HEADLINES | Game Day, Demers, McCarron, Drouin, Radulov, more

All Habs Headlines: Thursday April 7, 2016
	On this day in hockey history… 1928 — 44-year-old coach Lester Patrick replaced injured netminder Lorne Chabot in goal, and Rangers’ Frank Boucher scored at 7:05 of overtime to give N.Y. a 2-1 win over the Montreal Maroons in Game 2 of the 1928 Stanley Cup Finals.  1984 — Goaltender Steve Penney recorded his first career playoff shutout to lead the Canadiens to a 5-0 win over the Bruins, at the Forum in Game 3 of the Adams Division Semi-Finals.  1985 — Pittsburgh’s Mario Lemieux scored a goal for his 100th point of the season, to become just the third rookie in NHL history to score 100 points.
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► Game day!

• The Canadiens will unveil newly-acquired goaltender Charlie Lindgren as he makes his first NHL on Thursday night in Raleigh. Lindgren was signed as a free agent after a superb season for the St. Cloud Huskies, a Division I hockey program of the NCAA.
• Captain Max Pacioretty spoke about the opportunity for the rookie goaltender, “It’s a good spot for him, it’s an opportunity for him to show what he’s made of. At this point of the season there’s not much pressure, so he can go out there and play his game and I’m excited to see how it turns out.”
• Mike Brown will slide back into the lineup against the Hurricanes.
• Missed the last Habs game? Read about it here: RECAP | Panthers – Canadiens: Luongo Spoils the Show
• Need to get caught up on the IceCaps? Here’s a weekly video where our lead reporter chats about recent news regarding the St. John’s IceCaps Check it out! IceCaps Weekly Wrap | Hitting Rock Bottom [VIDEO]

Expected forward lines, defense pairings and goaltenders

Pacioretty – Galchenyuk – Gallagher
Eller – Plekanec – Carr
Danault – Desharnais – Andrighetto
Byron – Mitchell – Brown

Markov – Pateryn
Emelin – Johnston
Hanley – Dietz

Lindgren
Condon

► Demers hospitalized

• Former Canadiens coach Jacques Demers suffered a stroke on Wednesday night. He is in stable condition in a Montreal hospital.
• Michel Therrien offered these words on the news, “I’d like to take a moment, on behalf of myself and the entire organization, to wish Jacques a speedy recovery. We heard the news this morning, and hope he’s doing better.”
• Demers led the Canadiens to their 24th Stanley Cup in 1993. He coached several other teams in both the NHL and WHL.

See more

The Montreal Canadiens family would like to wish Jacques Demers a speedy recovery. Our thoughts and prayers are with you Jacques.

— Geoff Molson (@GMolsonCHC) April 7, 2016

► Drouin called up

• With Steven Stamkos on the sidelines, the Tampa Bay Lightning have recalled tempermental forward Jonathan Drouin.
• Drouin left the Syracuse Crunch in a temper tantrum after demanding a trade and being impatient with the progress. Drouin was being ‘guided’ by controversial player agent Allan Walsh.
• After being suspended and subsequently reinstated, Drouin missed a team meeting resulting in being dispatched to the press box for a game.
• When in the Crunch lineup, Drouin produced contributing 11 goals in 17 games.

► Addison, Bourque and Audette get a chance

• In the blur of injury announcements and player moves, the St. John’s IceCaps added Jeremiah Addison, Simon Bourque and Daniel Audette now that their junior seasons have come to a close.
• Bourque was a sixth round pick in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft. Addision was taken in the seventh round that same year. Audette was a fifth round selection in the 2014 Draft.
• Read about the details of all the player moves here: ROSTER UPDATE | Canadiens and IceCaps Transaction Summary

