Montreal Canadiens news and notes
- Kent Hughes and Vincent Lecavalier watched Ivan Demidov in person in Russia on Tuesday. [Journal de Montreal]
- Patrik Laine says last night’s game was just an average performance that happened to come with three goals. He feels he’s not yet up to speed at five-on-five. [Journal de Montreal]
- How does he get there? “Just have to work, work, work.” Which, fortunately, he finds fun. [Sportsnet]
- Lindy Ruff explained to reporters that leaving Laine completely open on the power play was an error from the players on the ice, not a strategy. [RDS]
- Juraj Slafkovský says that without a shot like Laine’s, he has to resort to trick plays like bank shots from behind the goal line to score his goals. [Journal de Montreal]
- Lane Hutson is loving the every-day aspect of playing or practising at the NHL level. [Montreal Gazette]
- An offence-first defenceman, Justin Barron is learning that winning the puck on defence is the first step to creating a goal. [La Presse]
- After accusations of a “political move” to add Samuel Montembeault to the Team Canada 4 Nations roster, Julien BriseBois explained the process. [Radio-Canada]
- BriseBois also isn’t ruling out a place for Nick Suzuki on the team should they need an injury replacement ahead of the tournament. [RDS]
- Joel Hoefenmayer is now one step closer to his childhood dream of playing for the Canadiens. [Montreal Gazette]
- You may have seen some different mascots in the crowd at the Habs game last night. This was the guest list for the mascot party. [Canadiens.com]
Around the league and elsewhere
- Chris Kreider jumps to the top of The Athletic‘s trade-bait board. [The Athletic]
- New York Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette isn’t worried about his job security. [NHL.com]
- Kaapo Kaako’s opinion of being healthy scratched by Laviolette: “I know you got to do something as a coach when you’re losing games, but I think it’s just easy to pick a young guy and boot him out.” [Sportsnet]
- Why the Sabres, Detroit Red Wings, and Ottawa Senators are having such a tough time with their rebuilds. [The Athletic]
- Anthony Stolarz will be out four to six weeks to undergo knee surgery. [NHL.com]
- Ivan Provorov is open to signing an extension with the Columbus Blue Jackets. [TSN]
- San Jose Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky was fined $25,000 for inappropriate conduct versus Utah HC. [NHL.com]
- Kevin He became the first Chinese-born player to sign an NHL deal when the Winnipeg Jets inked him to his ELC on Tuesday. [NHL.com]
- Trey Augustine feels like an old man as he prepares for his third World Juniors. [NHL.com]
