Souray Puts an End to The Rumours

Key Lime · Guru

Souray Puts an End to The Rumours

barry33 · Guru

Key Lime wrote:

Yesterday Souray confirmed that the rumors that he asked Gainey to be traded to Vancouver to be close to his daughter are completely false. He never wanted to leave the Habs. He adds that there is no other player in the dressing room more proud when it comes time to put on a Habs jersey. He entered a restaurant in town the other night and the clients began to shout "Go Habs Go". Lastly, he says that the Habs are the best organization in the league and his biggest wish is to win a Stanley Cup as a Hab. I like this guy! So far two players this year have stated publically that they want to win the Stanley Cup as a Hab…Souray and Koivu. I would love to hear it from Ribs or does he not believe it?

It is no secret that this guy is my Favorite Hab. Yes he has made some mistakes (name me one player on this team who hasn't). But he always holds himself and his teamates totally accountable and I respect him for that. He is a class act. CJ tells me that Shelly seldom turns down a request from a school or hospital to speak or visit and was usually the last one left signing autographs.

Caper_hab_fan · Veteran Member

Hey, Ribs has been playing well as of late, hummmm, i wonder, Dags in Hamilton, Theo gone to Colorado.....Ribs has nothing to do but practice now....but in seriousness, anyone else agree, he's been playing well...i've always said he's a cheap playmaker with good hands, yeah he's built like a high school hockey player, but i say next year Ribs will do much better.

habgirl · Guru

barry33 wrote:

It is no secret that this guy is my Favorite Hab. Yes he has made some mistakes (name me one player on this team who hasn't). But he always holds himself and his teamates totally accountable and I respect him for that. He is a class act. CJ tells me that Shelly seldom turns down a request from a school or hospital to speak or visit and was usually the last one left signing autographs.

I second that. Yes, I have ripped Shelly this year, but he owns up to his brain cramps. Watching the Habs/Canucks warmup and game at GM Place, you can tell what a leader this guy is. He encourages the young guys and holds everyone, including himself, accountable when necessary.

And I got a wonderful picture of him standing right in front of me, looking into my camera with a smile! But I digress.....

Key Lime · Guru

Caper_hab_fan wrote:

Hey, Ribs has been playing well as of late, hummmm, i wonder, Dags in Hamilton, Theo gone to Colorado.....Ribs has nothing to do but practice now....but in seriousness, anyone else agree, he's been playing well...i've always said he's a cheap playmaker with good hands, yeah he's built like a high school hockey player, but i say next year Ribs will do much better.

I agree he's been playing well BUT we all said "next year Ribs will do much better" after the last season...He shouldn't get too much praise for playing well for 2/5 of the season this year. (2/5 if he continues to play well until game 82). I don't remember the last Hab wo got player getting so many chances to prove himself.

plouf · Guru

Souray, Koivu, Kovalev, Plekanec, Ribeiro, Ryder, Komisarek, Zednik, Bulis, Bonk,....boy, talk about an inconsistent team this year. Just like last year we will have to see how things go in the playoffs to get a sense of what moves need to be made, because it's awfully hard to get a read on the true value of the Habs this year.

AB Habman · Guru

Key Lime wrote:

Caper_hab_fan wrote: Hey, Ribs has been playing well as of late, hummmm, i wonder, Dags in Hamilton, Theo gone to Colorado.....Ribs has nothing to do but practice now....but in seriousness, anyone else agree, he's been playing well...i've always said he's a cheap playmaker with good hands, yeah he's built like a high school hockey player, but i say next year Ribs will do much better. I agree he's been playing well BUT we all said "next year Ribs will do much better" after the last season...He shouldn't get too much praise for playing well for 2/5 of the season this year. (2/5 if he continues to play well until game 82). I don't remember the last Hab wo got player getting so many chances to prove himself.

You're right, no player should get away with playing only a fraction of the season, even a third line centermen. Could you imagine if all our players played a solid season. We wouldn't be scratching to make the playoffs. If Ribs played 2/5 of the season at 39 points than he'd have 98 points playing 82 games. On this team, we'd have to pay him 2 times more than Kovy!

