Author: Dose

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Québécois: Caleb Desnoyers would give “a little more” if he played for the Canadiens

At the beginning of the year, we said that Caleb Desnoyers was a logical target for the Habs at the draft. And the Canadiens have always been interested in the young man, as you know if you read this.

But in the end, the more time passes, the less logical it becomes to believe in Desnoyers in Montreal.

Why is that? Because the young man and the Canadiens have been better than expected this year. As a result, the Québécois has moved up the lists and the Habs will draft him later than expected.

But does this prevent the Habs from taking an interest in the man who has been Québécois’ best prospect for years? No.

The Moncton Wildcats product, who is very solid in interviews according to Nicolas Cloutier, is entitled to a meeting this week with the Canadiens in Buffalo, but this has also often been the case during the season, when members of the Habs go to see him play.

Prior to today’s meeting with the Habs, Desnoyers chatted with TVA Sports. And on this subject, the Québécois gave Anthony Martineau quite an answer when asked by the journalist why the Habs should choose him.

Basically, he said that the pride of playing for your local club means you can give “a little more” on the ice. That’ll please those who say it takes more Québécois in Montreal to win, anyway.

And he didn’t stop there.

The Québécois, who learned from his tougher Memorial Cup tournament, said he could see himself playing with Ivan Demidov. With what Desnoyers can do and with what the Russian can do, the prospect for the next draft believes that any winger would deliver with them.

Clearly, the center forward is confident in his abilities.

Remember, the Habs would have to give the moon to go up to draft him since the prospect has a chance of coming out in the top-5. It’s not likely to happen… even if he would undoubtedly solve the second center’s long-term problems.

overtime

– What do you think?

– Speaking of the draft.

– Coming up.

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Ivan Demidov to play hockey in Montreal (LSHL) this summer

Ivan Demidov, barring a major surprise, will be lining up with the Montreal Canadiens in 2025-2026.

You can tell he’s ready to make the effort to be ready for the rigors of his first full NHL season. After all, as you know, he’ll be spending the summer in Montreal.

This will allow him to train properly.

And to do so, he’ll be practicing with several other players who will be spending the summer in Montreal. I say this because Zach Fucale, who’s in charge of the LSHL summer league, confirmed yesterday on the La Poche Bleue Blanc Rouge podcast that the Russian will be making his rounds this summer.

That doesn’t mean he’ll be there every Tuesday night, but he’ll be playing in the three-on-three league against other NHL players.

It’ll be interesting to see Demidov play three-on-three. After all, with his talent, he’ll have plenty of room to dance around the rink, which is still interesting.

It’s a good decision on his part, since being able to play against NHL guys will be interesting.

You may know that this league, which has existed for years during the summer, is open to the public. For $12.50, you can watch women’s (Mondays) and men’s (Tuesdays) games featuring the world’s best players.

Not bad, though.

Athletes get fit, have fun and raise money for the Canadian Pancreatic Cancer Foundation. Event details are available here, for those interested.

So it’s safe to say that the LSHL will do what the SKA (KHL) can’t: attract it to their league. Because yes, SKA wants him back in 2025-2026… but that’s not going to happen.

Over the years, many Canadiens players and Québécois stars have taken to the ice in the summer league. Juraj Slafkovsky was one of them, in 2022.

And this year, maybe Patrik Laine, who spends a good part of his summer in town with his fiancée, will play too.

overtime

– Read more.

– What do you think?

– To watch tonight.

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SKA coach wants to bring Ivan Demidov back to Russia in 2025-2026

You know as well as I do what a strange season Ivan Demidov has had in the KHL.

Even though he was his team’s leading scorer at such a young age (he’s currently 19), his playing time was… limited. Roman Rotenberg always made sure to “break” him by limiting his playing time.

This enraged Habs fans, of course.

Nevertheless, at the end of the season, SKA agreed to let Demidov finish his NHL year. Once the SKA was eliminated, the Russian came to play seven games, including five in the playoffs, in the NHL.

That got a lot of people talking.

Now that Demidov is officially under contract with the Canadiens (his entry-level contract was signed two months ago), the club no longer has to worry about what might happen in Russia. Especially as the kid is spending the summer here…

But the fact remains that, according to Daria Tuboltseva, who works for RG media, the SKA coach would love to see the Canadiens loan Demidov back to his Russian club in 2025-2026. “You lose nothing by trying” is the coach ‘s mentality, and he’s preaching to the choir.

