Montreal Canadiens Blog

As most of you are probably already aware, the Montreal Canadiens have exclusive talking rights to Mats Sundin until July 1st, at which time he’ll be an Unrestricted Free Agent. The probably of landing such a player is very low, but it seems Gainey is still going after the Toronto stud who’s been the face of that franchise for a very long time.

Their are many reports that Gainey himself will be flying to Sweden to meet with Sundin face to face, but according to TSN analyst, Bob Mackenzie, this is probably not the case as Gaineys talking rights can only go so far, and stalking players is not covered under those.

I haven’t decided whether I would be happy with this, or not, as it’s a double edged sword. One one hand, he’s a solid player who comes out every night and plays like it’s his last. He’s been a dominating player in the league for years, and always produces. On the other hand, we’d most likely only be able to sign him to a one year contract, and that of course is if he doesn’t retire in this off season.

So you see, it’s up in the air at the moment. Talks with Sundin by Gainey will be done this week, so we’ll hopefully know sooner than later.

It seems that Mr. Gainey is at it early this year. Gainey announced today the signing of Maxim Lapierre to a two year deal locking him in until the 2010-2011 season, as per club policy the financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Lapierre will be and always has been a great player on this team. He shows great energy and grit, with determination to boot. I would’ve expected nothing less of Gainey then to resign this 23 year old. In this four years with the Canadiens he has racked up 13 goals and 17 assists.

I hope everyone is enjoying the off-season thus far, I know I am. I just wanted to update the blog as it hasn’t been in quite some time, and wanted to let you guys know to keep checking back as I’m coming up with some great new posts to fulfill your Hably urges until next season.

Go Detroit! (I don’t like the Pens)

It looks like Gainey is continuing on, even after the rough second round loss against Philadelphia, by signing forward, Ryan White, to a three year contract. Financial details were not disclosed.

White ended his four-year junior career with the WHL’s Calgary Hitmen with 237 points (91 goals, 146 assists) and 411 penalty minutes in 275 regular-season games. A native of Brandon, Manitoba, White led his team in scoring in each of the past three seasons. In 59 career playoff games with the Hitmen, White amassed 41 points (17 goals, 24 assists) and 88 penalty minutes.
In 2007-08, the 20-year-old recorded 72 points (28 goals, 44 assists), 98 penalty minutes, eight power-play goals and had a plus-24 rating in 68 games.

White, 6-feet, 213 pounds, was named the CHL Player of the Week twice during the 2007-08 campaign. He scored 10 points (five goals, five assists) in a four-game span that ended on February 4 and registered 12 points (four goals, eight assists) and had a plus-6 rating in four playoff games last April, helping the Calgary Hitmen eliminate the Swift Current Broncos in six games.

Selected in the third round, 66th overall, by the Canadiens in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft, White also had two assists in as many games for Team WHL at the 2007 Canada-Russia Challenge.

Source: Canadiens.NHL.com

Well folks, now that we’re into the quarter-final matchups of the World Hockey Championships, I wanted to go over the stats totals for Canadiens players. These are direct from the IIHF site, so they are accurate as of 5/10/2008. Unfortunately, Belarus has been eliminated from the tournament by the Czech Republic, so both Kostitsyn’s and Grabovski will not be tallying any more points.

Most noticeably, are Andrei Kostitsyn’s 18 penalty minutes! Who knew. He also has two goals and an assist in four games.

Montreal just can’t catch a break it seems. TSN sources say that Sweden star, Fabian Brunnstrom, has decided to make his rookie season in Dallas. Here is the direct article from TSN.ca

Sources tell TSN Fabian Brunnstrom will make his NHL debut next season with the Dallas Stars.

The 23 year old Swedish forward officially made his decision on Thursday with Dallas edging out Montreal, Detroit and the Toronto Maple Leafs.

“In the end there was no wrong decision. All of the organizations involved were extremely professional and respectful in their approach and the opportunity was carefully explained. The Dallas option was simply the best one overall for Fabian and he is very comfortable with his decision,” said Brunnstrom’s agent J.P. Barry

Last week Brunnstrom toured Dallas and spent time with Ken Holland and the Detroit Red Wings before making his way to Montreal where Canadiens general manager Bob Gainey courted the highly sought after free agent.

Sources say the Calgary Flames and Anaheim Ducks also pitched hard in the last 10 days.

The Toronto Maple Leafs campaign for Brunnstrom was based on opportunity and the expectation he would be given a chance to be an impact player in Toronto next season.

Brunnstrom chose Dallas based on his belief there a combination of both roster depth and opportunity will exist when he arrives on the scene for training camp.

