Roster

Habs call up Benoit Pouliot

We’ll be seeing Benoit Pouliot soon. He was the player who came to Montreal in the Latendresse trade with the Minnesota Wild. It was announced today that he’s been called up from the Hamilton Bulldogs. Pouliot had 3 pts in his last game in Hamilton, 1 goal and 2 assists.

Pouilot was a high pick (4th overall) in the 2005 draft… just ahead of our own Carey Price. He has talent to burn and I think the hope is that the new surroundings, closer to home along with the new coaching staff might be just what the doctor ordered for Benoit.

Here’s the official press release that can be found here:
http://canadiens.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=510684

Canadiens recall Benoit Pouliot from the Hamilton Bulldogs
Monday, 21.12.2009 / 10:47 AM / News
Montreal Canadiens
PRESS RELEASE

MONTREAL – The Montreal Canadiens announced today that left winger Benoit Pouliot has been called up from the AHL Hamilton Bulldogs. Pouliot will join the Canadiens today in Atlanta for tonight’s game against the Thrashers.

Pouliot recorded three points (1 goal, 2 assists) in three games with the Bulldogs. He also maintained a +1 plus/minus rating, registered 11 shots on goal and served four penalty minutes.

Pouliot, 23, was assigned to the Bulldogs on December 10 for conditioning purposes. The 6’03’’, 199 lbs forward has yet to play a game with the Canadiens due to an injury. Pouliot played 14 games with the Wild this season, recording four points (2 goals, 2 assists), serving 12 penalty minutes with a plus/minus rating of 0 and averaging 11:56 minutes of ice time per game.

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.

Ryan White gets another shot

Things seem to happen pretty fast at times…. and with all of the injuries in the NHL this year guys like Ryan White are getting ample opportunity to make an impact in the big leagues.

According to the Habs official website, Ryan White has been called up from the Hamilton Bulldogs.

Ryan White currently has 2 assists, 40 hits and 12 blocked shots in 13 games.

Welcome back!

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.

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.

Shawn Belle gets the call

As many of us were expecting a swift call up of newly acquired Marc-Andre Bergeron it seems as though the Habs feel he needs more time to get it going.

Shawn Belle was called up yesterday to round out the defense as Yannick Weber had been sent down.

Some might not like this move but I don’t mind it at all.
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Defensive juggle before the home opener

According to the Montreal Canadiens website Yannick Weber has been assigned to the Hamilton Bulldogs. This doesn’t really come as much of a surprise.

With the home opener a few days away it would seem likely that the Canadiens will likely call up the recently signed Marc-Andre Bergeron.

There was a time that I looked at the defensive core and thought to myself that it could look promising. It really seems like it was long ago but in reality we’re talking a couple of weeks. Back in the days when the anticipation for that first game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, the team that was gonna intimidate and push us around.

Today I’m slightly confused. I’ll explain myself a bit further on my confusion… but first about Bergeron.
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Season just about on and some last cuts made

As I write this there is 2 more sleeps before the new 2009-2010 season opens with the Montreal Canadiens facing the Toronto Maple Leafs. I’ve been waiting for this long enough to qualify me as a slightly obsessed fan.

Jacques Martin has made some more cuts and now we have the team or roster together that will start the year.

The cuts that were made today were Ben Maxwell, Tom Pyatt, Yannick Weber, Mathieu Carle and Curtis Sanford.
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