Sergei Kostitsyn

A Journal de Montréal report today has Montreal police clearing brothers Andrei and Sergei Kostitsyn and Roman Hamrlik of any wrongdoing in a situation that a Montreal newspaper reported in a sweeping, multi-page exclusive this season would bring the franchise to its knees.

RDS reports that Sergei Kostitsyn will undergo surgery on his right shoulder on Thursday. It's a minor operation and he waited for the end of the season for surgery after suffering the injury several weeks ago.

RDS also says that  Alexander Perezhogin - remember him? - plans to stay in Russia.

Sergei Kostitsyn after having been run over by Chicago's Aaron Johnson.
John Mahoney, Gazette

The Gazette's Herb Zurkowsky reports, without bitterness, that the media outnumbered the players on the ice at this afternoon's optional practice in Brossard before the team was to board a flight for Long Island and tomorrow night's game vs. the Islanders.

Sergei Kostitsyn, who left Tuesday's game in the first period after being splattered into the end boards by Chicago's Aaron Johnson, will not make the trip. Upper-body injury, the report remains. Defenceman Roman Hamrlik, who left the game in the second after a weird collision along the Blackhawks bench, will travel to Long Island.

The hardy few on Brossard ice: Matt D'Agostini, Ryan O'Byrne, Gregory Stewart, Georges Laraque and Jaroslav Halak.

•  •  •

Et le but!

Credit Christopher Higgins with the Canadiens' fourth goal against Chicago. Higgins tipped the point drive of Mathieu Schneider during a Canadiens power play.

•  •  •

Mark Streit has a wonky groin and is a Maybe on the Island tomorrow. 

AUDIO:  • Gainey  • Komisarek  • Higgins

Presumably because of the callup of Sergei Kostitsyn, the Canadiens today farmed Max Pacioretty back to the AHL Hamilton Bulldogs.

They could have kept him up, but clearly he'll get more ice time in Hamilton.

•  •  •

Lines at practice this morning:

Kovalev - Koivu - Tanguay
A. Kostitsyn - Plekanec - S. Kostitsyn
Latendresse - Lapierre - Kostopoulos
Higgins - Metropolit - Dandenault

Extras: Laraque, Stewart, D'Agostini

• No goaltending decision for Tuesday's game vs. Atlanta before tomorrow morning.

Sergei Kostitsyn, riding the buses in Hamilton since mid-February, is on his way back to Montreal. The forward was recalled today by the Canadiens and will rejoin the team at Bell Centre practice tomorrow.

Kostitsyn, shipped to the Bulldogs on Feb. 17, had five goals and nine assists in 16 games with the American league club.

Bob McCord
Photo courtesy Society for International Hockey Research

Happy 22nd birthday to Canadiens farmhand Sergei Kostitsyn.

And 61st to Bobby Orr.

And 75th to 1950s Montreal junior Canadien Bob McCord, who went on to play 316 games on defence in the NHL with Boston, Detroit, Minnesota and St. Louis from 1963-73, with plenty of minor-league time along the way.

If you don't remember McCord, you don't recall his being claimed by the Habs from Minnesota in the Intra-league draft on June 9, 1970, or being traded back to Minnesota for cash two months later.

Sergei Kostitsyn: a goal, two assists, four shots on goal.

Hmmmmmm ...

Can you think of any NHL teams that might need a late-season spark?

•  •  •

Rangers beat Flyers 4-1

First star: Sean Avery (two goals on the PP)

Second star: Nik Antropov  (A goal on the PP, his 24th of the season)

•  •  •

Allan Muir, writing in Sports Illustrated before last night's game, thinks Canadiens have "just enough in the tank" to make the playoffs.

Sergei Kostitsyn to Hamilton

Gregory Stewart recalled.

Was it just a year ago we thought SK74 would be the next Canadiens superstar?

What the heck happened to this guy?

Look on the bright side, kid: you're that much closer to Mikhail Grabovski.

Here's an exhaustive interview with Sergei Kostitsyn. sent along to us by Greg Wyshynski, editor of Puck Daddy, Yahoo! Sports Blogs.

