All Habs Headlines: Monday February 29, 2016 |
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On this day in hockey history… 1980 — Hartford’s Gordie Howe scored his 800th NHL goal to help the Whalers to a 3-0 win over St. Louis, in the Blues’ 1,000th regular season game. 1988 — New York Rangers held a “Marcel Dionne” night at MSG, and Dionne assisted on the Rangers’ first goal on their way to a 5-2 win over St. Louis. 1996 — Wayne Gretzky played his first game as a member of the St. Louis Blues, and scored his first goal with the team in a 2-2 tie at Vancouver. |
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► Game day!
- The Canadiens practiced at 2:30 ET on Monday in advance of their game against the Sharks.
- The Habs have claimed Mike Brown off waivers from San Jose. He will wear No. 13 for the Canadiens.
- Mike Condon is expected to get the start in San Jose.
- Missed the last Habs game? The Canadiens beat the Leafs in a battle of AHL players on Saturday night. Read about it here: RECAP | Leafs – Canadiens: Young Guns Fuel Habs Win
- The IceCaps finished their road trip with a win. Read about it here: RECAP | IceCaps – Crunch: The Will to Win
Forward lines, defense pairings and goaltenders from Monday’s practice
Pacioretty – Plekanec – Gallagher
Galchenyuk – Eller – Andrighetto
De la Rose – Danault – Byron
Mitchell – McCarron – Brown
Smith-Pelly
Markov – Subban
Emelin – Pateryn
Bartley – Barberio
Condon
Scrivens
► Eller staying put
- La Presse reported on Monday morning that Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin has assured Lars Eller that he will not be traded before the deadline.
- Eller’s agent Kevin Epp told La Presse, “Lars isn’t going anywhere. The Canadiens aren’t looking to trade him.”
► Desharnais being shopped
- Louis Jean of TVA reports that the Canadiens are looking to trade David Desharnais.
- Desharnais is currently recovering from a broken foot and is scheduled to be back in 2-3 weeks.
Selon sources, David Desharnais serait sur le marché. En dépit de sa blessure au pied, le #Canadien tenterait de l'échanger. @TVASports
— Louis Jean (@LouisJean_TVA) February 29, 2016
► Carey on the ice
- Carey Price skated in full equipment at Brossard on Monday morning.
► Condon named a star
- Mike Condon has been named the third star of the week by the NHL. Condon had a 2-0-1 record with a 1.63 goals-against average and a .949 save percentage.
► Speculation Runs Rampant
- With his ascendant play of late Alex Galchenyuk has either enhanced or diminished the chances he eventually gets dealt out of Montreal and Darren Dreger says rumours regarding the former third overall pick are all here say.
- “Yeah, just rumor. And again, let’s be careful with how this information is dissected. Galchenyuk’s name is out there, but only in the sense of a wonder,” he told TSN 690. “Teams wondering if Bergevin would consider something like that.”
- Dreger went on to highlight the uncertainty surrounding him, “He’s still a project. He’s still a developing player. Is he a center? Is he a winger? What is he? I think that’s what Michel Therrien has tried to find out.”
- Galchenyuk is on pace for a career-high 22 goals and 49 points due in part to his three goals in his last pair of games preceding the trade deadline.
► Danault Proud to Be A Hab
- Phillip Danault’s whirlwind and unabating time as a member of the Montreal Canadiens organization has been interesting and the centreman is exalted to be a Hab.
- “I didn’t sleep much last night but I closed my eyes on the plane,” said the former 26th overall pick in the 2011 draft turned Montreal Canadiens farmhand. “It was a chock when Stan Bowman called me.”
- “I can’t say that I was dreaming of playing for Montreal, but I got traded and I’m proud to be here,” he said in regards to getting trade at all. “I watched all the Canadiens’ games when I was young, it’s truly an honour to be here.”
- Danault, who has five points in 31 games this season following a five point in 10 game stretch to start the season, played 14:17 in his Habs debut and was minus-1.
