All Habs Headlines: Bergevin, Subban, Lafleur, Gionta, Training Camp

September 17, 2014

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All Habs Headlines: Wednesday September 17, 2014

On this day in hockey history… 1971 — Montreal’s Guy Lafleur made his NHL debut, and picked up three assists in the Canadiens’ 7-4 exhibition game victory against the Bruins, at the Forum.

All Habs Headlines

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(Photo by Richard Wolowicz/Getty Images)

► Who does Savard think should be wearing the “C?”

Serge Savard is certainly well-known in the Canadiens’ organization, having captaining the team and acting as as general manager in the past. It is certainly no surprise that he still has a strong opinions about his beloved team, and it showed during his interview with Chris Nilan on TSN 690 on September 12^th.
Nilan asked him who would have picked as the Canadiens’ new captain. He responded with a question, “Who was your leader against Boston last year?” “Subban,” Nilan answered. Savard answered simple with, “There you go.”
Serge Savard went on to further elaborate that if he was general manager, he would let the players vote for captain. But he added that management can certainly do as they wish.

►Training camp roster announced.

Sixty-four players have been invited to the Montreal Canadiens’ training camp, thiry-one of whom attend their rookie camp this year. 13 players from rookie camp were returned to their respective teams.
The breakdown looks like this: 36 forwards, 22 defensemen, and 6 goaltenders.
Players include Tim Bozon, Francis Bouillon, Jiri Sekac, and Nikita Scherbak. See full list here.

► Bergevin offers hints about roster plan.

In Monday’s Headlines post, we reported that every effort will be made in training camp to let Alex Galchenyuk succeed at centre. This was revealed by Cnadiens general manager Marc Bergevin in a 16-minute interview with TSN’s Bob McKenzie.
Bergevin said that by October 8, the logjam at centre — Alex Galchenyuk, Tomas Plekanec, Lars Eller, David Desharnais, Manny Malhotra — will be resolved.
Also revealed in the interview, Bergevin said that starting the season with three goalies on the roster is a possibility. A trade is also possible.
Bergevin called Carey Price “the backbone of our team.”
The general manager hopes that P.A. Parenteau will be part of the top-6 forwards. He also mentioned Jiri Sekac.
With respect to a young defenseman making the roster, Bergevin included Greg Pateryn with Jarred Tinordi and Nathan Beaulieu.
Forward Jacob de la Rose also received special mention as a player to watch by the Habs GM.

► Gionta happy to be back home.

Brian Gionta’s reign as captain of the most storied franchise in sports came to an end when the Canadiens were unable to make him a competitive offer. The 35-year-old chose free agency signing a three-year $12.75 million contract with the Buffalo Sabres, returning home with his family to upstate New York.
Gionta reacted this way, “It’s been a while since I’ve been that close to home, and I think it’s a great fit for myself on the team, but also for my family in the community.”
Transition to a new locker room should be a little easier with Habs teammate Josh Gorges also in Buffalo. But there’s no time to reminisce about being just two wins from an appearance in the Stanley Cup final, Gionta said, “It was a pretty special year, obviously, but you don’t look back on it. You’re always playing and you’re always preparing for the next thing. Maybe when you’re done you’ll look back on things that happened in your career.
You can read the entire story at NHL.com

► Canadiens rookies to attend 2015 Young Stars Classic?

Last weekend, Penticton, B.C. hosted rookie players for a tournament from the four Western NHL teams, namely Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and Winnipeg.
Trevor Linden, President of hockey operations for the Canucks said that a fifth Canadian team could be added in 2015. When asked if it was the Canadiens, Linden replied “could be.” The former Habs player went on to say, “I love Montreal. Great city, tremendous organization.” Full story here.

► You can tweet to Danny B!

Twitter welcomed a new NHL’er to the fold, former Canadien Danny Briere. He is still wearing a Habs jersey in his profile photo.
His first tweet looked like this:

Excited to be a part of the @Avalanche organization and ready for the season to start #newtotwitter #giveafollow

— Danny Briere (@DannyBriere48) September 11, 2014