Your Canadiens for October 12, 2011

Finally! We're now only one day away from the return of meaningful hockey to the Bell Centre as the Canadiens prepare for their home opener tomorrow night against the Calgary Flames. As always, we'll have updates from practice as they come in.

UPDATE: - The team's lines are the same as we saw yesterday, meaning:
Max Pacioretty - Scott Gomez - Brian Gionta
Travis Moen - Tomas Plekanec - Erik Cole
Mathieu Darche - David Desharnais - Andrei Kostitsyn
Lars Eller - Andreas Engqvist - Aaron Palushaj

Why Travis Moen on the Tomas Plekanec line instead of any of the offensively inclined bottom 6 wingers? Who knows. Ask Jacques Martin.

- Hal Gill was absent from practice today, though the reason why wasn't immediately clear. The 6'7" locker room leader was later said by the team to have had family commitments that kept him away. Hopefully that's all it was, because the team can ill-afford to lose yet another veteran blueliner.

- Credit to Big T on the Habs for their story yesterday based on a recent photo of Andrei Markov at Pierre Elliot Trudeau airport.
Markov was boarding a plane to Miami, presumably to meet with Dr. James Andrews, the physician who performed his ACL surgeries. Dr. Andrews has offices in Alabama and Florida, either which may have been Markov's final destination. The real question is why he was headed there? Was it to get final medical clearance? Based on his raised right knee in the picture, this is doubtful (though PERHAPS it was just a comfy way to sit... we don't mean to speculate based purely on him elevating his leg). Was it a normal scheduled check-up? Hopefully... But was it to have the knee drained again due to fluid buildup? This would be the worst case scenario and would see Markov out the longest. We don't know, and it is unlikely the Habs will tell us. Their injury updates have consisted simply of "he's on schedule."

- For the Carey Price stalker types, his sister appears to have a Twitter account based on an exchange with P.K. Subban. If you just can't get enough of the Price family, be sure to follow Kayla at @KaylaPrice: http://twitter.com/#!/kaylaprice

- Habs prospect Michael Bournival was injured in practice and early reports indicate he could miss up to one month of action. This is unfortunate as Bournival was off to a torrid start in the QMJHL with 10 goals and 3 assists in just 7 games. If he does miss significant time, it may also hurt his chances of being on Team Canada's World Junior Championships squad, a role he was looking a lock for.

- As an aside, if you've seen the terrific Brad Pitt movie Moneyball (and if you haven't you SHOULD!), one can't help but laugh at the parallels between it and the current Montreal Canadiens situation. Not catching my drift? Stay tuned for our feature article Friday. [/spoiler alert] You have two days to watch the movie in order to appreciate our piece! Get on it! EDIT: This article was cancelled (or at least postponed) for the time being. While we do find it a little funny that it has required injuries and/or roster moves to get Martin to play his younger players or change his lines at times, the Moneyball analogy doesn't go far enough just yet.