NHL: Utah Mammoth at Montreal Canadiens
Credit: Eric Bolte-Imagn Images

MONTREAL — Every day brings more Montreal Canadiens news to be absorbed, and you’re bound to miss a story here and there. On Sundays, we recap the relevant NHL news stories you may have missed, to help you stay up to date with all things Habs.

Given the Habs played on Sunday, this edition of the weekly wrap was pushed to Monday.

Montreal Canadiens News And Notes

The Habs have a serious defensive issue, and it’s become impossible to ignore. The top pairing of Noah Dobson and Mike Matheson has struggled of late, with the numbers suggesting a change is overdue. [Canadiens Defensive Pairings Are In Need Of A Shake-Up]

Not only did the Tampa Bay Lightning outplay the Habs by a wide margin, goaltending continues to be a major sticking point. Both Samuel Montembeault and Jakub Dobes had yet another difficult outing, albeit while playing behind a confused defensive setup. [Canadiens Highlights: Complete Collapse Versus Lightning]

Unsurprisingly, Cole Caufield is among the most clutch players in the league. Or is it clutchiest? Clutcher? Either way, he scores a lot of goals at the best possible time.

The Colorado Avalanche will be wearing their Nordiques jerseys when they visit the Habs on January 29. I have to say, it always bugs me that the NHL is willing to trample the corpses of fans they abandoned long ago just to squeeze a few more dollars out of the nostalgia tree.

With goaltender Jacob Fowler joining the fold, there’s no doubt the team is frustrated with the goaltending situation, but head coach Martin St-Louis insists Fowler is not in Montreal to serve as the saviour. He even went as far as suggesting he may not play, which would make a confusing situation even worse, as it would unnecessarily pause Fowler’s development. In all likelihood, Fowler will play, but for the moment the Habs are pretending the goaltending situation is not a pressing issue. [Fowler Not Guaranteed To Play, New Canadiens Forward Lines]

I don’t want to be too critical of St-Louis, but I doubt the plan was to call up his top goaltending prospect roughly 20 games into his rookie season.

On the bright side, Fowler will make a lot more money during his time in Montreal than he would have in the AHL. His AHL salary is only $82,500, whereas it jumps to $775,000 with the possibility of bonuses now that he’s playing in the NHL. [Puck Pedia]

It seemed that the Canadiens had somehow managed to avoid the pain that’s usually inevitable when going through a rebuild, but the other shoe has finally dropped. It’s not necessarily a negative situation, as long as expectations are adjusted accordingly by management and fans alike. [Reality Check A Long-Term Positive For Rebuilding Canadiens]

Exciting rookie Ivan Demidov turned 20 on Wednesday. The skilled winger has scored six goals and 17 assists in 23 games, and is currently second in NHL rookie scoring.

Even though head coach Martin St-Louis pretended rookie Jacob Fowler wouldn’t necessarily play during his call-up, he turned to the 21-year-old to face Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins, making Fowler the first Florida-born goaltender to start a game in the NHL.

Fowler wasn’t perfect, but he was exactly what the struggling Canadiens needed. He made the saves you’d expect from an NHL goaltender, stopping 36 of the 38 shots sent his way.

As advertised, his positioning was top-notch, and his anticipation removed a lot of the usual stress involved in watching the Canadiens play. Thanks to Fowler, the Habs beat the Penguins 4-2, though it must be said that the young netminder did get a little help from phenom Lane Hutson in the dying minutes of the third period.

There’s a chance that top prospect Alexander Zharovsky may end up in Montreal earlier than anticipated. Salavat’s CEO mentioned they won’t hold Zharovsky back if he’s ready to make the jump to the NHL. As it stands, Zharovsky is currently signed to a contract which expires in 2027. [Canadiens Prospect Zharovsky May Arrive Earlier Than Expected]

Full marks to Patrik Laine, who supported prospect David Reinbacher as he dealt with yet another frustrating injury. [TVA Sports – FR]

Former Canadiens general manager and former head coach Michel Therrien will be in charge of Team Canada at this year’s edition of the Spengler Cup. [Hockey Canada]

Former Hab Michael Pezzetta decided to deliver a cheap shot on Friday night versus the Laval Rocket. Florian Xhekaj, unsurprisingly, was quick to defend his teammates. The whole situation was rather chaotic, and could have ended up worse for all involved. [Xhekaj Fights Former Hab After AHL Cheap Shot]

On Thursday night, star Lane Hutson was finally used on his natural side, and the results were beyond impressive. It was far and away his best game of the season, and a good reminder that there may still be untapped potential in play. [Why Hutson Enjoyed The Best Game Of The Season]

Speaking of Hutson, he’s officially the first star player from the 2022 NHL Entry Draft. Usually, it takes 200+ games for this particular algorithm to declare star status, but Hutson’s impact is simply too strong for the usual waiting period.

Let’s keep the Hutson praise train going! The big news on Friday was the trade that saw Quinn Hughes moved to the Minnesota Wild in exchange for Zeev Buium, Marco Rossi, Liam Ohgren and a late first-round pick. Honestly, despite most people thinking it was a great return for the Canucks, I have to say it’s the epitome of a sum-of-the-parts deal, and those rarely work out for the team trading away the superstar player.

And yes, Hughes is a superstar. Few players in the league make a greater impact on a nightly basis. And by few, I really mean few, perhaps four or five.

Anyhow, I disagree that it was a great return, because players like Hughes rarely come along, and having to trade one of the best players in franchise history during his prime will always be considered a failure in most hockey books.

That being said, the Hughes trade did lead to a few interesting infographics, including the one embedded below that suggests Hutson only trails Hughes when it comes to puck possession.

Juraj Slafkovsky is hungry for more success, the exact attitude you want to see from a 21-year-old player.

We got our first idea of how Team Canada plans to use top prospect Michael Hage at the 2025 World Junior Championship. Hage was placed on the second line, alongside Tij Iginla and Braeden Cootes. All three are centres, however, it was Ignla that was slotted down the middle of the ice on Saturday. Hage also practiced on the powerplay, though he was used as a net-front presence.

The Canadiens decided to turn to rookie netminder Jacob Fowler again, but this time around the result was much less exciting. It wasn’t Fowler’s fault the Canadiens were outplayed by a gigantic margin against the New York Rangers, but it was a good reminder that he can’t fix Montreal’s clear-cut defensive issues. [Canadiens Highlights: Collapse At Madison Square Garden]

Florian Xhekaj went out of his way to defend his teammates on Friday night, but that didn’t stop the league from suspending a laundry-list of Laval Rocket players. Joshua Roy, Alex Belzile, and Laurent Dauphin were suspended for three games due to leaving the bench, while Samuel Blais was given a one-game suspension. As for Michael Pezzetta, the player who started the ugly situation with a blind side hit on Marc Del Gaizo, he was also suspended for three games. [Xhekaj Fights Former Hab After AHL Cheap Shot]

Canadiens prospect Bryce Pickford refuses to stop scoring goals. The 19-year-old defenceman is now up to 22 goals in 29 games, including yet another multi-goal effort on Saturday night. The overall talent level in the CHL is down this season, but that doesn’t erase the fact that Pickford is outscoring most forwards in the league.

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By Marc Dumont
Marc has been covering the Habs for over a decade. He previously worked for Journal Metro, The Athletic, The ... More about Marc Dumont

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