Your Canadiens for November 25, 2011

REMINDER: Due to American Thanksgiving, today's Philadelphia Flyers - Montreal Canadiens game begins at 3:00 PM EST. If you can't watch the game then, RDS is replaying it in its entirety at 6:30 PM EST.

- The Habs will be without Scott Gomez (insert Thanksgiving joke here) for today's game. He is day-to-day with a lower body injury and did not practice yesterday. Though they did practice, neither Andrei Kostitsyn nor Andrei Markov is ready to return, and since no one was called up from Hamilton, the Canadiens will dress 7 defensemen (including Frederic St. Denis).

- Carey Price will get the start in goal for Montreal. It is unlikely Peter Budaj will start at home against Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins, so we shall see how Price holds up for back-to-back games.

- Jaromir Jagr and Chris Pronger will miss this game due to injury and illness respectively. Good timing for the Canadiens!

- A Russian news source yesterday reported that Alexander Avtsin's agent indicated the player was promised by the Canadiens to play at least 10 games for the Habs this season (source: http://www.sovsport.ru/news/text-item/494436).

The source is the same that broke the Andrei Kostitsyn - Jacques Martin story from this summer. Avtsin was considered a highly intriguing prospect when he was signed a year ago, bringing the always coveted mix of size and skill to the table. He struggled to get ice time in the American Hockey League as one of the AHL's youngest players (starting the season at age 19) last year. This season, after a slow start, he seems to have possibly turned a corner, having the most productive stretch of his North American career the last little bit, playing notably on a top line with Louis Leblanc and Phil DeSimone.

He'll need to keep consistently playing well to deserve that call-up to the NHL, or else the Habs will basically have to determine whether he's in the long-term plans or not. If the answer is yes or maybe, they'll need to give him a look to keep him happy. Of course, there is no North American source making this claim "official," but it would make sense when combined with the report that Avtsin was "disappointed" when cut from Habs camp this Fall (it's not like anyone expected him to have a shot at making the club anyway!).

- Hockey Canada will announce the list of players invite to Team Canada's final evaluation camp for the World Junior Championship Monday morning. Canadiens prospects Brendan Gallagher and Michael Bournival are shoe-ins for invites, while Nathan Beaulieu should be on the camp roster as well, though he faces the toughest road ahead to make the actual squad.

- With no NHL games yesterday, it was a quiet night for Habs fans. But check out today/tonight's schedule; in addition to the Canadiens game, virtually every Hab prospect in North America is in action! Brendan Gallagher's Vancouver Giants, Nathan Beaulieu's Saint John Sea Dogs, Jarred Tinordi's London Knights, Michael Bournival's Shawinigan Cataractes, Morgan Ellis's Cape Breton Screaming Eagles, Danny Kristo's UND, Mac Bennett and Greg Pateryn's Michigan Wolverines, Darren Dietz's Saskatoon Blades, plus the Hamilton Bulldogs (and more!) all have games tonight! A busy night of scoreboard watching no doubt.

- Want to meet P.K. Subban? Let's be honest, who doesn't?! The Habs defenseman will be signing autographs at the Best Buy Quartier DIX30 in Brossard this Sunday, November 27th, at 2:00 PM.

Preseason Game 8: 01/10/11 Montreal Canadiens vs. Tampa Bay Lightning in Quebec City

Finally, we've arrived at the end of the torture. Just one more game, and then we can get to some "meaningful" hockey. There is no doubt the preseason has been a bit of a disaster for the Canadiens, but a big win tonight could reverse the flow and allow the team to enter the regular season on a positive note with a bit of momentum.

