Author: Dose

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Stanley25: The Habs are keeping a close eye on a young Québécois center forward.

It’s already November 27. We’ve already typed 7 of our 10 Stanley25 season 2 episodes.

Only three more to go before the holidays…

Yesterday, it took me all my change to get to the 9millions studio; the COVID cold is hitting hard this year.

But that didn’t stop us from releasing some interesting news during the episode, which I recommend you watch.

1. After talking to one of his contacts at the Rangers during his trip to Vancouver, JT came to a clear conclusion: Jeff Gorton is the big boss at the Canadiens. People who work for other teams confirm that the Canadiens’ decisions are made according to the wishes of Jeff Gorton, not Kent Hughes.

2. Brendan Gallagher and Josh Anderson are untradeable. Christian Dvorak and Joel Armia could leave, but don’t expect to get anything interesting in return.

3. Some players hung over the chapel in honor of Guy Lafleur… and Geoff Molson didn’t like it.

4. Jean Trudel and I were barred from a Lane Hutson signing last weekend. Logan Mailloux and Lane Hutson’s agents really have a fixation with us…

5. A signing session with Cole Caufield turned into a shitshow last week.

6. The Canadiens (Nick Bobrov, Martin Lapointe and Serge Boisvert) have been spying on young Caleb Desnoyers on several occasions since the start of the season, notably in Quebec City. It will be interesting to see where the Canadiens will draft in the first round next June, and where Caleb Desnoyers will end up on the final lists (especially the Habs’).

Enjoy your viewing, gang!

Overtime

– The Canadiens are in Columbus right now.

– What do you think?

– 900th NHL game for Jon Cooper.

– It’s time to think about the future.

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Mike Matheson won’t be playing tonight

MONTREAL, CANADA - FEBRUARY 17: Mike Matheson #8 of the Montreal Canadiens looks on during the warm-up of the NHL regular season game between the Montreal Canadiens and the Washington Capitals at the Bell Centre on February 17, 2024 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. (Photo by Vitor Munhoz/NHLI via Getty Images)

Bad news for the Canadiens.

The club has announced that Mike Matheson, who was unable to play last night, will not be able to face the Blue Jackets in Columbus tonight. He still has a lower-body injury.

Clearly a blow for the defense.

The six defensemen who played yesterday will have to play tonight, given that the Habs have only seven defensemen with them on the road. There are no healthy extras with the club on the blue line, then.

Lane Hutson should, if we do as we did yesterday, get both powerplay waves.

Details to follow…

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A member of the Blue Jackets’ management as the Canadiens’ goaltender

This morning, on the heels of the Habs’ practice in Ohio, there weren’t many people on the ice.

The reason is simple: the club traveled to Columbus yesterday after the game. This meant that practice was reserved exclusively for the club’s reserves, to give them a chance to stretch their legs.

And only two guys skated, as reported by Anthony Martineau: Michael Pezzetta and Patrik Laine.

Either way, it makes sense. Pezzetta has been an extra for weeks and he won’t be playing more tonight. I really wonder how he feels about all this.

And Laine? He’s not ready yet. We knew he was traveling with the club, but he won’t be playing against his old club tonight. We’re expecting him in a week or so, obviously.

So don’t expect any changes to the forwards tonight – unless it’s in the line-up, of course.

Defensively, nobody skated this morning, since of the seven defensemen with the club, six played yesterday and one (Mike Matheson) wasn’t fit enough to play yesterday. He’s currently a doubt for tonight’s game, and we’ll see what the coach says.

Because Samuel Montembeault played yesterday and Cayden Primeau played tonight, neither was skating this morning. But for Pezz and Laine, it still took a goalie.

So, according to Anthony Martineau’s tweet, it was Reid Robertson who donned a goalie’s uniform to face the shots of Laine (a former Blue Jackets) and Pezzetta.

The former university goalie works as an assistant in hockey operations, according to the club’s website. Seeing him practice in a habs jersey is special, but he’s been helping out the Habs.

Had it been in Montreal, perhaps Karel St-Laurent would have been there. But on the road, without a ménage à trois, it takes a different solution.

Overtime

– Good question.

– Auston Matthews: not yet ready to return to action.

– Nick Suzuki, a real first center?

