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Leadership Lost, at What Cost?

Rookie Camp Interviews

Interviews with Habs’ prospects Joshua Roy, Xavier Simoneau, Mattias Norlinder, Cam Hillis and Laval coach J-F Houle at Habs’ rookie camp. https://youtu.be/KiGLL4nmiqY

QMJHL Coaches on Habs’ Prospects

Recrutes asked two QMJHL coaches about five prospects that were drafted/signed by the Montreal Canadiens organization this summer – Charlottetown GM/coach Jim Hulton and Acadie-Bathurst coach Mario Durocher. Here are their responses: Xavier Simoneau: Coach Jim Hulton – With the loss of (Cedric) Desrisseaux and (Thomas) Casey we had a big void to fill offensively, […]

Just Say Jes to KK in the Top Six

There has been much discussion about Montreal seeking a veteran center to fill a top-two slot on the Canadiens in 2021-22. It’s been more than two weeks since free agency opened up, and Bergevin has added one part-time center in Cedric Paquette. No move has been orchestrated to find Phil Danault’s replacement in a top-two […]

Trevor Timmins Draft Q & A

In what has become an annual Recrutes’ tradition, I spoke to Montreal’s assistant general manager Trevor Timmins on draft weekend to discuss Montreal’s newest draft selections. TT: How are you? GM: Oh…I’m fine. The better question is how are YOU? TT: Tired. It’s been a long weekend. GM: You and the team have been taking […]

Canada’s Team, the Montreal Canadiens: A Special Run

Once the North Division champs were decided, Canada, well, some of it, decided to back a team to bring the Cup back to Our Home and Native Land National Monuments across the country started getting lit up Bleu, Blanc et Rouge in solidarity with the last remaining Canadian based franchise in the playoffs. CN Tower […]

All Hail to the Bergeplan

The Canadiens are making a habit out of proving the doubters wrong this playoff run. They weren’t even supposed to be in the playoffs if you took what was uttered by thousands of Twitter folks seriously, including the ramblings of a lot of so-called experts. The 16th seeded team playing in a conference that somewhere […]

It’s Time for a True Checking Line

It’s time to stop being scared. That has been the Montreal Canadiens approach for the past 25 years. The playoff game plan has always been to play a safe, tight-checking defensive style and rely on goaltending and breaks. The Canadiens have made two unsuccessful trips to the conference finals using that strategy over the past […]

Language, Culture and Hockey

The Canadiens iced a lineup this past week that didn’t feature a francophone Quebecois player for the first time in over 110 years. As you can imagine, this led to quite a bit of discussion in both languages among the Quebec-based media. Language is a major issue in Quebec, the province has worked hard to […]

You’ve Gotta Have Heart

On a night when Montreal had a golden opportunity to deal a crushing blow to the team chasing them, they played more like the team on its deathbed. Hosting a Calgary team that played the night before in Toronto and who would be left on life support with a loss, Montreal played like it was […]