The IceCaps recently passed the halfway mark of the season and, despite a depleted roster, are hanging around in a playoff position. Here are our grades for the second quarter of the year, beginning with the goaltenders and defencemen.
Just as the puck dropped on Thursday’s game against the Islanders, the Habs made a move to add some blueline depth, acquiring Nikita Nesterov from Tampa Bay in exchange for defenceman Jonathan Racine and a 2017 6th round pick.
Last week was a tough one for both the Habs and IceCaps as some sporadic offensive performances and untimely poor plays in the defensive zone resulted in a 1-2-1 record for both teams.
The Habs played a rare weekday afternoon game on Monday in Detroit with it being Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the US. Unfortunately, someone forgot to tell the Canadiens it was an early start as they slept walked their way to a 1-0 defeat.
It was an up-and-down week for the Habs who had enough in the tank offensively to score themselves into a couple of wins despite poor goaltending while struggling to produce much offence in their other two games. In St. John’s, the IceCaps picked up three of four points as they played their first home games in nearly a month.
With the Habs hitting the halfway point on the season earlier this week, it’s time to hand out our midseason awards.
Despite a largely-depleted roster, St. John’s put forth a pretty good December while several goalie prospects had big months as well. Here are our Prospect 3 Stars for the month.
The Habs had even more injuries this past week with Brendan Gallagher and Paul Byron going down but they kept piling up the wins. In St. John’s, they managed to pick up three points despite their weakest lineups of the year thanks to those injuries.
The Habs announced Saturday morning that they have signed IceCaps centre Markus Eisenschmid to a two year, entry-level contract. The deal will carry a cap hit of $642,500.
Montreal’s decision to give Al Montoya a two year contract extension has been largely praised. Do our writers feel the same way about the move?