dlbalr

17 shots isn't going to cut it. On the other hand, it especially stings when they had a three-goal lead and a breakaway in overtime that Kapanen missed the net on.

Tough end to the period with the two late goals although in terms of quality of the game from both teams, the Habs had no business being up 3-0 to begin with.

I don't think Buffalo would have moved Dahlin, nor could Vancouver have afforded him with their cap situation. The D in that offer probably would have been Byram. As for Tuch, Vancouver is signalling at least a short-term rebuild so a pending UFA rental they'd have had to flip probably wasn't too appealing.

As expected, a pretty ugly lineup for Laval:

So, uh, Laval's lineup is going to be really ugly today as four key forwards were all suspended for leaving the bench during an altercation at the end of the second period last night. Belzile, Dauphin, and Roy all get three games while Blais gets one. https://theahl.com/news/toronto-laval-suspensions-25dec13 Joe Dunlap, Riley Kidney, and Israel Mianscum are all up from Trois-Rivieres to allow Laval to dress a full lineup. Meanwhile, Del Gaizo is out with a UBI from the hit from Pezzetta (that earned him a three-game ban).

Yeah, 16 points in six games is quite something. It's junior hockey, sure, but this is impressive. A small article on him I found yesterday from earlier this week: https://medicinehatnews.com/sports/local-sports/2025/12/10/tigers-look-to-keep-foot-on-pedal-pickford-motivated-by-world-juniors-snub/

This was a fun one to start my night shift on PHR. If anyone's interested in a long read about the deal (I've spent about 75 minutes on this), here you go: https://www.prohockeyrumors.com/2025/12/wild-to-acquire-quinn-hughes.html

That's about as sharp of a defensive period as the Habs have had in a bit. Nice way to ease Fowler in. Now we'll see what happens in their perpetually bad period.

I imagine Xhekaj will be back in against the Rangers, a team that is typically more physical than Pittsburgh. This might just be a bit of a rotation in the short term.

Well, this is a new one. The start time has been pushed back at least a half-hour due to traffic issues. As in the Penguins players are stuck in traffic due to an accident.

Pickings are slim. You have to hire someone who isn't coaching anywhere at the moment which really limits the options. It's a random hire (especially with Bannister as an assistant) but it's pretty common for a former NHL coach to run Canada's bench in this tournament. But usually, it's a new staff year after year.

They had the 3-0 lead but couldn't keep up much of a push from there so it wasn't surprising to see them squander it. That was far from their best effort.

Hopefully that's not the case for too long as otherwise, it'd make sense to give him a couple of games in Laval to try to get back on track.

The Habs do some weird stuff with roster management. If you think you're not going to necessarily need the backup goalie, teams have been known to dress a backup who isn't quite 100%. All things considered, that was a very strong period from the Habs. Too bad they only managed to break even but they needed a good response after the first and provided it.

Schenn has a higher point-per-game average against the Habs than any other team. I wouldn't have guessed that before this game.

That Calgary scout has been around for a while as well. That's their top pro scout. In terms of the period, yikes. Dobes looks way off; this could be a game where Montembeault comes in at some point (if he's able to).

He was sent down right after the game. And in doing so, he's now ineligible for a recall should Montembeault be too sick to dress again as Kahkonen hasn't played since being reassigned. That would mean Fowler would have to get recalled. Presumably, Montembeault is at least okay enough to back up this time.

Protz was a surprise invite in the summer as more of a field-filler. Then he stood out a bit with his physical play and had a solid start with Brantford which kept him legitimately in consideration but he was going to need to show more (and not have Calgary/Pittsburgh loan a defenceman out) to realistically be considered. There's a cross between Struble and Xhekaj with Protz. He's more defensively reliable than Xhekaj but he also brings more of the physicality than Struble does. Not much of an offensive game to speak of though.

Canada will announce its WJC roster tomorrow. There won't be a full camp with a bunch of cuts but they'll have a few extra skaters at least. Looks like Hage will be there but not Protz who was a longshot anyway.

Tonight's postgame: https://www.habsworld.net/2025/12/10-thoughts-defensive-miscues-prove-costly-vs-blues/

He left briefly yesterday as well. This feels like it might be one of those situations where sitting him for a few days before it gets worse would make sense.

He played Friday plus most of Saturday's game (Kahkonen didn't make it through 12 minutes). If Dobes gets hurt, do you really want Fowler's NHL debut to be his third game in 48 hours? Better to be safe and go with someone who could actually play if needed. Meanwhile, no Kyrou for St. Louis due to injury.

Well, with no pregame skate, nothing will be announced until St. Louis speaks before the game which will be around 5:30 or so. I'm sure the decision has already been made.

Why is Laine signing off on that when he's due back around the Olympics? Plus, the whole point of giving up a draft pick to move Price this summer was to try to avoid finishing the season in LTIR and carrying over the bonus penalty.

It depends on what you think is unrealistic. They're looking for a Lambert-type prospect most likely, one with some pedigree that also needs a change of scenery. Think of someone like Brennan Othmann, for example. Is that realistic for Lambert? I think that's the area of prospect they're looking for.