Habs : Parros, Pacioretty set to return to lineup

Source : Montrealgazette 


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 The Canadiens’ lengthy injury list is starting to shrink with George Parros and Max Pacioretty poised to return to the lineup during the team’s weekend road trip.

Parros, who suffered a concussion during the Canadiens’ season opener on Oct. 1, will play Friday when the Habs face off against the Minnesota Wild (8 p.m., RDS, TSN Radio 690).

Pacioretty, who has been out with a strained hamstring, will play this weekend, coach Michel Therrien confirmed Thursday before the team left for Minnesota. The Canadiens will wrap up a two-game road trip against the Avalanche Saturday in Colorado (10 p.m., CBC, RDS, TSN Radio 690).

“We’ll see for (Friday),” Therrien said.

The other piece of good news for the Canadiens and their fans was the sight of 6-foot-2 defenceman Alexei Emelin skating with his teammates at practice Thursday in Brossard for the first time since reconstructive surgery last May on the ACL and MCL in his left knee.

Emelin wore a no-contact jersey at practice, after which the Canadiens announced they’ve signed him to a four-year contract extension. The team, as per its usual policy, didn’t disclose the financial terms of the deal, which will pay Emelin $16.4 million, an average of $4.1 million per season.

“He can play big minutes against the opponents’ best players, and hard-hitting defencemen of his type are hard to find,” Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin said in a press release.

“We are very confident that he will fully recover from his knee injury and be able to compete at a high level for many years to come.”

The 27-year-old Russian, who has been learning English, briefly addressed the media for the first time en masse in a scrum. He called it a great day.

“I’m very happy to stay for a long time in Montreal,” Emelin said. “It’s a great city, great team. I’m happy. My family, too.”

The contract negotiations weren’t long, Emelin added.

“I feel good,” he said about being back on the ice with the team.

“I think I need a couple of weeks more ... (to be) ready to play,” he added, suggesting perhaps a mid-November comeback.

Emelin would also like to take part in the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi.

TSN’s Darren Dreger tweeted on Thursday that P.K. Subban, who won the Norris Trophy last season as the NHL’s top defenceman, is a long-shot at this point for the Canadian Olympic team, based on information he’s gathered. It doesn’t mean Subban won’t make the team, Dreger added, “but, management concerns with high risk play still outweigh his offensive strengths.”

Subban, who is tied for the Habs’ lead in points (11) with Tomas Plekanec, suggested his focus isn’t on the ongoing speculation about the Olympic team makeup.

“I’m focused on this team here. ... And play hard and just trying to play my best every game, and do the best that I can,” he said.

“When you look at the start of the season, I don’t think it’s a bad start. But I think there’s room for improvement, so I’ll just get better every day.”

Therrien steered clear of the Olympic topic. When the coach was asked if he was satisfied with Subban’s play over the past few games, Therrien said: “P.K. is a player who brings us a lot of energy.
He’s a guy who offensively is able to score, get points.

“We have a team concept within our organization that we follow. And we believe — it’s our team concept that will get us in the playoffs and it’s our team concept that will make us progress as a team.”

Subban leads the Canadiens in power-play minutes, averaging 4:31 per game, but his limited play on the penalty kill is a bone of contention with some Habs fans. Subban is averaging 1:01 of ice time per game on the penalty kill this season, while his average last season was 1:27.

Subban is averaging 24:33 of ice time per game this season, ranking second on the Canadiens behind Andrei Markov’s 25:01. Last season, Subban averaged 23:14.

“He has more ice time this year than he had last year,” Therrien said when asked about using Subban less on the penalty kill. “So there’s a progression in the equation.”

Before the team left for Minnesota, Parros had his substantial and distinctive moustache shaved off for the annual “Movember” campaign that raises awareness about, and money for, men’s health issues.

“I’ve done it for a number of years and everyone always asks me why, but nothing draws more attention to the cause than getting rid of this thing and re-growing it,” Parros said.

“It’s a little embarrassing, at first. My upper lip looks a little smaller. And I have a few more challenges for fights because I look about 10 years younger,” Parros joked.

