Posts by Dave Stubbs

Former Canadien Alex Kovalev hopes to snap a nine-game point-less slump Monday against the Canadiens, who are home to an Ottawa Senators team that's lost five straight.
Mike Stobe, NHLI via Getty Images

• AUDIO: Senators coach Cory Clouston | Alex Kovalev (to come) | Daniel Alfredsson

The Ottawa Senators, losers of five straight heading into Monday's huge game against the Canadiens, held an optional practice this morning at the Bell Centre, and 16 players skated for an hour.

Coach Cory Clouston maintains his team is doing a lot of things right, and it was an upbeat dressing room after practice; no moping despite the team's current skid. Nick Foligno and former Canadien Alex Kovalev were the last off the ice, having been out for a full 90 minutes until they were asked to leave, hundreds of Casino de Montréal employees and their familiies waiting to enjoy an afternoon of skating on the Habs' rink.

Senators not skating today: captain Daniel Alfredsson, Jason Spezza, Chris Phillips, Andy Sutton, Milan Michalek, Chris Campoli, Filip Kuba and Erik Karlsson.

The Canadiens have the day off. They'll skate Monday morning in Brossard, while the Senators will skate once more at the Bell Centre.

Habs forward Travis Moen with Montrealer David Nerman, whose cut-resistant hockey socks are gaining a foothold in the NHL and beyond.
Phil Carpenter, Gazette

You might recognize Montreal native David Nerman as Albert, the long-time manservant angel in the Philadelphia Cream Cheese spots. But Canadiens forward Travis Moen knows him as the man who might have saved him a crippling injury.

The Habs are among a growing list of NHL clubs and minor- and beer-league teams wearing the Tuff-n-Lite cut-resistant hockey sock recently introduced by Nerman, who starred in the first two seasons of Lance et Compte in the mid-1980s (photo of him with a familiar hockey trophy below).

Nerman, once coached in Outremont baseball by current Habs GM Pierre Gauthier, was spurred into action when he saw defenceman Andrei Markov seriously hurt Oct. 1, a left foot tendon slashed in a collision with netminder Carey Price. Habs equipment manager Pierre Gervais has bought a supply of Nerman's socks, the majority of the team now wearing them, and says that Markov wouldn't have missed a game if he'd been wearing them.

• Feature story on that here, along with this morning's Gazette preview of tonight's Habs-Leafs matchup and a Stubbs column on yesterday's return to practice of Michael Cammalleri.

• AUDIO: Jacques Martin | Brian Gionta | Michael Cammalleri | Roman Hamrlik

Michael Cammalleri returned to practice with his teammates today but will not play tomorrow in Toronto. Nor will rehabbing Marc-André Bergeron play tomorrow.

But coach Jacques Martin targets the return of both for the next week, the Habs embarking on an eight-day stretch that will see them play five games. Martin said he thought Bergeron could play Monday at home vs. Ottawa, with Cammalleri being evaluated daily.

Defenceman Paul Mara leaves Montreal this weekend for Boston and will undergo shoulder surgery next Tuesday, which pretty much spells the end of his season.

Mara has officially been listed as "did not dress" the past eight games and was listed as injured for 11 games before that. He is signed with the Canadiens only through the end of the season.

No words on Saturday's starting netminder. That should come during morning skate at the Air Canada Centre.

• UPDATE, 11:28 am: All present and accounted for, including Plekanec, with the exception of Mara. Butch Bouchard had expressed a desire to see the Brossard facility and again meet Ryan O'Byrne, who gave up his No. 3 for Bouchard's jersey retirement.

• UPDATE, 11:19 am: Cammalleri on ice with Habs. Legendary former captain Émile (Butch) Bouchard was at the players bench not long ago in his wheelchair. What a place.

• UPDATE, 10:45 am: Habs goalies Halak and Price have been on the ice since 10:15, taking shots from Darche and Maxwell with goalie coach Proulx. Cammalleri's water bottle is on the boards in front of the bench, suggesting he might practice with the team today for the first time since his knee injury Jan. 30 in Ottawa.

The Canadiens are on Brossard practice ice this morning at 11:30 before chartering to Toronto for Saturday's game vs. the we'll-get-'em-next-year Toronto Maple Leafs.

The Air Canada Centre game will begin a stretch of five games in eight nights for Montreal, continuing Monday at home vs. Ottawa, in Buffalo Wednesday, home to Florida on Thursday and home to New Jersey next Saturday. Then, three days off before facing Carolina at home on March 31.