It’s worth mentioning that Rotenberg is no longer at the SKA helm. Now it’s Igor Larionov, no stranger to KHL coaching and a three-time Stanley Cup winner as a Red Wings player, who is in place.

You’d think the situation would be different if Demidov went. But that’s not going to happen… even if Larionov would find it “phenomenal” to be able to count on the young man.

Demidov’s contract expired on June 1 and he is under contract here. So, technically speaking, this would be a loan deal if it were to happen in the next few months.

But don’t hold your breath: there’s no chance of that happening. The clubs that have Matvei Michkov and Ivan Demidov are doing everything to get them out of there, not the other way round.

overtime

– Well done.

– Interesting.

– What do you think?

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Calder: if Lane Hutson won, the way he reacted surprised the NHL

By next Thursday, we’ll know whether Lane Hutson has won the Calder Trophy, awarded to the NHL’s top rookie. Remember that this year, the league is announcing the recipients of individual honors in a different way: it is publishing videos in which the trophies are presented to the players.

This morning, Sean Monahan was presented with the Bill Masterton Trophy by Johnny Gaudreau’s widow.

And of course, the video of the day was quite touching. Monahan was moved and couldn’t hold back a few tears, and the people who watched it were moved in turn. For the league, which wanted a good reaction, it was a winning bet.

But on today’s episode of the 32 Thoughts Podcast, Elliotte Friedman and Kyle Bukauskas chatted to Steve Mayer, the NHL’s head of content, and Friedman asked Mayer which reaction was the best in the recorded videos… and his answer was interesting:

The Masterton reaction is really good. The reaction to the Calder was different from what we expected, and it was really good. – Steve Mayer

All this is interesting in that Lane Hutson is the favorite to win the trophy. The question is, did he have the reaction? And if so, what did it look like?

It also means that if Hutson won the Calder, he knows about it by now.

Mayer notes that both the Calder and Masterton reactions were full of emotion, and it will be interesting to see what the Calder winner’s will be like.

Because this morning’s was quite something.

The good news is that we’re now less than a week away from finding out whether Hutson will become the first Habs player since Ken Dryden to win the Calder Trophy.

And, by the same token, whether he’s the one who had the reaction that surprised the NHL.

Overtime

– David Reinbacher is happy to have spent part of the year with the Habs.

– The Stars would like to keep Mikael Granlund.

– K’Andre Miller is on the market.

– Zach Fucale stays in Russia.

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“If Lane Hutson gets offered Jake Sanderson’s contract, maybe he’d be interested.”

Lane Hutson had an exceptional 2024-25 season. The habs’ diminutive defenseman, who collected 66 points this season (and added five more in the playoffs), is the favorite to win the Calder Trophy, which will be awarded next week.

Hutson, Macklin Celebrini and Dustin Wolf are the three finalists.

But that’s not the only big event we’ll be following in connection with Hutson over the next month. It should be remembered that the defenseman, who is still under contract (at less than $1 million) for 2025-26, will be able to sign a contract extension as early as July 1.

The popular feeling right now is that we shouldn’t necessarily expect him to sign such a pact this summer. After all, it’s in both the player’s and the team’s interest to be patient in this matter… but there’s also a world in which Hutson wants to sign long-term this summer to get it over with, even if he wouldn’t be maximizing his value that way.

On a recent episode of The Chris Johnston Show, Johnston discussed the defender’s case… and said this:

If Hutson is offered the same contract as Jake Sanderson, maybe he’ll be interested. – Chris Johnston

For those less familiar with Sanderson’s pact, the defenseman has just completed the first year of an eight-year deal that pays him… $8.05 million a year.

And we all agree that a contract like that would please quite a few people in Montreal, especially with the cap set to skyrocket over the next few years.

Johnston later reminded us, however, that the defenseman also needs to be patient if he wants to fetch $10 million or more per year, and he also mentioned the idea of a transition contract. Now, if he’s open to signing for $8 million a year (or, for the sake of the exercise, a little more than that, given the rising salary cap), the Habs would be well advised to settle this matter quickly.

It would secure the services of one of the NHL’s best offensive defensemen for the next nine years (the last year of his entry-level contract and the eight years of the big contract) at a salary not too far off Nick Suzuki’s… and with the cap quickly topping $100 million, Hutson would cost less than 10% of the team’s payroll.

He’d still have to be interested… but that’s up to Kent Hughes and Jeff Gorton to sit down with him and sell the idea.

Overtime

– Matthew Schaefer is in demand at the Combine.

– The Québécois open up before the NBA Finals.

– Yankees star nears a return.

