According to RDS, the Montreal Canadiens will be announcing the signing of defense man Pavel Valentenko to a 3 year contract: http://www.rds.ca/canadien/chroniques/231031.html
http://www.canadiens.com/eng/news/redirect.cfm?sectionID=habsNewsDetails.cfm&newsItemID=5967
By Habster
This is great news for the organization as they need to acclimatize their Russian prospects(including Alexei Emelin) to the smaller ice surface, more physical style of hockey, culture and language issues. Both Valentenko and Emelin play a very physical style already so their adjustments will be quicker than other European/Russian players. They also play the right side on defense which the Canadiens’ organization is sorely lacking in their system. Valentenko will probably start the season with the Hamilton Bulldogs.
