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barry33


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Email from CJ
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Further to Johnny's post regarding diappointment this season and to help put things in perspective, I am copying and pasting an email I received from CJ last Sept on the eve of training camp (posted with his permission). Essentially gives you his outlook on the season:


Barry, good to hear from you and I am happy Taylor is doing well in training camp. Hard to believe he had to drop the gloves the first day but sometimes that is what it takes when you are a rookie. As far as what I am looking forward to this year, I am really excited. I think that Theo is going to have an awesome season for us. He came to camp in good shape and with a great attitude and we need him to be big. Our defence will be a bit young but I think that by the end of the year Komisarek will be fitting in nicely. I am going to try to pair him with Souray as much as I can because Shelly is a great teacher and the kids really look up to him. I really like Shelly because he is the type of guy that gets along with everyone in the room. I am a bit worried about how he and Rivs will do with the new rules but time will tell. If I am worried about anything it is puck movement. We need to keep things simple back there. Markov will be a star in this league but he is only one guy. This Streit guy you asked me about is small but I think Bob is hoping that with his international experience that he can help us. He is a hell of a skater and we need that behind the blueline. But he will make mistakes.


I am happy that I am going to have Kovy and Saks up front together. When was the last time we had 2 world class players on our first line for any period of time? I do wish I could lessen Saks' ice time moving forward though. If I can keep him healthy this year it will be a bonus. If I am worried about any position it is up the middle. Plekanecs will be good one day but he is not ready yet to assume that role, at least to me. That may change. Ideally I would like to have a big goal scoring center so that I can have a one-two combo and rest Saks. Maybe Santa will bring me one haha.


Anyway, good to hear from you. Tell Taylor I said hi. Email me his schedule and I will do my best to see a game when I am in the Boston area. All the best buddy- Claude


_There ya are. When you look at that you kinda see where the season has gone and maybe you see how some of my points of view were formed.- barry


 



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Ando


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barry33 wrote:

...If I am worried about any position it is up the middle. Plekanecs will be good one day but he is not ready yet to assume that role, at least to me. That may change. Ideally I would like to have a big goal scoring center so that I can have a one-two combo and rest Saks.

So ironic!



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barry33


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Ando wrote:

barry33 wrote: ...If I am worried about any position it is up the middle. Plekanecs will be good one day but he is not ready yet to assume that role, at least to me. That may change. Ideally I would like to have a big goal scoring center so that I can have a one-two combo and rest Saks. So ironic!
Why did I figure you would pick that out?

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Nil d


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Interesting  post, Barry.  Does Claude really use terms like "Saks" and "Kovy"?  I thought that was just us!


It's really too bad that the world did not turn out like he envisioned.  I guess even he cannot predict the future.  But he paid the price for it...........




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Ando


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barry33 wrote:

...Why did I figure you would pick that out?

...very liberating!


This has been a 10 year problem.



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JohnM


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Ando wrote:

...very liberating! This has been a 10 year problem.
Weren't you the one calling for CJ's head the loudest around here... Too funny Andy, too funny.

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barry33


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Nil d wrote:

Interesting  post, Barry.  Does Claude really use terms like "Saks" and "Kovy"?  I thought that was just us! It's really too bad that the world did not turn out like he envisioned.  I guess even he cannot predict the future.  But he paid the price for it...........
Those of us who have been around hockey dressing rooms alot know that noone is called by their real name..I have no idea where the tradition began but as long as I have played, players have had nicknames. Usually the names are not very creative so you end up with a shortened version of your last name. My last name is Osmun so I was "Ozzy" to my teamates (although there were many times they called me much worse). Most creative nickname I heard was back in the 70's. A Flyers player by the name of "Larry Goodenuff" got nicknamed "Izzy".

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Nil d


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barry33 wrote:

Most creative nickname I heard was back in the 70's. A Flyers player by the name of "Larry Goodenuff" got nicknamed "Izzy".

Izzy Goodenough?  No.


Good one, Barry.  That would be a good thread - creative nicknames!




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plouf


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I'm surprised (or maybe not) that already in training camp Claude didn't think of Ribeiro as a top-two centre. He bombed in the playoffs last year, but I still figured he'd do better than he has in the new league.


And what about Bonk? Wouldn't he have figured (at least based on past performance) that Bonk would have made a good complement with Saku as the other top 2 centre?


I actually looked at our centres before the season and thought we were in decent shape (at least compared to the past few seasons), with Koivu, Bonk, Ribeiro and one of Begin, Plekanec or Bulis.


But I wasn't prepared for the decline of Bonk and Ribeiro. (Let alone Theo and Zednik)


 



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Nil d


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plouf wrote:

 I actually looked at our centres before the season and thought we were in decent shape (at least compared to the past few seasons), with Koivu, Bonk, Ribeiro and one of Begin, Plekanec or Bulis. But I wasn't prepared for the decline of Bonk and Ribeiro. (Let alone Theo and Zednik)  

I agree, plouf.  On paper, we looked great; I thought we had a Stanley Cup contender on our hands back in October.



 



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plouf


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Well that's why I'm sort of surprised by Claude's tone. He sounds kind of underwhelmed by the team he has. Not exactly pumped up. Except maybe his comments about Theo.


I suppose before the season though, most people had us missing the playoffs by a good margin, so it's understandable the coach was nervous about the squad.


 



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barry33


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plouf wrote:

I'm surprised (or maybe not) that already in training camp Claude didn't think of Ribeiro as a top-two centre. He bombed in the playoffs last year, but I still figured he'd do better than he has in the new league. And what about Bonk? Wouldn't he have figured (at least based on past performance) that Bonk would have made a good complement with Saku as the other top 2 centre? I actually looked at our centres before the season and thought we were in decent shape (at least compared to the past few seasons), with Koivu, Bonk, Ribeiro and one of Begin, Plekanec or Bulis. But I wasn't prepared for the decline of Bonk and Ribeiro. (Let alone Theo and Zednik)  
Keep in mind Plouf this is only one small email which is why I hesitate to put it here (things can be taken out of context). He did discuss guys like Bonk and Ribs at other times and he honestly hoped that Bonk woul dbe the saviour he needed. And believe it or not, he said that in spite of what people think, Mike Ribiero was a hard worker in practice and at least tried to get along with people. He said that the incident with Koivu was overblown by the media and although the 2 are not going to attend church together, they really do not get along that badly.

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