Author: Dose

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WJSS: Michael Hage shines with Canada

Michael Hage was not invited to represent Canada at the World Junior Championships last year. Should he have been invited? Probably, considering the team’s disappointing quarter-final loss to the Czech Republic.

The fact that he plays in the NCAA didn’t help either, but barring a huge surprise, Hockey Canada shouldn’t overlook him this year.

He’s taking part in the Summer Showcase, which is good news in itself, but he also has an important role in Team Canada-Rouge.

Today, his team played its first game of the summer mini-tournament against the other Canadian team, Canada-White. He didn’t miss a beat with a goal and an assist.

Used in a second line with Cole Rechny and Benjamin Kindel, he first grabbed a rebound in the slot before scoring.

Then, he served a superb pass to Marek Vanacker.

[content-ads]

If he breaks into the lineup, I can’t wait to see what role we’ll give him. Being a 2nd line center is an achievable goal with the talent Canada is going to have.

In the meantime, it’s off to the University of Michigan for him to play his second season. After an excellent first year, it’ll be interesting to see how far he can take his team, who disappointed at the end of 2025.

It should be Habs direction next, as he’s projected as the team’s future 2nd center.

[spacer title=’En rafale’] – A good game from CF Montreal.

– It’s pretty amazing to see him go.

– Embarrassing situation for the tournament.

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Erik Karlsson: The Hurricanes would be the best fit according to Frank Seravalli

We don’t know where Erik Karlsson will play in 25-26. And the reason is simple: the Penguins have told the other NHL teams that the defenseman is available right now. Kyle Dubas won’t trade him for nothing, but we could see a trade by the start of next season anyway. The Maple Leafs have been mentioned in the Karlsson file.but in the eyes of Frank Seravalli(Bleacher Report), there’s one club that would make more sense: the Hurricanes.Karlsson wants to join a Stanley Cup contender, and he could fill a certain need in Carolina since the Canes lost Brent Burns on the right side of defense.

[content-ads] The Hurricanes are in a great situation right now.

They have 12 forwards, seven defensemen and their two goalies under contract for next season… and they currently have $10,647,291 in cap space.Eric Tulsky (GM) has room to maneuver and have fun, obviously.That said, we know what the “problem” is with Erik Karlsson and you’ll understand why I’m talking about his contract. The defenseman is currently worth $10M on Pittsburgh’s payroll, and the Penguins will have to hold back a certain portion of his salary if they really want to get rid of him, which could complicate a deal in the end. But the good news is that there are only two seasons left on the main man’s contract… It remains to be seen whether Kyle Dubas will be able to find a partner to dance with. But on paper, it’s true that Karlsson would add some offensive punch to the Hurricanes’ line-up… and maybe – just maybe – he’s the last piece left to take the next step in Carolina. [spacer title=’Overtime’] – She looked tired. She still won in Washington in Sunday’s final…

– So much the better.

– Interesting.

– Nice list.

– Oh yeah?

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Sixth defender: it’s going to come down to numerical inferiority

You know the drill: barring a surprise (David Reinbacher, signing, trade, injury, etc.), the Canadiens’ defensemen are under control: Noah Dobson, Lane Hutson, Mike Matheson, Alexandre Carrier and Kaiden Guhle will play every game they can, and then Arber Xhekaj and Jayden Struble will fight for playing time. And after that, Arber Xhekaj and Jayden Struble will be fighting for playing time. Both will make the club, however, barring a surprise. By necessity, there are elements that will make it Xhekaj or Struble who will be able to play more often than not.

And listening to yesterday’s Sick Podcast (Tony Marinaro and Eric Engels), I thought it was clear: the numerical inferiority will play an important role in the decision to play the Canadiens or the American more often.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfH8NL21OQo [content-ads]Let’s take it a step further: I think it’s all going to come down to the PK . In my eyes, there are two elements that will make the competition between the two men turn to one or the other’s advantage at the start of the season

  • Who will be better in the numerical disadvantage?
  • Who will send his club to the short-handed position as little as possible?

It’s clear that the Sheriff must sometimes take “team penalties” and that this is part of his role, as raised in the Sick Podcast. But hooking penalties, for example, who’s going to take less? That can/should be a tie-breaking factor between the two friends.

