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He still has to take a physical before the deal is finalized. From ESPN-
Alex Tanguay is off the market.
The sought-after free-agent forward has agreed to a one-year deal with the Tampa Bay Lightning worth $2.5 million, a source told ESPN.com’s Pierre LeBrun.
“We’re pretty happy he is with the Lightning and he’s looking forward to giving his best,” Tanguay’s agent David Ettedgui told the St. Petersburg Times
Though a separated shoulder sidelined him for most of last season, Tanguay finished with 16 goals and 25 assists in 50 games.
Lightning GM Brian Lawton told the Times that Tanguay was “the guy we wanted.”
“It’s a chance for him to play with some really high-end, high-skill players, which we think he is,” Lawton told the newspaper. “And we think together, it should be a nice combination.”
Nice combination, but does it really improve Tampa? The Lightning had a horrible 2008-09 season. They were weak at defensemen, average at best at goalie, and other than their front line, mediocre when it came to scoring. Tampa needs a whole lot more than Alex Tanguay to make it back to the playoffs and I don’t see that happening at the end of the 2009-10. Tanguay on the other hand is free to move on to his next sucker team.
The upcoming schedule was released yesterday. Right away I noticed something interesting. Florida has a home and home series with Nashville.
Nov 28 and Mar 29 are when the Panthers and Predators play next season.
What I find interesting is- Florida is playing Nashville home and home for the second straight season. In 2008-09, the Panthers and Predators played on November 1st and December 23rd.
In light of the way the NHL season is set up, namely that any Eastern or Western conference team plays only play 3 home and homes in any season, Florida and Nashville shouldn’t meet home and home more than once every five years 15 western conference teams divided by 3 home and home series equals five.
Here’s a link to the 2009-10 schedule. Anyone have theories as to what happened here or am I off base?
This will be his second stint in New Jersey. From AP-
After six years without a Stanley Cup, the New Jersey Devils are handing over the team to the coach who led them to their first NHL title.
Jacques Lemaire, who coached the Devils for five seasons in the mid 1990s and led them to the Cup in 1995, is New Jersey’s coach again. He was hired on Monday, some five weeks after Brent Sutter resigned and eventually took over as coach of the Calgary Flames.
“I never thought I would be back,” the 63-year-old Lemaire said in a conference call. “I said at that time when I was leaving after five years, and it was five great years, I wanted to cherish this for the rest of my life and the rest of my career, but I never thought one day I would come back.”
The deal reunites Lemaire with general manager and president Lou Lamoriello and goaltender Martin Brodeur, the combination that turned that Devils from a contender to a champion in 1995.
“Jacques Lemaire is one of the most respected coaches in the game,” Lamoriello said. “He is a teacher and a communicator, and knows what it takes to have success.”
The Devils also won Stanley Cups in 2000 and 2003, but they have not come close in recent years. They were eliminated in the opening round of the playoffs the past two seasons under Sutter.
Lemaire has been a very successful coach in the NHL. His Minnesota Wild teams had a very distinct style of play. Will Lemaire try to force the same system on the Devils? New Jersey has much more offensive punch than the Wild ever had. I think Lemaire will adapt to the personnel he will have in New Jersey. The Devils are good enough to make the Stanley Cup finals again IMHO.
He is currently the Florida Panthers General Manager. From the Sun-Sentinel-
Panthers’ general manager Jacques Martin is leaving to become head coach of the Montreal Canadiens.
The Canadiens have scheduled a 2 p.m. press conference to introduce Martin.
Martin and Panthers’ owner Alan Cohen couldn’t be immediately reached for comment. This will be the third head coaching job for Martin, 56, who just finished his third season as the Panthers’ GM. Martin coached the team for three seasons before Cohen asked him to relinquish those duties last summer after the team again failed to reach the postseason.
Cohen asked Martin to stay on as GM, though, and Martin signed a contract, reportedly for four years. Before joining the Panthers, Martin spent eight-plus seasons as coach of the Ottawa Senators, leading them to the playoffs for eight consecutive seasons. He was fired after the 2003-04 season after another disappointing playoff exit.
The Canadiens desired Martin for several reasons. Along with being a French speaker, Martin is a defensive-minded coach, which fits the philosophy of the organization and its personnel. Martin also has extensive coaching experience and a strong relationship with Canadiens GM Bob Gainey.
Before I get to anything else, I’m a little disappointed by the Sun-Sentinel’s Steve Groten not knowing this is Martin’s 4th head coaching job, rather than his third. He led the St. Louis Blues for two years back in the 1980’s. In general Groten does the best job of any South Florida sports reporter of covering the Panthers.
