With the Christmas break now finished, the Habs will look to get back on a winning note on Saturday as they continue their road trip. That will be a challenging task as standing in their way are the conference-leading Washington Capitals.
The 2016 World Juniors are almost upon us and for the first time in many years, the Canadiens will not have any prospects representing them. However, quite a few current Habs and IceCaps have had a chance to suit up for their respective countries in the past with quite a bit of success.
With the Habs struggling to score while having issues between the pipes at the same time, frustration is at its highest point of the season. The top players aren’t producing but strangely enough, they’re not doing anything that hasn’t already happened before.
To put it nicely, it was a week to forget for the Habs whose offence has completely fallen off the wagon. It was a better week for the IceCaps who picked up a pair of key divisional wins. Plus, Marc Bergevin made his first trade of the year; my Final Thought takes a closer look at the Lucas Lessio acquisition.
Last month, the IceCaps passed the one quarter mark of their season as one of the top scoring teams in the AHL. Not surprisingly, with the attack as good as it was, there are plenty of high grades to go around for St. John’s forwards.
After being placed on waivers on Tuesday, Zack Kassian’s return to game action will come in the AHL after he cleared waivers at noon EST on Wednesday. Kassian was given the green light by doctors in the Substance Abuse and Behavioural Health Program (SABH) to return to playing early Tuesday morning.
On Tuesday, Habs GM Marc Bergevin made his first trade of the season, sending right winger Christian Thomas to the Arizona Coyotes. In return, the Canadiens acquire winger Lucas Lessio.
On Tuesday, Carey Price was named the 2015 Lou Marsh Award winner. The award is voted on by a group of Canadian journalists and is handed out annually to Canada’s best athlete, amateur or professional. This is the first time that Price has received this honour.
It was a tough week at the office for the Habs who twice blew third period leads to divisional rivals. It was an even tougher week for Alex Semin who now finds himself out of the NHL. My Final Thought discusses what Montreal should do to fill his now-vacated spot on the roster.
The Habs went into play on Saturday night looking to snap a season-long winless streak. They came out with one of their best starts of the season and rode that to a 3-1 victory over Ottawa.