire just about everybody in management on day one after closing the sale.  


With all of that in mind and some salary cap left Pierre Gauthier addressed a clear need for a fourth or third D by snatching free agent Chris Campoli. Will that be enough to actually give the team some defense stability? Maybe but let pray that Markov will be back really soon. While Campoli stats are not stellar you can make the case that he played for some pretty rotten teams except the Hawks. Having bad stats on a shit team is like getting V.D from a crack whore you can't help it. Off course you can and should stay away from a crack whore but until you reach UFA status you can't really not play for the teams that draft you or trade for you.


Not everything is dark and cloudy Cole feel like a great addition, MaxPac is back in force and by the look of it Cammaleri is back to Super Saiyan 3 shape shit even Gomez looked good lately. The other good news the throw everything at the wall camp was not a total waste of time at least in offence where some guys did stick. Brendan Galagher may well be the one sticking around and good for him! He got a chance because the team still got some spot needing filling and with Eller not likely making it to the opener maybe somebody else will stick around. So two weeks left of camp and only two pre-season game left time to get serious.  

Habs aging blue line!

Roman Hamrlik and Jaroslav Špaček are 36 years old Hal Gill is just a year younger at 35 between them they will cost the Montreal Canadiens around 15 Millions of cap space this year! And two of the three are UFA next Summer.

Just saying that was enough cap space to keep Halak and still sign Plekanec last Summer with enough left for a top 6 forward to back up Gomez/Gionta and an extension for Markov and the amazing Andrei Kostitsyn next season. Gauthier gambled on Price and it look to have pay off so let sleeping dogs lies. It was a bold move and it a shame that it was the only one Gauthier is willing to make so far. The Habs have a lot of cap space that could be used right now to get out of their power play rot and maybe get two line that produce instead of one if they are willing to bury bad money!

If Gauthier was bold enough to sell it to the owners group one of these old horse could be put to pasture in the AHL for cap space now or better yet let find a sucker in the NHL for Spacek! The Habs have a really good defensive right now the problem is it not centered around these guys! Forget Hal Gill the Habs need his size and playoff clutch play but you could easily remove Spacek and Hamrlik from that blue line and the Habs will not be all the worse for wear! Even more now that Markov is back Subban and Gorges make whoever play with them look a hell of a lot better than they are. Bring Weber and Carle up and put Picard back where he belong with Subban.  O'Byrne deserve either a real shot or a trade and rumor as it he will get traded maybe the Habs could kill three birds with one stone! The future belong to those who are brave and bold enough to seize it! The question is will Gauthier move?