The soon-to-be 37 year-old (Birthday on Feb. 27th) had 6 points (1+5) in 61 games, to go along with a +2 plus-minus and 42 minutes served in the penalty box.

Modry’s current salary is $1.2 M. He is set to become an unrestricted free-agent on July 1st.

This move comes as no surprise as the Flyers have been severely bitten by the “injury bug”, having lost defencemen Rory Fitzpatrick, Derian Hatcher and Mike Rathje, as well as forwards Simon Gagné, Steve Downie, Joffrey Lupul and Denis Tolpeko to injury.

Modry adds experience, depth and size to an already quite good team in the Flyers.

On December 6th, the Anchorage, Alaska native was called up by the Pittsburgh Penguins, with whom he had signed a contract back on July 18th, due to Penguins’ goalie Marc-André Fleury’s injury.
Everybody thought that, with his recent past, the 05-06 Stanley Cup Finals and his Columbus days that is, that he was just days away from being sent right back down to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

But that was not going to be the case. Even though he wasn’t “sharp” during his first start, giving up 3 goals on 15 shots, he started again 9 days later.
On that night, he was more consistent, giving up 4 goals on 41 shots and he even earned the win.
That game was a precursor to what Conklin would show Penguins’ fans and the rest of the NHL, as that game was the 1st win of a 9 game winning streak.

Conklin has compiled, since that December 20th start, a fantastic record of 15 wins, 4 losses and 3 overtime losses, as well as a 2.19 Goals Against Average.

Conklin’s rise up the goalie ladder has been sensational, as it was not that long ago, that Conklin was a member of the 2005-06 Edmonton Oilers and that he came into replace Dwayne Roloson after he had injured himself in Game One of the Stanley Cup Finals.
In that same game, Conklin committed a huge blunder, giving up the puck to Hurricanes captain Rod Brind’Amour, who would score an empty net goal at 31.1 seconds of the 3rd period, putting an end to a 4-4 tie.

Conklin was never seen again wearing an Oilers’ uniform as Oilers’ GM Kevin Lowe declined to exercice his team option for the 2006-07 season.
He later went on to play for the Columbus Blue Jackets, mostly for their AHL affiliate and for the Buffalo Sabres, backing up Ryan Miller throughout the rest of the season after they had dealt Martin Biron.

Conklin’s story is another one of those showing us hockey people that perseverance can get you anywhere, especially in this tough game we all love.

Olli Jokinen is a 29-year old center playing for the Florida Panthers. His natural goal-scorer instincts and his above-average hands, as well as his good face-off abilities, have turned him into a star-superstar player at the NHL level. On February 5th, Jokinen reached the 200 goal mark. Over his past 3 seasons, Jokinen has scored at least 29 goals, and over his past 2 (not including 2007-08) has had 89 points or more.

Jokinen’s talent, goal-scoring ability and his “affordable” contract according to today’s market (08-09: 5.25M, 09-10: 5.50M), have turned the Finn into a hot commodity.

Many teams, like the Montreal Canadiens, could benefit from the acquisition of such a talented player, even though the bounty required to acquire him would be quite high. As an estimation of Olli’s worth, from a Habs’ point of view, expect the Canadiens to trade Chris Higgins, Ryan O’Byrne, Mikhail Grabovski and 1st round and 3rd round Draft Picks to the Panthers if Jokinen were to be acquired.

Although Jokinen’s team, the Florida Panthers, seems to be going nowhere, even with the acquisition and stellar play of goaltender Tomas Vokoun, Jokinen hasn’t voiced his displeasure publicly or hasn’t gone to see his GM Jacques Martin to ask him to be traded, but who knows, as the Trade Deadline draws nearer, he might.

Keep faith fellow Habs fans!

Saturday, February 23rd 2008 will be a very special day for Bob Gainey. On that day, the Peterborough, Ont. native will have his number 23 raised to the rafters by the Montreal Canadiens.

Let’s have a quick look at Mr. Gainey’s 16-year NHL career:

In 1973, he was selected in both the NHL and WHA amateur drafts, 8th overall by the Montreal Canadiens and 7th overall by the Minnesota Fighting Saints. Gainey ultimately chose to play for the Canadiens, with whom he became one of the best defensive specialists of all-time, winning four consecutive Fran J. Selke trophies (awarded to the league’s best defensive player) from 1977-78 to 1980-1981.

He also won, with the ”Bleu, Blanc et Rouge”, 5 stanley cups (1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1986).
He was also the Canadiens’ captain from 1981, until his retirement in 1989.

In total, he appeared in 1160 regular season games, scored 239 goals and registered 263 assists.

In 1992, he was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame. According to Viktor Tikhonov, a legendary Soviet national team coach, he was the world’s best all-around player and, therefore, for the majority of his career, he was regarded by many in the Soviet Union hockey system as the greatest hockey player ever.
In 1998, he was ranked 86th in The Hockey News’ list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players.
From 1992 to 2002, he was GM of the Dallas Stars, with whom he won the Stanley Cup for a 6th time in 1999.

A year and a half after having stepped down as GM of the Stars, he was named GM of the Montreal Canadiens, with whom he has been ever since.

As we all know, Trade Deadline Day is approaching. One week from today, we will only be 2 days away from one of the most exciting days on the NHL Calendar. That day will also be a gut-wrenching one for us Montreal Canadiens fans, as we await to see who Big Bob will be targeting and trying to acquire: Marian Hossa or Olli Jokinen?

In this first segment of The Good and the Bad of both these players, I will document the pros and cons of acquiring Marian Hossa.

Here we go:

Marian Hossa, a 29-year old czech right winger, is especially renown for his offensive abilities.
His combination of great hands and his ability to keep the puck make him an offensive threat at any moment, and so does his explosive shot. Eventhough he isn’t much of a physical presence, the offense he generates makes up for it. Over his past 3 seasons (not including 07-08) he has scored 36 goals or more and has had 82 points (1 PPG) or more.

His position also makes him quite intriguing, because he is a right winger, and could therefore fill the void left by Michael Ryder’ downfall, as our 1st line RWer. He would also add some size (6′1”) .

Two cons against Hossa are his status after July 1st, the date after which he will become an unrestricted free-agent and the salary he might command on the open market.

Like we saw last season with Daniel Briere and Chris Drury, Marian Hossa could easily be offered a 4-5 year contract worth $8-9 M annually.

One big question is: Do the Canadiens have the will and the ability to dish out all this money to a guy like Hossa, especially with the RFA status’ of Andrei Kostitsyn and of, in a few years ,Tomas Plekanec, Sergei Kostitsyn and Chris Higgins and with Mike Komisarek’s UFA status after the 08-09 season ?

Another con against Hossa is his trade value. As one of my colleagues pointed out, if Peter Forsberg can get you Scottie Upshall, Ryan Parent and two high picks (1st and 3rd rounds), what can Marian Hossa get you?

An approximation would be Chris Higgins, Ryan O’Byrne , one of Kyle Chipchura, Corey Locke or Mikhail Grabovsky and a first rounder. A condition to such a trade would probably be a negotating period with Hossa and his agent on an extension.

All this is a short resume of what is going on inside the Canadiens’ Front Office’s heads. Hopefully, they won’t explode!

Keep faith fellow Habs fans!