All Habs Headlines: Friday September 11, 2015 |
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On this day in hockey history… 1943 — The Hockey Hall of Fame proposal was approved by the NHL. 1920 — Emile (Butch) Bouchard was born. 1995 — Larry Robinson was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Our thoughts and prayers are with our friends south of the border today as they remember the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and the loss of almost 3000 lives. |
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► A captain is coming
- At the Montreal Canadiens Children’s Foundation annual golf tournament, Habs General Manager Marc Bergevin revealed that the team will name a captain for this upcoming season. The announcement will be made at the end of training camp.
- Bergevin explained why the announcement will be made at the end of training camp saying, “First of all there are players that got here last night, we haven’t had time to sit down as a team so it would be a little pre-mature to announce it today.”
- Bergevin discussed the leadership transition of the club this way, “The team. Two years ago we lost our captain in Brian Gionta, we lost a good leader in Josh Gorges, we saw there was a transition that had to be made and we liked the way the transition happened last year. Last year’s transition, it really evolved and helped us make a decision. We reflected on it a lot and we think the team is ready to have a captain.”
► Galchenyuk at centre
- Figurative gold came out of Marc Bergevin’s mouth when he announced at that same event that Alex Galchenyuk would be playing centre this year after fans have been impatiently waiting for three years.
- Bergevin spoke about the permanency on the move to centre saying, “If the player is capable to show us that he is able to play down the middle, but we will give him all the necessary tools to succeed as a centreman.”
- When asked about a change in his mindset between his season ending press conference and now, Bergevin said “Listen you have to sit down with the players, explain it to him, see his psychology. We sat down with Alex at the draft and, I think, we had a very good discussion. He’s ready and we’re ready. I didn’t talk to him too early; I didn’t want to put pressure on the player to answer questions without knowing that we decided to go with him [at centre].”
- Canadiens head coach Michel Therrien spoke about Galchenyuk’s role saying, “First of all we want him to be himself, creative, dynamic, I think he learned the positioning in the last couple years so that’s a think that’s really important in my eyes, […] we don’t want him to change his personality as a player.”
- Galchenyuk had stints at centre last year including scoring a hat trick alongside Max Pacioretty and Brendan Gallagher and being deployed against Anze Kopitar.
► Price thinks he can do better
- Carey Price was named the most valuable player of the entire league last season yet he feels he can be better. On what he can do differently, Price said, “I got to keep focused on the process. I can’t focus on the end goal. Obviously we wanted to win it all last year and ultimately that’s what we’re working towards.”
- “I totally tune out in the summertime to anything that’s going on hockey related really. It’s funny sometimes when I show up to training camp. I don’t know all the transactions and I kind of get lost when I get to training camp. I don’t know where everybody is all of the time.”
- Price had a smile when answering if he’s aware that his team signed Alex Semin saying, “Ya, (with a chuckle) I’m aware of our own transactions.”
- On the relief of knowing Jeff Petry is signed long-term, Price said, “He played very well for us last year and he’s a great guy, our wives get along awesome so we’re happy to see him here. […] I told him to have a good summer and wished him the best of luck. I actually kind of thought he might not be back because he’s a guy that everybody wanted.”
- “There’s a reason he’s been in the NHL and been a tier one forward for a while and I think he’s going to bring that little extra push offensively.” Price said on the acquisition of Alex Semin.
► Plekanec’s contractual situation up in the air
- With Galchenyuk moving to centre for the foreseeable future, questions about Tomas Plekanec’s future in Montreal have been a-plenty. This doesn’t change the soon-to-be 33-year old’s mindset saying, “It doesn’t bother me at all, I only prepare for the coming season. [My contract] doesn’t rest in my hands; I can only worry about my performance.”
- “You’re happy, right?” the Czech asked the media following the announcement Galchenyuk would be moving to centre. “He’s a good player with great skills, we’ll see how he’ll manage, but he definitely has the potential to become a quality centreman.”
- Plekanec offered his opinion about the team’s choice for captain saying “Management has chosen this avenue and we are comfortable with that. The decision is up to them and I will agree with their choice.”
- Arpon Basu of LNH.com reported that Plekanec said “the ball is in [the Canadiens’] court” for contract negotiations. He also said the sides have not had talks up to this point and that Plekanec wouldn’t be initiating them.
► Kassian knows what to expect
- The Canadiens acquired Zack Kassian in with his role up in the air but he knows what he can bring.
- Kassian commented on what he expects his role to be this season saying “You can’t pin point where you’re going to be on a deep team you just want to fit in and help the team anyway possible. I feel when I’m playing my best I’m good on the forcheck, I’m physical and I can score goals.”
- The former 13th overall pick on this season said “I’m looking forward to the new chapter of my life here being a Canadien, original six team, I couldn’t be more honored and privileged to get a chance to play for them and I’m really excited to get things going here.”
