The Montreal Canadians arguably made one of the biggest stories during the 2008 NHL draft in Ottawa last week and they didn't even have a pick in the first round. Why? Because they traded their first round, pick (25th overall) to the Calgary Flames for French Canadian forward Alex Tanguay.
While some "pundits" feel that this is not one of Gainey's best moves, yours truly feels that this is an excellent transaction that will benefit both parties for years to come. Let's get a few facts straight because, while the news has been generally received in a positive manner, there are those that walk among us who pretend to be Habs fans but always want an escape clause when it comes to embracing a new player via a trade.
Not that you can blame them, seeing our track record in the trades department, but I digress. In this particular case, I believe we are the strong winners here. First, what did we give up to get Tanguay? This year's 1st round pick (Greg Nemisz) and next year's 2nd round pick that was received from the Washington Capitals when we unloaded future UFA Cristobal Huet.
In my opinion, this is much better than the scenario we might have seen if last year's rumors were, in fact, true. It could have either been a combination of Michael Ryder (so what?) and either a Plekanec or Higgins type player (ouch.) or a straight exchange with Alex Kovalev who Keenan loved coaching. Sometimes, it's the trades you don't make!
Now, we have Tanguay and get to potentially keep all the above players... except for Ryder. Some will argue that Tanguay is done and his best years are behind him. Let's put this into perspective shall we? Since the 2000-2001 season, with the exception of 01-02 and last year, he has seen years ranging from 67 to 81 points.
81 was in the 2006-2007 season. Last year, he ended the season, a season full of trade speculation and uncertain future, with 58 points. Had he been playing for the Habs and finished with the same totals, he would have been tied for 4th place on our scoring list just ahead of Saku Koivu and Andrei Kostitsyn.
Did I mention that he also finished last season with a plus minus of +15? Ryder, are you paying attention? In addition, it would seem that there is no love lost between Tanguay and Keenan who was hell bent on ensuring that he had Tanguay see almost no PP time and had him generally in a defensive role for most of the season.
This is a winger who likes to move the puck and either make that seeing eye pass or receive one to put it in the back of the net. Could his "mere" 58-point season be the result of a lack of motivation? Time will tell. Lastly, let us not forget two important reasons why it's a good thing that Alex Tanguay is coming to Montreal.
First, in order for this trade to even have happened, he had to waive his no trade clause, so already, that means he was not totally disgusted by the allure of Montreal. But Perhaps the most important reason why I feel Tanguay will be a good fit in Montreal is because he was quoted as saying that his wife had just had a child and they wanted to be close to home.
Lord knows that it's not necessarily the players, but the players' wives who ultimately decide where their hubbies end up playing. Tanguay’s situation is not the exception to the rule, you can bet that he has vested interest in making sure he brings his lunch pail to the Bell Centre every game or there will be 21,273 critics to remind him which city he plays for; and that's just the media!
As for the experts who say he is old and his best years are behind him, let's not forget, Alex Tanguay is 28, not 38...that would be Mats Sundin's age.
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3 months ago
Last year, Montreal scored the most regular season goals in the NHL. I don't see how adding another finesse scorer addresses the issues that got them bounced from the playoffs. Tanguay is a fine player, but getting him doesn't change Montreal's lack of size up the middle.
Gainey is making a smart move in trying to sign a 6'5" right handed elite center.
Montreal needs a big first line center, a powerplay quarterback and an experienced backup goalie. Adding a left wing helps, but doesn't address the team's shortcomings. If they resign Streit to a reasonable deal, get Sundin for one to two years and add someone like Curtis Joseph, then they will
be in excellent shape.
No one is knocking Tanguay, other than you, who suggested that $5.25 million was not enough to motivate him to score more than 58 points. Tanguay is a professional. He puts out a solid effort every night. I think he is exciting to watch. But, I don't think finesse scoring is what Montreal was missing. Even if Tanguay scores 30 goals, that's probably only 5-10 more than S. Kostitsyn would have scored. It's not the difference maker.
3 months ago
Actually if you look at the stats, even though Tanguay is 6'1, that still raises the average size up the middle. Tanguay may not be the prototypical power forward they were hoping Michael Ryder to turn into and are still waiting for Guillame Latendresse to turn into.
