Habsterix

I'm genuinly happy for Gill. I have learned to appreciate him as a player and as a leader during his stay with the Habs. Make sure you follow him on Twitter, he sometimes comes up with some funny tweets.

Via Twitter, this morning, Oilers head coach Dallas Eakins announced that Andrew Ference will be named the 14th captain in the history of the Edmonton Oilers. Very surprised...

Thank you kindly. With the addition of Brandon Prust, George Parros, Douglas Murray and now Tinordi, with Rene Bourque, Travis Moen and Ryan White in the line-up, it's safe to say that while they still have some smaller players, we're not talking about the Habs being a solf team anymore. I'm truly impressed by Tinordi's development and as stated in my article, I wouldn't be shocked if he played a regular shift in Montreal this season.

I know that the Canucks were high on Tinordi and were disappointed when the Habs picked him. I also know that they have since tried to acquire him trough trades since, but he brings so much to the Habs.

Amateur Scouts spend hours upon hours on the road, watching hundreds of games each year, analysing every aspect of draft eligible prospects, trying to determine which ones would be better suited for the NHL team they work for. Still, scouting is not a science as those professionals can only assess the performances of such players at that time, on that particular night. Even if they see them more than once, they see how they perform at that age, at that level. Nothing guarantees their development, the work they will be putting into their career, or when they will reach the peak of their career. PENTICTON, BC. — When the Montreal Canadiens drafted defenseman Jarred Tinordi with the 22nd pick overall at the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, many felt that the Habs were addressing a need, size on defense, and few were disappointed with the pick. Having said that, most were thinking that he was a project and that he was several years away from the NHL as most sizeable late first round picks have been in the past. This is particularly applicable to the position of defenseman, a tough position to learn to adapt at the highest level in hockey in the world. It was clear that the team’s Director of Amateur Scouting, Trevor Timmins, has been on a mission for character, as discussed in a previous article, and few have more of it than Jarred Tinordi. Some laugh at the notion of character and feel that it’s overrated, but when you listen to Charles de Gaulle talk about it, one quickly realizes that you can never underestimate it, and that Bergevin and Timmins are right about seeking it: “Faced with crisis, the man of character falls back on himself. He imposes his own stamp of action, takes responsibility for it, makes it his own.” After being drafted, Jarred was scheduled to attend the University of Notre-Dame but the Canadiens played a key role in suggesting that he played in the OHL with the London Knights, who owned his CHL rights, in order to play more games at a higher level. It wasn’t hard to convince the towering defenseman to play for the Hunter brothers, as his father Mark had played a few years with Dale Hunter while both were with the Washington Capitals. It certainly didn’t take Tinordi long to establish himself as a physical and steady presence on the Knights’ blue line and the following season, he was named captain of the team, leading them to the Memorial Cup finals, a game London lost to the Shawinigan Cataractes, a team ironically captained by Habs’ prospect and Tinordi’s current teammate, Michael Bournival, both of whom will be starting the season in Montreal. Full article...

Didn't they crush the Coyotes a couple of days ago? I wouldn't read too much in pre-season results.

That's ri-di-cu-lous... I've lost faith in the leaders of this league a long time ago and they keep proving me right.

I'm not sure if I'm authorized to post this here but here are my thoughts this morning: Sabres – Leafs Battle Turns Nasty, published on All Habs Hockey Magazine.

Good signing for the Blues.

Exactly. While Kessel absolutely didn't have to fight Scott, there was no reasons for both two-handers and for the later spear. My thoughts in a nutshell: Didn't the Leafs have the last change? Why was Kessel's line out there at that time? Scott should not have gone after Kessel to start with Kessel did the right thing by backing away and not engage. He should be suspended for using his stick as a weapon... 3 times including a spear to the abdomen! I can't blame Clarkson for leaving the bench but then again, the blame is on Randy Carlyle for leaving that line on the ice. The instigator rule as we know it encourages cheap shots. Bring more accountability on the ice as the league simply cannot oversee everything. It's always fun to watch a good ol' goalie fight I'll spare you the "usefulness or not" of figthing, but those who want that aspect of the game out of the NHL really should pay close attention to the crowd while all of this was happening. Afterall, they are the paying fans.

I'd be very careful using those numbers as in many occasions, the announced crowd was nowhere near the number of butts in the seats. As for the question of how many hockey markets, then why are they looking at expansion? It makes even less sense. I'd rather see teams relocate to markets like Seattle, Quebec City, Markam (ON). If Gary Bettman had fought as hard for Quebec, Winnipeg and Hartford back in the days as he did for Phoenix, they'd still be there!

