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.

You win some and lose some. Although it’s not official, it would appear that the Canadiens top minor league goalscorer, Brock Trotter, is headed for Latvia and the Dynamo Riga team of the KHL. At the same time, a longshot draft choice of the Habs two years ago, Alexander Avtsin, will be abandoning Moscow Dynamo for the Canadiens. Trotter, a restricted free agent, reportedly signed a one year contract with Riga abandoning a potential 900-thousand dollar deal should he have made the Canadiens. Avtsin’s deal would get him 600-thousand should he make the big team.

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.

The Canadiens have signed two more minor leaguers, goaltender Cedrick Desjardins and forward Ryan Russell, to one year/two-way contracts. Desjardins led all AHL goaltenders last season with a 2.00 goals-against average in 47 games. Russell finished sixth on the Hamilton Bulldogs with 37 points including 19 goals

The replacement for Guy Boucher? The rumour mill drums have been banging out a list of candidates for the job. The names we’re hearing most are, from the QMJHL, Rouyn-Noranda head coach and GM Andre Tourigny; Gatineau coach Benoit Groulx, perennial candidate Patrick Roy and Montreal Juniors coach and GM Pascal Vincent. The most mentioned English speaking candidates are Canadiens assistant Kirk Muller and coach of the ECHL’s Cincinnati Cyclones Chuck Weber.

Montreal Canadiens general manager Pierre Gauthier, issued the following statement
“The Montreal Canadiens wish to thank Guy Boucher for his commitment to the organization. His dedication was a key factor to the success of the Hamilton Bulldogs during the 2009-10 season, and to the development of our prospects. We wish Guy the best of luck with the Lightning”, said general manager Pierre Gauthier.

Hamilton coach Guy Boucher is going to be head coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning next season according to Martin Leclair of ruefrontenac.com, the website manned by striking members of the Journal de Montreal. New Tampa general manager Steve Yzerman will make it official at a news conference tomorrow.

The Columbus Dispatch reports today that Guy Boucher has turned down the offer of the head coaching job with the Blue Jackets.

Hamilton Bulldogs head coach Guy Boucher missed the first part of the Canadiens development camp to take care of “personal business”. That business was apparently meeting with Columbus Bluejackets majority owner John P. McConnell, president Mike Priest and general manager Scott Howson. to discuss his candidacy for the team’s head coaching position.

Must have been a good meeting. Today in Columbus it’s being reported that the Bluejackets have offered him the job. Now it’s up to Boucher to decide whether he’s ready to make the jump to the NHL. If he does, Boucher would, at 38, become the youngest coach in the league.