All Habs Headlines: Thursday August 27, 2015 |
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On this day in hockey history… 1966 — Elmer Lach and Toe Blake were in ducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. 1996 — The Lightning acquired Dino Ciccarelli. 1998 — Former Canadiens head coach Randy Cunneyworth signed a multi-year contract with the Sabres. |
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► Plek expects youth movement
- Canadiens veteran forward Tomas Plekanec revealed to Canadiens.com that he expects the organization will be looking for answers from within this season.
- Plekanec said, “We didn’t make too many moves in the offseason, but I’m sure the ones we did make will help us a lot. We’ll see. Only time will tell. But, we’ve got plenty of young guys coming out of the minors or Junior that are really fighting to be in Montreal. It will be exciting to see if they can help us.”
- Plek pointed to the crop of young guns who have already made the jump saying, “Look at guys like Gally (Brendan Gallagher), Chucky (Alex Galchenyuk), and Beau (Nathan Beaulieu). They all got their chance at some point. That’s a good thing for others to see. It’s going to be a good competition. I expect a lot of kids to get a good look.”
► A wise mentor
- Marc Bergevin and the Canadiens announced the hiring of Craig Ramsay on Tuesday as their new coaching consultant.
- “We are very pleased to welcome Craig Ramsay as coaching consultant. He has an impressive hockey background, having worked as an NHL coach for over 20 years, following a playing career that included over 1,000 games played. On a consulting basis, he will be called upon regularly during the season to share his knowledge with our coaching group. Our players will also benefit from his expertise,” Bergevin noted in a press release.
- Ramsay has been in the NHL for approximately 40 years with seven different organizations. His last stint as a head coach came in 2010-11 when he lead the Atlanta Thrashers to a 34-36-12 record. Canadiens senior vice president of hockey operations, Rick Dudley, was the Thrashers general manager at the time.
- Dudley also hired Ramsay as an assistant coach when he was GM of the Tampa Bay Lightning.
- Ramsay and Dudley played together with the Buffalo Sabres and the AHL Cincinnati Swords. The two players were roommates for a time.
- The 64-year old Weston, Ontario native has also spent many a years coaching and developing young players. He was an assistant coach with the Florida Panthers for parts of 3 years and spent last season as an assistant with the Edmonton Oilers.
- The former NHL forward was interviewed by RDS shortly after and spoke about his impression of the Canadiens saying “I like the way they play, I love the fact they have this wonderful goaltender, they can win games that are close, but you know you always when you get on in the playoffs and you’re coming up against some better teams you have to have the ability to score some goals.”
► New ad with Price
- Canadiens goaltender Carey Price is featured in a new commercial for Under Armour.
► The Flower opens
- Canadiens legend Guy Lafleur’s sons’ legal problems have been extensive. This week “The Flower” opened up about his son to the Journal de Montreal.
- “My son Mark is now 30, and is wasting his life. Lise [his wife] and I don’t know what to do anymore so that he can get out of it. I don’t feel like protecting him. Enough is enough.” said Lafleur
- “There comes a time in life when the young must understand that the only way to get out of it is to take over. Mark just wasted the first tier of his life.”
- If those tough words weren’t enough from the Blond Demon he had some even harsher words to say before the interview was out. “My wife and I find it very difficult [for him] to survive. He refuses to understand that he has a big problem. It has to come from him. We no longer know what to do. It’s not giving him money that will help him. It must start with help himself otherwise we are wasting our time.”
- Mark Lafleur has been arrested multiple times for, among other things, assault, breaking parole, and impaired driving.
► A productive summer
- Matt Cudzinowski of Canadiens.com caught up with Canadiens defenceman Nathan Beaulieu who has clearly put work in this summer.
- “I took a little time off after the playoffs. My dad and I went on a fishing trip up in Northern Ontario. That’s where he’s from, so he’s got a lot of family and friends there. That’s about it, though. Basically, I got right back in the gym with my trainer, Dave Henry.” noted Beaulieu.
- The 6-foot-2-inch defenceman on his primary focus when training this summer: “I’ve been doing a lot of the same things as before, but my focus has really been on building more lower-body strength and getting bigger. I’ve already gained like five pounds of muscle, so I’m over 200 pounds. It’s been a very good summer fitness-wise. CrossFit is a very demanding workout, so it really gets you in shape.”
