Author: Dose

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Hurricanes owner buys Portland Trail Blazers for $4 billion

Tom Dundon, owner of the Carolina Hurricanes, doesn’t have the best reputation around the NHL. He’s the one who didn ‘t want to pay his GM as much as other league owners a few years ago… and he’s the one with a reputation for being a bit cheap. Yet today we learn that he’s bought the Portland Trail Blazers organization in the NBA for the “small” sum of… over $4 billion.

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It’s also worth remembering that when the Habs made a hostile offer to Sebastian Aho, many thought that Dundon might not match that offer because the majority of the contract money was paid up front. The Hurricanes ultimately decided to match the offer… it’s as if the Hurricanes decided to get even… and now we know they made a mistake, because KK never became the player we thought he would in Carolina.

Remember that last February, The Athletic surveyed 19 player agents, and one of the questions was:

Who’s the worst owner in the NHL?

(Credit: Screenshot / The Athletic )

[content-ads] It makes you wonder, then, how this move is perceived among NBA owners.

Dundon isn’t known for being the richest of NHL owners… but he did pull out the big bucks to acquire the Trail Blazers at a pretty hefty price.Four billion dollars (and counting) is a lot of money…

That said, the Hurricanes have had a lot of success since 2018 – that is, since Dundon became the club’s owner. And what I mean by that… is that I wonder if Dundon will want to spend money to improve the team in Portland. And I also wonder if his goal isn’t to move the team elsewhere… spacer title=’Overtime’] – Hehe.

– Can he lead the Sparrows to victory?

– I love this,

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Zachary Bolduc: the player we’ve been waiting for in Joshua Roy

Very soon after his selection in the fifth round (150ᵉ overall) in 2021 by the Montreal Canadiens, Joshua Roy was categorized as having been one of the steals of the draft. He was simply dominant with the Sherbrooke Phoenix, and therefore, too strong for the QMJHL.

His performances in junior were very encouraging, and suggested he had great NHL potential with the Habs. Québécois fans were very excited about his arrival in the pros, and saw in him enough talent to one day potentially play on the second line.

Unfortunately, the rest is history: after doing well in his first NHL games, Roy had a job to lose this past season, and he lost it. He was very ordinary at practice in 2024, and failed to keep his NHL job, so Roy played mostly with the Laval Rocket last season, where he did well, but nothing more, with his 35 points, including 20 goals in 47 games.

Now, at 22 years of age, Roy no longer represents the top prospect we saw in him, and in a way, the disappointment he represents has been replaced by Zachary Bolduc.

[content-ads] Indeed, as our colleague Danny Potvin of Fanadiens.com explains in a very good article, Zachary Bolduc is quite the player we were expecting in Joshua Roy. At one point, we saw Roy as a potential second-line winger capable of producing 50-60 points, which is exactly what we’re expecting with Zachary Bolduc.

The difference is that Bolduc took his chance in the NHL and proved much more than Roy, so Bolduc’s arrival in Montreal indirectly demonstrates that Habs management gave up quite a bit on Joshua Roy. Because, in the end, the position Bolduc will occupy in Montreal next season represents the one Roy could/should have filled last season if he’d been able to perform and if he had a better work ethic.

And who knows, if Roy had been able to establish himself in the NHL, maybe the Habs wouldn’t have gone after Bolduc, and could have used Logan Mailloux in another deal, one to get a second center. Of course, that’s a lot of “what ifs”, but it’s interesting to note how things really could have been different if Joshua Roy had been able to seize his chance and not lost his position at camp last season.

It will now be much harder for Roy to ever establish himself in Montreal, as I don’t see him being useful in a supporting role on a fourth line. In short, it’s a shame, but that’s life. [spacer title=’Overtime’] – Wow!

– Indeed.

– What do you think?

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CF Montréal: Jules-Anthony Vilsaint traded to Toronto

As the MLS summer mercato drew to a close, my colleague Maxime Trumanhad already been sayingfor a few days that Montreal CF MUST move.Well, done and dusted, as Montreal CF moved this morning, but perhaps not in the way we expected. Montreal has just traded Québécois forward Jules-Anthony Vilsaint.

