All Habs Headlines: Monday May 16, 2016 |
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On this day in hockey history… 1976 — Guy Lafleur scored the game winning goal as Montreal beat Philadelphia 5-3 to sweep the best-of-seven final series, in Game 4 of the Finals and win their 19th Stanley Cup championship. 1982 — New York Islanders win their third straight Stanley Cup when Mike Bossy scored twice in a 3-1 victory over Vancouver, in Game Four of the Finals. 1996 — Steve Yzerman scored the winning goal at 1:15 of the second overtime as Detroit won 1-0 over the visiting St. Louis Blues, in Game 7 of the Western Conference Semi-Finals. |
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► Move Over Subban
- Habs prospect Nikita Scherbak is apparently in a good mood while vacationing in Cyprus.
► Some Clarity on Lehkonen
- Artturi Lehkonen’s outstanding 2015-16 campaign to only led to a subsequent contract with the Canadiens, but also an invitation from team Finland, according to head coach Kari Jalonen.
- The Finnish bench boss gave the reasoning behind Lehkonen’s omission from the Finish roster, in an interview with Le Journal de Montreal “The main reason is that he didn’t want to come. It’s his decision. We had interest in him, but he said he was too tired.”
- Jalonen furthered his thought, “I honestly don’t understand. I repeat myself, but the reason for his absence, is him. We wanted to find him a place [on the roster].”
- On the other side of the spectrum, a Canadiens spokesman gave Lehkonen’s account “Arturri wanted to participate, but Finnish management asked him to come to the team’s camp the day after his playoff win with Frolunda. He also needed time to recover his passport. And he wasn’t sure there was a spot for him on the team. “
► Carbonneau’s Comments Make A Dent
- A couple of weeks ago, longtime Canadiens Captain Guy Carbonneau made headlines by indicating the inability of former Canadiens greats to have contact with current players is having a negative effect on the team’s performance. It seems like his words have made an impact.
- According to Michel Villeneuve of 91.9 Sports, Canadiens majority owner Geoff Molson took Carbonneau’s comments to heart and met with some former Canadiens to discuss their involvement in the team.
- “According to Michel Villeneuve, Geoff Molson and the Canadiens have met the [former Canadiens] to discuss the comments of Guy Carbonneau,” 91,9 Sports sent out via their Twitter account.
- Carbonneau’s comments, among other topics, centred around the apparent distance between Canadiens legends and the team’s current players. He also mentioned he had only spoken to Max Pacioretty on one occasion over the phone.
► Bergevin Scouting Russian Help
- Having lost out on the Artemi Panarin sweepstakes to the Chicago Blackhawks, Marc Bergevin is very interested in Russian forward Vadim Shipachev. This is according to JF Chaumont of Le Journal de Montreal.
- Shipachev, 29 years old, had 17 goals, 43 assists for 60 points in 53 games this season for SKA St. Petersburg of the KHL. He added 16 points in 15 games in the playoffs.
- Shipachev has one-year remaining on his contract in the KHL.
► Reway On Playing in North America
- Canadiens prospect Martin Reway has not yet signed a contract for the 2016-17 season. At this point it is unclear whether he will head to North America or spend one more season in Europe.
- Reway seemed to hint that a decision will be coming soon saying to Hockey’s Future, “In Europe, the season starts much earlier than in North America, so if I end up signing with a European team I couldn’t go to the NHL camp, even if I wanted to.”
- Reway had a realistic view when asked about being assigned to the AHL, “That’s the way it is. You don’t know for sure if you’re going to make the big club. You just try and, you know, if you end up going to the AHL that’s not the end of things. This year in Montreal several players went back and forth between the Canadiens and St. John’s. I think six or seven forwards started the season in the AHL and ended up on the big club.”
► Habs – Bruins To Play In Quebec City
As the Quebec Nordiques look to reincarnate, Quebec hockey fans will be faced with yet another tough decision of who to root for, as the Canadiens and Bruins square off at the Videotron Centre this preseason.- The two teams released the news via a press release, with Montreal and Boston to play on October 4th at 7:00 pm. near the very end of the preseason.
