dlbalr

Utica's a bit stronger on paper now with Schmid and Daws both down there, a byproduct of the Allen trade. That one could be tougher than it might seem.

Assuming Saginaw takes this series, I'll be curious to see if Guindon joins Laval down the stretch. I think he's on the bubble for getting signed to an ELC so getting even some practice time with the Rocket might be useful from an evaluation standpoint.

He improved all season? He scored two goals last year. Two. In 58 games. Yes, he had some assists and was okay most nights but, again, two goals. When you're one of the highest-paid forwards on the team, it's hard to put improved and two goals in the same sentence.

Ottawa pulls out the 5-3 victory.

This Fowler turning pro speculation I think is coming from Pierre McGuire who suggested that if Boston College wins the Frozen Four tournament this year, many players including Fowler would look to graduate. But there are other ways to move on without necessarily turning pro. Fowler could instead enter the transfer portal or even go play in the CHL for a year where he could get 50+ starts. Then, he could turn pro after that for 2025-26. Or, if he went to another NCAA school, he could stay there longer than a year.

Nope, they're in while Kovacevic and Pearson sit.

It certainly wouldn't be the worst thing but at some point, I'd think the Habs would rather have full control over his development.

Laval hangs on for the big 3-2 win. They also became the first team to reach the 1,000 PIM mark this season. https://theahl.com/stats/game-summary/1026139

While I'm hoping he does, it sounds like a Swedish team is gearing up to make a run at signing him.

Looks like no changes on the back end tonight, can't say I expected that when Trudeau was injured last night. Norlinder is expected to sit again.

Blake Biondi enters the transfer portal and will stay for his fifth year (which won't be around much longer). This means Montreal should hold his rights for one more year instead of losing them in mid-August. https://www.duluthnewstribune.com/sports/bulldogs-hockey/biondi-leaving-umd-hermantown-native-enters-transfer-portal

I think you're being generous with Mudryk but Button also doesn't do colour commentary most of the time. He does a bit internationally and a handful of West Coast Montreal games each year and that's it. I expect there will be some stumbles along the way as a result. But, generally speaking, that's not the type of role Button should do well in. The problem is that so few watch the English games so TSN can't justify putting any money into the broadcast; that's why they don't have a full-time colour guy and use the RDS feed for production/replays.

Interesting that they did that while his Allsvenskan team is still playing (though not for long). Back to limited minutes but it'll keep his season going if nothing else.

I'm sure there's some of that as well but the quote specifically referenced college free agents stuff which means players who aren't drafted.

This isn't a bad college free agent class but a lot of players profile as just depth guys as usual. There's a young defenceman that intrigues me but I think he stays in college. Collin Graf is one of the top forwards of the group but he's a bottom-six profile. I'm not against free assets but I'm a bit surprised they're trying to do much in there unless it's of the ATO (for Laval) variety. The players they're likely to let go by not having contract slots for them I think might be better than a lot of the college free agents out there.

That would be surprising considering how much time Lindstrom has missed this season due to injury. There's an easy and safe case to send him back for another year just to account for missed development time.

I don't see why he wouldn't. I have him as a longshot candidate to break with the Habs next year, to be honest. He has shown enough to be signed so I imagine Montreal would want to get him in their system.

That screenshot says his contract in Finland ends April 30th (next month). He signed a one-year extension in December 2022 that covered this season so his deal is up.

They're still playing pretty well. A couple of bad bounces on the Calgary goals didn't help things.

It certainly was a pretty good period. Both teams are in similar situations so the play has been a bit sloppy but that has led to some good back and forth chances for both sides.

Granted, I was pretty young when the Nordiques moved (though at least alive at that time unlike Pelletier) but I don't think too many logical-thinking people could think the Habs unilaterally had the ability to make a team move. That's pretty naive on his end.

Both are legitimate options. I think they'll stick him in Laval and let him get his feet wet down there over being put into the defensive rotation in Montreal. Having said that, if they decide it's better for him to be a lock to play at the Worlds, they could opt to put him with the Habs, play him nine games or less (to not burn a year of his contract), and then give him a couple of weeks off before that tournament begins. Then he goes and plays 20 minutes a night for Austria through mid-May.

This is not an option. If a player is claimed off waivers now, he's ineligible to play for the remainder of the season. This is also not an option. If Pezzetta was to clear waivers, he wouldn't be eligible to play in Laval since he wasn't on the AHL roster at the trade deadline. (He wasn't papered down like Roy/Struble; they're the only two eligible to go down now.)

Speaking of Reinbacher, his team won't have to play the relegation series after all so his season in Switzerland is now officially over. He could be recalled to North America in the next couple of days.

Big loss up front, Xavier Simoneau is having season-ending shoulder surgery. That Durandeau pickup just got a whole lot more important.