Author: Dose

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Pagnotta: “Savard and Evans will be at the top of some teams’ lists”

MONTREAL, CANADA - DECEMBER 13: David Savard #58 talks with Jake Evans #71 of the Montreal Canadiens during the first period of the NHL regular season game between the Montreal Canadiens and the Pittsburgh Penguins at the Bell Centre on December 13, 2023 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. (Photo by Arianne Bergeron/NHLI via Getty Images)

The trade deadline isn’t tomorrow or next week.

But with the Canadiens off to a great start, some are already thinking about which Habs players could be traded between now and March 7.

In particular, David Pagnotta has named four guys who should be of interest to other NHL teams in the coming months.

In a video clip, the informant mentions Christian Dvorak, Joel Armia, David Savard and Jake Evans.

Ultimately, it makes sense because these players are in the final year of their contracts. They’ll be free as a bird on July 1.

But where it gets interesting is when Pagnotta says he thinks Savard and Evans are going to be at the top of some teams’ lists.

Both guys have nice value… And Pagnotta doesn’t rule out the possibility of Kent Hughes getting his hands on a first-round pick for the defenseman if the Habs GM ever decides to trade him :

On the other hand, you have to understand that things have time to change.

The Canadiens-although it would be surprising-could start stringing together wins, and if that happens, the chances of Kent Hughes moving to trade one of his top players will be slim.

Because let’s remember one thing: management’s goal is to be in the mix until the end to see if the club progresses. Trading Savard or Evans is a bit of a distortion of that plan.

But just knowing that these two players could be important pieces on the market in the eyes of certain clubs opens doors for Kent Hughes, because it would mean that teams would be ready to pay the big price.

We know that the Montreal GM isn’t going to give his players away for free… But if the price is excellent, maybe he’ll be tempted to let one of his big pieces leave by way of a transaction.

We’ll have to wait and see.

Overtime

– Max Jones is on waivers.

– Max Domi finds himself on the Leafs’ first line.

– Bizarre!

– All the better.

– Huge acquisition for the Commanders.

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Canucks join the list of clubs looking for a defenseman

MONTREAL, QUEBEC - JULY 08: (L-R) General manager Patrik Allvin and President of hockey operations Jim Rutherford of the Vancouver Canucks look on during the 2022 Upper Deck NHL Draft at Bell Centre on July 08, 2022 in Montreal, Quebec. (Photo by Jeff Vinnick/NHLI via Getty Images)

It’s been just under a month since the NHL season began, and already, there are clubs with specific needs.

It’s rare to see this at this time of year, usually because it’s harder for teams to make moves, but it’s obviously different this season.

The Canadiens and Islanders are among the teams looking to acquire a defenseman, and we can also add the Canucks to that list.

Elliotte Friedman’s information was shared by Rick Dhaliwal, who covers Canucks activities for The Athletic.

That said, Jim Rutherford, president of hockey operations in Vancouver, is hard at work right now seeing what’s available on the market.

The Canucks are one of the best defensive teams in the NHL, but management still wants to improve in that area because they feel it’s time to make a big push.

The club’s window is open and they want to take advantage of it:

The Canucks, the Canadiens, the Islanders…

There are teams lining up right now to get their hands on a defenseman, and it makes me think Kent Hughes will pass.

Why do I say that?

Because, knowing that there aren’t many defensemen available at this point in the season, the team that’s willing to lose one of its defensemen is going to want to create a bidding war.

And if there’s a bidding war, I think Kent Hughes will withdraw from the race because we know he’s not ready to pay the big price and sacrifice elements to help his club now.

It’s just not part of his plan.

Things are different for the Canucks and the Islanders because there are specific expectations for both clubs: both New York and Vancouver want to be in the playoffs.

That means these clubs will be more aggressive on the market… And it means they’ll be willing to pay the price to improve immediately, unlike the Canadiens.

Overtime

– He’s reshaped his game.

– He’s back!

– Good news.

– He’s right.

