A note to our readers
On Friday, we at Eyes On The Prize, and the vast majority of the other NHL websites on the SB Nation network, were informed that our sites would no longer receive any funding after February 28, 2023.
We, and those who ran the site before us, are proud to have built the go-to website for fans and followers of the Montreal Canadiens, offering articles on everyone from past legends to the newest prospects, in an attempt to offer as complete a picture as possible on what is going on in the organization.
We believe we’ve accomplished a lot over the years, and our current daily visitor count of around 35,000 certainly reinforces those thoughts. In 2022 we had one of the best years in the site’s history with about 16.5 million pageviews, and the two days of the 2022 NHL Draft stand as the top two days in terms of traffic that we’ve ever experienced. We were looking forward to continuing to tell the story of the Canadiens’ rebuild back to contender status to our EOTP readers, but that will no longer be feasible with these sudden changes.
For now, that coverage will remain largely the same, with news articles, game coverage, and analysis of prospects. But we now have an end date for EOTP as we know it.
The majority of the contributors you’ve been reading here are still interested in covering this team from top to bottom, wherever that may be come March 1. While we had no opportunity to prepare ahead of this announcement, we will be exploring new avenues to publish our thoughts, opinions, and analysis in the future.
If you would like to help us look into a transition to a new platform or simply show your support for what has been created here, a Patreon account has been set up for any assistance you wish to provide.
Thank you for reading along with what we’ve produced since 2009 when this site was first launched on SB Nation. We hope we can continue to provide such content once the date of February 28 has come to pass.
Justin Blades
Managing Editor
Montreal Canadiens News and Notes
- Arber Xhekaj wasn’t impressed by Radko Gudas’ failure to answer the bell in Thursday’s game. [TVA | Yahoo Sports]
- Mike Matheson fined for interference against Eric Staal. [TSN]
- The Habs held their tongues about officiating in Thursday’s game, but it wasn’t great. [The Athletic]
- Cole Caufield is acutely aware that contract negotiations have begun, but he’s trying not to think about it too much. [TSN | Montreal Gazette]
- Matheson appreciates Kent Hughes’ ability as an evaluator. [Montreal Gazette]/
Around the League and Elsewhere
- For the women of the Montreal Force of the PHF, one of the draws of the league was the chance to play hockey with a regular schedule. [Montreal Gazette]
- Matt Dumba scratched for the second time in a row for the Minnesota Wild. [TSN]
- Max Pacioretty back on the IR after re-injuring his Achilles. [Sportsnet | TSN | NHL]
- Bruce Cassidy says that Jack Eichel isn’t meeting expectations as injuries continue to be a concern for the Golden Knights. [Yahoo Sports]
- Upper Deck has created a limited-edition set of cards honoring eight Indigenous players who never had cards when they played. [Yahoo Sports]
- These cards will only be available at Indigenous hockey camps, and at First Row Collectibles in Winnipeg. [CBC]
- Erik Karlsson wants to win, but doesn’t think Mike Grier should rush into any trades. [NHL | The Athletic]
- Bruce Boudreau might be in his last few days as coach of the Vancouver Canucks, but for now he’s still here. [TSN | Sportsnet | NHL]
- Boudreau’s not the only Canuck who might be on the way out of Vancouver, as talks have heated up around Bo Horvat. [Sportsnet]
- It seems likely that Rick Tocchet will replace Boudreau behind the Canucks’ bench. [Yahoo Sports]
- Communication has been one of the big reasons for Rick Bowness’ success with the Winnipeg Jets. [TSN]
- Evander Kane will face bankruptcy trials next week. [The Athletic]/
