HEADLINES | Radulov, Free Agency, Weber, Ladd, Weise, Stamkos, more

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Christopher Nardella
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alexander radulov

All Habs Headlines: Tuesday July 2, 2016
On this day in hockey history… 1979 — Sharks forward Joe Thornton was born in London, Ontario. 1997 — The Dallas Stars, coming off a division title, signed free agent goaltender Ed Belfour.  2011 — The New York Rangers signed center Brad Richards to a nine-year contract.
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► Canadiens Sign Free Agents

► Habs Sign Their Own Players

► Former Habs Sign Elsewhere

  • Tom Gilbert > Los Angeles Kings
  • Dale Weise > Philadelphia Flyers
  • Gabriel Dumont, Michael Bournival > Tampa Bay Lightning
  • Morgan Ellis > St. Louis Blues
  • Darren Dietz, Christian Thomas > Washington Capitals
  • Jarred Tinordi, Ryan White > Arizona Coyotes
  • Devante Smith-Pelly > New Jersey Devils
  • Yannick Weber > Nashville Predators
  • Victor Bartley > Minnesota Wild
  • Eddie Pasquale > Detroit Red Wings
  • Mac Bennett > Rochester Americans

 ► Gill Weighs In

  • Former Canadiens defenceman Hal Gill is in a special position to comment on the recent events in Montreal. He has played with P.K. Subban, Shea Weber and Alexander Radulov.
  • In an interview with La Presse, Gill said that he was not surprised by the trade of Subban. “Apparently he had trouble with Michel Therrien… myself, I’ve been there! It can be difficult to play for such a coach.”
  • Gill says that Weber is “rock solid.” He praised Weber’s leadership saying, “When he enters, you feel it. This is true in the locker room and on the ice, where he is highly respected.”
  • With respect to Radulov, Gill said, “This is a world-class talent, an awesome guy who is fun to watch. The lack of consistency was his problem at that time.”

► Development Camp Opens

  • The Canadiens annual development camp kicks off for 45 players today in Brossard with testing. On-ice sessions begin July 3rd and continue through July 7th. All practices are open to the public.
  • For a complete list of the schedule and roster, click here.

► Radulov Displays Maturity

  • The first criticisms about the signing of Alexander Radulov were directed at his character. Radulov was suspended by the Nashville Predators in 2012 after breaking curfew during their playoff run.
  • Marc Bergevin said that “we did our homework with respect to Radulov” citing conversations with Seregi Federov and newly-acquired Shea Weber. Federov, GM of CSKA Moscow, spoke highly of Radulov’s leadership to their club for the past four seasons.
  • In a news conference on Friday, Radulov said all the right things saying he wants to “play good hockey, hopefully win and make everyone happy.”
  • Radulov said that he is more mature than the player in Nashville a few years ago. He said, “Life goes on, and what happened in the past happened in the past. Obviously, I’m in a good place with my age and I feel good. I really want to come back and play in the best league against the best players and try to win the Stanley Cup. I know Montreal has a good group of guys, good goaltending, good defense and good forwards. I think it’s a good team. In Nashville, what happened, happened. It’s in the past. I’m looking forward. I have a whole different vision of my life. I’m living for my child right now. I’ve got to set the example.”

► Subban, Weber Together in Nashville

  • The Predators replenished their Weber quota by signing free agent defenseman Yannick Weber on Friday. It just so happens that Weber wore No. 6 in Vancouver same as Shea Weber wore in Nashville.
  • The former Canadiens prospect is a candiudate to fill the third pairing slot on the Predators blueline. Weber played 45 games for the Canucks in 2015-16.
  • Weber and P.K. Subban will be reunited having spent time together in the Canadiens organization. Both are known for their potent slap shots.
  • Weber has been linked romantically to Kayla Price, Carey’s sister.

► MTL Not a Top Destination

  • Marc Bergevin was not shy to say that he was the most aggressive GM on free agency day. But Bergevin was candid to say, “Sometimes players will flat out tell me ‘I won’t play in Montreal.'”
  • Reportedly Milan Lucic and David Perron both turned down more lucrative offers from the Canadiens to play with Edmonton and St. Louis respectively.
  • Bergevin said that players did not share their reasons for saying ‘no’ to the Canadiens. They are commonly thought to be taxes, language, media, weather and the coaching staff.

