GHT120

Tempting But he is small (5'9", 170 lbs) ... entering his 4th pro season with only 4g/6a in 37 NHL games ... played 31 (13NHL/18 AHL) games last season; was he injured or sitting in Calgary? If they could get him for Laval I would jump on him ... but he would have to stay with Habs and only go down if he cleared waivers.

STICKING MY CHIN OUT ... please be gentle if I've made mistakes 'Tis the time to look at the 2024-25 Habs salary cap. Attached is an Excel spreadsheet based on data from PuckPedia. It shows Habs with 29 players (including Price) and $5,616,251 over the cap. Using players who are waiver-exempt (and keeping Pezzetta and ABB on the roster), demoting Roy, Xjekaj, Mailloux, Engström, Kapanen, Heineman to set the roster to start the season would leave the Habs with 23 roster players and $112,916 under the cap ceiling. Once the roster is set, the Habs can put Price on LTIR ... putting Laine and RHP on IR will then leave the Habs with 20 roster players ... so the Habs can re-call up to 3 of the "demoted" players. Xhekaj seems obvious, to fill out the defence corps ... I expect Roy and Kapenen will also get called up, giving the Habs 14 forwards ... Mailloux, Engström and Heineman will be getting big AHL minutes to start the season. The Habs end up with 23 roster players and $7,552,916 in cap space for Hughes to work with ... any trades/waiver-claims obviously would need to send out the same number of NHL roster contracts as are obtained (or also waive and/or demote the number needed to meet roster rules). With trepidation I now click SUBMIT REPLY 24-25 Habs Salary Cap.xlsx

That's why they aren't even Clickbait30.

An admittedly flimsy rumour ... but it has been slow DansLesColisees had already started the "search" this morning: 1. Mathieu Olivier 2. Samuel Blais 3. Samuel Laberge 4. Jordan Greenway 5. Garnet Hathaway 6. Nicolas Deslauriers 7. Keegan Kolesar

Hage's first goal

A couple of guests yesterday on TSN690 said it was not uncommon.

I agree ... but *** IF *** the Sens are head-hunting "star players" tonight Guhle seems like a prime target ... I also fear Montembeault might be a target *** IF *** it devolves into that sort of game.

From Habs website: LINEUP NEWS (Update: 11:45 a.m. ET) Saturday’s full lineup has yet to be announced, but head coach Martin St-Louis confirmed during his pregame media availability in Mont-Tremblant that forwards Nick Suzuki, Juraj Slafkovsky, Cole Caufield and Kirby Dach will sit out against the Senators. The Canadiens bench boss also confirmed that defensemen Kaiden Guhle and Arber Xhekaj will be in uniform in Ottawa, with a few players being recalled from the Laval Rocket later in the day. Samuel Montembeault is set to start in goal. Follow the Canadiens on Instagram, X and Facebook to see the full roster for tonight’s game later today.

AND that MSL expects he would have a target on his back tonight ... frankly, I am surprised that he is risking Guhle.

Apparently Hughes/MSL not certain the Sens won't be looking for "revenge".

I get where you are coming from ... but, I-M-O, Mailloux has not earned starting the season on the roster based on his play in TC.

Don't necessarily disagree with you, but absent the full details and rationale neither can I agree.

Michael Hage - 2 assists

There are clearly significant details, that will not be made public, regarding why Lehner could not report ... VGK used it as an excuse to terminate ... that there was a settlement suggests that an NHLPA appeal had a good chance of success ... as dlbair pointed out, if the termination stood and the appeal was successful the end result in such cases is usually some sort of settlement ... they just fast-tracked to where it likely would have ended up anyway.

Pretty good guess I-M-O ... unless they decide (as suggested on TSN690 shortly ago) 7D/11F fo the first three games that might be a bit rougher to provide insulation for Hutson and/or Xhekaj spending a loy=t of time in the "sin-bin" or getting tossed.

Interesting suggestion just now on TSN690 ... with the season starting with TO, Bos and Ott ... go with 7D and 11F in those games ... Xhekaj brings what Arber Brings, and Struble also brings a physicality (if not the fighting) ... if a game gets ridiculous it allows the team coaches to shelter Hutson somewhat, and ensures that even if the opponent draws Xhekaj into long-stints in the box (or a game misconduct) the D is not left short-handed

KHL coaches sound a lot like NHL coaches ... From Russian to French (via ClickBait30) to English (via Google Translate😞 SKA St. Petersburg head coach Roman Rotenberg appears to have completely lost his mind when he drastically reduced the playing time of one of his best strikers, Ivan Demidov, in the match against Dynamo Minsk. ... How can one of the team's best players end up benched like this? Rotenberg, who looked visibly uncomfortable after the game, apologized profusely for the decision. According to him, Dynamo Minsk were a "very strong opponent" who were able to capitalize on the slightest mistake or lost duel. "If we want to cement our defense, everyone has to follow the game plan. It doesn't matter what name is on the jersey ," he justified in a press conference, clearly targeting the attacker whose defensive play he criticizes. "We have to play for the team and not for its own navel." ... "I am convinced that Ivan is developing, he plays a lot with us. He trains with great players, veterans, many of whom have played in the NHL." "They've played hundreds of games! They've won the Stanley Cup, there are guys who have lifted the Gagarin Cup. Some have won Olympic gold. So, he has a lot to learn."

I agree that profit is not the motive ... but, by nature, surgeons do tend to see surgery as the solution.

Without knowing the details, and suspecting that something VERY serious is involved, I'll accept the NHL/NHLPA compromise.

I can agree to disagree.

NOT being in the CBA gives the NHL flexibility, especially with NHLPA agreement, that doesn't exist for outright changing the CBA.

Allowing all LTIR contracts to "slide off the books" is also a CBA change that the NHL cannot make unilaterally ... I expect it LTIR may well be an issue, potentially various aspects of it, in the negotiations for the next CBA ... so I don't see the NHLPA agreeing to any changes before then.

The Canadiens’ Patrik Laine says he “dodged a bullet” with the knee injury he suffered during the first period of last Saturday’s 2-1 pre-season loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Bell Centre ... (Laine) said it was his decision — after seeing a "couple of doctors” and getting “some good opinions” — not to have surgery on the knee. “But the team and everybody else gave me all the help with that and, at the end of the day, just decided not to do surgery and just do rehab and let it heal,” Laine told reporters in Mont-Tremblant. “It’s my knee after all. It was just one of those it could go either way ... I don’t think there’s ever any guarantees whether you do surgery or not,” Laine added. “I’m sure me and the medical staff and everybody else will do everything we can to make sure it will be great once I come back. They did a good job kind of explaining the whole process and situation we’re in and reassuring that the chances are very high and all that stuff. So that made me feel a little bit better about it. Now just got to put in the work, but we got a great medical staff so I’m not worried about it.” - Montreal Gazette N.B. - Bolded text are quotes from Laine

As dlbair posted above, since Lehner didn't report VGK had cause to terminate the contract and, as he suggested, it was likely a case of "couldn't" and not "didn't" report ... based on that and given the compromise reached to avoid an appeal (or any further litigation) by the NHLPA, I assume there was (a) very good reason that Lehner didn't report and (b) if it didn't negate the cause for the termination of the contract it would have made Vegas and the NHL look VERY bad for doing so ... I expect it is something serious enough that even competitors would not object.

I-M-O there are clearly some unique circumstances to this Lehner situation (I won't speculate irresponsibly) ... doubt it is as simple as what you suggest ... besides, once the Habs pay Price his July 1st bonus ($5.5M) his $2M actual salary for the final year of his contract could well be tradeable.