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Kirby Dach’s mother moved in with him to help with his rehabilitation.

When Kirby Dach was injured in the second game of the 23-24 season, we all said the same thing.

“Poor guy…”

After all, Dach has been battling injuries since the very beginning of his National League career. And in the context of how dominant he looked at practice camp last year, the timing of the injury was even less ideal.

But Kirby was able to rise to the challenge and is back healthy today after a long period of rehabilitation.

In an interview with Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, he explains that he was able to count on the support of his mother, who came to help him do things while he was having difficulty walking.

She came from Alberta to take care of me. She cooked me homemade meals, which is always good. – Kirby Dach

His father also came to help him after his operation, and he says he’s grateful to have had that chance, because his family is important to him.

The interview I’m talking about can be found right here:

It reminds me a little of Lane Hutson’s situation.

The little defenseman isn’t injured, but his mother lives with him in Montreal while he’s in his first year with the pros.

A mother’s support is indispensable… And the players take advantage of it as much as possible.

It’s a good thing.

In the LDT interview, Dach also says that it was when he arrived in Montreal that he rediscovered his love for the game. He felt like giving up sometimes in Chicago because the Hawks didn’t put him in a situation where he could be successful, and he was happy to have the opportunity to play in a big market like the Canadiens.

In closing, I really recommend listening to the video of the discussion between Kirby Dach and Laurent Duvernay-Tardif.

It’s a great way to learn more about the Canadiens player who’s having his beard trimmed… and it’s refreshing!

Overtime

– Good words for Max Domi.

– Lane Hutson is my pick.

– I love the irony of this tweet.

– Logical.

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Arber Xhekaj is signing many cards… from Costco!

Will Arber Xhekaj get the chance to play with his brother Florian? I hope so, at least during the preparatory schedule.

Arber Xhekaj’s reputation is well established.

Canadiens fans have fallen in love with him because of his style of play… But also because of his story.

After all, when it was revealed that he was working at Costco before starting his career in the NHL so he could pay for ice time to practice during the pandemic, a lot of ink was spilled.

Since then, whenever Xhekaj is mentioned, many make Costco connections, which is to be expected.

That said, hearing Arber Xhekaj say that he’s already signed a lot of Costco membership cards since his NHL debut is really funny.

And no, it’s not a joke:

During a signing session over the weekend, HFTV’s Cédrik Séguin tried to play a joke on him by asking him to sign his Costco card.

That’s when Arber told him he’s already used to being asked that question.

Arber’s little brother, Florian, says he’s already been asked to sign a supporter’s forehead… with a permanent sharpie.

He hesitated at first, but the child’s parents gave him the go-ahead.

All this to say that the two Xhekaj brothers are gaining in popularity in Montreal, and fan requests for autographs are a little bizarre.

That said, these requests will continue to get weirder if the brothers stay in town for long and are able to establish themselves as impact players with the club.

Overtime

– Good news.

– To be continued…

– That goes without saying.

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NHL 25: Martin St-Louis’ character is a dud

I don’t know what EA Sports has against the Canadiens, but it seems to me that the company doesn’t like the club very much.

Why do I say that?

Because before the season, EA unveiled its players, and let’s just say they didn’t do a particularly good job with Nick Suzuki’s character.

A few days ago, the game confirmed the addition of head coaches in NHL 25.

Of the other three major sports, NHL was the only one with random coaches. There was, of course, the New England Patriots while Bill Bellichick was at the helm of the Pats, but oh well.

So it’s a big step forward for the video game, but unfortunately, he missed it with the graphics. Martin St-Louis looks pretty weird.

Far from a masterpiece, let’s say…

His face as a player in NHL 09 was better done.

But he’s far from the worst.

Indeed, that title goes to John Tortorella, who looks more like Colonel Sanders than John Tortorella…

Overtime

– Surprising though.

– Oh no?

– Jonathan Huberdeau isn’t the same player he was in Florida. [JdM]

– Good news.

– To listen.

– Auston Matthews’ absence doesn’t affect him.

