All Habs GameDay: Thursday December 8, 2011

On this day in hockey history… 1995 – Montreal named Pierre Turgeon as their new team captain, replacing Mike Keane (who had been traded). Turgeon became the 22nd captain in Montreal Canadiens’ history.

GAMEDAY: Habs hockey tonight!

 VANCOUVER CANUCKS (16-10-1) vs. MONTREAL CANADIENS (11-11-6)

Last 10: Vancouver 8-2-0; Montreal 3-4-3

Bell Centre,  7:30 p.m. EST

TV: RDS, TSN-HABS

Projected line combinations (updated following morning skate)

MONTREAL CANADIENS

Forwards
Max Pacioretty – Tomas Plekanec – Brian Gionta
Mike Cammalleri  – David Desharnais – Erik Cole
Andrei Kostitsyn – Lars Eller – Travis Moen
Mathieu Darche – Petteri Nokelainen – Louis Leblanc

Defenseman
Josh Gorges – P.K. Subban
Hal Gill – Frederic St. Denis
Alexei Emelin – Raphael Diaz

Goaltenders
Carey Price (will start) – Peter Budaj

Scratches
Yannick Weber

Injuries
Scott Gomez – Jaroslav Spacek – Chris Campoli – Ryan White – Andrei Markov

Power-play
Cammalleri – Desharnais – Cole – Gorges – Subban
Kostitsyn – Plekanec – Gionta – St. Denis – Diaz

VANCOUVER CANUCKS

Forwards
Daniel Sedin – Henrik Sedin – Alexandre Burrows
Mason Raymond – Ryan Kesler – Jannik Hansen
Bill Sweatt – Cody Hodgson – Maxim Lapierre
Andrew Alberts – Manny Malhotra – Dale Weise

Defensemen
Dan Hamhuis – Kevin Bieksa
Alex Edler – Sami Salo
Keith Ballard – Aaron Rome

Goaltenders
Roberto Luongo (will start) – Cory Schneider

Scratches

Injuries
Chris Higgins – David Booth – Aaron Volpatti – Steve Pinizzotto – Byron Bitz – Alexander Sulzer

GAMEDAY: All Habs Headlines

► Are the winds of change blowing? After 28 games, the Montreal Canadiens are on a point-a-game pace with 28 points, good enough for 11th place in the Eastern Conference.  The most optimistic will tell you that puts the Habs only one point out of a playoff position.  But Montreal has lost five of their last six games, and it is obvious that the team is vastly underperforming.

Over at the Fourth Period, they are reporting that Canadiens owner Geoff Molson has been in discussions with consultant Bob Gainey about his options, one of which would include sweeping aside head coach Jacques Martin and general manager Pierre Gauthier.

“According to three separate sources close to the team, some members of the Habs feel Martin’s system is too restrictive. “They’re not responding (to the coach),” one source said, “and it’s affective their play.”” — TheFourthPeriod.com

Read more: Canadiens considering shakeup?