Sunday, November 05, 2006

Roy, Gretzky and ...

Next weekend, we will see Patrick Roy's hockey career come full circle when he is inducted in to the Hall of Fame. Like him or not, he deserves his spot in the hall among the greats that have played the game. I'm wondering if the league arranged to have the Montreal Canadiens play the Leafs on what is called the Hall of Fame weekend. The official induction will take place on Monday, November 13th.

If my memory serves me right, this will be the first time Roy will be on the same ice as his former team without his former Colorado teammates. Only two players on the actual habs edition were around when Roy played his final games with the Canadiens in 1995-96. Captain Saku Koivu, was in his rookie season when Roy was still in Montreal, I think Rivet was there also, but was a fill in from time to time at the time.

He will though have a chance to exchange some good memories with former teammates, Guy Carbonneau, Kirk Muller and Habs Gm, Bob Gainey, who was team captain in his rookie season and won the cup in 1986. Could this be the first step to welcome Roy back into the Habs family and put to rest the way he had left eleven years ago. That will be Patrick's decision if he wants to make the next move towards that, The Habs President, Pierre Boivin has mentionned, that Roy was more than welcome to comeback when he feels comfortable to do so. Stay tuned !

The Coyotes fans are not happy campers, and they are pointing fingers at Wayne Gretzky, the Head Coach. Is Gretzky's inexperience as a coach starting to show, and things will get worse before they get better ? It seems to be showing it's ugly head. As we know, the great one has been known to surround himself with friends and be loyal towards them, that's fine outside the rink, but in the dressing room it's not something that will help team chemistry. Last season, the Gretzky effect worked for awhile, but faded as the season went along, and it's light has gone out. I think that Gretzky should step down in the best interest of the team.

It seems that the cap limit could be coming down next season, not in dragstic way, but will come down, I would say at about 42M and stay there for the remainder of the life of the CBA. Teams that went wild on free agents in 2005 and 2006, could feel the pinch and be forced to dump some salaries, espacially the big contracts. Example, Martin St.Louis in Tampa Bay could hit the market, but it takes two to trade.

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