Habs News: Montreal Canadiens Prospects at WJSS, Joel Armia Speaks About Media, Off-season Moves
ROCKET SPORTS MEDIA | LAVAL, QC. — The 2019 World Junior Summer Showcase concluded on Saturday in Plymouth, Michigan, at USA Hockey Arena. The tournament starts the process of choosing rosters for the 2020 IIHF World Junior Championship. The tournament featured United States, Canada, Finland, and Sweden.
There was four Canadiens prospects participating in the tournament: Cole Caufield (F, 2019 1st round, 15th overall), Jordan Harris (D, 2018 3rd round, 71st overall), Allan McShane (F, 2018 4th round, 97th overall), and Jacob Olofsson (F, 2018 2nd round, 56th overall).
Caufield led the Canadiens prospects in scoring by scoring four goals and adding three assists in five games played during the tournament. On Saturday, Caufield got the attention of hockey fans by putting the puck in the net through a small hole left open by Team Canada goalie Alexis Gravel.
https://twitter.com/TSN_Sports/status/1157759680166469633
Harris and Olofsson finished the tournament with two and one points respectively, while McShane was kept off the board for the duration of the tournament.
You can read recaps of every game of the tournament by clicking here.
Armia Speaks
On July 23rd, the Finnish website Ilta:Sanomat posted an interview they had with Joel Armia. Armia signed a new two-year contract with the Canadiens earlier in the month.
In the interview, Armia mentioned that he prefers to stay away from the media and doesn’t like to speak to them. He adds that he doesn’t plan to learn how to speak French because it allows him to not read the terrible things written by the mainstream media in Montreal.
Armia advised his fellow countryman Jesperi Kotkaniemi not to say too much to the Montreal media. This is good advice for any player in a hockey market, where every comment is scrutinized to its full extent. In the conference call following his contract extension, Armia’s responses to the questions were relatively short.
I expect the team’s media staff to prepare some speaking points for Armia when he meets the media for the first time this season, likely at the Canadiens golf tournament in September.
Armia wasn’t the only one that recently made some juicy comments. Former Hab Nikita Scherbak spoke about his time with the Montreal Canadiens in an interview to a Russian website. You can read my thoughts on what Scherbak had to say by clicking here.
Off-season Moves
On episode 44 of the Canadiens Connection podcast, the hosts Joseph Whalen and Rick Stephens wanted to know if their listeners agreed with ESPN ranking the Habs at number 17th overall.
When I tweeted that I don’t expect any different results for the Habs compared to last season, several of my followers voiced their disagreement with my thoughts. I appreciated all the back and forth that it generated and it was all done very respectfully. It is the way hockey should be debated.
Below are the Canadiens lines for the April 4th game against the Capitals from last season. I selected game 81, because that was the last game that they were still alive to clinch a playoff spot.
All of the players except Andrew Shaw will be in the lineup for the first game of the season against the Hurricanes, pending injuries. I think that Shaw will be replaced in the lineup by Ryan Poehling or Nick Cousins, and the line combinations will likely look a lot different than the game against the Capitals.
Below are the defensive pairings for Montreal on game 81. The only difference is the subtraction of Jordie Benn and the addition of Ben Chariot. Chariot will likely begin the season paired up with Jeff Petry, but the other five defensemen will remain the same.
From the 18 skaters on the ice, only two of them will be different versus the end of last season. Poehling’s first NHL game was a memorable one, but next season will be his first year as a professional. He won’t score a hat trick every game he plays. I think Chariot is a comparable to Benn, but even if he’s an upgrade, it won’t be a significant impact to the standings.
The Canadiens power play finished 30th in the league last season. Odds are that it will rank higher this season, because it’s hard to imagine that it will get any worse. That being said, how much better can it get, when the same players will be on the ice with the man advantage, and the same coaches will be responsible for its success?
Last year, Max Domi, Tomas Tatar, Philip Danault, and Andrew Shaw all had career seasons, and it still wasn’t enough for the team to clinch a playoff spot. Will they all be able to repeat those numbers again this season? Will Poehling be able to replace Shaw’s 19 goals?
In goal, I expect Carey Price to be Carey Price. He’s an elite goaltender. Keith Kinkaid was signed to be Price’s backup this season. Antti Niemi did cost the Canadiens points in the standings last season. Some may point their fingers to Niemi as the reason that the team didn’t make the playoffs.
Kinkaid’s statistics last season were similar to those of Niemi. When Kinkaid was traded to Columbus in February, he was the team’s third goalie, and didn’t even play one game for the Blue Jackets. Stephane Waite said that he wants to work with the newest acquisition to get him back to play the way he was playing in 2017-18 season. An interesting fact is that Niemi’s stats in 2017-18 were superior to those of Kinkaid.
With a team that has only made some minor changes, I think it’s unrealistic to expect different results versus last season. The other teams around the Canadiens have also made changes to their rosters during the off-season, therefore that will also be taken into consideration when trying to project this season’s standings. I expect Marc Bergevin to make some more changes before the puck drops in October, so this outlook will change from now until the start of the season.
By Chris G., Senior Writer
All Habs Hockey Magazine
Copyright © 2019 Rocket Sports
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