The 6-foot-5 forward suffered a concussion on Oct. 1 during a fight with Toronto Maple Leafs forward Colton Orr when he fell and his chin struck the ice.

“It feels good to come back, get off the (injured reserve),” said Parros, who is cleared to play. “I feel good. I feel good in my head, no headaches, no symptoms. Looking forward to it. You can’t sit around thinking about what happened. You’ve got to press forward and play the same way. So I’m looking forward to that opportunity and putting the past behind me.”

Carey Price will get the start in net on Friday. Therrien didn’t reveal more of his goaltending plans for the back-to-back games. Peter Budaj played with the Avalanche for six seasons before joining the Habs.

About 40 people headed to Minnesota with the team as part of a Habs’ father-son trip for the two games. Therrien called it well-deserved. Fathers make a lot of sacrifices for their kids, bringing them to practice and showing up at games, he said.

“It’s a great experience for not only the players, but for the parents, too, to be able to share that experience,” the coach added.

Therrien, whose father passed away a few years ago, has his son with him on the trip. Parros’s father couldn’t make it, but his brother is joining him. The fathers travelling with the team include Alex Galchenyuk’s dad and Karl Subban.

“It will be cool having my Pops on the road, said Subban, noting his father is now retired.

“It’s going to definitely be a fun trip for everybody.”

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Habs : About last night …

Source :  Hockeyinsideout


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But you know what?

Caution is for pussies.
In the ALN section of HIO, we don’t do caution. We leap to conclusions with hops that an NBA All-Star would envy.

Seriously, it’s WAY too early for dramatic pronouncements.

Well, except for one: They have to get fighting out hockey.

No, this is not a cynical attempt to exploit the horrific George Parros injury for cheap politically-correct points. Parros was the victim of a freak accident. It’s just too bad his kids were at the game to see their father wheeled off the ice on a stretcher.

If there were no fighting in the NHL, Parros wouldn’t have been in the opening-night lineup. Neither would his dancing partner, the Leafs’ Colton Orr. That’s two more spots for skill players on the respective rosters.

Fighting in pro sports is pointless and stupid. It’s an automatic ejection in tough, physical sports such as football, soccer and basketball.

You say it keeps players honest and protects the smaller skill guys?

Right.

So Parros wins a close decision in his first fight with Orr. Travis Moen pounds out a solid decision over Mark Fraser, and Jarred Tinordi punches out Carter Ashton.

Did it change the momentum of the game?

Did it give David Desharnais more room to roam on the ice?

Then there’s the entertainment argument.

“Does anyone go to the bathroom during a fight?” the Don Cherry constituency asks.
How about we introduce a new crowd-pleasing element: The First Star of every game is fondled by a stripper at centre ice.

No one would go to the bathroom.

Alright, enough ranting from the Ol’ Blogger, who is infrequently sought out for advice by Brendan Shanahan.

The Canadiens won a couple fights and lost the game. The home team was second best in most of the puck battles against a Leafs lineup that includes not one player less than 6 feet tall.

The Canadiens have eight players under that bar. And the aforementioned DD, Brian Gionta and Daniel Brière had very quiet nights against Toronto.

In the postgame show on TSN 690, the lads were asking why 6’2″ Lars Eller – two goals and an assist, six SoG, two hits and 50 per cent on draws – played 16:20 while DD – zero points, one SoG, no hits and 6-4 in the faceoff circle – played 18:24.

The even-strength minutes were fairly even for the two centres, but Desharnais added 3:19 on the power play to 1:29 for Eller.

Alex Galchenyuk had two assists and was plus-2 in 13:23 – less ice time than Gionta, Rene Bourque (who actually played well), Brière and Max Pacioretty.

On a team with three second lines, the EGG (Eller-Galchenyuk-Gallagher) aggregation was the home team’s best – by a lot.

Perhaps DD, the captain and Brière will fare better against teams less physical than the Leafs.
Unfortunately for the Canadiens, the Atlantic Division includes – in addition to Toronto – the Bruins,
Senators, Sabres and two Florida teams that aren’t exactly shrinking violets.

