Confirmed with Link: [MTL/PIT] Joseph Blandisi & Jake Lucchini for Phil Varone & Riley Barber

[CristianoRonaldo]

Lmao, Barber and Varone were probably against The Habs' CHaracter! That'll show 'em

It's exactly this, Bouchard benched them games ago.

 

[angusyoung]

Sounds like a bunch of wise guys

 

[The Price is Right]

Nice they trade away the only Italian and acquire two!!! Great trade!

 

[BLONG7]

Finally.I didn't think MB had the guts to make a blockbuster deal but props to him.

MB walks into a bar, has a 10 $ in his pocket, and walks out with two 5's...............rinse and repeat. He is up to 81 trades in 8 years and 70 of those trades, are just like this one................keeps himself busy so his boss thinks things are good. lol

 

[Adam Michaels]

Lmao, Barber and Varone were probably against The Habs' CHaracter! That'll show 'em

They weren't thinking team first and since the start of the season, it showed that they weren't happy to be in Laval instead of Montreal. At least Barber was able to produce.

I'm willing to bet that off the ice and in the room, they weren't the most professional.

Bouchard has also said that right now, it's about giving the kids all the TOI. Since KK and Poehling have both been down, neither Barber or Varone were getting much PP time either, Bouchard preferring to put KK, Poehling & Evans and even Vejdemo on the PP ahead of Barber/Varone.

 

[FrankMTL]

Nice they trade away the only Italian and acquire two!!! Great trade!

Look out....Bergy has his eye on Lucky Luciano next. He figures to increase the attendance in Laval, he needs to attract more people from Vimont.

 

[Adam Michaels]

Nice they trade away the only Italian and acquire two!!! Great trade!

Too bad Marinaro wasn't on the air when this trade happened. He'd surely point this out.

 

[Video Coach]

Not surprised after reading this from Marc Dumont in the Athletic yesterday...

Phil Varone and Riley Barber were healthy scratches in the Rocket’s 3-0 loss to the Providence Bruins on Sunday, with good reason, too.
Though Barber has produced much more consistently than Varone, to the tune of 13 goals in 38 games, versus Varone’s four goals in 26 games, neither has provided the kind of leadership or game-breaking talent you’d expect from hired guns.
“I didn’t take them out of the lineup because I thought they were playing excellent hockey,” said Joël Bouchard.
He’s not wrong, they’d struggle in recent games, though it’s far from the first time a veteran player struggles to adapt in a Bouchard-led setting. Last season we saw Alexandre Grenier, Hunter Shinkaruk, Daniel Audette and even David Schlemko quickly lose focus in Laval. This season we’ve seen issues with Dale Weise, Keith Kinkaid, Peca, Varone, Barber and others. It may not be an organizational issue, but there’s clearly a disconnect between the younger players, who provide an honest effort every night, and the veterans, who are simply going through the motions.

Happy that they moved those guys out. It's important for the Rocket to make the playoffs this year.

 

[ahmedou]

Damn also the Rocket doesn't mess at all with the attitude.

 

[Adam Michaels]

Damn also the Rocket doesn't mess at all with the attitude.

For better or for worse, Bouchard doesn't accept half measures.

And this is why if I'm MB, I definitely look to have vets on the team to help. But I'd focus on having the kids grow and play a lot more than rely on vets.

 

[wildD]

I've always liked Joseph Blandisi since he was playing for Ottawa 67, hope he does well in Lava As for Jake Lucchini don't know alot about him

 

[japhi]

The mystery of MB in Colorado is solved. He was there to broker a deal with Pens for the AHL.

all makes sense now

 

[DAChampion]

They weren't thinking team first and since the start of the season, it showed that they weren't happy to be in Laval instead of Montreal.

Did Barber and Varone really think that they'd make the big club?

 

[GlassesJacketShirt]

Nice they trade away the only Italian and acquire two!!! Great trade!

Ayyyyyyyyyyyyy surely one of them can cook a proper ragu
Bring the team together over supper, bada bing bada boom

I guess the two exitees expected bigger roles for the entire season. Deal works for me, hopefully it works for all involved.

 

[japhi]

They weren't thinking team first and since the start of the season, it showed that they weren't happy to be in Laval instead of Montreal. At least Barber was able to produce.

I'm willing to bet that off the ice and in the room, they weren't the most professional.