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“Kirby Dach is no Sean Monahan”.

Sean Monahan is off to an excellent start in Columbus.

He has 11 points in 11 games and is one of the main contributors to the Jackets’ success. He’s clearly playing in honour of his good friend Johnny Gaudreau.

Meanwhile, things aren’t going so well in Montreal, and the team could really use a guy like Sean Monahan. Too bad they traded him last year…

In return for Monahan, Montreal still acquired the pick that drafted Michael Hage, a prospect with whom fans fell in love pretty quickly.

But Mony could help the Canadiens right now. And according to Renaud Lavoie, “Kirby Dach is no Monahan”.

It’s a comment that speaks volumes, all the same. After all, people have high expectations of Dach, and even though he’s coming back from a major injury, he’s not playing like the Jackets’ protégé.

The record with and without Monahan shows just how much Martin St-Louis’s team is missing his services. As the TVA Sports reporter pointed out, in 45 games without the center’s services, they’ve won just 14.

Montreal may not have a Monahan in its line-up right now (no, Christian Dvorak isn’t), but that’s not necessarily a problem right now. I liked him in Montreal, but Kent Hughes would never have signed him for five years. The team is still rebuilding and isn’t ready to win yet. I don’t think it would have been smart to increase the payroll for five years.

In Monahan’s case, Lavoie reminds us that he wasn’t just good offensively, but could do a lot more than just collect points.

It wasn’t just his offensive game that was interesting, his defensive game was too. He took important face-offs in both the offensive and defensive zones, and there was also his leadership. – Renaud Lavoie

That’s what’s missing from the Habs right now.

At least we have Michael Hage for the future, and maybe if we kept Mony, the Habs wouldn’t have drafted prodigy Ivan Demdiov.

Overtime

– Oliver Kapanen and David Reinbacher spend a lot of time together.

– Of note.

– Weird sequence.

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Jean Perron expects Martin St-Louis to resign before Christmas

When things aren’t going well for the Canadiens, many fans and public figures take the liberty of strongly criticizing everything that’s going on in the organization. After the Canadiens’ poor start to the season, it’s now Martin St-Louis who’s getting all the negative attention.

Appearing on Radio X on Monday, former Canadiens head coach Jean Perron had a few words to say about St-Louis.

Perron had to decide whether Patrick Roy or Martin St-Louis would lose his job first. His immediate answer was St-Louis, without hesitation, but he believes that the Canadiens’ head coach will not be fired.

He thinks St-Louis will resign by Christmas.

He’s convinced that St-Louis will tell Kent Hughes that Pascal Vincent would do a better job than him and that he’ll leave. We agree that would be surprising.

Listening to Perron, you’d think St-Louis was the worst head coach in NHL history. It’s one criticism after another.

Perron believes that the Canadiens are far from heading for the mix, but rather that the team is headed for the NHL’s four worst teams. However, he didn’t mention whether he thinks this is just for this season, or whether he believes this is a situation the Habs will find themselves in for a long time to come.

According to the former coach, St-Louis’s idea of punitive practice wasn’t a good one. “In his day, he made his players do two practices a day to punish them.

However, Perron is not alone in believing that Martin St-Louis may soon resign. Towards the end of October, Jean-Charles Lajoie also expressed the idea that the Canadiens’ head coach might resign.

Except that according to JiC, St-Louis would resign because Kent Hughes and Jeff Gorton wouldn’t fire him. Now that’s something Perron didn’t address when talking about the Canadiens’ head coach.

Another point to address is the fact that Perron thinks St-Louis should punish big players who perform poorly.

A struggling Kirby Dach, even if he’s coming back from injury, might get the message with a few sanctions, for example.

Despite all this negative attention, let’s not forget what Elliotte Friedman explained in the last episode of his 32 Thoughts podcast. According to him, St-Louis is a combative person who performs extremely well when faced with combativeness.

It remains to be seen who will be right, but St-Louis does need to make some changes to get the Canadiens back on track.