Sergei discusses Crosby, Ovechkin, Kovalchuk, his feud with the Toronto Maple Leafs and more.

The Canadiens most potent line has been broken up – at least to start the exhibition season.

When the Canadiens take on the Boston Bruins Monday night in Halifax, Tomas Plekanec will still have Andrei Kostitsyn on his left wing. But coach Guy Carbonneau says Sergei Kostitsyn will play RW on the line.

Has Alex Kovalev been placed on waivers?

Of course not. Kovy will make his exhibition season debut Wednesday night in Detroit, Carbo  said, with the linemates who joined him at this morning's practice: Robert Lang and Guillaume Latendresse.

Another new line that Carbonneau will try Monday: Prized acquisition Alex Tanguay with two rookies: Ben Maxwell and Max Pacioretty.

This is what training camp is for. Carbonneau, an inveterate line-tinkerer, can really go to town.

This is a double posting. I'll leave it up just to retain the comment thread.

- Mike Boone

RDS, which had the Bob Gainey scoop on Mats Sundin yesterday, reports Guy Carbonneau plans to switch Sergei Kostitsyn to centre.

Could work.

The kid is a terrific passer with superb hockey sense.

SK74 would be particularly effective centring his brother. Working with third-liners might be more problematic.

(Photo from Getty Images)

In an interview with a Belarussian paper, translated by the Russian Prospects web site, Sergei Kostitsyn second-guesses Alexander Radulov's decision to play in the KHL.

Asked if he would make a Radulovian career move, SK74 is unequivocal:

“Right the opposite. To leave the best league in the World?.. No, thank you.”

More good stuff:

Don't you feel regret that even after successful debut in the NHL you'll have to play for Montreal on the rookie contract without the right to re-negotiate it? And we're talking about Russia, where you'd been offered double of "untaxed" at least.
"I'll get over. There is time for everything."

- You earned the spot in the line-ups in part because of your gritty stile of play. We never knew you like that before.
"I'm not trying to be a tough guy, but when I'm being challenged I'm not gonna shy away."
 

Trevor Timmins, Canadiens' director of player recruitment and development, was on his way to Peterborough for an OHL game when I caught up with him on his cell phone yesterday and asked about Sergei Kostitsyn.

Specifically: How did the younger K last seven rounds and become the 200th player selected in the 2005 draft?

"He played in Belarus in his draft year," Timmins recalled, "and that's not the same level of competition as the Russian league."

What impressed Canadiens about Sergei, even in the lower-tier league, was  his toughness.

"Even then, he had the jam in his game that we're seeing now, " Timmins said. "Sergei is a player who likes contact."

The key to Sergei's development was getting him into the Ontario Hockey League. Canadiens would have liked Andrei Kostitsyn, the team's first-round choice in 2003, to play junior in North America (if only so they could monitor  his medical condition), but the older brother was playing pro in Russia and did not join the Hamilton Bulldogs until the 2004-'05 season.

"Sergei played in London, which was a bonus for us," Timmins said. "He got very good coaching and development time. He came over right away after he was drafted and spent two seasons in major junior, which really helped his development in the North American-style game."

Kostitsyn's coach in London was Dale Hunter. The transformation was immediate.

During his draft year in Belarus, Sergei Kostitsyn played 40 games. He scored four goals, added 10 assists and had 24 minutes in penalties.

First season in the OHL, Sergei played 63 games. He scored 26 goals, had 52 assists and  racked up 78PiM. In 19 playoff games, Sergei had 13 goals, 24 assists and 44 PiM.

In 59 games with the London Knights last season – playing with Patrick Kane and Sam Gagner – Sergei's totals were 40 goals, 91 assists (nobody in major junior had more) and 76 PiM. His totals in 16 playoff games were nine goals, 12 assists 39 PiM.

In conversation with The Gazette's Pat Hickey during the OHL playoffs, Dale Hunter  said Kostitsyn was his most NHL-ready player – ahead of Kane and Gagner. 

His play with Canadiens is proving Sergei's ex-coach's prescience.  The kid looks like he belongs – never more so than against New Jersey last night.

"We always knew he could play at a higher level because of his hockey smarts and puck skills," said Timmins.