Laraque's Time In Montreal Comes To An End

According to various sources, enforcer Georges Laraque has been released by the Montreal Canadiens. The team intends to buy out the final year of his contract at the end of the season, but until then he will not play another game for the Canadiens. Laraque was brought in to add some toughness after the Canadiens 2008 playoff run which saw them lose in the 2nd round to the Philadelphia Flyers. He was coming off a nice run with the Penguins in 2008 that saw the team make it all the way to the Stanley Cup final. He also had stops in Edmonton and Phoenix where he earned the reputation as being arguably the league's top fighter.

Unfortunately for the Canadiens, the Laraque experience was mostly a failure. Plagued by back and groin problems, Laraque was limited to just 61 games over the past season and a half. These injuries appear to have taken their toll on his play as well. When in the lineup, he looked slow and could not be used in close games. As for his fighting, his "nice guy" attitude didn't appear to put fear in any opponents. He refused to drop them with anyone who didn't agree to it, leading to only 4 fights this year. His speed made it nearly impossible to punish the opposition with hits as he simply could not catch them. His bright spot came when he scored his first goal for the Habs against the Stars last week only days after the devastating earthquake in Haiti. The low point probably came soon after when against the Rangers his presence did nothing to stop them from running around all night throwing questionable hits.

I'm not sure what the future holds for Laraque in terms of hockey. It is clear that in his current state the game has passed him by. Whether it is the injuries or the speed of the game, he just cannot compete any longer. He is a long way from the player who scored 13 goals and 29 points with the Oilers in 2000-01. His time with the Habs is now over with him scoring 1 goal along with 4 assists and 89 penalty minutes (13 fights).