Saturday, July 31, 2010

Shots on Net [31.07.10]

July is ending and Carey's unsigned. But more people are getting signed so I guess we're not idle. Our cap space has shrunk some more.

Alexandre Picard
has signed a one-year, two-way contract with the Habs. He's 6'3", from Quebec, and has played for the Flyers. I hope we can beat those oranges with him on our team. RDS has few quotes from him in French. <Canadiens>

Bulldogs captain Alex Henry was signed by the Canadiens yesterday to a two-year, two-way deal. <Canadiens>

NHL Alumni is honouring Guy Lafleur and Dick Irvin at their 8th annual NHL Alumni Awards Gala Dinner. The Flower is being honoured as the NHL Alumni Man of the Year "for his tremendous skills on the ice and involve[ment] with so many charities and communities off the ice." Dick Irvin is receiving the Keith McCreary 7th Man Award, which is awarded to someone "who has contributed behind the scenes for a significant period of time." I guess it's a posthumous award, unless it's being awarded to Dick Irvin Jr.? This missed my radar so apologies. Congrats to both! Wish I could attend (it's close to me!), but the tickets are out of my price range. <NHL Alumni>

Michael Cammalleri might be interested in participating in Battle of the Blades. Old news, but since the blog wasn't around back then, here it is. This would be hilarious to see. But he'd get a ton of votes from Habs fans. <CBC Sports>

Make sure to show your Habs support by getting a spiffy Habs wallpaper. August's calendar featuring P.K. Subban is up. <Canadiens>

A Louis Leblanc photo gallery.<Hockey Photography>

Former Hab Russ Courtnall has been added to the line up of Battle of the Blades Season 2. He was apparently a fast skater so it should be interesting to see him back on the ice. I'm looking forward to seeing posters all over the TTC again this fall. <Battle of the Blades Blog, first seen on Twitter @kathleenlavoie

Dominic Moore signed a two-year contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning yesterday. Stevie Y is showing a strange interest in our Habs. Was it perhaps that he once wanted to play for us?! Anyway, we might as well rename his team Habs Stolen Goods. <TB Lightning>

Georges Laraque has been named the deputy leader of the Green Party. Ken Dryden will probably remain the most successful Canadiens politician. <TSN>

A Habs fan takes his love for the Habs to the top of Mt. Lady MacDonald. This team has great fans. <@mainertoo>

---

I'm waiting for TSN to blow up with Carey Price contract signing news. It shall be fun.

ETA: More news.

Friday, July 30, 2010

Thank you, Louis Leblanc

A quick post to say that RDS is reporting that Louis Leblanc has signed a three-year contract with the Canadiens, and will be playing for the Montréal Junior Hockey Club. It must have been hard to turn his back on Harvard, but I feel you made the right decision. The announcement is on the Canadiens website, and CapGeek has nothing so we don't know the money involved. Perhaps we could expect to see him in a Bulldogs uniform soon.

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Shots on Net [29.07.10]

An early post. Will update if necessary.

From the canadiens.com homepage

What is the Canadiens' management trying to tell us? I'm sorry but I've got to laugh. Thanks for realizing we hate his contract. But seriously, this story is like ten years late. Ok, more like a month but still. Nice to hear about how players got their numbers. <Canadiens>

Mike Cammalleri doing a photo shoot for CANADIENS magazine. A golf club?! The golf love continues. Shot at Brossard. <@CanadiensMTL>

There are six new faces with the Canadiens staff. Pierre Allard's arrival was announced previously. Hopefully these new scouts net us some good players. <Canadiens

As seen at Habs Inside/Out, Brock Trotter has left for the KHL's Dinamo Riga. <ESPOIRS>

If you haven't heard already, you could win a chance to train with Mike Cammalleri, Scott Gomez, and other NHL hockey players thanks to BioSteel. See details here. <BioSteel ProHockey Week>

A follow up to the Jim Roberts story mentioned in the last post. <Northumberland News>

With the unveiling of the 2011 All Star Game logo and the 2011 Winter Classic hoopla, I was wondering if we'd get anything for the 2011 Heritage Classic that will be played February 20 in Calgary? Here's the logo if you haven't seen it yet. First seen at Puck Daddy, from Icethetics who grabbed it from NHL.com so that would explain the bunch of logos.

