HW Recap: Heading strong into 2008

[Habsfan84]

The second half of Montreal's longest road trip of the season wound up this week, with the team picking up a well deserved 5 of 6 points in the process. Unfortunately, the same can't be said for the Bulldogs, as they dropped 2 of 3 this week. We look at some of the New Year's Wishes the readers have submitted, plus the weekly grades, while the Final Thought discusses the fall out a year after the Mike Ribeiro deal, in the Recap.

Player Grades

The ratings:
8.5 - 10: Player has exceeded expectations for the week, very strong contributions.
6.5 - 8: Player has met expectations for the week, play has helped or at worse, not hurt the lineup.
5 - 6: Player has performed below expectations for the week, play has at best not hurt the team, but likely has had a negative affect.
Under 4.5: Player has had a week to forget, questions should soon be arising about his future with the organization.

Goalies:

#39 - Cristobal Huet: 8.0 Looked solid in the first 2 games, didn't come up with the key save in New York though. (Season Average: 7.95)

Defence:

#26 - Josh Gorges: 7.5 Finally, a week that he showed his full level of potential, and his ice time soared at the same time; this is not exactly a coincidence. (Season Average: 6.86)

#51 - Francis Bouillon: 7.5 His best week of the season, hands down - I was very impressed when he jumped in on offence. (Season Average: 6.88)

#79 - Andrei Markov: 7.5 He's recaptured his offensive form from before he was hurt, however, the defensive side still needs some work. (Season Average: 7.42)

#8 - Mike Komisarek: 7.5 I'm worried that he's become the team's "enforcer," his overall play is too good for that to happen. (Season Average: 7.50)

#44 - Roman Hamrlik: 7.0 For the season straight week, a Sunday night gaffe overshadows an otherwise quality week. (Season Average: 7.38)

#3 - Ryan O'Byrne: 7.0 Steady, if not a quiet week aside from the fights; hopefully the injury won't keep him out too long, as he needs to be playing to develop. (Season Average: 6.75)

Forwards:

#14 - Tomas Plekanec: 8.0 Led the team offensively this week, and was a key player on the PK, which also thrived on this trip. (Season Average: 7.54)

#40 - Maxim Lapierre: 8.0 Much, much better in all facets (aside from passing), looked very comfortable with Higgins and it showed. (Season Average: 6.75)

#21 - Chris Higgins: 8.0 The biggest threat offensively this week, his mark would've been much higher had he scored on more of his scoring chances though. (Season Average: 7.81)

#46 - Andrei Kostitsyn: 7.5 The Jekyll and Hyde streak continues, this week, we saw the good - offensive intensity, and production. (Season Average: 7.04)

#27 - Alexei Kovalev: 7.5 Put forth a yeoman's effort in New York, lately has been handling the puck much more than normal (and has coughed it up more too.) (Season Average: 7.65)

#11 - Saku Koivu: 7.5 Considering he wasn't 100% when he played this week, he still looked pretty strong in limited minutes. (Season Average: 7.42)

#84 - Guillaume Latendresse: 7.0 As much as his goals haven't been high quality, he deserves credit for getting to the right place at the right time. (Season Average: 6.62)

#74 - Sergei Kostitsyn: 7.0 There were some cracks in his game this week, but still, a solid effort regardless. (Season Average: 7.33)

#6 - Tom Kostopoulos: 7.0 Fluky goal or not, it's always a plus when your grinders pop one home; here's hoping it's not another 6 weeks before we see another one. (Season Average: 6.85)

#32 - Mark Streit: 7.0 1 strong game, and pair of so-so ones, I expect to see more of the latter if he's back full time on defence. (Season Average: 6.96)

#28 - Kyle Chipchura: 6.5 I was surprised to see him scratched twice, and when he came back, he didn't exactly blow anyone away with his play. (Season Average: 7.25)

#25 - Mathieu Dandenault: 6.5 It's time for him to sit a game, the energy and the spark haven't been there lately. (Season Average: 7.04)

#73 - Michael Ryder: 6.5 He may have scored, but he's still showing very little confidence with the puck. (Season Average: 6.65)

New Year's Wishes

Last week, we invited readers to submit their wishes for the Habs for the New Year. These are some of the more popular wishes (aside from of course making the playoffs and winning the Stanley Cup

- Win the Division
- Trade Ryder
- Price becomes the uncontested #1 goalie
- Huet signs a contract extension
- Koivu finally gets a quality veteran winger

Which one of these would you most like to see happen? Vote on the HW Poll and have your say.

Final Thought

Boy, how memories are short. After seeing Mike Ribeiro and his Dallas Stars skate all over a listless Habs squad back on the 23rd, so many comments surfaced about how the trade last season was a disaster, and how someone needs to pay for it. Did Montreal lose on the deal? It certainly looks like it, but how many GM's win every time? Back heading into last season, the Habs were faced with a dilemma at centre, with Koivu, Ribeiro, Plekanec, Bonk, and Begin already there, with Garth Murray and Maxim Lapierre pushing for spots - something had to give and everyone knew it. Ribeiro looked like he'd gotten as good as he had with the Habs and his trade value was marginal at best. GM Bob Gainey took his best shot at making a move with him and picked up what a lot of people felt was a decent defender in Janne Ninnimaa. Did it work out? No, and it's not like the extra cap space from his contract is working a whole lot at the moment either. I'm not trying to be an apologist for Gainey, but these things happen. Without this deal, it's safe to say Tomas Plekanec is nowhere near the player he is today, and you could very easily make a legitimate argument to suggest that he's on another team now if this deal isn't made. The Ribeiro we saw last week was not the same player that was with the Habs, and one more season in Montreal would not have made him the player he is now. You win some, you lose some, such is life in professional sports. You can argue that Gainey's lost more than he won, but in this case, hindsight is not 20/20.