Canadiens acquire Lang
Lang to Montreal in exchange for a 2nd round pick in 2010 going back to Chicago. What can the 37 year old Lang bring to the Habs? I would say about 20-25 goals and about 50-60 points. Lang scored 21 goals and 54 points in 76 games with the Blackhawks last year. But he could put up more points with a higher talent base in Montreal. 2 years ago in Detroit he scored 20 goals and 62 points in 72 games. The year before that (2003-04) he scored 29 goals and 74 points in 63 games with the Capitals. His career stats can be found here.
The Habs also resigned Patrice Brisebois today. I don't know how much Brisebois will make, but I do know he was making $700,000 last season. Lang will make $4 million this season and then become an unrestricted free agent next summer. Tack about $4.7 million onto the Canadiens' cap spending and that should put them around the $54.8 million mark.
What does that say about what Bob Gainey thinks about the chances of landing Sundin? He made his move NOW and is moving on. Of course, Lang could always be traded later on, but I doubt it.
Lang is a natural center, so Montreal is deep down the middle: Koivu, Plekanec, Higgins, Lang, Lapierre..pretty solid. Is Lang the #3 center then? Yeesh.
Lang is another one of those guys though.....great Olympic success for his Czech homeland, but no Stanley Cup. Playoff numbers aren't that spectacular either. But hey, who's to say, right?
Montreal is looking really good as a contender right now. Can they handle that label? We shall see. Kudos to Bob Gainey for being aggressive.
T Tags: Blackhawks+trade+Robert+Lang+to+Canadiens
Labels: Blackhawks, Canadiens, Trades
2 Comments:
Sean - The Gazette is reporting today that the Habs have dropped their pursuit of Sundin. This is the right thing to do and is what the Canucks should do. It's embarrassing the Vancouver franchise for no good reason besides keeping up the fiction that Gillis can make deals that matter. He can't.
Quote:
"It's not been a roller-coaster at all," Gainey said of the team's pursuit of Sundin, a view probably not shared by those fans who have figured the former Maple Leafs captain was a lock to come here, given the Canadiens' exclusive if brief negotiating rights secured in June and simmering discussions.
"At no time did I have any feeling that we had (Sundin) locked up, or anyone else did. It's been a very distant kind of communication. Frustration hasn't really been part of it. We've developed a priority and had we been able to entice Mats Sundin to come back to play with us, we would have done that as early as June.
"In the meantime, we developed backup plans and decided today to move on that rather than continue along a course that didn't seem was going to be fruitful."
Yeah, I know. The Sundin story has had one constant: That Sundin needed to make up his mind if he wanted to play first before he would choose the right team.
I think Gillis is not much different than Gainey on the Sundin front. The big difference here is who the fuck wants to play in Vancouver? Who can Gillis attract here? Not many.
He'll go into the season with what he's got and go the trade route if need be.
I think Sundin will return to the LEafs only if they are pushing for a playoff spot. Aside from that...it's anybody's guess. If any team has to make up their mind on Sundin right now, it's the Rangers, who have Shanahan in limbo waiting. I hear that Sather is giving Sundin a deadline of this coming Tuesday to pick Broadway or else he's moving on as well.
The Habs and Canucks are on 2 different pages. The Habs are Cup Contenders and the Canucks would be Cinderella. Gainey had to make the Lang deal. Gillis can and should be more patient IMO.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home