Dear Mr.Gainey,
Hope your summer plans are going well. It's almost draft time, then free agent season...exciting!
As a life-long Habs' fan, I have a small request for you as you plan our team's future. Please, please, if you have any regard for the team you've built over the last several years, don't sign Marian Hossa this summer.
Yes, I know Hossa is a good, even great player. He's smart, fast, has a good shot and defensive awareness. But he's not clutch. Our team has proven it can win in the regular season. They finished first in the conference this year. What they need is a playoff winner. They need a guy who can find a way to get that goal when the team is down by one with a minute to go. They need the guy who will sacrifice his body to go to the net and deflect Kovalev's shot. Watching Hossa in the playoffs...he's not that guy.
Hossa will command a LOT of dough this year. He'll be looking to set himself up for life...seven or eight million a year for five to seven years...and there are plenty of takers. But, Bob, please don't be one of them.
Signing Hossa would mean less money to keep the Kostitsyns, Plekanec, Komisarek, Price, Higgins, Koivu, Kovalev...you get the picture. He'd be nice on Koivu's wing, no question about it. But if Koivu gets hurt, who fills that spot? Right. Bob, you need a centre. You need Mats Sundin. So, if you need to bring in a big name to make fans happy and show your committment to pushing the team over the top in its centennial year, spend the money...whatever it takes...to bring Sundin to Montreal.
He's big, he's strong, he's a gamebreaker, and he'd instantly change the complexion of the team for the better. I know his instinct will be to run to Detroit and win a Cup. But Bob, if money will do it, spend the money. If he wants to date your daughter, ask her to help you out. This team needs a big, strong, gamebreaking centre, and Sundin's the one who fits the bill.
I'll leave it in your hands, Bob. You know what to do. I'm only worried you don't know what NOT to do. So, just to refresh, do NOT sign Hossa. That would be a grave, grave error on your part. Worse than signing Briere would have been.
Sincerely,
A concerned Habs' fan.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
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2 comments:
I would love having Mats Sundin. He is one of the few players I firmly believe would push us over the top and into Cup contender status. He's the big physical center we've needed for years. Who else could fill the need? Jagr? Shanahan? It's really hard convincing my friends and fellow Habs fans that Mats is a good fit. He bleeds Blue and White. Is there any Swedish-Finnish animosity between him and Koivu?
Can I sign too?
Although I'm not sure Sundin still has a lot of life left... maybe this season was a fluke? I'm willing to take the chance though - but not for 7 mil, and not for more than a year. Because I'd much rather sign Komo and Higgy and all our other young guns who will need extensions soon.
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