Dreger on TSN690 this morning says that Kotkaniemi’s camp told Bergevin that KK had “likely played his last game with the Habs” after being scratched for game 4 of the Cup Final.(Might be slightly paraphrased as we were driving during the radio hit & couldn’t tweet immediately)

— Habs Chronicle (@HabsChronicle) September 20, 2021

😭

Cody Goloubef (RHD) has been signed to a PTO. Likely injury insurance for the Rocket.

Jonathan Drouin took a break from hockey this past April and for the first time, the Canadiens forward spoke candidly with @ChantalMachabee about how he had been dealing with anxiety and insomnia problems which led to him needing to focus on his health: https://t.co/7D95jbIaSA pic.twitter.com/7tnAHgDNrB

— TSN Hockey (@TSNHockey) September 20, 2021

Drouin seems to have come out with why he took a personal leave of absence, and I can't say I blame him for doing it, it's good to get help when you need it

Wishing Jo all the best. Nice beard too.

Goloubef over Demers?

Yeah, that’s baffling. Maybe Bergevin didn’t hear about that? Or maybe they just don’t like Demers’ style?

Although the habs still have 5 NHL contract spots so there’s still room for more.

Egor Sokolov just loves to hear himself talk.

Today’s rookie game:

Harvey-Pinard - Myšák - J.Roy
Ducharme - Hillis - Desruisseaux
Caron - Kidney - Hayes
Bertuzzi - Cyr - C-A.Roy
Guhle - Fairbrother
Xhekaj - Norlinder
Pilote - Sobolev
Gravel
Vrbetic

Scratches:
Campbell
Dello
Simoneau
Sirizzotti
Trudeau
Ylönen (Quarantine)

Powerplay
Desruisseaux
J.Roy - Myšák - Harvey-Pinard
Norlinder

C-A.Roy
Hillis - Kidney - Fairbrother
Guhle

4-on-3
Harvey-Pinard
Roy - Fairbrother
Guhle

Penalty Kill
Myšák - Harvey-Pinard
Hillis - Ducharme
Cyr - Roy
Hayes

Guhle - Fairbrother
Xhekaj - Norlinder

C - Rafaël Harvey-Pinard
A - Cameron Hillis
A - Kaiden Guhle

GOAL: OTT - 1st - E.Sokolov (1) Wrist - ASST: N.Ame (1) and N.Ame (1) — OTT 1, MTL 0

GOAL: OTT - 1st - E.Sokolov (2) Wrist — OTT 2, MTL 0

GOAL: OTT - 2nd - S.Pinto (1) Wrist — OTT 3, MTL 0

GOAL: OTT - 2nd - L.Thomson (1) Wrist — OTT 4, MTL 0

GOAL: MTL - 3rd - PPG - R.Harvey-Pinard (1) Snap - ASST: J.Roy (2) and J.Myšák (1) — OTT 4, MTL 1

GOAL: MTL - 3rd - J.Roy (1) Tip-In - ASST: A.Xhekaj (1) and R.Harvey-Pinard (1) — OTT 4, MTL 2

GOAL: MTL - 3rd - M.Cyr (1) Wrist - ASST: M.Norlinder (2) and K.Guhle (1) — OTT 4, MTL 3

Final Score:
MTL: 3
OTT: 4

Notes:
- Charles-Antoine Roy is basically just Michael McCarron.
- I like Ducharme and Desruisseaux. Ducharme - Hillis - Desruisseaux could end up being the Lions top line this year if Hillis doesn’t make the Rocket.
- Mika Cyr is growing on me. He’d be a nice add for the Lions, but he’s committed to University, which would be a much better option from his POV.
- Avery Hayes isn’t looking too bad either. He could be an option to get a contract out of rookie camp next year, when he’s eligible to sign a contract.

Well this would explain (in part) the Goloubef PTO... Josh Brook out until 2022 after knee surgery according to Anthony. https://t.co/y1OZtes98A

— Jared Book (@jaredbook) September 20, 2021

Ugh, that’s terrible. This is a make it or break it year for Brook, since he’s waiver eligible next year. Hopefully 2022 means January 1st.

Yeah, and in that case, Laval could use another D, like Goloubef.

It's now 4-0 so I don't think we're doing too well

Though in fairness this represents the situation pretty well

Also it's their second game in three days after a few months off with limited skating time...Most of Montreal's players have never met each other before, let alone played together... https://t.co/FIkA1B7RAP

— Jared Book (@jaredbook) September 20, 2021

Yeah, it’s fine. The score doesn’t really matter in these much anyways.

