Canadiens sign Paul Mara to 1-year contract

according to TSN.ca, no terms disclosed as of yet

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=284314

General Manager Bob Gainey continues to rebuild the Montreal Canadiens as the team signed defenceman Paul Mara to a one-year contract on Friday.
Terms of the deal were not released.
"Paul Mara will bring size and experience to our group of defensemen. He can contribute to all facets of the game," Gainey said in a statement.
In 76 games last season, the Ridgewood, New Jersey native has five goals and 16 assists along with 94 minutes in penalties for the New York Rangers. In 10-seasons, the 29-year old has 63 goals and 176 assists while splitting time between the Lightning, Coyotes, Bruins and Rangers.
Mara was originally selected in the first round by the Tampa Bay Lightning, 7th overall at the 1997 NHL Entry Draft.

Nothing exciting again in my books, but who knows, might be a solid signing by Les Bleu, Blanc et Rouge.




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They needed to try to increase their average size to close to 6 feet

Hey someone's gotta look out for the little guys right?

SensFan71 wrote:

Nothing exciting again in my books, but who knows, might be a solid signing by Les Bleu, Blanc et Rouge.




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I'm hoping not!

SeawaySensFan wrote:

SensFan71 wrote:

Nothing exciting again in my books, but who knows, might be a solid signing by Les Bleu, Blanc et Rouge.




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I'm hoping not!

we he was a D-man that got rejected from the Rangers, who currently have Redden still on their D pairing.

Should be an alright signing. How much? 1.5 tops I would assume.

SpezDispenser wrote:Should be an alright signing. How much? 1.5 tops I would assume.

no financial details yet, and lord knows I overturned almost every site I know trying to find it.

More failure in Habs-land. Jesus, when they said they were gonna overhaul the team in the offseason, did they not write down a gameplan to do so? They have a GM who's just winging it at this point.

This contract might be over 2 million actually, unless Mara took a cut to play in Montreal. :^^^^:

PKC wrote:More failure in Habs-land. Jesus, when they said they were gonna overhaul the team in the offseason, did they not write down a gameplan to do so? They have a GM who's just winging it at this point.

Maybe part of that overhaul is supposed to be the top-five pick next June.

wprager wrote:
Maybe part of that overhaul is supposed to be the top-five pick next June.

Unless these guys mesh - quick, you might be right.

They may not score much in TO and Montreal but its going to be tough getting through those big dmen.

I like this signing... They needed another big guy.

I've been listening to Team 990 lately (why can Montreal still have a decent sports talk show while Ottawa has to resort to near 24/7 ESPN crap?) Yesterday or the day before they were discussing Montreal's D, and wondering how Price may feel with what they've left him with. This was before Mara, but the consensus was pretty much that their D was pretty think once you got pas Markov. Yes, Gill is big, and yes, Mara is big and, yes, the Habs' top line could skate circles around and through those guys' legs. Problem is, most teams in the East have much bigger forwards. If Markov ever gets injured again (and since he's likely to be playing 25 minutes/game he probably will) they will fade right out of playoff contention.

We could always pay more for extra Kulka/Peabrain/etc.

I'll bring up the suggestion again - start a podcast, and assign a bunch of the regulars to be the "hosts" with a larger group being "reporters, researchers, etc". Start with once weekly snippets (5-10 min would do, maybe debates between hosts with pre-established topics and boundaries). Once you get sufficient listenership (iTunes gives that info, no?), then getting reporters credentials wouldn't be out of the realm of possiblity. From there, the occasional interview piece, and you are off to the races. (I believe there are a few graphics experts here; perhaps vid-casts could be done periodically too).

Re: Montreal - I think this is the year that you will see Price either carry the team or completely implode.

They are facing a season without a functional defensive core. They have a new forward line who are getting paid over $100K per inch of height, and their returning forwards are devoid of any leadership capacity.

My money is on Gainey and Price leaving Montreal this year.

I've been on the "Gainey must go" bandwagon since he fired Carbo (if not before) but he has proven to be resilient. He's been allowed to bring in an almost completely new coaching team, which doesn't sound like a short leash. Has the team offically been sold yet?