Eyes On The Prize - All Posts

Game Thread - Boston Br00nz vs New York Rangers

2013-05-21T23:00:07Z

The Boston Bruins have a chance to grab a 3-0 lead in the series against the New York Rangers tonight, all but assuring a conference finals appearance.

Things are getting weird too, with John Tortorella saying Brad Marchand is the best player in the series, and Marchand being humble and saying he hasn't been playing that well. Marchand, being humble.

Of course right after the mic was turned off Marchand proceeded to complain about the Rangers diving for three hours.

Rumours surfaced today that if Torts doesn't pull off a conference finals birth this year, he's done like dinner as Slats goes into job preservation mode.

Should be a good game, starting at 7:30pm on TSN and RDS.

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Sebastian Collberg signed to an entry level deal by the Montreal Canadiens

2013-05-21T19:34:52Z

The Montreal Canadiens have signed second round pick from the 2012 NHL Entry Draft Sebastian Collberg to an entry level deal. Collberg finished his season in Sweden before coming over to Montreal to rehab a concussion, then joined the Hamilton Bulldogs for the final weekend of their AHL schedule.

Collberg is a ridiculously skilled young winger who can play both sides but shoots right. Collberg distinguished himself well everywhere he played this season, from the Allsvenskan to the Elisterien, despite limited ice time in the top league. He notched a point per game for Sweden in the World Junior Hockey Championships, where he won a silver medal, losing out to Alex Galchenyuk's American team.

PRESS RELEASE

MONTREAL- Montreal Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin announced Tuesday the signing of forward Sebastian Collberg to a three-year contract (2013-14 to 2015-16). As per club policy, financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

In 35 games with the Frölunda Indians in the Elitserien (Sweden) this season, Collberg totaled nine points (6 goals, 3 assists) and six penalty minutes. The 5'11'' and 181 lbs right winger also appeared in 15 games with Örebro HK in the HockeyAllsvenskan (Sweden), notching eight points (6 goals, 2 helpers) and two penalty minutes. Collberg completed his season in Hamilton taking part in two games with the Bulldogs.

Collberg, 19, suited up for Team Sweden at the 2013 IIHF World Junior Championship presented in Ufa, Russia, guiding the Swedish squad to the silver medal. He completed the tournament with six points (4 goals, 2 assists) in six games, ranking tied for first on the team in goals and points.

A native of Mariestad, Sweden, Collberg was selected in the second round, 33rd overall by the Canadiens at the 2012 NHL Entry Draft. He took part in the second half of the Canadiens' Development Camp in June 2012.

A second announcement game in the form of making the signing of Swedish defenseman Magnus Nygren official, with a press release of his own. It's unknown if either Swedish prospect will be joining the club in either Hamilton or Montreal this coming season, but it's certainly become more likely now.

PRESS RELEASE

MONTREAL - Montreal Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin announced Tuesday the signing of defenseman Magnus Nygren to a two-year contract (2013-14 and 2014-15). As per club policy, financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

In 51 games with the Karlstad Färjestad in the Elitserien (Sweden) this season, Nygren raked up 32 points (13 goals, 19 assists). He led the league defensemen in goals, and was tied for fourth among all Elitserien rearguards in points. He served 49 penalty minutes and displayed a +11 plus/minus differential. Nygren was named Elitserien best defenseman at the end of the season earning the Salming Trophy. He added four points (1 goal, 3 assists) in 10 playoff contests.

Nygren, 22, notched 65 points (24 goals, 41 assists) in 132 games since making his professional debut with Färjestad back in 2009-10. The 6'01'' and 191 lbs rearguard served 63 penalty minutes.

A native of Karlstad, Sweden, Nygren was selected in the fourth round, 113th overall by the Canadiens at the 2011 NHL Entry Draft. He took part in the second half of the Canadiens' Development Camp in July 2011.

The Canadiens also took today to announce that Alexei Emelin has finally undergone reconstructive surgery to both his ACL and MCL, with a recovery time of 6 months. That recovery time would put his prospective return date as late November, early December, which is a huge blow to the Canadiens to begin next year.

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The winner of the superstition contest is...

2013-05-21T18:00:06Z

We asked you what your playoff superstitions were as the first round began, and as a reward everyone who shared was entered to win a copy of Robert Lefebvre's new book "Tales from the Montreal Canadiens Locker Room".

Chosen by random draw, the winner of the contest is the gif-master, Scott Matla.

I will mail the book out to Scott as soon as he emails me an address to send it to. Congrats Scott!

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Canadiens Preseason Post-Mortems Revisited

2013-05-21T12:00:11Z

Prior to the season, I wrote this piece which featured a list of things I thought would need to go right for the Canadiens to be successful this season, and a list of factors that could could derail their efforts. Now that the season is over and our site is back at full strength, let's see how accurate the lists were.

Potential Pitfalls

1. Andrei Markov re-injures his knee, or his ankle, or any other part of his body, and misses most of the season.

To the surprise of many, Markov was able to suit up for all 48 of the Canadiens' regular season games, as well as all 5 in the playoffs, and was a key contributor both at even strength and in particular on the powerplay.

