Is Bob Gainey watching the parade go b y?

[hamstercaster 2]

Is Bob Gainey sleeping on the job or just smart as we've seen big names being signed right left and center, namely in Boston and TO teams of the same conference etc. There have been numerous rumours that Arnott and/or Elias were Montreal bound only to find out that they signed elsewhere instead. Does he think he has what it takes amongst his players to compete? Are they planning to give the youngsters more ice time. I would have tought that he would have been active given the fact that no one knows if Koivu is coming back or not. Perhaps he's having trade talks with other teams and will move Aebischer.. who knows but I find it a bit odd that in he hasn't done anything to better his team that barely made the playoffs last year...

[RadioGaGa 162]

Maybe he's waiting to see who does what in FA...and then use some of his tradeable players to get what he wants/needs from teams who aren't as active.

Aebischer, Souray, Zednik, Ribeiro would all be available...so I doubt the parade has totally been missed by BG.

I have faith & patience that all will be well in Habland come September.

[Chadd 916]

Other teams in the conference are signing guys to long term, big money deals. In a couple seasons they could be the only ones left with cap room. I applaud him for not overpaying, we'll have to see what he can do to improve the team and stay on budget.

[Havok19 0]

i think he is letting the parade past im by.

[gp3r 0]

At first I was a little disappointed that Gainey didn't sign anybody, but now, when I look at it, I'm not so mad.

In a few years, there will some young, very talented you guys that will be free agents. While all those teams who signed veterans to long term deals won't have the money to get them, the Habs will be able to pay some of those guys. Guys like Gagné, Bergeron, Spezza, etc...

But I still think there will be one or two trades during the summers to fill in the blanks.

[Adam91 0]

I'm still worried that he hasn't addressed the need for a 2nd line centre. Ribeiro just isn't gonna cut it, even with Kovalev carrying on his back

[hamstercaster 2]

Unless Ribeiro really works hard this summer and gets into camp in great shape and shows a will to play hard every game. He's been so inconsistent. He's such a good passer and play maker. A bit slow for a guy his size though but he's got good enough hands that he should be doing much better than he did last season.

[RadioGaGa 162]

Ribeiro re-signed today. Hopefully he's gasined some weight and uses it a little more than in the past. It's a one year deal, so I guess a trade is still possible.

They also signed JP Cote. He's a big stay at home D-man. Very responsible in his own end. Played almost all of last year in Hamilton. Good to have a round if they get bit by injuries on D again this year.

[Chadd 916]

It's going to be harder to get most people to sign in places like Montreal, Edmonton, etc.. Sure there will be guys willing to play for a discount for their hometown teams but the Canadian tax rates is going to play a bigger role in free agent signings going forward. Florida and Texas have no personal income tax and that can make a difference when everyone has the same amount to spend.

[Allsmokenopancake 0]

It's going to be harder to get most people to sign in places like Montreal, Edmonton, etc.. Sure there will be guys willing to play for a discount for their hometown teams but the Canadian tax rates is going to play a bigger role in free agent signings going forward. Florida and Texas have no personal income tax and that can make a difference when everyone has the same amount to spend.

But they get paid in US dollars, would the exchange rate, coupled with the cost of living/quality of life in a city like vancouver compared to dallas, not offset that?

I know housing is more affordable in canada, so it may all be a wash, financially

I could be wrong, just guessing

[hamstercaster 2]

Housing in places like Toronto, Vancouver and now even Ottawa or Montreal are a bit exhorbitant to say the least. Specially in Vancouver and other B.C. cities. I think housing is cheaper in the States but am not sure either on that. So I don't think that the fact that they are paid in US dollars living in Canada closes the gap with the cost of living in the States. Some players simply just don't want to play in pressur cookers like Montreal, TO and Vancouver where you have douzains of journalists waiting harassing you at every single home game etc. I think this may be one of the many reasons players avoid certain Canadian teams or Canada for that matter. The stigma is bigger against Montreal because of the French speaking population and the fact that it seems that the Habs fans or at least the journalists make it a big deal that the Habs should sign, draft or trade for French speaking players or Quebec native players. Now I am a French Canadian myself and actually couldn't give a rats ass if the player speaks French or not, if he's American, Canadian, Czech or whatever. For sure at equal talent I'd prefer a Canadian player but you always go out for the best players out there no matter what their nationality may be.

