DAILY RUMORS: Lyle Shoots Down Talk of the Montreal Canadiens Having Interest in Stephen Weiss
BDGallof | Jun 27, 2010 | Comments 2
We at HockeyIndependent.com want to be your resource and filter for what is going on in the NHL. We try to disseminate the noise in the blogosphere. We don’t look to to attack those sources, but to question the veracity of the rumor with cold logic, hockey smarts and knowledge. To do that… we have partnered with the one of the best in the NHL blogosphere….Lyle Richardson of SpectorsHockey.net. Daily Rumors with Lyle Richardson will now be a regular feature on HI this summer and beyond…
It’s well known around the NHL that one of the problems facing the Montreal Canadiens for some time has been a lack of big, physical scoring forwards, particularly at center.
The Canadiens top offensive forwards – Mike Cammalleri, Tomas Plekanec, Scott Gomez and Brian Gionta – are very skilled but none are over six foot tall and only Gomez tips the scales at 200 lbs.
So it’s puzzling to read the following recently from Eklund of “Hockeybuzz”:
“the candiens (sic)are talking to the Panthers about Stephen Weiss. What a great fit that would be.”
Yes, Weiss would be a great fit…if he stood over 6-2, weighed over 200 lbs and played with a physical edge to match his offensive prowess.
Alas, he’s listed as 5-11 and 185 lbs, making him an inch taller than Gomez and the same height as Plekanec, both of whom are centers.
Maybe if Weiss were a high-scoring forward the Canadiens might overlook his lack of size, except over the past couple of seasons he’s averaged roughly the same number of points (61 and 60 respectively)as Gomez (58 and 59 points respectively).
It’s difficult to determine how Weiss would be a great fit since the Canadiens already have two centers of the same size and skills in Gomez and Plekanec.
it makes absolutely no sense for the Habs to acquire Weiss, short of perhaps dumping Gomez’s expensive ($7.3 million per season) salary, and even then Gomez would have to agree to waive his “no-trade” clause.
The Canadiens, or any other club for that matter, might have to send the Panthers a center in return for Weiss, otherwise their top two centers would be Stephen Reinprecht and Shawn Matthias.
Lyle Richardson
SpectorsHockey.net
twitter.com/spectorshockey
Filed Under: Featured • Featured Rumors • Florida Panthers • Montreal Canadiens • NHL • Rumors
Totally agreed with you Lyle, no sense in trading for Weiss when they need big scoring wingers. The Habs have centers coming out of the wazoo right now, with Eller likely to make the team next year, Leblanc arguably close behind and plenty of 3rd-4th line centers, the Habs are set at that position for at least the next few years.
Did you hear what Obama said about this?