Tomas Plekanec joined the team on Wednesday for the first time since camp started but it is still unclear if he'll be ready to go for Saturday's home opener against the Maple Leafs. It was pure bad luck that injured Plekanec. The injury occurred as he was trying to pass the puck and instantly felt something wrong with his body while playing in the Czech Republic. The intra-squad game at the Bell Centre on Thursday night is also up in the air for him. He'll wait and see how he feels on Thursday but Michel Therrien believes Plekanec will play. The Canadiens once again started the day with the power play. Therrien was practicing three different power play scenarios:
Pacioretty - Desharnais - Bourque
Weber - Diaz
Galchenyuk - Plekanec - Cole
Markov - Kaberle
Eller - Plekanec - Gionta
Markov - Kaberle
Therrien reminded the media not to read too much into who is and is not on the power play. He is still experimenting with the man advantage.
The return of Plekanec brought on some line changes:
Pacioretty - Desharnais - Cole
Galchenyuk - Plekanec - Gionta
Bourque - Eller - Moen
Prust - White - Armstrong
Kaberle - Gorges
Markov - Emelin
Bouillon - Diaz
Tinordi - Weber
The odd men out: Brendan Gallagher and Gabriel Dumont were the two extra forwards. They occasionally skated on a line with Colby Armstrong with Dumont at centre. Mike Commodore was the extra man on defence.
Louis Leblanc was back in Brossard. He was not invited to the Canadiens camp but was instead invited to participate in the team's intra-squad game on Thursday. Leblanc did not hide his disappointment in not being invited to camp but acknowledged he had not been playing his best hockey so far this season. This year has been a challenging one for Leblanc to say the least. He was forced to miss a number of games with a high ankle spain and has only recorded three goals and two assists in 24 games. However Montreal's GM Marc Bergevin mentioned earlier in the week he knows the type of injury Leblanc has suffered and it is the type of injury that takes time to fully recover from. Therrien echoed the same thoughts on Wednesday, saying that the Canadiens are not panicking about Leblanc.
Therrien began his press conference by congratulating Marc Trestman of the Montreal Alouettes on his new position as head coach of the Chicago Bears.