We'll be at practice today. Updates and audio to come here after the workout; live updates on Twitter here.

Veteran Canadiens photographer Bob Fisher is currently lining up the troops on Bell Centre risers for the Habs' second team photo of the year, the traditional second shot scheduled after the trading deadline to present the club that is going to/toward the playoffs.

The Canadiens are expected to be practising in about an hour. Marc-André Bergeron is due to be skating with his teammates, but not yet, apparently, is Michael Cammalleri.

Updates and post-practice audio to come.

Former Canadiens coach Guy Carbonneau, photographed last Saturday in the Hockey Night in Canada broadcast booth at the Bell Centre.
Dave Sidaway, Gazette

• Gazette feature: On his 50th birthday, Carbonneau looks ahead and back

• Texte en français: At CKAC Sports

Guy Carbonneau turns 50 on Thursday, happy with the many good things in his life.

And this birthday promises to be less eventful than No. 49.

A year ago to the day, Carbonneau sat before a news conference at the Bell Centre, nine days after he’d been fired as the Canadiens' 28th head coach, a job he'd viewed as his destiny.

He answered questions for nearly an hour, addressing his dismissal by then GM Bob Gainey that had taken him and many others by surprise.

An ad in the Montreal Gazette from March 1955, offering the suspended Maurice Richard employment at a butcher supply shop.

It was an event that changed the political landscape in Quebec, giving birth to a nationalist movement and the so-called Quiet Revolution.

Maurice (Rocket) Richard always maintained that he was "just a hockey player," but a star-struck population, its French-speaking citizens in want and even need of a hero, would never let him be that.

NHL president Clarence Campbell's suspension of Richard for a violent outburst during a game March 13, 1955 would ultimately lead to the Richard Riot four nights later, St. Patrick's Day.

And the civil unrest and its fallout would become a cornerstone moment in Quebec's history.

Canadiens historian and Habs Inside/Out friend Robert Lefebvre has put together this tremendous look back at the event and what led to it, using the Internet in the best way to offer a multimedia tour.

Absolutely essential reading for any Canadiens fan.

The Canadiens have earned a day off today, winners of six consecutive games and this morning sitting in sixth place in the NHL's Eastern Conference, a healthy seven points inside the playoff cut.

Not playing again until Saturday in Toronto vs. the Maple Leafs, the Habs returns to practice ice tomorrow at 10:45 am. For fans who attend, note that this session is at the Bell Centre, not Brossard as usual, and is not open to the public.

• AUDIO: Jacques Martin | Brian Gionta

Jaroslav Halak gets the start in goal for the Canadiens tonight vs. the New York Rangers. Halak is 1-3-0, 4.11 average lifetime at Madison Square Garden, which is totally meaningless, of course, considering his just-keeps-winning play of late; this is his sixth straight game, having won every game in the Habs' five-game winning streak. For the record, he's 4-3-0 lifetime overall vs. the Rangers with a shutout, 3.28 GAA and .899 save percentage.

It's a game-time decision on centre Tomas Plekanec, who left practice for medical attention Thursday in Montreal for a mysterious injury, thought to be to a hip. Plekanec was first on the ice at Madison Square Garden this morning, 15 minutes ahead of his teammates' scheduled 11 am skate. Head coach Jacques Martin expects Plekanec will play, but if he's unable to go, Ben Maxwell, who arrived from Hamilton last evening on a callup, will see action.

From ESPN.com and Hockey Night In Canada's Pierre LeBrun:

The Habs and Tomas Plekanec's agent, Rick Curran, continue to talk, and all signs point to the Czech centre likely staying put instead of hitting the unrestricted free-agent market July 1.

"We continue to have positive conversations ... not likely to finalize any agreement until after the season has completed," Curran told ESPN.com via e-mail Saturday.

I suspect the Habs need to create some cap space after the season before fitting in any new deal for Plekanec, but it does sound like the Canadiens will likely retain him.

• Habs riding post-Olympic high: Stubbs
• Decade since father's death, Maurice Richard Jr. is amazed by Habs icon's enduring popularity: Stubbs
• Decisive week for Habs playoff hopes: Basu
• From press box to starring role for Avery: Rangers website

The Canadiens return to Brossard practice ice this morning at 11:30 a.m., then charter to New York for tomorrow's game against the Rangers.