The lines tasked with this challenge should be the same as we saw in practice yesterday:

Mike Cammalleri - Tomas Plekanec - Andrei Kostitsyn

Max Pacioretty - Scott Gomez - Brian Gionta

Mathieu Darche - David Desharnais - Erik Cole

Aaron Palushaj - Andreas Engqvist - Yannick Weber

Hal Gill - P.K. Subban

Josh Gorges - Chris Campoli

Jaroslav Spacek - Raphael Diaz

Carey Price

Jeff Woywitka, Alexei Yemelin, and Mike Blunden are the healthy scratches. As we've mentioned, it seems Raphael Diaz has for now won a starting role over Yemelin. Many Habs fans will (perhaps rightfully) not like the lack of truculence in the line-up, with no toughness on the fourth line and a relatively soft group of d-men.

The expected Tampa Bay Lightning line-up:

Brett Connolly - Steven Stamkos - Martin St. Louis
Ryan Malone - Vincent Lecavalier - Teddy Purcell

Mattias Ritola - Dominic Moore - Steve Downie
Dana Tyrell - Tom Pyatt - Adam Hall

Victor Hedman - Eric Brewer
Brett Clark - Matt Gilroy
Marc-Andre Bergeron - Pavel Kubina

Mathieu Garon

Other updates for today:

- Lars Eller practiced without a blue "no contact" jersey today, which should indicate he is nearing a return. For Habs fans who have been underwhelmed by the preseason performances of Andreas Engqvist (in other words, pretty much all Habs fans), this should come as a sign of relief, as it appears Eller could dress in the first game or two of the season.

- Travis Moen, Andrei Markov, and Ryan White are accompanying the team on the road, as they leave for their annual team building retreat (to Collingwood, Ontario) following tonight's game in Quebec City. Moen skated alone again this morning, while White remains sidelined and unable to take to the ice.

Jacques Martin was quoted as saying "it will be a long while before White can return." Officially, he is sidelined with a "lower body" injury.

- The Hamilton Bulldogs opened their preseason last night with a 4-1 win over the Binghamton Senators. The top line of Alexander Avtsin, Brock Trotter, and Brian Willsie led the charge, with Avtsin scoring 2 goals, Trotter having 3 assists, and Willsie 1 goal and 1 assist. Robert Mayer got the win for the 'Dogs in goal. This is a good start for Avtsin who faces a crucial year for his development in North America. He should see greatly increased ice time over last season where he was a healthy scratch, and will have to prove he can be more involved physically and more responsible without the puck. The team has a rematch against the Senators tonight.

- Goaltender Nicola Riopel, who was invited to a Canadiens development camp as a try-out several years ago, has been invited to try-out with the Bulldogs at camp. Since Peter Delmas is expected back shortly from his concussion, this will mean four goaltenders in the mix.

- In the junior ranks, it was a big night for a lot of Habs prospects. Despite just barely getting to the arena on time after being cut by the Canadiens in the morning, Michael Bournival scored 2 goals in a 7-2 Shawinigan win. Bournival now has 7 goals and 1 assist in just 3 games.

Jarred Tinordi, who we told you yesterday was named captain of the London Knights, finished a +1 with no points in an 8-2 London win. Tinordi made his mark with a huge hit and a very lopsided fight win. Here's a video of that:

Morgan Ellis, also captain of his Cape Breton Screaming Eagles, helped the team mount a third period comeback with 2 assists in a 4-3 win.

Olivier Archambault had a goal but finished -2 in Drummondville's 4-2 loss to Nathan Beaulieu's Saint John Sea Dogs. Beaulieu had no points but finished a +1.

Lastly, in the WHL, Darren Dietz had an assist and led all his Saskatoon Blades teammates with a +3 in a 4-2 win. Montreal's other WHL prospect, Brendan Gallagher, will join his Vancouver Giants teammates in time for tonight's game after being cut from Canadiens camp yesterday.

- IT IS OFFICIAL! Likely the funniest member of the Montreal Canadiens, Hal Gill, has joined Twitter. You can follow him at: @skillsy75

- The Toronto Maple Leafs' forward Clarke MacArthur was suspended 2 games by Brendan Shanahan today for a hit on Detroit Red Wings' forward Justin Abdelkader. As such, he will miss the season opener against the Habs on Thursday. Canadiens fans will remember the shoe was on the other foot a year ago, with Mike Cammalleri missing the season opener against the Leafs due to a preseason suspension resulting from an altercation with Nino Niederreiter of the New York Islanders.

