Hablinks

• The Ottawa Senators really wanted Mike Cammalleri but settled for Alexei Kovalev instead.
• HNIC feature on Brian Gionta.
• Habs and Hawks in Original Six cup final?
• NHLPA feature on Hal Gill.
• Waazzuup Halak!
• Kirk Muller is head coach material.
• A retrospective on Habs- Flyers history.
• Another Georges Laraque commercial. 

Offseason Update

In an interview at the combine with La Presse today, Bob Gainey shed some light on his offseason activity so far this summer. That being that there is no activity, and that not much should be expected until the club is sold.

Gainey said that he has been in touch with Montreal's pending free agents, but that actual negotiations have not taken place with any of those players. This would appear to conflict with reports of Kovalev receiving a ludicrous contract offer for next year.

When asked about the Canadiens being in different hands next season, Gainey replied, "It is my understanding that there will be new owners." The Habs GM acknowledged that having new ownership may influence what direction the club takes when signing free agents and deciding on a new head coach.

$6 Million And The "C"!?!

Reports out of Russia are saying Saku Koivu is definitely out, and Montreal is offering Alexei Kovalev $6 million and the captaincy for the 2009-2010 season. Koivu may very well be done with the Canadiens, and Kovalev hopefully will be back, but there are a few things wrong with this picture.

First of all, $6 million, are you freakin' kidding me! No chance. Kovalev is an amazing talent, but he's gonna be 37 soon, and if NHL players were stocks, he'd be far and away the most volatile thing on the market.

Secondly, the captaincy has traditionally been voted on by the players, not used as ammo in contract negotiations. I'm not saying Kovalev shouldn't be the captain next year if Koivu leaves. He played some of his best games wearing the "C" when Koivu was out last year, but I highly doubt Bob Gainey would include it in a contract.

Thirdly, teams that are up for sale tend not to make huge risky contract offers to UFAs. Prospective owners could frown upon large contracts being offered to aging, enigmatic, one-dimensional players, who can be invisible on the ice some nights.

Kovalev's stats for 2008-2009: 26 goals, 65 points, -5.

Would anyone offer these guys $6 million? Probably not.

Devin Setoguchi- 31 goals, 65 points, +16

Derek Roy- 28 goals, 70 points, -5

Alex Ponikarovsky- 23 goals, 61 points, +5