Montreal Canadiens Training Camp: Day One

The stands were filled at the Montreal Canadiens training facility on Sunday. Close to 1200 fans came out to watch the team’s first day of training camp, a surprise to many newcomers to the team this year.

“That’s pretty unique,” said forward Scott Gomez. “It just shows what a great place this is.”

Gomez was paired with fellow off-season acquisition Mike Cammalleri and Andre Kostitsyn in the first day of practice, and scored during the team scrimmage.

“It’s only the first day,” he said when asked if this could be a potential starting line. “So let’s not get crazy.”

“We made some great plays out there,” said Paul Mara, another newcomer who was paired on the point with Andrei Markov for day one. “We’ll see what happens.”

Mara too was overwhelmed by the fan turnout and cheering on the first day, “It’s unbelievable,” he said. “It really welcomes you and makes you want to play in Montreal.”

“It was real fun,” added Jaroslav Spacek. “I’ve never seen something like that.”

Habs hopeful P.K. Subban laid out a couple hits, including an open ice one on Max Pacioretty, during the scrimmage.

“He’s OK.,” he said after talking to Pacioretty after practice. “I wasn’t trying to hit him. He must not have seen me coming.”

Head coach Jacques Martin wants his defenseman to join in the offensive rush whenever possible, something that would suit the young blueliner just right.

“You have to pick the right times to jump up, and when to stay back,” Subban said. “I wanna prove that I’m reliable also, and that I know that I can play and be a sound defenseman back there.”

Coach Martin seemed generally impressed with what he saw from the first day of camp, noting the physical work of Guillaume Latendresse as well as the performance of the four goalies during scrimmage.

The coach stressed, as the players had, that immediate decisions can’t be made from one practice alone.

“My approach, to our team, is we have to find two lines that are gonna give us some good production",he said.

“I’m not sure who’s going to be our first left winger or who’s going to be our fourth left winger. I think we’ve got some battles. It’s going to be up to the players to determine that.”

Martin then gave some insight into how he formulates his lines and that he will take the pre-season to work on that.

“When I look at line combinations, a lot of times I look at a duo, a center and a winger,” he said. “If we have good a combination, for instance, center and right wing, we may see a rotation on the left side, or vice-versa.”

The coach then discussed the necessities of taking the roster GM Bob Gainey put together, and getting the players all on the same page.

“It’s going to be important for us to develop our own identity,” Martin said. “..where we all have the same goal, the same objective. That’s what we’re going to develop in the next twenty days.”

Martin later emphasized puck possession, work ethic and commitment at both ends of the ice.

“We have to work at developing that mentality and identity,” he said. “It has to come from them (the players).”

“I like the enthusiasm that’s been around the team. I like our skill level.” he added. “We just gotta keep progressing.”

Training camp resumes Monday at 10am to 1pm, with a scrimmage between practice groups A and C at 11am.

In Case You Missed it: Habs News and Blogger Views for Sept. 11

I’ll start off today’s mesh of posts and blogs with some non-Habs bits.

Control of the Coyotes: Hearings concluded this evening for the auction process for control of the Phoenix Coyotes. Now it will be Judge Baum’s decision to award the team to the NHL, PSE or throw both bids out. My money is on the league.

The CBC’s Jeff Marek did a great job of twittering highlights from the courtroom as they unfolded.

Hockeyville approaches: The 2009 edition of CBC’s Kraft Hockeyville is just a few days away. Greatest Hockey Legends has been compiling some great stories on the upcoming festivities in Terrace, BC. Well worth the read.

Theo Fleury launches his comeback: The Calgary Flames have invited reinstated winger Theoren Fleury to their 2009 training camp. The 41-year-old will attempt a comeback, much like Claude Lemieux did last season.

No trade, and no golf today, for Dany Heatley:  A report broke on NHL.com yesterday (via ESPN) that the Kings, Sharks and Senators had made a three-way deal to get disgruntled forward out of Ottawa. All teams quickly denied it.

The Ottawa Citizen reports that Heatley made his deposit on a condo being built in the Byward Market area of Ottawa.

In the meantime, the Senators made a peculiar move by asking  Heatley to not attend today’s team golf tournament, “in order to direct attention on the efforts of the Sens Foundation”.