2. After promising rookie seasons, both Alexei Emelin and Raphael Diaz fail to fill top four roles, and the lack of a big-name signing on defense comes back to haunt Bergevin.

Both Emelin and Diaz impressed this year, but both suffered key injuries that exposed the team's lack of high calibre depth on the back end. In the end, the lack of a big-name signing on defense did come back to haunt Bergevin a little bit. Although it leaves more cap flexibility going forward.

3. Michel Therrien refuses to adapt to the new NHL, and management's strange obsession with replacement-level "toughness" translates into a lack of scoring, as the team loses its speed-based advantage that was the key to its success in past seasons.

Therrien was very much a question mark going in, but he was all we could have asked for and more. That doesn't mean he was a perfect coach by any means, but if you consider that the Canadiens' worst possession club of the decade came under his reign, being a top team in that aspect of the game is impressive enough alone. What we thought of as Bergevin and Therrien's obsession with toughness ended up being an obsession with capable 4th line depth, which turned out to be key in dealing with injuries and matching up with the depth of teams like the Bruins.

4. Therrien follows in the footsteps of his predecessors in relegating Eller to a mostly defensive role, failing to allocate him powerplay time or giving him linemates that properly complement his skillset.

It's safe to say that the first week of the season had us worried. But ultimately Therrien seemed to recognize Eller's importance, at least more than his predecessors. One way to put this is to say that Eller left his coach no choice but to play him. The young centerman, however, still averaged less ice time than he should be getting, particularly on the powerplay, but was the team's best forward down the stretch and we would expect that he will be relied upon as a top-minutes tough-competition center going forward.

5. David Desharnais is unable to replicate his success from last season, as his unsustainably high shooting percentage regresses to the mean, and/or Erik Cole, now 34, is held back by nagging injuries and tired legs, and the team's first line from last year fails to find success.

Well these things really did happen, and if it wasn't for a) proactive trading from Bergevin and b) the progression of young players like Gallagher and Galchenyuk, an ineffective Desharnais and Cole likely would have derailed the season.

6. Carey Price is lost for an extended period of time to injury. This one is obvious.

Notice how I didn't write "Carey Price regresses into to a below-average NHL goalie". Who would have thought that was a possibility?

Necessary Positives for a Good Season

1. At least one of Rene Bourque or Tomas Kaberle lives up to his contract. For Bourque, this would mean at least 13 goals, 10 assists in a top-6 role. For Kaberle, this would mean at least 25 points, and a consistent presence in the top-6 and on the second powerplay.

Well Tomas Kaberle was never really given this opportunity, but boy did Rene Bourque impress. My presumption in setting the 23-point threshold was that he would play in all 48 games, and his pace (13 points in 27 regular season games) pretty much matched that. Throw in 3 points in 5 playoff games, and Bourque had himself an impressive bounce-back season.

2. Carey Price takes the next step in his development, and finishes the year as one of the top candidates for the Vezina trophy. Development from the youngsters on defense and a healthy Andrei Markov would certainly help his cause.

Okay we're not gonna go there.

3. Alex Galchenyuk, thanks to a tremendous training camp and first five games, earns a top-6 role, which allows for more scoring flexibility through the top-9, gives Eller better linemates, and improves the Canadiens from 19th in goals per game a year ago to somewhere in the top half of the league. This would also take some pressure off of Bourque.

Yes, yes, and yes. Galchenyuk and Gallagher impressed, Eller was a star, and the Canadiens finished tied for 3rd in the NHL in goals per game.

4. Enough other teams in the Eastern Conference falter.

This truly was a big one. At the beginning of the season I isolated four elite Eastern Conference teams: Boston, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and the New York Rangers. Well Boston and Pittsburgh have proven to be elite, the Rangers weren't far behind, but Philadelphia certainly fell off. If you consider the embarrassment that was the Southeast division, the East might be the weakest it's ever been. A lot of things went right, and the Canadiens took advantage.

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Game Thread - Chicago Blackhawks vs Detroit Red Wings

2013-05-20T23:30:05Z

The Red Wings and Blackhawks split two 4-1 wins in Chicago to begin the series, which was a bit of a surprise for the heavily favoured Hawks.

It seems though, that the aging Red Wings aren't done yet, keeping the powerhouse Hawks to just 20 shots in their own barn.

The Blackhawks are still waiting on Jonathan Toews' scoring to show up, as the young phenom has just 3 assists in 7 playoff games.

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Brendan Gallagher has been the same player since he was 9

2013-05-20T14:00:05Z

Once again a stick tap to Dr. Habs, who dug up this video of Brendan Gallagher as a young lad.

P.K. Subban was epic even at 9 years old

2013-05-20T12:00:07Z

Earlier in the week Dr. Habs found some archival footage of P.K. Subban as a youngster.

Game Thread - Pittsburgh Penguins vs Ottawa Senators

2013-05-19T23:30:09Z

Last game I predicted that the Senators would overcompensate in covering Evgeni Malkin and let Sidney Crosby tear them apart. With Crosby scoring a hat trick in the game, I think it's fair to say I was on to something there.

With the Sens being boosted tonight by the return of Jason Spezza, it's less likely that the Penguins can rely on a single player ripping through the Ottawa lineup. However the Penguins will probably win anyway because Ottawa sucks.

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