Habster:
The Montreal Canadiens have recalled hard hitting, skating Gregory Stewart from the Hamilton Bulldogs for tonight’s game against the Nashville Predators.
He is currently participating in today’s morning skate and will most likely be in the lineup tonight if Tom Kostopoulos can’t play due to an undisclosed injury.
Greg Stewart (6’2″ 210lb) is a welcome addition to the Habs lineup as he is a definite upgrade on Tom Kostopoulos from a fighting/enforcer perspective. Stewart is a hustler and a better skater than TK, but he certainly doesn’t have Kostopoulos’ heart and soul.
During Stewart’s only NHL regular season debut last season against the Toronto Maple Leafs, he was impressive and displayed good speed. He also had two or three great scoring chances and was crashing the boards. If I’m not mistaken (you can correct me on this one), he even got into a fight against Bryan McCabe after McCabe slashed him at the end of the game.
Needless to say, TK and Stewart play a similar game and it should be interesting to see what Stewart can contribute in tonight’s game if TK can’t play.
Updated at 12h05:
It would appear that Stewart was recalled in case Alex Kovalev hasn’t completely recovered from the flu. He will be a game time decision.
Habster,
You are correct about Stewart fighting McCabe during Greg’s NHL debut last April.
Here is what I wrote in my game review on April 5/08:
“How impressive was Greg Stewart? He was in alone on Raycroft on both of his first two shifts in the NHL. He skated well, had a good physical game and set up his linemates after winning battles for the puck. He also showed that he wouldn’t be intimated when he fought Bryan McCabe after Stewart got a slash and a spear from the cheapshot artist McCabe.”
I think it’s fair to say that Gregory Stewart was underwhelming in training camp this past fall. If he plays tonight, let’s hope that Greg can show some of the energy on the 4th line that he displayed last April.
If Kovy is sidelined, I’m glad to hear that D’Agostini will play with Pacioretty and Plekanec. D’Ags has been unfairly criticized for the drop off in his performance. D’Ags has been averaging less than 10 minutes of ice-time and with linemates that haven’t been able to keep up with him or take advantage of the opportunities he creates.
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