Montreal is riding a season-high five-game winning streak, the Rangers buoyed by their 3-1 home-ice win Sunday over the Philadelphia Flyers.

Stay tuned here today for Pat Hickey's update.

• BRUINS AUDIO: Coach Claude Julien English and French | Mark Recchi | Patrice Bergeron

At first yesterday, Bruins veteran Mark Recchi said he didn’t want to revisit last Sunday’s near-decapitation of Boston’s Marc Savard by Pittsburgh’s Matt Cooke, a hit that might have sidelined its victim for the rest of the season.

But then, considering the NHL’s decision not to suspend Cooke for what any reasonable observer would view as a vicious check, Recchi decided he couldn’t not speak up. So he did, calmly but with emotion, voicing an opinion possibly shared if not spoken by many NHL players.

“I think it would be very different if Sidney Crosby got hit like that,” Recchi said of the Penguins superstar. “It’s pretty sad to say, but unfortunately that’s the way it is.”

Some very strong comments from Recchi, head coach Claude Julien and forward Patrice Bergeron, who missed 84 games in 2007-08 when driven head-first into the boards to suffer a Grade 3 concussion.

Forward Ben Maxwell has been returned this morning to the Hamilton Bulldogs. Suspended Maxim Lapierre, who sat out the past four games, is eligible to return tomorrow vs. Boston.

The Canadiens return to practice in Brossard this morning following last night's too-close 5-4 shootout win over the lowly but very game Edmonton Oilers. The Habs are scheduled to hit the ice at 11:30 a.m. in a practice that, as usual, is open to the public.

The Boston Bruins, meanwhile, will hold a practice of their own at 1 p.m. at the downtown Bell Centre; that's not open to the public.

Locked in a playoff-berth battle, the Canadiens play host to the Bruins tomorrow night.

Questions surely to be asked of head coach Jacques Martin today: Who gets the start in goal (he surely won't answer that until tomorrow), and where does centreman Maxim Lapierre, returning tomorrow following a four-game suspension, fit into a lineup that has now won four straight games and seeks a season-high five against the Bruins?

As our spiritual leader Red Fisher might say: Stay tuned.

Canadiens' Travis Moen (left) and Sergei Kostitsyn celebrates Moen's second period goal against Edmonton.
François Lacasse, NHLI via Getty Images

Preview | Matchups | Thursday's NHL schedule | Boone's Game Blog and About last night ... | Stubbs on Twitter | Basu's Playoff Checkup | Hickey's game story

AUDIO: Ryan O'Byrne | Andrei Markov | Brian Gionta | Mathieu Darche | Jaro Halak | Jacques Martin

• At A Glance: One team so bad this season, they need a ladder to get into the basement. The other, battling to make the playoffs and doing well of late. So how to explain the Canadiens going to a shootout against the Edmonton Oilers – and needing a fifth-round goal by Andrei Kostitsyn to earn two points with a 5-4 win? The teams scored four goals on only 10 shots through the first half of the first period, Habs' Tomas Plekanec, with his 20th of the season, and Brian Gionta, with his 21st, bookending goals by Edmonton's Robert Nilsson and Sam Gagner. Defenceman Andrei Markov earned assists on both Habs goals. It wasn't until 15:25 through the second period that Travis Moen, with his eighth, banged one past Oilers rookie goalie Devan Dubnyk from a scramble to break the tie to put Montreal back in front. Edmonton’s Andrew Cogliano took advantage of Habs goalie Jaroslav Halak's inability to smother a puck in the first minute of the third to pull Edmonton even again. Sergei Kostitsyn, with his third, pushed the Habs back into the lead at 8:05, an advantage for just 1:14 when Halak fanned on a Shawn Horcoff slapper he’ll usually stop in his sleep.

• Key Moments: Montreal went 0-for-7 with at least one extra man. And while it wasn’t his best game of the season, Halak stopped five Oilers in the shootout to preserve the win.

• What It Means: The sixth-place Flyers were pummelled by No. 8 Boston, leaving the Habs in seventh place in the Eastern Conference with 74 points and tied with Philly, but having played three more games. Boston is eighth with 72.

• What's Next: The Habs return to practice Friday morning in Brossard then face the Boston Bruins Saturday night at the Bell Centre. That will wrap up a three-game homestand and lead to two road games next week: in New York on Tuesday and Toronto on Saturday.