Arber Xhekaj & Jayden Struble in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador 🎣

[image or embed]– /r/Habs (@habsonreddit.bsky.social) July 27, 2025 at 7:28 pm

[content-ads]But also, being good at being short-handed is obviously going to help. After all, the Canadiens lost David Savard and he needs to be replaced defensively, andthey also lost Joel Armia and Christian Dvorak, which will weaken the shorthanded units in general. The role of the defensemen will be even more important, in my opinion, withLane Hutson and Noah Dobson being used on the powerplay. Mike Matheson (who could also play on the PP), Alexandre Carrier and Kaiden Guhle will have an important one-man short-handed role. And there’s room for one more defenseman. #ReplaceSavardIf Struble or Xhekaj is ever better on PK, it could work in his favor to stay in the lineup. After all, stabilizing this unit, which will undergo some changes compared to last year, will no doubt be important for the coach. Being in Struble’s or Xhekaj’s skates, I’d keep that in mind. But these are two guys who undoubtedly know it already.[spacer title=’Overtime’]- I like it.

– Quiet, indeed.

– Oh yeah?

– Of note.

– Note to Sparrows fans,

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LJ Mooney recognized by his trainer: he stood up at the summer showcase

LJ Mooney is an increasingly popular name in Montreal. After all, fans may love big players… but small, talented players still have their place in the hearts of Montreal fans. # Caufield #HutsonAnd Mooney, with the talent coming out of his ears, currently falls into that category. Petit Jean, who isn’t a high draft pick, has done well wherever he goes since becoming a Habs prospect. Whether at the development camp or the summer showcase (a tournament to prepare for the World Junior Championship), he stands out from the crowd. And he’s getting a lot of praise. The Americans’ coach, Bob Motzko, had a chance to see what Mooney looked like, and let’s just say he liked what he saw of the player he’ll also be coaching this year at the University of Minnesota.

We say that because Little John, who doesn ‘t mind his size, was named by his coach as one of the guys who stood out in the last few days.

[content-ads]It may have been his future college player, but Motzko couldn’t name him if he didn’t deserve it.

Remember that in his first game in the Summer Showcase, Mooney came out on top with two points, including a goal, for the Americans. The way I look at it, I think it’s great to see that in an event like the Summer Showcase, Mooney is able to come out on top. It’s a competitive environment, even in the middle of summer.

After all, it’s one thing at the development camp in Montreal, but it’s quite another when guys are fighting to represent their country at the WJC.It’s a good start… although it doesn’t mean everything, obviously.[spacer title=’Overtime’]- How are you, Ivan?

– Leylah Fernandez’s father confided in Meeker Guerrier.[98.5 FM] – Well done.

– True.

– Ouch.

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Draft: why it pays to select Russian players

Several NHL teams seemed reluctant to draft Russian players in recent NHL auctions, with the war with Ukraine, the shenanigans involved in keeping a player in Russia and the lack of opportunities to play hockey against good national teams weighing heavily in the balance.

Ivan Demidov’s agent, Dan Milstein, however, explained to the Russian program, Our Hockey (Наш хоккей), why it’s advantageous to select players from Russia.

NHL executives’ biggest fear is wasting a good draft pick by selecting a Russian player who ultimately decides to stay in the KHL.

The Hurricanes had a bit of a scare with Nikita Nikishin’s contract situation, even though everything worked out for them in the end. In his interview, Dan Milstein revealed that he explained to the Hurricanes why it was an advantage to draft Russian players. Carolina listened well, drafting no fewer than 13 players from Russian teams in the last three auctions. Milstein explains the advantage by the fact that players from Russia can develop at the professional level, while the teams that drafted them can retain their rights until the age of 27. This allows players to arrive in the NHL with experience at the professional level and a level of play on a par with the best. Meanwhile, a Canadian Hockey League player must be signed within two seasons of being selected in the draft. In the NCAA and USHL in the U.S., it’s four seasons. This forces teams to sign interesting prospects early, so most will play in the AHL, and it takes up space on the total number of contracts [content-ads] Milstein’s logic is that many North American prospects with NHL entry-level contracts are ultimately ready to play in the NHL towards the end of that contract, forcing the team to give them a little more money up front. As for the Russian player, he’ll be able to use up all the years of his NHL entry-level contract,which saves the Bettman teams money.It’s a philosophy the Canadiens seem to have adopted in recent years with Nick Bobrov. Guys like Alexander Zharovsky and Bogdan Konyushkov can take the time to develop in Russia without taking a spot on the total number of contracts, leaving more room for North American prospects to come and develop within the organization or simply accept a contract to continue playing in the CHL.

