It is time to congratulate Carey Price on officially collecting all of his hardware last night in Las Vegas. To no one’s surprise, Price was awarded the Vezina, Lindsay and Hart trophies to go along with the Jennings. Price showed everyone that he is a world class person on top of being a world class goalie. His acceptance speech in which he encouraged First Nations youth to never give up was inspirational to say the least.
B.C. born Carey Price wins Vezina Trophy; gives emotional speech on First Nations youth: http://t.co/U9VcbUNgSO pic.twitter.com/aFhEPo3rev
— Global News: BC 1 (@BC1) June 25, 2015Other big news that came out of Las Vegas is the NHL’s decision to switch the overtime format to 3-3 instead of 4-4 for a full 5 minutes. If the game is still tied after overtime than the shootout will still take place. In the AHL’s experiment this past season, 75% of games ended in overtime, greatly reducing the number of shootouts. However in the AHL there was first four minutes of 4-4 and then the game went to 3-3 for 3 minutes. The fear with going along the same format that the AHL tried would that it would be too many extra minutes for star players. For the NHL it was 3-3 for a full five minutes or no changes at all. I think that the change should be exciting to watch and it will be interesting to see the different strategies that teams employ. Do you go 2 forwards, 1 defenceman? 1 forward, 2 defenceman if you’re going up against dynamic teams? Or perhaps you go all out with 3 forwards?
Teams with offensive defenseman like P.K. Subban and Erik Karlsson will be at an advantage, it will be like having an extra forward out there. As for the Canadiens, with the extra room on the ice, this is an area where Alex Galchenyuk could excel. Will he be given the opportunity? My choice for the starting three for the Canadiens would be Galchenyuk, Pacioretty and Subban. Having a right hand shot with Subban will balance the two lefties of Galchenyuk and Pacioretty. If the Canadiens are playing an offensive powerhouse such as the Lightning or Penguins, I would be slightly more conservative and would replace Galchenyuk with Plekanec as the Habs will need help on the back end. Jeff Petry would be my # 2 defenceman in OT, his style of play would be a natural fit. As for Andrei Markov, it would depend on if he’s the Markov of the regular season or playoffs. If he continues to lose a step than he needs to be on with another defenceman who can cover for him. I would be leary leaving him as the only defenceman out there to start. Likewise I probably be hesitant Nathan Beaulieu as the lone defenceman until he has proven himself a little more. Other forward combinations I would like to see would be Gallagher with either Eller or Galchenyuk. Eller had 7 game winning goals last season so he has shown a knack for scoring when it counts. I would want Plekanec to go up against the top opposition like Sidney Crosby or Steven Stamkos and perhaps that is when the Habs would go with two defenceman. Fans either love him or hate him but chances are David Desharnais will see minutes in overtime as well. Last season he did have 2 overtime game winning goals so he is able to make use of some extra space. However a combination of him with P.A. Parenteau doesn’t exactly instil confidence…
Lastly, the NHL 2015-2016 regular season schedule was released today and the Canadiens will open the season visiting the Toronto Maple Leafs on October 7th and will play an additional 3 games before returning home to open the Bell Centre October 15th vs the New York Rangers. Other interesting notes regarding the schedule, the Habs play the Bruins 5 times before the end of January. The Canadiens will get very familiar with the Buffalo Sabres playing them 5 times as well. As for the rest of the division The Habs will play the Leafs, Panthers, Lightning and Senators 4 times each. 2 of the Canadiens last 5 games will be against the Lightning, further developing the recent rivalry.
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