Let’s start with the players:

Who’s been great this year:

1.-Kyle Quincey, one of my personal favorites of this year, in Detroit he was a nobody (not because he didn’t play hard, but because the star filled defense of the Red Wings limited his ice time), if you read my article after the Red Wings won the Cup, you’ve might have seen that I sort of saw this one coming.

2.- Milan Lucic, If someone asked you one year ago, who is Milan Lucic? more than half of us wouldn’t have known what the hell were you talking about. This has been the Boston Bruins year (even if San Jose is higher than them on the overall Standings), all because players like Lucic have been clicking for their team (as a matter of fact I could also have chosen half of the roster, but Lucic has become one of my favorites this year)

3.-Patrick Kane, maybe one of the most predictable picks for this year, after all he’s been one of the brightest stars of the Blackhawks roster, when I look at how this guy and Jonatan Toews have changed the Blackhawks from a bottom of the standings team to a top team in the west makes me forsee a great future for the Franchise.

4.-Zach Parise.- No Brodeur = No Playoffs? Ask this guy! He’s been the most valuable Devil on the roster, his offensive explosion has given hope to a team that after the Brodeur injury was supposedly out of the playoffs.

Who’s been not so great this year:

1.- Marian Gaborik, I must say it’s not a 100 percent his fault, but he was going to be one of the “players to watch” this season as he will become a UFA, but still this guy played less than 15 games for the Wild, a team that was hoping to sign him long term or deal him at the deadline. Good luck trying to deal a guy on the long term injury list! It’s a shame because he’s a natural goal scorer.

2.- Chris Osgood I must say one of my favorite players, he’s led my favorite team to two cups (I’m not counting 1997 because it was Mike Vernon not Chris Osgood in goal), but this year he’s been not so great.

3.- Alexei Kovalev.- A point per game guy that just isn’t producing as much as last year, but then again he usually is a second half of the season guy

4.-Vinny Lecavalier, a franchise player that’s just in the middle of a franchise in conflict, in my personal point of view it’s not his fault, he just has no chemistry with his current roster, maybe the Lightning should shake things up for him or the roster (let the debate continue).

On teams I’ve got two choices on great:

San Jose: who would have imagined last summer that after just adding Rob Blake and Dan Boyle this team would be this Good! It really makes me wonder, can Ron Wilson take you all the way to a Stanley Cup?

Boston Bruins: WHAT A CHANGE! In just one year, they went from the 8th spot on the east to leading the east, it’s amazing! Everything is clicking for a team that was “lost” without Joe Thorton

On bad teams:

Ottawa: What the hell happened? Nothing is clicking, and unless Bryan Murray accepts it and shakes things up NOW things will probably go worse.

Dallas : Is one player that much a difference? Sean Avery’s prescence aparently destroyed a team that was supposed to go deep into playoffs.

Mark Streit, he has some potential, but failed to show up for many games in the post season. Yes he had a couple of good games, but for the salary that he will demand next season, is it really worth it? Streit is a good puck mover, and has a good shot from the point, but he didn’t use it much, and had a hard time against the bigger teams he faced in the play-offs.

The power-play, what in the world happened? Well teams figured out that Andrei Markov always passes the puck to Alex Kovalev, and shut that lane off, then it was to Streit, and teams shut that lane off too, so the power-play was almost non existent.

Carey Price, well, unfortunately he showed that he is still a rookie, he did win his first play-off series, and made some spectacular saves, but also was rattled and let in some cheap goals. Price is only twenty years old, and will rebound from this, he gained valuable experience in the post season, and will have to work on his glove side high holes, although there are unconfirmed reports that he was a little injured as well. Look, you see in this kid that he has the potential to be great, this was a stepping stone, or a learning curve, so do be too hard on him.

Basically the team in the series against the Philadelphia Flyers, out played played the other team, they couldn’t finish. What the Habs needed and need for next season is for Guillaume Latendresse to play like the player he is supposed to be, or to get a player like Milan Lucic, and perhaps if, and only time will tell, if the Habs don’t have gritty decent size forwards in Hamilton, which they do, then they will have to acquire a few. Along with possibly inquiring about Jeff Carter, he would be a good centre for the Habs. The forwards that don’t hit, meaning the scorers, did their job, they got points, perhaps too little, too late in the game, but they did it anyways, you can’t fault them. The fourth line however, was atrocious, and will have to be much better next season.

All the Habs need is a good power forward, and a couple of good gritty players to help Tom Kostopolous, and Steve Begin in the hitting department, as more defense-men are coming up, and they know how to hit. This post season was not a let down as the Canadiens were fore-casted to not make the play-offs, so the team should sort of be happy, however next year is the centennial, and all the media in hockey will be in Montreal, if the Habs don’t want to look like chumps, then they will have to take what they hopefully learned and apply it next season.

