All Habs Headlines: Sunday December 6, 2015
	On this day in hockey history… 1987 — L.A. Kings fired head coach Mike Murphy. Rogie Vachon was named as his interim replacement. Robbie Ftorek later took over as new head coach. 1989 — Larry Robinson scored his 200th goal and recorded his 800th career point. 1995 — Colorado Avalanche obtained goaltender Patrick Roy and Mike Keane from the Montreal Canadiens, in exchange for Andrei Kovalenko, Martin Rucinsky and goalie Jocelyn Thibault.
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► Off day

• It was a day off for both the Canadiens and IceCaps with both teams traveling after a road game on Saturday night.
• Here’s our game report from the Canadiens contest: RECAP | Canadiens – Hurricanes: Habs Fall to Lowly Canes
• Check our recap from the IceCaps game: RECAP | IceCaps vs. Senators: Feisty Sens Surprise Tired ‘Caps

► Reassigned

• As expected, Zach Fucale was returned to the St. John’s IceCaps on Sunday without getting a start at the NHL level. After his tuneup, Dustin Tokarski was recalled. We will likely see Tokarski in one of the back-to-back games coming up.
• Defenceman Jarred Tinordi was also recalled by the Canadiens after several strong performances with the IceCaps where he was sent for a conditioning stint. Here’s the full article on the changes.
• The IceCaps sent Luke Pither and Dalton Thrower to the Brampton Beast.

► Scherbak out another month and a half

• Nikita Scherbak came into the 2015-16 campaign with a lot of promise but almost two months into the season the real trouble has been keeping him on the ice.
• As first reported by our sister site, IceCaps Report, St. John’s IceCaps head coach Sylvain Lefebvre said that Nikita Scherbak wouldn’t be back until “probably the end of January.” You can hear the audio of the interview here.
• Through the nine games he’s played so far this season the Russian-born forward has a lone goal and three points while sporting a minus-five rating.

.@Sluggy_ Scherbak returned from injury on Nov 13 in a game against the Marlies but left the game after a solid hit by Loov. #GoIceCapsGo

— AHL Report (@TheAHLReport) December 5, 2015

► Prust fined for spear

• Former Canadiens forward Brandon Prust was fined $5,000 for a spear on the Bruins Brad Marchand. The Canucks forward described the levy by the NHL’s Department of Player Safety as the “best money I ever spent.”
• Prust described it this way, “It wasn’t that hard, and he sold it pretty good. I saw him laughing on the bench after, so I don’t think he’s too hurt.”

► Subban almost ‘kills’ Pacioretty

• In Friday night’s game against the Washington Capitals Habs defencemen P.K. Subban ripped a slap shot from the blueline and almost drilled Max Pacioretty, who was in front of the net, with the shot.
• “It might have looked close to you guys, but I felt it. It was insane how close that was,” Pacioretty told Stu Cowan of the Montreal Gazette. “I saw my life flash before my eyes there. I mean that’s not a soft shot, either. He said he put everything into that.”
• “I guess the puck was rolling, so he gets an excuse. But I don’t know how many times I’m standing in front of that anymore. I was shaken up for a little bit. … It was going to hit me right in the face … I saw it at the last second.”
• As one does when you almost ‘kill’ someone, Subban apologized saying, “Obviously, I apologized. The puck sort of popped up. The ice was a little bit chippy all night, so it sort of popped up right before I shot it. Today (at practice), I made sure all my wristers were knee high, that’s for sure.”

► What should the Oilers do?

• The Edmonton Oilers have been ravaged by mediocrity over the last nine years and with new General Manger Pete Chiarelli under center, the team is poised for a shakeup.
• In a piece for Sportsnet.ca, NHL management and coaching staff gave their opinions on what the Oilers should do with their team.
• An Eastern Conference executive gave his opinion first: “Trade Hall and Nugent-Hopkins. Build around Connor McDavid and Draisaitl. Eberle stays. Go after a puck-moving defenceman that can make a pass and make players better,” said the anonymous executive. “[…] Trade Hall now. McDavid could be the best player in the league. Need puck moving defencemen (to provide) a transition game.”
• A scout from the Western conference also gave his opinion: “I wouldn’t trade Hall. No way. The problem for this group of good young players is, the veterans who’ve been brought in (to Edmonton) have been bad. Andrew Ference, Nikitin, Pouliot, Fayne. That has more to do with why the Oilers are where they are.”
• Another Eastern Conference executive also spoke on the matter: “They need a leader in their top-6 who can play with these kids. All the guys they’ve brought in to provide leadership have been bottom of roster players. The dangerous thing is, (Hall and Eberle) weren’t just good at the (2015 World Championships). They were fantastic there.”

► Cooper to stay in Tampa

• The Tampa Bay Lightning have locked up head coach Jon Cooper to a multi-year extension and, as is common with most signings of management or coaching staff, the terms of the agreement were not made available to the public.
• Cooper has been under fire lately due to his team’s sub-par performance thus far, which has lead to the very respectable Tampa Bay Lightning fans speculating that the 48-year old will get fired.
• Last month, Cooper was added to the North American, under-23 World Cup of Hockey team’s coaching staff in an assistant capacity.
• Through his third season in Tampa, Cooper has lead the team to 108 victories, 62 losses and 20 extra time losses along with a trip to the cup final in which they lost to the Chicago Blackhawks.

► WJHC back in Buffalo

• The last time the World Junior Hockey Championships were held in Buffalo were 2011 when the U.S won gold in front of a largely Canadian crowd; they will be heading back there in 2018.
• For the sixth time in the history of the tournament it will be held in the U.S. and it will feature a very special event, an outdoor game hosted at Ralph Wilson Stadium.
• If all goes according to plan the city should have Canada play the U.S. outdoors in front of a freezing Buffalo crowd.
• Buffalo Sabres owner Terry Pegula was very thankful for the opportunity saying “I am very grateful to USA Hockey for giving us the right to host the tournament. I know you guys probably took a lot of grief for letting us host it two times in a row and we’re going to make you proud. We’re going to do the best job we can.”

► Longest streak in American history

• The offseason was one of uncertainty for the Blackhawks’ Patrick Kane but through a couple months of the season there’s no doubt he’s performing at his highest level.
• Kane has surpassed the American-born point streak record of 19 games and is now eyeing for Wayne Gretzky’s overall record of 51 games (which is all but unattainable.)
• Going into Saturday, Kane’s point streak had produced 13 goals and 35 points in 21 games, he’s also leading the lead in assists and points.
• His head coach, Joel Quenneville, was complementary of the league’s leading scorer saying, “He’s been doing it game in, game out, shift in, shift out. He’s been fun to watch. He makes plays over the course of the game that wow you. The fans, he entertains them whether you’re the home or the road team. He’s been special.”

► Gretzky wants to change the posts

• Wayne Gretzky scored his fair share of goals in his NHL career which made his proposition to increase goals scoring all the more legitimate; he announced it in an interview with the Toronto Sun.
• Gretzky created his idea to get the goal numbers up in the NHL which listening to SiriusXM’s hockey program, “[…] I heard a guy on there recently say they should turn the posts on an angle so that the if the puck hits the post it will go into the net any time it hits them.”
• “With this idea, you’re not actually making the nets bigger. But whenever you hit the post — unless it hits flush on the opposite side — it’s going to go into the net. You’ll score more goals, you’ll create more offence. And I think whoever came up with that idea is a genius. It’s a great concept.”
• He also had an idea of where they should implement the concept “If you try it at the American League level, I think it would be good. […] That’s where they tested three-on-three. Three-on-three right now is exceptional. I think it’s fun. I love it.”

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