Brunnstrom will have a two-year entry-level deal signed within the 24 hours and will be paid in a similar fashion to a top 5 draft pick, which could translate into a cap hit of over 2 million dollars per season.

Part of the impetus for the deal is that Dallas does not have a first round pick this year, it was traded to the Los Angeles Kings last year as part of the Mattias Norstrom deal.

Now that the wound has healed a little bit, Bob Gainey and Guy Carbonneau had their year end press conference for the media yesterday, and it didn’t appear that either were one bit rattled over the early departure of the Montreal Canadiens from the Stanley Cup playoffs, and why would they be? I mean, the average age of this team is like 22, one of the lowest in the NHL. This team is going to be great for years to come.

Bob Gainey will definitely be looking to make some moves over the summer, looking for a guy or two that fits in with the Montreal Canadiens’ style of play, which he described as being quick and exciting, and that would help the current players get better, and more prepared for the playoffs.

One member of the Montreal Canadiens not likely to be back next season will be Michael Ryder, not because he didn’t try hard, or didn’t want it, but because the Montreal Canadiens reorganization of lines and special teams just wasn’t in Ryder’s favor, and you can’t blame the guy for that. Using Mike Rebeiro as an example, I believe that Ryder could have a breakout year with a team who needs a sniper at RW.

On the other side Gainey is looking to resign UFA Mark Streit for another season, and who could blame him. Streit had a breakout year with 62 points, his best year since…well, ever. This strong Offensive/Defenseman gives us a great shot at the point on our PP, and could move up to our fourth or even third line if need be.

The Montreal Canadiens will be looking into resigning Andrei Kostitsyn, who is RFA next season, but the possibility of him return to the RSL, or going to another NHL team is viable. Gainey believes that Kostitsyn is comfortable in Montreal, especially now that his brother playing here, and believes we’ll be seeing Andrei Kostitsyn back in the Bleu, Blanc, et Rouge, next season.

Montreal is said to be a frontrunner for Swedish start, Fabian Brunnstrom, who just happened to be in Montreal for two days on the weekend, checking things out. Brunnstrom is also said to have visited Detroit and Dallas, but should make a decision by the end of the week who he wants to go with.

All in all, I think we’re going to have a great 08-09 season.

Now that the Stanley Cup is out of our reach this season, some Montreal Canadiens have decided to take a different route to victory by participating in the IIHF World Hockey Championships.

Six Canadiens in total will be playing for their countries which include Saku Koivu for Finland, Andrei Markov for Russia, Tomas Plekanec for Czech Republic, and Andrei Kostitsyn, Sergei Kostitsyn, and Mikhail Grabovski for Belarus.

In his first game with Belarus, Andrei Kostitsyn racked up a solid 12 penalty minutes, as he served a misconduct with four minutes left to play in the third, while Sergei Kostitsyn joined him there soon after, as Belarus got caught with too many men on the ice.

‘Tis a sad day for all us Habs fans, as the Montreal Canadiens were eliminated from the playoffs last night in only 5 games in the second round. I’m sure many fans will wake up today pretending it didn’t happen, but when they tune in to watch the next game, the realization will kick in.

I can’t even imagine how the players of the Canadiens must be feeling today, but for myself, I’m not upset about it at all, a little disappointed maybe, but not upset. This was the best season I have ever seen for as long as I have been a Montreal Canadiens fan. I’m already getting ready for next year.

Last night was a hard fought game, and they had everything they needed to win, but unfortunately a couple of lucky goals propelled the Flyers to a win. Umberger had two, while Richards, Hartnell, Knuble, and Upshall are notched goals to give Philadelphia a 6-4 win over the Canadiens. Key players has to step up this game, and they did as Plekanec, Kovalev, A. Kostitsyn, and Christoper Higgins scored for the Habs.

Price played a solid game and looked pretty good through all three periods of this game, and we can only wait until next year where we’ll see him another year older, and more experience. This Canadiens team as a whole is built for the next few years with a complete and young roster, and will definitely be competing in the playoffs for a while to come. This is all thanks to Bob Gainey and the scouting staff of the Canadiens.

Not even the lucky tie could save us this time. Let’s take a look at some post-game audio from various Canadiens players.

Carey Price
Josh Gorges
Saku Koivu

Sorry folks, but I didn’t have time to write a game day post today as I had a ball hockey tournament all day (We won!!). I just wanted to make a quick post before game time to let everyone know that the lucky tie is indeed in this game, so hopefully we can see a great game with the Habs winning it.

vs