Habs Daily: 4 Nations Tournament Rosters, Price & Weber Honored

Here are the Montreal Canadiens news items, highlights, and stories you may have missed on Friday.

Montreal Canadiens News

Montreal and Boston are set to co-host the 2025 ‘4 Nations Face-Off’ tournament being held by the NHL in February. While the Bruins should be represented by Jeremy Swayman, Charlie McAvoy, Elias Lindholm, and Brad Marchand, the Canadiens will be lucky to have one or two representatives taking part, with a legitimate risk no Hab will be invited to represent their country.  [Potential Canadiens At The NHL Four Nations Faceoff Tournament]

Carey Price and Shea Weber are set to be inducted into the British Columbia Hockey Hall of Fame. This is the second such announcement for Weber in recent weeks, as he was part of the 2024 Hockey Hall of Fame induction class, alongside Pavel Datsyuk, Jeremy Roenick, Natalie Darwitz, Kristy Wendell-Phil, David Poile, and 2011 playoff MVP Colin Campbell.  [Shea Weber Inducted To Hockey Hall Of Fame]

It’s always interesting to look back at how some Montreal Canadiens players were rated early in their careers. We all know Guy Lafleur was highly criticized during his first few seasons with the Habs. Andrew Zadarnowski pulled out an interesting example of a columnist shaming one of his readers for suggesting Maurice Richard should even be considered a player who could be mentioned alongside the Stratford Streak, club legend Howie Morenz. There’s no doubt Morenz was one of the most influential and talented players to wear La Saint-Flannelle, but we all know Richard became the eternal face of the franchise once he scored 50 goals in 50 games. The Rocket was also seen as a hero for the quiet revolution that took hold of the province shortly afterwards.

The 1945 version of a sports journalist dropping a mic on an outraged reader who believed his opinion was entirely wrong. pic.twitter.com/2ll1RKIcxj

— Andrew Zadarnowski (@AZadarski) July 11, 2024

There’s roughly three months until Canadiens hockey is back on the menu, which gives us plenty of time to overdose on Ivan Demidov highlights. You’ll note this has become a semi-regular feature in the daily links. Some may suggest it’s not healthy to ingest so many prospect highlights, but some also suggest pineapple on pizza is only appreciated by people with advanced palates. Let’s be honest, it’s an unholy creation made for those who really just miss Pizza Hut dessert pizza and have the taste buds of a sugar-crazed teenager, but I feel like we may be getting off-topic slightly.

National Hockey Now Network

• Part of the hype surrounding the New Jersey Devils’ anticipated comeback in 2024-25 is Sheldon Keefe being named the 31st head coach in franchise history. It’s true that the Devils went through quite the makeover this summer and are coming back next season significantly stronger. [New Jersey Devils]
• This year’s NHL Draft at The Sphere in Las Vegas was incredible. From the visuals to the celebrities, it was perfect for the league, and if really was the last NHL Draft at a central location, they went out on top. Many are very much against the idea of decentralizing the draft, but it sounds like that’s the way things are heading. If that does indeed happen, fans in Colorado might miss out. [Colorado Avalanche]
• Former Red Wings goalie Dominik Hasek spoke about Pavel Datsyuk’s Hall of Fame status and let’s just say he’s tempering his excitement level. It’s not that on merit, Hasek isn’t of the opinion that Datsyuk was someone who was enjoying a Hall of Fame career while playing for the Red Wings. The duo were teammates on Detroit’s 2001-02 Stanley Cup winner. That team often garners consideration as one of the best ever assembled in NHL history. [Detroit Red Wings]