Montreal Canadiens news and notes
- It will be rough, but there are plenty of reasons to watch the Montreal Canadiens in 2023-24. [Daily Faceoff]
- The Habs looked better in defeat than the Toronto Maple Leafs did in victory. [RDS]
- The opener was a sign that the team was still going to experience growing pains as a group this season. [Sportsnet]
- Martin St-Louis prefers to look at the positives of game one. [RDS]
- The head coach sat down with Juraj Slafkovsky before the start of the season to talk “business.” [La Presse]
- Johnathan Kovacevic talks about how a young defence corps might be more susceptible to self-doubt and self-blame after a mistake. [Radio-Canada]
- Jeff Gorton described it as a “full moon game”. [TSN 690 (Audio)]
- If the Canadiens measure success through process, then opening night was an achievement. [The Athletic]
- Arber Xhekaj is “proud” of his fight against Leafs enforcer Ryan Reaves. [Daily Hive | RDS]
- Joel Armia knows he has to stay patient. [RDS | La Presse]
Around the league and elsewhere
- Dear Buffalo — A letter from Tage Thompson. [Buffalo Sabres]
- Brad Treliving remembers Chris Snow in his battle with ALS: ‘I watched him fight so hard for so long’ [Daily Faceoff]
- There are times when Anna Ek watches her son’s face used as a punching bag and wonders what her precious boy, Minnesota Wild centre Joel Eriksson Ek, could possibly have done to make that person so mad. [The Athletic]
- Do multi-year coaching extensions mean anything, given that recent NHL history shows an unsuccessful season can lead to a coaching change at any point? [The Hockey News]
- How does an 18-year-old handle NHL life? Connor Bedard is about to find out. [The Athletic]
- Salary cap crunches are putting a tight squeeze on NHL teams already. [Daily Faceoff]
- Which contract negotiations will define the 2023-24 NHL season? [Daily Faceoff]
- The Ottawa Senators have entered into a multi-year agreement with the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) that will see the bank’s logo featured on the NHL club’s home jersey. [TSN]
- Alex Ovechkin’s next goal will make him hockey’s greatest (era-adjusted) scorer. [TSN]
- The Arizona Attorney General’s Office is investigating Tempe for possibly violating open meeting laws and using tens of thousands of public dollars in an effort to influence the outcome of the Arizona Coyotes election. [AZ Central]
- Rather than drop the name, the Red Deer Minor Hockey Chiefs approached Chief Wilton Littlechild and other local Indigenous leaders to make their primary logo more accurate and authentic. [RD News Now]
