Yashin?

Pierre Lebrun notes on ESPN.com tonight that Alexei Yashin is a free agent in Russia and exploring options in the NHL as he's interested in coming back to North America.

Now THAT would be out of left field...

Updates On The Evening

• A great game tonight between Montreal and San Jose. The Sharks dominated until a Georges Laraque fight (yes, Georges is actually still alive, I know many were concerned he had gone missing), and after the fight the Canadiens took over. Three unanswered goals in ten minutes. Against the best team in the league. 3-0 Habs. And great, great play on behalf of Mathieu Schneider. This guy is the lucky charm of the year.
• Bill Guerin took the warm-up tonight for the Islanders and then left the ice, he is not injured. Has he been traded? Time will tell.
• Kari Lehtonen is coveted by Philadelphia: CBC
• Brian Campbell available: CBC
• Brian Burke scouting the Bruins, potential Kaberle deal: CBC
• Vancouver in the mix for Jay Bouwmeester: CBC, Daniel Sedin being pursued (but not Henrik)
• Alex Burrows available: CBC
• Two dozen teams have made offers for Martin St. Louis: Pierre Lebrun, CBC
• Erik Cole back to Carolina: CBC
• Milan Hedjuk is available, but was hurt tonight: CBC
• Canadiens still after Jokinen: Lebrun, CBC
• Leafs turned down an offer for Ian White: CBC
• Leafs will deal Jamal Mayers: CBC
• Columbus GM Scott Howson scouted tonight's Leafs-Sens game, word is he may be after Antropov

Bruins and Ducks Agree to Pronger Deal: Source

http://www.stanleycupofchowder.com/2009/2/28/775525/trade-deadline-update-w-ja

Other Rumours:

• Pierre Lebrun from ESPN and HNIC reports that Tampa winger Martin St. Louis invoked his trade clause to block a move to Pittsburgh this week.http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=3938053&name=lebrun_pierre
• Derek Morris will be traded, and until then will not play in Coyotes games: http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=269167&lid=sublink01&lpos=headlines_main

Gazette: Canadiens After Top End Defenceman

Bouwmeester mentioned, Kaberle more likely, Pronger anyone?

Link here:

http://www.thefourthperiod.com/news/mtl090228.html

• The rumour, by the way, is Higgins and Subban or McDonaugh for Kaberle

Streaking Habs Meet Surging Sharks

Big game tonight in Montreal, as the Canadiens (winners of their last 3) face off against San Jose (victories in 5 of their last 6) in what many people thought might be a Stanley Cup preview back at the start of the year. While the Sharks have managed to live up to those lofty expectations so far this season (not that regular season success is anything new to them), the Canadiens have taken a slightly rougher road through their first 62 games. After a prolonged Western slump the Habs seem to have things back in order though, and look to keep it going tonight against one of the top teams in the league.

Key to the recent success has been the resurgence of the once vaunted powerplay with the acquisition of Mathieu Schneider, who tallied two points on the PP last night including the game winner in OT. Jaroslav Halak has also become a stabilizing presence in goal, and Tomas Plekanec has been absolutely on fire with 9 points (6 goals) in the 5 games played since returning from his 2-game suspension. Alex
"L'Artiste" Kovalev has been equally hot of late, totaling 7 points in the three games back after his team-imposed exile.

With the deadline looming it will be interesting to see how management decides to go about tinkering with the roster, since the quality of play lately has been very solid. With Alex Tanguay and Guillaume Latendresse due to return before too much longer there will also be improvements available from within the team itself, although that hasn't stopped people from talking about the availability of Keith Tkachuk and Olli Jokinen to fill some needs up front. Needless to say it should be an eventful few days leading up to the March 4 deadline, and we'll do our best to keep you completely up to date on all of the important news.

Enjoy the game tonight everybody!

Is four in the cards?

Three in a row is great, four in a row is impressive. Can they do it?

For your enjoyment, Mathieu Schneider after scoring the winner in overtime last night. 

Three's a Streak

What a game. Halak looks fantastic. Koivu comes through with faceoff magic late. And L'Artiste with three points again. The Habs are back ladies and gentlemen.

Mathieu Schneider, again, looked great anchoring the power play. His booming shot has added a dimension the Canadiens were sorely missing. Mike Komisarek also had a very strong game, playing physical against a very tough Philadelphia team.

And lastly, new Hab Glen Metropolit looked great against his old team. Wearing #15, he played very strong on a line with Tom Kostopolous. Looks like another strong move by Gainey.

In Bob We Trust.

RUMOURS

From the Buffalo News, Tim Connolly to Columbus for Rostislav Klesla.

Also of note, Jacques Martin was scouting tonight's Canadiens-Flyers game.

Game Day - Philadelphia

Big game in the middle of the Eastern Conference standings, with the Canadiens coming in 4 points behind the Flyers for fourth place and having played 2 more games overall. Things have been rolling along fairly well of late for the Habs with wins in their last two, so they look to keep it going tonight.

In an interesting aside, the Canadiens acquired Glen Metropolit earlier this afternoon and had him in the starting lineup tonight to take the opening faceoff against his old team (possibly angering the other 4th line players already on the roster who've been fighting/demanding trades for ice time, but that's an argument for another time). I suppose that there's something to be said for making the new guy feel at home and all, but you'd think that you'd at least try and get him one practice and a jersey with a permanent nameplate before throwing him out there to see what happens. Through one period it's been a bit up and down, but thankfully it looks like things are settling into place and the team is adjusting to the new lineup (a usual exercise in Montreal anyway).