Segacs's World I Know

All signs are pointing towards it. In the NHL free agent frenzy of the past few days, Gainey pushed hard for marquee players like Briere, Smyth, and of course Souray, but in the end was forced to settle for Roman Hamrlik and Bryan Smolinski. Not exactly the top-6 power forward or the powerplay quarterback we so desperately needed.

We have some young promising talent in training camp this year, and there’s a long history of teams proving that you don’t need the superstars to be good. I hope that Gainey and Carbs get the team into gear this year, push them to realize their potential and to play a more offensive style of hockey that can actually get us somewhere.

But when players are turning down offers from Montreal to sign for less money elsewhere, it doesn’t bode well for the long-term future of the team. Have we reached the point where Montreal’s media-frenzied Hockeymania is driving too many talented players away, sending them running scared? How long can we keep going down that path before we turn into the NHL’s major league farm team?

I have to say, though, that I love living in a city where hockey is front-page news in July.

Related posts:

1. In Gainey We Trust…ed
2. When all else fails, hire a new GM
3. Sens’ bankruptcy woes
4. Julien axed
5. Throwing in the towel?