Articles in Montreal Canadiens

NEW YORK (March 29, 2024) – Montreal Canadiens defenseman Kaiden Guhle has been suspended for one game, without pay, for slashing Philadelphia Flyers forward Travis Konecny during NHL Game No. 1152 in Montreal on Thursday, March 28, the National Hockey League’s Department of Player Safety announced today.

The incident occurred at 19:55 of the second period.

Under the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement and, based on his average annual salary, Guhle will forfeit $4,496.53. The money goes to the Players’ Emergency Assistance Fund.

For a full explanation of the decision, complete with video, please click on the following link: https://www.nhl.com/video/topic/player-safety/guhle-suspended-one-game-6349961867112

Watch the slash from the bench below.

What was the hearing like?

"It would be foolish for me to go on record that I wasn't at fault. There's no doubt that I hit Laycoe and had also hit Thompson. The point is that there was a great deal of provocation in both instances. I think my penalty (suspension for the remainder of the season and the entire Stanley Cup Playoffs) wouldn't have been so severe if Lynn Patrick had told the absolute truth to Campbell at the hearing. To this day I can't forgive him."

Explain what you mean?

"Patrick said that I started the fracas and had hit Laycoe first. Everything Patrick said to Campbell was completely different from the way I remembered it or the way the referee, Frank Udvari, recalled. Overall, Laycoe wasn't a bad guy, but his testimony left much to be desired."

What kind of punishment did you expect?

"I probably deserved to be suspended for the final three games of the season or possibly 10 or 15 games in the following season but not for the playoffs. I could see no justification for Campbell punishing my teammates or me by docking me from the Stanley Cup round. I still say that if justice was truly done, I wouldn't have been kept out of any of the Stanley Cup games."

-Legendary hockey reporter Stan Fischler writes a weekly scrapbook for NHL.com. Fischler, known as "The Hockey Maven," shares his humor and insight with readers each Wednesday.

This week, Stan presents his popular "Voices from The Past" on the 69th anniversary of "The Richard Riot" in Montreal with a one-on-one interview with Maurice "Rocket" Richard from his book, "The Flying Frenchmen: Hockey's Greatest Dynasty," co-authored with the Hockey Hall of Famer. Richard details the roots of the conflict and opines about his controversial suspension in the spring of 1955.

Read more from Richard.

per Elliotte Friedman, Jack Allen to New Jersey gaining traction.

MONTREAL - It is with great sadness that the Montreal Canadiens organization has learned of the passing of former defenseman Jean-Guy Talbot.

Born in 1932, Talbot, a native of Cap-de-la-Madeleine, began his NHL career with the Canadiens in 1954-55, appearing in three games. He would go on to play a dozen more seasons with the Habs and become one of 12 players to win the Stanley Cup in five consecutive seasons from 1956 to 1960. Talbot won the Cup two more times with Montreal in 1965 and 1966.

He was selected by the Minnesota North Stars in the 1967 NHL Expansion Draft. Soon after, he would join the St. Louis Blues and play under head coach Scotty Bowman. He also played for the Detroit Red Wings and Buffalo Sabres before hanging up his skates.

In 1971, at the end of his illustrious playing career, he moved on to coaching. He became the head coach of the Blues and then the New York Rangers. In 1978, he returned to his hometown of Cap-de-la-Madeleine, where he worked for the O'Keefe Brewery.

A few months ago, author Louis Beaudet and the former mayor of Bécancour, Jean-Guy Dubois, published Talbot's biography, Porteur de flambeau. Serge Savard wrote the preface.

He is survived by his wife Pierrette, his three children, and many grandchildren and friends.

Watch below.

updated 5:37pm, Suspended five games.

This is a first for me.

via the Montreal Canadiens,

Montreal Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes announced today that the team has agreed to terms on a three-year contract extension (2024-25 to 2026-27) with goaltender Samuel Montembeault. The deal will pay him an average salary of $3.15 million per season.

from Stu Cowan of the Montreal Gazette,

The Canadiens are heading into the second full season of their rebuild and there is real reason for optimism. More than half the team will be age 25 or younger this season and there will be several solid prospects playing for the AHL’s Laval Rocket. The Canadiens also hold 21 picks at the next two NHL Drafts, including two first-rounders in 2025.

But how long will Canadiens fans remain patient?

Before teeing it up at the team’s golf tournament Monday, executive vice-president of hockey operations Jeff Gorton was asked what would make this season a success.

“That’s a good question,” he said. “Listen, I know that everybody would like us to say the ‘P’ word (playoffs). … For us internally, I’ve said this since I got here: We’re going to try to get better every day and I know it’s a cliché and I’m sorry for that. But that’s how we’re going forward.”

When asked about goals for the coming season, general manager Kent Hughes said: “At the end of the day, this is a game of wins and losses and we want that. But it has to come from within, from the group of players and the expectation. We don’t want to burden them with it’s a zero-sum game where you either accomplish this or it’s a failure. Games are played for a reason and we’ll see where it takes us.”

