Confirmed with Link: Habs sign Antti Niemi to one-year, one-way contract

[LaP]

logical people? You can't go into the season with Price, Lindgren and McNiven as your goalie depth when Price has been injured these past few years. So who cares about Niemi, either he plays well again and we trade him for a late pick or he sucks and either helps us get a better draft pick in '19 or goes to the AHL to mentor McNiven.

You don't have to like Niemi, to like the deal, we had to have someone and we aren't going anywhere so what's it matter?

That's kind of my point ... Niemi was not able to stop a beach ball for the last year and a half before coming here. Why would the half a season he spent here with one team be worth more than the previous season and a half he spent with 3 different teams? I expect him to revert back to the Niemi who was not able to stop a beach ball. BTW i said a year and a half but he was not stellar the year before either posting a 905 saves %. It's another one of those cheap nothing to lose project by MB. I'm done with those personally not impressed at all.

 

[montreal]

That's kind of my point ... Niemi was not able to stop a beach ball for the last year and a half before coming here. Why would the half a season he spent here with one team be worth more than the previous season and a half he spent with 3 different teams? I expect him to revert back to the Niemi who was not able to stop a beach ball. BTW i said a year and a half but he was not stellar the year before either posting a 905 saves %. It's another one of those cheap nothing to lose project by MB. I'm done with those personally not impressed at all.

the point is you don't need to be impressed. We had to have someone with NHL experience there. The Habs suck, what does it matter if Niemi sucks? They lose more, so what? If Lindgren beats him out, Niemi wouldn't be a bad back up to have in Laval for McNiven. This is a nothing move that had to be done unless they found some other goalie with NHL experience that was bad enough that he would clear waivers or turn things around enough to actually get us a draft pick in '19.

 

[LaP]

the point is you don't need to be impressed. We had to have someone with NHL experience there. The Habs suck, what does it matter if Niemi sucks? They lose more, so what? If Lindgren beats him out, Niemi wouldn't be a bad back up to have in Laval for McNiven. This is a nothing move that had to be done unless they found some other goalie with NHL experience that was bad enough that he would clear waivers or turn things around enough to actually get us a draft pick in '19.

Niemi wont go to Laval. You can quote me. He'll be the backup in the NHL no matter what. It's the same old story every ******* season. Semin will go to the AHL we have nothing to lose. Hemsky and Streit will go to laval nothing to lose. Niemi will go to laval nothing to lose.

Listen honestly i don't give a flying god ****** ******* ****. I did not watch more than 30 games last year and i don't plan to watch more next season unless our 3rd overall is an elite player right away. But this is Semin, Hensky, Streit, Benn, Schlemko ... all over again. If you are fine with that then well that's okay. Personally i'm not at all i expect this team to aim for more than a guy who could not stop a beach ball for a season and a half.

 

[montreal]

Niemi wont go to Laval. You can quote me. He'll be the backup in the NHL no matter what. It's the same old story every **** season. Semin will go to the AHL we have nothing to lose. Hemsky and Streit will go to laval nothing to lose. Niemi will go to laval nothing to lose.

Listen honestly i don't give a flying god ****** ******* ****. I did not watch more than 30 games last year and i don't plan to watch more next season unless our 3rd overall is an elite player right away. But this is Semin, Hensky, Streit, Benn, Schlemko ... all over again. If you are fine with that then well that's okay. Personally i'm not at all i expect this team to aim for more than a guy who could not stop a beach ball for a season and a half.

The difference is he was our best goalie this past season, so there's zero harm in bringing him back. They HAD to get a goalie. So they got one. Who cares if he sucks? What difference will it make? Clearly this team is poorly run and going nowhere, you want them to aim for more then be prepared to be disappointed, since this is the management team that thought it was a good idea to bring in Ben Scribers.

There's no way you know if he will go to Laval or not, if not he can retire and they'll just have to find another crappy goalie with NHL experience for 1 year.

 

[No More Subban]

We're gonna have Carey Price for the next 8 years so it makes sense to have a backup that can sit for 55-60 games.

Lindgren can't sit for that much. Should just trade him. Seriously.

 

[Scintillating10]

Gives the team some depth. With Price being injured so much and all. Chance he misses a lot of time next season gives the Habs a solid NHL starting goalie. If Habs didn't keep Niemi around, if Price injured again be left to unproven Lindgren. Come trade deadline Habs can trade Niemi for a solid asset. He has done well under Waite. Gives us depth also to include Lindgren in a trade. If the return is good. So, a win-win all the way around.

 

[Treb]

Niemi has fans?

Some people are saying he's the best back-up we had since Halak.