Big Shoes to Follow: The Colorado Avalanche named veteran defenceman Adam Foote as their new captain. And no, they didn’t send a jet for him this time.

OK on to the important stuff:

Fore!: HabsInsideOut.com was all over Thursday’s team golf tournament, with tons of audio. It also includes the Gillet/Molson news conference.

ScottyHockey gives Four Habs Fans the inside scoop on new Habs blueliner Paul Mara.

Dennis Kane looks at the new Canadiens lineup for 2009-10 with notes on P.K. Subban.

Lions in Winter looks at recent developments and comments in the Canadiens lack of francophone players.

Camp Roster announced: 54 players were invited to the Canadiens’ 2009 Training Camp. Only three players from the rookie camp did not get invited. Robert Lang is not on the list either, so that rumor is put to rest.

Carey Price: Looking forward to the new season

Carey Price appeared in before the Montreal media today at the Montreal Canadiens’ annual golf tournament at the Laval-sur-la-lac Golf Club.

“It’s just like old times,” the 22-year-old opened with, referring to the swarm of microphones that surrounded him this morning.

“It’s something I’m getting used to.”

Price said the he was refreshed and took time to reflect on things and prepare mentally for the upcoming season.

He then commented on the off-season house cleaning of the Canadiens at a player an coaching level.

“It’s always hard to see guys leave,” he said. “It’s never easy to see a teammate leave or a bunch of teammates leave.”

“I’ve met all the guys that we’ve acquired and I really  like them. I think we’re going to have a real good chemistry this year.”

Over the summer, new head coach Jacques Martin paid Price a visit during his off-season workouts. The visit left a real positive mark on the young goaltender.

“That was pretty important,” Price said. It gives the players a lot of confidence, especially for myself knowing that he cares about me enough to come all the way to Calgary to see me skate.”

The pair discussed Price’s off-season, what the plans for the upcoming season would be and what Martin expects from his players.

“He understands the position of goaltending,” Price said, noting Martin was a former goalie. “I think having a coach who understands that is going to help me a lot.”

Although goaltending coach Rollie Melanson was dismissed by the Habs, Price had nothing but good thoughts on his former instructor.

“Rollie kinda made me the goalie who I am today,” he said. “He really rounded my game off since I was drafted.”

Price said the moves made on defense (Hal Gill, Paul Mara, Jaroslav Spacek) will help him to deal with the bodies in front of the net, something that led to the destruction of his confidence last year.

“I’ve always loved big defensemen,” he said. “I think the acquisitions we made are going to be really good.”

He will be coming into the summer at the same size as last season and feels that his 2008 summer workouts to get his weight down may have added to wearing him down last season.

Price’s key focus this season will be his better preparation for a game, something he admits he didn’t do as strongly in his career.

It will be a challenging season for the young goalie, factoring in a tightened schedule this year, due to the Olympics, a RFA season as well as a very capable Jaroslav Halak looking over his shoulder in the event he should falter.

Free agency will be less of an issue in 2010

Criticized by many for not making the big off-season signing for the past several off-seasons, Bob Gainey may have silenced his critics this summer.

Going into the July 1 free agent deadline, Canadiens’ GM Bob Gainey had ten unrestricted free agents to deal with.

What did he do?

He blew up the team, essentially cleaning house of the supposed “cliques” and locker room problems that burdened the 2008-09 edition of the Canadiens.

Although he did offer contracts to notables such as Saku Koivu, Alex Kovalev and Mike Komisarek, those players elected to seek other pastures.

Gainey had been scrutinized in the past for allowing key free agents to walk away (Sheldon Souray in 2007 and Mark Streit in 2008), but this off season he made sure the gaps were filled.

And what a job he did, landing Mike Cammalleri, Brian Gionta and Scott Gomez with contracts that will keep them, barring trades, in  the bleu-blanc et rouge until the 2013-14 season is over.

Jaroslav Spacek, Travis Moen, Hal Gill and Paul Mara were then picked up on the cheap for three,three, two and one-year deals respectively.

He then re-signed restricted free agents Kyle Chipchura, Tomas Plekanec and Guillaume Latendresse for one-year terms.

Curtis Sanford was grabbed to be the bridge goaltender between Hamilton and Montreal.