- The Strathroy, Ontario native spoke about last season: “It was definitely a big coming out year for me. […] I know there are a lot of things that need to be improved upon and I need to take an even bigger step. I’ve just got to prove that I’m able to do it and I need to earn it. I know I can give a lot more. I’ve got to take advantage of every opportunity.”
- “We’re just so full of energy and full of life. We’re a fun group. We’re fast and we’re dynamic. The guys in the room all believe in our system, our staff and our process. I know they’re all as excited as I am.”
► A good impression at development camp
- Travis Brown obviously made a good impression at the Habs development camp in July. The 21-year old defenceman was signed to a one-year, two-way American league contract by the Canadiens AHL affiliate. You can read the full story at our sister site IceCaps Hockey Report.
► Briere back in action
- Just a week after former Canadiens forward Daniel Briere announced his retirement from the NHL the Gatineau, Quebec native has found a new occupation.
- Briere will be joining 91.9 Sport, a new French sports radio station that will first hit the airwaves on August 31st. He will appear on a show called “Du sport, le matin” with two former TVA Sport employees in Michel Langevin and Enrico Ciccone. The show will air at 6:10 AM on weekdays.
- RNC Media president Yves Bombardier confessed how the network landed the former NHLer “They managed to convince their friend to be part of our team.”
- The station also secured the services of former Canadiens enforcer Georges Laraque who will be on from 1-3 PM on weekdays on a show called “Laraque-Gonzalez “. His co-host will be Stéphane Gonzalez.
► Giordano extended long-term
- The Calgary Flames and team captain Mark Giordano have come to terms on an agreement that will pay the Norris-caliber defenceman $40.5 million over the next six years.
- Giordano was the run-away favorite to take home his first Norris Trophy until he tore his bicep tendon and was out for the season. Giordano, who has yet to play in all 82 games since 2010-11, had 11 goals and 48 points in 61 games, he was on pace to have 15 goals and 64 points along with a plus-17 rating. This likely would’ve been enough to overtake the eventual winner Erik Karlsson, who had 66 points in 82 games and a plus-7 rating.
- The 6’0 force went to the Russia Superleague in 2007-08 to revive his career and did so successfully.
- In 510 games the 30-year old has 66 goals and 245 points and also sports a plus-38 rating over those 8 seasons, all of which are with the Flames.
- The Flames’ season was considered over when their “heart and soul” went down in the midst of a playoff race but Calgary nevertheless made the playoffs and won a series.
► Sid finally has a winger
- Penguins head coach Mike Johnston said that newly-acquired winger Phil Kessel will play with Sidney Crosby to start out camp.
- “Things do change in camp, we got 8 exhibition games, so with the games we want to try combinations so we’re ready for the beginning of the season so we want to give guy a chance to play together but we also want to take at some different look in practice so don’t get an amative if some practices there are some different combinations.” cautioned Johnston.
- Pens’ GM Jim Rutherford commented on the teams’ new additions: “We’ll definitely be able to open it up. We have a better chance of scoring more. At the same time you have to play the game the right way. You have to shut down teams at a certain time and we’re still going to be able to do that.”
- Pittsburgh’s first pre-season game will be on September 21st against the Blue Jackets.
► Rough start for Blues
- The St. Louis Blues held their first day of “Informal Skating” and some of the team’s players had a tough time in this silly video.
Day 1 of Informal Skates. It looks like the coaches have their work cut out for them. #stlblueshttps://t.co/aLNXFl0GcP
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) August 24, 2015
► Encouraging words
- Canadiens goalie coach had some encouraging words for some young goaltenders.
Waite with a few final words of encouragement for Group 1. #GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/jIGKWbaXgs
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) August 26, 2015
► Who wears the C?
- Michael Ham-Fan sums up his top 5 picks for the Canadiens’s vacant captaincy.
► Midwest logjam?
- Andrew Gisbrecht previews the Midwest division.
► Big Bird beats cancer
- Caitlyn Golem looks at the career of Larry Robinson and the battle of his life.
► Prospect preview
- J.D. Lagrange estimates the chances of defense prospects and forward prospects making the Habs roster.
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