Rick Stevens

I think that once...

once he's bumped down in the lineup, the points aren't going to come so easily, not so easily when you're not playing with Suzuki and Caulfield.

And so there was little risk that the price would have escalated.

You know, what is he?

Is he a Paul Byron?

Is he a Raphael Harvey Bernard?

What is he?

Somewhere in between, I suppose.

Yeah.

For me, the timing was odd and the price was a little steep.

And I know there was some excuses being made by the media saying, listen, they had to put the price that high because if they have to send him to Lavelle, they don't want anybody to pick him up on waivers.

Well, if you set the contract at a level where nobody else will pick him up, you're proving the point that the price is too high and the contract's a bit unrealistic.

That's right.

Anyway, he is very, very happy, happy to be in Montreal, happy to be wanted, and probably playing the best hockey of his career.

Yeah, and both players had been with the team since December 9th, and when Fowler was recalled on the 9th, I don't think anybody expected him to be up with the team to play as much as he did.

Mm-mm.

And not only to play as well, to play as steady as he did, got that shutout, played well both times against Pittsburgh.

And if you look at the games this past week, the Canadians had four games, busy schedule.

The two toughest games, the two toughest opponents on the docket were the Red Wings and the Sabres.

Yeah.