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Autumn 2024: the 5 à 7 in front of JiC (at the photo finish)

Sports fans run on performance and adrenalin. For them, the desire to win is stronger than anything else. That’s why it’s a little harder to support the Canadiens these days…

The desire to win doesn’t just drive the team; it transports an entire fan base.

But this desire to perform can also be found in the media. With the ratings…

The TV and radio seasons are divided into four quarters: autumn, winter, spring and summer.

In summer, no one really cares about ratings. We have irregular programming… and above all, the figures gathered via the various surveys are of little use. Why is that? Because advertising reps almost never sell ads with summer numbers. It’s mainly the fall and spring figures that count. In winter, there’s the Christmas vacation, which maganates the figures by two to four weeks, or more or less 15% to 20% of the survey period.

Earlier this week, I released the fall quarter ratings for BPM Sports/91.9 Montréal. We’re talking about one of the best quarters in the history of the Montreal sports station.

Over the weeks, I’ve also revealed the numbers for the Canadiens’ games on TVA Sports and RDS. Basically, we’ve gone from an average of 500,000 – 600,000 to an average of just over 400,000, mainly due to the rebuild and the poor show put on by the Habs.

Now, many of you have asked me who currently has the upper hand in the sports homecoming war on TV. The 5 à 7 or JiC?

Well, according to the information I’ve been able to gather, 5 à 7 attracts an average – since the start of the season – of 24,000 viewers per minute, while JiC gets 22,000. Yanick Bouchard and Frédéric Plante therefore beat Jean-Charles Lajoie and his numerous guests to the photo finish.

It should be remembered, however, that it’s weeknights when Canadiens games are broadcast on RDS that make the difference. The 5 to 7 ratings are much higher on those nights. Otherwise, it’s a case of whitewash, whitewash.

What’s more, RDS has about half a million more subscribers than TVA Sports…

That’s not much.
Those of you who have been following me for several years will remember that in 2019, 5 à 7 drew an average of 36,000 viewers per minute, while JiC drew 25,000. So we’ve gone from 61,000 people watching French-language sports TV (in Quebec) to 46,000 in the space of just a few years.

The pandemic really changed our behavior. The aging population and massive cable churn too…

So it’s easy to understand why there are so many cuts in the media industry, and why some people in the business are constantly anxious about their professional future.

It’s worth noting that late-night shows are also far less successful than they used to be.

There was a time when 110%, l’Attaque à 5 and l’Antichambre passed the scrape. That’s no longer the case, however, since sports opinions and hot takes have invaded social networks and the FM airwaves. Both RDS and TVA Sports no longer see the late-night slot as a cool spot.

Often, a live broadcast of a less popular sports team or sport works much better than a show that revolves around the Canadiens, which wasn’t the case before…

Extension

Many of you have asked me how ratings are calculated in 2024.

Numéris offers pagers to hundreds of people – based on several geographic and demographic criteria – across Quebec. These people have to wear the pager and plug it into a charger at the end of the day, which sends them the day’s data.

Each radio (in Montreal) and TV (in Quebec) program is encoded with a wave that is imperceptible to the human ear, but which the pager is able to pick up. When the pager picks up this wave, it records a listen.

Online recordings are often encoded on official station websites, but not when they come from social networks. People who record a program, then listen to it again later, are counted (albeit with a slight delay).

In the end, a rule of three is applied to match the listening of a thousand people, for example, with that of a population of several million French-speaking Québécois.

I can’t wait until we find a better way of accounting for all this, but in the meantime, this is still the way the industry works…

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Guy Boucher moves to the KHL

ST. PAUL, MN - NOVEMBER 21: Guy Boucher of the Ottawa Senators looks on from the bench during a game with the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center on November 21, 2018 in St. Paul, Minnesota.(Photo by Bruce Kluckhohn/NHLI via Getty Images)

Big news for hockey in Quebec.

Guy Boucher, who made his NHL comeback last year (as an assistant in Toronto) before losing his job in the summer of 2024, is back behind a pro bench.

But this time, he’s off to the KHL.

So it’s with Omsk Avangard that the Québécois will continue his journey, as announced by the club on social networks. And if the name rings a bell, it’s because it’s Bob Hartley’s old team.

We imagine Bob had kind words for Boucher recently.

We’re talking abouta two-year contract for Guy Boucher, who arrives in the middle of the season. He takes into his hands a club that ranks eighth out of 12 in the KHL East.