Mike and Jarome Iginla face off...is the NHL saying something about captaincy, or just faces of franchises?

I love this logo. It's much nicer than the Winter Classic one, IMO. A veined maple leaf (no, not for Toronto...it's red for Canada), a scroll like in Canada's coat of arms with 'A Mari Usque Ad Mare', crossed hockey sticks that bring back memories of old hockey team pictures, and the Calgary skyline with iconic Calgary Tower. Even the writing looks old school. The NHL shield just reminds you that the game is ocurring in this century. Kudos to whoever came up with this.

---

I'll end on that happy note.

Update (at 10.50 pm):

This is kinda strange. Go to the Canadiens 'Photos' page and you'll see galleries that have dates in the future. Right now there's a Montreal Canadiens Hockey School gallery dated July 31, 2010 and an Outdoor Hockey Games gallery dated August 4. Should we expect some news about the Heritage Classic around August 4?!! But really, advanced posting only works if you don't let your readers know about it. XD Nice going, canadiens.com people.

More updates:

There will be a press conference about the Heritage Classic at McMahon Stadium next week. My hunch was correct! <@Fan960Jason>

Cammalleri's speaks about his summer and various things with Toronto radio stations. <Ya! The Habs Rule>

Habs great Émile "Butch" Bouchard will be having a private signing on August 15 at Al Collections Inc. Their site also allows you to get signatures from Jean Béliveau, Peter Mahovlich, Maxim Lapierre, and Benoit Pouliot. <@ALCCINC>

Hope that's all for today.

Monday, July 26, 2010

Shots on Net [26.07.10]

We will never escape golf in the offseason it seems. 

Coach Jacques Martin held his Omnium Jacques Martin on July 16 at Outaouais Golf Club in Clarence-Rockland, ON. The total money raised was $140,000 and this amount was matched by the Government of Ontario for a total of $280,000. (What a nice gesture.) The money is going to the Jacques Martin/J.R. Brisson Bursary Fund, Roger's House ($10,000), and the Roger Seguin Foundation ($5,000). Members of the Martin family, Benoit Pouliot, Kirk Muller, Trevor Timmins, assistant and goaltending coach Pierre Groulx, and director of media relations Dominick Saillant were in attendence. Here's the site for his the Omnium. Article and picture from the Ottawa Golf Examiner. Be sure to view the slideshow to see all the aforementioned people. <Ottawa Golf Examiner>

Coach Martin looks happy. Wonder what he'll look like if he gets a Cup?

Henri Richard and Yvan Cournoyer were honorary guests at the Garry Peters & Rich Pilon Charity Golf tournament in Saskatoon on July 22 and 23 to help raise money for KidSport. They spoke about their opinions on how the NHL has changed since their time, and the article mentions what they did after they retired. A good read if you want some perspective. <The StarPhoenix>

P.K. Subban will be at the Cure for Cancer Ball Challenge on Saturday, August 7 at the Master Card Center for Hockey Excellence in Toronto. What a busy summer for Subban! <The Barrie Examiner>

Canadiens assistant coach Perry Pearn was a presenter at the KMHA Summer Coaches’ Conference. There's an interesting story about Team Canada's coaches in the article. Go Mike Babcock for opening up and leading us to gold! <The Kamloops Daily News

Jim Roberts is being honoured by his highschool, Port Hope, by being inducted into their Wall of Honour. Congratulations! <Northumberland News>
Cam Connor auditioned for Wipeout Canada. I wonder why? LOL I hope you had fun sir. <Calgary Sun>

Scott Gomez' contract makes number three on Bleacher Report's list of contracts that should have been rejected by the NHL. I guess we should just add the Rangers to 'list of teams we hate'. Right after the Flyers, Leafs, and Bruins. <Bleacher Report>

ESPN gives the Bell Centre a thumbs up for health inspection. The only problem they found was that food was "at an improper temperature," with 3% of vendors with critical violations. <ESPN, first seen at The Star Tribune>

The Bulldogs will begin training and play three games against the Binghamton Senators in Newfoundland. <Hamilton Bulldogs, first seen at WIVT/WBGH News Channel 34>

Another Habs fan has passed away. Rest in peace Mr. Versloot. <Atlantic Farm Focus>
...