I think Martin will fit in well at Montreal. His tenure in Florida was hamstrung from the beginning by the team’s front office. Alan Cohen has clearly shown he isn’t interested in building a contending hockey team then or now. As can be seen by the Jay Bouwmeester situation. The Panthers are about to lose the best defensemen in the NHL to free agency. Three years ago the team traded the league’s best goalie Roberto Luongo for garbage.
Bottom line on Jacques Martin- I wish him well in Montreal but suggest he don’t look too much at some of the advertising along the walls of the Bell Centre.
Assistant Florida GM Randy Sexton is likely to be Martin’s successor. The Panthers, who have many free agents this off season, are likely to be a middle of the road hockey team at best in 2009-10.
Zednik had been playing in the NHL since 1996. From the AP-
Florida Panthers forward Richard Zednik is leaving the NHL to join the Russian league.
Russian hockey club Lokomotiv of the KHL announced Thursday it has signed Zednik to a two-year contract.
Also Thursday, Zednik was named a finalist for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy, given in honor of the late Minnesota North Stars player. The award honors “the player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey.” The winner will be announced June 18 in Las Vegas.
Zednik had 17 goals in 70 games a season after his carotid artery was sliced by a teammate’s skate blade during a Feb. 10, 2008, game in Buffalo.
Zednik won’t be the last roster move for the Panthers this off season. The team has many unrestricted free agents, the most prominent of which is Jay Bouwmeester who I will be greatly surprised if he is still in a Panther uniform next season.
He is the only head coach in the franchise’s history. From AP-
The Wild have scheduled a news conference for Monday morning to make the news official and discuss plans for the future of the position.
“I think it’s time for the players to get a new coach and myself to look for other stuff,” Lemaire told writers from the Star Tribune of Minneapolis and the St. Paul Pioneer Press after the season finale at Columbus. “I always said there’ll be a time. There comes a time that you know it’s the right time to go, and I know this. I had a great time, man. I had eight great years.”
General manager Doug Risebrough hired his former Montreal teammate and good buddy Lemaire to preside over the expansion team, which began play in 2000. Lemaire used his superior strategic sense and defensive acumen to lead the team to the Western Conference finals in 2003 and to a Northwest Division title last season.
Lemaire was 291-256-107 with the Wild, including winning records in his last six seasons. Despite several significant injuries to Marian Gaborik, Brent Burns and Pierre-Marc Bouchard, the Wild barely missed the playoffs this season.
The 2008-09 season was a frustrating one for the Wild. While there is no disputing Lemaire built an expansion Minnesota into a competitive NHL team, I think he outlived his usefulness to the franchise.
Lemaire who previously coached New Jersey and Montreal may find head coaching work again. The turnover rate in the NHL is very high.
General Manager and former coach Bob Gainey will be standing behind the bench beginning tomorrow. From ESPN-
Guy Carbonneau was fired as coach of the struggling Montreal Canadiens, hockey’s most historic franchise that is in danger of missing the playoffs in its 100th season.
The timing of Monday’s move was a bit surprising because the Canadiens are currently in a playoff position and there are only 16 games left in the regular season.
General manager Bob Gainey, who handed the coaching duties over to Carbonneau three years ago, will return behind the bench when Montreal hosts Edmonton on Tuesday.
The Canadiens started Monday in fifth place in the Eastern Conference, but they were only two points above the postseason cutoff. What was supposed to be a season of celebration has turned into one of difficulty.
Montreal (35-24-7) went into a free fall in late January and February, losing 10 of 13. The Canadiens, 5-4-1 in their previous 10 games, won 3-1 at Dallas on Sunday in their last game with Carbonneau as coach.
Carbonneau officially became an NHL head coach for the first time on May 5, 2006, after serving as an associate to Gainey for the final 41 games of the 2005-06 season.
*****
In 230 games with the Canadiens over three seasons, Carbonneau was 124-83-23. He is the seventh NHL coach fired this season, and the fourth in five weeks.
Carbonneau had a good record in Montreal. He was a victim of the usual high expectations hockey fans have up there, and events out of his control. Like two players who have a relationship with a criminal and this is being probed by the NHL.
Montreal may have been slightly underperforming, but what proof is there that Gainey will change this?
He was suspended by his college hockey team two months ago. From AP-
Andrew Conboy, suspended by Michigan State this season for an attack on a Michigan player, signed a three-year contract with the Montreal Canadiens on Monday.
Conboy opted to turn pro with Hamilton of the AHL, Montreal’s top farm team, after he was suspended. The 6-foot-4, 200-pound left wing has one assist and four penalty minutes in seven games with the Bulldogs.
