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Marauders Central
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Date Posted: 17:10:04 11/23/04 Tue
Montreal, PQ - The trade deadline came and went with nary a peep from the Montreal front offices. By all accounts, that was on purpose.
"We checked around earlier this year," said GM Gallagher, "but there just wasn't much there that excited us. I like our direction and chemistry right now, so there's no need to change just for change sake. We have some good leaders, some vets, and our youth is solid, so no major changes were expected."
The players echoed the GM's thoughts.
"We got this thing turned around from our slow start with this group, so we're pretty tight," reported Keith Tkachuk, "we didn't want to lose anyone from this room."
"We felt like we proved ourselves as a team," seconded defenseman Bryan McCabe, "the GM threatened to trade a bunch of us when we were out of the playoff race. We had a players-only meeting right after that and got things going. I feel like we were rewarded for that by not trading anyone."
Despite all the positivity, coach John Tortorella took the opportunity to send yet another message to his team, saying, "I like this bunch too, and I'm glad they're not the types to pine for outside help. However, look at our record lately. We haven't been performing like we did earlier. Playing mediocre .500 hockey won't get us far once we get into playoff mode. If we don't fold altogether and miss the playoffs."
While the coach's thoughts may be more pessimistic than most, the Marauders do indeed need to turn up the heat again.
Despite a second place Conference standing, even if they hold onto it through the end of the season, they'll still start the playoffs on the road, as the divisional leader will leapfrog them in the playoff bracket. It definitely seems that this tight band of brothers will need to close ranks once more if they plan on sticking around for a few more weeks.
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