Habs fans surprise me sometimes

I know I should never be shocked when I read a Montreal Canadiens fan forum, but there are still lots of things that surprise me.

Seriously, wouldn’t Milan Lucic look good in a Habs uniform?

Recently, I posted on a Habs Facebook group, asking who is one person you would never want to see play for the Habs.

I chose Brad Marchand. Habs fans hated Mike Ribeiro and his diving ways. I couldn’t imagine they would support Marchand and his diving ways (plus his cheap shots).

Some made sense. Sean Avery and Matt Cooke (even though the first is now retired and the second has cleaned up his act).

Some choices had a personal feel. My buddy Dave hasn’t forgiven Martin Brodeur from scoring an empty net goal a decade or so ago. One guy never forgave Andrew Ference for giving the Habs fans the middle finger during a playoff game a couple of years back.

I can buy the reasons if it’s personal. But I was floored by some of the other answers.

Here was the rest of the list: Milan Lucic, Ruslan Fedotenko, Zdeno Chara, Alexander Ovechkin, Henrik Lundqvist, Scott Hartnell and Shane Doan.

None of these choices make any sense to me.

Let’s look at the list player by player.

Lucic: I don’t think there’s another NHL non-superstar player that Habs fans would love to have on their team more than Lucic. He’s pretty much everything the Habs need right now. He can hit, he can fight, he can score, he can intimidate, he can beat up Mike Komisarek with regularity. Basically, he’s the exact opposite of Rene Bourque. He would be treated like royalty by Canadiens fans.

Fedotenko: I’m just shocked that someone would think he’s the one person in the league they wouldn’t be able to cheer for.

Chara: Yeah, it would suck to have a guy on the team that gets nominated for the Norris trophy every single season. Habs fans would love Chara if he played for them.

Ovechkin: This is where the list really starts to get silly. A potential 60-goal scorer who likes to hit people and plays with passion? No room for someone like that on this team.

Lundqvist: I lime Price too. But if we had Lundqvist instead of Price, wouldn’t we cheer him?

Hartnell: Another guy who would be loved. He can hit, score, get under the skin of opposing players.

Doan: This only makes sense if people remember the frog comment he made a few years ago.

I realize a lot of these may be personal answers, but I can’t see anyone not cheering for Chara, Lucic, Ovechkin or Lundqvist if they played for Montreal.

What do you think? Who would you hate to see on the Habs?

10 overrated hockey pool picks

Yesterday, I listed 10 sleepers that can win you a hockey pool.

Zdeno Chara should not expect to get 40 points this year.

But bad drafting will take you out of a hockey pool pretty quickly. No amount of sleepers can make up for a three or four bad picks, or picking guys too early.

Below, in no particular order, you’ll find 10 overrated players when it comes to your pool this year.

Zdeno Chara- There are several reasons why you should stay away from Chara. He played a long season last year, and he’s in trouble of a Stanley Cup hangover. I think he finished below 40 points.

Alex Tanguay- Had 69 points last year, so someone will draft him three rounds too high. Don’t be that person. Expect him to finish in the 50-55 point range.

Jordan Staal- Sure, he’s always ready to break through. Every season, he’s expected to play with Crosby or Malkin, but it never happens. He’s a great third-liner, but will finish with below 50 points once again.

Mike Richards- He’ll get more points than he has the past few seasons, but that’s mostly because he’s playing with Anze Kopitar. But he’ll still finish with about 70 points, so don’t draft in rounds when you can get 80-point guys.

Derick Brassard- With the BlueJackets bringing in more offensive help, he’ll probably slip down the depth chart. With less ice time, expect less points.

Michael Grabner- Had a great rookie season last year. But with Kyle Okposo back from injury, Mark Streit back and taking up a lot of powerplay time, and rookies Nino Niederreiter and Ryan Strome possibly making the team, Grabner’s ice time will be taking a big hit.

Eric Staal- Easily the most overvalued player. People treat him like a 90-point player, but his true value is in the 70-point territory. Don’t believe the hype and draft him too early.

Logan Couture- Won’t be able to replicate what he did last year. Expect a small setback.

Marian Hossa- Battling too many injuries the last few years. If healthy, could get 65-70 points. But more realistically, expect 50 points and 65 games.