[Chadd 916]

It's going to be harder to get most people to sign in places like Montreal, Edmonton, etc.. Sure there will be guys willing to play for a discount for their hometown teams but the Canadian tax rates is going to play a bigger role in free agent signings going forward. Florida and Texas have no personal income tax and that can make a difference when everyone has the same amount to spend.

But they get paid in US dollars, would the exchange rate, coupled with the cost of living/quality of life in a city like vancouver compared to dallas, not offset that?

I know housing is more affordable in canada, so it may all be a wash, financially

I could be wrong, just guessing

The currency used to pay a player isn't relevant. As for the quality of life, one could just as eaily argue that the Southern or Western US is more comfortable in the winter than many Canadian cities or even places like Minnesota for that matter. I have a feeling that the weather had at least a small part in Mrs Pronger's distate for the Edmonton area.

[Allsmokenopancake 0]

The currency used to pay a player isn't relevant. As for the quality of life, one could just as eaily argue that the Southern or Western US is more comfortable in the winter than many Canadian cities or even places like Minnesota for that matter. I have a feeling that the weather had at least a small part in Mrs Pronger's distate for the Edmonton area.

If a US dollar is worth $1.20 canadian (have no idea on the actual worth, just using this for arguement sake), and the player lives in vancouver, then a $3 mil US contract, will translate into a $3.6 mil canadian contract, which may offset tax differences.

In addition, I would guess the housing market is not as expensive in vancouver as it is in Dallas (again, guessing, but when we looked to canada, compared to DC, the market was signifigantly lower), so your $1 mil house in dallas you may get for $600,000 in Vancouver.

Climate, its all what you like, I am a winter person myself, but the winters in the south would probably be more comfortable in general.

But I do think currency is relevant

[gp3r 0]

As for playing in the States vs playing in Canada, expanses don't really matter. Taxes here in Canada are higher than in the States, but living expanses in the U.S. are are higher.

Now, regarding Montréal. Yes, us Quebecers prefer players that are quebec natives, and language doesn't have everything to do with it.. The reason we like quebecers is because they understand the history behind the Montréal Canadiens. They understand what the greatest franchise in hockey history means here in Quebec. When you put that jersey on, you better give it all you've got. So, players that are from Quebec, when they play here, have a tendancy to play hard, to work hard and to go out almost every night and give it their 110%. Look at Begin or Bouillon for example. In the history of the franchise, it's greatest players were mostly quebecers: Maurice ''Rocket'' Richard, Jean Beliveau, Henry ''Pocket Rocket'' Richard, Guy Lafleur, Patrick Roy and many others. Those players did not only make a difference on the ice, the related closely to the fans, they were more tha just hockey players, they were our co-citizens, they were an active part of the society. I mean, there is no where else in sport where hundreds of thousands of people dropped by an arena to see and to pray for the lying body of their hero.

Now, personnaly, I don't care if the player is european, or Canadian or American. If the guy who comes here recognizes and respects all of what the name ''Canadiens de Montréal'' means and is ready to sweat and bleed for it, than I will welcome him here as well as I can.

Koivu might be a great captain in the dressing room, but he doesn't quite do it outside the arena. For the team captain, the fact of not speaking french could be a big deal, since he's the one supposed to represent the team, and guess what, a lot of people don't even understand english up here. Montreal is different from any other place in the league. Most of its fans are fench speaking, so I think it's normal that the team captain should be able to speak french. It doesn't have to be his first language, like Bob Gainey in the 80's, be he has to be able to communicate with the fans.

