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Canadiens: NHL’s longest streak without a 40-goal scorer

Before his shoulder injury, Cole Caufield was scoring goals at a furious pace. He had scored 26 in just 46 games, for a total of 46 goals in a full season. Finally, the CH had a potential 40-goal scorer on its hands. Surprisingly, he still finished as the team’s leading scorer, tied with Nick Suzuki.

In fact, this is hardly a surprise, since for nearly 30 years, the Tricolore has been the laughing stock of the NHL when it comes to the production of its forwards.

Indeed, as reported by HabsolumentFan, a Reddit user nicknamed Go_Habs_Go31, has compiled statistics demonstrating the offensive lethargy that Montreal has been experiencing for several decades. The Habs are the team that hasn’t had a 40-goal scorer for the longest time, during Vincent Damphousse’s 1993-1994 season.

The Habs haven’t had a 40 goal scorer since ’94, a 50 goal scorer since ’90, an 82 point scorer since ’08 & a 100 point scorer since ’82.
by u/Go_Habs_Go31 in Habs

Even the Kraken, which has only been around for two years, has more 40-goal scorers than the Tricolore has had in 25 years…

Max Pacioretty came close, however, when he scored 39 in 73 games during the 2013-2014 season.

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However, this is not an isolated case. The CH is also the second team with the longest drought for a 50-goal scorer (Stéphane Richer 1989-1990). Worse still, it’s the team without a 100-point scorer for the longest time (Mats Naslund 1985-1986).

In the case of the latter two statistics, however, there’s a slight downside, as more recent franchises such as the Blue Jackets, Predators, Kraken and Golden Knights have never had one.

Although the Habs enjoyed some playoff success during this period, it’s still a good example of the organization’s problems. For almost three decades, the team has been sorely lacking in offensive stars, an absolutely necessary element for any team aspiring to great honors.

Normally, Caufield should soon put an end to the 40-goal drought. On the other hand, Nick Suzuki doesn’t seem to have the offensive potential to become more than a one-point-per-game scorer.

So who will be the next CH player to score 100 points? The answer probably doesn’t lie in the current roster.

In bursts

– Too bad.

– Good news.

– LAFC wins “El Trafico”.

– A great comeback.

– I hope we’re not talking about NHL field hockey.

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Images of Senators players at the party are making the rounds on the web

For the sixth consecutive season, the Senators have missed the playoffs. With the emergence of Tim Stutzle and the arrivals of Claude Giroux and Alex DeBrincat, one might have hoped, but Ottawa simply isn’t ready to compete with the big boys from the Atlantic.

With the end-of-season toll behind them, many Sens players took advantage of the weekend to celebrate in the nation’s capital. While professional athletes usually try to be subtle with their partying, that wasn’t the case here. Twitter users shared photos and videos of the players, and it’s a sight to behold.

In particular, defenseman Jakob Chychrun improvised as a shirtless bartender.

Jake Sanderson also showed off his mixologist skills, this time wearing a sweater.

And finally, we saved the best for last. In broad daylight in downtown Ottawa, a visibly intoxicated Brady Tkachuk waxes on about how they’ll win the Stanley Cup, much to the delight of passersby.

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It’s a safe bet that the Senators’ PR team probably wasn’t too happy when they woke up Saturday morning. But these are the kinds of images that put a smile on your face.

Like many people, professional athletes also like to party and have a few drinks. Despite their status, it’s important to remember that they’re normal people. What’s more, in this case, we’re talking about young men in their early twenties.

In short, there’s nothing surprising about it, and personally, it makes me like Sens even more.

Although we’re more accustomed to seeing athletes celebrate like this after winning a championship or a competition, the end of a field hockey season is also a good reason to celebrate.

Still, nothing will ever beat Alex Ovechkin’s performance after his Stanley Cup in 2018.

And you also have to give Tkachuk credit that this isn’t just something he said because he’d been drinking. At the end-of-season wrap-up, he talked about how disappointed he was to have missed the playoffs again, and how he believed the team’s core was good enough to be successful in the future.

Bunch of news

– Very bad news.

– Very impressive.

– Obviously.

– Important victory for the Lakers.

– I can’t wait to see how the young Devils perform.

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Kyle Dubas could replace Pierre Dorion in Ottawa

On Tuesday, the Leafs take on the Lightning in the first game of a series with multiple implications for Toronto. After six consecutive first-round losses, the Leafs must win or face a major cleanup.

Sheldon Keefe, Kyle Dubas and Brendan Shanahan; everyone is at risk.

Knowing that his job is on the line, Dubas has been extremely aggressive on the trade market. He sacrificed two first-round picks and other top picks, as well as Rasmus Sandin, to get his hands on Ryan O’Reilly, Jake McCabe, Sam Lafferty, Erik Gustaffson and Luke Schenn.

Regardless of regular-season success, losing in the first round seven years in a row would simply be unacceptable, especially with the talent and resources available to the organization.

A win over the Lightning, however, does not guarantee a return for Dubas and Keefe. Indeed, in the most recent edition of Daily Faceoff Rundown, Framk Seravalli mentioned that there would be a power struggle between Shanahan and Dubas. The latter fight over who has the final say in big field hockey decisions. Most of the time, it’s the former player who has the upper hand.

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What’s more, Dubas’ contract expires at the end of this season. With all these questions facing him, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him leave Toronto. A few days ago, his name was linked to the general manager position now vacant in Pittsburgh.

Seravalli adds, however, that another team to keep an eye on is the Ottawa Senators. According to Seravalli, there are more than nine out of 10 chances that Dorion is not “the right man for the job”, and Dubas could be an option to replace him.

Despite the fact that he’s still on the job, there’s no guarantee he’ll still be there next year. The new owners will probably want to hire the person of their choice, and the Franco-Ontarian has done nothing to prove he can build a winning team.

His skills as an evaluator of young talent are excellent. Except that the team hasn’t even come close to making the playoffs in two years, despite the fact that he publicly announced that the rebuild was over and that he got his hands on Claude Giroux, Matt Murray and Alex DeBrincat last summer.

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But is Dubas really Ottawa’s answer? Because of his success at a young age and his use of advanced statistics, there has always been a certain fascination surrounding him.

Even in Sault-Sainte-Marie, where he became general manager at the age of 26, his team never made it past the second round of the playoffs. In Toronto, many of the team’s big pieces were already in place when he replaced Lou Lamoriello.

However, it was he who gave John Tavares a monstrous contract, handcuffing the team financially. What’s more, he’s never been able to find a top-notch goaltender and the depth to excel in the playoffs.

In short, if all this really comes to fruition, don’t get too excited.

Breaking news

– We now know the Rocket’s opponent.

– Field hockey Canada news.

– Another Rays victory.

– Victory for Filip Mesar and the Rangers.

– And for Owen Beck and the Petes.

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Fans no longer believe in Jake Allen

Jake Allen seems to be completely out of the minds of Canadiens fans. This was confirmed in a recent poll conducted by TVA Sports, and the responses are almost unanimous.

The question posed by TVA Sports was, “Who will be the number one goalkeeper at the start of next season?”

Unsurprisingly, the majority of people voted for Samuel Montembeault (60.3%). He quietly established himself as number one throughout the season, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see him occupy the position of true number one next year.

Monty kept goal for the Tricolore in the team’s last four games of the season and did a fine job. His Quebec status also helps him to be a crowd favorite and earn points.

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When we say that Jake Allen is out of the CH fans’ minds, we’re not kidding . He received only 6.9% of the votes in this poll. At the start of the 2022-23 season, many saw him as the number-one goalie who could fill in until they found someone stable. That’s what happened, but much more quickly than expected.

Montembeault may not be the Canadiens’ goalie of the future, but he’ll probably do a good job in the meantime.

The problem with Allen is that he’s often injured. If it weren’t for his injuries, he could keep goal for a full season, but he’s fragile. Fans don’t like to see that, and it makes him look unreliable.

His stats aren’t great either. In 2022-23, he had a .891 save percentage and a 3.55 goals-against average.

Allen has so lost the confidence of the fans that the option of a different third goalie received more votes than him (32.8%). That says a lot about his situation in Montreal.

You’d almost think he’d have to be traded in the off-season. Frankly, it wouldn’t be a bad idea.

In gusto

– The QMJHL is in turmoil.

– Bad news for the Suns.

– It’ll be easier if they have Bedard.

– Not great for the Dodgers.

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All tickets for Rocket’s first game sold out

The Laval Rocket has officially qualified for the playoffs. Canadien fans will have another team to follow over the next few weeks. Laval is so excited about the playoffs that all their tickets have been sold for the first playoff game.

What’s even crazier is that we still don’t know the Rocket’s opponent for next Wednesday’s first game. The Laval team is expected to face either the Rochester Americans or the Utica Comets, depending on the final results of the season. Regardless of the opponent, Laval will have plenty of support from the crowd.

Tickets went on sale Sunday at noon. It only took half an hour for the tickets to sell out.

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What’s worrying in this situation is that resellers will probably take advantage of the playoff craze to resell tickets at a much higher price than paid on the Rocket website. We should be able to get tickets at the same price as the Habs.

At the same time, it’s normal for ticket prices to be so high. Last year, the Rocket proved that the atmosphere at Place Bell was magical during the playoffs. It certainly convinced even more fans to buy tickets.

With 8 wins in their last 9 games, the Rocket are on a roll and it’s going to be hard to stop them.

If you’re one of the lucky ones to get your hands on tickets, you’ll be in for a WHITEOUT evening. The Rocket organization will be handing out white towels and sweaters to everyone to create a white wave in the stands.

The Rocket’s playoffs are going to be very exciting and it should be one hell of a party.

In a gust

– Now that’s determination.

– What do you think?

– Bad news for Boston.

– Things are tightening up in England.

– Sad story in Italy.

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Children can paint the ice at the Bell Centre

The Canadiens are once again inviting members of their Fan Club to paint the Bell Centre rink. Registered children will be able to take to the famous Canadiens rink and let their creativity run wild.

The event will take place on May 7. All participants will be assigned a time slot. Each group will have two hours to create a work of art on ice.

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See for yourself what this event looks like:

The rink will be retired in the coming weeks, so this is the perfect opportunity to go paint it. Although the painted rink will be removed after the event, members of the CH organization are making sure to take as many photos and videos of the activity as possible to keep the memories alive.

The Canadiens have a partnership with Peinture MF, who will supply all the paint needed for the event. It’s a nice gift from the organization after a rather slow and not very fun season.

In addition to being able to paint the rink, the kids will be able to have their faces painted in CH colors, and can even spend the day with Youppi!

Registration is open until April 30 on the Fan Club des Canadiens website. Get painting!

In a gust

– Interesting stuff!

– The young Slovakian sensation suffered a fractured wrist.

– Things are going very badly at CF Montreal.

– Pretty gross.

– Canadian pride in Europe.

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SLBAM: it’s easier for a former player to become a coach now

What’s up gang. A short week this week for the end of the NHL season. I was supposed to appear on The Sick Podcast and give you a magical moment once again, but I had an obligation that didn’t allow me to be there in time, unfortunately.

The end of the CH season, injuries, questions and so on.

A lot of water has been spilled over the past few days, but listening to the interviews with the other NHL teams, it’s a good thing we didn’t get any comments from players like the Calgary Flames. The majority of free agents, or those with one season left, didn’t mention any interest in staying. Imagine if they were in Montreal.

A little news from overseas, as I’ve been asked this question a few times since the start of the week.

I still have a lot of connection in the KHL as you know. I helped my former team (Nizhny Novgorod) during the season and I’m currently helping our team in the MHL (we’re 2-0 in the final).

I still have a lot of contacts in terms of players and coaches I talk to on a regular basis, not to mention that my former coach is currently there for professional reasons… All this to say that an expansion team in the KHL doesn’t work the same way as in the NHL. A new team in the KHL simply fends for itself. There is no draft in the KHL. Plus a development system by region (I’ve talked about this before).

Teams are left to their own devices to form a team. Lada was in the KHL until 2017-2018. So Lada would have to sign some good free agents, both in Europe and North America, if they wanted to be competitive.

Otherwise, to get players and if they have money in the bank, it’s possible to lease a player in the league. So, for example, contact SKA and rent player X for the season. Yes, yes, a player rental. Quite different from the NHL.

Can’t wait to see what happens next.

I’m taking the time to respond this week, as I wanted to see how the season would end for several teams. I also put the fine in the NBA for sitting players. It’s common in the NBA to see this, but not in the NHL, aside from the last game of the season for playoff teams to allow certain player to have additional rest.

Imagine if we came to this conclusion in the NHL with injuries. Do I like tanking? No, not at all. On the other hand, indirectly, when you’re in the bottom 6-8, you want to make sure you get the best possible pick, but you also want to win.

You also have to look at Arizona, for example, which has a lot of ups and downs after each trade deadline: it’s hard to win. Not for nothing did the Coyotes decide to drop Guenther to the WHL. Tourigny also talked about it on BPM Sports.

Exit meetings in every sport around the world are usually the day after the last game, if possible, if not the 2nd day after. No athlete wants to wait until they have their “4%” and no athlete wants to wait until they have their season review, next season’s goals and what needs to be done in the off-season.

The sooner this is done, the sooner the player can move on.

The same principle applies to coaches. If we look at the Montreal Canadiens, they played their last game of the season on Thursday, April 13. The game ended at 9:38 pm. The end-of-year meetings took place the next morning, Friday April 14 at 10 a.m.

The organization wanted to make sure it got everything done as quickly as possible so it could move on to the next stage, which was to get off the hook and start working on things for next season.

When it comes to evaluating players, you always have a number of questions you can ask them. Some organizations use open-ended questions, others use marks from 1 to 10. Questions can be as simple as “how did you like your experience this season?” to “how did you feel you contributed without the puck this season?” to “what do you need to work on to earn your spot next year?” and on and on.

Every team and coaching staff has its own questions. The universal thing, though, and I’m really talking about a coach to a player, not a GM to a player: we’re all going to spell out what we liked, didn’t like and what he needs to work on and off the ice for next year, and give him the tools he needs right away.

At the NHL level, there are rules in place that you can’t train with team personnel for X amount of time during the off-season. But at least they have a plan when the game is over.

For the coaches, normally the head coach gives a summary of the season. What he noted was good, not so good, things to improve and what should be emphasized next year.

Also, he involves the field hockey staff a lot in knowing if he noticed things and often, we talk about solid discussions that help the field hockey staff progress.

That’s often when you see if people are capable and want to progress or not.

The coaches will also already establish a plan for the off-season. For example, what I’ve done in the past with the teams I’ve worked with: each coach would take a round of the playoffs and we’d cut it out in its entirety, and then we’d do a presentation on what we liked, what we’d like to bring in, and teaching videos. It doesn’t get any better than that.

Otherwise, the points that can come out are often blatant, but sometimes not. In the sense that if you had the worst numerical advantage in the league, it’s quite possible that the coach will talk to the person in charge. Conversely, if you’ve had the best, it’s quite possible that we’ll talk about it too, but from the perspective of how to stay on top.

We also look back at the season’s losses and why we lost them. Was it a player error, a system error, a decision behind the bench, and how can we correct it? The coaches take a lot on their shoulders at this meeting, because we all want to win, we all want to improve, but we also all want to keep our jobs.

For my part, something I’ve been doing for over 10 years, following a tip from a former trainer: I now have three little questions in my cell phone (previously in a notepad) that I answer when my day is over. What I really liked about my day, what I didn’t like about my day and what I’d change about my day.

I don’t do it every day, as I’ve found it can get repetitive, but a good 4-5x a week (we sometimes have two days off a week, so I’ve just done the whole week).

Obviously, it’s all hockey-related. With the answers, I make a compilation and I can easily find out if there are things that catch on and work on them. I can also see what I’d like to change (that isn’t negative) and start working towards that.

So I self-analyze regularly, and as a coach I’m always looking to improve, and I’ve found this little piece of work very effective with me.

It all depends on at what level and in what situation.

Take Martin St-Louis this season and last year. At one point, bench management seemed difficult (the CH has the team with the most bench penalties this season, by the way). The lack of experience for a certain situation behind a bench can seem, especially for coaches who come in with 0 competitive field hockey experience behind a bench.

Conversely, where former players have a real impact (something I didn’t really understand when I started out over 15 years ago) is how easy it is for them not only to connect with players, because they’ve played the game, but they’re able to handle the stars, because for many, they were a star or, if not, they played with a star and saw how it worked.

So they’re able to get close to them, to understand them, to help them, but also to help them understand the team concept and what they can and can’t do. In the NHL, there are a lot of coaches who stay and we always see the same names coming back.

That’s something that’s hard for a coach coming from college or junior to get when he arrives in the NHL. The same goes for the AHL: it takes time.

That’s why former pros sometimes have an advantage that can be annoying for many coaches who want to graduate.

The final point that is a strength of former pros is their experience on the ice.

They’ve played the game, they’ve got the experience, so they’re able to answer any questions, and they’re also able to teach coaches tricks. The best players are intelligent and can see the game on the ice, who’s matched up against whom?

Let’s not be surprised to see a lot of former players make a new career as coaches and be successful.

Prolongation

As always, I have no choice but to say thank you, because without you, I wouldn’t be able to write on the site, and you’re fantastic. I’ll see you next week with new questions and old ones I couldn’t answer.

Follow me on social networks @Mitch_Giguere.

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A look at the CH’s hopefuls: many on the verge of the Memorial Cup

We’re currently in the midst of the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) playoffs, with the second round in full swing in the OHL, WHL and, of course, the QMJHL.

In these series, a number of National Hockey League hopefuls are making their mark, and several of them belong to the Montreal Canadiens.

Here’s a rundown of the careers of some of the CH’s top prospects.

QMJHL

Joshua Roy – Right wing – age 19

The Tricolore’s Quebec prospect picked up right where he left off in last season’s playoffs.

He scored 23 points (eight goals and 15 assists) in 11 games last season.

Except this year, he’s even more dominant for the Sherbrooke Phoenix.

Roy already has 18 points (nine goals, nine assists) in six games since the start of the playoffs.

That makes him the QMJHL’s leading playoff scorer.

That’s an average of three points per game, while the Sherbrooke Phoenix are still unbeaten in six games.

Roy scored six points last night, as noted by my colleague Félix Forget.

See each of his points in the video above.

Roy is now just five points short of matching his incredible 2021-2022 playoff point total.

The Phoenix have been untroubled so far in the playoffs, currently leading their series 2-0 over the Drummondville Voltigeurs.

If things keep going like this for Sherbrooke and Roy, we could very well see the Phoenix make it all the way to the Memorial Cup.

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Riley Kidney – Center – 19 years old

Here’s another one who’s currently dominating the QMJHL.

After taking the spotlight from Joshua Roy since joining the Gatineau Olympiques, Kidney hasn’t amassed as many points as Roy since the start of the playoffs.

However, he is still dominant with 13 points (two goals and 11 assists) in seven games.

The Gatineau Olympiques are also 2-0 up in their second-round series, and would therefore face the Phoenix in the semi-finals.

That would be quite a match-up.

We’d be sure to see Kidney or Roy in the QMJHL final.

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OHL

Logan Mailloux – Right-handed defenseman – age 19

Mailloux finished the regular season as the OHL’s top-scoring defenseman with 25 goals.

There was no question of him stopping there, which explains his excellent performances since the start of the playoffs with the London Knights.

Mailloux has eight points (three goals and five assists) in six games since the start of the playoffs.

This currently ranks him fourth among defensemen in the playoffs.

Note the insane performance of top scorer Brandt Clarke, the Los Angeles Kings prospect, who currently has 18 points (six goals and 12 assists) in six games.

Yes, he’s a defenseman.

In short, the Knights are crushing everything in their path, and this steamroller could very well make it all the way to the Memorial Cup.

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Filip Mesar – Center – 19 years old

The only problem with Mailloux’s London steamroller is that it’s currently crushing another CH prospect, Filip Mesar.

After completely surprising the West’s top team, Shane Wright’s Windsor Spitfires, the Kitchener Rangers seem to have lost their bearings against the Knights.

Nothing is going right, and let’s hope for their sake that a return home for the next two games will help.

As for Mesar, he has three points (one goal and two assists) in six games.

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Vinzenz Rohrer – Right wing – 18 years old

Here’s a CH prospect we don’t talk much about, considering the Tricolore has so many of them that it’s hard to keep track of the performances of second-tier prospects.

However, we mustn’t forget the little Austrian.

Rohrer is a high-energy player who is currently very useful to his team in the playoffs, even if he isn’t the star of his team.

His eight points (one goal and seven assists) in six games are more than respectable.

The Ottawa 67s currently lead their second-round series against the Peterborough Petes 1-0.

It’s a series that will be tight right to the end, and the team that comes out on top could go far and even qualify for the Memorial Cup.

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Owen Beck – Center – 19 years old

This Petes team includes Owen Beck, another CH hopeful.

Beck hasn’t broken anything so far with Peterborough, and that continues right now in the playoffs (three points, including a goal in five games).

He’s not as dominant as we might have hoped, but Beck is still a very complete player, and even if he doesn’t score, he’s still very important to his team’s success.

Let’s see if his all-round game will be enough to see the Petes through to the next round.

WHL

Jared Davidson – Center – 20 years old

Being older than the others, Davidson is in the shadows.

However, his current playoff performances could open the eyes of CH fans.

Davidson is currently playing with one of the WHL’s top teams, the Seattle Thunderbirds, and their success has a lot to do with Davidson’s performance.

At the moment, Seattle has yet to lose a game.

Davidson has nine points (three goals and six assists) in six games.

The Thunderbirds will most likely move on to the next round, and could make it all the way to the Memorial Cup.

In a gust

– When the going gets tough…

– The Islanders could very well surprise the Hurricanes.

– Teams that finished just outside the playoffs will have to find what they were missing to participate in the spring tournament.

– What do you think?

– In any case, the Leafs are the favorites.

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Denis Gurianov: $2.9 million qualifying offer not worth it

The Montreal Canadiens were very quiet at the National Hockey League trade deadline.

This disappointed many fans, but it was to be expected, and almost all analysts and insiders were predicting that the CH would not be very active.

Nevertheless, a few days before the deadline, Kent Hughes made a move by trading Evgenii Dadonov, one of his only (if not the only) healthy and somewhat valuable assets on his team.

The state of health of Sean Monahan and even Joel Edmundson will have cost Kent Hughes some potential trades.

In return for Dadonov, the CH DG took a nice gamble by getting his hands on Denis Gurianov, a former first-round pick (12th overall) in 2015, now 25 years old.

Having already scored 20 goals in 2019-2020, Gurianov represented a nice asset obtained in return for a guy like Dadonov who had no future with the CH at the height of the 2022-2023 season.

The Gurianov gamble got off to a good start as the Russian put together a string of good games while scoring a few points, mostly goals.

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Gurianov’s talent frequently shone through, and you could really see the natural marker in him.

However, the semi-honeymoon quickly faded after nearly 13 games.

After eight points, including five goals, in his first 13 games with the Bleu Blanc Rouge, Gurianov went into hibernation for the next 10 games, which were also the last 10 games of the season.

So, in 23 games with the CH, we got to see the whole of Gurianov’s work.

We’ve been able to appreciate his good points, and criticize his bad ones.

The problem?

In general, his bad points outweighed his good ones.

And that’s when you have to wonder if Gurianov did enough in this trial with the Tricolore to earn himself a new contract.

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As Marc Dumont explains in his article, the CH must be cautious with Gurianov.

His start with the CH was very encouraging, but the second half of his career was marked by a number of worrying red flags, which led to his exit from Dallas.

Kent Hughes must now decide whether to offer the 25-year-old Russian a contract or not, and let him become a free agent.

Because yes, Gurianov is only a restricted free agent at the moment, which means the CH owns his rights unless Kent Hughes decides not to qualify Gurianov.

This option of simply letting Gurianov go without qualifying him is very possible considering the CH’s qualifying offer for number 25 is $2.9 million.

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2.9 M$ is still a lot for what Gurianov has demonstrated.

We therefore conclude that his qualifying offer isn’t really worth it, even if it was only for one year.

Gurianov would become an unrestricted free agent after this one-year contract.

So what we understand here is that Gurianov won’t be staying in Montreal.

However, let’s not jump to conclusions.

Gurianov could very well decide to come to an agreement with Kent Hughes on the terms of a one-year contract at a lower salary in order to prove himself to both the CH and other teams with a view to his complete autonomy in the summer of 2024.

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In short, if Gurianov is willing to drop his qualifying offer in order to stay with the CH for a year with a contract worth a little over a million, for example, I think it could be a win-win situation for both sides.

The Russian could make the mistake of sticking to his qualifying offer of $2.9 million and refusing the CH’s lesser offer, as he might not even get a contract on the free agent market, and especially not one around the $2.9 million mark.

Gurianov will also have the right to arbitration. If the CH qualifies Gurianov, but can’t agree on a contract, the situation will go to arbitration.

In short, it’s a complex situation that we’ll have to keep a close eye on this summer.

Personally, I think Hughes will want to keep Gurianov for another season, so that his gamble doesn’t last just 23 games.

Who knows, with the right development under Martin St-Louis and even Adam Nicholas, Gurianov could finally become the player the Dallas Stars saw in him when they drafted him.

In a gust of wind

– In any case, if there is one, the Montreal CF is in pole position.

– Speaking of CF.

– Fedorov has yet to lose a series since becoming CSKA Moscow coach.

– The young Slovak prodigy is targeted by the guys, considering she’s too dominant.

– We’ll see her again in six weeks.

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Dans les coulisses

Charity match: multiple fights between New York firefighters and police officers

There have been, and still are, many great rivalries in the history of field hockey.

Many of them have involved the Montreal Canadiens, whether in the CH’s glory years against the Quebec Nordiques and Boston Bruins, among others, or more recently against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

There are also regional rivalries, such as the Pennsylvania rivalry between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers, or the one between the three New York teams (Rangers, Islanders and Devils).

The problem with all these rivalries, however, is that for some years now, we’ve been noticing that today’s rivalries are nowhere near the same level as those of the good old days.

Opposing players in the same rivalry don’t really seem to hate each other as much as they used to, and there’s not as much tension between two teams as there used to be.

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In any case, while these rivalries no longer exist as they once did in the National Hockey League, elsewhere in the field hockey world, a few still do.

Let me introduce you to this incredible, almost 50-year-old rivalry between the New York Fire Department and the New York Police Department.

Every year, a charity field hockey match takes place between these two New York departments.

And yesterday, let’s just say that the 49th edition of this match didn’t disappoint.

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Indeed, there were plenty of intense fights during the match, which really set the place alight.

Not for nothing did this charity match take place in front of a sold-out crowd at the New York Islanders’ home, UBS Arena.

In addition to the impressive brawling, there was also a field hockey match, which was won by the New York Fire Department 8-5.

It’s a truly special event in New York between these two departments who work together on a regular basis in New York.

To see them put aside their friendships in this way for a field hockey game is a truly bizarre event not to be missed.

This rivalry is one that has remained intact in terms of intensity, and that’s why it’s one of the best rivalries in field hockey according to none other than Wayne Gretzky.

In a gust

– Very funny.

– AHL champions in their first season in Calgary.

– Fernandez wins big for Canada!

– It’s going to be a bumpy ride this summer in Pittsburgh.

– It’s crazy to think that there was a time when players scored over 200 points.