Overtime

– Right now, yes.

– We need to find a way to better train young people here.

– Good news for BPM Sports.

– It’s an idea.

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David Pastrnak benched for third period

A fine evening of hockey last Sunday.

14 teams were in action.

Here are the highlights and results:

1. David Pastrnak benched in third

The Bruins defeated the Kraken 2-0 last night.

A happy evening for all Bruins players, then? Not for David Pastrnak. For reasons unknown (Jim Montgomery was very vague in his post-game comments), Pasta was benched in the third period.

Is it for that missed zone entry early in the game?

Did he arrive late for a meeting or practice this week?

The Czech still finished the game with seven shots on goal and 14:21 of playing time.

No points, however.

In the win, Jeremy Swayman recorded a 23-save shutout.

It’s a second consecutive shutout for Boston.

2. Fourth straight game with a goal for Alexander Ovechkin

Alex Ovechkin’s net alert!

The Russian scored in a fourth consecutive game yesterday for his seventh goal of the season, his 860th career goal.

He’s now just 34 goals away from catching Wayne Gretzky and 35 away from surpassing him.

Ovi is on track to score 52 goals this season.

I was one of those who didn’t believe who was going to break the record this season, but I have to admit, he’s well on his way. It will be an incredible moment when he scores his 895th career goal.

Despite the captain’s brilliance, the Caps lost to a team on fire. The Hurricanes, with a 4-2 victory, have won their last six games.

3. 12 straight one-point games for Kyle Connor

In 12 games this season, the Winnipeg Jets have lost just once.

Yesterday, they won again, this time by a score of 7-4 against the Lightning.

In the win, Kyle Connor picked up another point to extend his streak of games with at least one point to 12. He is four games away from breaking Patrik Laine’s record.

Connor isn’t the only one having a good season.

With 17 points in 12 games, Nikolaj Ehlers is playing very well. Yesterday, he became the Dane with the most points in NHL history.

Winnipeg is on a pretty exceptional roll… even if a goal that should never have been accepted was. And Jets fans were angry.

4. Goalkeepers headline in New York

Yesterday afternoon (1pm), the two New York teams faced off at Madison Square Garden.

In the end, it was the Rangers who came out on top, 5-2.

Both goalkeepers shone in this match. First, Ilya Sorokin made a great save in the first period.

Then, Anders Lee was robbed of a goal by Igor Shesterkin.

What a save!

Shesterkin finally finished the match with 35 saves.

In the win, Vincent Trocheck scored the 200th goal of his career.

5. Oilers win the battle of Alberta

Late in the evening, the Oilers and Flames faced off in the ever-popular Battle of Alberta.

In the end, it was the Oilers who came out on top, 4-2.

Calgary is now 1-5-0 in its last six games. Good for the Habs!

Calgary threatened in the dying moments of the game, but Edmonton took advantage of a deserted cage to nail their opponents’ coffin shut.

The match had started very well for the visitors.

As early as the 20th second, Leon Draisaitl broke the ice.

Midway through the third period, Zach Hyman scored the winning goal.

His second of the season. He scored 54 the previous year.

Extension

– That’s what I call going for the net.

– Jack Edwards honored.

– PLD and Dmitry Orlov have had it out for each other.

– Victory for the Wild.

– Strong games for four forwards.

(Credit: NHL.com )

– Two games on the bill tonight.

(Credit: Google)

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It’s worrying to hear that there seems to be a lack of understanding of the system by the Habs player

In Montreal, things aren’t going well for the Canadiens.

But in Laval, just the opposite is true: the Rocket has dominated since the start of the season, winning eight of its first nine games.

How do you explain this? Vincent Demuy, the Rocket’s game analyst (BPM Sports), may have put his finger on the problem…

Demuy was on the Montreal sports station this morning to talk about the Rocket’s weekend, and he shared an interesting observation.

His impression, lately, is that the players who have been demoted to Laval since the start of the season have arrived downstairs a bit mixed up.