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“If I’m an American with money, I’m interested in bringing a team to Quebec City

The subject of the Nordiques’ return has been the talk of the town for years. There are quite a few people who would like to see a second team in the province… but at the moment, the project is making no headway.

There have been meetings between the Québécois government and the NHL, but we’re a long way from an agreement.

And this morning, the subject came up in Renaud Lavoie’s column on BPM Sports. The tipster noted that the whole thing is at a standstill because, at the moment, no one is stepping forward to bring a team back to town.

And that’s when Anthony Desaulniers, part of the morning team at BPM Sports, asked himself this question:

Does it have to be a Québécois [to bring back the Nordiques]? – Anthony Desaulniers

What Desaulniers notes is that the Quebec City market comes with advantages that other markets don’t have: a fan base already established and an arena already built. Already, there’s a good basis for attracting interest… and of course, it’s hard not to think of George Gillette.

There’s a reason he came to the Canadiens: he saw what a solid base he had.

That said, there are a few obstacles: someone south of the border who has a ton of money and wants to invest in an NHL team might want a team closer to home, and we know that right now, the relationship between Canada and the United States isn’t exactly rosy.

There are advantages, but there are also risks.

On the other hand, considering how quiet this project is at the moment, we have to ask ourselves whether this is perhaps the best chance of seeing the Nordiques return. Pierre Karl Péladeau, who worked hard on this project, no longer wants to be the main owner of a team in Quebec City (even if he wants to be part of a consortium if such a team ever arrives), and perhaps the big investor could come from south of the border.

In the current context, I wonder if that would be well received, though. But that’s a question for another day.

Overtime

– In addition to the casino question, the Habs are also cooking up prospects on ship and submarine issues at the Combine.

– It starts any minute now, for those interested.

– I love this.

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If Mike Matheson wants to stay in Montreal, he’ll have to leave money on the table

Last night, we learned that Mike Matheson met with Kent Hughes and Jeff Gorton in Buffalo. The two executives, who are there for the Combine, chatted to Matheson, who has family in the area… and the subject of his contract obviously came up.

Without getting into any real negotiations (Matheson’s agent wasn’t there), they still chatted for 90 minutes, and what’s clear is that Matheson wants to stay in town.

That said, Matheson is a rather special case. He’s one of the few veterans on the blue line in Montreal, and the club can’t really afford to part with him right now… but they’ve got a lot of young defensemen on the rise, so signing him long-term could lock up some of those youngsters.

And when you factor in the fact that left-handers Lane Hutson and Kaiden Guhle are in town to stay, you come to the following conclusion: if Matheson wants to stay in Montreal, he won’t have much choice but to leave money on the table.

Because he won’t be able to break the bank in Montreal.

Another team, with a more pressing need for a top-4 left-handed defenseman, would be much better off giving Matheson a lucrative contract, as he’s an extremely useful guy for a team. He’s not perfect, but you can do a lot worse than him on a top-4.

He eats up big minutes, he accepts the role he’s given and he’s capable of helping out on both the powerplay and the shorthanded. He’s the kind of player who can help any club.

But in Montreal, the presence of Hutson and Guhle means that Matheson is a bit too much. But there’s one thing that could help Matheson make a big splash with the Habs: these two guys have shown they can be effective on the right.

It’s not ideal, but if the Habs want to keep Matheson for a few more years, there’s a way to get them all playing on the top-4. But then again, the Habs won’t be desperate to offer Matheson a big contract: packing one of the two youngsters on the right is a way of accommodating the veteran, not the club’s primary objective.

In a world where Matheson really wants to stay in Montreal, he’d better be prepared to accept a contract that may be a little shorter and that will earn him less money than he could get on the open market. We know he’s happy to be close to home, and we’ll see what price he puts on that.

Especially as, in his case, signing this summer isn’t really advantageous given that he’s just experienced a big drop in production. Waiting until next summer increases his chances of getting a good contract… but he’s not going to break the bank in Montreal, because the Habs aren’t the team that needs him most.

Overtime

– The Rocket thanks its fans.

– NBA contracts are another game.

– What do you think?

– Too bad.

– The club completely dropped it late in the game… and it turns to an old face.

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Justin Poirier heads to the NCAA because the Hurricanes don’t believe in the QMJHL

Last week, we learned that Justin Poirier was leaving the QMJHL.

The little forward, drafted by the Hurricanes, has decided to join the University of Maine to continue his development.

And let’s just say… the Canes had their say in the matter.

Why do I say that?

