from Dave Stubbs of the Montreal Gazette,

You can still see Ryan White sitting in the Canadiens’ penalty box wearing his goofy, gap-toothed grin, laughing heartily, a bag of ice on his knuckles, his wild mane flying in all directions, looking like he’d combed it with a pitchfork.

The missing tooth was his right incisor; it sacrificed itself to a puck during a 2010 Hamilton Bulldogs playoff game, White sliding to block a shot and effectively using his mouth to do it.

He says to this day that, every now and then, he “dusts off” the tooth that was made to fill the gap — but only for very special occasions.

Amid the big-name departures from the Canadiens at the opening of free agency on July 1, Ryan White slipped off the roster almost invisibly.

And that is unfair to this friendly 26-year-old plugger from the prairies, who gave heart and soul and at least one tooth to the Habs organization during 141 regular-season games and another 10 in the playoffs, spread over five seasons.

A restricted free agent, White was not given a qualifying offer by the Canadiens last Tuesday, the team cutting him loose to sign with any club that might be interested.

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