All Habs Headlines: Saturday December 19, 2015
	On this day in hockey history… 1917 — Montreal Canadiens Joe Malone scored five goals, including the team’s first NHL goal and added an assist as the Canadiens defeated Ottawa 7-4, in their first ever NHL game.  1950 — Montreal Canadiens obtained Bert Olmstead from Detroit, in exchange for Leo Gravelle. Olmstead had been traded to Detroit just one week earlier, from Chicago.  1985 — Montreal Canadiens defenseman Larry Robinson scored the only hat trick of his 20 year NHL career, in a 5-4 Canadiens’ loss to the Quebec Nordiques.
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► Game day!

• The Canadiens will be facing the top team in the West on Saturday night. You can find our Game Day preview for the matchup here: GAME DAY | Canadiens – Stars: Preview, Lines, Goalies, TV, Fantasy
• Michael McCarron will make his NHL debut on Saturday night against the Dallas Stars. The right winger converted to centre this season with the IceCaps will move back to the right side on a line centred by Lars Eller.
• Mike Condon will get the start in goal.
• Sven Andrighetto is expected to be a healthy scratch.
• The Canadiens were shutout by the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday night. You can read our game recap here: RECAP | Kings – Canadiens: Habs Blanked for First Time This Season

Forward lines, defense pairings and goaltenders from Saturday’s skate

Pacioretty – Plekanec – Galchenyuk
Byron – Eller – McCarron
Fleischmann – Desharnais – Weise
Carr – Mitchell – Flynn / Andrighetto

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

Condon
Tokarski

► McCarron called up

• The Canadiens’ recently feculent offence and his phenomenal play of late has prompted the team to call up Michael McCarron from the AHL.
• McCarron had 13 points and 24 points in his first 28 games of professional hockey, in which he’s recorded a pair of Hat-Trick’s.
• The former 25th overall pick in the 2013 draft scored 28 goals and had 68 points in 56 games last season in the OHL.
• He had a disenchant 2013-14 campaign following two seasons in the U.S. Development Program, he had 34 points in 66 games with London.
• Alex Galchenyuk saw some time on the right wing with Max Pacioretty and Tomas Plekanec last game which opens the door for McCarron to play down the middle, but Lars Eller could also be delegated to his natural centre role.

► Therrien sees slump as a positive

• The Canadiens’ recent struggles have drawn the ire of their fans but head coach Michel Therrien sees the drought in a positive manner.
• “Yeah, we got net-front presence,” the coach told the media following Thursday’s matchup with the Kings. “When you get chances, when you throw a lot of pucks to the net, when you compete hard, that’s all you can ask.”
• “Our guys worked extremely hard. They deserve a lot more. This stretch, it’s going to make us better. I gotta be objective about the way we play, even if the wins are not there.”
• “For sure the guys, I’m sure they’re frustrated. They worked hard, they deserved to get the win, they didn’t get the win. One thing I know as a coach, it’s going to make us stronger,” Therrien admitted.

► Who’s hardest to trade?

• Just over two months away from the NHL trade deadline, Luke Fox of Sportsnet released his list of players who are the hardest to deal on their respective teams.
• Tomas Plekanec was the Canadiens’ hardest player to trade and, after give Marc Bergevin credit for making his job difficult, blamed his $6 million cap hit for not omitting him from the list.
• Plekanec is the team’s leading scorer with 27 points in 33 games this season.
• Other notable appearances on the list were the Sedin Twins ($7 million annually), Kris Letang ($7.25 million cap hit), Cam Ward ($6.3 million cap hit) and Zdeno Chara ($7 million cap hit).

► Kruger out four months

• The Chicago Blackhawks prosaic 2015-16 season has been marked by inefficiency and yet another domino has fallen off their once championship roster.
• Forward Marcus Kruger will be out a minimum of four months following dislocating his left wrist against the Oilers on Thursday; he will be out until the playoffs, if Chicago makes them.
• In 33 games this season Kruger had one assist and sported a minus-5 rating.
• The Stockholm, Sweden native was centring the fourth line with Brandon Mashinter and Andrew Dejardins on his wings.
• “The surgery went well. We anticipate Marcus will return to hockey activities in approximately four months,” said team physician Dr. Michael Terry.
• Philip Danault was recalled from Rockford of the AHL to fill Kruger’s hole in the bottom six.

► Bure sees his countrymen further improving

• Artemi Panarin and Evgeny Kuznetsov have been phenomenal in their own rights this season and their countryman, Pavel Bure, believes they can further improve.
• “It may sound crazy, but I know those two guys can play even better. They possess enough skills to become a dominating force in this League,” Bure wrote in his NHL.ru blog.
• Kuznetsov has particularly come into his own this season after adapting to the North American game “[Kuznetsov] was a leader everywhere he had ever played. So eventually he adapted to the system [Barry] Trotz implemented in Washington. [He] was also lucky to be on the same team with Alex Ovechkin, who should get credit for helping him find his game.”
• The Chelyabinsk native has 28 points in 30 games this season the in Nation’s capital.
• Panarin is leading rookies in points with 30 points in 33 games.
• “[…] the style of hockey that the Blackhawks play is tailor-made for Panarin. It is not surprising that he leads all rookies in scoring and is capable of winning the Calder Trophy this year.”

► Domi obliterates a goaltender

• Max Domi has had a flagrant start to his NHL career, with his speed being a contributing factor to his success.
• In Thursday night’s tilt with the Columbus Blue Jackets, Domi split the defence and bowled over goaltender Curtis McElhinney as he went in towards goal.
• McElhinney turned out to be fine on the play and there was no penalty assessed to the rookie.

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