HabsWorld.net --
Friday turned out to be somewhat of a busy day for the Habs. First
off, Cedrick Desjardins and Ryan Russell inked 1 year, $550,000 two-way contracts with the club.
Gregory Stewart, unqualified by the Habs in late June, became the second
Hamilton Bulldog to jump to the Oilers organization as he signed a 1 year
contract. Mike Glumac has also left the Bulldogs to play in Germany. Finally, Bulldogs’ GM Julien Brisebois has resigned
to take the Assistant GM job with Tampa Bay.
Brisebois was also the Habs’ capologist, responsible for all contracts, and
had been with the organization since 2001, holding down the Hamilton GM position
since 2007. Larry Carriere, the former Buffalo Sabres’ Assistant GM from
1995-2004, will take over the job.
Player wise, Desjardins had a breakthrough campaign with Hamilton last year,
posting a 29-9-4 record with a 2.00 GAA and .919 SV% while earning a trip to the
AHL’s All-Star Classic. In the postseason, he went 6-4 with a 2.62 GAA and
.902 SV% and lost his starting spot to Curtis Sanford upon the latter’s return
from injury. The soon-to-be 25 year old netminder will have to clear
waivers to return to the Bulldogs next season, as will the 23 year old Russell
who had his best point-per-game average (37 points in 74 games) with Hamilton
last season while picking up 12 playoff points (7-5-12 in 19 games).
Stewart, meanwhile, fell out of favour with the organization in 2009-10.
Though he cracked Montreal’s roster to start the campaign, he played just 5
pointless games before being demoted to the Bulldogs. In 45 games with
Hamilton, he had 5 goals and 5 assists but was also often a healthy scratch.
At the AHL’s "trade deadline," he was loaned to Atlanta’s affiliate in Chicago
where he played in 9 regular season games and 10 playoff contests before once
again becoming a healthy scratch. He returned to the Bulldogs organization
after the playoffs and was let go just weeks later.
Glumac joined Montreal in 2008-09 from St. Louis. His inaugural season
was a very successful one with 52 points in 66 games, however, he slipped to
just 40 points in 75 contests last season. He did have a strong playoff
performance though, picking up 11 goals and 3 assists in 19 games. Glumac
will now play for the German league’s Kassel Huskies.
In other news, Habs coach Jacques Martin confirmed there will be a captain
next season. Who that will be has yet to be determined. Earlier this
month, HW took a look at the various
options
for the captaincy.
