All Habs GameDay: Wednesday January 25, 2012
On this day in hockey history… 2002 – Detroit’s Luc Robitaille became the first player in NHL history to score 10 power play goals in a season 13 times in his NHL career.
GAMEDAY: Habs hockey tonight!
Last 10: Detroit 8-2-0; Montreal 4-4-2
Bell Centre, 7:30 p.m. EST
TV: RDS, TSN, NBCSP
Projected line combinations (updated following morning skate)
MONTREAL CANADIENS
Forwards
Max Pacioretty – David Desharnais – Erik Cole
Mike Blunden – Lars Eller – Andrei Kostitsyn
Rene Bourque – Tomas Plekanec – Andreas Enqvist
Scott Gomez – Mathieu Darche
Defenseman
Josh Gorges – P.K. Subban
Hal Gill – Chris Campoli
Tomas Kaberle – Alexei Emelin
Raphael Diaz
Goaltenders
Carey Price (confirmed) – Peter Budaj
Scratches
Yannick Weber
Injuries
Ryan White – Andrei Markov – Brian Gionta – Travis Moen – Petteri Nokelainen
Power-play
Pacioretty – Desharnais – Cole – Kaberle – Subban
Bourque – Plekanec – Gomez – Gorges – Weber
DETROIT RED WINGS
Forwards
Johan Franzen – Pavel Datsyuk – Todd Bertuzzi
Valtteri Filppula – Henrik Zetterberg – Jiri Hudler
Drew Miller – Darren Helm – Dan Cleary
Cory Emmerton – Justin Abdelkader – Tomas Holmstrom
Defensemen
– Ian White
Niklas Kronwall – Brad Stuart
Jonathan Ericsson – Jakub Kindl
Goaltenders
Jimmy Howard (confirmed) – Ty Conklin
Scratches
Nicklas Lidstrom (flu)
Injuries
Patrick Eaves
GAMEDAY: All Habs Headlines
► Subbana drama: While Canadiens GM Pierre Gauthier is on the left coast scouting/job hunting, the tongue wagging in Montreal is all about P.K. Subban. The Canadiens sophomore defenseman is in the midst of a dismal season but is not the type to quietly put his head down and focus on improving his game. Subban has locked horns with the coaching staff in both practise and game situations — this has caused some to speculate that Subban may be on the move.
Lyle Richardson thinks that trading Subban wouldn’t be wise in a piece he wrote for the Hockey News.
“Dealing away Subban only to watch him thrive elsewhere would conjure up memories of the Habs doing the same thing with John LeClair in the mid-1990s. That was a move they came to regret and they should avoid making the same mistake with Subban.” — Lyle Richardson
Read more: Rumor Roundup: Subban on the move?
► Coach Roy? No thanks: Michael McGlenister thinks that Patrick Roy should be the next coach of the Montreal Canadiens. Why? Because he is a big name, and he speaks French and the media would have lots to write about.
Oh really? And what does that have to do with coaching? It seems that Michael doesn’t believe that Roy is a good coach or he presumably would have added that.
Michael also believes that Roy would be good for Carey Price. On that he is dead wrong. Roy’s goaltending ego would be disastrous for the career of Price.
“The Habs could also keep the activists at bay and the language issue would be resolved. The team would then be able to focus on hockey, not demonstrations outside the Bell Centre.” — Michael McGlenister
Who was focused on the lame 100-person protest besides the mainstream media?
Read more: Why Patrick Roy Should Coach Habs
► Scotty NoGoal: The focus on Scott Gomez‘s goalless streak is silly — Gomez has always been a set-up guy not a goal-scorer — but at the same time, it’s spawned at least two entertaining websites in full goal-watch mode.
Did Scott Gomez Score Last Night?
► Diaz heading to Ottawa: Raphael Diaz has been named to the rookie All-Star squad replacing injured New Jersey Devils defenseman Adam Larsson.
► New at All Habs Hockey Magazine:
Video: Montreal Canadiens 2011-12, The Road So Far
Malkin Tops All Habs All-Star Mock Draft
Catching the Torch, Tinordi’s Streak (January 16-22)
Hamilton’s AHL Outdoor Classic: Cold but Worth it!
► Puck’s take: Need to know who will win tonight? @PucktheBunny has his prediction here. His record is an impressive 12-4-3.