► I’m Gonna Walk Into My Tub With A Toaster

  • I’ve been sitting here for approximately 20 minutes thinking about how to start this. First off, get used to the phrase Predators defenceman P.K. Subban as the Norris trophy winner is headed to Nashville.
  • This a time of incredible anguish among the Canadiens fan base, Marc Bergevin has dealt Subban to Nashville in exchange of former Predators captain Shea Weber.
  • Weber, who will turn 31 at the start of the season, has ten years left on a 14-year deal he signed with the Preds back in 2012, at an average annual cap hit of $7.857 million.
  • Weber is four years younger than Subban, with four years left on his contract that will take him into the 2025-26 season.
  • The former Predators captain scored 20 goals last season, with a final point total of 51 points, Subban recorded the same amount of points however in 10 fewer games he missed due to injury.
  • Weber brings a much more robust style than Subban, he also brings defensive assurance and a cannon from the blueliner, however there have been signs of his degradation.
  • There’s only so much analysis that can be put into a transaction with these levels of lunacy, all that can be certainly said is P.K. Subban was a tremendous contributor to the city of Montreal, was a role model to many and was hated by some, in the organization.
  • Here’s all the best to a player who embodied the new era of players in the National Hockey League, which some just couldn’t handle.

► Didn’t Work Out That Way

  • Many hoped that the Canadiens could be a potential landing spot for free agent winger Andrew Ladd.
  • According to Darren Dreger of TSN, the Canadiens were among the teams interested in former Winnipeg Jets Captain Andrew Ladd, who turns 31 on December 12th.
  • “Islanders, Nashville, Tampa Bay, Montreal…among the many with interest in Andrew Ladd. When Stamkos decision is made the next wave hits.” Dreger informed the Twitter verse of on Wednesday morning.
  • Ladd has expressed his desire to latch himself to a Stanley Cup contender, which begs the questions if others share the same conjecture as the Canadiens brass on the likelihood that this team is only a couple moves away from being in the top five in the NHL.
  • Ladd signed a 7-year, $38.5M contract with the New York Islanders on July 1st.
  • Last season in split time between Chicago and Winnipeg, Ladd recorded 25 goals, his highest total since the 2011-12 season, and added 21 assists in 78 games.
  • In a playoff run shorter than the perceived Stanley Cup run the winger would’ve liked, Ladd recorde two points in the seven game series loss to St. Louis.

► Weise Goes to Philly

  • There was a mixed reaction throughout social media when it was revealed that the Canadiens were in discussion with former Hab Dale Weise, as it turns out, they weren’t unescorted in that regard.
  • Once again according the Darren Dreger, there are upwards of 10 teams that were interested in the services of the 6-foot-2-inch winger out of Winnipeg.
  • “Character is always wanted/needed. Still early and at least 10 teams have expressed interest in Dale Weise.” Dreger reported via his Twitter account.
  • Weise signed a 4-year, $9.4M contract with the Philadelphia Flyers on Friday.
  • Weise failed to score a goal in 15 games with the Blackhawks and was regularly omitted from Chicago’s lineup, only playing in four of the team’s seven playoff games.

► Stamkos Re-Signs

  • It was widely speculated that Steven Stamkos would hit the free agent market on July 1st, however, it was also widely believed by those close to the situation that Stamkos would return to Tampa, which ended up being correct.
  • The Lightning captain signed an eight-year contract extension that will pay the former 60 goal scorer $8.5 million on average manually, significantly than the $10-12 million per year range that was speculated.
  • With Stamkos under contract for the foreseeable future, the focus now turns towards the likes of Ben Bishop, Nikita Kucherov and Ondrej Palat, all of which who will need correct extensions within the next two years.
  • Stamkos recorded 36 goals and finished with 64 points in 77 games this season, going down with blood clots and only ending up playing one playoff game, game seven which they lost to the eventual Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins.

► Bergevin Covered Chiarelli’s Ass

  • Prior to the fiasco that turned the entire hockey world on its collective head, the Edmonton Oilers made another moronic decision by trading former first overall pick Taylor Hall to the New Jersey Devils for Adam Larsson.
  • Hall, who was pervasively known to be made available by the Oilers, is yet to reach the prime of his career and has had over a point per game in a pair of his seasons, scoring 20 plus goals four times.
  • Larsson, who was a former firth overall pick in the 2011 draft, hasn’t developed to his full potential, scored three goals and added 15 assists last season.
  • With the development of the likes of Damon Severson and the disappointment that’s been Larsson’s development, it was a rather simple deal to address their dire scoring need.
  • For the Oilers, the team also had to address a dire need, a top- pairing right handed shot defenceman which they receive in Larsson however it’s unclear to which level he will be able to expel in that role with Edmonton.

► Jones Re-Signs

  • Despite failing to move a significant contract prior to making this signing, the Columbus Blue Jackets have extended former fourth overall pick Seth Jones to a six-year deal worth $32.4 million.
  • Jones was acquired around this year’s trade deadline in exchange for Ryan Johansen who immediately addressed the team’s need for help down the middle of the ice.
  • In his first games as a member of the Blue Jackets organization his point total per game increased with 20 points in 41 games as a member of the Blue Jackets organization.
  • Jones is undoubtedly the core of that Blue Jackets defensive core and leads a Columbus team with a superfluity of young talent in their system with the likes of Sonny Milano, Brandon Saad and now Pierre-Luc Dubois.

 

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