Sopel to the Habs

What makes me happiest about the Canadiens acquisition of defenseman Brent Sopel? How excited he is to be coming to Montreal. Being one of the few NHLers with a Twitter account, he immediately changed his avatar to the Habs logo, updated his bio information (now reflecting his Habs status, as opposed to the Thrashers) and tweeted: "@BrentSopel: Looking forward to getting to Montreal to start the running for another Stanley Cup." Might I mention he's acquired roughly 4,000 new followers on Twitter since yesterday's trade announcement?

While Pierre Maguire described Sopel as an "older, slower version of Josh Gorges" on the Team 990 yesterday afternoon, I think that any version of Josh Gorges is a great acquisition, particularly in light of the fact that we do not currently have the original Josh Gorges in the lineup. What does this mean for the Habs? More blocked shots, mainly, taking some pressure off of Carey Price.

Ben Maxell was a great bargaining chip, and while I've heard a lot of people complain about the deal, I have to say that I like it. While it doesn't get me jumping up and down with excitement, I think it was a good move on Gauthier's part, and I'm looking forward to seeing Sopel join the Habs lineup Saturday against the Hurricanes, where the boys will no doubt be hungry for a win, after a disappointing loss against the Leafs Thursday night. Also, Nigel Dawes will indeed add depth in Hamilton.

All in all, I think it was a good deal. Feel free to disagree if you must.

PS. Sopel's wife has a blog about being the wife of an NHL hockey player. It's worth checking out, and I've added it to the list of my favourite blogs. When you have a chance, make sure to throw it a glance!