Winnipeggers have three main civic obligations. We must celebrate the Red River Floodway, mock the City of Regina, and love Teemu Selanne. We must love Teemu because he says he loves us back. It’s not hard to love Teemu as he’s affable, talented, has a good sense of humour and holds immense nostalgic value, connecting fans to an era of Winnipeg hockey that was feared to be lost. Thus, Selanne’s decision to play in 2013-2014 is extremely welcome news to me, and I hope you’re happy too. For those interested and available, Selanne’s 30-city farewell tour stops off in Montreal on October 24th.
With that sappy stuff out of the way, here are your links for the day!
Montreal Canadiens News and Analysis
- With rookie camp not opening until Thursday and main camp not opening until September 11th, there’s very little roster news to report at the moment. The best I’ve got for you is a rumour that Brenden Morrow has been invited to Canadiens camp.
- Kenny MacMillan over at A Winning Habit takes a look which former Habs have gone where this off-season, with special emphasis on the not-so-happy endings. Notable moves include Colby Armstrong heading off to Sweden and Jeff Halpern remaining unsigned.
- The folks over at EA Sports have released the list of the 50 highest ranked players in NHL 14. Carey Price remains Montreal’s highest ranked virtual player, sitting at number 16 on the list (90 overall). Meanwhile, P.K. Subban and Max Pacioretty also crack the top 50, both with overall ratings of 88.
General News and Analysis
- Speaking of NHL 14, PGI over at Lighthouse Hockey is up to his old tricks, goofing and spoofing on the video game’s newest mode.
- Derek Zona over at Copper & Blue looks at NHL coaching lineage, tracking which coaches hired assistants that went on to become NHL head coaches in their own right. Michel Therrien has his own tree, as his first coaching job in the NHL was as head coach of the Montreal Canadiens. MT secured the job in November 2000 after piloting the AHL’s Quebec Citadelles to an Atlantic Division Championship. Therrien went on to birth Guy Carbonneau and Kirk Muller, a mental image I suggest you avoid.
- Do you know small children and grown men in the Ottawa Valley? Would you like to make these people cry? If you answered yes to both of these questions, then I recommend you show them this picture of Daniel Alfredsson donning a Red Wings jersey for the first time.
- The Boston Bruins have secured the services of GM Peter Chiarelli through the 2017-2018 season, inking the 2014 Team Canada assistant to a four year extension on Friday. Chiarelli’s competence irks me and this signing makes me sad.
- In response to a lack of parity in the women’s international game, Canada and the United States joined forces in 2011 to run development camps for teenage girls in Europe. The camps have been going strong for the past three years, with participants on each side of the Atlantic valuing the experience. Paul Romanuk over at IIHF.com has the scoop.
- Vancouver Province columnist Tony Gallagher thinks that Roberto Luongo’s attitude needs improvement given the “respect” the organization has shown him over the years. Canucks Army blogger petbugs thinks Tony Gallagher’s brain needs improvement given his status as a professional writer. Are you on Team petbugs or Team Tony?
Archive Material and EOTP News
- I’m pretty sure the other writers don’t appreciate me leaking their ideas to you guys before they’re fully fleshed out. Lucky for you, I’m an imbecile that needs to fill out the arbitrary categories of his blog post. The editors are currently punting around a very cool project, spearheaded by Arik, that mixes fantasy sports and Twitter accounts. Stay tuned for those shenanigans in late September.
