As the Montreal Canadiens battle through what seems to be countless injuries, the team has not yet received the support needed from key members of their roster.
Wingers Alexei Kovalev and Michael Ryder appear to be doing all they can, and while the Canadiens have sold out every one of their home games to date, fans are getting irritated with the team's inconsistent play.
The Habs are 4-5-2 in the month of December, with one game to go – tonight against the Carolina Hurricanes – and rumors are starting to run wild that general manager Bob Gainey is contemplating a change or two.
Reports out of both Denver and Montreal claim the Canadiens have been sending their scouts to Avalanche games, but the Habs are not in the process of trying to deal goaltender Jose Theodore.
Speculation suggests that Montreal is in the market for help on the blueline and in the scoring department, and it is believed that the likes of Richard Zednik and Jan Bulis could be used as trade bait.
It should also be noted that center Mike Ribeiro could be on the "trade block" if the Habs can find a tougher replacement.
just looked at this... lets trade all of these guys. anything is better than them, especially Ribeiro
Ribeiro is the first guy I would trade. He's talented and you never know; a team with a lot of size that lacks a skilled center like Ribeiro could be interested. Either way, we have enough small players. Ribeiro on the Habs will probably always be seen as a "poor man's Koivu" in terms of his ability alone. So he definitely should be used as trade bait because he's the easiest guy to part with who has some value.