At some point Montoya was the best back-up we had since Halak, then became a pile of dog shit we had to get rid of.
At some point Budaj was the best back-up we had since Halak, then became a pile of dog shit we had to get rid of.
At some point Condon was the best back-up we had since Halak and a future NHL starter, then became a pile of dog shit we had to get rid of.
At some point Tokarski was the best back-up we had since Halak and a future NHL starter, then became a pile of dog shit we had to get rid of.

People will turn on Niemi, it is a guarantee in Montreal as soon as he has a meh stretch.

 

[LaP]

Gives the team some depth. With Price being injured so much and all. Chance he misses a lot of time next season gives the Habs a solid NHL starting goalie. If Habs didn't keep Niemi around, if Price injured again be left to unproven Lindgren. Come trade deadline Habs can trade Niemi for a solid asset. He has done well under Waite. Gives us depth also to include Lindgren in a trade. If the return is good. So, a win-win all the way around.

Niemi was waived twice last year. What makes you think teams will trade assets for him? If he continues to do what he did last year with us then yeah. But it's very far from sure. In french we have an old maxim saying "Chasse le naturel et il revient au galop". It means you can temporarily do better/different than what you are usually doing like Benn did last year but at some point you'll revert to what you really are. Before we claimed Niemi the whole league thought his career was over. The guy will be 35 soon and could not stop a beach ball for the previous year and a half before coming here (42 games as a number 2). The writing was on the wall for him. Now maybe he is not done and Waite is a genius. Who knows? Or maybe he is done and he just did well in a no pressure context where he had nothing to lose and was just having fun.

Now i don't want anymore to think i care about this signature. Cause really i don't. It's just one more nothing move in the sea of nothing moves MB has done for the past 2 years. But i'm just wondering why everyone assume he'll do like the last 19 games instead of the previous 42 ones? It's a mystery to me. It really is.

 

[montreal]

But i'm just wondering why everyone assume he'll do like the last 19 games instead of the previous 42 ones? It's a mystery to me. It really is.

because it doesn't matter what he does. He's either going to be good or bad. The Habs must bring in a goalie, so they did. Price has to rebound, if he stinks or gets injured any hopes of having any sort of success will be over anyway so it's not like we need a good backup. So if Niemi somehow plays well again, then it's possible they could get a mid to late round pick. If not it doesn't matter since he's here to buy time for Lindgren and McNiven (so that he's not called up to the NHL if we only had Price/Lindgren and one gets injured)

Now if he plays bad, that's fine too. The Habs aren't going anywhere unless Price is back to his sub 2 gaa ways, and if that happens Niemi won't play that much. But when he does play and if he stinks then they can give Lindgren games.

The whole point is they have to have someone to fill the jersey, doesn't really matter who so you might as well give Niemi the chance sine he earned it with his play.

 

[Scintillating10]

Niemi was waived twice last year. What makes you think teams will trade assets for him? If he continues to do what he did last year with us then yeah. But it's very far from sure. In french we have an old maxim saying "Chasse le naturel et il revient au galop". It means you can temporarily do better/different than what you are usually doing like Benn did last year but at some point you'll revert to what you really are. Before we claimed Niemi the whole league thought his career was over. The guy will be 35 soon and could not stop a beach ball for the previous year and a half before coming here (42 games as a number 2). The writing was on the wall for him. Now maybe he is not done and Waite is a genius. Who knows? Or maybe he is done and he just did well in a no pressure context where he had nothing to lose and was just having fun.

Now i don't want anymore to think i care about this signature. Cause really i don't. It's just one more nothing move in the sea of nothing moves MB has done for the past 2 years. But i'm just wondering why everyone assume he'll do like the last 19 games instead of the previous 42 ones? It's a mystery to me. It really is.

Being re-united with Waite seems to have Neimi playing like his Cup winning days. He wouldn't be first goalie multiply teams have given up and then figured it out. Devan Dubnyk be an example. Goalie coach can make major difference in some cases.

Goalies are a wildcard. Whoever thought Price would totally implode just 3 seasons away from Hart Trophy? Pitt never protected Fleury, today he's leading candidate for Conn Smythe.

 

[Habs Icing]

Now i don't want anymore to think i care about this signature. Cause really i don't. It's just one more nothing move in the sea of nothing moves MB has done for the past 2 years. But i'm just wondering why everyone assume he'll do like the last 19 games instead of the previous 42 ones? It's a mystery to me. It really is.

Using that logic then we should unload Price as soon as possible because we can't assume he won't play like he did last year instead of the previous 12.

 

[Treb]

Using that logic then we should unload Price as soon as possible because we can't assume he won't play like he did last year instead of the previous 12.

Some people are doing this. Most probably the same that think Niemi will be a starter-like goalie due to the games last year.

 

[Price is Wright]

Some people are doing this. Most probably the same that think Niemi will be a starter-like goalie due to the games last year.

If he has a Dubnyk style revival (He's 34 so... hard to see) we can trade him for a good pick to a team who needs the goaltending insurance.