Montreal Canadiens news and notes
- “We have all the answers. We have to put them into practice,” Juraj Slafkovský says of the defensive struggles that have crept back into the Canadiens’ play. [La Presse]
- Slafkovský may be starting to play the way he did in the latter half of last season. [Montreal Gazette]
- It’s good that everyone on the team agrees that fixes are needed to the current play that still resulted in three of six points last week. [The Athletic]
- Alexandre Carrier was surprised by how close-knit the Canadiens are when he arrived. [TVA Sports]
- The players whose play will make the biggest difference in the final 33 games. [La Presse]
- “If I were Chicago, I would have taken [Ivan Demidov],” says Boston Bruins defenceman Nikita Zadorov. [RG.org]
Around the league and elsewhere
- Already with a big commitment to Nathan MacKinnon and potentially an even bigger one to Cale Makar coming up, Colorado Avalanche general manager Chris McFarland felt he couldn’t saddle his team with another of the league’s richest contracts for Mikko Rantanen. [The Athletic]
- Alex Pietrangelo has withdrawn from the 4 Nations Face-Off with a minor injury he wants to recover from over the two-week NHL break. [NHL.com]
- Jesper Bratt is looking forward to the next chapter of the Sweden-Finland battle at the 4 Nations. [NHL.com]
- It’s only their eighth season of existence, but the Vegas Golden Knights have some impressive names on their quarter-century team. [NHL.com]
- Tampa Bay Lightning defenceman Emil Lilleberg will have a hearing with the Department of Player Safety. [NHL.com]
- Artturi Lehkonen scored the winning goal with 15 seconds to play to end the New York Rangers’ point streak at 10 games. [NHL.com]