Still waiting on King Carey...

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Shots on Net [24.07.10]

A summary of the activities of our favourite team.

Here's Mike Cammalleri doing 1-on-1 with Michael Landsberg on TSN's Off The Record on July 16. <TSN>

Mike was also on The FAN 590 (Toronto) and he spoke about things that should interest you. I'm sorry to hear he was a Leafs fan growing up. He made the right decision by coming to us. Also, I sympathize with the reporter. He's just like me. First seen on Twitter. <FAN 590, direct download link>

Carey Price is talking. Thanks to KEPR CBS19 for the video.




The Canadiens will have a captain next season. It will be someone who was in last year's leadership group, meaning either of the three alternate captains or Cammalleri (was there anyone else? I can't recall...). They've already almost decided it, so it's just a matter of time. <RDS (FR)>

Andrei Markov became a Canadian citizen. Here he is with the judge and a mountie. You can also see a picture of him posing with some cute stuffed toys and Canadian things while posing for the next Canadiens magazine. However, he he will not play for Canada in international hockey competitions. Thanks to the Montreal Gazette for the pic. <The Gazette>

Aw, he feels left out of the 'shake...

Our busy man Mike teed off at the RBC Canadian Open on Wednesday, July 21 at 7.50 AM. He had a handicap of 6, saying it was because he was busy playing playoff hockey games. =) He also said he shot 78. And his mom says he looked like a kid in a candy shop. Story and pic from Ya! The Habs Rule. <Y!THR>


Lookin' good!

The Bulldogs have a new head coach and assistant coach. Randy Cunneyworth will be head coach, while Randy Ladouceur as his assistant. Both men are from Ontario. I hope there won't be any confusion due to the presence of two Randys. <Canadiens>

---

Will update if necessary. Sorry it wasn't very exciting this time.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Shots on Net [13.07.10]

More news from your Habs as Carey Price becomes the last free agent. What's the hold up King Carey? Don't tell me you got Allan Walsh as your agent?!

Maxim Lapierre has signed a one year, $900,000 deal with the Canadiens. He's been playing with the Habs as long as I've been a fan, so that's nice. <TSN>

Mathieu Carle has been signed to a one year, two way contract. <Canadiens>

One year contracts are popular today as James Wyman has also been signed to one that's two ways. <Canadiens>

P.K. Subban and Mike Cammelleri were at the 18th annual NHLPA Golf Classic on July 12 to raise money for "Hockey for Haiti", an effort in which former Hab Georges Laraque is involved. Click the names to see videos. And here's another one of Mike. Can I say that the NHLPA loves Mike, and maybe the Habs players in general? See the article about Mike cheering on the Azzurri. (And YAY for Juventus love!) <NHLPA>

This story is just great, so I have to share. Electronic House has given the 2010 Home of the Year Gold Award for Best Fun Room to a Canadiens home! This house belongs to a fan in Red Deer, Alberta who turned his bar and media room into Canadiens territory. I especially like the C in the ceiling. Man, I hope I can do something similar one day. Be sure to check out the gallery! Photo from Electronic House. <Electronic House>

Gorgeous!