I love how Marc Bergevin is sitting right next to the camera on the game feed.

I’ll say it now, Joshua Roy is a steal. This guy was one of our best players, and he’s only 18.

Out of the invites to rookie camp, I think Mika Cyr was probably the best. He may get an invite to main camp, and we’ll see how it goes.

If I were to pick out a D invite, Xhekaj was the best, but he wasn’t very impressive. He could get an invite to Laval’s camp.

Gravel was meh. He could become sign in the ECHL as the backup.

Xavier Simoneau could definitely get an invite to the main camp, as well as maybe Trudeau and/or Roy.

I mean I had Roy as a 3rd round pick so he was already a steal in my book, he did play good though

Yeah. The knock on him seemed to be his defensive game though, which I didn’t think was bad at all. And he apparently lost a lot of weight over the summer, which probably explains why he wasn’t as highly rated last year.

Drouin's interview with Chantal Machabée has started, he's played with anxiety for years and it took him some time to realize it's okay to need help. He was fine to take a personal leave of absence, even if it meant not playing the playoffs. He was happy to watch the playoff run, still felt part of the team. drouin seems to be in a good mood, he almost said we have an "e sti de bon" group of kids lol. this year he hasn't set an objective for himself, he just wants to have fun.

Today’s game:

Harvey-Pinard - Myšák - Ylönen
Ducharme - Cyr - J.Roy
Caron - Kidney - Desruisseaux
Campbell - Bertuzzi - Sirizzotti
Guhle - Fairbrother
Xhekaj - Dello
Trudeau - Sobolev
Vrbetic
Gravel

Scratches:
Hayes
Hillis
Norlinder
Pilote
C-A.Roy
Simoneau

Powerplay
Myšák
Ylönen - J.Roy - Harvey-Pinard
Guhle

Cyr
Desruisseaux - Ducharme - Fairbrother
Trudeau

Penalty Kill
Myšák - Harvey-Pinard
Cyr - Ducharme
Bertuzzi

Guhle - Fairbrother
Trudeau - Sobolev

C - Rafaël Harvey-Pinard
A - Gianni Fairbrother
A - Kaiden Guhle

GOAL: USP - 1st — USP 1, MTL 0

GOAL: MTL - 1st - J.Roy (2) Wrist - ASST: M.Cyr (2) and R.Harvey-Pinard (2) — USP 1, MTL 1

GOAL: MTL - 2nd - SHG - M.Cyr (2) Wrist - ASST: D.Sobolev (1) and J.Ducharme (1) — USP 1, MTL 2

GOAL: MTL - 2nd - B.Sirizzotti (1) Deflection - ASST: I.Campbell (1) and K.Guhle (2) — USP 1, MTL 3

GOAL: MTL - 2nd - I.Campbell (1) Deflected - ASST: T.Caron (1) and T.Bertuzzi (1) — USP 1, MTL 4

GOAL: USP - 2nd — USP 2, MTL 4

GOAL: USP - 3rd — USP 3, MTL 4

GOAL: MTL - 3rd - EMPTY NET - K.Guhle (1) Wrist - ASST: ? (1) and ? (1) — USP 3, MTL 5

Final Score:
MTL: 5
USP: 3

Mika Cyr is now tied with Joshua Roy for the team lead in points for the habs rookies with 4.

He reminds me of a slightly shorter and stockier Artturi Lehkonen. (Lehkonen is 5’11, 173 lbs and Cyr is 5’9, 176 lbs)

He’s a been impressive, and I’d say he’s guaranteed a spot at camp, and could probably get an AHL contract if he wants it.

So with other teams not inviting unvaccinated players to camp, we’ll see what happens with Montréal’s 2 players.

So Ducharme said that there were 2 cases of unvaccinated young players last year, one of which is medical. We know one of those 2 players is Jesse Ylönen. Also Eric Engels said that none of the NHL players are unvaccinated.

So the words “last year/l’an dernier” are interesting. I’m assuming that means they played with Laval last year, since if he’s not talking about the season, I certainly wouldn’t call 3 or so months ago “last year”.

So Ylönen is definitely going to play with the Rocket this year, he just won’t be able to travel to the US.

The soonest we’d know about the other player is the start of training camp, if they don’t get invited. Otherwise, we’d probably find out when Laval/Trois-Rivières travel to the US. Unless my assumption about it being a Rocket player is wrong, in which case it might take a long time before we find out.

