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Habs Training Camp

On the second day of the Montreal Canadiens Training Camp rookies worked tirelessly to try and win their spot on le Tricolore.

Veterans like Sheldon Souray didn’t make it easy on them. The scrimmage was high tempo and fast action and enjoyed by the several hundred fans who attended in the tiny Pierrefonds arena. It is still very early to tell who might steal one of the available spots and coach Julien will definitely have decisions to make as there were many talented players. For the first time in a long time, the Canadiens may have a surplus of talent to go around. Every good team needs depth and the Canadiens are about as deep as they have ever been in the last 12 years.

Who stood out above the rest? Mathieu Dandenault. He looked effortless as he broke up 2 on 1′s, scooped up loose pucks, and pinched in as an offensive threat. Experienced and talented, he could easily play 25 minutes a game this season and perhaps make a sizeable contribution offensively.

Claude Julien faces some tough choices.
View Habs Blog’s photos of the Montreal Canadiens Training Camp.

Training Camp Report

Habsblog contributor Mark D. reports live from the Montreal Canadiens training camp on Day 1.

Last night after a couple of pints I decided I would visit the Habs training camp and see the team up close and personal. Up early with a little bit of a headache, I decided to make the trip to Pierrefonds’ Quatre Glaces.

Practice was split into two rinks and I happened to walk into the one that had a couple of players I wanted to see: Kovalev, Souray, Dandenault.

Rookies: Kostitsyn, Latendresse and Chipchura to name a few.

Kostitsyn and Latendresse were very impressive. Kostitsyn’s wheels and Latendresse’s size and hands in particular.

After a couple of drills the players left the ice. I moved over rinks and happend to get a great spot for the first 30 minute period that had whites vs reds. The play was a little sloppy at first, 15 mins into the period Kovalev broke loose and pulled a sweet deke on Rivet then made one of the sweetest moves roofing the puck over Theo’s shoulder.

On a side note, I would like to say that the first person on the ice before the game started was Kovalev, a nice site to see.

I didn’t get a good view of the second half because everyone piled into the other rink for the second 30 minute period. Only in Montreal is there a capacity crowd for a practice. Ribs potted a nice one just before he hit the ice and the crowd roared. Another quick one was potted and it was 3-0. Both of these goals were on the rookie Carey Price. He let in two but he was impressive. He’s a big boy and covers a lot of the net. He will definately be an asset to us in the near future.

Overall great time, and I’m more excited than ever to see what this team can do this season!

