I think Erik Cole was a healthy scratch until he hit the post in the second period. He just doesn't seem to want to play. There was a pretty bad offsides call in the third as well. He had the puck, going down the side, players hustling to catch up. And then he just stopped short of the blue line. When his teammate crossed the line, then he did. Easy offsides call.

On the flip side, Prust seems to play well where ever he ends up in the lineup.

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12-team Keeper pool, straight points for forwards & dmen. Goalies get: 2 points per win, 3 per shutout, 1 point per assist & 1 point per shootout loss.

Top 8 forwards, 5 dmen and 2 goalies count.

We keep 8 forwards, 5 dmen, 2 goalies & 1 rookie.

Forwards: Malkin, Stamkos, Getzlaf, Hall, Kunitz, St. Louis, Pavelski, Kadri, Purcell, Hartnell, Brunner, Weiss, Bouchard, McDonald
Defence: Letang, Enstrom, Schultz, Markov, Keith
Goalies: Price, Niemi, Brodeur

My personal blog: http://theryancokeexperience.wordpress.com

One thing I forgot to mention: P.K. Subban did not have a good game. He just seemed off.

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12-team Keeper pool, straight points for forwards & dmen. Goalies get: 2 points per win, 3 per shutout, 1 point per assist & 1 point per shootout loss.

Top 8 forwards, 5 dmen and 2 goalies count.

We keep 8 forwards, 5 dmen, 2 goalies & 1 rookie.

Forwards: Malkin, Stamkos, Getzlaf, Hall, Kunitz, St. Louis, Pavelski, Kadri, Purcell, Hartnell, Brunner, Weiss, Bouchard, McDonald
Defence: Letang, Enstrom, Schultz, Markov, Keith
Goalies: Price, Niemi, Brodeur

My personal blog: http://theryancokeexperience.wordpress.com

I hate when he tries making individual plays along the blueline. Just shoot the puck behind the net if there are no options.

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UHL Calgary Flames
24-team H2H (roto G, A, GWG, SHP, PPP, PIM, +/, SOG, Hits, Blks, FOW, W, SV, SV%, GAA, SO)

Capped article archive

Montreal Canadiens coverage

Twitter:@DH_EricDaoust.

Easily his worst game of the season. Tons of turnovers and individual plays that lead nowhere. Interesting though that Therrien elected to start a PP with him and Diaz at some point. Of course, on the same PP, Markov scores, just to make sure that nobody forgets how good he is on the PP.

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14 teams keeper league (rebuilding)
4LW,4C,4RW,6D,2G
G=1 A=1 W=2 SO=3

LW: Wheeler, Laich, Hudler, Backlund, Regin
C: Umberger, Eakin, Brassard, Park
RW: Butler, K. Palmieri, Skille, T. Ruutu, Moss
D: Giordano, Bogosian, Coburn, Niskanen, Kubina, Wilson
G: Khudobin, Nabokov

Just started a dinstinct thread, but the Habs annonced that Bourque is concussed.

It will be interesting to see how Therrien will react to this. I think that Prust played well with Plekanec and Gionta, but I somehow don't like the idea of him playing there for an extended period of time.

__________________
14 teams keeper league (rebuilding)
4LW,4C,4RW,6D,2G
G=1 A=1 W=2 SO=3

LW: Wheeler, Laich, Hudler, Backlund, Regin
C: Umberger, Eakin, Brassard, Park
RW: Butler, K. Palmieri, Skille, T. Ruutu, Moss
D: Giordano, Bogosian, Coburn, Niskanen, Kubina, Wilson
G: Khudobin, Nabokov

The top-9 is set for now I think. Bourque had missed two games already so status quo unless the team stops generating chances.

__________________
UHL Calgary Flames
24-team H2H (roto G, A, GWG, SHP, PPP, PIM, +/, SOG, Hits, Blks, FOW, W, SV, SV%, GAA, SO)

Capped article archive

Montreal Canadiens coverage

Twitter:@DH_EricDaoust.

Be interested to get your take on the trade eric. I've generally liked what cole brought to the table from his physical play. But sounds like he may have wanted out as he waived his no trade. I like the additional cap flexability and this seems like the best part of the deal for mtl. And with the gomez and likely kaberle buyout alot more cap for next season.

