Canadiens Daily
Habs Daily: Heineman WC, Laval Forward Prospects, Reinbacher
Here are the Montreal Canadiens news items, highlights, and stories you may have missed on Friday.
Montreal Canadiens News
Emil Heineman got off to a solid start at the World Championship. The 23-year-old Swede set up Mikael Backlund’s goal in a 5-0 win over Slovakia.
Emil Heineman with a nice assist on Mikael Backlund’s goal for Team Sweden 🇸🇪
— /r/Habs (@HabsOnReddit) May 9, 2025
The third-round series between the Laval Rocket and Rochester Americans doesn’t get underway until next week, which means we have plenty of time to reacquaint ourselves with some of the key prospects in the lineup. Sean Farrell had an underwhelming rookie season in the AHL, but he’s now a mainstay on the team’s top line alongside Laurent Dauphin and Alex Barre-Boulet, marking a significant step forward in his development.[Canadiens Forward Prospects In The Laval Rocket Playoff Lineup]
Speaking of Laval, head coach Pascal Vincent was asked about David Reinbacher’s play so far in the postseason. Reinbacher hasn’t necessarily struggled, but he’s yet to put together a dominant outing. The first thing I noticed when watching him play was that he has a tendency to hesitate a little too long, and the second thing I noticed is that we’re probably paying way too close attention to every minor decision he makes.
Vincent suggested that the 20-year-old defenceman is on an upward trend, and that the key is keeping things simple.
Je n’ai pas l’impression que l’on a vu le meilleur de Reinbacher dans la série contre Cleveland.
Pour Pascal Vincent, c’est une question de temps et de confiance.
« J’ai aimĂ© son match #4, il y avait de petites affaires que l’on voulait changer. C’Ă©tait de garder ça simple. »
— Vincent Demuy (@VDemuy) May 9, 2025
Nicolas Roy avoided suspension for his vicious cross-check, following a common theme in these playoffs: cross-checks to the face aren’t a big deal.
It’s the playoffs! You know what that means for penalties…
Cross-checks to the face? Meh pic.twitter.com/y4bPPKfKny
— Marc Dumont (@MarcPDumont) April 21, 2025
ICYMI: Nick Suzuki is dealing with nagging injuries, and consequently, the top scoring Montreal Canadiens player will not represent Team Canada at the World Championship. Mike Matheson, on the other hand, will join Sidney Crosby and Nathan McKinnon. Suzuki is sure to garner some criticism, but you’d be hard-pressed to suggest he doesn’t deserve a little time to completely recover from his injuries [Canadiens Captain Suzuki Won’t Play For Team Canada]
National Hockey Now Network
It will come as no surprise to anyone who has seen a hockey game in the last 25 years that Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby was one of the first players named to the NHL’s Quarter Century Team. [Pittsburgh Penguins]
Sergei Bobrovsky has not been bad for the Florida Panthers in these playoffs, but he has not been great. [Florida Panthers]
The New York Islanders’ ongoing quest for a new executive has taken another crazy twist. [New York Islanders]
Heineman is really showing some flair in the world championship. I wonder if Emil will be another Lehkonen fiasco for the Habs. Lekky was the most under-appreciated, ill-utilized forward in recent memory. You could see the kid had offensive capabilities, but the Habs insisted on using him in checking, penalty-killing, bottom-six situations. Obviously Colorado was more observant than Habs management, and they traded for him, where he is prospering on the top line. Maybe the criticisms of Montreal being unable to develop players is true. Hope they don’t ruin Emil.
I do not disagree with you, but after a great rookie season in which in which Lehkonen scored 18 goals and was the third highest goal scorer on the team, the Canadiens management felt at that time that this rookie was going to be a great goal scorer. But the next few season he had a great deal of difficulty scoring goals, often hitting the goal post or not capitalizing on his chances. But later he became more confident and scored many big goals for the Canadiens.