Carey Price

The Canadiens don't weigh in until tomorrow, but Carey Price is about 20 pounds lighter.

In today's Gazette Dave Stubbs writes about the goaltender's summer conditioning program. 

Before he headed home for the summer, Price got some friendly but firm advice from conditioning coordinator Scott Livingston, goaltending coach Rollie Melanson and general manager Bob Gainey.

"We told him: 'If you want to play at this level for a long time and be successful, if you're going to be our No. 1 guy, then you can't come into our camp out of shape and overweight,' " Livingston said yesterday.

• Is Russian defenceman Alexei Yemelin (in photo) closer to joining the Canadiens? He's in the last year of his contract with Ak Bars Kazan of the KHL, and Trevor Timmins is sounding guardedly optimistic about getting him over to North America

• La Presse's Richard Labbé on the Canadiens starting a season in the unfamiliar role of favourites. 

• Eric Engels at Hockeybuzz.com projects the Canadiens' 2009-'10 salary situation. 

• Prospect Olivier Fortier, primed for a big year with Rimouski. 

In an interview with the Edmonton Sun, Georges Laraque talks about coming home to Montreal:

"When I was a kid, I remember they were winning all the Stanley Cups and every kid on the street had a Habs jersey," Laraque said.
"And what I remember the most was the Rocket Richard book that we used to read at school. "

Possibly The Hockey Sweater, en français?

Non, says poster Ben D.:

 Thanks, Ben

•  •  •

In the Edmonton Journal. Jim Matheson shoots down the rumour that had Ales Hemsky traded from the Oilers to the Canadiens:

The message boards say the Canadiens might be dangling forward Chris Higgins, defenceman P.K. Subban, a member of Canada's world junior team last year, and another roster player. And, defenceman Denis Grebeshkov's name has been talked about going to Montreal, too.

Kevin Lowe told Matheson it's all BS.

Canadiens goaltender Carey Price has been named the National Hockey League's rookie of the month for March.

Canadiens' recently-anointed Number One goaltender is on the cover of The Hockey News Future Watch '08 issue.

The headline is: Peerless Price: The Games Hottest Prospect.

The Hockey News asked 21 NHL scouts to rate the league's Top Five prospects. Price got 16 first-place votes. He was a runaway winner over Kyle Turris, who had four first-place votes.

Turris was the 2007 first-round draft choice of the Coyotes, the team Price will face tomorrow night. Guy Carbonneau announced today that Price will start in Phoenix.

Hockey News senior writer Ken Campbell wrote the cover story without interviewing his subject. Price did not return any of Campbell's phone calls or messages.

So Campbell talked to Don Lever. And the Hamilton coach, recalling Price's call-up from junior for the Calder Cup playoffs, said "The first game he played for us he looked like he had played in the league for 15 years."

Carey "The Puck Stops Here" Price. (THE GAZETTE/John Mahoney)

From the comments here on Inside/Out, it was obvious that some fans were happy with the Huet trade, while some were sad and disheartened, but mainly it seemed that people were surprised - and even mildly confused - that Montreal's Number One netminder had been moved to the Washington Capitals. You can count me among that perplexed majority.

Carey Price is considered to be the Canadiens' goaltender of the future, and he has shown flashes of brilliance this season. But the 20-year-old has also shown that he is a young goaltender who still has some work to do.

That's something the 6-foot-3, 226-pound Vancouver native is keenly aware of, especially after a stint with the AHL's Hamilton Bulldogs that allowed him to regain some of the form he had lost after a strong start as an NHL rookie.

Drafted by the Canadiens in the first round (fifth overall) at the 2005 NHL entry draft, Price has enjoyed a great deal of success in a short period of time. Heading into last night's game against the Philadelphia Flyers, he had a 10-8-3 record with the Canadiens, along with a 2.83 goals-against average and .908 save percentage.

In this week's One-on-One feature, The Gazette's Kevin Mio sits down with Price to discuss his quick rise to the NHL and how he has been able to make the necessary adjustments
quickly.

As expected, the Canadiens have recalled goaltender Carey Price from the Hamilton Bulldogs on Monday.

He will dress for Tuesday night's game against the Ottawa Senators.

Before being sent to the AHL, Price had a 9-7-3 record with a 2.90 GAA and a .907 save percentage.

RDS is reporting that the Canadiens have sent goaltender Jaroslav Halak to the Hamilton Bulldogs of the American Hockey League.

While it hasn't been announced yet, the likely scenario will see the Canadiens recall Carey Price before Tuesday's game against the Ottawa Senators.

Goaltender Carey Price recorded his first-career regular season AHL shutout in the Bulldogs' 2-0 win over the Manitoba Moose on Saturday night, stopping 25 shots.

Corey Locke also became Hamilton's all-time leading goal scorer with his 72nd AHL goal.

The Bulldogs have now won five straight road games.

Carey Price will be back between the pipes on Saturday when the Washington Capitals and Alexander Ovechkin visit the Bell Centre. It will be his first game since a loss to the Dallas Stars on Dec. 23.

That will be the only lineup change made by Guy Carbonneau for the game, which starts at 12:30 p.m.

The Gazette's Pat Hickey writes that Canadiens rookie goaltender Carey Price will make his eighth start of the season tonight, but it will be his sixth on the road. Price is 4-1 when playing away from the Bell Centre, but he doesn't really care where he plays.

"I treat every game the same way," Price said when asked whether he would rather start on the road or at home. "I've been saying that a lot this year, but it's true. Playing at home is nice, but if the opposition fans are booing me, it doesn't matter."

Head coach Guy Carbonneau says he is impressed by how far Price has come in such a short time.

"I don't see too many flaws in his game," the coach said.

Read Hickey's full article from today's Montreal Gazette here.

The Gazette's Pat Hickey writes that this will likely be the busiest week of Carey Price's NHL career so far. The rookie goaltender will face the Maple Leafs in Toronto tonight and will then start at home against the Bruins on Saturday night. Head coach Guy Carbonneau said this decision was taken last week after sitting down with his two netminders.

"It's probably the first time I've done that, but we kind of pre-picked the games for the goalies," Carbonneau said.

Price, as usual, was low key about his next two starts.

"It's a tough building," said Price, whose only action in the ACC came during a 2006 exhibition game.

"It's another Canadian team and every Canadian rink is tough to play in from what I hear. I'm looking forward, but I'm not treating it differently from every other game. I'm going there to win and so is everyone else."