GHT120

And to be clear for anyone uncertain, that was 6th overall ... behind only Kucherov, Point, Stamkos, Hedman and Killorn ... and, obviously, top on the Habs.

Simon-O. Lorange (La Press) with good news ... Hoffman skating and shooting.

To make it official (the signing, not the details)

GREAT deal (IMO)

Hopefully it is not in any way indicative of the severity of his injury.

He played his junior hockey in Victoriaville (45 minutes from TR on the south shore of the St Lawrence) so at least he is likely somewhat familiar with the city ...

ABB went to the Seattle Kraken

4C or a challenger to Evans for 3C?

Good moves IMO ... I look forward to seeing Guhle at the WJHC after he eats up tons of minutes in all situations on the Prince Albert blueline ... and Primeau needs games, games, games; not butt blisters.

Perhaps driven more by needs across the league than anything particular about him? Or perhaps a cheap, veteran (in age if not NHL games) 7th defenceman happy to be in the NHL, won't cause any problems?

a) 37-34-6-4 b) 4th c) 18th d) 29

Habs will have a tough time getting anyone good off waivers at the moment as they get the second to last opportunity to make a claim ... one has to wonder whether MB might not be better to assess which players of interest to the Habs are likely to go on waivers and make some proactive trade offers (i.e., before you put X on waivers I'd give you a 6/7th round pick) ... give the other team something rather than just losing the player on waivers.

Drouin and Niku both back on the ice with the team

Huge gap between Eller and de la Rose ... definitely offensively and likely defensively ... Eller is a proven 3C while de la Rose's best TOI season (as a rookie) is slightly less than Eller's lowest (other than Lars' rookie season) ... Nolan Patrick is Eller-ish offensively, but with potential upside to yet be better than Lars ... I would be very happy if Poehling became either an "Eller" or a "Patrick".

LOL

I wonder if DD won't want to stick with Petry-Romanov, at least to start the season ... playing Chiarot with Petry likely provides a stronger top pairing but Savard/Chiarot seems like a stronger/steadier second pairing on a more balanced defence corps ... Wideman/Kulak doesn't strike me as winning DD/Richardson's confidence and Savard/Romanov on a weaker 2nd pairing would/could then lead to an overload of 5-on-5 icetime for Petry ... not IMO ideal ...

Of more interest to me is that Farrell is #6 ... much better ranking than what I have read/heard would have led me to believe ... Tuch at #30, Struble at #33 and Harris at #34 to me basically means they are essentially "tied" ... although perhaps a slight surprise at the order as Harris seems to have gotten the most Montreal media attention to date ... Dobes at #48 and Biondi at #76 bear watching.

He certainly seems to have the hands/skills of a 25-30 goal scorer ... he seems to be the classic "potential" player ... always looks like he could/should score more ... but now 28, he seems to have settled in as a 15-ish goal scorer ... but very good to have in shootouts.

Nice for the guys to get some "live action" 3-on-3 time.

It applies to all sports ... as for politicians, they cannot be extended mid-term ... so absent something unusual, they are always in office until the next election ... if a cabinet minister, for example, announced they would not run in the next election I would prefer them to resign ... it would also apply if I had some "rooting interest" in a corporation with senior management on a term contract ... however, not certain how many of those folks are on fixed term contracts ... just a personal preference.

One small step ... Hoffman back skating

I think there was drama amongst the media and fans, but from all reports MB never asked Carey to consider waiving his MNTC and it was Price who suggested it as means to retain Allen ... obviously he was OK with the possibility that Seattle might select him (however remote that was) but I don't think there was in any way drama ... unless he wanted to be selected and was disappointed he wasn't, but nothing has come out from any reputable source (that I recall) about that being the case. Always good when people ask for help ... it is the only way to get better ... in the N HL, and sports in general, it was for all too long not something that was accepted amongst players, teams or even fans.

OBVIOUSLY the most important thing today is Carey's health ... and I agree they have been "dealing with" the contract, but either Molson has not offered enough money and/or term, or Bergevin isn't certain he wants the job ... either way, he (not unexpectedly) dodged the specific question of whether he will be returning ... personally, I don't like someone not under contract for next season making roster/trade decisions ... it is fine that you have no issue ... I do ... and my concern is not Bergevin specific, it would be the same if someone else was GM and their contract was expiring ... however, I am glad they dealt with it so it is not a recurring discussion throuhout the season.

Agreeing with the only opinion expressed in the post, Ducharme's response to the question ... I agree that Kulak's offence (to whatever degree) comes off the rush and that he is not PP QB material.

Isn't everything? KIDDING Apologies, should have been more precise ... HabsNation knows no timezone restrictions.