Wednesday Habs Headlines: Let the 2017 NHL playoffs begin!

Montreal Canadiens news and notes

• The Canadiens are healthy and quietly confident heading into their opening round series versus the New York Rangers. [Sportsnet]
• On Habs Breakfast, Marc Dumont breaks down how the Habs have a true number-one defence pairing for the first time in a long while. [TSN690]
• The Habs might not be here if not for their mid-season coaching change. [Arpon Basu]
• In case you missed it, Ginette Reno will be back! [TVA]

• The first-line centre is ready to go. [Instagram]
• Steve Ott sings the praises of his new captain on and off the ice. [Eric Engels]
• Claude Julien compared Artturi Lehkonen to another Frölunda Hockey Club player yesterday. [Eric Engels]

• Alexei Emelin might be out for longer than just Game One. [Arpon Basu]

• Andrew Berkshire looks at the matchup and believes that the Canadiens have a significant advantage going into this series. [RDS | Google Translate]
• Our friends at the Rangers site continue their playoff preview by examining Montreal’s top-six forwards and potential X-factors. [Blueshirt Banter]
• Joel Lundqvist is quite frank in his assessment of his brother’s chances. [Patrik Bexell]
• Carey Price: linguistic savant. [24CH]

Around the league and elsewhere

• Dimitri Filipovic and Andrew Berkshire break down all of the Eastern Conference playoff matchups. [The Hockey PDOcast]
• Travis Yost breaks down the Canadian teams’ first-round chances line-by-line. [TSN]
• NHL Central Scouting has released its final rankings for this summer’s entry draft. [SB Nation College Hockey]
• Raw Charge categorizes Tampa’s players by type and create balanced lines. [Raw Charge]
• Justin Abdelkader says goodbye to Joe Louis Arena. [The Players’ Tribune]
• Leon Draisaitl’s two points in the final game of the season may have cost Jack Eichel a $2 million bonus. [CBC]
• Players, including Mark Scheifele, Ryan O’Reilly, and Nikolaj Ehlers, have already started to declare their intentions to play at the World Championship. [TSN]
• Hockey Canada has selected a strong coaching staff for the Worlds team, led by Jon Cooper. [Hockey Canada]
• Courtesy of Les Canadiennes defenceman and Concordia Stingers coach Julie Chu, the number of registered female hockey players in the USA has jumped tremendously from 1990 to today. [Twitter]

• “Alexander Semin has not scored in 19 matches in a row. Will he break his goalless drought today? #MMGSKA” (Nyet was the correct answer). [KHL Twitter]