In case you missed them, here are some pictures from the development camp from the Habs. <Canadiens>

Fans neither forgive nor do they forget. Remember the Richard Riot? Halak's trade won't be forgotten unless we get something big out of the Habs next season and on. At least an ECF finish. Stu Cowan speaks to Pierre McGuire and continues to question the controversial trade. Let's see if Bob's 'thoroughbred' (what are they, horses?) comes through for us.  <Montreal Gazette>

Speaking of rioting, the true cost of keeping fans in line during this amazing playoffs run was $2,181,059. Insane, no? But nothing bad happened, so that's great. I guess the playoffs are costly for Montreal, but a Cup would be priceless. (No pun intended.) <Cyberpress (FR)>

Continuing with the money theme, Gary Bettman earns a lot. Just over $7.23 million. And he fights with nice people like Ron MacLean on TV. Yup, you're getting paid well. Does he deserve it? Now that's another question.... <Sports Business Journal>

It's all about money, right? Some teams are struggling to sign players with the $59.4 million cap (e.g. Chicago), while others have many players but haven't even hit the floor of $43.4 million! See Cap Geek for the numbers. <Cap Geek>

Eller and Schultz want to try and please, but actions speak louder than words. Kinda sad that they have to do this. Couldn't we have gotten these guys for Price? St. Louis was interested.... <Sporting News>

Bleacher Report gives us a summary of Pierre Gauthier's moves as a GM. I like it. <Bleacher Report>

It's expensive to be a Habs fan (#2 in the league), but even more expensive to be a Leafs fan (#1 in the league). The Leafs get to be first at something. <Team Marketing Report>

Habsworld discusses captaincy. I'll agree with their choice of Gionta, with Gill and Cammalleri wearing the 'A'. Markov's not usually in the line up, and Gill will probably leave. Maybe let Gill have it for his last year here and then give it to Josh Gorges. <HW>

Jean Beliveau is a classy man. I'm so glad he played for us. <Dennis Kane>

Something I found on the official site: Henri "Pocket Rocket" Richard's playlist. I kid you not. <Canadiens>

...

So now we await Price and we'll see what kinda money he'll be getting. I think we could have probably afforded Halak and had a cheap back up from Hamilton now that Lappy has signed for less than a million. I get the strange feeling we'll be overpaying Price now that he knows he's number one and we don't have anyone else. Gah! Why is goaltending always such a headache for the Habs? The Habs have $4,728,273 to sign Price and anyone from our prospects.

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Shots on Net [08.07.10]

The one month anniversary post of this blog brings you more news from the Habs as the 2010-2011 Canadiens team takes shape, management gets sorted out, and ex-players sign elsewhere.

PK Subban has won the 2009-2010 President's Award in the AHL "in recognition of his outstanding accomplishments in the past year". Congrats! I can see why everyone is crazy for him. Picture from the Bulldogs site. <Hamilton Bulldogs>

President and CEO of the AHL David Andrews with PK Subban

Geoff Molson will be taking over as president and CEO of the Montreal Canadiens and evenco on June 30, 2011. He will be replacing Pierre Boivin who has been president since 1999. The two will work together in the meantime to ensure a smooth transition. <Canadiens, first seen at The Montreal Gazette via HI/O> 

Dominic Moore, Glen Metropolit, Paul Mara, and Marc-Andre Bergeron will not be back with the Habs. The UFAs will not be given offers by the Canadiens. The team will also rely more heavily on prospects, so they are leaving cap space for them as they also work on deals with Maxim Lapierre and Carey Price. <Canadiens>

Jacques Demers, the coach who led the Canadiens to their last Stanley Cup, a senator, and commentator for RDS had surgery. This is the second surgery he's had in recent weeks, having had one on June 29 to treat a hernia. <Toronto Sun, first seen at Canoe Sports (in French) via HI/O>

Jaroslav Halak got a nice deal with the St. Louis Blues. He's going to be cheap next year. According to Cap Geek, he'll earn $2.75 million next year, $3.5 million the year after, then $4.25 million followed by a year at $4.5 million for a cap hit of $3.75 million for four years. A deal like this would have been a bit difficult for the Canadiens to come to, but maybe Halak would've taken less to remain here out of loyalty or something. We'll never know thanks to Pierre Gauthier, and his agent can be happy. We'll speak again when the season gets underway. Though it's sad to see all the Halak pictures with him in a Canadiens jersey. <St. Louis Blues>

