All Habs Headlines: Thursday August 25, 2016 |
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On this day in hockey history… 1938 — Montreal Maroons’ franchise suspended operation as an NHL franchise. 1939 — The Canadiens named Albert “Babe” Siebert as their new head coach. 1944 — Long-time Canadiens Coach Jacques Demers was born. 1977 — Tim Horton was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. 1980 — Peter and Anton Stastny arrived in North America after defecting from Czechoslovakia. |
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► Weber Gets Another ‘A’
- Shea Weber will be an alternate captain for the Montreal Canadiens this upcoming season. Weber won won the Mark Messier Leadership Award at the 2016 NHL Awards for his off-ice charity work and on-ice performance.
- Now Hockey Canada has announced that along with Jonathan Toews, Shea Weber will act as an alternate captain for Team Canada at the World Cup of Hockey next month. Sidney Crosby has been named captain.
- “Sid, Toews and Web are great men who have had unbelievable on-ice success,” said Mike Babcock, head coach of Team Canada. “We look forward to them stepping up and leading our group as we work to achieve our ultimate goal at the World Cup.”
► Karpan Gone, Crawford Promoted
- Usually members of the Canadiens front office other than Marc Bergevin and Trevor Timmins get little to no press, such is the case with the now recent member of the Las Vegas NHL club, Vaughn Karpan.
- Karpan is now the former Director of Professional Scouting for the Canadiens will be joining the Las Vegas front office as their Director of Player personnel. Karpan had been recently promoted to Director of Professional scouting in March of 2015, holding that position for approximately 18 months prior to accepting a deal to head to Las Vegas.
- Before making this decision to leave for the desert, Karpan had been a member of the Canadiens organization for 11 years, dating back to 2005.
- To fill the vacancy, the Canadiens announced that they have promoted Eric Crawford to the position of Director of Pro Scouting.
- Crawford had been added to the Habs scouting staff in August 2015. Eric is the younger brother of Marc Crawford, now associate coach with the Ottawa Senators. Eric had spent 16 years with the Vancouver Canucks.
- The Canadiens lost amateur scout Frank Jay earlier this month when he was hired by the Edmonton Oilers.
► Bring on the Excuses!
The #habs have removed the slogan "No Excuses" from the wall of their locker room. What should they replace it with? pic.twitter.com/O07ee32c0a
— TSN690 Montreal Fans (@TSN690MTL) August 23, 2016
► Holtby Picks Price
- If it was up to Washington Capitals goalie Braden Holtby, he would start Carey Price in goal for Team Canada at the upcoming World Cup. Holtby won the Vezina Trophy in 2016 with Price on the injury shelf.
- “All of us want to play, but if Carey’s healthy, there’s no reason to not go with him,” Holtby told NHL.com. “He has all the experience internationally and the smart choice obviously would be that. I’m going to go there and play hard, [do] what I do, support the team in any way possible, whether it’s playing or supporting another guy.”
- Price, Holtby and Corey Crawford are the three goalies on the Team Canada roster.
► Leblanc Retires
- Louis Leblanc’s career seemingly passed as quickly as Michel Therrien’s allure, with the former first round pick officially deciding to end his career Wednesday.
- Last season, Leblanc split 15 games between the KHL, Slovakia and Switzerland, recording four of his five points between those teams in Slovakia.
- The former 18th overall pick’s time in Montreal resulted in five goals and the same number of assists over 50 games, all of his points coming in 42 games during the 2011-12 season.
- This past year Leblanc returned to Harvard University, where he postponed his presence following his freshman year to sign an NHL contract.
► Price Looking Sharp
► Brière Pipes Up
- Daniel Brière spent one season in the Canadiens locker room which made it all the more credible when he gave his account pertaining to the P.K. Subban transaction.
- On Brière’s show on 98.5 Sports, he expressed his lack of surprise when informed that Subban had been dealt out of Montreal.
- “[Subban and Weber] are two of the best defenceman in the NHL, Weber is in the top-three, while Subban’s probably part of the top five or six,” said Brière on his show.
- “I wasn’t completely surprised [by the trade], because the rumours were perpetuated,” mentioned the former Hab. “It’s not a secret that P.K. wasn’t unanimously liked by his teammates. There was truth behind those rumours.”
► Two Big Losses for Canada
- Just weeks prior to the World Cup of Hockey’s return after a quarter century, the Canadians have just lost two of their premier players, to be replaced by Jay Bouwmeester and Logan Couture.
- Duncan Keith will be out for the entirety of the World Cup of Hockey as he continues to rehabilitate a right knee injury he suffered last season in Chicago, opening the door for St. Louis’s Bouwmeester.
- On the offensive front, Jamie Benn will be absent for the same amount of time, also recovering from an injury he sustained last season, however will be expected to be ready for the Stars’ season opener.
- The Sharks’ Couture will be replacing Benn during the tournament, however is expected to slide down the lineup and play a depth role rather than playing in Benn’s spot.
► Subban Brothers Chime In
- With everyone in hockey having had a chance to voice their opinion on the Shea Weber – P.K. Subban trade, it was time that P.K.’s brothers reacted to the news.
- In an interview with The Province, youngest brother Jordan said, “Everyone was just kind of shocked, including him. Any time something like that happens, at first it’s kind of like, is this a joke?”
- Middle brother Malcolm expressed his feelings this way, “When you think of him, you think of Montreal. That’s where he played (for so long). He’ll be looking to make a new legacy (in Nashville) … It’s good for him to get a new start, I guess. He’s going to a good team, so he’ll have a good chance to win a championship there.”
► Trouba Hoping For A Move?
- Former NHL executive Bill Watters was on TSN 1290 in Winnipeg yesterday and, among other topics, spoke to the Jacob Trouba camp’s willingness to leave the Jets.
- “[…] With Trouba I suspect that [he and his camp] want to leave Winnipeg,” said Watters within his first two sentences. “[…]’he’s hoping he can force Winnipeg to move him, and if that’s the plan, it’s a tough one [for all parties involved].”
- “I’m sure of in the course of the negotiations that a trade request has been brought up, I don’t think that there’s any question that that’s a significant alternative,” said Watters.
- “If there’s a will, there’s a way and there’s no will. They want out of Winnipeg,” he said.
► Hudler Finds A Home
- Just under eight weeks since the opening of free agency, Jiri Hudler finally signed a contract that will see him play in a Dallas Stars uniform next season.
- Hudler signed a one-year deal with the Stars worth a reported two million, a far cry from his projected contract this time last season.
- Hudler was a key contributor to the Calgary Flames’ run to the post season back in 2014-15, leading the team in goals and points, with 31 and 76 respectively, both career-highs for the now-32-year old.
- Coinciding with the Flames’s 2015-16 campaign, Hudler’s success was significantly depreciated, recording 16 goals and 46 points over 72 games between Calgary and Florida last season.
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