Want to see the Belarussian line?

In the past, I used not to worry too much about the pre-season. But probably some time that conincided with the Canadiens learning how to draft, I began wanting to see games. As a blogger, pre-season games are the ultimate – the chance to see the young players of the future and judge them for yourself, and inevitably criticise some team selection decisions.

This year, Habs fans lucked out. Most of the Habs pre-season games are taking place in Montreal! 5 games in 11 days to get a decent preview of the 2007 Habs. Habsinsideout.com posted the schedule yesterday:

Monday, Sept. 17: Pittsburgh Penguins at Canadiens, 7:30 p.m.
Tuesday, Sept. 18: Pittsburgh Penguins at Canadiens, 7:30 p.m.
Wednesday, Sept. 19: New York Islanders vs. Canadiens at Moncton, N.B., 6 p.m.
Friday, Sept. 21: New York Islanders at Canadiens, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 22: Ottawa Senators at Canadiens, 7 p.m.
Sunday, Sept. 23: Boston Bruins vs. Canadiens at Halifax, N.S., 3 p.m.
Thursday, Sept. 27: Boston Bruins at Canadiens, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 29: Canadiens at Ottawa Senators, 7 p.m.

I'm hoping that we'll see a bit of Sergei Kostitsyn after his 2 stellar seasons in London. Wouldn't it be great if the made a line of the two Kostitsyns and Grabovski for a game (maybe the Pittsburgh one).

It should also be fun to watch Brisebois get outplayed by some players invited to camp from junior, Hamilton and from anywhere else.

Lastly, is any goalie gonna come out of this training camp looking good? Pittsburgh twice and Ottawa twice. not gonna do wonders for the stats, I shouldn't think. It looks like they designed a schedule where Carey Price would really have to earn his way onto the team.

Hey, maybe that's why they signed Breezer – to make sure Price faces enough shots in training camp to get a true picture of what he can do. Tricky that Bob Gainey...