Sergei Kostitsyn has signed a one year, $550,000 deal with the Nashville Predators. Since all of the players involved in the Kostitsyn/Boyd-Ellis deal have signed NHL contracts, no 'future conisderations' will be involved. <Nashville Predators>

Maxim Lapierre isn't going to arbritation, meaning a deal's close. <RDS (in French)>

David Fischer won't be receiving a contract offer with the Habs. The defenseman from Minnesota was chosen in the first round, 20th overall by the Habs in 2006. The Canadiens will receive a compensatory draft pick in the 2011 draft, which will be the 50th overall pick (20th in the 2nd round). The Canadiens' second round pick in the 2011 draft had previously been traded to the Florida Panthers in exchange for Dominic Moore. So we're getting one back. I wonder who's losing their pick? I don't fully understand how this works to be honest. <TSN>

I like this picture of Mike! lol If we could only see his face. Training at 7 AM when the lights are still off. You're the man, Mike. <@MCammalleri13>

Not the most flattering pic of Lars Eller in a Habs jersey, but it's the first time I've seen him in one so here you go. More pics of the development camp by JTUTAH. <25Stanley>

His helmet is coming off...?

Four Habs Fans have footage from the training camp. (Warning: the blog is a bit NSFW and has profanity. But they're all lawyers!) <FHF>

PK Subban is humble and dedicated to playing for the Habs. Habs fans are happy. <Canadiens>

A report from camp. <Bleacher Report>

A story about Morgan Ellis' background. Maurice and Henri Richard also came from a big family! <Toronto Sun>

More about Ellis. A great prospect, for sure. I hope he forgets completely about being a Leafs fan. <PEI Canada>

You can keep up with Hamilton Bulldogs news by following Derek Willis, Director of Broadcasting and Communications and play-by-play announcer for the Dogs on Twitter. He also tweets Canadiens news that's tied to the Bulldogs. <@dogsplaybyplay>

 ---

This one month has been pretty crazy, with Halak's trade and all the signings. I hope next season will be great, and we won't be regretting the stuff that's happened over this past month.

Now we await Carey and Max.

Monday, July 5, 2010

Shots on Net [05.07.10]

So it's been a while and I apologize as I moved and have been doing home renos for a while now. Here's a summary of things that have been going down with our Habs.

PK Subban attended the Pepsi North America Cup event that was mentioned previously. Look at him holding that trophy. Hopefully he can hold Lord Stanley's mug in a Habs jersey. [Toronto Star]

Image by Glenn Lowson for the Toronto Star

The 2010-2011 NHL regular season schedule was released on June 22. The season will start and end in Toronto against the Leafs. The Habs will play St. Louis and Halak (if he's in net) on March 10. [Canadiens]

The Canadiens signed Mathieu Darche on June 22 to a one-year, $500,000 contract on June 22. It's his first one way deal. Good for him. [Canadiens]

Also on June 22 Tomas Plekanec was signed to a six-year, $30 million deal. Gionta and Plekanec are getting paid exactly the same now. I hope we get good point totals from both of them for the terms of their contracts. [Canadiens]

On June 25th the Canadiens were active at the draft, moving up from 27th to 22nd via a deal with the Phoenix Coyotes to snag defenceman Jarred Tinordi in the first round. [Canadiens]

 Picture from Getty Images

Looking good! Though the number 10 was kinda strange to see on him. Number 10 belongs to a beautiful Flower, of course...

