All Habs Headlines: Tuesday December 15, 2015 |
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On this day in hockey history… 1934 — For the first time in NHL history, two brothers opposed each other as coaches, when Frank Patrick led the Bruins to a 2-1 win over Rangers’ Lester Patrick. 1988 — Former Montreal Canadiens coach Jean Perron was named coach of the Quebec Nordiques. 1991 — Tampa Bay Lightning and Ottawa Senators were officially granted franchises in the National Hockey League. |
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► Game day!
- The Canadiens meet the San Jose Sharks at the Bell Centre on Tuesday night. You can find our Game Day preview here: GAME DAY | Sharks – Canadiens: Preview, Lines, Goalies, TV, Fantasy .
- Torrey Mitchell participated in a full practice for the first time on Monday since his lower body injury kept him out for three weeks. Mitchell is expected to be in the lineup on Tuesday.
- After making his second start on Saturday, Michel Therrien announced that Dustin Tokarski would be in net for the Canadiens on Tuesday night.
- Charles Hudon was in a fourth line rotation and is expected to be a healthy scratch.
- Brian Flynn was moved up to the third line on the right wing with David Desharnais and Tomas Fleischmann.
- Here’s our report from Saturday night’s win over the Senators: RECAP | Senators – Canadiens: Vets Get Habs Back on Track
- Check our recap from Saturday night’s IceCaps game: RECAP | Americans – IceCaps: Another Early Lead Disappears in OT Loss
Forward lines, defense pairings and goaltenders from Monday’s practice
Pacioretty – Plekanec – Byron
Eller – Galchenyuk – Weise
Fleischmann – Desharnais – Flynn
Carr / Hudon – Mitchell – Andrighetto
Markov – Subban
Emelin – Petry
Beaulieu – Gilbert
Tinordi – Pateryn
Tokarski
Condon
► Kassian reinstated, waived
- The NHL and NHLPA released the following statement on Tuesday morning:”The National Hockey League Players’ Association and the National Hockey League announced today that forward Zack Kassian of the Montreal Canadiens has been returned to available status and has entered the follow-up care phase of the Substance Abuse and Behavioral Health Program.Kassian’s care continues to be administered pursuant to the NHL/NHLPA SABH Program.”
- Twenty minutes later the Canadiens announced that Kassian had been placed on waivers.
Kassian (MON) on waivers. Khudobin clears.
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) December 15, 2015
► Gallagher back on the ice
- More than three weeks after going under the knife to repair two fractured fingers Canadiens forward Brendan Gallagher was back on the ice skating with full equipment.
- The forward skated around for approximately 45 minutes with pucks, he also took shots according to Diane Sauvé of CBC Sports who took the photograph.
- In past interviews, Gallagher wasn’t ruling out the possibility of hitting the ice on January first when the Canadiens face off versus the Boston Bruins in Bean Town.
- The Edmonton, Alberta native is still the team’s fifth-best forward despite his prolonged absence, his 19 points in 22 games is still tops in terms of points-per-game.
- In Gallagher’s absence Sven Andrighetto has emerged and has become one of the team’s best possession players; you can read that piece here.
► Pretty Cool
- Following Saturday night’s utter ascendancy by the Canadiens over the Ottawa Senators someone made a graphic to represent the barrage we saw Craig Anderson and, to a lesser extent, Matt O’Connor, take.
- There are two circles with a pair of rings each and an inner circle. When the ball excreted by a circle hits the opposing outer ring, that’s a blocked shot. When one of those shots hits the inner ring, that’s a save. Whenever an inner circle is touched, that’s a goal.
tonight’s ott-mtl game as a space battle pic.twitter.com/6RZbNfkEY3
— datarink (@datarink) December 13, 2015
► Canada makes moves
- The Vancouver Canucks have decided to loan 19-year old Jake Virtanen to team Canada’s World Junior team. Virtanen, along with former Sault Ste. Marie Greyhound Jarred McCann, made the Canucks out of training camp but has put up an Alex Semin-esque stat line of one goal and four assists in 19 games.
- The Finnish origin left winger automatically becomes Canada’s most dangerous forward and will look to follow up on a strong tournament last December.
- The team also let Michael Dal Colle, Spencer Watson, Pierre-Luc Dubois and Jacob Chychrun go after a couple days of camp.
- Dubois and Chychrun are two draft eligibles who are both penciled in to be selected in the first round of this year’s draft. Chychrun refused to speak to the media as he was “too emotional”.
- This is Dal Colle’s second time being cut by team Canada, he failed to make the team last season and wasn’t invited to camp the year before.
- Watson was a seventh round pick of the LA Kings in 2013, this was his first time being invited to team Canada’s training camp.
► Well Alex, what do you have to say?
- The Pittsburgh Penguins have had a disastrous season relative to their pre-season expectations and when asked about his opponents’ situation, Alex Ovechkin didn’t point his finger at the coaching staff.
- In preparation for his team’s tilt with the Penguins, Capitals captain Alexander Ovechkin was asked about Pensilvania’s most successful team’s recent coaching change.
- “A lot of times it’s not about the coaches, it’s about players.” “Ovy” told Penguins media.
- New Pens head coach Mike Sullivan now inherits a powder keg of big personalities on a Penguins team with exorbitant stars.
► Thompson suspended three games
- As Stephane Quintal’s naisily voice so eloquently put it, the NHL has suspended Anaheim Ducks forward Nate Thompson for three games after a hit to the head of Hurricanes defenceman Justin Faulk.
- After getting rid of the puck near the blueline, the former Tampa Bay Lightning extended through Faulk’s head with his elbow in a clear head shot.
- Faulk is leading NHL defenceman in powerplay goals, and is not only the ‘Canes’ best defenceman, but best player.
- Thompson is not a repeat offender and will be fined the maximum amount possible by the league “Under the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement and, based on his average annual salary, Thompson will forfeit $25,806.45. The money goes to the Players’ Emergency Assistance Fund.” the league said in a press release.
► Maple Leafs to get a new uniform
- In an effort to reinvigorate a fan base, and possibly increase their funds, the Toronto Maple Leafs will be creating new jerseys and a new logo.
- The Leafs have had the same logo concept since 1970 but have made multiple different jerseys including their Winter Classic uniform from last season.
- As Chris Creamer of SportsLogos.net pointed out, the Leafs have not won a cup in the era of their logo’s of over 45 years. This means they will win the cup next season.
► From unwanted to All-Star
- When the Los Angeles Kings acquired Milan Lucic from the Boston Bruins in June many wondered how the former Vancouver Giant would impact his division well, now we know.
- John Scott was hard-pressed to find any takers during free agency but as soon as the Kings traded for Lucic, Arizona Coyotes general manager Don Maloney sprung into action. According to an Arizona newspaper, the ‘Yotes acquired the enforcer purely to counteract the impact of Milan Lucic.
- “I can’t let a division rival go get a tough guy without having one of my own that can hold his own.”
- The 6’8 “forward” had a breakout season in 2014-15 with the Sharks recording three goals and an assist in 38 games; fans took notice and the gargantuan is now in the running to be voted into the all-star game.
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