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10 team Keeper, Roto G, A, +/-, PIM, PPP SOG: W, GAA SV%, SO, Keep 4Fwd, 2D, 1G
Start 3c, 3 LW, 3 RW, flex Fwd, 5D 2G

C: H. Sedin(K), m. Koivu, Plekanec, Galchenyuk,
LW: D. Sedin(K), B. Ryan(K), Burrows,
RW: St Louis(K), Hornquist, c neil, alfredson, kassian
D: Subban (K), Fowler(K), Schultz, Kronwall, dillon
G; price(k), ward, hiller

Bergevin probably accomodated Cole, who did not look like a happy camper at all this season. He gains a lot of cap flexibility for next season, and a 3rd round pick in a deep draft. I like this trade, especially given the way Cole was playing and acting this season.

__________________
14 teams keeper league (rebuilding)
4LW,4C,4RW,6D,2G
G=1 A=1 W=2 SO=3

LW: Wheeler, Laich, Hudler, Backlund, Regin
C: Umberger, Eakin, Brassard, Park
RW: Butler, K. Palmieri, Skille, T. Ruutu, Moss
D: Giordano, Bogosian, Coburn, Niskanen, Kubina, Wilson
G: Khudobin, Nabokov

Clearly there is more under the hood than just the trade. To me it goes back to Cole complaining about the new CBA and talking about retiring. That combined with him clearly not being in great shape for games makes me wonder what else was going on behind the scenes. The problem with Cole from a team's perspective is that if he is phoning it in and collecting a paycheck then they are stuck with him for two more years. The other thing is that the cap is going down.

Saving the 4.5 will help retain other players and depending on how much is left over could give the team a shot at some guys who are bought out by other teams or they could even be in a position to make lowball trade offers for buyouts-to-be.

I also wrote a few times in this thread about the team having a logjam of one-way contracts up front.

http://capgeek.com/canadiens

Assuming Armstrong and Nokelainen are let go the team has 11 forwards signed for next year not including Ryder could may or may not be re-signed. With Cole in the mix that would have been 12 forwards signed already which limits flexibility.

I like Cole from last year, but I really do not like what I have seen from him this year. I am not ruling out a return to some kind of good form for Cole but he has not been a positive player overall this year. The fact that Cole waived his NTC means that he was in favor of the move and the team felt this way too because they made the trade happen. Looks like a mutual parting of ways with Cole having an issue with the new coach and/or GM.

I had some issues with Ryder during his first stint with the team because he can get lazy and is a pure shooter (one-dimensional). But the team has the skill guys to get him the puck so maybe it works out. I also believe that he has rounded out a bit since leaving the team.

We will never know all the details of what happened behind the scenes and that is probably where the motivation for the trade comes from. All we can do is trust the GM that it was done for the good of the team.

__________________
UHL Calgary Flames
24-team H2H (roto G, A, GWG, SHP, PPP, PIM, +/, SOG, Hits, Blks, FOW, W, SV, SV%, GAA, SO)

Capped article archive

Montreal Canadiens coverage

Twitter:@DH_EricDaoust.

I wasn't a fan of them acquiring Cole in the first place but I hafta admit I was wrong, he worked out really well in a Habs jersey, (and stayed healthy again!) so it's a little odd they'd trade him away for a 'been there, done that' guy like Ryder who can't skate and adds no size or grit or defensive play to the equation. Sure he's a sniper but the Habs haven't had any trouble in that department thusfar...an odd deal

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Thats me on the street with a violin under my chin, playing with a grin, singing gibberish.





P=1 DPts=1.2 +/-=.32 PIM=.08 PPP=.4 SHP=.6 S=.015 Blk=.2 Hit=.08
W=2 OTL=.8 GA=-.64 SV=.08 SO=3

Pro (23 keep 17)
C- Filppula,Turris,Stastny,Backstrom
D-Boyle,MDZ,Karlsson,Robidas,Goligoski,Schenn,Seiden berg
G-Anderson,Hiller,Rinne
LW-Malone,Parise,Rolston,Eriksson,Ruutu
RW-Alfredsson,Callahan,Setoguchi,Brown,Ryder,Vrbata

Farm (9 keep all, max 200 GP, 100 Goalies)
Colborne,Leblanc,Loktionov,Perreault,Tangradi,Blum ,Poulin,Markstrom