tomh009

Looks like Allen in net again. Redemption or not?

I wasn't referring to the fourth line so much as noting that at the moment the Habs' roster is short of penalty-killing-capable forwards. Yes, you could call up Pitlick (who played in that role last season) but that's about it.

I think that describes the Habs spot-on, especially if they trade Evans. So if were to trade Evans and (gasp!) Armia, where would that leave our PK?

What really impresses me about Xhekaj is not so much his absolute skill level, but the speed at which he adapted his game from the OHL style (where he was the big guy and could throw his weight around) to the NHL (where he is not all THAT big). I thought (and some others did, too) that he might struggle in the AHL for a while before getting to the NHL.

The Athletic's story today talked about three hires that Gorton has made, picking people without conventional experience in the same job, and potentially finding people with fresh ideas and points of view: Hughes, St-Louis and Gordie Clark (now on the professional scouting team). Interestingly, Gorton tried to hire Hughes in NY already, and also tried to hire St-Louis to coach their AHL team. Neither was willing to take the offer back then, which is probably a good thing for the Habs.

4.0 GPA quite impressive, as was the effort to finish his degree. Let's hope his engineering IQ meshes well with the hockey IQ that the Canadiens are trying to develop in all the young players.

And Dvorak is fine as a 2C/3C -- at this point certainly a better choice than Kotkaniemi. Whether the latter can transform himself into a 2C remains to be seen. (Carolina likely should have signed Trocheck and traded Kotkaniemi for whatever they could get for him, but I think that would have been admitting defeat/stupidity in the offer sheet drama.)

I care much more about the Habs' success in the next five years than the depth of the Leafs' playoff run next spring (as happy as I am to see them fail). So, if the deal is right, I have no problem with it. In any case, I expect that neither Hughes or Gorton has that deeply-held disgust for the Leafs.

It has some resemblance to the Habs' last season ...

On the bench! 😢

As far as I can tell, Poulin started the game. Was Primeau hurt in the warmup?

It’s not just St-Louis though, the Habs now have credible player/skills development people, too.

That is so hard to read ... white test on light blue? Ugh. But Barron 2g+1a, Ylonen 1g+3a and Harvey-Pinard 1g+2a?

Either way, we are better off now ...

Quite. it's possible that he may have found a new level, but eight games is not enough to confirm that. if he keeps it up, the first conversation is about whether he should be part of the Habs' longer-term picture, being a future starter should need at least a couple of seasons of solid performance.

Probably not a whole lot -- you really don't get very many of those in games ...

Kotkaniemi doubled his season goal total today. He's now on track for eight goals and eight assists for the full season, at the cost of about $300,000 per point.

I wouldn't say Montembeault stole the game, but both goalies played strong games. Or you could argue that the luck was not with the Habs, with three goalposts ...

The roster was right, but the lines/pairings were not. What we actually have is: Caufield - Suzuki - Dach Dadonov - Dvorak - Gallagher Armia - Monahan - Anderson Sl;afkovsky - Evans - Pezzetta Edmundson - Guhle Matheson - Savard Xhekaj - Kovacevic

Much too early to say, I think. Him turning into a #1 would have very long odds, being a decent backup or maybe a #1B is a more realistic hope. He's been about a .890 goalie in his NHL career, has he found a way to up his game? Coaching, training, mental approach or something else? We don't really have any insight into what might be different this season. But only 7.333 games into his season so far, he may yet prove us all wrong, or flame out quickly.

They're just trying to create some content, so combining two unrelated things. There have been a few exceptions, but mostly there is not that much insight in their stories.

nhl.com is projecting almost the same lineup as against the Blue Jackets, but with Pezzetta filling in for Hoffman. A second consecutive start for Montembeault? Cole Caufield -- Nick Suzuki -- Kirby Dach Juraj Slafkovsky -- Christian Dvorak -- Brendan Gallagher Evgenii Dadonov -- Sean Monahan -- Josh Anderson Michael Pezzetta -- Jake Evans -- Joel Armia Kaiden Guhle -- David Savard Mike Matheson -- Joel Edmundson Arber Xhekaj -- Johnathan Kovacevic Sam Montembeault Jake Allen Scratched: Jordan Harris, Chris Wideman

I still prefer Xhejaj to Andor, though.

As expected, D rotation and G rotation.

I think trading Schueneman would hurt the Laval D, and the team is already none too strong. And, even at the AHL level, you still need a willing trade partner that wants your defencemen and has forwards they are willign to trade -- and who are good enough to help the Rocket.