[Chadd 916]

The currency used to pay a player isn't relevant. As for the quality of life, one could just as eaily argue that the Southern or Western US is more comfortable in the winter than many Canadian cities or even places like Minnesota for that matter. I have a feeling that the weather had at least a small part in Mrs Pronger's distate for the Edmonton area.

If a US dollar is worth $1.20 canadian (have no idea on the actual worth, just using this for arguement sake), and the player lives in vancouver, then a $3 mil US contract, will translate into a $3.6 mil canadian contract, which may offset tax differences.

In addition, I would guess the housing market is not as expensive in vancouver as it is in Dallas (again, guessing, but when we looked to canada, compared to DC, the market was signifigantly lower), so your $1 mil house in dallas you may get for $600,000 in Vancouver.

Climate, its all what you like, I am a winter person myself, but the winters in the south would probably be more comfortable in general.

But I do think currency is relevant

All of these numbers are made up:

Let's say the contract is $3M US

Canadian tax rate is 25%

US tax rate is 20%

Conversion rate is irrelevant as the total is the same in either country. You can convert it to yen and have 3 billion but it still ends up as the same amount. Cost of living is more important than any other factor for making your money go farther and that works against cities like NY, LA, Toronto, etc...

[Chadd 916]

As for playing in the States vs playing in Canada, expanses don't really matter. Taxes here in Canada are higher than in the States, but living expanses in the U.S. are are higher.

Now, regarding Montréal. Yes, us Quebecers prefer players that are quebec natives, and language doesn't have everything to do with it.. The reason we like quebecers is because they understand the history behind the Montréal Canadiens. They understand what the greatest franchise in hockey history means here in Quebec. When you put that jersey on, you better give it all you've got. So, players that are from Quebec, when they play here, have a tendancy to play hard, to work hard and to go out almost every night and give it their 110%. Look at Begin or Bouillon for example. In the history of the franchise, it's greatest players were mostly quebecers: Maurice ''Rocket'' Richard, Jean Beliveau, Henry ''Pocket Rocket'' Richard, Guy Lafleur, Patrick Roy and many others. Those players did not only make a difference on the ice, the related closely to the fans, they were more tha just hockey players, they were our co-citizens, they were an active part of the society. I mean, there is no where else in sport where hundreds of thousands of people dropped by an arena to see and to pray for the lying body of their hero.

Now, personnaly, I don't care if the player is european, or Canadian or American. If the guy who comes here recognizes and respects all of what the name ''Canadiens de Montréal'' means and is ready to sweat and bleed for it, than I will welcome him here as well as I can.

Koivu might be a great captain in the dressing room, but he doesn't quite do it outside the arena. For the team captain, the fact of not speaking french could be a big deal, since he's the one supposed to represent the team, and guess what, a lot of people don't even understand english up here. Montreal is different from any other place in the league. Most of its fans are fench speaking, so I think it's normal that the team captain should be able to speak french. It doesn't have to be his first language, like Bob Gainey in the 80's, be he has to be able to communicate with the fans.

And Ribeiro, being from Quebec, is the perfect example of "knowing what it means" to play for the Canadiens?

Don't forget to include the GST and PST in the cost of living.

[RadioGaGa 162]

Don't forget to include the GST and PST in the cost of living.

Hey GST is down 1% as of July 1...woo hoo for us!!!!!!!

[Allsmokenopancake 0]

All of these numbers are made up:

Let's say the contract is $3M US

Canadian tax rate is 25%

US tax rate is 20%

Conversion rate is irrelevant as the total is the same in either country. You can convert it to yen and have 3 billion but it still ends up as the same amount. Cost of living is more important than any other factor for making your money go farther and that works against cities like NY, LA, Toronto, etc...

But, if a pint of milk is $1.20 in the US and $1.20 in canada, and you have $3 mil local currency in the US, or $3.6 in local currency in canada, then you are going to be financially better off in canada are you not.

