Habs News: Montreal Canadiens, NHL, Dominique Ducharme, Shea Weber, Carey Price, Jonathan Drouin, Nick Suzuki, Jake Evans

Dominique Ducharme (Photo by TVA Sports)

ROCKET SPORTS MEDIA | MONTREAL, QC. — This is your one-stop destination every week day for your Canadiens news capsule. Here are your Habs Headlines!

Ducharme Filled with Optimism

Canadiens head coach Dominique Ducharme was the man of the hour at his charity golf tournament in Joliette on Thursday. Ducharme was joined by assistant coach Alex Burrows and a handful of players including Josh Anderson, Mathieu Perreault, Laurent Dauphin and Jonathan Drouin to raise funds for foundation that bears the name of Montreal’s head coach.

Ducharme said that he was happy with the additions to the Canadiens roster which includes Mike Hoffman, David Savard, Cedric Paquette, Mathieu Perreault and Chris Wideman.

“There are guys leaving, guys arriving. Our core has been through so much. Everyone is expected to take a step forward, to keep moving forward and certain players will assume bigger roles. That’s how we’ll continue to build on what we’ve already accomplished,” said Ducharme.

Retooled Canadiens

Ducharme believes that centre Jake Evans is one player capable of taking a big step this upcoming season.

“We have a guy like Jake Evans, who can fill the void left by the loss of Phillip Danault,” said the head coach.

And then there’s the issue of replacing Shea Weber who averaged more than 25 minutes in the playoffs for the Habs. Ducharme offered an unrealistic appraisal of newcomer David Savard, who played a third-pairing role for the Tampa Bay Lightning and averaged 14 minutes a game during the playoffs.

“We know that Shea won’t be able to play this year, but we acquired a guy like David Savard, who plays a similar style,” said Ducharme.

Ducharme added that Weber will play a role with the team even though he will not be playing this season.

The head coach teased that Marc Bergevin may not be done upgrading the Canadiens. “The situation could be different on September 22,” said Ducharme.

With respect to Carey Price, Ducharme said, “We expect him to be there at the start of camp. I will have more news next week, but if it is not early, he will be back very early in the camp.”

Drouin Makes An Appearance

Jonathan Drouin attended coach Ducharme’s golf tournament but avoided the media on Thursday. Drouin has yet to explain why he suddenly left the team at the end of April.

Dominique Ducharme said that Drouin has been training at the Bell Sports Complex in Brossard for the past few weeks. Ducharme said that Drouin must focus on preparing himself physically and mentally for the season.

The 26-year-old forward will participate in the fourth annual Jonathan Drouin Golf Tournament at Le Mirage Golf Club. The tournament is a fundraiser for the Centre Hospital of the University of Montreal (CHUM) Foundation. In a press release on Thursday morning, the CHUM Foundation announced that Drouin will not be available to the media during the tournament.

Habs – Senators Rookies

In Wednesday’s edition of Habs Headlines, we detailed the plans for the Canadiens rookie camp on September 15th. We have now learned additional information.

On Thursday, the Ottawa Sun reported that the Ottawa Senators rookies will play the Montreal Canadiens rookies on Saturday September 18th at 4 pm. at the Canadian Tire Centre. The two rookie teams will also meet for a game in Montreal.

Suzuki at a Jays Game

On Thursday, the Toronto Blue Jays tweeted that Habs forward Nick Suzuki was in the house to enjoy the game. Nick’s mom Amanda Suzuki tweeted that Nick was “having fun with his little brother at Jays game!”

Nick Suzuki (Photo by Toronto Blue Jays)

Canadiens Connection podcast

Current Habs topics were discussed on this week’s episode of the Canadiens Connection.

Habs players are talking about next season including Brendan Gallagher and Mike Hoffman. We’ll tell you what they said as well as the goals for Cole Caufield in the 2021-22 season.

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