Milan Lucic- Came really out of nowhere to score 30 goals and 62 points last season. He’s a bruiser, a brawler and a Bruin. Don’t expect a repeat of those numbers.

2009 preview: Boston Bruins

The Boston Bruins had a great regular season run last year, but was surprised in the playoffs by the Carolina Hurricanes.

The Bruins should be the top team in the Northeast division, especially if they continue their domination of the Habs (they won’t). They’ll be more challenged by teams this season, but expect the Bruins to win the games needed to come first in the division.

Story of the season: Can the Bruins continue to expect everyone to perform at the same level as last year? Some players will expect to see a falloff in points, ice time, etc. But last year, everything worked out just right for the Bruins. Rookies performed great. On-ice chemistry was awesome. Zdeno Chara was a beast, and Tim Thomas had a career year. Can all that happen again?

Former Habs: Michael Ryder, Steve Begin, Mark Recchi

Blog to follow: Stanley Cup of Chowder

TV commercial break

Pool Picks: Patrice Bergeron. If he can stay healthy, he’ll get 60 points easily. Stay away from:Milan Lucic. The guy is a beast on the ice, but won’t be able to dominate to score goals every night, just when he’s playing against the Habs. Look for him to finish around 45 points.

Award nominees: Marc Savard for the Lady Byng

Expected Finish: First in the Northeast, second in the East

Cheerleader: A Bruins ice girl (the Habs ones are better, I think).

Boston Bruins preview

The Bruins will be a much better team this year.

In fact, I can see them coming first in the division. Their only real weakness is in goal, but the rest of the lineup is solid from top to bottom.

Forwards: The team automatically became better even without any offseason moves, as Patrice Bergeron is now healthy after a horrible injury last season. Bergeron is one of the best young talents in the game. He had seven points in 10 games last season, and scored at least 70 the two seasons before that.

In the offseason, they signed Michael Ryder. Many say for too much: $4 million a year for three years. But in a year or two, it will be seen as a steal. Yes, Ryder had a bad year last year. But he scored 30 goals a season the two years before that. If he manages to play on the top line with Marc Savard, he’s a good threat to get 50 goals.

Why would he be a top line player? Simple, Claude Julien is his coach. Julien coached him in junior, in the AHL and gave him his break in the NHL. Ryder responds to him, so look for him to have a huge season.

The other guy to watch out for is Milan Lucic. He stepped up in the playoffs last year, and should have a great year with more confidence because of it.

Defence: Two words: Zdeno Chara. The guy is a beast. He is a physical presence, and makes other coaches have to alter lineups for him. The rest of the defence is solid, but with Chara eating up 27 minutes a night, they don’t have to be spectacular.

Goaltending: The real weakness of the team. Would you want to go into the NHL season with Tim Thomas as your number one goalie? Probably not. He’s more of a stopgap measure anyways, until rookie prospect Tuukka Rask is ready to take over the starting duties.

Pool picks: Patrice Begeron and Michael Ryder can probably be picked up in the third and fourth round. Look for them to have huge years. Chara will also see lots of powerplay ice time, so if you need to draft a defenceman, he’s your guy. Be wary of Phil Kessel. Unless it’s a deep draft, he shouldn’t be selected. He’ll be good for 40 points, but is a year or two away from his breakout season.

Miscellaneous: The best thing the Bruins did in the offseason was to get rid of Glen Murray and his contract. He’s on the downside of his career, and was taking up space better reserved for someone who could, I don’t know, score. His spot will be taken up by a young player who could use the ice time.

Expected finish: First in the northeast division, second in the Eastern conference.

Overall: One of the reasons why they’ll finish higher this season is their record against the Montreal Canadiens. Last season, Montreal won all eight games they played. If they split the series instead, Boston would have finished second in the conference. There’s no way Boston can lose all the games again, and just in case they do, they actually only play six times this season.

This shows that Boston can play against all the other teams. They can play a gritty style, thanks to Chara and Milan Lucic. Or they can play a finesse game, thanks to Savard and Bergeron. They can get involved in a defensive battle, or a donnybrook. They’ll find a way to win.

Look them to surprise quite a few people this season.