He can therefore aspire to the playoffs, but he has work to do.

He hasn’t been able to find work in the NHL this year. I wonder if he’s been signed for an assistant job somewhere, or if he hasn’t received a call.

But either way, he’s back in a head job for the first time since losing his position in Ottawa.

(Credit: Hockey DB)

Boucher has been exiled before. He coached the Bern club in Switzerland between 2013 and 2016. Otherwise, he has mainly played in the NHL for the past fifteen years.

The Lightning and Senators benefited from a boost in his first year with them. Will Avangard have the same effect? To be seen.

Overtime

– Fighting isn’t easy.

– Lane Hutson: you have to be prepared to take him on. [BPM Sports]

– Hello, Jordan.

– Read more.

– Eh boy.

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10 checks for Brendan Gallagher… and 13 shots for the Canadiens

MONTREAL, CANADA- NOVEMBER 26: A scuffle erupts after the whistle during the third period of the NHL regular season betweenNHL regular season game between Montreal Canadiens and the Utah Hockey Club at the Bell Centre on November 26, 2024 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. (Photo by Matt Garies/NHLI via Getty Images)

The statistic of yesterday’s game is clearly the fact that the Habs took only 13 shots on net for the Utah club last night. Needless to say, it didn’t end with a W.

The Habs were relatively opportunistic, scoring twice and pushing the game into overtime. But in nearly five minutes of three-on-three, open play, the Habs didn’t get a shot off.

It gets embarrassing at times.

Those who followed the game saw that the Habs had only 12 shots before the start of overtime, compared to 28 for the opponents. Not shooting at three-on-three would have meant equalling the franchise “record” of 12 shots in a game.

The Habs didn’t shoot, but a 13th shot was added to the recount. Still, it’s the lowest total since 2009 for the Canadiens.

After firing just 17 shots against Vegas on Saturday, let’s just say Martin St-Louis’ club chose the wrong time not to fire. Doing it at home, once again, is hard to accept.

At the end of the first and beginning of the second, the Habs went nearly 20 minutes without shooting. Ark.

18 minutes without a shot… 13 shots in all… no shots on the power play… no shots in overtime… if the Habs had wanted to sabotage their game, they surely would have gone this way.

Cole Caufield (3), Alex Newhook (2), Christian Dvorak (2), Emil Heineman, Jake Evans, Kirby Dach, Joshua Roy, Jayden Struble and Justin Barron were all credited with a shot.

It’s not normal to have time to list them one by one.

But here’s what strikes me most: yesterday, Brendan Gallagher distributed 10 shoulder shots to his opponents. That’s only three less than the number of shots taken by the Habs.

The man who had a run-in with Mikhail Sergachev during the game raised his total from 16 to 26 this season.

The guys need to learn from the Gallaghers of this world, who always give it their all during games. That’s how the Habs will find their way back to winning and – above all – respectability.

Overtime

– Enjoy.

– Blake Snell in L.A.

– What message does this send to others?

– The CHL won yesterday.

– The Lions have a good goalie.

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Juraj Slafkovsky was the habs’ least-used player (unlike Logan Cooley).

Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images

If the Arizona Coyotes still existed, they’d surely take advantage of the fact that Logan Cooley was better than Juraj Slafkovsky last night to rub the Canadiens’ nose in it.

But they can’t anymore.

Logan Cooley, whom the Canadiens didn’t draft with their first pick of 2022, really was better than Slaf, whom the Canadiens did draft with their first pick of 2022.

In fact, he was the most-used forward (23:13) in Salt Lake City’s 3-2 win over Montreal.

Yesterday, Cooley made this play in particular. It was his 17th point in 22 games, which is better, for the moment, than Slaf has offered the Habs in the last two months.

Ironically, this was done in the game where Slaf was punished most severely by Martin St-Louis. He was playing on the club’s fourth line, but more importantly, he was the club’s least-used forward.

His 11:29 of playing time are quite similar to Joshua Roy’s 11:30.

Since Slaf played on the first wave of the powerplay, it’s understandable that at five-on-five, he wasn’t often on the ice. So it was a big message tonight.

And let’s just say he wasn’t the most visible on the ice.

Kirby Dach was also “punished” on four, but he got some overtime. He got 14:30 of playing time, which is still a little better than Slaf.