I may be confusing myself here, and using flawed logic, so, sorry

[Chadd 916]

All of these numbers are made up:

Let's say the contract is $3M US

Canadian tax rate is 25%

US tax rate is 20%

Conversion rate is irrelevant as the total is the same in either country. You can convert it to yen and have 3 billion but it still ends up as the same amount. Cost of living is more important than any other factor for making your money go farther and that works against cities like NY, LA, Toronto, etc...

But, if a pint of milk is $1.20 in the US and $1.20 in canada, and you have $3 mil local currency in the US, or $3.6 in local currency in canada, then you are going to be financially better off in canada are you not.

I may be confusing myself here, and using flawed logic, so, sorry

That's cost of living, not taxes. It also assumes that costs are equivalent in the respective currencies. I'm not familiar enough with the canadian marketplace to make that comparison but I will say those it will vary greatly in either country.

[gp3r 0]

QUOTE (gp3r @ Jul 6 2006, 03:40 PM)

As for playing in the States vs playing in Canada, expanses don't really matter. Taxes here in Canada are higher than in the States, but living expanses in the U.S. are are higher.

Now, regarding Montréal. Yes, us Quebecers prefer players that are quebec natives, and language doesn't have everything to do with it.. The reason we like quebecers is because they understand the history behind the Montréal Canadiens. They understand what the greatest franchise in hockey history means here in Quebec. When you put that jersey on, you better give it all you've got. So, players that are from Quebec, when they play here, have a tendancy to play hard, to work hard and to go out almost every night and give it their 110%. Look at Begin or Bouillon for example. In the history of the franchise, it's greatest players were mostly quebecers: Maurice ''Rocket'' Richard, Jean Beliveau, Henry ''Pocket Rocket'' Richard, Guy Lafleur, Patrick Roy and many others. Those players did not only make a difference on the ice, the related closely to the fans, they were more tha just hockey players, they were our co-citizens, they were an active part of the society. I mean, there is no where else in sport where hundreds of thousands of people dropped by an arena to see and to pray for the lying body of their hero.

Now, personnaly, I don't care if the player is european, or Canadian or American. If the guy who comes here recognizes and respects all of what the name ''Canadiens de Montréal'' means and is ready to sweat and bleed for it, than I will welcome him here as well as I can.

Koivu might be a great captain in the dressing room, but he doesn't quite do it outside the arena. For the team captain, the fact of not speaking french could be a big deal, since he's the one supposed to represent the team, and guess what, a lot of people don't even understand english up here. Montreal is different from any other place in the league. Most of its fans are fench speaking, so I think it's normal that the team captain should be able to speak french. It doesn't have to be his first language, like Bob Gainey in the 80's, be he has to be able to communicate with the fans. 

And Ribeiro, being from Quebec, is the perfect example of "knowing what it means" to play for the Canadiens?

Don't forget to include the GST and PST in the cost of living. 

If you would've read my post correctly, you'd have noticed that I said the players from quebec had a TENDANCY to work. I didn't say that they all did. Ribeiro is the perfect example, he doesn't work hard every game, I personnally I wanted him out of Montreal, but they've just re-signed him, which sucks.

As someone you spent two years in the states, I can tell you that there is not much difference in the cost of living between Canada and the U.S. As a matter of fact, I might be a little cheaper in Canada.

[hamstercaster 2]

As a Quebecer myself too, I actually couldn't care less about the player's nationality although I must admit that people tend to identify themselves to players of their own nationality, ie Canadian and not Quebecer lol. Although, if that Candian player is good and a Quebecer on top of that... and pushing it to be from my home town on top of that, sure I'll identify myself to him more. To me, as a hockey fan and a habs fan, what matters the most is a player that will give it his best day in and day out. Sure he's allowed a day off or two during the seaon. A player can't perform at a 100% every game but at least 4 out of 5 games for sure.