- On his back injury from last season, Kassian said “Losing last year with the Canucks was tough but it gave me the chance to get my back better, stronger and healthy, I feel really good right now.”
- Kassian said this about playing in Montreal, “They love their Canucks [in Vancouver] and they’re very passionate just like Montreal but I heard Montreal takes it to another level but all for the right reasons, they are a passionate fan base and they just want to win.”
► Pacioretty skated for the first time
- Max Pacioretty fractured the tibial plateau in his left knee this summer only returning to skates in the past day. The two time 35+ goal scorer is rehabbing quite nicely.
- “Everyone gets injured. It looks bad but it could have been so much worse. It’s something that will heal. Everyone heals at a different speed but I’m confident it will heal 100 per cent and won’t affect my future.” the sniper told The Montreal Gazette.
- Pacioretty detailed how the injury happened saying “Totally routine stuff and, of course, it happened on the last sprint I was supposed to do. I’ll never have the answer for whether it was from my hamstring injury or from the hot weather — maybe I was a little dehydrated. I pulled up naturally but, obviously, when you’re going full speed and you pull up like that, you kind of lose control of your body. I planted with my next step, my knee hyperextended and that’s when I went down.”
- “Enzo [his son] came in and instantly I forgot about my leg. He ended up falling asleep on me on the clinic table. I realized there’s so much more important stuff in life than things like injuries. I have so much more that can make me happy even walking around every day.”
► Juulsen to miss rookie tournament
- Canadiens prospect Noah Juulsen will miss the entirety of the NHL’s rookie tournament due to a concussion. Juulsen was the Canadiens first round pick at June’s draft.
- The Canadiens also announced that Markus Eisenschmid and Mark MacMillan will also miss the rookie tournament due to injuries. in London. Sam Studnicka, a centre from the Ottawa 67’s of the OHL has been added to the roster.
- The NHL rookie’s tournament is comprised of four teams, the Penguins, Leafs, Senators and the Canadiens. All Habs Hockey Magazine will be in London, Ontario covering the event live.
► Bruins stumble out of the gate
- What are the odds that one NHL team has three consecutive picks in the first round of the NHL Entry Draft? Pretty slim, but the Boston Bruins had the 13th, 14th and 15th overall picks in June’s draft. But what are the odds that each of those three consecutive first round picks would fail the conditioning test at rookie camp? Only in Boston?
- Jakub Zboril (13th), Jake DeBrusk (14th) and Zachary Senyshyn (15th) each failed the conditioning test prepared for rookies at Ristuccia Arena on Thursday morning.
- Bruins general manager Don Sweeney was not pleased saying, “To me, it’s a test you can train for, and that’s probably the most indicative thing. If you’ve put in the work in that situation — you may not be the best runner, the most graceful person — but if you put in the work, you should come out the other side with a positive result, so we have some guys that will have some supplemental work as a result of it.”
The three first round picks all failed the conditioning test: Senyshyn, DeBrusk, Zboril.
— Amalie Benjamin (@AmalieBenjamin) September 10, 2015
► Demers to coach again
- TVA is reporting that former Canadiens coach Jacques Demers will coach the Habs Alumni team as part of the 2016 Winter Classic festivities.
- The Canadiens will face the rival Bruins on January 1st at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachussets. One day earlier, alumni from the two teams will face off with the 1993 Stanley Cup winning coach behind the bench.
Jacques Demers will coach the Canadiens for the alumni game in Boston at the Winter Classic. #tvasports
— Renaud Lavoie (@renlavoietva) September 10, 2015
► Franson finally signs
- Unrestricted free agent defenceman Cody Franson signed a two-year contract with the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday. The deal is a $3.325 million cap hit
- The 28-year-old spent last season with the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Nashville Predators recording seven goals and 36 points.
- Sabres GM Tim Murray expects Franson to be part of the top-5 saying, “He’ll certainly help us on the power play with his shot; his ability to move the puck. He’s a skilled defenseman. Obviously [he has] a big body (6-foot-5, 213 pounds) that we know he’s not a crasher and banger and that’s not what we signed him for, but he’s got some range. He’s got a long reach and it does take some space to get by him if you’re going to get by him defensively.
► The Rocket
- A newly-released caricature of Maurice Richard by graphic artist Graeme Bandeira
#Illustration of Maurice Richard aka "The Rocket" #caricature #montreal pic.twitter.com/KtNFibWfyJ
— Graeme Bandeira (@GraemeBandeira) September 7, 2015
► Habs Depth
- J. D. Lagrange writes about the Canadiens depth and players playing to stay in Montreal.
► Big hearts
- Chris G was on location to report on the Galchenyuks supporting a children’s charity event.
► A flash in the pan?
- Jordan Lambe highlights the potential busts for fantasy hockey this year.
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