Vilsaint will head to Toronto FC (yes, yes, you heard me right), in return for 25-year-old English midfielder Matty Longstaff

[content-ads] Longstaff was trained at Newcastle United, a fairly prestigious English Premier League club in Europe.

In short, Montreal CF is unfortunately losing a Québécois forward who had enjoyed some good times with the team, even if his time in Montreal will have been mostly marked by injuries. Vilsaint wanted more playing minutes, but his profile no longer fitted head coach Marco Donadel’s system

Obviously, it’s a shame to lose a Québécois, but my colleague Maxime Truman has heard that the club is aware that several French-speaking players are leaving the team, and is therefore looking to acquire new ones. In short, we obviously wish Vilsaint the best in Toronto, and hope for his sake that it works out.

On the other hand, if it does, there will be a lot of people in Montreal who won’t be happy, including me. I liked Vilsaint’s profile, but you have to trust the club’s management, which isn’t always easy these days, especially this season.

[spacer title=’Prolongation’] With only nine days left in the MLS summer mercato, we can expect to see more movement from Montreal CF. It would surprise me enormously if this were the only trade made by the club. I’m expecting a few signings over the next nine days, especially to follow up on the rebuilding letter that CF Montreal has published in recent weeks.

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Habs’ top scorers since 2018: Nick Suzuki tops the charts with his assists alone

If there’s one thing that stands out in the legacy of former Habs general manager Marc Bergevin, it’s Nick Suzuki.The selections of Cole Caufield and Kaiden Guhle also stand out, but not as much.The deal that sent Max Pacioretty to the Vegas Golden Knights in return for Tomas Tatar, Nick Suzuki and a second-round pick is clearly the Habs’ most important transaction of the 2000s.

With this trade, the Canadiens have acquired their future number-one center, their future best leader and their future captain. Without Nick Suzuki, the Habs would be nothing, and would still be VERY far from becoming competitive again. Still not convinced of the importance of Marc Bergevin’s legacy?

The following statistic will certainly do the trick. Since 2018, that is, since that infamous transaction, Nick Suzuki has been the Montreal Canadiens’ top scorer, and he’d also be at the top if all his goals were taken away. With his 237 assists, the Habs’ captain is also the CH’s top scorer since 2018.

(Credit: NHL.com)

[content-ads] That’s a crazy stat, and it shows just how few standout players the Habs have had staying with the club since Max Pacioretty left. It’s also worth noting that, with his 375 points in 455 games, Suzuki is exactly 150 points ahead of his nearest pursuer, Brendan Gallagher.

Cole Caufield, however, will very soon be taking second place in this ranking, as he’s already 3rd on this list, despite only joining the Habs in 2021. To get back to Suzuki, what’s even crazier is that he didn’t play with the Habs in 2018-2019, when he was still in junior in the OHL.

Of course, in the future, Lane Hutson and Ivan Demidov may heat up the Habs captain for the title, but for now, there’s no doubt that Suzuki is the Habs’ best player, and has been for a few seasons now.

Without him, the Habs would still be trying to find their way out of the doldrums of the NHL. [spacer title=’En Rafale’] – To be continued.

– Such a shame

– Here are more details.

– Not to be missed!

– Incredible.

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Anthony Duclair: his attitude has changed and he’s ready to play again for Patrick Roy

Everyone remembers how, at the end of the 2024-2025 season, Patrick Roy had planted Québécois Anthony Duclair in front of the media, hadn’t he?The ebullient coach had said, after one game, that Duclair had been bad and that he could be lucky to simply have the chance to be in the line-up.

Duclair then left the Islanders’ entourage for the end of the season, which no longer meant anything in New York due to the fact that the club wasn’t going to make the playoffs. Duclair and Roy, who met with the Remparts in the QMJHL, obviously need to mend fences. Roy said this summer that he’d gone too far and wanted to apologize. Has this been done?Interestingly ,Roy gave an interview on The Big Ceaz Show podcast. We suspected he wasn’t going to leave the club forever, but seeing him looking forward shows he’s ready to turn the page and start playing again. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxixUCT_AF8 [content-ads]But as Agence QMI reported in a piece on the subject, Duclair’s interview didn’t mention his relationship with Roy. There are two possibilities as to why this wasn’t a topic on the podcast

  • The host forgot to mention it or chose not to.
  • The host was told not to talk about Patrick Roy.

