P.K. Subban has been recalled from the Hamilton Bulldogs for this all important game 6 in the first round of the 2010 NHL playoffs.

Habs face elimination tonight against Ovechkin’s Washington Capitals. The game is in Montreal.

The Bell Center will likely exploded with energy. Habs weren’t really expected to win the Capitals but in the course of this series they’ve shown some good things against the Caps… and that the Caps can certainly be beaten.

P.K. Subban has become a fan favorite without barely scratching the ice in Montreal. He’s a great young prospect who’s had an incredible year in Hamilton. Always enthusiastic and upbeat P.K. will certainly bring lot’s of energy in the lineup. I expect that the crowd will show him some love tonight…. think we’ll hear some “PK” chants? I do.

Subban has 18 goals and 35 assists in 77 games with the Hamilton Bulldogs this year. He’s got great skating and puck moving skills and can play a physical game.

In my opinion, the Canadiens have nothing to loose in bringing him up being that they’re down 3 games to 2 and had a sub par performance by MA Bergeron in the last game. Although I don’t think Subban will be the savior for the series I think this is a great opportunity for him to get a taste of the pressure cooker in a Montreal Canadien’s playoff game… facing elimination.

Here’s the official press release!

Yet another injury it seems for the Habs.

Glen Metropolit who had a pretty strong season with the Canadiens with 16 goals (career high) and 13 assists will likely be done for the year.

According to this RDS article, it seems that he’ll be meeting with doctors to access an injury to his left shoulder.

It seems to me that with the opportunities that were given to Metropolit, power play time… etc. He sure made the best of it. Though I don’t want this to sound as though Metro was “the best” or the “most skilled” player on the ice, he certainly gave his all in my opinion. And at times I was really surprised by his passing skills.

I’ll miss you Glen. When the Habs first traded for you, all I knew is that you had played for Philly and the season before for the rival Bruins. Thanks for the great season!

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

With Leach’s signing however I ask myself who will sit out?

My gut tells me it’s Mathieu Carle but the guy I would prefer to have sit out the next game would be Marc-Andre Bergeron.

What I like about M.A. Bergeron is his shot but I’d like to see more of Mathieu Carle.  Carle has been trying to crack this lineup for a few years and since he’s gotten his chance this season he hasn’t looked to bad in the 3 games.

I listen to Montreal’s The Team 990 a faire bit and I always enjoy it when Tony Marinaro has Norman Flynn of RDS on the show to talk about the Habs.

One thing that Flynn has talked about alot lately is playing the young guys…. like a Mathieu Carle. Flynn has talked about putting them out there and giving them a shot. I agree.

I don’t think he’s saying to put them out there and leave them out there for the season… but I think what he was saying is to really give them a shot. I don’t think it’s of great benefit to play a guy like Carle for 2,3,4 games and send him packing while 3 of our defensemen are out with injuries.

I think Mathieu Carle should get some games… let’s say, 9 games (insert your number here)… the point is, as Flynn pointed out, “let’s see what are young guys can do!” Put them in a situation where they’ll get a real taste of winning and loosing.

A young guy like Carle who’s got talent and desire to play in the NHL might just be able to step up. At some point if these guys really are our future players (some may want to debate) and we did draft them so they would be then they’ve got to be given the chance.

We saw a guy last night in the Tampa Bay game that was not projected to make their roster but after a good camp he got a shot and has been playing well. His name is James Wright and he scored one of Tampa’s goals last night.

I know there’s lot’s of talk about not throwing are young guys into the fire, but while we’re not in the running for 1st place in the east I’d rather see a guy like Carle get his shot.

Carle is 22 years old, he’s played 2 full years (minus missing a bit with injuries) of pro hockey in Hamilton making progress last season.

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.

As I wrote in the previous article Tom Pyatt will bring responsible 2 way play. The guy can skate and he can pick pocket a guy just like I’ve seen Brian Gionta do a few times this year…. opposing team gets puck and is close to entering our zone…. Gionta hustles back and steals the puck… Tom Pyatt is that kind of player.

As for Ryan White I’m quite a bit less familiar with him. He’s having a pretty good season to date in Hamilton with 7 points in 11 games.

From Hockey’s Future:
Talent Analysis

“He’s not a great physical specimen, he’s not necessarily in great physical condition, but when we put him on the ice, he does nothing but win battles,” said Hitmen GM and head coach Kelly Kisio. “He’s heard it often enough from a lot of hockey people and he’s beginning to understand the importance of a commitment to conditioning. He’s definitely a guy we’re looking to for a good couple of seasons here. The puck seems to follow him around out there, probably because he such a smart player and works so hard on the ice.”

Taken from http://www.hockeysfuture.com/prospects/Ryan_White

Is there a bigger shake up coming? Only time will tell!

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.

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.

Belle doesn’t have much more experience then Weber has in the NHL, he has played 9 games total and that’s 3 more then Weber.

But Belle isn’t  the same type of player as Weber. Belle is more of a stay at home defensemen and is much bigger and stronger then Weber. What he may be able to provide Jacques Martin is more solid play in front of his goaltender. Belle will add some muscle out there and although we’re badly missing Andrei Markov’s offense we’re also missing the grit that Ryan O’Byrne was showing.

Belle will add some of that defensive grit.

I don’t expect that Belle will have a long stay in Montreal unless (God forbid) there’s another injury on defense. I fully expect that Marc-Andre Bergeron will be in Montreal sooner then later BUT as this season is looking like it will potentially be a long one, if Shawn Belle plays good sound defense for Jacques Martin it may not be the last time we see him this season.

Jacques Martin had given young players a fair shot back in his Ottawa days, he and Perry Pearn may be able to use a guy like Belle effectively.

So Shawn…. hope you have some good strong games in Montreal.