► Dwindling Down
- The Montreal Canadiens are in the precarious position of not being in a playoff spot and being distant enough from a top-five pick that the team’s prosaic play through an almost three month stretch can only lead them to mediocre mediocrity.
- Saturday night’s win, against the somehow not reprimanded conspicuous titanic that is the Toronto Maple Leafs, saw only four scouts show up to presumably scout the two Canadian catastrophes.
- Scouts from Chicago, Minnesota, Columbus and Edmonton were in attendance to watch the Canadiens pick up their third victory in their last four contests.
- Pierre-Alexander Parenteau was egressed from the game early on in the first period much to the chagrin of scouts from Minnesota and Chicago, buyers at the trade deadline.
- Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen, a part of the Blues organization that drafted Lars Eller, is rumoured to have interest in the Dane.
- Rumours have been aroused with a scout from Edmonton at the Bell Centre, with rumours of a potential deal between the two clubs present for seasons on end.
► Sekac Finds Another New Home
- It’s been a lamenting pair of years back in North America for former Hab Jiri Sekac, getting traded three times and picked off the waiver wire most recently by Arizona.
- Sekac’s fourth team in two seasons, the Arizona Coyotes, now has four former Canadiens in their organization with Kyle Chipchura, Christian Thomas, Jarred Tinordi and no Sekac.
- Following a solid seven point in 19 game effort with Anaheim in 2014-15, Sekac was dealt out of California after only recording three points in 22 games.
- Once arrived in Chicago, the Kladno, Czech Republic native only played six games, in which he had one point, before getting put on waivers.
- Despite the turbulence of which his NHL career has been associated with, Sekac still has a high possession rate.
► Physical Depletion
- Peter Forsberg is one of the, if not the, greatest Swedish hockey players of all-time and had every ability, the shot, the hands, the speed, the physicality, the competitiveness but was ravaged by injuries that cut his career short.
- Five years after he retired from the NHL, Forsberg took part in an alumni game preceding the Stadium Series game between once rivals Colorado and Detroit, and he spoke about his injuries.
- “Since the foot is pretty bad and I don’t really enjoy skating anymore, it’s not like when I was 20,” the former Avalanche Captain told the Denver Post before the Alumni game.
- “At first I was good shape, good foot, then it was bad foot, good shape, and now I’m bad shape, bad foot. It’s not a good combination.” he said.
- The Swede played just over 700 NHL games recording 249 goals and 885 points with Quebec, Colorado, Philadelphia and Nashville.
► Pre-Deadline Moves
- Multiple moves were made to make sports networks’ jobs more difficult come today, here’s a summary of the transactions.
- The Blues acquired goaltender Anders Nilsson from the Oilers in exchange of a 2016 fifth round pick and goaltender Niklas Lundstrom
- The Sharks acquired goaltender James Reimer and forward Jeremy Morin from Toronto in exchange of a 2018 fourth round pick (becomes a third if San Jose goes to the final), winger Ben Smith and goaltender Alex Stalock.
- Florida acquired winger Jiri Hudler from Calgary in exchange of a 2016 second round pick and a 2018 fourth round pick.
- The Panthers acquired Teddy Purcell from Edmonton for a 2016 third round pick.
- Florida acquired Jakub Kindl from Detroit for a 2017 sixth round pick.
- Pittsburgh acquired Justin Schultz from Edmonton in exchange of a 2016 third round pick.
► The Circle of Sports
- The Pittsburgh Penguins acquired former coveted unencumbered free agent Justin Schultz for a third round pick in this upcoming draft, and will look to a former offensive defenceman to aid the newest Penguin.
- Sergei Gonchar spent five seasons donning the Penguins black and gold and joined the team as a special member of their coaching staff after finishing his career as a member of the Canadiens.
- According to Daren Dreger of TSN, Gonchar will be helping Schutz rehabilitate his career “Penguins confident Justin Schultz can restore his confidence and game. Sergei Gonchar will work closely with Schultz to help him do that.”
- Schultz has three goals and 10 points in 45 games this season, the lowest of his three insidiously depreciating point totals since the 2013-14 season.
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