When asked what his mission statement would be for this season, head coach Martin St. Louis said: “Win every day. That’s it. Just win every day.”

read on

from Stu Cowan of the Montreal Gazette,

Canadiens GM Kent Hughes is hoping to wait until the NHL season starts before placing Carey Price back on long-term injured reserve.

Price isn’t expected to ever play again because of a knee injury, but the 36-year-old goalie still has three seasons remaining on his contract with an annual salary-cap hit of US$10.5 million.

Hughes wants to avoid the situation he was in last season when Price was placed on LTIR during the offseason to make room for Sean Monahan after acquiring the veteran forward and his US$6.375-million cap hit from the Calgary Flames in August. Teams are allowed to go over the cap by 10 per cent during the offseason. Once a player is on LTIR, his salary no longer counts against the cap.

“If we put Carey Price on offseason LTI his money’s gone and then we lose the flexibility during the year, which we did last year with all the injuries, and with the recalls and bonus money we get into overages, which carry the cap cost into the following year,” Canadiens GM Kent Hughes said during a video conference last month.

“So with each passing year we’re going to be more and more mindful wherever we can to try not to do that and to preserve Carey,” Hughes continued. “The unfortunate part is if we don’t put him on LTIR until in-season, it’s pretty hard to use $10.5 million of his money in-season. LTI isn’t a perfect situation for any team. I know some people think it’s simple and you just use the money that that player’s salary was occupying, but it’s a little bit more complicated.”

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from Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe,

They’re restless in Montreal. That’s not news, not after what is now a 30-year Cup drought for the Canadiens. Remember, Les Glorieux won it five times in their first 30 years, and rattled off a record five straight (1956-60) in what Habs fans considered normal times.

The reaction of the fan base was exceptionally nasty after last month’s decision by Jeff Gorton, Kent Hughes, et al, to use the fifth pick in the draft on David Reinbacher, a 6-foot-2-inch Austrian-born defenseman out of Switzerland’s top pro league. Let it not be overlooked that the kid literally has CH in his name.

The reaction: David who?!

Actually, it was more emotional than that, but we’re going by old-school Sunday newspaper rules. Habs fans had their minds set on the far more hyped Matvei Michkov, the Russian right winger who some believe could be the next Kirill Kaprizov (a fifth-round choice in 2015 by the Wild).

Michkov, who might not be able to break his contract in Russia for at least two more years, went No. 7 to the Flyers.

Reinbacher, with the size (6-2/185) and game that encouraged the Bruins to select Charlie McAvoy at No. 14 in 2016, got lambasted by Habs fans on social media, in part because he’s unknown, in part because he’s not Michkov, in part because of the aforementioned 30-year drought.

more and other topics too...

NASHVILLE - Montreal Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes announced on Tuesday that the team has acquired the rights to forward Alex Newhook in exchange for Montreal's 31st (previously acquired from Florida) and 37th overall picks in 2023 and defenseman Gianni Fairbrother.

Newhook, 22, scored 14 goals and added 16 assists in 82 games with the Avalanche in 2022-23 before adding one assist in seven playoff games.

MONTREAL - Montreal Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes announced on Tuesday that the team has agreed to terms on a one-year, $1.985 million contract extension (2023-24) with forward Sean Monahan.

Monahan, 28, scored six goals and added 11 assists in 25 contests with the Canadiens in 2022-23 before suffering a season-ending lower-body injury on December 5 in Vancouver.

Since the beginning of his career, the Brampton, ON native has tallied 479 points (218 goals, 261 assists) in 681 games with the Canadiens and the Calgary Flames, who drafted him sixth overall in 2013.

The 6-foot-2, 196-pound centerman was acquired from the Flames in a trade on August 18, 2022.

MONTREAL - Montreal Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes announced on Monday that the team has agreed to terms on an eight-year contract extension (2023-24 to 2030-31) with forward Cole Caufield. The deal will pay him an average salary of $7.85 million per season.

Caufield, 22, scored 26 goals and added 10 assists in 46 games in 2022-23 before he underwent a season-ending shoulder surgery. The Mosinee, WI native led the Canadiens in goals for the second consecutive year, tied with Nick Suzuki this season. Before going under the knife, Caufield was ranked 11th in the NHL in goals scored and eighth in the league with 19 even-strength tallies.

from Jack Todd at the Montreal Gazette,

The superstar who never was sat on the bench Saturday night, staring blankly at the ice in Tampa. The word “stapled” came into play.

Jonathan Drouin didn’t make it into the game in the first period. Or the second. Or the third.

When it was over, he was a phantom who didn’t even make the box score. For the match against his former team, Drouin had the best seat in the house — and based on the 46 games he has played to date, he was paid US$119,565.22 to watch.

Not for the first time in his six-year Canadiens career, Drouin was an innocent spectator. The fiasco that began with Drouin missing a team meeting the night after a sloppy 9-5 loss to the Florida Panthers ended with him watching an entire game from the bench.

