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.

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

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.

Even hardcore Flyers’ fans can’t deny that the Canadiens manages to outplay them at just about every moment of this game. Unfortunately, the only thing that matters at this point is to get the win, which we seem to be falling just short on. The key to Philadelphia is definitely Biron, without him this could be a completely different series, he’s been absolutely amazing, and deserves a lot of props.

The Habs seem to be able to come back very quickly, with almost a duplicate of last game, they scored two goals within 46 seconds, by Plekanec and Koivu. They just can’t seem to finish the job, including last nights game with a final of 4-2 for the Flyers.

Some would argue that the series is over, but the last time I checked it’s only 3-1 for the Flyers, that to me is enough to keep it going. We’ve seen it before and by god we can see it again. Out of the final three games of the series, two of them are in Montreal which should give us a huge boost. If we can win on Saturday at home, take that momentum back to Philadelphia for game 6 and win, then head home for game 7 with the obvious advantage of about 21,273.

Even if we don’t win, I don’t think I have ever been so proud to say that I am a Montreal Canadiens fan, and you better believe I’ll be going crazy right up until puck drop next season.

With two losses in a row, I’m reminded of the last series against Boston when the Habs lost two in a row to come back in win game 7 with a 5-0 shutout. Price may have been pulled in the third period of last game, but expect to see him back in nets and looking hungry. As usual the Game Day Post is where it’s at.

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A late rush in the third period wasn’t enough for the Habs as the Philadelphia Flyers take game 3 by a score of 3-2. All three of the Flyer’s goals were scored in the second period by Upshall, Richards, and Umberger, before Carey Price was pulled for the third giving Halak some time in nets.

Midway through the third period the Flyers received a four minute penalty to give the Habs a perfect opportunity to come back where they had a mass of chances but almost tied it up with 2 goals in a 1:12 span by Tomas Plekanec and Saku Koivu.

It was unfortunate that Price was pulled but his play the last few games has been questionable. He seems to be an up and down goalie at the moment which probably comes from the fact that he’s only 20 years old, and in his first playoff run in the NHL. I’m not at all worried, as we’ve seen this before from the kid (ala the 5-0 comeback against the Rangers), and he always seems to come back with a storm of great games.

Jaroslav Halak took the reigns in the third period, which was completely dominated by the Habs, stopping all of 2 shots that he face in that 20 minute time frame. Late in the third their was also a questionable too many men penalty which could easily be argued, but I’ll just leave it at that.

The next game will also be held in Philadelphia, so let’s hope for a better result to split the Away trip and tie up the series heading home.

We’re off to Philadelphia as the Canadiens hope to rebound from Saturday’s 4-3 loss. Head on over to the Game Day Post for even more information including a bit of a line change.

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With the Flyers winning an intense game in OT last night, the Habs have their second round opponent all lined up. The Montreal Canadiens will face the Philadelphia in the Eastern Conference Semi-finals, with the first game will take place Thursday night at the Bell Centre. Here is the full schedule according to NHL.com

Very little has gone wrong for the Habs this season, all of the little things are going right. We would have rather played Philly over the Rags, and that’s exactly what happened, mind you it was a pretty intense Game 7.

It took seven games, but it was worth it. The Habs shut down the Bruins tonight with a 5-0 to give the Montreal Canadiens the win in the Eastern Conference Quarter Finals. I don’t even know where to start with the post game thread.

I could talk about Carey Price’s second shutout of the series, or maybe the fact that the Kostitsyn’s combined for five points tonight, including the final three goals of the game. I could talk about a lot of things, but I would like to talk about Saku Koivu. Out of three weeks with a broken foot, and he comes back and dominates the game. If anyone had any doubt in our true Captain, I hope tonight was an eye opener for all of those naysayers.

Carbonneau made some nice changes tonight as well, moving Kovalev to play with Chris Higgins and Saku Koivu. Leaving the second line comprised of Andrei Kostitsyn, Tomas Plekanec, and Sergei Kostitsyn. Now we have to wonder, will it stay like this? I vote for a big YES! Koivu iis exactly what Kovalev needs, he makes Kovalev work that extra little bit to make him essential. I mean, he has to if he has any chance of keeping up with Koivu’s work ethic.

The goals in tonights game came from Mike Komisarek in the first. Mark Streit and Andrei Kostitsyn in the third, and finally Sergei Kostitsyn, and Andrei Kostitsyn again in the third. The Habs may have only had one power play goal, but they killed off six penalty kills of their own with Price being a huge factor in those.

I will definitely give my hats off to the Bruins in this series, they definitely made it interesting. Tim Thomas deserves a huge pat on the back for his amazing play all through the playoffs, including tonight. What really makes me love this guy is that he’s just so happy to play. He took the loss and smiled/laughed with just about every Hab player as he shook their hand, even stopped and had a talk with Price at the end. I would love to know what he said.

Glen Murray left the game in the first period of this game after falling into the boards awkwardly from a hit by Hamrlik. Apparently it’s a mid-torso injury, but he did not return to the game.

With the first round behind us, it’s time to look onto round two. Who we face will be completely up to the Philadelphia/Washington game tomorrow night. If the Flyers win than we will play them in the next round with the first game being on Thursday. If Washington wins (Flyers lose), we will play the New York Rangers in the next round. Personally, I would prefer to play the Flyers, but I’m not holding my breath as it seems Ovechkin is back after scoring two goals tonight, one of which being the game winning goal.

Keep on believing Habs fans!