21/09/11: Buffalo 3, Montreal 1; but a good building block

It may have been the second loss in as many preseason nights for your Montreal Canadiens, but it was hard not to walk away with at least a little smile from last night's game at the Bell Centre.

Perhaps it was because Peter Budaj delivered a solid half game performance, seeming like he will be a perfectly acceptable back-up to Carey Price.

But that wouldn't be enough. Was it that P.K. Subban showed no signs of his training camp injury in being by far the team's best player and scoring a goal (followed by a celebration that delighted fans in the building but is sure to draw ire from people around the league given that it's just a preseason game)? Likely not, as Subban was just being Subban, though it does seem at this point that he may end up being the team's most important player not named Carey Price.

If it wasn't either of them, perhaps it was merely the fact that a team composed mostly of young players hung in there against a near-full Buffalo Sabres roster who, admittedly, weren't playing particularly passioned hockey? While this is true, it is still exhibition play, and so the outcomes are of little importance.

No, I think the biggest reason for Habs fans to have been happy last night was a first exposure to the stud that will be Nathan Beaulieu. Now Beaulieu didn't have a perfect game. He had a couple of giveaways, a few poorly executed passes, and some failed powerplay set-ups. But on the whole, the fact that he didn't look out of place is perhaps the biggest compliment you can pay the 18-year old kid. Beaulieu showed great skating and stickhandling ability, and set up teammates with a few very slick breakout passes. Ladies and gentlemen, we've got ourselves a top notch prospect. Expect Beaulieu to require a few seasons of development before he is a full-time Hab, but he appears to have a bright future ahead of him.

As for the rest of the team, fans who came to see Brendan Gallagher and Alexander Avtsin may have left disappointed, as Gallagher was basically quiet except for one very strong offensive zone shift, and Avtsin did little to be noticed aside from being pasted into the boards on a few occasions. Andreas Engqvist further extended his lead for a roster spot with sound defensive play over Aaron Palushaj who continues to float through camp with little impact.

Gabriel Dumont had a nice debut, showing his willingness to hit anything that moves and lots of combativeness for such a small player.

As far as the veterans go, Max Pacioretty had a solid outing with a number of chances / shots on goal, and doesn't appear to have lost any speed since his injury. His center for the night, David Desharnais, did a fine Scott Gomez impersonation through the neutral zone at times, but was of little influence on the game's result. The same could be said for Brian Gionta who had a quiet night and wasn't particularly noticeable, with the entire trio finishing a -3.

Next up for the Habs is a duel in Ottawa on Friday, the first of 4 games in 4 nights, meaning few cuts should be expected between now and then. The chemistry experiments continue as all players try to round themselves into shape.

Rookie Camp - Day 4

END OF DAY REPORT:

So as it turned out, there was no "scrimmage" per se today, with 4 days of rookie camp culminating in some 3 on 3 Red vs. White rushes at one end of the ice, with shooting and passing drills at the other.

Only 6 players had red jerseys on, including Aaron Palushaj, Dustin Walsh, Ben Winnett, and Olivier Dame-Malka, indicating that they stayed on the "scrimmage" half of the rink the entire time, while the white jersey'ed players switched back and forth from rushes to drills.

Since there was no actual game, we don't have too detailed a report, but here are some observations on a few of the players I most clearly noticed.

Alexander Avtsin: On day 1, I compared him to a young Alex Kovalev. He looked that way again, displaying sick hands, with two particular plays within a couple of minute span that saw him take a breakaway on the drill side against Peter Delmas and bury it after a quick pump fake, then switch ends to the 3-on-3 side and carry the puck around the entire defending team before again deking the goalie. I really hope this kid makes it, because there is no middle ground. He has elite talent, so he'll either be an offensive star, or the weaknesses in his game (defensive play, soft, intensity...) will keep him out of the NHL. Big boom or bust prospect. Canadiens.com has a great piece on Avtsin up today where it sounds like he is adapting well and fitting in on this side of the pond.

http://canadiens.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=588548

That should calm the fears held by many of him bolting back to Russia.

