Your Canadiens for December 21, 2011

Updates on the morning of the third game of the Randy Cunneyworth era, as the Habs prepare to take on the Chicago Blackhawks at 7:30 PM EST this evening.

- With the Canadiens playing in a back-to-back situation, travelling to Winnipeg for tomorrow night, Peter Budaj will get the start in goal tonight. The Habs have dropped 3 games in a row, so tonight is an important game and playing Budaj is a bit of a risky move on Cunneyworth's part. However, for some time now, Carey Price has been one of the few players who "brings it" on a nightly basis. Starting Budaj is a challenge to the skaters; Carey's not there, now it's your turn to go out there and win it.

- Otherwise, the team will make no line-up changes, meaning Alexei Emelin and Yannick Weber will again be healthy scratches. I'm no fan of sitting Emelin and really think it makes little sense given the make up of this club. He's being held back because he's an LD, but a spot needs to be made for him at some point. With the top pair of P.K. Subban and Josh Gorges struggling, now would seem as good a time as any to split them and shift Gorges back to the right side.

- Team Canada continues its preparation for the World Junior Championships (which begin on boxing day) with their second pre-tournament game tomorrow night. Canada will take on Switzerland at 9:00 PM EST, live on TSN2. In the team's first game Monday night, Michael Bournival and Brendan Gallagher made strong impressions with great games. The pair is on the "fourth line" with no consistent third linemate since there are only 11 healthy forwards with the group at the moment. They still got plenty of ice time as coach Don Hay rolled four units, and Gallagher rewarded him by tapping home a Bournival rebound for a goal late in the third period. Nathan Beaulieu, meanwhile, had an up-and-down game, generating a few chances offensively while on the point of the team's top powerplay unit but not producing.

- Team USA is also holding their pre-tournament camp, dropping their first exhibition match to Team Russia last night. Jarred Tinordi was a healthy scratch for the game as the club opted to evaluate other defenders instead. Most still consider Tinordi a lock for the squad, though the Americans still have to make their final cuts by Christmas.

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.

Budaj goes with # 30

As if to give us things to talk about, the Montreal Canadiens spread out number selection over three different days during the past week.

After Erik Cole took number 72 and David Desharnais switched from 58 to 51, today the club announced that Peter Budaj will wear number 30 this season. Budaj had worn number 31 with the Colorado Avalanche, but that is Carey Price's territory with the Habs. Interestingly, 30 is the same number David Aebischer selected in Montreal after coming over from the Avs.

A question remains, then, as to why Desharnais didn't take number 15, since the article announcing his switch indicated he had in the past chosen 51 only because 15 was already taken. With Jeff Halpern's departure, the Habs have no 15 in the organization.

Full story: http://canadiens.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=569012

Habs Sign Peter Budaj for 2 years

On the first day of free agency, the Montreal Canadiens have signed goaltender Peter Budaj to a 2 year contract worth a total of $2.3M ($1.15M annual cap hit).

Budaj, 28, was once seen as the heir to the starting goaltender throne in Colorado, but didn't live up to his billing. He did start 45 games for the club last year, but his numbers were subpar on a bottom-feeder like the Avs, posting a .895 SV% and a 3.20 GAA.

Encouraging for the Habs is that the 6'1" Slovakian's best season was when he was in a limited role in 2009-10, playing just 15 games but putting up a 2.64 GAA and .917 SV%.

This signing may spell the end for Alex Auld in Montreal, but keep in mind the Hamilton Bulldogs need a starter as well, so the team does still need to add another goaltender to its system.