Canadiens general manager Pierre Gauthier met the Montreal media before tonight's game to discuss the issue of head shots, a prime topic of conversation at the GMs' meetings in Florida. Here's the audio of his comments.

Canadiens goalie Jaroslav Halak, aided by defenceman Jaroslav Spacek and backchecking forward Benoit Pouliot, defend the Habs net against Tampa Bay's Vincent Lecavalier.
François Lacasse, NHLI via Getty Images

Not-so-fresh off last night's 5-3 home-ice win over the Tampa Bay Lightning, and having earned six of a possible eight points during a four-game trip that took them from Boston to San Jose to Los Angeles to Anaheim, the Canadiens will take a one-day break today.

This will be the first day off for goaltender Jaroslav Halak since Feb. 8, when the Habs stepped down after back-to-back Super Bowl matinées vs. Pittsburgh and Boston.

Halak, winner of the January/February segment of the Molson Cup as the Canadiens' player of the month, practised Feb. 9 and was in equipment through Feb. 13, the Habs' final game before the Olympic break. He then flew to Vancouver, took Slovakia to the bronze-medal game, returned immediately to Boston through Montreal, then went west with his team and returned to earn the victory last night. Safe to assume he didn't have an alarm set this morning.

The Canadiens skate tomorrow morning ahead of their game tomorrow night at home against Edmonton, the practice again Friday to prepare for Saturday's Bell Centre date with Boston.

• Boone: How many $$$ for Tomas Plekanec?

The Canadiens earned six points out of a possible eight during their just-completed four-game road trip, winning games in Boston, Los Angeles and Anaheim and losing one in San Jose.

The trip put the Habs in seventh place in the Eastern Conference, with another big week on the horizon: they're at home Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday to Tampa Bay, Edmonton and Boston before spending next week on the road again in New York vs. the Rangers and in Toronto vs. the Maple Leafs.

A quiet day today as the Canadiens charter home from California. The team is back on the ice tomorrow morning to prepare for the evening tilt vs. the Lightning.

Arpon Basu's highly useful look at the playoff race is here.

Canadiens' Tom Pyatt battles Anaheim's Teemu Selanne during first-period action at the Honda Centre.
Debora Robinson, NHLI via Getty Images

Preview | Matchups | Sunday's NHL schedule | Boone's Game Blog and About last night ... | Stubbs on Twitter | Pat Hickey's game story

• AUDIO: Jaro Spacek | Tomas Plekanec | Andrei Markov | Brian Gionta | Jaro Halak | Jacques Martin

• At a Glance: Just when you're ready to count the Canadiens out, they come up off the floor and score a 4-3 shootout victory over the Anaheim Ducks. After a strong 4-2 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday, the Habs faceplanted out of the starting gate vs. Anaheim, coming up empty on two first-period power plays and yielding three Ducks goals through 20 minutes. Habs goalie Carey Price, yanked for the start of the second period, was shaky on one goal, but a thoroughly disorganized Montreal defence hung him out to dry on the others. Tomas Plekanec got one back nearly eight minutes into the second, fed a breakaway pass by Josh Gorges to beat Ducks goalie Jonas Hiller. Brian Gionta made it 3-2 with 1:50 to play with his 20th of the season, and with Jaroslav Halak on the bench for a sixth attacker, Andrei Markov tied the game with 10.7 seconds left in regulation, his fourth of the year. Gionta and Plekanec, with the winner, scored in the shootout with only Ryan Getzlaf beating Halak in four Ducks SO attempts.

Given the NHL's wildly inconsistent manner of dealing with injurious hits, the four games assessed yesterday to Maxim Lapierre is fodder for discussion.

Blogger/Canadian Press correspondent Arpon Basu has put together this excellent video look at suspension-producing checks as he wonders whether four games is suitable punishment for Lapierre, shelved until next Saturday for Thursday's check of San Jose's Scott Nichol.

• BILINGUAL AUDIO: Pierre Gauthier

• Habs didn't have much room to move: Hickey
• Idle trade-day GM Gauthier prepared to live with what he's got: Stubbs
• Much ado about nothing: Fisher

Canadiens general manager Pierre Gauthier, VP hockey operations Julien BriseBois and head coach Jacques Martin spent the day in Boston working the phones, as much as they did, but didn't see anything worth moving on as the NHL's trade deadline came and went.

