Cuts? Let's just invite everyone.

Two unlucky rookies were cut from the Canadiens rookie camp. One can only assume that the drills went really well then, right? Only Conboy and Kishel, who probably would have run out of cash if they had to continue paying their own way, were cut. So, essentially everyone's in.

Compared to last year, that makes an extra 10 bodies: 2 up front and an astonishing 8 extra defensemen.


The majority of players lost from last year were NHLers (Aebischer, Rivet, Souray, Bonk, Johnson and crew). Most of the youngsters from last year are back, though not perennial cuts Michael Lambert and James Sanford.

Is this a good sign? I can only hope so. I mean obviously someone doesn't like making cuts, but they'll certainly have to make a whole lot in the next few days – no choice.

I think 22 defensemen for 8 spots is a bit excessive. Consider that Markov, Komisarek, Hamrlik and Streit are guaranteed just because of past performance, NHL creds and salaries. That makes 18 for 4 spots. On the bright side, Brisebois who could only be described as below average, might actually fall out of the top 9 of the also rans. Here's to hoping...

Up front, they simply need the numbers to make a rotational squad for games and scrimmages, so fair enough. otherwise, I don't think Greg Stewart and Cory Urquhart need to endure another camp.

Anyway, here's the full list. We'll see what happens:

Out:
AEBISCHER, David

BENOIT, André
JANCEVSKI, Dan
RIVET, Craig
SANFORD, James
SOURAY, Sheldon

BONK, Radek
DOWNEY, Aaron
JOHNSON, Mike
LAMBERT, Michaël
PEREZHOGIN, Alexander
RIBEIRO, Mike
SAMSONOV, Sergei

Returning:
DANIS, Yann
HALAK, Jaroslav
HUET, Cristobal
LACASSE, Loïc
PRICE, Carey

ARCHER, Andrew
BOUILLON, Francis
CÔTÉ, Jean-Philippe
DANDENAULT, Mathieu
GLEED, Jon
KOMISAREK, Mike
MARKOV, Andrei
O’BYRNE, Ryan
STREIT, Mark

AUBIN, Mathieu
BAINES, Ajay
BÉGIN, Steve
BONNEAU, Jimmy
CHIPCHURA, Kyle
D’AGOSTINI, Matt
FERLAND, Jonathan
GRABOVSKI, Mikhail
HIGGINS, Chris
KOIVU, Saku
KOSTITSYN, Andrei
KOVALEV, Alex
LAPIERRE, Maxim
LATENDRESSE, Guillaume
LEMIEUX, Francis
LOCKE, Corey
MANLOW, Eric
MILROY, Duncan
MURRAY, Garth
PLEKANEC, Tomas
RYDER, Michael
STEWART, Gregory
URQUHART, Cory

New invitees:
LOVEROCK, Andrew

BIRON, Mathieu
BRISEBOIS, Patrice
CARLE, Mathieu
CEPEK, Cameron
DEGON, Marvin
GORGES, Josh
HAMRLIK, Roman
LABRIE, Mathieu
PICHE, Sebastien
RIVERS, Jamie
SUBBAN, PK
VALENTENKO, Pavel
WEBER, Yannick

BEAUREGARD, Thomas
DESHARNAIS, David
FORTIER, Olivier
KOSTITSYN, Sergei
KOSTOPOULOS, Tom
LAHTI, Janne
MAXWELL, Ben
RUSSELL, Ryan
SMOLINSKI, Bryan