Michael Bournival: I did make a bit of an error on Bournival on day 1. It wasn't the fact that I raved about him, because of that he is deserving. It was that I said he looked small. I think it just comes from the way he plays, however. A low to the ice style, very intense, hunting the puck. Because he didn't look small at all today. Seems like a can't miss NHL'er - it won't be his size holding him back. The question is whether he can be an offensive player at the pro level, or if he's more of a Maxim Lapierre forechecker type.

Brendan Gallagher: Another reason why 1 scrimmage scouting reports are insufficient. Wow is this guy talented but tiny. I said on day 1 that he had Chris Higgins-itis, unable to cash on a number of great chances, but today he showed the best hands of any prospect down low around the net on some drills. Should be a huge year for the little man, and first I look forward to seeing him line up against older and bigger competition in preseason.

Peter Delmas: I got a request to talk a bit about the goaltenders, but Delmas is the only one worth my time. There is certainly potential there, particularly in a quick glove hand that has made several highlight-reel worthy grabs over the course of the week. At 6'2", he's a big enough guy to command a presence in goal, and he also seems like a great teammate, often joking around with the others. Definitely the best of the three in camp, and it's not even close.

Aaron Palushaj: I was hard on him on Monday, criticizing his apparent lack of effort, but he stepped it up a notch on Rookie Camp's final day, looking like the veteran he should be. He certainly knew it had been a tough week for him because after he buried a goal for team red in the three on three game, he celebrated a little too loudly, as if out of relief. Still, I don't see more than a third liner out of him at the NHL level, and has very little chance of challenging for a roster spot in Montreal out of the gate.

Unfortunately, that's about all we got today. Again, didn't much like the forward try-outs, though Philip DeSimone would be my pick as the best of the bunch. The Canadiens announced that everyone who participated in the Rookie Camp, including all try-outs, would be invited to the big camp for a total of 64 players.

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DAY UPDATES:

1:51 PM - Goaltender Robert Mayer is injured. As a result, tryout Robin Gusse will be invited as a 6th goaltender to Habs main camp tomorrow, says M.A. Godin.

1:20 PM - Andrei Markov took the ice on his own this afternoon, skating "gingerly" per Abe Hefter. Certainly not a good sign, but again, our questions won't be answered till after tomorrow's physicals at the earliest.

P.K. Subban skated with the veterans this morning, easing any concern over his sore back.

Reminder - We'll have live Tweets of the scrimmage at 5:00 PM today, and then a recap summary with our thoughts on a number of players posted here when it's all over.

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Thursday, we turn the page on the golf tournament and shift focus back to the Montreal Canadiens' young prospects for the final day of the team's Rookie Camp. With the club's training camp set to open tomorrow, this could be a final chance for some of the young players to stand out amongst their peers.

Through the first two scrimmages on Monday and Tuesday, each of Team White and Team Red managed one win. Team White looked dominant on Monday, outplaying the Reds by a much greater margin than the 3-2 score, while Red exacted revenge Tuesday with a 4-0 blowout.

Combining the three days thus far, the main standouts seem to be CHL prospects Brendan Gallagher and Michael Bournival, outshining even first round selections Jarred Tinordi and Nathan Beaulieu and established AHL'ers like Aaron Palushaj and Brendon Nash.

As all week, we will provide you with reports and updates as we get them! Today, that should include the official Training Camp roster list, but don't expect too many surprises there. The majority of Rookie Camp attendees will be on the list.

Stay tuned to our Twitter account at 5:00 PM for live Tweets of the final scrimmage, which will be followed by a detailed report here in this post once it's all done.