Milstein has a good point, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see more and more NHL executives adopting such a strategy [spacer title=’Overtime’] – We hope to see him make the team.

– It’s not over for Eugenie.

– Wow.

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“In San Jose, Jayden Struble would have signed for four million dollars and more”

Earlier this morning, Jayden Struble finally signed his contract and will thus avoid arbitration. He was the last Habs player without a contract, so there will be no salary distraction at camp. The young defenseman signed a two-year contract that will pay him $1.4125 million per season. That’s $2.86 million less than he’d get playing for a team like the San Jose Sharks, for example. According to Grant McCagg, the left-hander could well have earned $4 million or more, perhaps even $5 million in the long term, with another team.

McCagg likes the young defenseman a lot, and in his opinion, he’s a victim of the depth on the left side of the Montreal blue line.

According to him, last year would have been a good season for him to establish himself as one of the pillars on the left of the Canadiens’ blue line, but he wasn’t going to dislodge this year’s rookie Lane Hutson [content-ads] It’s true that in Montreal, Struble isn’t the most used. Now, imagine if David Reinbacher were to join the club sooner rather than later…

If the 47 can demonstrate, on a third pairing, that he’s capable of staying in the lineup and being indispensable to the team, his salary would become a bargain.

A guy worth $5 million who signed for less than $1.5 million doesn’t come cheap [spacer title=’Overtime’] – Super!

– He’s off to Milwaukee.

– One

– The Terry McLaurin situation certainly isn’t helping.

– Good news.

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In four years, the Habs’ big names will cost on average as much as Josh Anderson did last year

After a few years of stagnant salary caps in the NHL, we’re now seeing some major increases. The first came this summer, but over the next few years, it will continue to soar, withincreases of nearly $10 million a year. Thatsaid, for the Habs, all this is quite advantageous for one simple reason: the club has already signed a number of its core players on a long-term basis. These contracts were signed in an environment where the cap wasn’t really going up (except for Noah Dobson, who just signed), so over time, they’ll quickly become much more affordable. And to illustrate this, the JFresh account (on X) did an interesting exercise, looking at the impact of the contracts signed by the Habs on the payroll in a few years’ time.

And when we look ahead to 2029-30 (i.e., four years from now), we see that the five guys signed long-term in town (Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Juraj Slafkovský, Noah Dobson and Kaiden Guhle) will have an impact on the payroll similar to that of Josh Anderson ($5.5M) last year.

[content-ads]This projection takes into account a salary cap that will hover around $124M, a realistic projection when you look at the evolution of the next few years. The five players will earn a total of $38,375,000, representing roughly 31% of the salary cap.Anderson’s $5.5 million represented roughly 6% of the salary cap last year… and 6 x 5 is 30. Play with the percentage points and we’re close to 31%. Of course, all this could be subject to change when Lane Hutson and Ivan Demidov sign their next contracts. That said, the fact that the Habs already have five big core players signed to such reasonable contracts means that they’ll be able to afford guys like Hutson and Demidov without being restricted like the Maple Leafs were with the famous Core Four, for example. In a world where the two guys make about $30M between them (which is a very high projection), that would still leave close to $55M to pay for the supporting cast (or other big names, since the club should be able to afford one or two more).The price of supporting players will also go up over time, we agree…. but if the CH pays most of its top players in 2029-30 what it’s paying Josh Anderson right now, that’ll give Kent Hughes and Jeff Gorton (or their successors, if they lose their jobs by then) plenty of room to surround the Habs’ core.

You have to give credit to the management (but also to Marc Bergevin, who signed the Suzuki contract around which the salary scale was built) in this regard, because by thinking long-term like this, they’ve bought themselves a lot of room to manoeuvre in the long term.They’re in a much better position than if they’d given transition contracts to all these youngsters, let’s say.[spacer title=’Overtime’]- Enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHp2qhugg4M&feature=youtu.be – Speaking of players signed long-term,

– Indeed.