Since I find it hard to believe that this isn’t the first question any host would want to ask him under the circumstances, I wonder what the relationship between the two men is like right now. What’s it going to be like this year? [spacer title=’en rafale’] –Wow.– Interesting.– News on the Ottawa arena project. [BPM Sports] – Nice.

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Senators on LeBreton Flats: not before 2035, says Ottawa journalist

Yesterday afternoon, the Senators signed an agreement to purchase 11 acres of land on LeBreton Flats. As my colleague Félix Forget said: this project is not for tomorrow. But today, we may have a better idea of the “when” of the moving date. According to Zakary Mercier of Ottawa’s Le Droit newspaper, it won’t be before 2035 – and

That would be a long time from now, then. In today’s Sick Podcast, Jimmy Murphy estimates the official move to be around 2030, him. Anyway, that’s a long time away, and whether it’s 2030 or 2035, the core of the team won’t be/is no longer in its prime…[content-ads] It’s not because the Sens want to stay in Kanata longer, but it’s because a move is complicated. Murphy explained that it takes two-three years just to detoxify the area and the wetlands on the huge lot. After that, there’s zoning, new arena design, soil decontamination, approvals, etc. If Mercier (Le Droit) is right, in 2035, Drake Batherson will be 37, team captain Brady Tkachuk will be 36, Dylan Cozens will be 34 and Tim Stutzle and Jake Sanderson will be 33. When the team moves, the next core is, to this day, still undrafted. Overtime] – Good.

– To be continued.

– The Canadiens aren’t one of those teams.

– Kyle Connor’s future in Winnipeg is unclear.

– Really?

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Samuel Montembeault was the Habs’ MVP last year, believes José Théodore

With Nick Suzuki’s and Lane Hutson’s seasons in particular, it’s hard to ignore them when you think of the Canadiens’ MVP last season. But Samuel Montembeault is often forgotten. According to José Théodore, who said earlier that he expects to see Jacob Fowler in Montreal fairly soon, believes that 35 was the MVP. Not Suzuki or Hutson. According to him, it was Monty.

There are many who have been very, very good, but, during the Canadiens’ slumps in November and January, among others, Samuel played a lot of consecutive games and was able to stop the bleeding quickly.

–

José Théodore

The Québécois had a whirlwind season. He posted a .902 save percentage and a 2.80 goals-against average. Even though he didn’t play, he won the gold medal and made history. Let’s see if he makes it to the Olympics now. He’ll be in a heated battle with Jordan Binnington, Adin Hill, Darcy Kuemper and Logan Thompson at the start of the season. According to Théo, Montembeault hasn’t reached his ceiling. The former Habs goaltender is very impressed by his progress and believes “he’s still capable of taking another step in his career”.

Last season was a huge one for him.

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Théodore

It’s true that 2024-2025 was a big season for him, and 2025-2026 should be even bigger. He’d better be ready. [spacer title=’Overtime’] – To be continued.

– À voir

– Oh yeah?

– Matthew Tkachuk could miss the start of next season.

– Heavy loss in Houston,

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Pierre McGuire expects the Canadiens to finish higher in the standings this season

The Canadiens surprised many by qualifying for the playoffs last season. With a few improvements over the summer, Montreal can hope to reach the playoffs again, but nothing is guaranteed. According to Pierre McGuire of the Sick Podcast, the Canadiens can expect a better season than last year.

