Habs Daily: Canadiens First Line Highlights, Trading Carey Price

Here are the Montreal Canadiens news items, highlights, and stories from Tuesday.

Montreal Canadiens News

• The Montreal Canadiens are no longer playing, but it’s always entertaining to look back at some of the strong work put together by the team’s top line. Juraj Slafkovsky, Cole Caufield, and Nick Suzuki have created an impressive amount of chemistry in a very short time frame.

The Canadiens top line did not get enough credit for how exciting they were to watch this season

So here’s a mix that highlights a fraction of these moments #GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/qSlKWucL3y

— Cam Weitzman (@Cweitz99) June 11, 2024

• Finding a suitor for Carey Price’s contract won’t be easy, but once the Canadiens pay his $5.5 million bonus on July 1, it should be a little easier. The Habs don’t necessarily have to trade Price, but freeing up the funds currently tied to the long-term injured reserve (LTIR) would give general manager Kent Hughes more financial flexibility in trades and free agent negotiations. [Why The Canadiens Should Explore Trade Options For Carey Price]
• While some executives aren’t ready to pull the trigger on drafting Russian forward Ivan Demidov in the top five, it should also be noted that many believe he’s a lock to be taken early in the first round. [Pre-Draft Nerves Improve Odds Demidov Available To Canadiens]

Just seeing this now but just for what it’s worth: This doesn’t reflect the consensus among scouts I’ve talked to re: Demidov. Plenty of staff/teams who rate him as a top-five prospect in this draft, certainly. https://t.co/p9WLno6uSs

— Scott Wheeler (@scottcwheeler) June 11, 2024

• Apparently the NHL was not a big fan of Cap Friendly, which is why they never bought the website to ensure it would remain public. The league also considers salaries to be private information, despite putting a salary cap in place. It should also be noted the NHLPA publishes salaries every year.  [Alternative Salary Cap Website After Cap Friendly Goes Dark]

Listened to @FriedgeHNIC’s report about the NHL being icy with CapFriendly and not wanting salary info to be public. They should release this info themselves, and they don’t.

Once again, this is the NHL telling its most passionate fans to shut up and eat their slop.

— Steve “Dangle” Glynn (@Steve_Dangle) June 11, 2024

•  The Four Nations Faceoff tournament is scheduled to take place in Montreal and Boston next year. The Bell Centre will host four games, including Finland versus Sweden and Canada versus the United States on February 15.

National Hockey Now Network

• The New Jersey Devils announced on Tuesday that they’ve added assistant coach Jeremy Colliton to the coaching staff. Last week, insider Elliotte Friedman explained he had heard Colliton’s name in the Devils’ ring for a potential coaching position alongside Sheldon Keefe. On Tuesday, Colliton’s hire became official. According to a team source, Colliton completes Keefe’s coaching staff. That means Ryan McGill, Chris Taylor, Sergei Brylin, and Goaltending Coach Dave Rogalski will all remain on Keefe’s staff. [New Jersey Devils]
• Paul Maurice was in a decidedly better mood a day after captain Sasha Barkov was knocked out of Monday’s Game 2 win against the Edmonton Oilers on a high elbow from Leon Draisaitl. It certainly was not because of the weather. Although Maurice did not offer much of an update on Barkov’s status, one thing we could glean from his off-day media availability is that Barkov is in concussion protocol. When asked if Barkov could play in Game 3 on Thursday night — or even travel with the team to Edmonton on Wednesday afternoon — Maurice said everything but the words ‘concussion protocol’. [Florida Panthers]
• It appears that Russian media outlet Legalbet has backed up Belarus Hockey on their initial report of Alexei Kolosov feeling unsettled in North America, bringing to the table further proof that the Flyers goalie prospect is unconvinced with the project in Philadelphia. [Philadelphia Flyers]