The Canadiens ended their affiliation with the Cincinnati Cyclones of the East Coast Hockey League last month. Monday they announce they and the Hamilton Bulldogs will supply players to the league’s Wheeling Nailers. The Canadiens have used ECHL affiliates to develop late blooming players such as David Desharnais plus goaltenders Cedrick Desjardins and Robert Mayer.
Former Canadiens goaltender Cristobal Huet will be joining Glen Metropolit in the Swiss Hockey League this season. The Chicago Black Hawks and Fribourg-Totteron have reached agreement on Huet’s transfer to Switzerland. The Black Hawks are still responsible for the remaining two years of his contract at 5.65 million per season, but it will not be charged to their salary cap.
Alexander Ovechkin appeared on Russia’s Radio Sport on Friday. He talked about many things,including the current state of the KHL, his critics and the opening round loss to the Canadiens in the 2010 playofffs. In the interview Ovechkin blamed his inability to score in the series (1 goal) and bad luck for the loss after Washington had take a 3-1 series lead.
Carey Price had to get permission from the Canadiens to compete in off-season rodeo events. The agreement was Price would involve himself only in team calf roping events. This weekend past Carey and his partner won a sanctioned B.C. Rodeo Association event at Nemiah Valley near Williams Lake. The victory brought him a $300.30 check. So far this season, Price has earned just over 900 dollars on the B.C. circuit and ranks 6th in the association’s rookie-of-the-year standings.
The Canadiens drafted defenceman Jarred Tinordi 22nd overall in the June NHL entry draft. At the time he was committed to go to the University of Notre Dame this season. Today the London Knights, who had drafted Tinordi 73rd overall in the 2008 midget draft, have pursaided Tinordi to join them. The lure for the 6’6” 205 pound Tinordi was more games in the ultra-competitive Ontario Hockey League and the ability to attend the Canadiens training camp next month, something forbidden under NCAA rules.
EV Zug of the Swiss Hockey League has signed former Canadiens centre Glen Metropolit to a one year contract with an option for a second season.
Metropolit played 85 games with the Canadiens over one-plus seasons scoring 31 points. He played with HC Lugano of the Swiss league in the 2005-06 season and won the league scoring championship.
The Canadiens have signed 25 year old defenceman Alexandre Picard to a one year two-way contract. The overall Canadiens organization defence was depleted in the off-season by free agent departures. Gone from the organization are Paul Mara and Marc-Andre Bergeron from the main team plus Andre Benoit and the illusive Michael Busto from their minor league teams. If the Canadiens elect to carry a seventh defenceman while Andrei Markjov continues to rehabilitate off-season knee surgery, the likely options would be either Yannick Weber or Mathieu Carle from the Hamilton roster. Picard joins veteran Alex Henry as recent free agent signings.
The Canadiens have fourteen defensemen under contract, seven on the NHL club (Markov, Subban, Gill, Gorges, Hamrlik, Spacek and O’Byrne) and with the addition of the veterans Henry and Picard, seven with two-way contracts including Picard, Henry,Weber and Carle olus Brendan Nash, Kyle Klubertanz and Frederic St. Denis.
With the signing of veteran defenceman Alex Henry to a two year two-way contract, the Canadiens addressed a problem they were facing with their Hamilton farm club. With the promotion of P.K. Subban and, in the absence of Andre Markov who will miss the first quarter of the season, perhaps one other Bulldogs defenceman, the American Hockey League franchise was woefully short on defence. The 30 year old, 6’6″ Henry will fill not only fill a gaping hole at the Hamilton blueline, but also bring veteran experience to a young team. Henry’s NHL prospects have been dimmed by a lack of speed.
It had been rumoured for much of the summer that Louis Leblanc would be giving up his college hockey career at Harvard for a professional hockey contract. Today Leblanc signed a three year contract with the Canadiens that will likely see him continue his career in junior hockey with the Montreal Juniors, who acquired his rights in a trade in March. As usual, terms of the contract weren’t announced by the Canadiens.
No-one saw this one coming. The Canadiens have hired Randy Cunneyworth to be head coach of the Hamilton Bulldogs and Randy Ladouceur as his assistant. Cunneyworth was an assistant coach with Atlanta the last two seasons and prior to that was with the Rochester Americans of the AHL for nine years. Ladouceur served as an assistant coach for ten season in the NHL including eight with the Hartford/Carolina franchise.
