Eric Engels

The Canadiens have been able to outscore their problems all season. They may not have scored enough Thursday night, but we know they’ll score plenty moving forward. More importantly, they’ve played the right way this week. It’s how they must play to win this tight race👇🏻

I think the kid deserves a ton of credit for sticking to the process when the pressure really ratcheted up on him. But boy, did he have help from Martin St. Louis, and especially Adam Nicholas. The investment the Canadiens made in player development is paying off HUGE.

Slafkovsky is on pace for 30 goals and 38 assists in his fourth NHL season. Felt when he was drafted that he’d turn into a consistent 35-35, two-way power forward. He’s turns 22 at the end of this month and appears poised to top that projection well before he hits his prime.

Special

Juraj Slafkovsky has his 25th.

Habs announce Josh Anderson is day-to-day with an upper-body injury

Clutch Caufield... Goals When Game is Tied Caufield: 24 Guenther: 17 Eichel: 15

"He scores in every single way you can score... He doesn't cheat the game to get goals." @EricEngels joins @Mattymar89 and @FutaMichael to discuss Cole Caufield scoring his 40th goal. LIVE ⤵️ 📺 watch.sportsnet.ca & Sportsnet 360 📻 sportsnet.ca/590

The participation of Russia in the 2028 World Cup was among the topics NHL leadership discussed after the GMs meetings in Florida. @EricEngels has the story. sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/nh…

Just one more thing on World Cup participation. Sent an email to NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly asking when the league needs this firmed up by. His response: "Probably some time prior to the start of 2027/28 season, but nothing set in stone at this point."

L'attaquant Josh Anderson ne participera pas à l'entraînement d'aujourd'hui (journée de traitements). Forward Josh Anderson will not participate in today's practice (therapy day).

Spoke with Daly after. He said that without Russia's war with Ukraine ending, Russia likely won't be able to participate in the 2028 World Cup. "I don’t think we’re out of sync with where the Finns and Swedes and Czechs are with respect to Russian participation. It’ll be available if certain things happen. And if certain things don’t happen, they're likely not to participate.”

Gary Bettman and Bill Daly say they haven’t received any formal declarations of non-participation from any prospective World Cup nations should Russia be permitted to participate. Though Daly said, “We know how they feel.”

Spoke with Daly after. He said that without Russia's war with Ukraine ending, Russia likely won't be able to participate in the 2028 World Cup. "I don’t think we’re out of sync with where the Finns and Swedes and Czechs are with respect to Russian participation. It’ll be available if certain things happen. And if certain things don’t happen, they're likely not to participate.”

Cole Caufield becomes the first 40-goal scoring Montreal Canadien since Vincent Damphousse did it in 1994.

As he's made a career of doing, player safety head George Parros stood up for his department on Tuesday. @EricEngels reports from Florida. sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/pl…

L'attaquant Kirby Dach sera à l'écart du jeu pour une période de 2 à 4 semaines en raison d'une blessure au haut du corps. Forward Kirby Dach will be out for 2 to 4 weeks due to an upper-body injury.

Asked Parros if "Department of Player Safety" is the banner under which his department, which is in charge of discipline, should continue to fly. Answer: “Yeah, absolutely. We uphold the rulebook and how it’s enforced; how it’s written and how it’s enforced on the ice. The biggest part of that is ensuring that these rules create a safe environment for these players to play the game. So, absolutely, it’s our main focus. It’s why this department was started—to have that consistency, to have people that are dedicated every night worried about enforcing the rules, worried about how this game is played, and keeping the integrity of the game.”