Positive note: the Canadiens fourth line – with and without Parros – played well. Moen was particularly energetic.

Maybe DD and the boys can fatten up against Detroit.

Yeah, right.

The radio guys also were wondering why a Norris Trophy defenceman played 44 seconds on the Canadiens penalty-kill while Raphael Diaz played 6:20.

I didn’t like Diaz during the pre-season, and my dissatisfaction carried over into the opener.

Yes, the guy is good on the PP. His patience and slick passing created a goal. But Diaz has no physical game, and Michel Therrien is pairing him with Andrei Markov, who sorely needs the kind of hard-hitting partner that Alexei Emelin was before he wrecked his knee last season.

Markov is still a force on the PP and occasionally zips off a nifty outlet pass. But the veteran Dman was caught flat-footed at the Toronto blueline on a Canadiens’ power play, and Tyler Bozak wheeled away to score the goal that turned the game in Toronto’s favour.

If Carey Price stops Bozak on the second-period breakaway, it’s 2-2 and who knows? But Price didn’t have much chance on the other goals, and I thought he made some big stops.

James Reimer faced 37 shots, but there wasn’t much in the way of sustained Canadiens pressure. And the Leafs, winning puck battles all over the ice, had more clear-cut scoring chances.

Heading into the season, I thought the Canadiens had issues on the back end.

P.K. is incomparable, of course, and was excellent against his hometown team. Josh Gorges was steady and ended the night at plus-1. Jarred Tinordi played a shade under 15 minutes, blocked two shots and did not look out of place.

But Markov, Diaz and a game-but-slow-and-undersized Francis Bouillon …

Emelin is sorely missed. I’m not counting on much from Davis Drewiske or Douglas Murray (who seems to get hurt climbing out of bed in the morning).

There’s help in the system – Nathan Beaulieu is up for the time being, Darren Dietz and Magnus Nygren looked promising in pre-season – but it doesn’t do to rush defence prospects unless they’re high first-round blue chippers.

Philadelphia is at the Bell Centre on Saturday.

There could be fighting.

•  •  •

Guest Comment from savethepuck:

Yeah I’m a glass half full guy, but maybe I saw the game differently than some, and it makes me sleep better at night and doesn’t make me get so worked up over a regular season loss. It’s an 82 game season and there will be games when breaks go the other way. I’m not even going to bother arguing with those who are blaming Price, I’m starting to realize it’s a waste of time, like beating your head against a wall. It was a crazy hockey game, seemed like both teams were playing run and gun and giving up a lot of glorious scoring opportunities at both ends. Habs went down 1-0 on a 5 on 3 PP but the Habs fought back and tied it up ( on an incredible patient hockey play by some Diaz guy that most here hate ). The kid line then tied it up and things were looking good. Leafs tied it on a great shot by Phaneuf and then went ahead on a short handed goal by Bozak. That goal rolled off Markov’s stick at the blueline, and Carey may of cheated a bit thinking Bozak was going to deke to the forehand before he went high blocker, but I’m not going start blaming anyone because it’s pointless. The backbreaker was the 4th goal, which was one of the luckiest bounces you will see pop back on the stick of Mason Raymond. This was one out of 82 games that either team could of won, if the Habs are well below 500 after 20 games, I’ll start to worry a little.


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Canadiens : Des nouvelles rassurantes

Source : Rds

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Le Canadien de Montréal a fait le point sur l’état de santé de George Parros au lendemain du triste incident survenu pendant le match d’ouverture contre les Maple Leafs de Toronto, au Centre Bell.

Au terme de sa deuxième bagarre de la soirée contre Colton Orr, mardi, Parros a été projeté au sol par son adversaire et sa tête a lourdement heurté la glace. Il est longuement resté étendu au sol pendant que les services médicaux prenaient soin de lui et il a dû être transporté hors de la patinoire sur une civière. Il a été immédiatement conduit à l’hôpital pour y effectuer des examens approfondis.

Ce mercredi, l’homme fort a fait une sortie sur Twitter pour remercier tous ceux qui lui ont transmis de bons voeux de rétablissement depuis les évènements.

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