Canadiens forward Brian Gionta (centre) becomes the 28th player in franchise history to wear the "C" on his sweater. With him are defencemen Andrei Markov on the left and Hal Gill on the right, as his assistant captains for this season. Peter McCabe, The Gazette
After going an entire season without a captain, the Canadiens announced on Wednesday that Brian Gionta will become the 28th player in franchise history to wear the "C" on his sweater,succeeding Saku Koivu, who assumed that role from 1999 to 2009.
Gionta, who was one of three assistants named at the start of the 2009-10 season, will have defencemen Andrei Markov and Hal Gill as his assistant captains. The 31-year-old Gionta is entering his ninth season NHL season and his second with the Canadiens. Signed as a free agent on July 1, 2009, Gionta made his presence felt in his first season with the Canadiens, leading the team with 28 goals, including a team high 10 power-play goals. Gionta also recorded three game-winning tallies and posted a team-high 237 shots on goal.
The Canadiens announced Monday that 18 players had been cut from training camp, and 16 of those players were assigned to the AHL Hamilton Bulldogs.
Forward
Louis Leblanc, a first-round pick in 2009, was sent back to the Montreal Juniors, and defenseman Jarred Tinordi, Mon6treal's first-round pick in June, was sent to the London Knights of the OHL.
The Bulldogs will
be leaving on Tuesday for Newfoundland where they will
hold
training camp until Oct. 3, including three preseason games against
the
Binghamton Senators.
Read on for the list of 16 players assigned to Hamilton:
According to reports and Maple Leafs advisor Clliff Fletcher, former Canadiens head coach Pat Burns has lost his battle with cancer.
He was 58.
Burns, a native of St-Henri district, won 501 games in 15 seasons as an NHL coach with the Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, Boston Bruins and New Jersey Devils, which he led to the 2002-03 Stanley Cup title in his first season with the club.
He is the only coach in NHL history to win the Jack Adams Trophy as the league's coach of the year three times, winning it with the Canadiens in 1988-89, the Leafs in 1992-93 and the Bruins in 1997-98.
For those who were wondering, the Cap-tastrophy post a little further down was written by Stu Hackel, the latest addition to the HIO team.
The New York-based hockey writer who is a lifelong fan of the Canadiens posts on the New York Times' Slap Shot blog, and you can follow him at Twitter here.
We're happy to have him, so please welcome him to the HIO community.
Canadiens prospect P.K. Subban, always smilling and always good for a quote, talks to reporters before the first day of rookie camp on Monday. Gazette photographer/videographer Dave Sidaway was in the dressing room to record a few clips posted here. Among other things, Subban discusses a vocal Andrei Markov and Subban's dubious calculus skills.
The newest Canadien, Jeff Halpern (left) faces off with Saku Koivu during game in 2009.Allen McInnis, Gazette file photo
The Canadiens have signed free-agent forward Jeff Halpern to a one-year deal.
The Gazette's Pat Hickey, always well-connected, reports the deal is worth $600,000 for the year. Halpern earned $2 million last season.
This brings the team's roster up to the limit: 23 players, including 13 forwards.
Important Jeff Halpern facts:
• RH shot
• Two seasons removed from 20 goals
• Bum knee that was wrecked at the 2008 Worlds
• Team USA pal of Scott Gomez and Brian Gionta
• Princeton is not chopped liver; Halpern is a heady vet and a leader who will be a positive influence on younger players ... even though his addition to the roster means Max-Pac or Ryan White or whoever will have to have a lights-out training camp to make the team
Carey Price signs his first Canadiens contract in April 2007 in the Pasco, Wash., home of Dennis and Jill Williams, his Tri-Cities billet for four seasons, before leaving for the Hamilton Bulldogs. Courtesy Williams family
The Canadiens have signed goaltender Carey Price to a two-year contract.
No official word on terms of the deal. The figures being mentioned on Twitter range from $5.25 million ($2.5 million and $2.75 million) to $2.65 million per to $5.5 million ($2.5 million and the $3 million Price was prepared to go on strike to get, as per our national public broadcaster).
A cap hit of $2.75 million would leave the Canadiens with 21 players under contract and about $2 million worth of breathing room.
Price is in Kelowna, where he's spent most of the summer and is working with goaltending coach Pierre Groulx at the junior Rockets rink. After the conference call, he planned to drive to Tri-Cities where "my girlfriend has a family reunion I've got to go to", Price said, stressing the obligatory nature of the excursion.
