Headlines: Bergevin, Gallagher, Mitchell, Trade Talk, Forbes, more

By
Christopher Nardella
-
0
97
Marc Bergevin

All Habs Headlines: Wednesday November 25, 2015  
On this day in hockey history… 1954 — Bill Mosienko became the first player in Chicago Black Hawks history (and the 6th player in NHL history) to get 250 goals, when he scored in a 3-2 loss to the visiting Montreal Canadiens. 1981 — Edmonton’s Wayne Gretzky became the first player in NHL history to get eight career hat tricks before age 21, when he scored four times (and added an assist) in an 11-4 win over the visiting L.A. Kings. 1998 — Pittsburgh Penguins traded Petr Nedved, Chris Tamer and Sean Pronger to the New York Rangers for Alexei Kovalev, Harry York and future considerations.
Stay informed with All Habs Headlines, everything you need to know in one convenient location. Got a tip? Send us an email: [email protected] or tweet us: @AllHabs !

 

► Game Day!

Forward lines, defense pairings and goaltenders at Tuesday’s skate

Pacioretty – Plekanec – Smith-Pelly
Eller – Galchenyuk – Andrighetto
Fleischmann – Desharnais – Weise
Byron – Flynn – Semin / Holloway

Markov – Subban
Emelin – Petry
Beaulieu – Gilbert
Tinordi – Pateryn

Price
Condon

► Put yourself first

  • With Habs fans focused on the team’s desperate need of a scoring winger that has been exacerbated by recent injuries, the Canadiens announced a multi-year contract extension for General Manager Marc Bergevin.
  • The announcement seemed to be oddly-timed given the team’s current list of needs.
  • The extension locks up Bergevin through to the end of the 2021-22 hockey season.

► Gallagher out

  • As soon as Brendan Gallagher left the ice on route to the dressing room on Sunday night following blocking a Johnny Boychuck point drive, Habs fans knew that he was in trouble.
  • Gallagher broke two fingers on the play that required surgery. The Habs forward will be out for a minimum of six weeks.
  • The Edmonton, Alberta native was tied for third on the team with 19 points in 22 games prior to his injury.
  • It remains to be seen if Gallagher’s injury will  open the door for Bud Holloway who was called up from the AHL on an emergency basis following Devante Smith-Pelly’s injury. Holloway has yet to play a game this season following a red-hot start to his 2015-16 NHL campaign.

► Mitchell out another week

  • The Canadiens announced that Torrey Mitchell will be out a little longer than initially thought.
  • The centreman will be out at least another seven to ten days with an undisclosed injury that appeared to be a groin.
  • In 20 games this season prior to going down with an injury the Greenfield Park, Quebec native had five goals and the same amount of assists with a plus-five rating and a team-high 22 penalty minutes.
  • In his place, Brian Flynn is now centring the fourth line and took the majority of Mitchell’s penalty kill minutes.

► Habs buzzing in the trade market

  • Reputable erporter Elliotte Friedman was on Sportsnet 960 in Calgary and gave a vote of confidence to fans hoping for a trade from Marc Bergevin.
  • “Well, the reason I kind of did that is I’m not sure what they are going to do, but everybody is saying just watch out for them. They’re trying. They know their window is two years. Because then they’ve got to extend Price and they’ve got to extend Pacioretty the year after that. So I think they’re all in,” said the Sportsnet insider.
  • Lars Eller seems to be part of the rumour mill mostly fueled by the French media and this year is no different. “The name you hear a lot is Eller, but as one GM said to me – he laughed and said, “You hear that name every three months.””
  • Friedman also gave a vote of confidence to Bergevin saying, “But I do think that Marc Bergevin is smart enough to look at his roster and say, ‘We’ve got a couple of years to do this before we have to start doing some big-time contract extensions.’ So I think they’re going to go for it when they see they’re as close as they are now.”
  • He was also asked what position the Habs were looking for, a forward or defenceman, he responded, “I think they’re looking at both”.
  • ESPN’s Pierre Lebrun also agreed “(Bergevin) is among the more active GMs in the league again this season in terms of reaching out to his fellow GMs around the league. And he does so in a very methodical way, every single week talking to a number of teams just to catch up and stay informed on where those teams are. He tries never to go more than three weeks without circling back to almost every team.”

► Second place

  • Every year Forbes releases the NHL’s most valuable franchises and this year we have a new champion via the knockout.
  • The New York Rangers are atop the list at $1.2 billion with the Canadiens slotting in right behind them in second at $1.18 billion.
  • For the preceding nine years the Toronto Maple Leafs were the NHL’s most valuable team but according to Forbes they’ve fallen 12 per cent and are now occupy third place.
  • The Habs moved up from third to second and the site reports that Quebec’s team’s value has gone up 18 per cent from last season.

► Trading Crosby

  • Guy Lafleur has let his intentions be known on a variety of topics over the years including wanting Brendan Gallagher to be captain and this time he gave his opinion on a player who was once a face of the game.
  • “It’s ten years that [Sidney Crosby] has been in Pittsburgh. He may need a change . Maybe he doesn’t realize it, but it could be good for him to try something else and find a new motivation,” Lafleur told TVA Sports. “He should perhaps change [arenas], change towns and join a new team.”
  • “If they keep him just for [star appeal and ticket sales] I don’t think that’s fair on their part.”
  • When he was questioned on where he thought the Penguins captain would fit he joked “Montreal maybe!”

► That’s odd

  • Landon Ferraro is the third best hockey player in his household, with former NHL’er Ray and Hall of Famer Cammi Granato, Landon’s step mom, also under the same roof.
  • On Monday night Landon’s father Ray, a TSN colour guy, interviewed the youngest Ferraro in the NHL on his first night with his new team. The interview was seemingly normal with a heart warming moment at the end.
  • At one point it appeared as though the newest Bruin had scored but alas, it was not mean to be as it was later ruled to be Brad Marchand’s goal. Marchand, he ruins everything.

► Brand new jerseys

  • The Minnesota Wild unveiled their new Stadium Series uniforms in creative fashion this week when the team made a video.
  • The featured player in the video was Mikko Koivu for those who weren’t aware.

New at All Habs Hockey Magazine
In case you missed it! Catch up on recently-published stimulating, original content.
All-Habs_Logo with website [wp_rss_multi_importer category=”3″ thisfeed=”8″ showdate=”0″]

 Follow @AllHabs and @chrnarhabs on Twitter

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR