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« This is what I don’t like about what we do in Montreal »

How to succeed in a rebuild? If someone had the answer, they would be a millionaire. There isn’t just one right way, but the Canadiens have chosen the traditional path, gradually trusting the youth while phasing out some veterans along the way.

In this respect, the Canadiens are following the plan well, and that shouldn’t change as the trade deadline approaches. Jake Evans, Mike Matheson, Christian Dvorak, and Joel Armia are all candidates to leave the team by March 7, and this is something that displeases Norman Flynn.

“That’s what I don’t like about what we’re doing in Montreal. If we replace all these players with young ones, we’ll end up like the Buffalo Sabres.” – Norman Flynn

He then mentioned the example of the Capitals, who are at the top despite having many veterans on their team. He cites Cole Hutson and Ryan Leonard joining, but insists that the winning core will remain.

For a rare time, I agree with Norman Flynn on the approach. You can’t change everything overnight; it has to be done gradually.

I don’t believe the Canadiens are ready to trade Mike Matheson unless they get a huge return. The defensive corps is not yet ready to take on his 20+ minutes, especially without Kaiden Guhle.

The important thing is that the Canadiens make progress, and that involves a solid group of veterans. Ivan Demidov is on the way, Owen Beck as well, but the team needs to progress as a whole. That’s what really matters.

I expect a busy summer for Kent Hughes. If he trades veterans, he will need to bring others in to at least stabilize the ship when tougher times arise.

In brief

– He is making good progress.

– It’s true that it’s expensive.

– They have quite a team on paper.

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Trump announces tariffs of 25% on steel and aluminum

President Trump announced that 25% tariffs will be imposed on all imports of aluminum and steel to the United States starting Monday.

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“All steel coming into the United States will be subject to 25% tariffs,” Trump announced while aboard a flight to New Orleans to attend the Super Bowl. He then clarified to reporters on the presidential plane that these tariffs would also apply to aluminum.

These measures would significantly affect Canada, the primary supplier of steel and aluminum to the United States, as well as Brazil, Mexico, and South Korea.

During his first term, Donald Trump had already imposed 25% tariffs on steel and 10% on aluminum. He justified his decision by denouncing unfair competition from Asian and European countries.

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Trump stated that he would announce “on Tuesday or Wednesday” the implementation of “reciprocal” tariffs. This strategy aims to impose taxes on foreign products in the same way that other countries tax American products.

“If they tax us at 130% and we don’t tax them, that will not stay the same […] They tax us, we tax them,” he added.

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Pascal Vincent performs better than Martin St-Louis

The break for the 4 Nations Confrontation in the NHL allows everyone to take a pause and assess the teams’ successes. When looking at the Canadiens, the break couldn’t have come at a better time as the team has been self-destructing for the past few weeks.

The captain of the ship, Martin St-Louis, is not escaping criticism, and his performance was critiqued by Martin Lemay today.

He mentioned that he does not rank Martin St-Louis very high among NHL coaches, while implying that Pascal Vincent, who leads the Rocket, could be a better candidate to coach the Canadiens.

“I think Martin St-Louis could have done better in many situations. Pascal Vincent with his Laval Rocket leads the American League with one of the youngest teams. I’m just saying.” -Martin Lemay

Let’s say he questions what Martin St-Louis has been doing with the Canadiens over the past year.

It has been quite difficult to defend the coach of the Canadiens over the past few weeks. However, the rebuilding and the young team that the Canadiens represent make it hard to consider a coaching change at this stage.

On the other hand, when there is enough talent to participate in the playoffs, if the team does not perform quickly, it could end swiftly for Martin St-Louis. At that point, if Vincent is still available, he would be a good candidate.

One thing is certain, Lemay’s argument regarding youth does not hold water. The AHL and the NHL are two completely different things. It’s hard to compare, and there is still a lot of talent in Laval for a team at this level.

The results are still excellent for Vincent, and if this continues for 1-2 years while things stagnate in Montreal, a real debate will be able to take place, and St-Louis would not have the advantage.

In Brief

– Lucrative contract extension for him.

– The first since Mike Green?

– It’s still a surprise.

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Brad Marchand does not see himself being traded

On paper, seeing Brad Marchand traded from the Bruins is a very likely scenario.

After all, even though he is the captain of this team, he has a great trade value, he will become an unrestricted free agent next July, and above all, the Bruins are not in a playoff position at the time of writing this.

Of course, everything can change, as they are only one point out of the playoffs, but…

(Credit: NHL.com )

But we feel that Boston’s “dynasty” is reaching its end. The team is not the same, it is aging and slowing down.

The big bad Bruins have a very old group and very few prospects, which means Marchand could very well leave and bring the Bruins picks or prospects. A Cup-contending team would pay a premium for that kind of player.

But for now, the Bruins captain, who doesn’t see himself changing addresses, is not worried about it. He is not stressing over things he can’t control.

He does have some control, as he has a partial no-trade clause (8 teams he does not wish to be traded to). But let’s say he wouldn’t say no to one last Stanley Cup. The guy is still 36 years old and even though he is still playing very well, his best hockey is behind him.

Even though he does not see himself being traded from the team that drafted him, Samuel Montembeault’s new best friend admits that he would still feel weird playing for a team other than Boston. He would also feel a little lost.

In his 1,086 career games, he has played them in Boston. The 973 points he has scored, he scored them in Boston. The 1,111 penalty minutes he has taken, he took them in Boston. If he were to leave the city, it would be strange for everyone.

In Brief

– Well done.

– Maybe he should give some advice to Patrik Laine.

– Leaving him in the stands is not universally agreed upon.

– Noted.

– No.

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Comments from Patrik Laine: “you don’t need that in a locker room, bye bye, bye bye”

Patrik Laine should have kept his mouth shut. He should have done it before the game against the Blue Jackets last December, and he should have done it today as well.

For those who haven’t heard, the Finn sent a (not too subtle) message to Martin St-Louis today by saying that playing a lot with Finland will help him.

He also admitted that his game hasn’t been solid lately, but that’s probably because he realized he was losing it in front of the media. He surely also realized he was being filmed and that his words were being recorded.

And yes, he should have kept his trap shut, once again.

But I think the timing is bad. He waited until he was no longer in the Montreal entourage to talk about his ice time. Patrick Friolet mentioned on 5 à 7 that the Finn was holding back from discussing his ice time in recent weeks… Yannick Bouchard did not take it well.

It gives us the impression of the man’s greatness. When the coach is not there [makes a sign to throw him under the bus]. That’s out, bye, you don’t need that in the locker room, bye bye, bye bye. – Yannick Bouchard

The way he plays and speaks right now, I’m not sure the Canadiens will revisit the Laine experience next season. Just a few days ago, I talked about a contract buyout.

Let’s hope he has a good tournament and can save his season with the CH afterward.

But back to his comments about his coach, let’s see if he will personally apologize. Mathieu Olivier admitted on the podcast The Cam & Strick Podcast that the Finn apologized to a few teammates for his controversial comments earlier in the season, but apparently not to Olivier, who he was very close to in Columbus.

Olivier says he hasn’t spoken to the winger since those comments. Clearly, the Jackets players still have it on their minds.

In brief

– It’s clear.

– Will this be his only game?

– I don’t think they have a chance.

– Nice visit, indeed.

– Come on, really.

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Absurd scene: Two goalies come to blows after a game and the KHL shares the footage

Two goalies coming to blows, you don’t see that often in hockey.

It’s quite rare, after all.

And in a world where there’s an effort to curb fighting in North America… Let’s just say things happen differently in Russia.

Ivan Kulbakov (Torpedo) and Amir Miftakhov (AK Barz) decided to throw punches after their match today.

This occurred while both teams met at center ice to give the customary handshake after a game… And it escalated pretty quickly.

Players from both teams had to intervene to separate them before things got out of hand:

What’s crazy about this is that the KHL posted the footage on its own Twitter account.

As if we should be proud of what just happened…

Ultimately, the players and referees who came to intervene in the little scuffle helped calm things down.

At the end of the footage, you can see the Torpedo goalie is still furious… And one has to wonder what the AK Barz goalie said to make him lose his cool like that.

Moreover, his team had just won the game with a score of 5-1!

That said, I really want to know what happened for the two goalies to come to blows.

Again, it’s rare to see this… Especially after a game, when both teams shake hands in a sign of respect.

In Brief

– He has the right mindset.

– Hello, boys.

– Logical.

– All the better!

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Patrik Laine on the 2nd line and the first power play of Finland

Patrik Laine will represent Finland at the Four Nations Tournament.

And let’s say that the Finnish management believes in him based on where he is placed in the lineup.

The Canadiens player will start the competition on the second line of his team, alongside Sebastian Aho and Roope Hintz.

Artturi Lehkonen, Aleksander Barkov, and Mikko Rantanen complete the first Finnish unit.

Joel Armia, on the other hand, is placed on the third line:

We will see how Laine performs on the second line.

It’s better for him to perform well, for example, because we know how difficult it has been for him in Montreal for the past three weeks…

Will the Finnish management be patient in his case? That also remains to be seen.

However, let’s remember that Laine and Aho had a lot of success together at the World Junior Championship. Maybe they will find the chemistry that allowed them to be so dominant!

Laine will also have the opportunity to play on the first power play unit of Finland.

There is a nice firepower on the power play:

Barkov, who is also on Finland’s first power play, spent some time with Laine at the end of practice to work on little things.

We saw the Panthers’ captain making passes to Laine for him to practice his one-timers:

Let’s note that Joel Armia’s name is not found on either power play unit.

But in the context of knowing that he excels on the penalty kill, I really feel that he will have an important role on the PK.

After all, Armia’s puck protection skills mean he has everything he needs to help a team in a situation like that.

In Brief

– It’s going to be tough.

– 👀

– Cheeeeeeeese!

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Jordan Binnington will be in front of the net for Canada tomorrow

The wait is finally over!

Tomorrow evening, Canada will play its first match of the Four Nations Tournament.

Sweden will be on the menu in a match that will be held in Montreal, at the Bell Centre.

We have been waiting to learn the identity of the starting goalie for Canada, and Jon Cooper – unlike other coaches – has not decided to keep it a secret.

It’s Jordan Binnington who will be starting:

This means that Samuel Montembeault will have to wait before having the chance to prove himself… But he could be waiting for a long time as well.

Monty – who has been having his share of difficulties since the start of the new year – may not get any playing time during the tournament since the two other goalies ahead of him are solid.

Unless Binnington or Hill get injured…

That said, I am curious to see what Canada’s plan will be in goal. Will they want to stick with Binnington for the whole tournament if he has a good start tomorrow?

We know he has experience in goal because he has already won the Stanley Cup. He can handle the pressure… And the same goes for Hill, who lifted the big trophy with the Golden Knights in the spring of 2023.

From what Don Sweeney has said, Binnington and Hill definitely have an edge over Monty… whom he qualifies as a “goalie on the rise”:

Even if he doesn’t play, this is still a great experience for Montembeault because he has the opportunity to be around the guys and face shots from the best players in the world during practice.

So it’s not a wasted week… Even though we can agree it would be cool to see him in goal for Team Canada.

Overtime

Let’s note that the Swedes seem ready to face Canada tomorrow night.

Rasmus Dahlin has been quite clear: there will be no friends on the ice at the Bell Centre…

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SKA: Demidov started today’s game on the 4th line (and he earned a point)

It is known that things have been going well for Ivan Demidov recently.

It is also known that SKA tends to have more success when used properly by its coach.

However, this did not stop Roman Rotenberg from starting Demidov on the 4th line of his team today.

Rotenberg is hard to follow.

The worst part is that his strategy did not work against Dinamo Minsk…

The Saint Petersburg team lost by a score of 3-1. And in the comments of the publication above, we can see that some are not happy with Demidov’s usage:

(Credit: Twitter Screenshot)

Roman Rotenberg decided to start using Demidov properly when SKA was down 3-0, but the damage was already done.

The Canadiens prospect even finished the game with a total ice time of 21:07 after spending 5 minutes and 42 seconds on the ice in the first period…

At least, Roman Rotenberg understands that he needs to trust his young player when he needs a goal.

The Canadiens prospect managed to get his name on the scoresheet by earning an assist on his team’s only goal:

At 19 years old, Demidov is at the top of the scoring leaders on his team.

He has now recorded 45 points (19 goals) in 53 games this season.

That said, there is no player of that caliber who should start a game on the 4th line… And that is why Roman Rotenberg’s decision is drawing attention right now.

Overtime

Finally, it’s worth noting that Demidov has managed to record a point in a 4th consecutive game.

He is currently on a nice streak, to put it another way.

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MVP of the Beanpot: Cole Hutson has been dominating since the Junior World Championship

Cole Hutson and Boston University had an important game scheduled last night in the final of the famous Beanpot Tournament.

They faced Jacob Fowler and Boston College for the occasion.

Lane, Cole’s older brother who played for BU in recent years, was there to cheer him on. The Canadiens’ defenseman went to motivate his former teammates in the locker room before the game and he had fun during the match:

Cole notably helped his team win 4-1 by scoring BU’s second goal.

He outsmarted the goalie with a wrist shot and celebrated with a lot of emotion:

Lane’s little brother had an outstanding game, being one of the most used players by his coach.

His performance earned him the Beanpot MVP title as he scored five points (three goals) in two games.

He didn’t steal it:

Let’s just say everything has been going smoothly for Cole Hutson for the past month and a half.

Recall that he finished the World Junior Championship as the tournament’s top scorer, helped the United States win gold, and was named to the tournament’s first all-star team…

And since returning to Boston University, the defenseman has also collected 14 points in his last 10 games. Not bad!

After BU’s victory, Lane Hutson quickly went to congratulate his little brother on the bench, who was holding the MVP trophy.

This led to some great images:

It’s certain that the Washington Capitals management is rubbing their hands right now.

The Caps successfully selected Hutson in the 2nd round of the last draft (43rd pick) because there were still doubts about his size and build… But as Lane has shown, Cole is proving that it doesn’t mean anything.

He could become a really good offensive defenseman in the NHL, just like his brother!

In brief

– The Tkachuk brothers are excited.

– The photo is stunning.

– Oh.

– Why not?