GHT120

So Newhook remains a sacrificial lamb.

RHP returned to practice, but wasn't listed as part of the morning skate ... so I doubt he'll play tonight.

The Canadiens held an optional morning skate at the Bell Centre ahead of Tuesday night’s game against the Tampa Bay Lightning. No news about lines ... and nothing I can find about who starts in goal ... the Habs did say that Rafaël Harvey-Pinard returned to practice for the first time on Tuesday, BUT they did not list him as "on the ice" for the morning skate ... so, just sharing that I can find nothing much to share.

Flowing out of earlier discussions ... Carolina MAY need to be a bit more worried than we assumed

I agree on TBL, and Carolina will also be patient, although to @TurdBurglar's point, I would hope Bergevin's departure has "cooled" the tensions between the teams, but with Dundon who knows. The Oilers had the worst GAA of the any team that made it past the first-round in last spring's playoffs ... I am not certain that between the pipes the answer is "inside the room" ... BUT ... their cap is a huge obstacle ... the only skaters making over $2.75M that don't have some sort NMC/NTC/M-NTC are Bouchard and Ceci, their 2nd&3rd most used defencemen ... unless they can move Campbell somehow, any trade for an established, veteran goalie is unlikely (not counting a "recognizable name" on a near-minimum contract, such as Matt Murray or Jonathan Quick ... not suggesting either).

Lightning's 2024 first and second are spoken for, as is there 2025 first ... and Vasilevsky is rumoured to be returning by American Thanksgiving, so I expect they will tough it out. Carolina is another "Cup contender" with bad goaltending at the moment ... all three of their goalies are sub-.900 Sv% at the moment ...

Edmonton would have to *** PAY *** a lot more just to rid themselves of Campbell than an average-sized RW who has not had great results in the AHL ... let alone add Jake Allen in the same deal ... AT LEAST Evan Bouchard+.

And ... are Burrows, Letkowski and Robidas capable of supporting him in doing so? I support more of a football approach where the assistant coaches are the "co-ordinators" that install the systems, with the approval of the HC.

Slaf came through

Putting Anderson anywhere is a whole different topic. But can Dvorak be ANY help with Newhook and Slafkovsky's offence? Putting "winning" ahead of development?

More importantly ... Newhook is (at the moment at least) not an NHL centre ... stick Monahan between the two youngsters ... suspect their play would greatly improve

My bad ... original post deleted ... BRAIN CRAMP ... for some reason was thinking of the D they drafted last summer.

He was put on LTIR because he wasn't ready to start the season, and the Habs needed to manage cap space ... but he was never expected back before November ... he has cleared and practiced "full speed" for a week or ten days, which is probably about normal from someone coming back from knee surgery before returning to the lineup.

WHO has Anderson ever built any chemistry with? He is a "third-wheel" forward. Play Monahan with Slafkovsky and Newhook, they BOTH need veteran "leadership" ... move Pearson or Gallagher up with NS&CC ... pair Dvorak with the one who is "left behind" and Anderson.

Not surprising IMO when so many players are under 25 yrs-old (9/15 forwards, 6/9 defencemen. 1/2 goalies), with two others barely 25.

The unknown is whether ONE more year in Europe (maybe conditional on the team trading him to a better team as Assat Pori was not very good that season ... 9 points out of their wild card despite playing 4 more games than the last qualifier) or a season in the AHL would have accelerated that growth. And, is tied for 10th place a "juggernaut"?

Too many fans lack the patience needed for young players to properly develop.

What happened was criminal but how the Blackhawks behaved, repetedly, "once" aware of the criminal acts is entirely under the jurisdiction of the NHL ... Chicago's actions were a blemish on the reputation of the league ... punishment should have been FAR, FAR more severe.

They also violated the contractual rights of an NHL player.

I do not believe that "options" are allowed ... contracts are for the term specified ... of course in one sense EVERY contract has an "option to re-sign", it just applies to the entire league.

(1) Compared to his previous seasons it was crazy good, the "advanced stats" folks talked about SM having one of the best seasons last year (not my "thing"). (2) Brady Anderson was cited as an example of a single outlier season.

Injuries hurt last season but on the other side of the coin Montembeault had a C-R-A-Z-Y good season ... only time will tell whether it was a "Brady Anderson 1996 50 HR" season or just a step in his progression ... but if the Habs goaltending regresses to their norms then even an improvement regarding injuries gets offset.