-With Brian Burke unable to get fair compensation for Tomas Kaberle, it certainly puts trading Roman Hamrlik into perspective. Not that Hamrlik is Kaberle's equal, be it as a player or an entity on the market, but the idea of trading him was laughable to begin with, and now it's a flat out joke considering yesterday's non-activity. It says something that teams are willing to spend insane amounts of money on July 1st, but have no cash to take on major salary without exchanging any in the deal. Kaberle's a friendly 4.25 on the cap, but an expense nonetheless when you consider that whoever lands him likely won't be able to keep him. Hamrlik at 5.5 is hardly friendly to a prospective trade partner's cap situation, and the Canadiens would have no reason to get rid of him beyond clearing the space. See the problem there? Despite the money he earns, Hamrlik has too important of a role for the Canadiens to just trade him for someone else's problem, even if it amounts to clearing a couple of million on the salary cap. It was never a realistic scenario this summer, despite what some Canadiens fans have been clamoring for throughout.
-Carey Price is 23 today, and edging closer to signing a contract with the Montreal Canadiens. As August winds down, his agent has already confirmed that he expects Carey will be inked by the first days of September. One would hope he's gotten the most out of his summer, because this season has the potential to put him back on even footing in the NHL, or bury his career with more of the negativity that's engulfed him over the last season and a half.
-Not to say it's all on Price this season...but let's face it...it's all on Price this season. Sure, maybe Alex Auld is capable of pulling a Jaroslav Halak, but I doubt Canadiens fans have any interest in testing that theory. The team won't have Markov to start the season. They have aging assets on the blueline in Gill, Hamrlik and Spacek, and rookies like Subban filling things out. Given the team's style, and the potential for struggles on the powerplay and up front, Price will have to be his best. More than that, he'll have to be better than he's ever been...right from the start.
-Tomas Plekanec will have to be better than he's ever been as well, and that might be asking too much of a guy who played by far his best season in the NHL, in 09-10. Without Plekanec's offensive support, this is a three-horse team, and the lack of physicality up front puts that much more pressure on those horses to perform and stay healthy.
-One area of strength may in fact be the support system that surrounds the primary stars of the Canadiens. The bottom six forwards have a good mix of grit, speed and size. Throughout the season there will be a healthy competition for spots on the fourth line, and a healthy, refocused Maxim Lapierre could make a major difference for the balance of the lineup. I think Canadiens fans are excited about what newly acquired Lars Eller and Dustin Boyd have in store for them.
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Check out Yahoo's Puck Daddy this Afternoon, as my submission for the Canadiens' Mount Puckmore should be up by then. I'm sure it'll provoke an interesting discussion, as choosing only four people from the Canadiens history to immortalize on "Mount Puckmore" was an extremely difficult task. Like the Canadiens history, the article is long, if only for the fact that the picks needed lengthy justification. Hope you enjoy!
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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