DON

Bournival looks good, cant believe with his luck lately that he didn't score on breakaway. Subban with nice pass and backhand by Pacioretty. Both these guys seem very ready for regular season

Just too funny, Leafs fans are all upset over Scott taking on Kessel and breaking the goon-code thing. If i remember correctly, wasnt it that sniper Orr who tried to take out Plekanec's knee last year and had all Leaf fans cheering?

They noted Pateryn is joining Murray-Bouillon-Drewiski- Beaulieu in sickbay with "lower-body" injury, what is up with d-injuries? At this rate, maybe Dietz-Nygren will have to be "NHL-ready" much sooner than expected?

Gregoire starting out hot, another 3 points today. Fucale getting lit up, maybe team in front of him is weaker than expected? Why was Reway a healthy scratch? He looked very good at camp, must be some off-ice issue I assume?

It will not hurt his development to spend a couple more months in AHL. But when he is putting big NHLers on their ass in pre-season, it has to be very tempting to pencil him in for next Tuesday vs Leafs. Maybe the majority are correct and he simply can learn fine playing sheltered 3rd pairing minutes in NHL and also his presence will add much needed grit in front of Price and for all the post-whistle crap?

I was always an OByrne fan, but thought that trade was good for both Habs and OByrne. And was, he got a regular shift, Colorado gave him a fair chance and Bournival seems to be developing nicely. I think Holland, Bourque and Fucale for Cammalleri + euro goalie will also turn out in Habs favour. I saw Yemelin is skating now, is he still 2+months from returning or likely ahead of schedule? Is plan to have Gionta suit up for some pre-season action this week?

He dosent fit any real need at present, likely wont be kept up and no need to rush him, If he does super in Hamilton in Oct-Nov he can be called up easy enough cant he? But he has looked good and had a good AHL rookie season, so a top nine role down the road seems reasonable expectation.

If de la Rose can produce in SEL, that would bode very well, as they said the offense "upside" is what dropped his stock in draft. Gregoire and Lehkonen also off to good start.

Holland stood out to me among the kids, he and Bournival should lead Bulldogs up front this year, again. Both are good defensively, Holland is super shot blocker for a forward. Dietz, McCarron and Collberg all seemed to play OK, but still works in progress for sure. Don't think Dietz has played vs any Eric Stall's in junior, Collberg seemed to have trouble getting open (vs a weak Hurricane lineup) and McCarron got flattened by an average sized NHLer. Pacioretty really seems quick and ready for season. Just how big a season will Subban have? 20+goals seems reasonable target.

I agree, however your last paragraph I don't agree with. The Chipchuras, Higgins, Sergai, Ribeiro, etc are no big losses at all and smart moves to jettison. Ribeiro and Grabovski may have skill but don't miss them, doubt Bergevin actively went after in free agent market and the only big loss was of course McDonaugh who wasn't a wash out and was simply a misjudgment of Gomez's worth. Leblanc should do well this fall and be fine, but the Habs do have similar type players in the system, so he does have his work cut out to make the roster.

I agree on Bournival and Leblanc in those 2 games. And I am a bit biased and simply like Dumont's effort, grit and is almost too bad the bottom six is already packed.

pretty obscure threesome? I wouldn't read a lot into being cut, and I still think he might be a good 3rd or 2nd liner down the road. Supposedly the 14 cuts were already set prior to the Bruin game, in which Leblanc looked very good. Maybe Dudley or one of brain trust thinks that Leblanc was rushed into NHL 2 years ago and simply wants him to learn more with lots of icetime, in a top 6 role in Hamilton?

By Leblanc's most recent poor season vs his seemingly direct competition Thomas's good AHL season and limited roster spots, the cut was warranted and maybe is also to serve as potential motivation. The Habs do not have any glaring holes in the roster, cept top 4 defense depth, so I would wait and see how Louis does in Hamilton this year.

Cant even remember him ever even throwing a hit? But neither has Erik Karlsson nor Mike Green; which is fine if you can contribute in other ways.

I guess Thomas must be getting the nod as a possible Gionta fill-in? Thomas is coming off a good year in AHL, seems more offensive than Leblanc. Leblanc may need to battle Dumont moreso, who also looked good yesterday.

Thought Leblanc, Moan and Thomas all looked good. In one game Murray already has already put more people on their ass in front of net than all habs d-men did last year.

Big trouble, like last year's reg season match up vs Bruins? Or last time matched up in playoffs, Habs were so small, or Bruins were so tough, Habs lost in game 7 OT.

I would say, just the opposite, fewer prospects to watch other than Dietz, Tinordi and Hudon. Most of the vets will just be going through the motions for next couple weeks, which is fine, to be expected and as was seen with Prust and Diaz being two of the poorer performers yesterday.

See how LL looks today vs Bruins. Am quite curious to see Thomas in action. Bournival really did very well yesterday, but he is highly unlikely to fill in for Gionta? Holland looked fine also, 3 block shots in limited minutes, will his offense increase a lot this year in Hamilton? Still think Tinordi should be headed straight to Hamilton to work on puck skills etc, with a ton of icetime. But he draws in for 2nd straight game, when I thought Ellis or Thrower might get a shot, so maybe mgmt is on the fence with him? I think he would really have to stand out to put Bouillon and/or Murray in pressbox?

McCarron, St-Pierre, Bournival and Reway all looked good. 5 points for Tinordi pair was nice to see. Nygren was bit shaky in own end, but looks good at other end of rink, basically as advertised. Lashoff didn't take the opportunity to stand up for Galchenyuk, maybe one reason why he is still looking for contract?

And whos roster spot would Collberg fit into? Dosent seem any real openings up front, cept a possible temp slot that seems Thomas may fill if captain cant go Oct 1?

Sure all sounds sensible, just with a goalie who most peg as playing a sheltered game behind a powerhouse team, similar too Brossoit/Jarry on Oil kings being bit overrated with stacked team pumping up numbers. I assumed they might at least wait to see how Fucale fares with a crap team in front of him and losing a lot more; as well as, can he step up and start at world juniors? But Fucale must be looking good at camps, seems to have heard mostly positive reviews.

Price wins Vezina.

I still don't understand why bother to sign now, when still have 2 years still to get signed? More as a confidence booster or something? Goalie seem so hard to project future success, but I guess is a good signing?

Maybe Diaz will be the one to get a huge raise by being paired with #79, if he can return to pre-concussion form. $1.2m for a 50 point d-man would be a bonus. Maybe he will have same type breakout Mark Strait did, that I had once hoped for Weber (lumping the Swiss d-men I know, but seem quite comparable). I don't fear Pacioretty will really care who is his centre, both Eller and Plekanec are super options for him. I also don't think Parros is overrated, most agree what he will bring and he seems comfortable with his likely spot-time role. But he is for sure a PR friendly character, with the Lanny MacDonald like upper lip, "fancy" education background and seems most goon-types tend to be good teammates to have around.