All Habs news for August 30, 2010
by Rick Stephens, All Habs
On this date in 1994, Kirk Muller was named the 22nd captain of the Montreal Canadiens. He replaced Guy Carbonneau.
If you missed my appearance on the Team 990 with Gary Whittaker, you can find the podcast at The Franchise‘s website. For two segments, Gary and I talked about the changes at All Habs, Carey Price and the outlook for the upcoming Canadiens season.
Andrei Markov is back on skates again for the first time since his knee injury in the second round of the playoffs. According to his agent, Don Meehan, Markov’s recovery is ahead of schedule and he is likely to miss little or no time at the start of the season. Markov had surgery in May to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee.
Pierre Gauthier announced that the Canadiens have come to an affiliation agreement with the Wheeling Nailers of the ECHL. Control over player assignments and numbers seems to be the biggest selling point to the deal. The Canadiens will share the Nailers with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
This announcement comes on the heels of the Canadiens ending their affiliation with the Cincinnati Cyclones, who were champions of the ECHL last season winning the Kelly Cup. Details of the agreement can be found in the Canadiens press release.
Nick Champion, of the Lewiston Maineiacs, has received an invitation to the Canadiens rookie camp. Last season the 20-year old goaltender was a member of Rouyn-Noranda, going to the Maineiacs in a draft day trade
Former Canadiens prospect Pavel Valentenko will abandon the KHL and play in North America this season. He is expected to suit up for the New York Rangers or their AHL affiliate, the Hartford Wolfpack says Steve Zipay, a sportswriter with Newday.
Valentenko was sent to the Rangers as part of the Scott Gomez trade along with Chris Higgins and blue-chip prospect Ryan McDonagh on June 30, 2009. It appears that McDonagh will also be given a shot at making the Rangers lineup.
Valentenko is a big, physical defenseman who can be nasty to play against in his own zone. When he was with the Hamilton Bulldogs Valentenko was known to have the hardest shot in the AHL.
Valentenko was one of the final cuts of the Canadiens 2008 training camp. Head coach Guy Carbonneau had decided to go with defenseman Patrice Brisebois. Without an NHL salary, Valentenko was forced to accept an offer from Moscow Dynamo of the KHL. His family was facing severe financial problems in Russia.
Valentenko vowed to be back to play in the NHL, and it seems he is close to making that happen. Unfortunately, it won’t happen with the Canadiens.
Octagon Sports player agent and self-promotion machine, Allan Walsh announced on Twitter that his client, Jaroslav Halak, will be be making an appearance at Fairview Shopping Centre next Saturday. Halak will be signing photos for $20.00 each. Proceeds from the signing will go to Ste. Justine Hospital in Montreal.
Walsh added, “Let Jaro Halak say thanks for the support he’s been gIven by fans of Mtl.”
Those unfamiliar with the modus operandi of Walsh are likely to say ‘isn’t that a sweet gesture?’ The realists will have no trouble seeing this as yet another Walsh smokescreen to cover his more sinister intent.
What could be his motive? Think about the negative optics that Walsh has created for the Canadiens and Carey Price by staging this event and you will start to get the idea.
I’m not so sure that Halak is naive to the ways of his agent but for sake of simplicity let’s just say he is an innocent pawn in this mess.
If you believe that I’m being too cynical, ask yourself about Walsh’s track record on behalf of his clients. In November, Walsh trashed Halak’s teammate Carey Price using inaccurate statistics. When challenged on it, Walsh claimed that Montrealers didn’t have a sense of humour. You may recall that it was yours truly that exposed Walsh, with the Twitter exchange between us being featured on Hockey Night in Canada.
You’ll find several articles on the subject here including a link to my own piece “Hockey Night in Canada Takes Interest in All Habs’ Feud.”
Walsh also penned Martin Havlat’s tweets in an all-out attack on Chicago GM Dale Tallon after Havlat left the Blackhawks. Chicago fans will also recall that it was Walsh who publicly railed against Tallon after the qualifying offer incident. Walsh was very vocal about the restructuring of the NHLPA, offering his opinion about who should not be involved.
So, has the leopard changed his spots and is now prepared to arrange a fan-focused event as a gesture of gratitude? I think not.
If Walsh and Halak truely wanted to thank the fans, why are they charging $20.00 for autographs? If a charitable donation was important to them, why didn’t Halak write a cheque having recently signed a $15 million contract with the St. Louis Blues? Rather than making a donation in his own name using money from fans, could he not have followed the example set by Saku Koivu?
If there are no nefarious intentions, why did Walsh wait until two weeks before the Canadiens training camp to schedule this event?
And lastly, if this occasion is truly about Halak and the relationship with his fans, then why has Walsh been shining the spotlight on himself for the past few days?
(photo credit: Getty)
Oh Valentenko…aka TANK. And right after he ran off back to Russia, most of the Habs D got injured. He would have been called up.
Walsh is still a tool. His big hullabaloo over Price being on playoff tickets with Dryden was funny. “It’s an insult!” he said. (Jaro was with Roy, the player-past player on the tickets were RANDOM). And his big announcement for Jaro on twitter was actually announced like 2 days before (I think by RDS).
You’re right, Number31. Valentenko is a bigger loss than most people realize. But at least Breezer got to play his 1000th game.
Mitch Melnick had the Halak news too well before Walsh tried to build interest before a dramatic reveal.
Comments are closed.