They out-played the Flyers, but didn’t get any lucky bounces, but at least they were not dominated, something to look forward to. Let’s hope that Price has a great rebound year next year, and leads the Habs further in the post season.

Flash, and dash, that’s right, flash, and dash. The Canadiens showed through-out the regular season that they have skill, and great passing, and that they are a fast skating team, unfortunately, that rarely goes anywhere in the play-offs, unless a team has more than two players who can hit on a consistent basis. The problem is that when only an injured Mike Komisarek, and Francis Bouillon, and also a slightly injured Roman Hamrlik are doing most of your team’s hitting, you have a problem. When those players are not injured, they can put the hurt on, and make you feel like you got hit by a truck, even little Bouillon’s hits hurt, but when they are hurt, and doing 90% of the hitting, it means that the rest of your team has issuses.

Where was Maxim Lapierre? Lapierre played decent against the Boston Bruins, decent, but then almost disappeared in the Philadelphia Flyers series. Where did he go? For someone of good size to play hockey, what did he bring to the Habs, besides his speed, I’ve never seen someone hit the glass so much, it’s like he wanted it to seem like he hit someone, but was afraid that people were going to put a contract out on him. Lapierre has speed, and good size, so he should be good on the fore-check, unfortunately he prefered hitting the glass rather than a body. Lapierre had a marginal face-off rating, so what was wrong with putting in a Gregory Stewart, who showed that he can play the style required of a third, or fourth line player? Lapierre will have stiff competition next training camp, he might go back to the Hamilton Bulldogs for the second year in a row, this time he might not get called back!

Mathieu Dandenault, this player has to be bought out of the final year of his contract. Last season was abysmal as a defence-man, and this year he almost saw as much of the press box as he did the ice. Once again he was put in the press box due to the fact that he wasn’t doing much, as usual, to be replaced by Guillaume Latendresse. Hopefully the Habs will buy Dandenault’s contract out, and we won’t have to hear him not being happy.

What happened to Brian Smolinski? he was pretty good against the Bruins, and in the first game in the Philly series, then he also made a disappearing act. He is someone else that shouldn’t be back with the team next year, he’s a nice guy, but you know what they say about those. He did what he could, but it wasn’t enough, and he doesn’t have many seasons left in him to say he will do better next year. The Habs should thank him for what he brought but they won’t be re-signing him next season, his money could be put to other use.

Michael Ryder, who’s that? Oh yeah, he’s the guy who took his benching in the play-offs lightly, and was busy making paper airplanes in the press box instead of studying the other team. Well, he had a really bad year, and was un-noticable in the post season, now one could say, one bad season, but the previous three were good, and that he still has time to rebound. Yes he does, but the plane thing pretty much killed him in most people’s eyes in Montreal. His almost three million dollar salary could also go elsewhere, sorry Mike, but bye!

So far, we have Ryder making almost three million, Dandenault making 1.7, and Smolinski making 2 million, right there the Habs have 4.7 million that they could use for something else.

Guillaume Latendresse, this guy is still young, and the Habs brought him up too fast, he should have played a couple of years in Hamilton, and maybe he should play at least one year there. Latendresse could be a Milan Lucic, without the speed as Latendresse has none. Guillaume has the size, and the hands to be a power forward, but he doesn’t do what he needs to in order to have success, he can’t skate fast, so then he should either be in front of the net, or drive towards the net, and crash in the corners to make defense-men cringe when they see him. On him I wouldn’t give up just yet, with Ryder most likely gone, it could be Guillaume’s last chance on a top line in Montreal. The coaches have to tell him to drive hard to the net, and crash, or else he will either go back to Hamilton, or be traded. Latendresse has potential, being on the third, and fourth lines this year but still managed to score over 15 goals. If he is trained the right way, Latendresse could be a dominate power forward, but will he be? I think his last chance is coming, if he doesn’t pan out next season, he won’t like the out-come.

Tom Kostopolous, he deserves another stint with the Canadiens. He was out of gas after game two of the Philly series, can you blame him? Along with Steve Begin, and Saku Koivu, Kostopolous was the only forward delivering hits and making things happen during the Habs post season, hello, is there anyone else? Kostopolous I would sign for two years, he deserves it.

Saku Koivu, what do you say about someone small who plays big? Koivu did his job and more since coming in mid-way through the Bruins series, he scored, assisted and hit some people, basically he was trying to lead by example, which few followed, be it because of injury, or lack of effort, too bad, Koivu should go far in the play-offs as he has been with the team the longest, and has endured the media in all his years here.

More to come in part 2.