With that, Drouin surely took a blowtorch to any remaining threads binding him to the organization. If GM Kent Hughes was still thinking that he might make a one-year, $1 million offer based on Drouin’s strong performance over the past 30 games, that thought has surely gone the way of Scott Gomez.

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MONTREAL -- Montreal Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes announced on Sunday that the team has acquired forward Denis Gurianov from the Dallas Stars in exchange for forward Evgenii Dadonov.

The Canadiens will retain 50% of Dadonov's salary until the end of the current season.

A 6'03'', 205-pound right-winger, Gurianov has two goals and seven assists in 43 games this year.

Drafted 12th overall by the Stars in 2015, Gurianov has 103 points (46 goals, 57 assists) in 257 career NHL games.

from Jack Todd at the Montreal Gazette,

It’s reaching the point where if you ain’t injured, you ain’t a Hab.

But it was the loss of Caufield that roiled the waters. Caufield’s quest for 40 goals or more was the biggest single reason to watch almost three more months of hockey. He’s so much fun to watch that even a victory over the Leafs feels like it was filmed in black and white without him.

Worse, the handling of his injury has brought the first serious criticism of the current regime since Jeff Gorton and Kent Hughes replaced Marc Bergevin at the helm. If Caufield was injured Jan. 11, why was he allowed to play on through five games and multiple practices? Why didn’t the medical staff shut him down immediately?

Sportsnet’s Eric Engels, who isn’t one to rip the club as a knee-jerk reflex, scorched the medical staff for not shutting him down immediately. “Why their medical staff would allow him to (play with this injury) in a season in which results have been stated as secondary to development,” Engels wrote, “is absolutely mindboggling.”

Even with the constant input from Caufield’s agent, Pat Brisson, and input from doctors outside the organization, the decision makes no sense. “It’s been a progressive injury the past few weeks,” Brisson told Engels, “and every time he steps on the ice, there’s a chance it could get worse, and then it could get more complicated in surgery.”

more

via the Montreal Canadiens,

The Montreal Canadiens organization have issued the following medical update for forward Cole Caufield.

Caufield suffered a season-ending injury to his right shoulder and will undergo surgery in the near future. An update of his recovery period will be issued after the medical procedures.

Forward Jonathan Drouin has been placed on IR retroactively to January 16th.

NEW YORK (Jan. 20, 2023) – Montreal Canadiens defenseman Mike Matheson has been fined $5,000, the maximum allowable under the Collective Bargaining Agreement, for interference against Florida Panthers forward Eric Staal during NHL Game No. 720 in Montreal on Thursday, Jan. 19, the National Hockey League’s Department of Player Safety announced today.

The incident occurred at 18:14 of the first period.

The money goes to the Players’ Emergency Assistance Fund.

Watch below.

via the YouTube page of Sportsnet,

Watch as PK Subban returns to Montreal and receives a heartwarming tribute from the Canadiens and fans at the Bell Centre before reuniting with longtime teammate Carey Price.

from Stu Cowan of the Montreal Gazette,

After the Canadiens finished with the worst record in the NHL last season, it was obvious there were going to be growing pains as the new management team of Jeff Gorton, the executive vice-president of hockey operations, GM Kent Hughes and head coach Martin St. Louis began the rebuilding process.

After the Canadiens beat the Calgary Flames 2-1 in a shootout at the Bell Centre on Dec. 12 they had a 14-12-2 record and were playing entertaining hockey — even when they lost. But things started to fall apart after that and the Canadiens went 1-9-1 in their next 11 games before beating the St. Louis Blues 5-4 at the Bell Centre last Saturday.

During that dismal 11-game stretch — including eight road games — the Canadiens scored only 20 goals. They were both bad and boring, bringing back memories of last season with Dominique Ducharme as head coach.

More memories of last season came back with a 4-0 loss to the Seattle Kraken Monday night at the Bell Centre. The Canadiens were outshot 19-6 in the first period and were trailing 3-0 after 20 minutes.

The Canadiens have officially sold out 15 of their first 19 home games — including Monday night — with a capacity of 21,105 at the Bell Centre. But there have been plenty of empty seats for most of those games as season-ticket holders decided to stay home or were unable to resell their tickets.

The Canadiens reached the midway point of the 82-game regular season with Monday’s loss and have an 8-11-0 record at home and they are 16-22-3 overall, sitting in last place in the Atlantic Division. Canadiens fans — and especially season-ticket holders — will be hoping the team can at least play some entertaining hockey again during the second half.more

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“I watched it for two years. I don't think he could be better than a 20-goal scorer, he explained during a generous interview with TVASports.ca earlier this week. Not because I don't like it, but because it lacks speed. I figured he's a player they might be looking to trade.

“The Rangers have a good team and they want to win the Stanley Cup within two years. He is not giving enough right now to be on the first two lines and for the team to aspire to great honors."

-Ron Duguay, former NHL player on Alexis Lafrenière. Louis-Andre Lariviere of TVA Sports has more (translated).