Friday Habs Headlines: Bienvenue, Joël Bouchard!

Montreal Canadiens news and notes

• The hiring of Joël Bouchard may mean bigger things for the ex-Blainville-Boisbriand Armada head coach with the Montreal Canadiens. [Sportsnet]
• The cameras were waiting for the arrival of the new Laval Rocket bench boss at Place Bell. [Laval Rocket]/

Joël is in the house! // Joël Bouchard est arrivé à la Place Bell ! 👀🎥 pic.twitter.com/5V1UWZHonA

— Rocket de Laval (@RocketLaval) May 17, 2018

• Geoff Molson says that player development will be a pillar of his plan for the franchise moving forward. [Montreal Gazette]
• The Habs may not stack up top to bottom against any of the final four teams, but they have specific areas where they can match up against the league’s elite. [The Hockey Writers]
• Jacob de la Rose talks about his role on Team Sweden. [HockeyPuls (Swedish)]
• Bob McKenzie talks Ryan O’Reilly and potential interest from the Canadiens in a new episode of the Bobcast. [TSN Hockey (Audio)]
• A new park will be named after Habs legend Dickie Moore in his old Parc-Extension neighbourhood. [La Presse]
• Andrew Shaw may miss the start of the 2018-19 regular season, but he will be ready for fatherhood. [Montreal Gazette]
• The Deslauriers household is going to be getting bigger! [Nicolas Deslauriers]/

Excited to Announce that my family is getting bigger!!!! Vraiment excité d'annoncer que la famille Deslauriers s'agrandit !!!! #BoyorGirl??? pic.twitter.com/l1v4Z4tc17

— Nicolas Deslauriers (@Nicdeslauriers4) May 17, 2018

Around the league and elsewhere

• Through three games, the Washington Capitals had surprisingly outplayed the Tampa Bay Lightning at even strength. [TSN]
• After being blamed for the Game 3 loss, these Washington Capitals fans offered up their broom, signed by Nicklas Backstrom, as an offering to the hockey gods. [Washington Post]
• Why have road teams been winning more in this year’s playoffs? [ESPN]
• Kaleb Dahlgren wants to play hockey again after surviving the Humboldt Broncos’ bus crash. [ESPN]
• Jeremy Jacobs describes Quebec City as a “challenged” market for the NHL. [Sportsnet]
• Pierre-Karl Peladeau admits that there’s work to be done concerning any return of the NHL to Quebec City. [Radio-Canada]
• Unfortunately for goalies everywhere, Patrik Laine didn’t stick with the position. [Sami Hoffren]/

It's pretty baffling that only 8 years ago Patrik Laine was a goalie. Didn't want to be a forward.

Laine: "I wanted to be goalie, but my dad didn't leave me any choice."

— Sami Hoffrén (@shoffren) May 17, 2018