► McCarron makes a sacrifice

• The John Scott side show has come and gone playing one unremarkable game in Montreal.
• Scott, who was named all-star game MVP this January in Nashville, spent 27 games with the Ice Caps in which he recorded a pair of goals and four points. The unadorned veteran was acquired in a transaction that saw Victor Bartley come to Montreal with Jarred Tinordi and Stefan Fournier heading to Arizona.
• To make room for Scott, Michael McCarron was dispatched to the St. John’s IceCaps for their final four games of the season. McCarron was at practice on Thursday preparing for two games against the Utica Comets this weekend.
• McCarron gave up three NHL games to provide Scott with nine minutes of icetime at the Bell Centre.
• McCarron’s egress out of the city was unexpected due to the fact that multiple sources reported that the hulking centreman would be staying in Montreal for the duration of the season.
• Through 20 games he spent in Montreal, during a pair of stints, the American scored his first and only NHL goal and also recorded an assist accompanied by a minus-10 rating.
• McCarron had a torrent start to his first professional season but has since cooled off and has 15 goals and 34 points in 54 games in St. John’s.

► Johnson gets a second game

• Hidden in all the John Scott hoopla of Tuesday night was the fact that defenceman Ryan Johnston played his first game in the NHL.
• Johnston was recalled in wake of the injury to Brett Lernout, who went down in the second period of the Canadiens’ first of two tilts with the Florida Panthers.
• Through 34 games in the AHL, the blueliner recorded nine points, all of which are assists, along with a minus-18 rating on an Ice Caps team on the outside looking in on a playoff spot.

► De La Rose back in the AHL

• Former second round pick Jacob De la Rose was also sent to St. John’s earlier this week and will suit up for the final four IceCaps games.
• While many will try to attach performance reasons for the move, it is likely due to the player being waiver exempt.
• De la Rose, Mike McCarron, Morgan Ellis and Ben Scrivens were each temporarily sent to the IceCaps on the day of the trade deadline and immediately recalled making them eligible for the AHL playoffs. All four now find themselves in the AHL.
• Relugated to a bottom six role, De la Rose only managed to provide the meager offensive output of one assist in 22 games with the Canadiens this season along with a minus-6 rating.
• De La Rose’s presence became increasingly unnoticed due to the acquisition of Philip Danault and the reemergence of Daniel Carr.

► Kadri Suspended

• The perception of Nazem Kadri’s cleanliness on the ice was prosaic prior to this season but 2015-16 has really been the season where he’s come into his zone of hatred.
• Following garnering a fine for yet another dive the former seventh overall pick will be suspended for the remainder of this campaign due to a cross-check to the head of Detroit Red Wings forward Luke Glendening.
• Kadri and Glendening got into a tussle in the face off circle that saw the Leafs forward lose his helmet and go after the Wings centreman with a cross check to the head.
• Kadri’s leading his team in point for the first time in his career with 17 goals and 45 points in 76 games, the second highest point total in his career behind his 2013-14 output of 50 points.

► Bad news for Stamkos

• The news that Steven Stamkos had a blood clot in one of his arms took the sails out of what was otherwise a successful turnaround for the Tampa Bay Lightning, and the news isn’t getting any better.
• According to Frank Seravalli of TSN, the Lightning captain will need to have a rib removed during the surgery to take tension away from his vein which, obviously pumps blood.
• Furthermore, Dr. Thomas Forbes noted that the size of the rib is no bigger than someone’s index finger.
• “Normal recovery for range of motion and exercise would be about one month from just the surgery alone,” Dr. Forbes said. “Doctors would then recommend some period of time on blood thinners, perhaps one month, which also complicates the timeline.”
• In his contract year, Stamkos is having somewhat of a down year that seen him score 36 goals and record 64 points in 77 games.

► Radulov, again

• Alex Radulov’s yearly discussions with NHL teams have come around again, with the possibility of yet another return seeming increasingly deafening as we approach the post season.
• According to Russian journalist Alvis Kalnins, the Russian forward has decline a long-term deal to stay with SKA St. Petersburg and will be looking for a new home over in North America, hopefully with a contending club.
• Radulov has already made an NHL comeback in his career, signing with the Nashville Predators that saw him take part in 17 games, in both the regular and post-season, where he recorded four goals and 13 points.
• The former SKA assistant captain scored 23 goals and added 42 assists in 53 games prior to being eliminated in the Gagarin Cup where he had 12 points in 13 games.
• The Colorado Avalanche, Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Islanders and. New York Rangers are some teams interested in the high-scoring winger.

 

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