- In years past, the Canadiens have played the likes of the Carolina Hurricanes and the Colorado Avalanche in Quebec City, never being the fan favourite among the pair of teams gracing the ice.
- “The Canadiens will be in Quebec City for the seventh time to play a preseason game dating back to 2009. Hockey fans in attendance will get to see a combination of seasoned veterans and up-and-coming players as Michel Therrien’s team prepares for the 2016-17 season,” via the Canadiens website.
► Habs Favor Re-Signing Bartley, Brown?
- Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports is reporting that the Canadiens are interested in re-signing forward Mike Brown and defenseman Victor Bartley.
- Brown was claimed on waivers at the trade deadline. Bartley was part of the Jarred Tinordi trade with Arizona.
- While Habs fans expect Marc Bergevin to focus on bigger fish to address roster holes, it is entirely consistent with the GM’s approach to add a surplus of eight defencemen and fourth line forwards.
- In Bartley’s case, it is clear that he is not an NHL-caliber defenceman but the Canadiens may want to bring him back if they want veteran AHL experience in St. John’s. Bartley was also exploring the possibility of playing in Europe next season.
- This could spell bad news for Morgan Ellis who was clearly the IceCaps best defenceman last season, a leader on the ice and in the locker room. Ellis will be a restricted free agent.
- In the same report, Lavoie also claimed that the Canadiens have no interest in bringing back free agents Ben Scrivens and Tom Gilbert.
► 2 for 1 Rate?
- The Philadelphia Flyers made an improbable run to the 2015-16 postseason and were then eliminated by the Capitals in six games, but the Flyers team captain Claude Giroux will both be headed under the knife.
- According to Chris Johnson of Sportsnet, both Giroux and standout rookie Shayne Gostisbehere will be having surgery to repair the exact same injuries, right hip and abdominal surgery.
- Further according to Johnson, the pair will be out for approximately the next 10-12 weeks and should be ready to go once the Flyers hit the ice for training camp this fall.
- Gostisbehere, a former third round pick, played 64 games with Philadelphia this season in which he recorded 17 goals and 46 points, he also had two points in six playoff games.
- Giroux had what is a down year relative to his regular success with 22 goals and 67 points in 78 games, still leading his team in that category, and had one assist in six playoff games.
► Barrie On The Move?
- The Colorado Avalanche have had another season of mediocrity and, according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, big change could be coming in the Avalanche organization.
- In an interview with 630 CHED in Edmonton, later transcripted by Chris Nichols of Today’s Slapshot, Friedman pointed out the possibility that Avs blueliner Tyson Barrie could be on the move.
- “Oh, I think he’s definitely in play. […] Yep. Yep. Absolutely.” He went on to say, “You know what, I do think Tyson Barrie is going to go. […] “Knowing the way they finished their year, I’ve got to think it’s very likely he moves on.”
- “I did a game there where Montreal was in Denver. Don Meehan was there at the time with Craig Oster. They’re the Newport guys who handle Barrie. I just got the impression from everybody involved that they weren’t really even in the same ballpark.”
► Ovechkin Blames Murray
- The Presidents Trophy-winning Washington Capitals were once again prematurely ousted from the post season and once again, at least according to Alex Ovechkin, it was a netminder who stole the show.
- According to Washington Times Editor Zac Boyer, Ovechkin wasn’t prepared to say it was Pittsburgh’s speed that beat them, but rather the man they threw between the pipes
- “Speed? No, I think it was their goalie,” Boyer sent out via his Twitter account.
- Despite his team’s shortcomings, Ovechkin is one of the last to be blamed for the Washington’s result, with five goals and 12 points in 12 playoff games, setting his career playoff points at 82, 41 of which were goals, in 84 games.
- Matt Murray, who Ovechkin credited for his adversary’s victory in the series, has played 10 playoff games to date, recording a 2.15 GAA and a .929 save percentage with a 7-2-1 record backing the Penguins.
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