Recrutes

Recrutes: Hockey scouting from a professional perspective from Grant McCagg and Habs coverage from a 33 year veteran covering the NHL from Brian Wilde.

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McLean’s Pub Call Of The Wilde: Regular Season Tryouts

March 8, 2018

By Brian Wilde

The Montreal Canadiens on a long road trip with the veterans dropping out of the line-up one by one, allowing the Habs to check out the youth to see who can up their game. Phillip Danault out of the line-up due to a concussion leaving Jacob De La Rose a chance to see if he can follow up his two goal game on Tuesday. The Panthers in Florida the opposition tonight..

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About Brian Wilde

Brian Wilde has worked in hockey since he was 20. He was the rink side host for the Edmonton Oilers at CTV and Ottawa Senators for Sportsnet. He was also lead reporter on the Montreal Canadiens for 17 years at CTV Montreal.

View all posts by Brian Wilde

Reader Interactions

  • Montreal canadiens you have one mission,
    If you choose this mission and pull it off the entire franchise will benefit greatly for years to come (unless the clown gm trades you away for a third line plumber and a bag of pucks).
    This mission is TANK.
    Tonights mission was a complete sucsess !!
    Congradulations!!

  • Brian of all the disappointment this year Johnathan Drouin is at the top of the list….he was brought in to make a difference and frankly his play more often than not has been terrible…I hope he can find some heart over the summer….

    • A lot of guys are mailing it in right now. And I am not sure that Drouin has had the type of season where he has the right to mail it in at this point, but I find it difficult to really criticize any veterans at the moment. Like if you have nothing to prove….. why bother? You know you’re set for next season. In fact, deep down, if he doesn’t feel like he is a center, is it even in his best interests to bust his hump at that position? I understand the machinations of what it means to be in what position that you are in, so I don’t really have much criticism for anyone on the team whose job is secure for next season. For those who are getting an opportunity to shine here for the only time in their careers or players who are on the cusp, then they better shine.

      • What scares me Brian about Petry is his poor play lately because the season is lost or because he is inconsistent like he has been since he has come to Montreal? He was just as awful as Price was at the start of the year. Last year was also the same, up and down. I am wondering if that just is not who he is.

        What really shocks me about Drouin is how soft he is. He makes a ton of really bad short passes and gives up the puck a lot in the offensive zone. Drouin is young and it looks like his confidence needs a boost. We will see next season

        • Yes, Petry is very inconsistent. As soon as I praise him for exceptional play, he then drops off badly. I agree on Drouin too. I have seen such greatness from him though and I don’t know where it has gone. He’s been a big game player and maybe he needs a big game. I remember a lot of people in Toronto with a lot of problems over Kessel and I told everyone that Kessel is a big game player as he showed when he was a the MVP of the olympics and sure enough, he got some big games to play in and he played beautifully. Some guys don’t show up for the nothing games.

          • Great points on Drouin. He has also been thrown to the wolves a bit this year as well. Playing out of position with a team that started off so poorly he couldn’t save it. I really hope MB can get a centre to Drouin can play his natural position.

      • Your comments make sense, but there are other veterans who aren’t mailing it in, especially one Brendan Gallagher. He’s be an inspiration and should be the next captain. It would be nice to see at least a little more from Drouin.