Eyes On The Prize, a Montreal Canadiens community

I was invited onto CBC Radio Montreal's Daybreak this morning to talk some puck, including trade deadline and expectations for the Canadiens with Lynne @lawyergirl77. Listen to the segment here.

Last night it's fair to say that Habs fans were furious over Dave Jackson's goal call on Victor Hedman's second of the night. Calling it a goal on the ice made it much more difficult for the war room in Toronto to make the right call, but as Kerry Fraser points out today, the call should never have been in question, it was no goal.

Dave Stubbs of the Montreal Gazette had a long chat with P.K. Subban recently about his ongoing contract talks. The quotes Subban gives in the interview are gold, especially the one printed at the very top. But the best part about the interview in our humble and biased opinion is that Stubbs mentions EOTP: "Not Subban nor Meehan nor Bergevin will confirm the dollars or term either side is offering. But the website habseyesontheprize.com, a lucid voice that offers exhaustive, balanced analysis of the Subban case, lists no fewer than six dozen NHL defencemen of less impact (in their view) who annually earn more than $3 million." Thanks to Dave for that!

Dave Stubbs linked to this video of Pacioretty pushing over 1000 pounds of weights for Prentiss Gym while training for the season. This makes the 3rd straight year where a Pacioretty training video makes the rounds. It all started with this video of Pacioretty doing a 5 foot vertical jump with no momentum. Patches is a definite fitness nut, and it paid off for him last year, hopefully more of the same in 2013.

So I think we can all assume that this is no longer worth a full article, but a writeup must be done. We're used to the NHL canceling games by now, but this time it comes with an assumed drop date for the league. What does that mean? Well it means that if no CBA is reached by January 15th, the NHL is going nuclear and taking out the season. All the legal stuff that's been going on the past couple weeks seems to make that deadline a hell of a challenge to meet, so the doomsday sayers can begin their chanting now. Well, the doomsday sayers in regards to the NHL. People who think the world is going to end tomorrow (today in Australia and New Zealand) are still really, really stupid. 625 games have been canceled thus far, over 50% of the NHL schedule.

Hamilton Bulldogs President Steve Ostaszewicz spoke to Hockey Central this afternoon, leading up to the team's home opener this Friday.

The Hamilton Bulldogs released their schedule and list of participants to open this year's training camp. Twenty-six forwards, 11 defencemen and five goaltenders will report for medicals and physicals on Friday at the Brossard sportsplex. Just 15 players from this year's camp saw action in Hamilton last season, with only two defensemen suiting up for the Bulldogs in 2011-12. Twenty-six-year-old Frederic St-Denis is the veteran of a very young defensive corps at this year's camp. The Bulldogs also announced that St. Denis, goaltender Cedrick Desjardins and forward Aaron Palushaj have signed AHL deals, enabling them to avoid NHL waivers. The first five days of on-ice camp will be in Sherbrooke, QC, before the team heads to Trenton, ON,for a community skate on Friday Oct. 5. The following Saturday the Bulldogs play their first pre-season game in Cobourg against the Toronto Marlies. The Dogs then head homeward to finish camp, before the season begins on October 12.

The crew from TSN690's "The Franchise," show spoke to a pair of Habs prospects, and certain Hamilton Bulldogs to start 2012-13, Louis Leblanc and Brendan Gallagher this morning.

The Sarnia Sting announced today that Canadiens 2012 1st round pick Alex Galchenyuk will be their captain for 2012-13. Many fans hoped to see Galchenyuk play at least at the AHL level this season, but with the NHL in limbo, fans in Ontario will at least get to have peek at the 18-year-old center. Galchenyuk, who made his debut at No. 3 in our annual Top 25 Under 25, missed most of last season with a knee injury, but is excited to start the season this Friday against the Belleville Bulls. Earlier this week, the Candiens fourth round pick in 2012, Brady Vail, was named an alternate captain for Sarnia's rival, the Windsor Spitfires. To no real surprise, Canadiens defensemen Alexei Emelin will play for the KHL's AK Bars Kazan during the lockout. Emelin's agent Don Meehan confirmed it this afternoon with the Sports Business Journal.

So it's guaranteed you won't be reading about a P.K. Subban signing for some time. But you can catch a glimpse of him tonight on CBC, as he is featured on the season premiere of "This Hour Has 22 Minutes." Here's a behind the scenes look at P.K. getting ready for the taping. Meanwhile with 21 players thrown into their lap on Monday, the Hamilton Bulldogs signed three players to two-way AHL-ECHL contracts this afternoon. The most familiar face for Bulldogs fans will be Olivier Fortier, who returns for his fourth season in The Hammer. Fortier was a third round pick by the Canadiens in 2007, but injuries limited him to partial seasons since his final year of junior. It seriously affected his future and was never able to crack our annual Top 25 Under 25. Joining him will be five-year AHL veteran Stefan Chaput, who split last season with the Syracuse Crunch and Providence Bruins, and Michigan State grad Daultan Leveille, a former first round pick by the Atlanta Thrashers in 2008. Leveille never signed with the Winnipeg Jets, becoming a free agent. Chaput's stats via Elite Prospects Leveille's statitstics and a 2011 profile from Illegal Curve. The Bulldogs also announce that single game tickets will go on sale this Friday. There will be tiered pricing this season, dropping average ticket prices by $5 over last season. South of the border, high ranked Canadiens prospect Danny Kristo has been suspended by the University of North Dakota, along with the team captain and two other players. The foursome, who make up the team's leadership corps, will miss the season opener against Alaska Anchorage and further team discipline that includes a mandatory community service program, weekly alcohol education programs and probation. Further incident could result in scholarship reduction, a suspension or an expulsion.