There seems to be a lack of understanding of the system at the Canadiens… But that’s not the case at the Rocket:

On the bright side, it allows the young players to swim like fish in water in Laval.

They feel comfortable with the system and with the coach’s strategies (which are the same as in Montreal, according to Pascal Vincent) and it shows in the club’s results.

But on the other hand… Hearing this is worrying when you think about what’s going on with the Habs.

If the guys can’t understand what Martin St-Louis wants, it’s not going to work on the ice. Or maybe some of the Habs players just aren’t interested in applying said system… But if that’s the case, there’s a real problem with the way the guys upstairs are taught.

After all, everyone has to be on the same page to move forward, and clearly, that’s not the case right now.

Then again, it’s illogical that Mailloux is talking about a different system in Laval, while the Rocket coach is saying it’s the same as in Montreal.

And that’s a clear indication of confusion between what’s taught in Laval and what’s taught in Montreal.

While we’re on the subject of the Rocket…

The Habs need to score more goals, and in Laval, there’s one guy in particular who’s been rolling well lately: Joshua Roy.

The Québécois scored a hat trick over the weekend and now has 10 points in nine games this season with the Rocket.

For Tony Marinaro, it’s simple…

Roy deserves the chance to be recalled because he could help the Habs on the club’s top-6 :

It’s true that Joshua Roy is racking up points at an interesting pace, and that it comes at an interesting time when you look at what’s going on with the Canadiens.

But ultimately, even if the Habs call him back, it’s not going to change the way players understand Martin St-Louis’ system.

That’s the biggest problem… and it needs to be corrected quickly, or the Habs will continue to regress.

Overtime

– Nice.

– Back already?

– Good news for the Avalanche.

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Friedman: “Martin St-Louis is more motivated when there are doubts about him”.

The honeymoon between fans and Martin St-Louis is over.

The Habs head coach is at the heart of a lot of criticism at the moment, because his club is struggling on the ice.

And what’s happening is that there are starting to be a lot of doubts about him, since he doesn’t have much experience behind the bench of a National League club.

But according to Elliotte Friedman, the fact that there are doubts about the coach right now may not be a bad thing.

The tipster explains in the recent episode of his podcast that St-Louis is more motivated when people doubt him, and that this could help him find solutions to remedy the situation.

When people question him, he never forgets it. I think he’ll be even more determined to find solutions to help his club. That will motivate him. – Elliotte Friedman

Friedman recounts how, back in the day, when St-Louis went to the Olympics in 2014 after making the club due to injury (he wasn’t one of the original players), he asked Steve Yzerman for a deal when he returned to Tampa Bay.

Yzerman, who was his GM with the Lightning, was also GM with Team Canada.

St-Louis hadn’t liked the fact that his own GM hadn’t selected him to play in the tournament, and he still had it in for him when the Olympics ended, even though Canada had won the gold medal.

Motivated or not, Martin St-Louis needs to look to other coaches for inspiration.

For example?

Patrick Roy benched Samuel Bolduc because he didn’t like his performance… As for Jim Montgomery, he didn’t hesitate to bench his star player, David Pastrnak, because he wasn’t satisfied with what he brought to the rink…

Calvary, even Roman Rotenberg reserves this treatment for Ivan Demidov, who doesn’t deserve it…

What we need to understand here is that the Habs head coach needs to start sending messages to his guys who aren’t performing. That said, how is it that Christian Dvorak got 5-on-3 playing time last week against the Capitals, when he’s been doing nothing (and I’m being polite) on the ice since the start of the season?

How come there aren’t any players getting bailed out (other than Arber Xhekaj, like) despite the fact that we don’t see many of them on the ice?

It just doesn’t make sense…

There are many reasons to have doubts about Martin St-Louis’ work right now, because it seems like he’s having trouble adapting to what’s happening on the ice during games.

If that can motivate him to find solutions, so much the better… But there’s work to be done, because right now, not much is working for his team.

Overtime

– Especially at this time of year.

– He’s so underrated.

– Nice contest.

– Really?

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