Based on data from  nhlnumbers.com that leaves $3.2 million and change left over that will likely go to resigning Matt D’Agostini and Gregory Stewart.

Prospect P.K. Subban is signed to a 3-year entry level deal, but it has yet to reflect on the cap.

So what was a panic situation by many, on June 30 at 11:59 pm, now appears to be a well balanced group of players with a new head coach in Jacques Martin and a revamped coaching staff (with the exception of assistant coach Kirk Muller) at both the NHL and AHL level.

What’s good for Gainey is that at the end of the 2009-10 season, he will have 16 signed players in the organization, seven restricted free agents (all of whom are making less that $1 million this season) and five unrestricted free agents.

The principle free agent next season will be goaltender Carey Price.

Pending his performance, we can expect “The Franchise” to sign to a long term extension sometime this season.

In all likelihood, Jaroslav Halak could be moved at the trade deadline. The kid is too talented to remain a backup, unless he and Price go the Hayward/Roy route for another two or three seasons.

With long term signings in place, and a good crop of young players signed and in place, it’s safe to say that come June 30 2010, Canadiens fans will be chewing their nails a lot less than this year .

Not to mention that we won’t be worrying about a #1 or #2 d-man walking away next summer.

A great chat on the course with Captain Kirk

I had a great opportunity to talk with Montreal Canadiens’ assistant coach this week after he finished his second round at the Ford Wayne Gretzky Classic in Thornbury, Ontario.

The complete interview, that runs 10 minutes, can be found here.

Though he doesn’t play in as many tournaments as he used to and tries to keep his travelling close to home, the Kingston native tries to play once at week at home but still enjoys the opportunity to play with the pros on occasion.

Unfortunately for Kirk, his team missed the cut to continue into the third round.

I asked him about the Montreal Canadiens on a variety of subjects from the development camp, the hiring of Jacques Martin , Saku Koivu’s departure and the look of the team this upcoming season.

Muller had a chance to check out the development camp on Monday.

The camp was something that Muller thinks is great for the up and coming players, but was glad he didn’t have it when he was a draft pick.

“I was watching some of the drills they’ve been doing and was like thank God I didn’t have to do it. I probably wouldn’t have been drafted as high as I did,” he said.

On new coach Jacques Martin, Muller feels he is a good choice and that he’ll be able to stay level headed and stick to his guns in the tough Montreal hockey market.

He feels this will be a strong puck possession team under Martin this year and hopes the team can bounce back from a disappointing 100th season hampered by injuries and a group of pending free agents.

“We’re looking forward to bouncing back", he said after.

Muller also feels Guy Carbonneau will be back as a head coach in the NHL.

On Saku Koivu’s departure, Muller feels the move will be a good change for him.

“Sometimes in a career like that it’s nice to do a change and rejuvenate you a little bit,” he said. “I think he’ll do well out there.”

Muller felt that Koivu did a great job handling the pressure of being captain of the Canadiens. He should know being a former captain in New Jersey and Montreal.

He feels early captaincy candidates could be defenceman Andrei Markov and possibly newcomer Scott Gomez.

Despite what is generally thought, the decision on who becomes the new captain isn’t always voted on. Muller said that Jacques Martin could decide for himself or allow the players to vote.

Recently signed prospect P.K. Subban can really benefit with time in Hamilton, according to Muller, and that Ben Maxwell could be one of the next big players in the system within a year or two.

He also thinks this could be a pivotal year for Kyle Chipchura, who just signed a one year deal as I typed this.

On any holes in the team, Muller said that GM Bob Gainey has done a good job so far, but felt that additional help on defence might be looked at.

As we spoke on Friday, the Canadiens had just signed defenceman Paul Mara as well as forward Travis Moen.

With the departure of Mike Komisarek and Alex Kovalev to division rival Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators respectively, Muller thinks that it definitely creates a stir with the rivalry.

I asked him about the retirement of Joe Sakic, who he described as one of the best players in the league in the last few years.

“He’s a really good quiet leader that went out, did his job went out and played his job consistently,” he said.

On any rule changes that he could make, he feels the no touch icing should be looked at, but that there should be more freedom in front of the net for defencemen.

His choice for the Hall of Fame: Doug Gilmour

I'll have talks with Brett Hull, Nick Kypreos, Darren Pang and Cassie Campbell up soon!