The fact of the matter is that in the NHL, in all 30 teams alike, there are slackers and there are players who come to play hard every single night and these are the players that we usually appreicate more and they are also the players who tend to be respected the most by the fans and the medias. For exemple, Patrick Roy came to play every night in Montreal and Colorado for that matter and he never had any problems with the crowd except for maybe once or twice.. specially on that night he played poorly against the Wings and taunted the fans.. but it was to be expected from a fierce competitor and a guy who came out to play hard every single night.

But we also had Matts Naslund, a Swede who came out and played hard every night too and he was very much appreciated by the Montreal Fans throughout his stay with the Habs. In my mind there are as many Canadian slackers as there are slackers from any other country. We just seem to be a bit more tolerant for our hometown boys. And also, one very important thing in my mind when it comes to playing hard every night is that European players don't have an 82 game schedule. They play 60 games at the very most and from what I've seen in the Russian super league and other European leagues it seems to be more like 45-50 games in a season so these players may not be conditionned to play hard for as many as 82 games when some weeks you play 4 or 5 games in 7 nights including travelling from a city to another.

But that still doesn't explain why so many players fear Montreal or any other Canadian city and I have a tendency to believe that the Media is perhaps somewhat responsible in a way for that as you hear on TV all the time that players don't want to play in Montreal for x number of reasons but you very seldom hear an actual player saying that on the news, in the papers or whatever... But if I had the choice between going to the arena wearing bermudas and sandals at least 41 games out of 82, I too could be tempted to play in the States in a warmer climate but that's just because eversince I stopped playing hockey on outdoors rink I have started to hate winter lol...

[teamhystyk 0]

We Need to Get Vinny Lecavalier!! Perfect he even played Jean Beliveau in the movie the Rocket so he has to have an idea of what its like to wear that chandail

[RadioGaGa 162]

http://www.canadiens.com/eng/news/redirect...newsItemID=5099

I like it. Pick the right guy(s) to fit the role they need filled. Have money left, and if come Feb-Mar, they are still in it, they will have Cap room to add a player if the opportunity comes.

the Rangers proved for years, that just throwing money at lots of big names...because you can...doesn't make a good team (necessarily).

BG is a smart guy. I like what he is doing.

[kosydar 0]

http://www.canadiens.com/eng/news/redirect...newsItemID=5099

I like it. Pick the right guy(s) to fit the role they need filled. Have money left, and if come Feb-Mar, they are still in it, they will have Cap room to add a player if the opportunity comes.

the Rangers proved for years, that just throwing money at lots of big names...because you can...doesn't make a good team (necessarily).

BG is a smart guy. I like what he is doing.

The Leafs fan in me is saying that this is only an excuse because they can't attract big name UFAs like other teams can, but in reality I think it might be a smart move. Signing nobody is better than signing the wrong player. With the Leafs, I'd rather sign nobody than Peca. I have to hand it to Gainey. I think this is actually a smart move so far, although I've heard through various rumors that they've just been unlucky to sign a lot of big name players thus far (Shanny, Poti, Sykora).

[RadioGaGa 162]

http://www.canadiens.com/eng/news/redirect...newsItemID=5099

I like it. Pick the right guy(s) to fit the role they need filled. Have money left, and if come Feb-Mar, they are still in it, they will have Cap room to add a player if the opportunity comes.

the Rangers proved for years, that just throwing money at lots of big names...because you can...doesn't make a good team (necessarily).

BG is a smart guy. I like what he is doing.

The Leafs fan in me is saying that this is only an excuse because they can't attract big name UFAs like other teams can, but in reality I think it might be a smart move. Signing nobody is better than signing the wrong player. With the Leafs, I'd rather sign nobody than Peca. I have to hand it to Gainey. I think this is actually a smart move so far, although I've heard through various rumors that they've just been unlucky to sign a lot of big name players thus far (Shanny, Poti, Sykora).

Well...I won't cry over missing out on Poti...but Arnott, and Shanny were ones I hoped for. Isn't Sykora still available?

Anson Carter would be nice...

Really though, I suspect the changes to Montreal will be via trades once the season starts...not UFA's.