Emil Heineman (14:24), Joel Armia (14:39), Christian Dvorak (14:29), Josh Anderson (13:39) and Brendan Gallagher (13:56) were the other players who, like Roy, Dach and Slaf, played less than 15 minutes.

That said, that doesn’t mean the others were perfect. After all, Nick Suzuki may have had plenty of playing time (21:21), but he wasn’t very good.

We sensed a certain disengagement on his part.

Inevitably, when he’s not as good, it doesn’t encourage his team-mates to give more. And here, the club looked like it was playing its second game in two nights, not its first back-to-back duel.

There won’t be any easy ones.

It’s all well and good to talk about Slaf and playing time, but the fact remains that yesterday, the Canadiens mostly looked bad. So what explains it all?

Here are a few possible solutions.

1. Only 13 shots on net in nearly 65 minutes – shameful. The Utah Hockey Club had 14 shots in the first period alone, and André Tourigny’s men won.

Coincidence? I don’t think so, no.

2. Seeing David Savard get angry at a referee (and get one of the softer 10-minute misconducts I’ve seen in a long time) shows there’s frustration. And that’s something.

Savard had a point, though: yesterday, the referees didn’t have it. The Habs should have been more disciplined, obviously, and the home club didn’t play a flawless game either, but…

3. Mikhail Sergachev was excellent yesterday. He stabilizes Utah’s defensive brigade and showed the Habs the player he could have become had he not been traded in 2017.

Water under the bridge since then, but still.

4. Some guys are too soft in this club. Justin Barron (who should feel the urgency to play better) and Christian Dvorak are two guys who didn’t bring much to the table yesterday.

That puts me in all my Utahs. I must be getting old because I thought it was good last night. #JokeDePère

5. Samuel Montembeault didn’t get the W yesterday, but he did what he had to do. He kept his team in the game and didn’t give away any horrible goals. He can’t do everything on his own either.

It wouldn’t be fair to ask him to do that.

6. In Mike Matheson’s absence, Lane Hutson was good. In fact, he quarterbacked both powerplay waves and was the skater most used (26:28) by Martin St-Louis.

Good thing he’s here.

Extensions

Yesterday, apart from the Habs and Utah, there was only one other game on the menu: Vancouver won 2-0 against the Bruins in Boston. Connor Garland and Jake DeBrusk were the two scorers.

Tonight will be different: there will be 15 games on the menu. And tomorrow, on American Thanksgiving? No games.

(Credit: Sportsnet)

As for the Canadiens, they’ll be in Columbus tonight: the boys have been traveling since yesterday’s game. Patrik Laine and Mike Matheson are on the trip. The former is not expected to play tonight, but there’s no word yet on whether the latter will.

There will be no practice today: only the extras will skate at 11:30.

Cayden Primeau will be in front of his team’s net. He’ll have to do well if he wants to continue buying time in the NHL. He won’t want to be distracted by the cannon…

Remember that the Habs will also be playing in the afternoons this weekend: Saturday in New York and Sunday in Boston, in a weekend where Jeff Gorton will see the Habs take on his former clubs.

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Patrik Laine to take part in the Canadiens’ three-game road trip

Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images

With the Canadiens in the midst of a season of misery, a bit of good news goes a long way.

Those who have been looking forward to seeing Patrik Laine in action will be ecstatic to know that the forward will accompany the Canadiens on their three-game road trip, which begins on Wednesday.

That’s what Martin St-Louis revealed at his press briefing after the Canadiens’ miserable defeat on Tuesday night.

But don’t get too excited just yet. It doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll be able to play this week.

He’s probably making the trip to be able to continue practicing with his teammates, having started practicing again in a regular jersey on Monday.

It should also be added that although Laine has resumed regular practice, St-Louis explained on Monday that he doesn’t expect to see his forward play a game this week.

Patrik Laine’s last regular-season game was on December 14. His stint in the NHL’s Player Assistance Program and two major injuries have kept him out of action for almost a year so far.

However, St-Louis explained during the press conference that he is not yet sure whether Mike Matheson will be able to accompany the team on this trip.

The defenseman missed Tuesday night’s game against Utah.

The three-game road trip kicks off on Wednesday in Columbus, before moving on to New York and Boston over the weekend.