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WJSS: Aatos Koivu continues to impress with Finland

Right now, the best young players in the world of hockey are taking part in the World Junior Summer Showcase, a summer camp that allows kids to leave a good impression in preparation for this winter’s World Junior Championship.Michael Hage is playing an important role in Team Canadiens’ camp, andFinland’s Aatos Koivu is one of the players in attendance. Yesterday, Saku’s son had a good game, even if he didn’t get on the score sheet, and today, Koivu was back in action against one of the U.S. teams (in which LJ Mooney plays)… and this time, he got on the scoresheet with a beautiful goal.

[content-ads]And clearly, Koivu had no intention of stopping there. A little later in the game, the Finn added a second, again on the powerplay.He’s got a good shot, the youngster.

So we’ll see if Koivu can continue to impress over the next few days, but it’s great to see him finding a flair for the net. And above all, it should help him earn points toward a possible selection for the next WJC.And that would be cool for the kid… but now it’ll be up to him to keep the pedal to the floor.[spacer title=’Overtime’]- Love it.

– Carlos Handel enjoyed his experience at the CH development camp.

– Cool!

– Really?

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Michael Hage: there’s reason to believe he’ll play a big role with ÉCJ

Michael Hage is one of the Canadiens’ elite prospects. In the eyes of many, he’s behind the top line (Demidov, Fowler and Reinbacher, in order or out of order), but he’s still seen as a kid who could be part of the solution at second center.I feel it’s too early to assume he will become one, but there’s no doubt he has the potential to become a big deal in Montreal.That said, Hage still needs to continue his development. He’ll be back in the NCAA this season, but right now, he’s at Team Canada’s summer camp, trying to impress the officials so he can earn a spot on the CMJ squad. And according to Martin Thérriault, who talked about all this on BPM Sports, there’s good reason to believe that ÉCJ officials see him playing a big role with the club this winter.The reason?

[content-ads]Thérriault explains that seeing Hage play alongside Cole Reschny and Benjamin Kindel, two guys who were drafted in the first round at the last draft, shows that management sees Hage as a player who could shine in a big role.

The competition will be strong, though: guys like Berkly Catton, Michael Misa, Cayden Lindstrom and Jake O’Brien (all of whom play center) will also be getting a good audition. Catton was in front of Hage at practice yesterday, while the other three are in the other group.

–

That said, we saw Hage shine in the NCAA last year when he wasn’t very well surrounded. We know that ÉCJ managers sometimes tend to turn up their noses at guys who play in the American college circuit, but when these guys have a track record like Hage’s, they can hope to carve out a position.

Let’s see if the Habs prospect can make himself indispensable.[spacer title=’Overtime’]- The guys keep working hard.

– That’s tomorrow.

¡Listos

– Wow.

– Great news.

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Ivan Demidov with Patrik Laine: An idea the Habs will have to explore at some point

The Canadiens’ practice camp will be an interesting one to watch, with a number of guys fighting for positions in the bottom-6 and a good battle for places on the blue line.Veleno, Blais, Kapanen, F., Xhekaj, Roy, Condotta, Belzile, Beck, Engström, Reinbacher, Xhekaj, Struble… these names will also be worth keeping an eye on.Xhekaj, Roy, Condotta, Belzile, Beck, Engström, Reinbacher, Xhekaj, Struble… these names will be ones to watch. But the camp will also be interesting to follow for one particular reason: Martin St-Louis has some pieces to place in his chessboard… on both forward and defense.

We don’t know who will play center, but we can assume it will be Kirby Dach or Alex Newhook… We don’t know who will play left, but we can assume it will be Zachary Bolduc or Patrik Laine.what we do know, however, is that Ivan Demidov will most likely be inserted on the right side of the second unit, and the important thing will be to find players who can complement him well.Grant McCagg (Recrutes Draftcast) isn‘t opposed to the idea… especially since Demidov is a playmaker who can serve Laine and also help the Canadiens defensively.

[content-ads] On paper, it’s an interesting idea. Laine has a great shot and Demidov has vision that needs to be exploited. That said, I’d also like the option of seeing a guy who’s good at forechecking alongside Demidov, and that’s why I see Zachary Bolduc starting the season on the 2nd line. Bolduc is more physical than Laine, he’s more involved on the ice… and it takes a guy to create space for Demidov.Laine may not have what it takes to fill a role like that either.All in all, Martin St-Louis will be able to have fun with his trios. We agree that the first line may not change (at least, not until Demidov explodes) and it’s the second line in particular that may complicate the coach’s job [spacer title=’Overtime’] – I like it.

– They have a nice club, on paper.

– Good.