If the Florida Panthers needed any more reasons not to get out of bed this morning after suffering a 4-0 loss to the Senators, they found one in Montreal. They'll brave the cold to try and pick up the pieces and get back the winning form they showed against Carolina in their season opener.
The Habs will be looking to avoid losing consecutive games for the first time this season, and based on yesterday's practice combinations, it would seem Michel Therrien's got some pretty interesting changes in mind.
If Therrien stays true to his practice formation, Alex Galchenyuk will centre Brendan Gallagher and Brandon Prust, while Ryan White takes Travis Moen and Colby Armstrong as wingers. These moves would have Rene Bourque completing a line with Tomas Plekanec and Brian Gionta, and Lars Eller looking in from the pressbox.
Dramatic, no?
No one would argue Eller to be the worst forward during Saturday's loss to the Maple Leafs, but if the coach intends to sit him, it certainly provokes the assumption that he's not satisfied with what the young Dane brought to the equation.
Roughly half an hour from the morning skate, there's no confirmation yet that Eller will be on the bubble, but if he is, perhaps it has more to do with making a statement to the team than it does with him.
Either way, you'd have a sound argument to suggest that sitting an offensive player on a team that seems offensively challenged (a player who doesn't merit the brunt of the blame for Saturday's debacle) defies logic.
But hey, this is Montreal, and second-guessing the coach seems to be the norm around here. Maybe Therrien was trying to light a fire under Eller. Even if the kid wasn't bad on Saturday, he wasn't part of the solution either.
Maybe the decision has nothing to do with Eller and everything to do with trying Galchenyuk at centre.
Maybe Therrien didn't want to pull any of his grit out of the lineup, as Ryan White would be a more eligible candidate to sit as a centre than Eller would. But Therrien clearly liked what White, Armstrong and Prust brought to the team Saturday, as one of the lone bright spots on the night.
Maybe a practice on the bubble is enough of a scare to inspire more out of Eller, and maybe he'll be in the lineup after all. We'll know soon enough. Enough with the hypotheticals.
Moving on...
Observations from around the league:
1) Dropped Ryan Clowe from my fantasy team for Vladamir Tarasenko yesterday, and it paid immediate dividends.
Wow, this kid is special. At 21, he may have the best shot on a youngster since Ovechkin came into the league.
He dismantled Nashville last night with a goal and two assists, and he was a highlight reel threat on virtually every shift.
He's for real.
2) Watching St. Louis- Nashville, watching Vancouver-Edmonton, watching Penguins-Rangers, Rangers-Boston, it makes you feel like the Canadiens and Leafs were playing in another league on Saturday.
The pace of play in those games was playoff-like compared to what looked like a preseason game in Montreal.
3) It's early, but the rookies around the league look unbelievable, and the oldest veterans do too.
Jaromir Jagr
Teemu Selanne
Alex Kovalev
Saku Koivu
Martin St. Louis
These guys have been incredible so far.
4) Surprise team in the West could very well be the Anaheim Ducks.
Montrealers always said the Habs would be a great team if Saku Koivu was their third line centre. Well, that's where he's playing in Anaheim. His linemates are reaping the benefits.
Daniel Winnik has four goals already. He had eight in 84 games last year. That's right, he played two extra games due to being traded from Colorado to San Jose.
5) Going back to the rookies, Damien Brunner. Filthy!
6) Halak getting pulled after allowing three goals on 11 shots wasn't so great for my fantasy team.
Any thoughts I had about Brian Elliott coming back down to Earth this season were all but erased. He was sensational for the rest of the game.
7) There's no question that how the Habs play has a great effect on what deal P.K. Subban gets. If they lose, if their powerplay continues to resemble a penalty kill, leverage swings rapidly to Subban's corner with the pressure on Bergevin looming large.
He'd have been signed before training camp if he had any actual leverage before. So long as he's not eligible for arbitration, all those comparables we've been throwing around don't mean much to the Canadiens.
If the Habs win and get streaking on wins, well, if Subban wants to play, he's going to have to sign that "bridge" deal the Canadiens are lobbing his way.
If things go that way, the next negotiation won't be pretty.
8) If Saturday was a warm up, tonight's a playoff game. If the Habs lose this one, the pressure really mounts for a tough game in Washington Thursday. Then it's back home to the Devils Sunday for a 6:00pm start.
9) Tuuka Rask looks as good as Anders Lindback looks bad. Watching Lindback against the Islanders yesterday, he couldn't stop a beach ball. He was super aggressive and anything but calm in the net. If he's as good as they say he is, he'll rebound quickly. I'm surprised the Lightning haven't been mentioned more in the Luongo sweeps.
As for Rask, well, he's got excellent defense in front of him, but he's played extremely well through the Bruins two wins.
10) Coming back to the Blues, I thought they had a good crack at making a Cup-run last year. I think the loss in the playoffs got them ready to follow through this year. No team has looked more complete to me than they have. And I anticipate they'll add to the picture.
Wade Redden will make his debut as the sixth defenseman on Thursday when the Blues are set to host the Predators.
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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