Sounding poised, relaxed and confident, Price began by saying he does not feel an undue degree of pressure, beyond the challenge of wanting to do well for his teammates.
"I learned ice time isn't just given to you, it's earned," Price said, in response to a question from Dave Stubbs about the goaltender's late-season difficulties.
Price also said a two-year contract is ideal at his age and stage of development.
Price has been working with his personal coach, Eli Wilson, and says he's in good shape. He has wrapped up his rodeo riding and plans to be in Montreal Sept. 10.
Asked how many games he'd like to start this season, Price answered "82" before getting serious and telling Pat Hickey that the goaltending workload will be a coach's decision, based on merit.
In response to a question about whether his off-season training has stressed lateral movement and his glove hand, Price said he's worked to improve all aspects of his game.
Admitting 2009-'10 had been difficult for him, Price said he'd strayed further from his game as the season progressed. Asked to describe his experience in Montreal to date, Price said: "It's been hard and it's been awesome."
Reports surfaced Wednesday night that former MLB players' association boss Donald Fehr has been hired by the NHLPA. Nothing has yet to be confirmed, though.
According to reports, Glen Metropolit is headed back to Europe to continue his
hockey career. The former Canadiens centre signed a two-year deal with EV Zug
in Switerland yesterday. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Metropolit, 36, played three seasons in Europe, including a
stint with Jokerit Helsinki from 2003-05, and Lugano in Switzerland for the
05-06 season. He returned to the NHL for the 06-07 season with the Atlanta
Thrashes.
The Canadiens claimed Metropolit, a Toronto native, off
waivers on Feb. 27, 2009 from the Philadelphia Flyers. Metropolit scored 16
goals and added 13 assists for Montreal last season.
Hours after Julien BriseBois jumped ship for the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Canadiens announced that Larry Carrière has become the team's assistant general manager/player personnel.
The Canadiens have signed Russian prospect Alexander Avtsin to a three-year contract.
The 19-year-old played in 30 games with the KHL's Moscow Dynamo last season and scored three goals and added six assists. The 6-foot-2, 188-pound right winger was selected 109th overall in the 2009 NHL entry draft by the Canadiens.
The Canadiens have just announced that Pierre Boivin will step down as the president of CH Group on Jun 30, 2011 and turn the reins over to majority owner Geoff Molson.
Alex Auld knows exactly what the Canadiens want from him next season and he has no problem with that, he sais in an interview with RDS.
"We didn't talk about a specific number of games, but more about the role I would have with the team," Auld said. "They want me to help Carey Price get better and that is exactly what I want to do."
"It's a nice challenge for me and I plan on living up to it. The success of the team I am playing for is always my priority."
Auld added that he jumped at the offer when the Canadiens called. Auld is familiar with head coach Jacques Martin and goaltender coach Pierre Groulx, who were with the Florida Panthers when Auld played there in 2006-07.
The Canadiens' trade of Sergei Kostitsyn wasn't for nothing in the end as the team signed centre Dustin Boyd to a one-year deal on Thursday worth $650,000. Boyd had 24 points last season (11 goals and 13 assists) in 78 games with the Calgary Flames and Nashville Predators.
Goaltender Alex Auld has signed a one-year deal with the Canadiens for $1 million.
The team also announced, late today, it had come to terms on a one-year contract for Dustin Boyd, who was obtained in the trade that sent Sergei Kostitsyn to Nashville.
The Canadiens also re-signed Curtis Sanford to a two-way contract that would pay him $550,000 in the NHL. He will likely be the No. 3 guy on the depth chart and play in Hamilton.
Dan Ellis was on the Team 990 and he said all the right things, praising the organization and adding that he would be more than happy to sign here for the right price.
"If the right offer is there, 100% we'll move forward with that," he said of signing with the Canadiens.
Ellis knows Tomas Plekanec and Andrei Kostitsyn from his days in Hamilton, and he knows Michael Cammalleri and Hal Gill.
He added:
"Carey Price is one of the best up and coming goaltenders in the league. He has untapped potential."
"It makes for a successful team, and that is what you want to be a part of."
This from TSN's Bob McKenzie via Twitter: All indications are that goaltender Dan Ellis will be going to market tomorrow. Doesn't preclude MTL as a destination, but opens it up.
Georges Laraque's days with the Canadiens are officially over after the Canadiens announced on Tuesday that they have bought out the final year of his three-year, $4.5-million contract.
The team originally announced on Jan. 21 that they would buy out the 33-year-old enforcer. Laraque receives $1 million, and the Canadiens will take a $500,000 salary cap hit for the next two seasons.
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