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It was an offseason of significant change for the Montreal Canadiens, with
General Manager Bob Gainey giving his team a makeover of an almost unheard of
level. Starting behind the bench, Jacques Martin takes over the role of Head
Coach from the vacated Guy Carbonneau, and brings with him almost a complete
change of coaching staff. Only Kirk Muller remains from the previous group.
With
talented players in Alex Kovalev, Robert Lang, Chris Higgins, Alex Tanguay and
team captain Saku Koivu all leaving during the summer, Bob Gainey gave this team
a brand new identity. Newly acquired Brian Gionta, Scott Gomez and Mike
Cammalleri will now be in charge of leading the offensive production, with
Travis Moen heading up the PK while providing a key physical presence. The rest
of the lineup will include familiar faces Tomas Plekanec, Glen Metropolit,
Andrei Kostitsyn, Guillaume Latendresse, Maxim Lapierre, and Georges Laraque.
Max Pacioretty, Sergei Kostitsyn, Kyle Chipchura, Greg Stewart, and Matt
D’Agostini will fight hard for the final roster spots.
With
Mike Komisarek jumping ship to the Toronto Maple Leafs, plus Mathieu Schneider
and Francis Bouillon amongst others not being brought back, the changeover on
the blueline was equally as significant as it was up front. Besides stud
defenseman Andrei Markov, only Roman Hamrlik and Josh Gorges will be back
manning the top six for the 2009-2010 season. The defensive unit of the
Canadiens now counts on the services of veterans Jaroslav Spacek, Paul Mara and
Hal Gill. The seventh defensemen role will be battled over by Ryan O’Byrne and
Yannick Weber at training camp.
The
only area of the team that hasn’t seen a drastic changeover is goaltending.
Young netminders Carey Price and backup Jaroslav Halak take over right where
they left off, with Price looking to rebound from a season of inconsistency.
Many
of the faces have changed, but come October, this will be the newest edition of
the Montreal Canadiens.
Intro written by Tristan Tapscott.