With more than 91 points, the Canadiens could offer themselves a better playoff position than that of second-drafted team. McGuire is confident that, if the Canadiens’ players stay healthy, we should be in for a great season. Keeping Nick Suzuki healthy isn’t a problem. The problem is keeping players like Patrik Laine, Kaiden Guhle and Kirby Dach in the line-up, who are struggling to play a full season without injury. One of the interesting factors to note, according to McGuire, is the fact that there should be no trade for draft picks at the trade deadline. Keeping the same core all season will help Montreal. Kent Hughes won’t trade his players for picks, but we can expect him to move around a lot [content-ads]. At least, that’s McGuire’s viewpoint in his statement. He expects the Habs GM to work hard to improve the team over the course of the season, and he’s convinced that a second center will join the lineup over the course of the campaign. Even so, the Canadiens will have to be excellent against the teams in their division to earn a better spot. The Atlantic is much better than the Metropolitan, which means the Habs will have to work harder, best exemplified by last year’s Devils and Senators. Ottawa finished fourth in its division with 97 points, while the Devils were in the top-3 of their division with six points less in the standings. If all the stars align, Pierre McGuire could be right. For now, the Canadiens have the potential to have a better season than last year. spacer title=’Overtime’] – It’s a logical prediction:

– It’s a good start on the file.

– It’s a popular event.

– We’ll have a Québécois in action with Luguentz Dort.

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José Théodore expects to see Jacob Fowler in Montreal “fairly soon”

The Canadiens’ number-one goaltending position is all but assured for Samuel Montembeault, but we can expect a great battle for the number-two spot. Jakub Dobes will be looking to regain his position, while Kaapo Kahkonen will be looking to re-establish himself in the NHL after a stint in the AHL last season. Jacob Fowler is also being added to this race, as he impresses José Théodore.The former Canadiens goaltender explained to Invitation Serge Savard that he can’t wait to see the young Fowler in action at the Habs’ practice camp.

Normally, Fowler would play this first season with the Laval Rocket, but Theodore isn’t ruling him out of the competition for the second goaltending job in Montreal. Fowler will be competing with the other Habs goalies, but even if he does a little better than the others, a first season in the AHL wouldn’t hurt his development. He needs to play games to get better, not watch them on the bench. Even so, Theodore has high ambitions for the American goaltender. According to him, we can expect to see him playing in Montreal “quite soon”

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[content-ads] These are encouraging words for the young goaltender who played just 11 games with the Rocket in last season’s post-season and playoffs, but his stats proved that he already has a place in professional hockey. In his playoff debut, against the AHL’s top teams, he was able to maintain his goals-against average at 2.48 per game. His .902 save percentage wasn’t bad either! What Theodore appreciates most about Fowler is his mentality. In his opinion, it’s what makes the difference among NHL goaltenders. He had a chance to chat with Fowler for a while, and was really pleased with his trade for the Habs prospect. Fowler is currently in Montreal to practice for next season and to be ready for the Habs’ training camp.

– Roslovic still hasn’t found his new destination.

– Wow.

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Jeffrey Viel: “The pressure of Montreal is going to be okay for Noah Dobson”

What I’m about to say is far from a lie, but playing in Montreal is different. There are cameras everywhere, every player’s performance gets attention… and that’s not new either.Why? Because hockey is a passion in the city, so it’s natural to wonder how a player will respond when he arrives here. I say all this because this summer, the Canadiens acquired Noah Dobson. Again, market pressure can have an impact on a player’s success. But in the eyes of Jeffrey Viel, who played with Dobson in the QMJHL, it’s pretty clear: Dobson won’t have too much trouble acclimatizing to his new environment. And Viel says this(on the Unrestricted podcast) for a specific reason:

The pressure of Montreal is going to be okay for him. When I played with him, he was only 17 and already mature. He’s that kind of guy.

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Jeffrey Viel

TVA Sports wrote on the subject:

[content-ads] The comment is interesting. Especially in view of the fact that Viel played with Dobson… when the latter was very young.

But we know that Dobson – on the ice – has what it takes to become one of Montreal’s key players. Of course, pressure can affect a player… especially when he doesn’t give his all on the ice or if his performance is unsatisfactory. That said, we saw Dobson collect 70 points with the Islanders in the 23-24 season. It hasn’t been 10 years, we agree… and what I mean by that is that Canadiens fans will appreciate him if he’s able to enjoy as much success offensively in Montreal. When a player meets expectations, there’s a little less pressure. Dobson knows what he has to do to avoid it, and… by being well surrounded, he has the tools around him to be one of the most important players in Montreal. [spacer title=’Overtime’] – How many is Cole scoring this season?

– Sick.

– Nice!