Training Camp Roster!

https://cms.nhl.bamgrid.com/images/assets/binary/326250238/binary-file/file.pdf

These are all the AHL-contracted players invited to the main part of camp:
Kevin Bureau-Poulin
Charles-David Beaudoin
Terrance Amorosa
Danick Martel
Alexandre Fortin
Gabriel Bourque
Jean-Christophe Beaudin

So Alexandre Fortin might have an inside track on the AHL roster, since he’s on the main training camp roster despite me predicting he’ll play in the ECHL (and him being on a 2-way AHL contract).

Arsen Khisamutdinov is the only player on an NHL contract in Group C, as I predicted, and will likely play in the ECHL.

Alexis Gravel and Arber Xhekaj were the only rookie camp invites to be invited (both to group C). Likely because Mika Cyr would rather get an education than potentially play in the ECHL.

Joshua Roy, Xavier Simoneau, Daniil Sobolev, and Joe Vrbetic are prospects getting invites to Group C. Riley Kidney and William Trudeau will not be in camp.

Also, Cole Caufield is apparently 5’9” now.

New season, new thread. Maybe a Habs fan should have a different moniker instead of Kotkaniemi15.

Montréal’s current numbers:

6 - Shea Weber “C”
8 - Ben Chiarot
11 - Brendan Gallagher “A”
13 - Cédric Paquette
14 - Nick Suzuki
15 -
17 - Josh Anderson
20 - Chris Wideman
21 - Kaiden Guhle
22 - Cole Caufield
24 -
25 - Ryan Poehling
26 - Jeff Petry
27 - Alexander Romanov
28 - Christian Dvorak
30 - Cayden Primeau
31 - Carey Price
32 - Joshua Roy**
34 - Jake Allen
35 -
36 - Gianni Fairbrother
37 -
38 - Joël Teasdale
39 - Joe Vrbetic**
40 - Joel Armia
41 - Paul Byron “A”
42 - Lukas Vejdemo
43 - Xavier Simoneau**
44 - Joel Edmundson
45 - Laurent Dauphin
46 - Josh Brook
47 - Louis Belpedio
48 - Jean-Sébastien Dea
49 - Rafaël Harvey-Pinard
50 -
51 - Daniil Sobolev**
52 - Arsen Khisamutdinov
53 - Jan Myšák
54 -
55 - Michael Pezzetta
56 - Jesse Ylönen
57 - Jacob Lucchini*
58 - David Savard
59 - Mattias Norlinder
60 - Alex Belzile
61 - Xavier Ouellet
62 - Artturi Lehkonen
63 - Arber Xhekaj**
64 - Corey Schueneman
65 - Peter Abbandonato*
66 -
67 -
68 - Mike Hoffman
69 -
70 - Michael McNiven
71 - Jake Evans
72 - Shawn Ouellette-St. Amant*
73 - Tyler Toffoli
74 - Brandon Gignac*
75 - Cody Goloubef**
76 - Alexandre Fortin*
77 - Brett Kulak
78 - Justin Ducharme*
79 - Tory Dello*
80 - Gabriel Bourque*
81 - Brandon Baddock
82 - Tobie Paquette-Bisson*
83 - Charles-David Beaudoin*
84 -
85 - Mathieu Perreault
86 - Jean-Christophe Beaudin*
87 -
88 - Cameron Hillis
89 - Terrance Amorosa*
90 - Cédric Desruisseaux*
91 - Carl Neill*
92 - Jonathan Drouin
93 -
94 -
95 - Kevin Bureau-Poulin*
96 - Danick Martel*
97 - Kevin Roy*
98 - Alexis Gravel**

*- AHL contract
**- Unsigned

Note: Riley Kidney wore number 51 and William Trudeau wore number 84 in rookie camp.
Daniil Sobolev’s number was 86 in rookie camp, and is now 51.

Prospects who have worn numbers in previous habs development camps:
48 - Rhett Pitlick
51 - Jacob Olofsson
74 - Jayden Struble
80 - Frederik Nissen Dichow
81 - Arvid Henrikson
81 - Jack Gorniak
82 - Jordan Harris
86 - Brett Stapley

Prospects who have never worn a habs jersey (in development/rookie camp):
Luke Tuch
Blake Biondi
Sean Farrell
Jack Smith
Jakub Dobeš
Alexander Gordin
Logan Mailloux
Oliver Kapanen
Dmitri Kostenko