The scorers for the Habs were, Mike Komisarek, from Alex Kovalev, and Saku Koivu, then Mark Streit, from Maxim Lapierre, and Kovalev, then Andrei Kostitsyn, from Sergei Kostitsyn, and Roman Hamrlik, the fourth goal was scored by Andrei Kostitsyn, from Patrice Brisebois, and lastly Sergei Kostitsyn, from Andrei Kostitsyn, and Tomas Plekanec. Carey Price made 25 saves for the shut-out.

This was the real Habs, the Habs of the regular season, the Habs that took a 2-0 lead in the first two minutes of game no.1. Where had they been hiding all this time? The Boston Bruins didn’t stop all game long, but Carey Price was spectacular on many occasions, Price made some exciting saves at opportune times, even though the Habs scored 5 goals, it was the Price show tonight, most likely a little disgusted at the fact that he let in 5 goals in each of the last two games.

The whole team played well, even Sergei Kostitsyn who once again got a couple of un-timely penalties, played well. Sergei got hit hard on the boards and had to go get some stitches, but came back and played well. The rest of the team played well too, but for the few times that the team was lacking some defensive zone coverage, Price was there to prevent the Bruins from getting any momentum.

If the Canadiens played like that all series, it would have been over in 5 games maximum. Boston’s light for the future is Milan Lucic, what a thorn in the sides of the Habs, but a good player. Yes the young factor had something to do with the fact that the Habs didn’t play well for a few games, but they prevailed, this time. Let the kids go out and celebrate tonight, and let the team breathe for a few days, no hard practices, let the bumps and bruises heal, and let Saku Koivu, and Francis Bouillon completely heal.

The Canadiens did almost everything right, they blocked shots, scored a power-play goal, and didn’t stop when they got the lead, of course Price helped, especially during the penalty-kill. Once again the referees made some bum calls, and let many penalties slip by, but it didn’t hamper the Habs tonight.

The Habs won this series, but await the winner of the Philadelphia Flyers, and Washington Capitals series which after the Caps won tonight, is tied 3-3, if the Flyers win, then the Habs would play them in the next round, if the Caps win, the Habs would play the New York Rangers. Although I think that the Habs have a better chance to get to the Conference Championship if they play the Flyers, I don’t think that they want to chose their opponents. It doesn’t matter who the Habs play, as long as the whole team shows up every game, and they play their style, they can beat anyone in the east.

Koivu, and Bouillon returned in game no.6, even though they are not healed completely, Koivu who won over 70% of his face-offs in both games, and was key in certain plays, helped the Habs give the Bruins something they didn’t plan for. Bouillon played decent, but more to the point, he gave the Habs another veteran on the blue-line, for which Andrei Markov could take a breather. Guy Carbonneau wore his ugly lucky tie, I’m starting to like that tie.

So the Habs wait for another day to see who they will face, Flyers, or Rangers. As long as the whole team plays, it doesn’t matter. Congratulations, it took longer than everyone thought, hopefully adversity will help the young kids get back to earth, and bond the team even more.

The Scoring for the Habs went like this, Chris Higgins, from Saku Koivu, then Tomas Plekanec from Steve Begin, following that was Francis Bouillon, from Josh Gorges, and Sergei Kostitsyn, lastly Chris Higgins from Saku Koivu, and Sergei Kostitsyn. Carey Price made 31 saves in the loss.

The Bruins scoring was Phil Kessel, from Marc Savard, and Shane Hnidy, then Vladimir Sobotka, from Peter Shaefer, and Denis Wideman, next was Milan Lucic, from Arron Ward, and Marc Savard, then Phil Kessel, from Marco Sturm, and David Krejci, and lastly Marco Sturm, from David Krejci, and Zdeno Chara. Tim Thomas made 31 saves for the win.

When Saku Koivu won all his face-offs in the first period, and assisted on Chris Higgin’s goal, it seemed as though the Real Habs were back. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. Andrei Markov continues to struggle, one could see that Bouillon doesn’t have his timing back yet, and the effortless performance of the Habs was appalling. Yes they scored 4 goals, but the checking line had one, or two good shifts all game, and the other lines, well…. When the third period started, the Habs were pinned down in their own zone for a few minutes, result, a goal. The Canadiens are having so much trouble clearing their zone, and keeping it in the Bruins zone.

The Bruins showed once again that they want it more than the Habs do, are the Canadiens even thinking about this series, or perhaps in what hot sunny place they will be playing golf next week! Koivu played well, winning most of his face-offs, and having a couple of assists, not bad for someone who started skating three days ago. Bouillon was fine half way through the second period, but what can you expect from two players coming back from injuries? I think that they at least played well considering.

