Gauthier speaks!

Pierre Gauthier awoke from his slumber today and held a press conference. He even missed a World Cup semifinal game for said press conference, so we thought it would be something big. From what I can gather, this is what he had to say:

"We want to keep Carey Price and Maxim Lapierre. As you know, we haven't officially kept them yet, but there's been talks. Oh, and Glen Metropolit, Paul Mara, Dominic Moore, and Marc-André Bergeron don't have contracts yet because I don't want them anymore. If anyone wants to pick them up, go for it."

No proof yet if this press conference was brought to us by the letter M, and how Lapierre feels about surviving this alphabetical holocaust.

I was really hoping we'd hold onto Moore and Metropolit for a little longer. Moore is exactly the kind of guy you'd want on your supporting cast: he's smart, not physical enough to take dumb penalties, but he's enough of a go-getter to score when it counts. He seemed to fit pretty well into the team's lineup. And he speaks a little French, which probably tickled half the city's media. Gauthier got a lot of praise when Moore proved himself to be a good acquisition at the end of the season and during the playoffs, but that's all over now.

I'd have kept Glen Metropolit on the team mostly for emotional reasons. And believe me, when he first put on the CH I never would have said that. Never in my life would I let myself actually like a player who's been both a Bruin and a Flyer, I said. I quickly, and somewhat begrudgingly, changed my mind. Metro is a truly good guy, and it's a shame that his skill set makes him a good stopgap, and not a franchise player. He's the kind of guy that could be a good captain. I'm not trying to put down any of the guys who've already been (rightfully) hailed as The Next Habs Captain, but Metropolit should have been considered among them. He's smart, experienced, reliable, and patient. He can lead his teammates while handling the extra load of being the team's ambassador to the media. Plus, he's easily one of the nicest guys in hockey. I've never heard a single story about him being rude or even curt. When he's back home in the GTA, he goes back to his old neighbourhood, the one he worked so hard to get out of. He plays hockey with the underprivileged kids. He visits his grandmother. He's like Shane Doan without a permanent address, or Sidney Crosby without the Scrooge McDuck fortune.

You know that feeling you get when someone you know, who's not a terrible person, but not necessarily more desirable than you, gets ENGAGED and you're single? That's how Metro and Moore must feel.
I joked about this earlier on Twitter, and what's sad is that it's kind of true. These players don't deserve to be bounced around from team to team like this. I'm going to miss them. I'm also going to have to make new Christmas graphics next year.

Goodbye, Mara's beard. May you ever grow in our hearts.

All the best to these players, and whatever teams they end up with. Hopefully not teams I hate.

On another note, congratulations are in order:

To Geoff Molson, who will succeed Pierre Boivin as President of the Canadiens, a job whose description I still do not understand. (Between you and me, I think Molson might've greased the team owner's palm to get this job.)

To Sergei Kostitsyn, who officially belongs to the Nashville Predators for one year. He gets $550 000, face time with Shea Weber, and a chance at redemption. Go Sergei.