Gauthier told the Montreal media by teleconference just now that the message he sends to his club is that any success the team is to achieve this season will come from within, a refrain heard last season when Gauthier's predecessor, Bob Gainey, didn't make any moves on deadline day.

Gauthier maintained that his two young goalies, Carey Price and Jaroslav Halak, are keys to the team's success this season. He added that he's satisfied with the talks he's had thus far to keep Tomas Plekanec with the organization beyond this year.

Apologies for the quality of the audio, which was less than superior at source.

Canadiens charter to San Jose? Right, Rorge.

The Canadiens fly to San Jose this morning and will be in the air when the 3 pm ET NHL trade deadline arrives. But general manager Pierre Gauthier and VP hockey operations Julien BriseBois will remain in Boston, where the Habs were 4-1 winners last night, to entertain offers – and probably make offers of their own – as the deadline nears.

Stay near Habs Inside/Out today for developments:

• Canadiens deals will be posted here as they happen, with background, bios, photos, etc.;
• Follow Stubbs on Twitter for up-to-the-minute Habs bulletins if you're away from your computer or TV;
• Boone will live blog the TSN trade-day telecast;
• Gauthier will hold a 4:30 ET conference call with media. We'll post audio of that immediately after it's done.

Twenty-two hours until the NHL trade deadline, Canadiens researcher and historian Robert Lefebvre offers this exhaustive look at the trades made until now by Habs GM Pierre Gauthier through the years.

• NEW: From Bruce Peter at Lefebvre's Eyes On The Prize website, a thorough, entirely remarkable look at the Canadiens inventory on the eve of the deadline: Centres / Wingers / Defence

The Canadiens will be in the air en route to San Jose when Wednesday's 3 pm ET trade deadline comes to pass.

General manager Pierre Gauthier is travelling with the club on this four-game road trip. But as the team flies on to California, Gauthier will remain in Boston with Julien BriseBois, VP of hockey operations, for the trade window's final hours. Gauthier is expected to speak to the media via teleconference some time late afternoon on Wednesday regardless of what moves the Canadiens make or don't make.

We'll be on that call, naturally, and will post audio of it.

Swiss goalie Jonas Hiller stones Belarus' Sergei Kostitsyn in a qualification round game shootout, which eliminated the Belarusians from the Olympics.
Jamie Squire, Getty Images

From The Gazette's Herb Zurkowsky, slumming it at Habs practice as he awaits the start of Alouettes training camp:

As expected, winger Sergei Kostitsyn has returned from the Olympics and is on the ice this morning at the Bell Sports Complex in Brossard, practising with his Canadiens teammates.


Kostitsyn was the leading scorer for Belarus in the Vancouver Games, producing five points in four games, including a goal and three assists in his country's only victory, 5-3, against Germany. Belarus was eliminated last Tuesday, by Switzerland, in a playoff qualification match. Belarus lost 3-2 in a shootout and Kostitsyn was denied what would have been the tying goal in the third round by netminder Jonas Hiller.


Tomas Plekanec (Czech Republic) and Andrei Markov (Russia) are expected to practice with Montreal tomorrow. The sole surviving Olympian, Slovakian netminder Jaroslav Halak, plays for the bronze medal tonight (10 pm ET) vs former Canadiens captain Saku Koivu's Team Finland.


Meanwhile, a Canadiens official said Quebec-based Olympic athletes will be honoured by the team prior to an upcoming home game next month at the Bell Centre. The Canadiens resume play this Tuesday, at Boston, the start of a four-game road trip.

Habs defenceman Andrei Markov, with Team Russia, signs an autograph Sunday at Vancouver airport.
Shaun Best, Reuters

• Ailing Habs welcome Olympic break: Stubbs
• P.K. Subban makes a good first impression: Hickey

So now we're truly at the Olympic break, every team having played its final game until the month of March.

For the next two weeks, the Canadiens will be in eighth place in the Eastern Conference, one point above the playoff cut with their three nearest pursuers holding one or two games in hand.

We're shifting gears here for awhile; I'm goin' (ice) fishin' for a bit, like the non-Olympic Habs recharging for the six-week run toward the playoffs. I will, however, drop in via Twitter from time to time.