Back to the Souray thing, there was never a question about him asking for a trade from myself. I know this guy wears the jersey more proudly than any player except maybe for a few others.

Key Lime · Guru

AB Habman wrote:

Key Lime wrote: Caper_hab_fan wrote: Hey, Ribs has been playing well as of late, hummmm, i wonder, Dags in Hamilton, Theo gone to Colorado.....Ribs has nothing to do but practice now....but in seriousness, anyone else agree, he's been playing well...i've always said he's a cheap playmaker with good hands, yeah he's built like a high school hockey player, but i say next year Ribs will do much better. I agree he's been playing well BUT we all said "next year Ribs will do much better" after the last season...He shouldn't get too much praise for playing well for 2/5 of the season this year. (2/5 if he continues to play well until game 82). I don't remember the last Hab wo got player getting so many chances to prove himself. You're right, no player should get away with playing only a fraction of the season, even a third line centermen. Could you imagine if all our players played a solid season. We wouldn't be scratching to make the playoffs. If Ribs played 2/5 of the season at 39 points than he'd have 98 points playing 82 games. On this team, we'd have to pay him 2 times more than Kovy! Back to the Souray thing, there was never a question about him asking for a trade from myself. I know this guy wears the jersey more proudly than any player except maybe for a few others.

Honestly, 80 - 85 points is exactly what I expected from Ribs. The difference between the top players in the league and the Habs is the inconsistency. Koivu, Ribs, and Kovy should all of averaged 1 point per game.

plouf · Guru

Yeah, I figured something like: Kovalev 90 points, Koivu 80 points, Ribeiro 70 points. How wrong I was...

AB Habman · Guru

plouf wrote:

Yeah, I figured something like: Kovalev 90 points, Koivu 80 points, Ribeiro 70 points. How wrong I was...

Exactly, what happened anyway? Why are our so called offense struggling to put up points? I thought with these new rules, our smurfs would have more points!

But then, we'd be a shoe in for the playoffs. That can't happen

Desi · Senior Member

Lots of reasons for the lack of goals this year I'd say, and though I'm no expert, I'd have to say that one of the big ones is our defense. Other than Markov and an occasional good play by Souray or Rivet, we have been so weak on D that the puck is in our end more than it should be, and we do less with the puck at the other end than we should. Most offensive plays start in our own end and develop from there. With mediocre d-men, our o just suffers. And it's not just the d-men, it's team defense in general -- forwards not fore-checking and back-checking, etc. And let's not even talk about how bad our goaltending was in the middle of the season. Hard to keep giving it 100% on offense when the opposition is scoring on softies every couple minutes.

Now that the team IS playing better defensively and getting some good goaltending, we're a lot more competitiveand I think there is a connection between the two. Here's hoping it continues to pay dividends.

Les Canadiens sont la

Key Lime · Guru

Desi wrote:

Lots of reasons for the lack of goals this year I'd say, and though I'm no expert, I'd have to say that one of the big ones is our defense. Other than Markov and an occasional good play by Souray or Rivet, we have been so weak on D that the puck is in our end more than it should be, and we do less with the puck at the other end than we should. Most offensive plays start in our own end and develop from there. With mediocre d-men, our o just suffers. And it's not just the d-men, it's team defense in general -- forwards not fore-checking and back-checking, etc. And let's not even talk about how bad our goaltending was in the middle of the season. Hard to keep giving it 100% on offense when the opposition is scoring on softies every couple minutes. Now that the team IS playing better defensively and getting some good goaltending, we're a lot more competitiveand I think there is a connection between the two. Here's hoping it continues to pay dividends. Les Canadiens sont la

I agree...statistically our power play has been pretty good so far; however, on of the main reasons for the lack of offense is like you mentioned, the transition game. We are one of worst teams getting the puck out of the zone and feeding our forwards. Another reason is waisted scoring chances. You can't say that the Habs don't get their share of very good scoring chances but they just don't capitalize on them...Geez...we need a sniper!