HEADLINES | Plekanec, Price, Lehkonen, Condon, Galchenyuk, Markov, more

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All Habs Headlines: Monday August 29, 2016
On this day in hockey history… 1901 — Aurel Joliat is born on this date in Ottawa. As a member of the Montreal Canadiens, Joliat and Howie Morenz formed one of the most potent scoring duos in  NHL history. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1947. 1964 — Doug Bentley, Bill Durnan, Babe Siebert, “Black Jack” Stewart, and referee Bill Chadwick were inducted into the hockey hall of fame. 1994 — Mario Lemieux announced he would be sitting out the 1994-95 season, citing fatigue, sickness and radiation treatment due to his cancer he was diagnosed with in early 1993.
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► Plek gets a ‘C’

  • Canadiens centre Tomas Plekanec has been named team captain for the World Cup of Hockey later next month. Last week, Team Canada announced that Habs defenceman Shea Weber will be an alternate captain for Team Canada.
  • The Canadiens will also be represented by Andrei Markov (Russia), Alexei Emelin (Russia), Max Pacioretty (USA) and Carey Price (Canada) at the international tournament, which starts September 17.

► New Lid for World Cup bound Price

► Wedding Bells

  • Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin was married in Russia to model Nastya Shubskaya.

  • Former Canadiens/IceCaps defenceman Morgan Ellis was married on Friday.

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► Lehkonen NHL Bound?

  • Along with recently-signed Canadiens draftee Martin Reway, Artturi Lehkonen will be competing for the currentlyavailable position in the Canadiens’ top-six and, according to his former coach, he has a good chance at sticking.
  • Yesterday, Frolunda Indians head coach Roger Rönnberg expressed his certainty that he wouldn’t be seeing the player that propelled his team to a championship any time soon.
  • “Artturi Lehkonen scores in the Champions Hockey League,” tweeted Hockeyserige.se Editor-in-Chief Uffe Bodin. “His coach Roger Rönnberg doesn’t think he’ll be back after Montréal’s camp.”
  • Last season, Lehkonen recorded 16 goals and 33 points in 49 games with Frolunda, breaking a club record held by Daniel Alfredsson for points during a postseason with 19 in 16 games on way to a league title.

► Jockeying For A Roster Spot

  • Mike Condon’s NHL career got off to a phenomenal start, with his season’s ruination coming as a bi-product of overexposure. Now, going into his third NHL training camp, he’s prepared to fight for a spot.
  • In an interview with the Canadiens official website, the Massachusetts native expressed his comfort level with competition, citing many a battles with goaltenders at all levels.
  • “Whether it was my competition in college with Sean Bonar, being in the ECHL competing with Eric Hartzell, competing with Joey MacDonald and Robert Mayer in Hamilton, or Dustin [Tokarski] and Ben Scrivens in Montreal, I’m used to it,” said Condon.
  • “There’s always going to be somebody. No one is ever going to pat you on the back and say – ‘Hey, here’s the job. It’s yours.’ You have to earn it,” noted the 26-year old backstop.
  • Last season, Condon produced a 2.71 goals against average, .993 save percentage in 55 games which resulted in 21 wins.

► Galchenyuk Gearing Up for 2016-17

  • Alex Galchenyuk’s emergence as the team’s number one center was possibly the only salvageable component of last season. That and P.K. Subban’s solid point tota… Nevermind. Oh, and the Canadiens center is looking forward to next season.
  • While speaking to NHL.com at a charity event, Galchenyuk expressed his excitement heading into his fifth NHL season, this being the first he’ll be assured to be playing center.
  • “It was nice to prove to yourself that you can be a great offensive player,” he said. “And obviously not making the playoffs was tough, but to hit 30 goals was special for me,”
  • “It means a lot, but at the same time, once you do that there’s always expectations and expectations are even higher for myself and I’m sure for everyone this year, so I’m just looking forward to that,” said the 22-year old.
  • Galchenyuk was tied with Max Pacioretty for the team lead in goals with 30, last season being the first time he reached that plateau, and was eight points behind the Habs captain for the team lead in points.

► Markov Working Hard

  • Many are wondering when the other shoe will drop in regards to Andrei Markov as in when will be the apocalyptic collapse? According to his personal trainer, he’s working to postpone it indefinitely.
  • “He’s getting better. This is what’s amazing about Andrei. I make up a schedule for him for a week. He’s always there. He’s working hard. He’s a real workaholic and a real ironman,” his trainer and former NHLer Sergei Berezin told Canadiens.com.
  • “I’ve always kept the notes from every single workout and practice we’ve done together. His results are better than they were two, three or four years ago. [..] I’m absolutely 100 percent sure he’ll be at his best this season,” noted the one-time Canadien.
  • Markov’s point total depreciated by six last season, one point better than his point total in 2013-14, his 44 points last season was his second-highest point total since 2008-09.

► Kopitar Could’ve Been a Blue Jacket

  • The 2005 draft is known amongst the Canadiens fan base as the draft class that produced the player that the majority of the fan base hated for a long time, then he played well and everyone forgot. Of course I am referring to Sidney Crosby. But it was also a draft that left many teams in anguish.
  • According to The Columbus Dispatch’s Puck-Rakers blog, the Blue Jackets were a mere impulse away from selecting Anze Kopitar at sixth overall, but opted to select Gilbert Brule instead.
  • “[…] But when it came time for the Blue Jackets to pick, [Doug] MacLean pulled the chute on drafting Kopitar at No. 6 because it would have been seen as unconventional,” noted the blog.
  • “The Blue Jackets took the safe pick and were roundly applauded for keeping the ball in the fairway. But safe is death when it comes to drafting,” said Puck-Rakers Blog.
  • The 2005 draft saw the Montreal Canadiens select Carey Price fifth overall despite having former MVP Jose Theodore on the roster at the time, a move that payed dividends in ways unforeseen.

► Ho-Sang Learning From McDavid, Seguin

  • Josh Ho-Sang’s tag as pompous yet talented will very likely not change any time soon, however the former first round pick is learning from the likes of former fist overall picks in an attempt to crack his first NHL roster.
  • At his third BioSteel camp, Ho-Sang spoke to Sportsnet’s Luke Fox and touched on his relationship with Connor McDavid and Tyler Seguin in an attempt to become more mature.
  • “Yeah, but to me he’s been the nicest guy. He’s definitely made me better. Anything I go on to do this year, I can 100 per cent attribute to Tyler and the way he’s treated me since I’ve been here. Even when everything happened last year, he said, ‘What are you thinking?'” said Ho-Sang.
  • “But getting sent back was the best thing that could’ve happened to me,” said the 20-year old who scored 19 goals and recorded 82 points in 66 games with the Niagara IceDogs of the OHL last season.
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