Yet, they'll talk expansion... It's really unfortunate that you have a commisionner who is building the foundation of its league on lies, deception... on sand, really. If he truly worked for the good of the game, he should stop the boys' club he has sitting at the Board of Governors and start making decisions that will make sense. Stop the gimmicks ala "skills competition to end games", thinking it will draw fans, and attack the true problems : Have a US TV deal that's worth while, not just in the playoffs if/when they feel like it. Instate a program of marketing in the markets where he shouldn't have expanded to start with, in order to save those franchises.Afterall, it would be cheaper than running franchises like the Coyotes losing millions upon millions each year. Relocate struggling franchises in traditionnal hockey markets, where hockey matters. Those are solid grounds to build upon. Then look at expansion, but not too much at a time! Stop with the gimmicks. No more shoutout, no more instigator rule as we know it, be consistent with suspensions, fringe players or star players being punished the same way and get rid of the two referee system on the ice, too many are incompetent. Any new arena being built should be Olympic size.That'd be just a start! I feel for Dale Tallon who, in my opinion, is doing an excellent job at building this team the right way, through draft and young players, and for his hockey staff.

Yes Gary, the NHL is doing excellent. Article with photos...

No matter who the player is, I find very unfortunate to see a player who has spent most of his career with one team get treated like this. It's one thing if you don't lead him on and tell him to negociate elsewhere but to contact you before signing, but it's obviously not the case. Very unfortunate...

Bob Sauve told RDS that he has spoken to several teams including the Habs. Montreal should give an answer soon.

I'm not sure that I agree with Bylsma but good on him to say that publicly. He needs to try to pump Fleury's tires for sure.

A lot. Stay relatively healthySubban must have a season like last yearGalchenyuk and Gallagher must continue their progressMarkov's knee must hold the strain of a full seasonPrice must be the goalie we know he can be and steal some games.Josh Gorges has to regain the form from two years agoDaniel Briere must bounce back from a disappointing season last yearParros and Murray must support Prust, and Moen needs to join the clubDesharnais needs to live up to his contract extensionLars Eller must show the same intensity that he had prior to his devastating injury. There's probably more, but the Habs are a long shot for the Cup this year. They are however building on solid grounds under Marc Bergevin.

I'm glad that some GMs are still using common sense when it comes to keeping the motivation with the young players and that's what the bridge deals do. It also allows to keep the cap hit low while the salary cap is at its lowest. I was glad to see Bergevin in Montreal do that with Subban and it's good to see Nonis do the same in Toronto. They avoid the Tyler Myers or Jeff Skinner type of risks by doing that.

Wow! No wonder Cleary didn't want to sign a PTO in Detroit if that kind of deal was on the table. Good for him but I'm not so sure that's the kind of deal that the Flyers needed. But with Paul Holmgren, we can expect anything. Is he stacking up on forward depth to pull a deal to get a defenseman?

No matter how that rule is written, it will always remain a grey area. You won't find two people interpreting some hits the same way.

Thanks for the welcome but be careful with the lapsus. It's .net and not .com. I was a long time moderator at the .com site for many years. If you were there, you would recognize me more as "JL". This site (like most now days) won't accept two-letter usernames, so I went my current alias. You are right about the Flyers' defense getting long in the tooth. I don't know the team's prospect pool but if they have a young defenseman who might need one more year to develop, Gill might be able to be a stop-gap in the mean time. I personally don't understand why someone could be mad about him being at camp as from what I understand, it's just a PTO, so there's really nothing to loose and everything to gain if you're the Flyers.

Ooohhh... a fan of the player, not the team.

I have gained some new respect for Gill during his time in Montreal and that, on and off the ice. A true pro, great leader and mentor, he was extremely efficient on the penalty kill. True that he's not very fast, but he has (or had) an active stick and was big and strong enough to push people around in the corners or in front of the net. Amazingly enough, he was at his best at 5 on 3 or 4 on 3. I wish him all the best to find a team this year, whether it's in Philly or elsewhere.

And the Canucks/Flames rivalry jumps to a new high. Let's wait to see the Vegas odds for how long Feaster will remain in position, with Burke breathing down his neck. I kind of wanted Burke to be the GM of an expansion/relocation team in Markham Ontario, personally, just to heat-up the Leafs' rivalry.

Unless they face the Bruins...