Bouchard has also said that right now, it's about giving the kids all the TOI. Since KK and Poehling have both been down, neither Barber or Varone were getting much PP time either, Bouchard preferring to put KK, Poehling & Evans and even Vejdemo on the PP ahead of Barber/Varone.

Which is awesome. I would rather our prospects get ice time over tweener ahl nhl vets. Not sure how anyone could be against this direction. This is how dev should work, yes?

 

[MD thaivuN]

are the Rockets tanking too? lol

 

[Archijerej]

Our coaching God in Laval couldn't get along with them. No point to crap on Bergevin in this case.

 

[DAChampion]

Which is awesome. I would rather our prospects get ice time over tweener ahl nhl vets. Not sure how anyone could be against this direction. This is how dev should work, yes?

There's a balance, because the AHL vets can help the team make the playoffs.

Further there aren't a huge number of prospects on the roster, so they might as well get guys who can score for the rest of the roster. Right now, the roster is mostly a tire fire after the Hudon-Kotkaniemi-Evans line.

 

[Adam Michaels]

Did Barber and Varone really think that they'd make the big club?

I agree. I think because Varone played to finish the year in Philly last year, maybe he really felt he'd make the Habs.

I even think Bouchard mentioned it in that press conference where he called out some of his vets. He said that there is a reason they're not in the NHL. For me, that was him insinuating that they needed to come to grips that they are AHL players and not NHL players in the AHL.

He also said after one of their games where they blew a lead and lost. Bouchard said he's happy because he gave them two weeks to just play and that now he would take action. And action he took. He scratched them, put them on the 4th line and limited their roles. And now they're traded.

 

[1909]

I don't give a crap abouth thse overaged AHL's players. I am more worried about KK, Poehling, Fleury, Primeau and Evans.

Habs should kick Kinkead out of Laval too, asap.

 

[Habsddicted]

... And the world was shook.

 

[japhi]

There's a balance, because the AHL vets can help the team make the playoffs.

Further there aren't a huge number of prospects on the roster, so they might as well get guys who can score for the rest of the roster. Right now, the roster is mostly a tire fire after the Hudon-Kotkaniemi-Evans line.

Agree on trying to win, that does matter. But I think the Rocket miss the a playoffs so moving two disgruntled expiring contracts to make room for rook ice time makes sense to me. And some new blood for a farm team that shit the bed this year prob isn’t a bad thing.

i guess what I’m saying is I don’t see any downside here, and folks seem to believe in Bouchard, and he would be behind this deal, so there is that as well

 

[Whitesnake]

I don't give a crap abouth thse overaged AHL's players. I am more worried about KK, Poehling, Fleury, Primeau and Evans.

Habs should kick Kinkead out of Laval too, asap.

You have a right to not give a crap...yet...here is the reality. I sort out 9 teams that are doing extremely well today in the AHL. And since it's not just a question of giving the fans of those places some good hockey, it's also and MOSTLY important that they perform well in order to give experience to the kids to develop them as well as you can. So..with that in mind....

• Hershey: 1st in division. First 3 scorers, 26, 27 and 31 years old (Maillet, Sgarbossa and Moulson)
• Hartford: 2nd in that division. First 3 scorers...24, 25 and 26 years old.
• Providence: 3rd in that division. First 3 scorers: 20, 30 and 24. Studnick is a stud. But you have Greg Carey as your No2 scorer
• Milwaukee: 1st in their division. First 3 scorers....27, 29 and 22. Carr and Schneider the vets lead the way
• Iowa: 2nd in that division: First 3 scorers....26, 26 and 26
• Belleville: 1st in their division.....The exception. First 5 scoresrs are kids. Yet 28 years old Schwarz has 29 points in 37 games.
• Rochester: 2nd in that division....First 3 scorers: 25, 31 and 24.
• Tucson: 1st in their division. First 3 scorers, 22, 23 and 31 years old. So failry young but a 31 years old at No3.
• Stockton: 2nd in that division: First 3 scorers: 26,22 and 28.

So that's just statswatching. BUt still important as more stats, more wins, more wins, playoffs. Playoffs = Experience. Can you imagine now the effect that vets have on kids as well? On and off the ice?

So....how can we just not give a crap about the vets that Laval gets? Do you not see how it can impact our kids?

 

[mariolemieux66]

We got younger guys with less production in the AHL.
How is this helping at all?

 

[habergeon]

And I think Bouchard also wanted them out.

I 100% believe this, especially after the last week or so where they really seemed to mail it in.