Because, according to TVA Sports, the Hurricanes wanted Poirier to make the jump to the NCAA because they don’t believe in the QMJHL.

Wow.

The Hurricanes see the NCAA as a better development league than the QMJHL… and that’s why they “strongly” recommended Poirier make the jump to the American college circuit.

Still, it’s special.

It’s still special, but it’s yet more proof that the CHL is a bit frowned upon by some professional organizations.

And speaking of the CHL… we know it’s ultra-tough right now. The league’s top prospects are leaving, one by one, to join the NCAA… and that’s hurting junior hockey in this country.

Cayden Lindstrom will officially join Michigan State University for next season. He too is a big name…

I can’t wait to see what happens with Lindstrom. After all, he missed the whole of last regular season and needs to play to progress…

But at the same time, it’s true that players can develop better in the NCAA.

The guys are older… and there’s going to be a better caliber with all these quality prospects leaving for the States.

It’s getting dangerous for the CHL.

Especially when an NHL club speaks ill of the QMJHL and the quality of the circuit for the development of one of its prospects…

Overtime

– Game 1 was really sick.

– Pride of place!

– News in MLB.

– Oh.

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Justin Carbonneau: His name is becoming popular with some top-10 teams

Justin Carbonneau is considered one of the NHL’s top prospects.

His name is likely to come up fairly quickly in the next draft, because he has some really interesting potential.

In fact, the kid is currently winning over some teams.

That’s what Anthony Martineau, who attends the NHL combine, reported on Twitter.

According to the TVA Sports journalist, Carbonneau’s popularity is growing among the league’s clubs… to the point where some top-10 teams are considering him as a potential target.

To see two Québécois emerge in the top-10 – because chances are Desnoyers will too – would be quite something :

Interviews at the combine are proving to be a great opportunity for youngsters to impress teams.

And obviously, that’s what’s happening right now with Justin Carbonneau.

It’s interesting becausewe’ve heard a few things about his attitude.

Clearly, the various NHL clubs don’t really seem to care about all this… and if Carbonneau plays his cards right, maybe he really could be selected in the top-10, because we also know that talent comes out of both his ears.

He has 89 points – 46 goals – in 62 games this season with the Armada… which is excellent.

But let’s not forget that there’s a possibility of him leaving the QMJHL to play in the NCAA. And you really have to wonder whether this has a positive impact on the teams in the top-10… although it probably does.

All in all, knowing that he’s becoming even more popular right now, just a few weeks before the draft, is a good sign for him.

Overtime

– Logical.

– Of note :

– Bravo!

– Really?

– Wow.

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Several teams (a dozen) are looking for a 2nd line center

Kent Hughes has a plan in mind for the Canadiens to improve.

He wants to find a quality player who can play in the top-6 – mainly at center.

Because right now, behind Nick Suzuki, it’s pretty thin. And there’s also the matter of surrounding Ivan Demidov properly, which weighs in the balance.

But as Marc Antoine Godin stated in a recent article(Radio-Canada), it’s not going to be easy.

The reason is simple: right now, it’s not just the Habs who are hoping to get their hands on a second center this summer.

There are several other clubs with the same mission as the Canadiens… and that, ultimately, could put a spanner in the works for Kent Hughes.

There’s the Habs, there’s the Flyers, and there are at least a dozen other teams on a similar quest. – Marc Antoine Godin

If the Canadiens’ GM can’t get what he wants, I still expect him to make a move to acquire a top-6 player who can contribute offensively.

Acquiring a quality winger wouldn’t hurt either.

But if that happens, we’ll still need a player to fill the second center’s chair.

Does a guy like Kirby Dach – who’s had his chance in the past and had a tough last season – have what it takes to help the Habs at this level?

We know he’s talented. But we also know that he’s (still) coming back from a major injury and that it might not be ideal to put him at the center of a 2nd line…

At the Canadiens’ end-of-season review, Jeff Gorton said there was still a place for Kirby in Martin St-Louis’ lineup.

But… let alone a last chance, it’s clear that Gorton and other Habs executives want to see more from him. Dach needs to have a good practice camp to get the season off to a good start, and if that happens, maybe his place at second-unit center would make more sense.

That’s a lot of “ifs”, we agree. That said, it all depends on how aggressive Kent Hughes is on the market, even though we know he’s not going to give a meaningless contract to a free agent.

I have the impression that to improve this position, we’ll have to go through the transaction market… Because the Canadiens have what it takes to make a quality offer for a good player.

Overtime

– Good point.

– I’d love it if he won the Stanley Cup!

– The NHL is on the move.