Les Binkley
This Penguin had Canadiens connections

Les Binkley was the Pittsburgh Penguins' first No. 1 goaltender, recording a remarkable six shutouts in 54 games in his 1967-68 rookie season. Through five NHL seasons in front of less than stellar defence, he earned 11 shutouts, including a 4-0 whitewash of the Canadiens on March 3, 1971, making 23 of his 33 saves that night off the sticks of future Hall of Famers.

The native of Owen Sound, Ont., had more than a few Canadiens connections. Among them: one of Binkley's best friends in the game was future Habs enforcer John Ferguson, with whom he hung out and played on the 1960s AHL Cleveland Barons (loosely a Canadiens farm team) and later worked for in New York and Winnipeg as a goaltending coach and amateur scout with the Rangers and Jets.

Binkley fondly remembers long practices in Cleveland with the late Fergy, who paid special attention both to deking and working on getting his gloves off as quickly as he could. Now, at 73, Binkley is settling in to watch his Penguins take on the Detroit Red Wings in the Stanley Cup Final, eager to see whether Marc-André Fleury can backstop his alma mater to their third NHL title, Binkley having scouted for back-to-back champions in 1991 and '92.

Dave Stubbs profiles a charismatic netminder in today's Montreal Gazette. And surf below for an action photo from the 1970s – and the story of Binkley, then with the World Hockey Association's Toronto Toros, facing four penalty shots (two saves, two goals) from future daredevil Evel Knievel in a memorable, if twisted, intermission gimmick.

Mike Babcock
Will he wear his McGill tie?
Jeff Vinnick, NHLI via Getty Images

From our good friend, Earl (The Pearl) Zukerman, of McGill University, the hardest-working collegiate sports information officer in this country:

Mike Babcock, head coach of the Detroit Red Wings, is bidding to become the second McGill University graduate and the third coach in hockey history to win both the NHL’s Stanley Cup and the University Cup – the championship trophy of Canadian Interuniversity Sport; the Canadian equivalent of the NCAA.

The Red Wings are scheduled to open the best-of-seven final against the Pittsburgh Penguins at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, on Saturday.

Babcock can follow in the footsteps of the legendary Lester Patrick, a former McGill hockey player, who later coached the New York Rangers to a Stanley Cup championship in both 1928 and 1933.

Currently a nominee for the Jack Adams trophy as NHL coach of the year, Babcock coached the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns to the 1994 CIS national championship at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

Then-Habs coach Michel Therrien at the Molson Centre in the fall of 2002. Therrien has led the Pittsburgh Penguins to this season's Stanley Cup Final.
Richard Arless Jr., Gazette

Former Canadiens head coach Michel Therrien is headed to the Stanley Cup Final behind the bench of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

"Mike," as he's now commonly known in the U.S., spent six seasons in the Canadiens organization before heading south, posting a 77-91-22 record in portions of three NHL seasons.

In 2001-02, Therrien led the Habs to their first playoff appearance in four seasons, going as far as the Eastern Conference semifinals where Montreal was bounced in six games by the Carolina Hurricanes.

He spent four seasons as a head coach in the American Hockey League with the Canadiens' AHL affiliates, the Fredericton Canadiens and Quebec Citadelles, compiling a 115-122-22 record, including a division championship with the Citadelles in 1999-00.

Now, Therrien and his Penguins begin preparations to face the Detroit Red Wings in the best-of-seven Stanley Cup Final, beginning Saturday.

In September 2001, a month after Sidney Crosby had turned 14, The Gazette's Dave Stubbs put 20 questions to Therrien in his Molson Centre office:

Taxman and mrstewart61 are well in front of the pack, leading with 221 points apiece. Robert L (214 points), 24 Cups (213 points), and m00ks (215 points) are still in good shape, however, and could still make a push for that top spot.

XM Radio reporter and hockey blogger Eric Engels offers this look at the work of Canadiens GM Bob Gainey. Surely Inside/Out readers have a comment or two of their own...

Remember the "Vengeance Now" slogan the Philadelphia Flyers used during the first two rounds of the playoffs, including their five-game, second-round victory over the Canadiens? Well, that's not going to help them tonight against the Pittsburgh Penguins, who lead the best-of-seven Eastern Conference Final 2-0 with Game 3 tonight in Philly.

Ryan White
Three-year deal (Photo courtesy hitmenhockey.com)

Canadiens announced today they have signed centre Ryan White to a three-year contract.

A native of Brandon who played his junior hockey with the Calgary Hitmen of the Dub, White was the Canadiens' third-round draft choice (66th overall) in 2006.

Here's the team's press release:

Montreal Canadiens General Manager Bob Gainey announced today that forward Ryan White agreed to a three-year contract (2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11).

As per club policy, financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

TSN is reporting that Swedish sensation Fabian Brunnstrom has chosen the Dallas Stars as his NHL home, leaving the Canadiens, whom he visited late in their playoff run, among the unlucky suitors.

A prominent French publisher is insisting that the Canadiens play more francophone music during their Bell Centre games.

But the Quebec government said yesterday it's not going to force arena management, i.e., the Canadiens, to increase the French content of its music.

Read below for what appears in today's Gazette:

Even though the 2008 NHL playoffs have only 4 teams remaining, the Habs Inside/Out playoff pool is still anyone’s game. The top 150 fantasy teams are separated by a mere 30 points – a gap that could be easily closed with one productive series.

Canadiens general manager Bob Gainey and coach Guy Carbonneau met the media this afternoon to offer their postmortem on the 2007-08 season.

Here is their full 50-minute conference in audio form. Download it for listening offline, but be advised it's a 46 MB file. Here's Mike Boone's executive summary of it.

From today's Gazette:

Dave Stubbs: Habs sign off until next season
Pat Hickey: Canadiens need to re-sign Streit
Hickey: Halak needs more work, agent says
Dave Johnston: Bad karma proved Habs' undoing
Don MacPherson: Rioters called Canadiens' early exit
Editorial: Canadiens' streak brought a sense of community

Not all of the Canadiens have finished playing hockey.

Andrei and Sergei Kostitsyn and Mikhail Grabovski are in Quebec, wearing the world-championship jersey of with their native Belarus. Tomas Plekanec will join the Czech Republic for the tournament, as well, as will Saku Koivu (Finland) and Andrei Markov (Russia).

The Canadiens came through the Bell Centre today to clean out their belongings and head into summer after a massive signing of charity souvenirs and their annual postseason team dinner.

The "scandal" of the day: Alex Kovalev is reported to have received a text-message saying he's was too slow to make Russia's team to the worlds. The Russian coach has since denied that a message of any kind was sent, and that Kovalev is not on the squad because it already had four good lines.

Audio from the chaos follows. And go here for Boone's detailed take on the day.

• Mark Streit (English) • Streit (French) • Carey Price 1 • Price 2 * Chris Higgins