But Tanguay has size with speed and hands. In all honesty, the Canadiens led the NHL in goals WITHOUT Michael Ryder scoring his usual 30 goals. If Tanguay comes in and takes that gaping spot in the roster which Ryder did not fill this season then the Canadiens have more punch scoring up front.
3 months ago
last season, tanguay had 18 goals. ryder had 14 goals kostitsyn had 9 goals. if we assume that ryder scored half his goals on the first line and half after he got demoted then montreal got 16 goals from their first line left wing. tanguay scored 18, that's an improvement of 2 goals.
if you say to me well, tanguay had an off year and normally scores 25-30 then i would say the same about Ryder. granted tanguay is a far far better playmaker than Ryder, but tanguay has had two 50 goal MVP scorers as linemates in Iginla and Sakic. i don't think that Tanguay can turn Higgins into a 40 goal scorer.
i have tanguay listed at 6'0" 180 and ryder and kostitsyn both at 6'0" 190. by up the middle, i was referring to the center position. montreal has two of the smaller scoring centers in the league and matches up poorly size wise against pittsburgh, philadelphia and ottawa.
Sundin is 50lbs heavier and 7" taller than Koivu. He would make Montreal bigger up the middle.
it is a fallacy to think that Ryder's 30 goals were not replaced already last season. Ryder scored more goals per even strength minute of ice time than last season. He just got less ice time. He scored fewer goals on the powerplay, because Montreal's powerplay strategy changed. When Souray was taking big slapshots, it drew the defense closer to the nets and gave Ryder more room to shoot. With Streit being more of a finesse guy, the defense took a lot of the room away from Ryder and so the powerplay went through Kovalev. The style changed and Ryder became less integral to the powerplay. It's not like Ryder stopped trying or played poorly. It's just that he wasn't sufficiently skilled to adapt to a new system, so other players took over his responsibilities.
Tanguay has never been the primary goal scorer on his line. To me, the question is will he be comfortable in that role on this team or does Montreal need to get him a goal scoring center like Sundin in order to be effective. A Tanguay Sundin Higgins line sounds pretty amazing to me.
3 months ago
Thanks for your comments guys. Sam, you have great insight, looking forward to when you write an atrticle yourself.
While I tend to see things more with Matt's view, Sam, your points are also very valid. My article however, was not on the gritty, power forward we actually do still need (I alluded to that in my last line when I mentionned Sundin, but that's a whole other artcile in itself.
All I was trying to say, is that I feel Montreal is a better team this year with Tanguay on the team and Ryder off it. I am not a Ryder hater. I was actually very verbal during the year regarding Ryder and how he was going to get out of his slump...eventually... The guy, as Tanguay was in Calgary, was no longer interested in being here.regardless of the reasons. and it showed on and off the ice. Sam, you alluded to the fact that Tanguay's 5+ million should have been motivation enough for him to play well. I don't think I have enought time or space to write down the number of players that forgot the value of the money they were getting when they were just no longer happy where they were and felt like the odd man out... it happens to us, it happens to them.
I really feel that the move will be good for Tanguay and I'll leave the line juggling to Carbo, so let's not speculate who he will be playing with before we start asking him to turn certain players int 40 goal scorers. Depending on how the rest of the off season goes, there are still lots of things that can happen. I will say this though, I agree that we should be looking at getting an experienced back-up goalie to give Price that "been there, done that" feeling. We also have to get those calculators out in order to fit Sundin (if it happens as it seems Sundin has his eye on the Rangers...), Kosti, O'byrne, Gorges and Halak under the cap, if we do in fact want to sign them all.... We should be fine, unless we get into a bidding war for that ever elusive Impact player, come July 1st.
3 months ago
all fair points Nick. i also like Ryder and i agree that tanguay is the better player. tanguay was not happy in calgary but i think he gave a very solid effort. i think that tanguay helps the habs as a french star who has won a cup. but, he is not the difference maker.
if montreal can finally get that impact player, they will be a force. my point is that tanguay is not the difference maker and gainey's work is not yet done. getting negotiating rights to sundin was a great move.
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