The 20-year-old Conboy and teammate Corey Tropp, a Buffalo Sabres prospect, were suspended for the rest of the regular season and the playoffs by the Spartans on Jan. 26 after an incident with less than 1 minute to play in a 5-3 loss to the Wolverines.
After Michigan’s Steve Kampfer knocked Tropp down with an open-ice hit, he was punched to the ice from behind by Conboy, and Tropp then swung his stick at the Anaheim prospect’s head. Kampfer was taken to hospital with a sprained neck, but there was no concussion.
This guy is an animal. I swung a hockey stick at a player’s neck. The NHL could have another Todd Bertuzzi in the making.
The trade brings him back to the NHL team he started his career with. From NHL.com-
Montreal Canadiens General Manager Bob Gainey announced today the acquisition of defenseman Mathieu Schneider from the Atlanta Thrashers, as well as a conditional draft pick from the Thrashers at the 2009 NHL Entry Draft, in return for a second-round pick at the 2009 draft (Anaheim’s pick previously acquired by the Canadiens from Washington) and a Canadiens third-round pick at the 2010 draft.
Schneider, a 20-season veteran, made his NHL debut with the Canadiens in 1987-88. The 39-year-old, New York City native recorded 717 points (216 goals, 501 assists) and posted a plus-63 rating in 1,241 NHL regular-season games, with Montreal, the New York Islanders, Toronto, the New York Rangers, Los Angeles, Detroit, Anaheim and Atlanta.
Schneider is a good journeyman defenseman, and I understand Montreal is trying to rev up for the playoffs, but I feel a 2nd round pick for a player about to turn 40 is an awful lot to give up.
The Florida Panthers played their 41st game of the NHL season last night. A 4-2 win over division rival Carolina Panthers. Before I make some comments, here are the standings
1 Boston Bruins Games played- 41 Record- 30-7-4 Points- 64
2 Washington Capitals 41, 27-11-3, 57
3 Philadelphia Flyers 41, 22-10-9, 53
4 Montréal Canadiens 40, 24-10-6, 54
5 New York Rangers 42, 24-15-3, 51
6 New Jersey Devils 40, 23-14-3, 49
7 Carolina Hurricanes 42, 21-16-5, 47
8 Buffalo Sabres 40, 20-15-5, 45
9 Florida Panthers 41, 19-16-6, 44
10 Pittsburgh Penguins 42, 20-18-4, 44
11 Toronto Maple Leafs 41, 16-19-6, 38
12 Atlanta Thrashers 42, 14-23-5, 33
13 Ottawa Senators 39, 13-20-6, 32
14 Tampa Bay Lightning 40, 11-19-10, 32
15 New York Islanders 42, 12-26-4, 28
First I can safely conclude the NY Islanders, Tampa Bay, Ottawa, and Atlanta are out of the playoff picture. Toronto faces a uphill battle, but I won’t count them out yet.
Look where Pittsburgh is only one year after making the Stanley Cup finals. What is going on up there? They recently had a five-game losing streak at home.
They aren’t the only recent memory Stanley Cup final team fallen on hard times. Ottawa who made it in the 06-07 looks to be re-building. How did anyone in Senator management think Alex Doug Auld and Martin Gerber were playoff quality goalies?
Tampa Bay has gotten out of the cellar. Two wins against Florida in late December helped. Will Rick Tocchet still be coaching next season?
Florida has its best record at the half way since the 1999-2000 season, or the last time they went to the playoffs. I had high hopes for Florida last year only to see them dashed. Could they make it this year?
Definitely. The teams immediately ahead of them are beatable. If Florida sneaks in as the 7th or 8th seed, they are most likely to get buzz sawed by Boston or Montreal.(Though Florida does have a good record against Goalie Tim Thomas and are the only NHL team with a lifetime winning record against the Canadians. )
Some miscellaneous Florida notes-
Their defensemen have scored more goals than any other team in the Eastern Conference
Florida has gained at least 1 pt in every game Gregory Campbell has scored in.
Yesterday’s game marked just the 3rd time ever Florida went without a penalty in a game.
Tomas Vokoun now has 201 career wins as a goalie.
Florida has a very good goalie at Rochester that the name eludes me. Would Florida consider a deal for Craig Anderson and bring up the rookie before the season ends? Anderson is a free agent at the end of the year and not expected to be back.
Florida signed a multi-year agreement with Fox Sports Florida which as a result have more Panther games on television.(I got NHL Center Ice too, so I rarely miss a game unless there is no television at all) That’s good news. Now I would like FSN to stop showing upcoming programming promos while play is happening on ice. Those idiotic spinning pucks fill 1/8th of the television screen and often interfere with watching play. Every time I see this crap I feel like screaming at the television.
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