Sunday Habs Links: Young Habs fan also battling meningitis

Montreal Canadiens

• Brendan Gallagher signs a six-year extension worth $3.75M AAV. Here's the audio of the entire Bergevin press conference, if you want to listen. [EOTP]
• Alexei Emelin fined $11K for an illegal check to the head of Brian Gionta. [EOTP]
• (French) The Habs are languishing offensively, but so are the Washington Capitals and the San Jose Sharks. [RDS]
• 13-year-old Alex Smidt is a Habs fan living in Regina. He is battling bacterial meningitis (similar to what Habs prospect Tim Bozon suffered from earlier this year, coincidentally also in Saskatchewan). His dad is a contributor on Hockey Inside/Out, and they had hoped to attend yesterday's game live. Alex hopes to come to Montreal next year, and the HI/O community is trying to make financial arrangements in support. [Montreal Gazette]
  

Around the League and Elsewhere

• Guess which forward currently leads the NHL All-Star voting? Sidney Crosby? Please, not that scrub. According to Sportsnet, it's Buffalo Sabres centre Zemgus Girgensons. Girgensons is pretty good, with 13 points in 23 games so far, but this is certainly a surprise. [Sportsnet]
• The history of the NHL All Star Game - it was originally a fundraiser for an injured player. [Arctic Ice Hockey]
• The harsh realities of being a Toronto Maple Leaf goalie: James Reimer talks about the two-faced reaction from the fans, and Jonathan Bernier is breaking down physically from having to face 40-50 shots per night. This is the second most depressing hockey article I've read all day. [The Star]
• New York Ranger's forward Tanner Glass is out with the mumps, because if this week's news is any indication, we have all traveled back in time to the 1950s. [CBS Sports]
• A skidding Canadian dollar has an impact on NHL finances: salary caps remain steady, Canadian teams lose about 10 percent of their revenue from last year, and a Quebec City teams looks increasingly unlikely. [The New York Times]