Prospects

Cedrick Desjardins is the AHL’s Goaltender of the Month for December 2009

I wrote a little piece on PK Subban being named to the AHL all-star squad and how much confidence that might give him moving into the second half of the season… well, one of his team mates has also been playing some amazing hockey in Hamilton.

Cedrick Desjardins has been lights out this year.

In 21 games this year he’s got a Goal’s against average of 1.66 and a save percentage of .932. In the month of december Desjardins went 8-0-0 (8 wins, no losses!), he had a goals against average of 1.16 and a save percentage of .949.

Just a few years back we saw Halak playing some strong hockey in Hamilton with the Bulldogs and now Canadiens fans should be happy that there’s another prospect making a strong show.

His strong play in Hamilton might be another factor in making it a little bit easier to move a goaltender in Montreal. He would be a possibility as backup.

PK Subban is an All-Star

At the start of the year, coming out of camp we saw a few young guys leave an impression. One of those guys is young defenseman PK Subban.

Many voiced their desire to see Subban play in Montreal. Especially after all the early season injuries to both Andrei Markov and Ryan O’Byrne. I could certainly relate with the enthusiasm around PK and the desire to see him play in Montreal. A really strong skater with a good hard shot and a player who seems to examplify the very word enthusiasm, he would have certainly looked good in the eyes of many as a call up.

I was certainly tempted by the possibilities myself.

One of the debates around the prospects was to give them time in the minors so they can play at the pro level and not throw them in the fire that it can be in Montreal.

So PK has played half a season in Hamilton and by all accounts he’s really playing well.

PK Subban was recently named to the AHL all-star game.

This is probably the best case scenario if you’re Bob Gainey… and many Habs fans.

Subban has gone down, worked hard under a great coach in Guy Boucher and is performing at a high level. He currently leads the Hamilton Bulldogs defensemen with 20 points.

And what a confidence booster for him this will be going into the second half of the Bulldogs season!

PK is one of the AHL’s stars and this experience will certainly be in his favor as he continues to play this season in Hamilton and then comes into next year’s camp.

Congrats PK!

Yannick Weber called up again

With the recent injury to Roman Hamrlik last night the Montreal Canadiens called up Yannick Weber. Hopefully the Habs management have made all the proper contacts so that the whole “playing an in-eligible” player thing won’t happen again.

I’m sure they did.

Last time Weber was called up we didn’t get to see him in action and he was sent back to Hamilton. This time around he’ll most certainly see a bit of ice.

Here’s the official release from the Montreal Canadiens website.

http://canadiens.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=510236

Habs call up Yannick Weber
Thursday, 17.12.2009 / 12:00 PM / moves
PRESS RELEASE

MONTREAL — The Montreal Canadiens announced that defenseman Yannick Weber has been called up from the AHL Hamilton Bulldogs. Weber will join the Canadiens today in Montreal for tonight’s game against the Minnesota Wild.

The 5’11’’, 193 lbs defenseman played three games with the Canadiens earlier this season. He was held pointless with one shot on goal, while averaging 14:50 minutes of ice time per game.

Weber recorded six points (1-5-6) in 24 games with the Bulldogs this season. He added 62 shots on goal and 24 penalty minutes, with a +4 plus/minus differential.

Louis Leblanc cut from this year’s world juniors

Montreal’s 18th overall pick in last year’s draft, Louis Leblanc, has been cut from team Canada’s World Junior roster.

So far this year, Leblanc has 3 goals and 6 assists in 9 games (1 point per game) to go along with 22 penalty minutes. (Check his hockeydb.com stat sheet)

I’d hoped to see Leblanc play in this year’s tournament but it won’t happen. If Louis continues to progress I’m sure he’ll have a strong chance to make next year’s team.

Ryan White returns to the Hamilton Bulldogs

Today the Montreal Canadiens have announced that forward Ryan White has been assigned to the Hamilton Bulldogs.

White certainly made a good impression in his time in Montreal… taking the opportunity to play 13 games since November 4th. Ryan has 2 assists in those games.

With the return of Georges Laraques and the recent experiment to put Marc-André Bergeron at forward… there isn’t much room for him at the moment.

The M.A. Bergeron experiement at forward last night….. I didn’t mind that one bit.

David Desharnais recalled from Hamilton

David Desharnais has been called up from the Hamilton Bulldogs and with another possible injury, he may get the chance to show what he can do.

I really liked Desharnais in pre-season… a very unlikely success story just like teammate Brian Gionta and Martin St-Louis he’s a small forward at 5 foot 7.

David had a good season last year in Hamilton and this year due to injury he only played in 7 games. In those 7 games however, Desharnais has 4 goals and 6 assists.

You can find the official release on the Canadiens website here….

I hope he has a strong show tonight!

Jay Leach may play and thoughts on D

The newest member of the Montreal Canadiens might see the light of day in the next game on Tuesday against the Calgary Flames.

At first when I saw that the Habs had claimed Jay Leach off waivers I figured he would probably be in Hamilton. But it’s quite possible or maybe probable that he’ll play on Tuesday night.

Leach is a big stay at home defenseman at 6′4 220 lbs and he does play a physical game.

With injuries to half of the defensive core Bob Gainey has been trying to bolster the D with a variety of moves to date.

In last night’s game Ryan Malone scored a goal by being able to stand around in front of the crease and not just get one whack at the puck but got his own rebound off of Carey Price’s stop to put his second shot in the net. This has been a big problem for the Canadiens and not just this season.

If Leach gets some ice time this is one of the tasks he’ll likely be given. Clear the front of the net or at least make it much harder for the opposing teams to park their players there.
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Tom Pyatt and Ryan White called up

The official press release from the Canadiens can be found here. That makes it official. Tom Pyatt and Ryan White have been called up from the Hamilton Bulldogs.

It was actually a bit of a surprise for me. I recently wrote about Pyatt and although I thought we’d see him in Montreal for a few games I didn’t think it would come this fast.

One of Montreal’s problems this year has been defense. As it stands now 3 of the top 6 defensemen are injured and I thought we might see a bit of a change on the backend but it seems as though there’s a shake up in front.
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Mathieu Carle gets called up

RDS reports that Mathieu Carle has been called up by the Montreal Canadiens.

Hal Gill was hit in the foot by a puck in practice and had to leave practice early.

This is a great opportunity for Mathieu Carle who had his 2 first training camps cut short because of injury. This season he seemed to start a bit slow (in camp)… I thought he looked nervous at times… but he got better and better.

I believe Jacques Martin wanted to get a good look at him and gave him a good shot in camp.

Carle will be in the lineup on Tuesday night in the game against the Atlanta Thrashers.

Prospect watch : Tom Pyatt

Back in the early months of the summer and just prior to the draft we all heard of that big trade that brought Scott Gomez over from the New York Rangers. In that deal we saw Chris Higgins go the other way…. a player that I enjoyed and had high hopes for.

Along with Gomez came his hefty contract which, I will admit, made it hard for me to swallow that deal. After “UFA season” opened and we signed Cammalleri and Gionta, who both mentioned the Gomez deal as a factor in their decision, I thought it might be shaping up. At least it didn’t look too bad…. we had some newly acquired offensive punch to replace that which had gone out with the players who were not being offered contracts to return.

In that trade came a player that at first I took no notice of. His name is Tom Pyatt.

So who is Tom Pyatt??
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