It was a nail biter all the way, every time the Canadiens scored, the Bruins replied not too long after, there was some good hits from both teams, and the goalies were excellent even with the score. I think that perhaps the Habs should look at themselves in the mirror on Sunday, and decide what they want to do after Monday, play golf, or play hockey. The momentum is squarely with the Bruins, and there is the possibility that Patrice Bergeron comes back for game 7 on Monday, like the Bruins needed more motivation.

Well it’s do or die for the Habs on Monday at the Bell Centre, the Canadiens have home ice advantage through-out the Eastern Conference play-offs, meaning all game seven’s well be at the Bell Centre, but if they don’t screw their heads on right, Tuesday will be clean out your lockers day, and Wednesday the team will be dissected by every media source there is, and let’s not forget the fans. There is no reason for a game 7 against the Bruins, yes, yes, the play-offs is another story, but the Habs should have been done with this series on Thursday, now they face elimination as well. Where is the no.1 team in the East? Well they had better show up on Monday, or they will replace the Ottawa Senators on the front page of all hockey magazines this month.

The goal scorers for the Habs were, Andrei Markov, unassisted, and Andrei Kostitsyn, from Mark Streit, and Tomas Plekanec, Saku Koivu scored a beautiful goal in the shoot-out to get the victory for the Habs. Carey Price stopped 33 of 35 shots he faced. The Bruins scorers were Marc Savard, from Zdeno Chara, and Dennis Wideman, and lastly, Petteri Nokelainen, from Mark Stuart, and Milan Lucic.

This was a game of mistakes for the most part from both teams, but both goalies made some amazing saves all night, it made for an interesting game never the less. Tim Thomas for the Bruins made some great saves that would have made the Canadiens win by at least a three goal margin. Steve Begin came back to the line-up tonight and hit a few Bruins, and got into a fight, so did Maxime Lapierre. The Habs have now defeated the Bruins 11 straight games, including last year, it wil be interesting to see if the two teams meet up in the play-offs.

The best line for the Habs was the Koivu line, all game they buzzed around the net, I guess it’s only fitting that Koivu was the one who won the game for them. The defence scrambled a little with the loss of Mike Komisarek, they couldn’t find a real rhythm until the third period.

The Canadiens now have 94 points, one more than the Pittsburgh Penguins to sit on top of the east, and are now 5 points up over Ottawa in their division. The Habs now have 6 games remaining, the next week looks like this, Monday against the Senators, Friday against the Buffalo Sabres, Saturday against the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Habs still need 3 wins out of their last six games to really solidify a good spot in the play-offs, let’s hope that the loss of Komisarek won’t prevent them from going at least .500 for the rest of the season.

The New Jersey Devils were one of the teams trying to acquire Smith, but weren’t willing to meet the Flyers’ demands.

Expectations are the Smith will become a free agent and sign with the Devils in the summer.

Despite injuries to two of their blueliner, Chuck Gormley of the Courier Post Online reports that the Flyers will not call-up defenseman Denis Gauthier from their AHL affiliate team.

Gauthier would have to pass through waivers in order to be promoted to the big club, meaning teams could claim him at half the cost of his $2.1 million salary. Since the Flyers would be on the hook for the other half, it’s unlikely they will go through with it.

If Pittsburgh Penguins pending restricted free agent forward Evgeni Malkin demand a contract worth an average of between $9-10 million per season, John Buccigross of ESPN.com suggests the club should consider trading him.

The Washington Post’s Tarik El-Bashir reports that it remains unclear which of the Washington Capitals’ three deadline acquisitions, namely goalie Cristobal Huet, and forwards center Sergei Fedorov and Matt Cooke, will be back with the club next season.

All three are pending UFAs.

According to The Boston Globe’s Fluto Shinzawa, Tampa Bay Lightning GM Jay Feaster’s next move will be to get Vincent Lecavalier’s name on a multi-year contract extension.

Lecavalier, who can become a UFA after next season, will undoubtedly look for as big a raise as he can get. And if that is too much for the Lightning to accept, Lecavalier could end up being “the most highly pursued UFA-to-be” before next year’s trade deadline.

Shinzawa also reports that the Ottawa Senators are negotiating a contract extension with pending RFA forwards Chris Kelly and Antoine Vermette, as well as Andrej Meszaros, all of which due for substantial raises.

Forward Chris Neil, who becomes a UFA after next season, could also be in line for a raise on his $1.1 million average salary.

A UFA this summer, defenseman Wade Redden will also need to be re-signed. However, he may be too expensive for the Senators.

One way that Senators GM Bryan Murray can clear some payroll by trading enigmatic goalie Ray Emery, if he can find a team to take him.

Lastly from Shinzawa, he reports that a number of teams have called the Boston Bruins to inquire about the availability of forward Milan Lucic.