Habs Training Camp

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Senet1 : Galchenyuk scores to back to back goals in shoot out to help USA win Bronze metal. I did not see the second goal but the first was a beauty.
Senet1 : So we could pick anywhere from 25th to 23rd depending on who wins these quarter final series.
Senet1 : First, is the 14 teams in the lottery. Then there are 12 teams that did not make the semi finals in the order of the seasonal finish, Then there are the four teams in the semi final the first two eliminated pick in the order of the regular season points total and the last two based on who wins and who loses the cup. So as it stand now if say Detroit beats Chicago then Detroit moves up to pick after us. Boston or NYR will move up and pick after us. LA or San Jose will move up and pick after us
Senet1 : Basically, I was wrong about the draft pick situation. There are three groups of drafting teams within the 30 teams.
Senet1 : seriously ready to challenge for the cup. He will us win games but he will not be the difference between winning the cup and not winning the cup. You pick up players like that once you have the team ready to challenge,.
Senet1 : I am looking at the players to draft and there are a lot of big 6'3-6'5 forwards available ion the draft this year. If we could draft 3-4 big young players in the 2nd and 3rd round why would you want to give that up for a roster player who may have 2-3 years at best. If we are going to build a winner to have to build it with bigger players and there are a lot of good big players available this year. So you sign Ott and he is with us for the short run, but probably not when we are seriously re
Senet1 : Boullion is a great mentor for the young D-men
muller93 : Boullion is one of MBs great additions--Boull ion is a definite Keeper.
muller93 : Getting rid of Kaberle frees up a lot of cash. Boullion is small but is reliable and doesn't back down from anyone.
muller93 : Exactly Goalie any thoughts on a punishing D-man?
goalie : They;re showing determination adn skill vs Ducks and Blackhawks.
goalie : REd Wings could turn out to be the surprise team of this year's playoffs!
goalie : WE need to rid our team of Kaberle and Webber. Step two would be to then move Diaz. If we get that big d-man I believe that would push Boullion to # 7 on the chart. We'd then go with Georges, PK,Markov (to continue mentoring Ememlin) Tinordi as our starting six . THEN I'd be excited about our chances. We could then work on getting bigger forwards.
goalie : I too would gladly give up a 3rd round pick for Ott- the type of player we sadly lack. AND if we could get one more rugged, expeienced defenceman it would help immensely.
muller93 : Senet what you are saying makes sense but if we can get Ott for a 3rd round I'll take that all day.
muller93 : MB should be looking at a big D-man first, even though I like our blue line with the addition of Tinordi. We need that insurance just in case one gets injured. Also I'm a firm believer in starting with the goalie first then-defense-for wards-and we already have good goalie. We have all noticed when we have the lead Price is tough to beat.
Senet1 : So sometimes you have to sacrifice for one year or two to build that team in the draft. then add the finishing touches through FA and trades.
Senet1 : Muller, Detroit is another good example. They have been in the hunt every year with good well balanced teams yet only one or two cups to show for it. However, they have built a team that has a chance every years for the last 10+ years. That is what I think we have a chance to do this year with a good draft. It reminds me of the habs teams of the mid 80 and 90's we built a team then with sold draft picks and won the cup twice during that time period. So sometimes you have to sacrifice a one
muller93 : Very true Senet, you do need luck and we haven't had any luck it seems since the habs moved to the Bell Center. We had an incredible run in 2010 with some crazy goal tending from Halak. With Galchenyuk-Tinor di-Gallagher all in 1 year--not too bad, even with an early exit in the playoffs.
Senet1 : Muller I guess we all have our own ideas, but there has never been too many times that were successful when they traded their draft picks away. We have a chance to build this team so we have a shot at winning the cup over the next 10 years. Even as good as Pittsburgh has been they have only won the cup once since Crosby and Malkin have been with the team. That is because you not only need great players but you need luck to win, but one thing about Pittsburgh they have a chance every year. The
muller93 : Good point on Torres, he might be a liability. Torres has to tone it down a bit, but that's his game-very aggressive.
goalie : Though I don't condone what Raffi Torres did - thos shows you how repeat offenders or near offenders are going to be treated. His hit was NOT illegal BUT what the rap sheet adn reputation Torres has he got severly punished. Lesson to be learned by OTHER players because Torres dopesn't learn fromk his mistakes.
muller93 : Senet normally I would agree with you on not trading draft picks but we are not in a rebuilding stage. Sometimes draft picks can be a roll of the dice and it can take up to 3 years to be NHL ready. We have a good team and I agree with Stuo players like Clowe-Torres-Ott -Scott will make a big difference. Somebody has to protect Gallagher, he can't keep getting hit the way does--we need a tough forward so they think twice before going after Gallagher.
Senet1 : Really a heathly Habs team would probably win more games against the Pens that we did against the Sens. Reason they Pens would not play as physical against us as against the Sens. If we get good goaltending we win at least two games.
zpezada4ok : hello all «link»
stuo11 : hes a tougher big guy too! Just a minor adjustment but will help a bit
stuo11 : hes better than markov, and hes french who was in mention for defenceman of the year
goalie : Markov for Beauchemin - an injury prone d-man for an ;old timer'd-man. Beauchemin is NOT what the Habs need in my opinion. He is a HUGE defensive liability.
goalie : Stuo 11 I'd make that trade with Oilers fast BUT I doubt the Oilers will make that. Two marginal d-men at the best for a switch of first round picks - not a chance .
stuo11 : markov for beachemin?
stuo11 : let moen go
stuo11 : maybe try and get steve begin back
stuo11 : we wouldve kicked out all other teams but pens, sens,
stuo11 : pens have alot of forwaRDS same with us but we have better goaltending
stuo11 : theres styles of play goalie. Sens played us good, but lost games to southeast teams florida and tampa and get crushed by leafs EVERYTIME. sens and leafsd cant beat bruins but we do frequently