Mike Boone will blog Team Canada's games on his side of the site and Kevin Mio will update this side with news items on the six Canadiens who are in Vancouver representing their countries: goalie Jaroslav Halak with Slovakia; forwards Sergei and Andrei (subject to medical clearance) with Belarus; centre Tomas Plekanec with the Czech Republic, defenceman Andrei Markov with Russia; and blue-line farmhand Yannick Weber with Switzerland.

Enjoy the Olympics. We'll see you with much more as of Feb. 24, when most of the Canadiens return to practice.

• AUDIO: Jacques Martin | PK Subban | Pierre Gauthier

• Update: Andrei Kostitsyn has been given a conditional OK to go to Vancouver. See Pat Hickey's post above. Is Dominic Moore a rental? "We'll see," general manager Pierre Gauthier said. Gauthier added that he did have interest in a few players at today's trade freeze, but that his salary cap was too tight. He said that he jumped at Moore sooner than later.

Carey Price gets his second consecutive start in goal tonight, tapped by head coach Jacques Martin to face the Flyers in Philadelphia tonight.

No morning skate for the Canadiens. P.K. Subban is an insurance policy on defence, playing only if Andrei Markov isn't ready to go. Josh Gorges has announced he'll play even after having been drilled in the head by a slapshot on Wednesday.

Newly acquired Dominic Moore is expected to be in the lineup.

Goalie Jaroslav Halak has been a revelation for the Canadiens, their fans and perhaps even the netminder himself.
Eliot J. Schechter/NHLI via Getty Images

Young Canadiens goaltender Jaroslav Halak came to Montreal's training camp this past autumn with the objective of playing at least as many games as he did for the Habs last season.

What he's done with his excellent, often spectacular play is become the team's de facto No. 1 goaltender, a Vancouver Olympian with his native Slovakia and a huge favourite of Montreal's admittedly fickle fans, who no longer view Carey Price as the only quality netminder in the organization.

But Halak, 24, is taking it all in stride, his feet on the ground and his head out of the clouds, aware that this can all change very quickly in a city that has been chewing up and spitting out its goaltenders almost since Georges Vézina.

Here's a feature profile of Halak, who marvels at the hockey madness of his adopted city while discussing trade rumours, his relationship with Price, his roots in the game and boyhood hockey-card collection, the honour of representing his native Slovakia in this month's Olympics and even his greatest weakness – chocolate milk.

The Canadiens are back on practice ice this morning in Brossard following last night's stirring 6-5 overtime victory over the Washington Capitals.

After being felled by the elephant gun that masqueraded as a Mike Green slapshot to the head, defenceman Josh Gorges is on the ice, practising with his teammates. It's a therapy day for fellow rearguard Andrei Markov. D Paul Mara did not practice and will not make this afternoon's trip to Philadelphia, though both Gorges and Markov will.

Andrei Kostitsyn again skated alone before practice, apparently for about an hour. The charter will be without Kostitsyn, Mara, Michael Cammalleri, Benoit Pouliot and Marc-André Bergeron

The Canadiens meet the Flyers tomorrow night before playing host to the same team Saturday at the Bell Centre in Montreal's final game before the Olympic break.

Canadiens forward Andrei Kostitsyn takes his surgically repaired left knee out for a test drive this morning in Brossard, supervised by head athletic therapist Graham Rynbend (background).
Marie-France Coallier

• AUDIO: Jacques Martin English & French | Jaroslav Spacek | Tom Pyatt

Carey Price gets the start tonight, his first since a Jan. 27 loss to Tampa Bay. Price is 1-1-3 lifetime vs. the Washington Capitals, with a 3.30 average and .896 save percentage. This season, Price is 1-1-1 with a .910 save percentage against the Caps.

Defenceman Paul Mara didn't skate this morning; all other healthy hands were on deck for a brief morning skate at the Bell Sports Complex in Brossard.

Expected lines for head coach Jacques Martin tonight (gotta love the third line – three centres!):

Mathieu Darche - Tomas Plekanec - Sergei Kostitsyn
Tom Pyatt - Scott Gomez - Brian Gionta
Maxim Lapierre - Ben Maxwell - David Desharnais
Travis Moen - Glen Metropolit - Matt D'Agostini

Andrei Kostitsyn was on the ice alone with head athletic therapist Graham Rynbend about 90 minutes before the scheduled start of the morning skate, then again after practice. Nothing demanding, but some gentle flexibility and range of motion work. It was AK46's first time on skates since having had knee surgery in early January.