Overtime

– Big news from the Alouettes.

– Montreal begins to prepare its official line-up.

– Bucks find a way to win.

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Arber Xhekaj and more against Jacob Trouba: Martin Biron would do it

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MAY 22: Jacob Trouba #8 of the New York Rangers during the anthem prior to the game against the Florida Panthers in Game One of the Eastern Conference Final of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Madison Square Garden on May 22, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Jared Silber/NHLI via Getty Images)

The Rangers’ season has got off to a very poor start, sothey’re ready to make some big moves in an attempt to remake themselves. In the last few days, the names of Chris Kreider and Jacob Trouba have been revealed as Rangers players who could move.

And when such players become available on the market, there’s often talk of a possible deal with the Canadiens.

The player most targeted by analysts and fans alike is currently Jacob Trouba. The question, however, is what Montreal is prepared to pay for him.

For former NHL goaltender Martin Biron, it would be Arber Xhekaj and one of the organization’s prospects. This is what he revealed on BPM Sports’ Retour des sportifs on Tuesday.

This offer isn’t crazy. Kent Hughes won’t always be able to play the hero like he did by sending only Jordan Harris to acquire Patrik Laine and a draft pick.

Something will have to give to improve the team. Xhekaj may be a crowd favorite because of his physical game, but he’s extremely unstable defensively.

Biron believes that this deal would allow the team to keep the physicality, as Trouba can hit very hard and he would automatically become a much more defensively stable defender than Xhekaj is.

However, this transaction remains a risk for the Canadiens. If the Rangers want to trade Trouba, it’s not for fun. At 30, he may not be expected to be with the team when the Canadiens are competitive.

However, Martin Biron would like the Rangers to keep part of Trouba’s contract. He would like to receive Trouba at only $5 million per season, whereas his contract currently weighs $8 million on the New York payroll.

The Rangers are probably looking to remain competitive, as they have some excellent players on their roster. Keeping a $3 million player in a vacuum is probably not in their plans.

Another question is whether Xhekaj is really a player the Rangers would be interested in. They already have Matt Rempe to take care of the brawling, and adding another brawler wouldn’t necessarily be the idea of the century.

Let’s not forget that Jeff Gorton was the Rangers’ general manager when they acquired Trouba from the Jets in 2019. He could do it a second time with the help of Kent Hughes.

Overtime

– Ovechkin liked to party!

– We’d love him in Montreal.

– He deserves it.

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Why will Andrei Markov be in Montreal in December?

Markov needs to put his feelings aside and think with his head!

One of the Montreal Canadiens’ most beloved defensemen was Andrei Markov.

Many fans were disappointed not to see him honored at the same time as P.K. Subban, in January 2023.

Those fans can take solace in the fact that the Russian will be in town this December, but not for the reasons they had hoped.

Markov will offer a signing session on December 7, much as Joshua Roy should have done.

All this will take place in Dollard-des-Ormeaux, to be precise.

To find out more about the day, click here.

Here’s hoping Markov shows up… not like Joshua Roy.

For that, there shouldn’t be a problem since he’s always been a reliable guy, throughout his career.

However, what concerns me most is why would Markov travel all the way to Montreal for a simple signing session?

It doesn’t make sense for him to leave Russia to go to Dollard-des-Ormeaux and sign various items for Habs fans.

Markov has always enjoyed playing in Montreal, but does he love the city that much?

Personally, I think there’s something fishy going on.

Since Subban was honoured on January 12, 2023, and Markov wasn’t there, almost all fans have been waiting impatiently for him to be honoured.

If you do 1+1, that’s 2, and that’s the most logical explanation.

But it’s not the only explanation.

We know that the Habs may have been looking for another assistant coach to back up Martin St-Louis in this season of misery.

And many fans, even some experts, saw Markov as a good potential assistant.

He could also take charge of the powerplay, which would free up MSL’s time.

There may be several reasons for this sudden announcement of Markov’s return to Quebec, and we should know more next month.

Overtime

– No fewer than 12 scouts from 12 different teams will be at the Habs’ game against Utah tonight.

– It remains to be seen who will be the team’s third goaltender.

– The Snake likes to stir things up.

– Here’s a good look at Demidov’s start to the KHL season.

– Three-game suspension for a guillotine in the middle of a hockey game…

– Read more.