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With the Habs off for the Olympics, the
Hamilton Bulldogs took centre stage this week.  The Baby Habs started
sluggish but rebounded nicely, the week ending with a 5-0 shellacking of
Adirondack at the Bell Centre.  With the Canada/USA rivalry taking centre
stage at the Olympics, it’s worth taking a look to see how Montreal’s American
prospects are faring so far this season, while the Final Thought addresses what
the biggest need for Montreal is headed into the deadline, in the Recap.

No power rankings this week as Montreal didn’t play.  However, 5 Habs (and
a prospect) are representing the organization at the Olympics.  Follow
their progress throughout the tournament with the
Olympic
StatTracker
.

 The Dog
Pound

A pair of 5-0 shutouts (1 win, 1 loss) were
bookends for a 4-3 win over Grand Rapids as the Bulldogs went 2-1 this week.

 Results:

February 16
1
2 3
Tot

PP

SOG
Texas 1 4 0 5 3/8 37
Hamilton 0 0 0 0 0/3 17

Attendance:  2,551
3 Stars:
  1) Hutchinson – TEX  2) Peters – TEX  3) Bachman –
TEX

February 19
1
2 3
Tot

PP

SOG
Hamilton 2 1 1 4 0/2 34
Grand Rapids 1 0 2 3 0/2 26

Attendance:  8,493
3 Stars:
  1) Desharnais – HAM  2) Pyatt – HAM  3) Mursak – GR

February 21
1
2 3
Tot

PP

SOG
Adirondack 0 0 0 0 0/8 16
Hamilton 1 2 2 5 1/5 20

Attendance:  15,529 (at the Bell
Centre)
3 Stars:
  1) Pyatt – HAM  2) Trotter – HAM  3) Desjardins –
HAM

Stats:

To say Tom Pyatt is motivated to get back to
Montreal right now would be an understatement, as he picked up a trio of points
in consecutive games this week.

SKATERS

# Player GP G A +/- SH PIMS
5 Alex Henry 3 0 0 +1 1 2
6 Chad Anderson 3 0 1 +1 0 4
10 J.T. Wyman 3 0 0 -2 5 0
12 Andrew Conboy 3 0 0 E 2 0
15 Mike Glumac 3 0 0 E 5 2
16 Gregory Stewart 3 0 0 E 2 6
19 Brock Trotter 3 2 2 +3 8 6
20 Ryan Russell 3 0 1 +2 6 0
25 Ryan White 3 0 0 E 6 7
26 Grant Stevenson 3 2 0 +2 5 0
27 Tom Pyatt 3 2 4 +1 11 0
29 Eric Neilson 3 0 0 -2 2 5
32 Frederic St. Denis 3 0 1 +2 2 4
44 Shawn Belle 3 0 0 -1 6 0
51 David Desharnais 3 3 2 +3 4 0
61 Andre Benoit 3 0 1 +1 2 0
76 P.K. Subban 3 0 1 +2 2 8
91 Ben Maxwell 3 0 0 +2 2 2

GOALIES

# Player Record SV% GAA
1 Curtis Sanford 1-0-0 .884 3.24
30 Cedrick Desjardins 1-1-0 .917 2.06

Leaders:

Goals: Brock Trotter (28)
Assists: David Desharnais (34)
Points: Brock Trotter (59)
+/-: P.K. Subban (+31)
PIMS: Ryan White (102)
Shots: Mike Glumac (146)

This Week:

February 24:
Toronto vs Hamilton
February 27: Rochester vs Hamilton
February 28: Toronto vs Hamilton

 In the
System

With all sorts of talk surrounding the Habs’
notable amount of US-based picks over the last few drafts (often in comparison
to others selected around them), let’s take a look and see how each American
selection is doing so far this season.


Player

Team

Selected

GP

G

A

PTS

PIMS
Danny Kristo North Dakota 56 (2008) 30 10 15 25 8
Mac Bennett Cedar Rapids 79 (2009) 39 8 12 20 18
Dustin Walsh Dartmouth 169 (2009) 17 7 2 9 4
Joe Stejskal Dartmouth 133 (2007) 27 2 6 8 22
Scott Kishel Minn-Duluth 192 (2007) 26 0 8 8 14
David
Fischer
Minnesota 20 (2006) 32 2 4 6 24
Patrick Johnson Wisconsin 206 (2008) 30 3 3 6 8
Greg Pateryn Michigan 128 (2008) 23 1 4 5 12
Michael Cichy North Dakota 199 (2009) 21 2 2 4 6
Steve
Quailer
Northeastern 86 (2008) 0 0 0 0 0

Notes:

– This list only consists of American born players
playing in the US which is why players like Louis Leblanc are not part of this
list.
– Though not technically a draft pick of the Habs, Pateryn was acquired within a
month of being picked by Toronto.
– Quailer is out for the season but has been redshirted, so he doesn’t lose a
year of college eligibility.

Final
Thought

With the trade deadline upcoming soon,
discussion is turning to what the Habs need most.  At first glance, seeing
the Habs perpetually at or right near the bottom of the league in goals scored
would lead one to believe that scoring is a primary need.  Though that’d be
nice to have, what the team needs most is some grit up front, from players who
can actually take a regular shift.  When everyone’s healthy, there’s some
decent depth scoring wise but aside from Travis Moen, there isn’t a single
forward on the roster that’s considered to be a hitter.  With Montreal
playing a system that can put even the most dedicated fan to sleep at times,
being able to send someone out there to give the team a boost becomes even that
much more important.  Plus, with so little cap space available (the team
remains projected to finish the season over the cap which means they’ll have a
reduced cap in 2010-11), any acquisitions need to be on the cheap side of
things.  I can think of a ton of scorers making lots of money but I can’t
say the same for energy players.  If this team is to make a run at the
playoffs, they need some muscle; otherwise, they’ll continue to be a pushover
against any team with size (such as Boston and Philadelphia in recent weeks).

Speaking of the deadline, HW’s annual trade deadline preview will come later
this week. 
If you have a question regarding this article or the
capsheet,
please feel free to drop me a line at
[email protected]
.