The Habs added more prospects on June 26. With the 113th pick, the Habs selected Mark MacMillan. Morgan Ellis was selected at 117th. Brendan Gallagher was taken at 147 and John Westin from Sweden was taken 207th. I must say, John's name doesn't look very Swedish. Maybe that's just me. Hope these guys can all help us out in the near future. I look forward to seeing them don the CH. [Canadiens]

Morgan Ellis looks happy.
Picture from Getty Images

And here's a video of Brendan Gallagher from 2009:


On June 28 Tom Pyatt was signed to a one-year, $500,000 contract. (YAY! Thanks PG.) [Canadiens]

On the same day Benoit Pouliot was strangely given a ginormous raise and signed to a one-year, $1.35 million dollar contract. I'm as confused as the rest of the fans out there. [Canadiens]

On June 29, Sergei Kostitsyn was traded with future considerations to the Nashville Predators for UFA centre Dustin Boyd, goalie Dan Ellis, and future considerations. Ellis signed a two year, $3 million contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning (and they steal from us again?!!) while Boyd inked a one-year, $650,000 contract with the Habs on Canada Day. No idea about the future considerations. It's interesting to note that these two teams are connected by the ECHL's Cincinnati Cyclones. [Canadiens]

Also on free agent frenzy day the Habs signed goalie Alex Auld to a one-year, one million dollar contract. It is now official that whoever is in net next season (be it Price or some other poor soul) will be the number one goalie. But thank you Alex for willingly being our back up. I hope your shield of armour is strong enough to take criticism from all the fans and media. [Canadiens]

The eventful Canada Day also saw denfenseman Frédéric St-Denis signed to a one-year, $550,000 contract. [Canadiens]

Goalie Curtis Sanford was given the same money for the same amount as St-Denis on the same day. He chose Montreal over Vancouver and Phoenix, who also made similar offers. [Canadiens]

The PGA showed some love for the Habs by having caddies wear the jerseys of the 17 players with retired numbers. Henri Richard, Yvan Cournoyer, Stephane Quintal, Rejean Houle, Pierre Mondou, and Michael Cammalleri were present from the Habs. You can check out Mike here. [Canadiens]

Scott Gomez is getting Saku Koivu's old number. Number 11 was the number he wore in minor hockey, baseball and basketball. That's one athletic kid. It's interesting that Bob Gainey told him not to wear that number last season. The man had some sense, even though he brought Gomez's ridiculous contract upon us. [The Montreal Gazette]

You can read about Aurèle Joliat's childhood home in Ottawa and see some pictures thanks to this interesting story by the Ottawa Citizen. It's cool to know he lived on Stanley Avenue and won three Stanley Cups! [Ottawa Citizen]

Twenty-two prospects will be attending the Canadiens' second development camp which runs July 6-9. All of this year's draft picks will be attending, as will 'Lars Leller' and Ian Schultz who were acquired in the trade from St. Louis. Is it bad if Eller's name is misspelled so quickly? [Canadiens]


Alexander Avtsin has left HC Dynamo Moscow in order to play for the Canadiens' system. The Russian was chosen in the fourth round, 109th overall in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft. He's a big guy It's great to see a player who we recently drafted that actually wants to play for us. Unlike some others. *cough* Louis Leblanc *cough* [Russian Prospects]

You can work for the Habs! (Dream job...*drool*) Ahem, that is if you have the right skills. [Canadiens]

Keep track of the all the remaining contract lengths and signing dates thanks to the official site. [Canadiens]

The Canadiens are facing a cap penalty for the 2010-2011 season. It's (only) $68,751 (some people earn less per year but ok). That puts the Habs' cap at $59,331,249. That's still a load of cash. [Cap Geek]

On a somber note Sgt. James MacNeil, who was a Habs fan was laid to rest in Nova Scotia on July 2 in Cape Breton. Rest in peace. [680 News]

....

All salary figures are from Cap Geek.

So the Canadiens were really busy as the entire post here is full of links to the official website. Hopefully there will be a variety of stories next time. This was inevitable with free agent frenzy going on. 

One thing I don't get: pay cuts for quite a few players, and a pay raise for someone not so deserving. Is this a consequence of signing free agents in the past for insane salaries? Overpaying players hurts you in the future. *sob*

Hope you all enjoyed Canada Day and Independence Day!