The Zack Kassian era in Montreal is over before it ever began. Kassian was traded Monday morning to the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for goaltender Ben Scrivens.
JUST IN: @CanadiensMTL acquire G Ben Scrivens from @EdmontonOilers for F Zack Kassian. #TSNHockey pic.twitter.com/BXhSfY7VI8
— SportsCentre (@SportsCentre) December 28, 2015It was clear back in the Fall when Kassian entered into stage two of the NHL’s substance abuse program that Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin felt like his trust was betrayed. Hopefully this new opportunity with the Edmonton Oilers will be a fresh start for Kassian. I sincerely wish him well and luck. Kassian will report to Edmonton’s AHL team in Bakersfield.
Coming back to Montreal is goaltender Ben Scrivens who has been playing in Bakersfield all season. With a record of 2-6-1, a save percentage of .893 and goals against average of 3.47, Scrivens is not coming to Montreal to stop the bleeding. This was very much a salary cap move for both teams. Every NHL team could have picked up Kassian for free on waivers before the Christmas break. The Oilers needed to shed Scrivens salary in order to make room for Kassian. Scrivens has a salary cap hit of $2.3 million usd while Kassian’s salary is $1.75 million usd. Edmonton will also retain 24% of Scrivens salary which brings it down to $1.7475 million usd, making this deal awash. Scrivens will be given a chance in Montreal while Carey Price continues to recover. He is to join the team in Tampa Bay tonight and will back up Mike Condon. Dustin Tokarski has been assigned back to the St. John’s Ice Caps.
As for the game tonight, expectations for the Canadiens are at a season low. The players held a 13 minutes closed door meeting after the 3-1 loss to the Washington Capitals. Mike Condon stood on his head in the second period, trying to give his team a lift. Unfortunately only Daniel Carr was there to provide scoring. It’s a frustrating position to be in. They know they have to better and sometimes during their current losing streak they have been the better team but simply unable to capitalize on their scoring chances. The good thing is that the players are doing their best to stick together and stay positive, not an easy feat. However, getting down on each other will only make the situation go from bad to worse. The Canadiens have dropped to 3rd place in the Atlantic division, now behind the division leading Florida Panthers and tied with the Detroit Red Wings. The Canadiens need points, even getting to overtime would be a boost to moral. At practice yesterday, the Canadiens lineup looked like:
#Habs: les trios du jour.
Pacioretty-Desharnais-Weise
Eller-Galchenyuk-Carr
Fleischmann-Plekanec-Andrighetto
Flynn-Michell-Byron
— J-F Chaumont (@JFChaumontJDM) December 27, 2015The powerplay practiced as:
#Habs: les deux vagues en supériorité numérique :
Pacioretty-Galchenyuk-Weise
Desharnais-Subban
Andrighetto-Plekanec-Carr
Markov-Petry
— J-F Chaumont (@JFChaumontJDM) December 27, 2015Mark Barberio was also called up from the Ice Caps which leads to the question of if Jeff Petry fully recovered or not? He did practice yesterday and so if he is healthy it is a bit odd that Barberio was called up. The Canadiens are playing against his former team the Lightning tonight so it will be interesting to see the lineup tonight as there is no morning skate. The lineup will only be confirmed this afternoon.
What is known though is that Sven Andrighetto will be released from purgatory and given a chance to play tonight. The Canadiens need scoring and Andrighetto has proven throughout the recent slump that he is adept at that. He will line up with Tomas Plekanec and Tomas Fleischmann and hopefully will spark the veterans with his speed and offensive skills. Andrighetto will also be given a chance on the Canadiens 2nd powerplay unit. I still disagree with the 4 forward strategy on the 1st unit as Canadiens do not have the right personnel for this strategy. Weise should be parked in front of the goalie when he is on the PP but has been on the perimeter or behind the net. The Canadiens have 4 offensive minded defencemen and Nathan Beaulieu does not see any powerplay time with these two formations. He has been more consistent than either Andrei Markov or Jeff Petry and should be given a chance in these situations, either on the 1st or 2nd unit.
5 Questions for Tonight’s Game:
1) Will Barberio or Scrivens see game action tonight? 2) Will a Canadiens defenceman score a goal? 3) Can the Canadiens end their losing streak against the Lightning? 4) Will the Canadiens be able to support Mike Condon and score 3 goals or more? 5) Will the Canadiens score the first goal of the game?
Puck Drops at 7:30pm.
Cheers & Enjoy the Game! Follow @Jenbcutler