<h2>How Much Do We Hate The Rangers?</h2><h2>Help Them To Help Ourselves?</h2>

I say if it hurts Boston, I can get into bed with the Rangers.


The trade deadline is a perilous time to be playing badly. If you are a team whose plan it is to make the playoffs and win – it is even worse. Fans, coaches, players pressuring the GM to make sure the bump in the road doesn't become an ides of March pothole.

The trade is perilous because the partner smells the blood and the desperation. They circle like the hunting dogs and can tear you apart if you're not careful.

But choose your partner carefully and create a symbiotic benefit – this is as safe as it gets.

The Canadiens have lost 8 of 10, it might as well be 8 and 10 for the hysteria. All the while the baying from the wolves calls for trades, trades and more trades. I'd like a trade too. But realising that I'm going to watch this team next year and the year after that, I am reticent to go too far.

This morning I was reading Pierre Lebrun's article for ESPN. He writes of the pitiful pair that cling to 5th and 6th in the East – our Habs and the New York Rangers:

Montreal has dropped eight of its past 10 games, while the Rangers are winless in five, both teams showing all the signs of panicky groups that have lost all confidence. Once both teams fell behind in their respective road games Monday night, the slumping shoulders were noticeable, as was their tentative play.

He goes on to say that Montreal may have a way out thanks to, and I quote:

scouting star Trevor Timmins, also has a bounty of young assets to use at his trade disposal

Young assets like our 5-goal-a-game goalies you mean? Maybe Ryan O'Byrne? Scoring stars Sergei Kostitsyn and Guillaume Latendresse? Enough, Topham. Save it for another time. You're forgetting the point...

The Rangers have nowhere to go:

The long-term, nearly untradeable contracts of Scott Gomez, Chris Drury, Wade Redden and Michal Rozsival (nice season, boys) have tied Sather's hands in a pretty serious way.

Is it just me, or is there something here?

Untie the hands of the Rangers and let them tie us to Scott Gomez? Isn't Redden just an older overhyped D in the Komisarek mould? No, wait, he's actually done something in his career...

I don't know if I want a millstone contract to come out of this but there must be a way to help each other here. After all, Montreal and New York in the playoffs is a whole lot better for everyone than Florida and Carolina.

Want wriggle room Glen? How about a prospect for Kalinin? A draft pick for Naslund?


If you don't like the Rangers (and that'd be understandable because none of you like the losing Habs either at the moment), then how about Pittsburgh, Anaheim, Minnesota.

If we have to trade, for goodness sake, get some bargaining power Bob. I don't have the stomach for anymore stars for draft pick trades...