The Winter Classic signaled the end of the holiday season for many and now it is back to reality for many us, including the Montreal Canadiens. The Canadiens win against the Bruins on January 1st was almost a magical moment, when everything went right. Brendan Gallagher’s return to action and the effect that he has on the team from top to bottom reminded fans that this edition of the Canadiens is in fact capable of scoring and that the players needed a reminder that hockey can be fun again. That is not to say that everything will be all sunshine and rainbows with Gallagher again or that the Canadiens will go on another 9 game win streak. But the start of 2016 is not as dire as the end of 2015 and the Canadiens can build from that.
The importance of Gallagher to the Canadiens is not lost on general manager Marc Bergevin, which is why he took the unusual route (for him at least) to extend his sparkplug long-term, before the his rookie contract expired. However, the depth on the right side of the Canadiens has been exposed and will eventually need to be addressed but the fact of the matter is that Bergevin most likely has his eye on certain players and will wait it out to get his price. This strategy has paid off when he obtained Tomas Vanek and Jeff Petry at the trade deadline and I don’t see much changing between now and this year’s deadline. Obviously Jonathan Drouin would look great in a bleu-blanc-rouge jersey but the cost would likely be way too high. Plus Drouin plays left wing so he would most likely be slotted to play next to Galchenyuk and as of now Daniel Carr/Sven Andrigetto. Tampa Bay general manager Steve Yzerman is in a catch-22 now that Drouin’s agent announced that he and Drouin had requested a trade back in November. Yzerman cannot afford to let Drouin go without locking up Steven Stamkos. However, he has a potentially stud top 6 forward who is not playing or developing. As well, I would imagine that Yzerman would try to avoid trading Drouin to any of their division rivals…
The Canadiens practiced yesterday and today with the same line formations. Dale Weise has been placed on the IR for 2-3 weeks and so Sven Andrighetto was quickly recalled from St. John’s. He and Devante Smith-Pelly were rotating in on the right side of the 3rd line. I would give the nod to Smith-Pelly against the Flyers as his style of play suits that line better, especially against a physical opponent. Therrien will make his final decision on the lineup tomorrow:
Everyone now. #TSN690 pic.twitter.com/PSoAHoelz1
— Amanda Stein (@amandacstein) January 4, 2016Mark Barberio will continue to replace Tom Gilbert and play with Alexei Emelin on the 3rd pairing. Ben Scrivens will get the start in Philadelphia on Tuesday night while Mike Condon will start in Montreal on Wednesday against the New Jersey Devils. Philadelphia’s lineup should look like:
#Flyers new forward lines—play tomorrow vs. the #Habs https://t.co/oeMwnMAkmV pic.twitter.com/ZaBgytaKV9
— Daily Faceoff (@DailyFaceoff) January 4, 2016On another note, if you were cheering for Team Canada, how do you feel about this year’s World Junior Team falling in the Quarterfinals to Finland? While it is obviously a disappointment to the players, management and fans alike, it seems like these kids go off year after year with the weight of Canada on its shoulders. There was definitely talent on the team, but a number of question marks as well. As a Canadiens or Western Hockey League fan, do you believe that Canadiens 1st round draft pick Noah Juulsen could have made a difference in the tournament? Is it somewhat similar to how Ryan McDonagh was cut from Team USA in 2008? Only time will tell… Personally without any Canadiens prospects playing in the tournament this year I did not feel as compelled to watch as many games as I normally do. Here’s hoping that next year there will be extra reasons to cheer for Canada as the tournament returns to Toronto/Montreal for 2017.
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