All Habs GameDay: Saturday December 10, 2011

On this day in hockey history… ***

GAMEDAY: Habs hockey tonight!

 MONTREAL CANADIENS (11-11-7) vs. NEW JERSEY DEVILS (14-12-1)

Last 10: New Jersey 5-5-0; Montreal 3-3-4

Prudential Center,  1:00 p.m. EST

TV: RDS, CBC, NHLN-US, MSG PLUS

Projected line combinations (updated following morning skate)

MONTREAL CANADIENS

Forwards
Mike Cammalleri – Tomas Plekanec – Andrei Kostitsyn
Max Pacioretty – David Desharnais – Erik Cole
Travis Moen – Lars Eller – Louis Leblanc
Mathieu Darche – Petteri Nokelainen – Yannick Weber

Defenseman
Josh Gorges – P.K. Subban
Hal Gill – Raphael Diaz
Alexei Emelin – Tomas Kaberle

Goaltenders
Carey Price (will start) – Peter Budaj

Scratches
Chris Campoli

Injuries
Scott Gomez – Ryan White – Andrei Markov – Brian Gionta

Power-play
Cammalleri -Desharnais – Cole – Kaberle – Subban
Kostitsyn – Plekanec – Gionta – Emelin – Diaz

NEW JERSEY DEVILS

Forwards
Zach Parise – Adam Henrique – Ilya Kovalchuk
Mattias Tedenby – Patrik Elias – Petr Sykora
Dainius Zubrus – Ryan Carter – David Clarkson
Eric Boulton – Tim Sestito – Nick Palmieri

Defensemen
Bryce Salvador – Adam Larsson
Henrik Talinder – Mark Fayne
Mark Fraser – Anton Volchenkov

Goaltenders
Martin Brodeur (will start) – Johan Hedberg

Scratches

Injuries
Travis Zajac – Jacob Josefson – Cam Janssen – Andy Greene

GAMEDAY: All Habs Headlines

► Muller is ready for challenge: Kirk Muller has taken the helm of the worst team in the Eastern conference, but still has a smile on his face.  Muller is a communicator, a motivator, and a coach who demands the most from his players.  It will take time for him to fully implement his aggressive system, but expect the Carolina Hurricanes to respond his positive approach.

“I more or less said, ‘From today on, let’s clear the heads and move forward.’ I don’t care who is minus-15. I don’t care who has one goal. Let’s look at today and how can we be better? And let’s do it together. Nobody has to be Superman. There is strength in numbers. So let’s come to the rink and have fun and play hard and see where we’re at.” — Kirk Muller

Read more: Kirk Muller echos Badger Bob

► View from Raleigh: Lots of excitement and relief in North Carolina as Hurricanes general manager Jim Rutherford was able to unload Tomas Kaberle and his enormous contract on to the Montreal Canadiens.  Pierre Gauthier played the role of the desperate trading partner.  After the dust had settled, Rutherford admitted that it was a mistake to sign Kaberle as a free agent in the summer.

“I should have known better. Tomas is a player who has had a very good career, but I should have known better in the sense of where he was in his career. He won the Stanley Cup, he had a short summer and at the start of training camp and the start of the season he was not where he needed to be (physically). He has not done as well as expected, just as the team has not done as well as expected. He has played better the last couple of weeks. But to have flexibility next year without his contract is important for us.” — Jim Rutherford

Read more: Canes deal Kaberle to Montreal