Welcome to the NHL FanHouse 2008-09 season preview. While other sites are previewing "30 teams in 30 days," we decided to take advantage of the extra time off before the start of the season to bring you all 30 previews over the next three weeks. We're counting down in reverse order of finish from last season in each conference every weekday from now until October 3. Look for an Eastern Conference preview every morning and a Western Conference preview every afternoon. Click here to read them all.

Who's In: Alex Tanguay, F (Trade-CGY), Georges Laraque, F (FA-PIT); Marc Denis, G (FA-TB); Robert Lang, F (Trade-CHI)

Who's Out: Mikhail Grabovski, F (Trade-TOR); Michael Ryder, F (FA-BOS); Mark Streit, D (FA-NYI)

What's Changed: The Canadiens are hoping that a couple minor tweaks and the experience of last year's run combine to make this year's team all the more dangerous. Montreal made no changes to their defensive top six, they signed Denis only to compete for the backup job behind Carey Price, and the top forwards are all back.

Honestly, Montreal shouldn't have to change much. Price melted down in the playoff series against Philadelphia (more on that in a bit), and the defense didn't play terribly well. However, the Canadiens fielded a pretty young team, had a great season, and they return practically everyone while making a couple of potentially significant additions.

Sergei Kostitsyn just gave an interesting interview to Russian Prospects where he touched on a number of different subjects, but the parts I found most interesting had to do with Alexander Radulov's defection to the KHL and what Kostitsyn thinks about its future.

As it turns out, Kostitsyn and Radulov both vacationed in Turkey early in the offseason, with the two staying in adjacent hotels. According to Kostitsyn, the cat was out of the bag about Salavat's offer to Radulov well before the actual announcement came at the beginning of July.

With two years remaining on his own rookie contract, the reporter was wise to ask the 21-year old winger what he would do if confronted with the same choice:

- What would be your choice in this situation?

- Right the opposite. To leave the best league in the World?.. No, thank you.

- That means you're skeptical about the potential of KHL?

- I disagree with the statement that KHL can catch up and take the lead against the NHL in the nearest future. If it ever happens it is a matter of not few years. Also, it's too early for me to talk about "zeroes" in the contract. I'm still young, will get mine when it's due.

[...]

- Don't you feel regret that even after successful debut in the NHL you'll have to play for Montreal on the rookie contract without the right to re-negotiate it? And we're talking about Russia, where you'd been offered double of "untaxed" at least.

- I'll get over. There is time for everything.

The Buffalo Sabres have just released their new ticket price list for the upcoming 2008-09 season. The Sabres have a variable pricing system based on the demand for the game in question, ranging from Value to Gold in years past. This season the organization obviously feels they have not squeezed enough of those now-at-parity Loonies from rowdy Leafs fans who come down to The Bank each year to see their team play. Hence, they've added in a new, Platinum Price Level where the best seats in the house will go for $233 (just 238CAD)!

Moreover, the Sabres must have felt that the Habs should also share in the fun. A Friday night game featuring the Northeast Division Champs rounds out the 4 Platinum games on the schedule.

Overall, ticket prices went up by 12% (keeping up with the real rate of inflation), while Gold Games dropped by 15%. But, all of that can be gleaned from the link above, as that's what the Sabres wanted you to know. With a 97% renewal rate after a poor 2007-08 season and missing the playoffs they are still in a position to match demand with supply in the face of a ballooning player payroll. Looking at last season's price list the biggest jump is at the lowest price level, where the cheapest seats rose from $17 to $20 per game, an 17.6% marginal increase.

It's a good thing that the organization decided to market the team into southern Ontario, as that is where the strongest potential revenue growth would be possible. Since Golisano bought the team in 2002 the Canadian Dollar has appreciated vs. the Greenback by over 40%, making previous small markets in Edmonton and Calgary into relative powerhouses. The 6 Canadian Teams accounted for 31% of ticket revenue in 2007-08. If memory serves, the Sabres noted that last season Canadians made up around 20% of their season ticket base. With prices for Leafs games in the stratosphere and a rising Cando, it was only natural that someone else would be the beneficiary of the situation.

Last Friday night, the Montreal Canadiens -- excuse me, les Canadiens de Montréal -- used their first pick in the NHL's annual Entry Draft to select Edina, Minnesota's Danny Kristo. It was a largely unremarkable pick, except for the fact that it was the third consecutive year in which the Habs drafted a Minnesotan with their initial selection (last year they nabbed St. Paul's Ryan McDonagh 12th overall and in 2006 they snagged Minneapolis-born David Fischer with the 20th pick).

"Just a coincidence," according to director of player personnel Trevor Timmins.

It's probably also a coincidence that the Kristo pick marked the sixth time this decade that Montreal has called an American-born player's name as their first pick (Ron Hainsey, Mike Komisarek and Christopher Higgins, drafted between 2000 and 2002, round out the Yankee half-dozen), and that the Habs took Americans with three of their five picks in this year's draft and with five of their nine picks last year (including first-rounders McDonagh and Max Pacioretty).

Coincidences aside, it's clear that the Habs aren't afraid to go south of the border for help of late (much to the chagrin of some of their fans and members of the local media). Upon being drafted last year, Pacioretty noted that it "seems like the Canadiens have a lot of confidence in U.S.-born players." Apparently so -- the "Bleu, Blanc et Rouge" has hardly (if ever) looked as red, white and blue as it might in the near future.

But, as U.S. College Hockey Online notes, "It would be surprising to see this trend continue in 2009, as the Canadiens will play host to next year's Draft. One can only imagine how the Bell Centre crowd would react should the blue, blanc et rouge turn to another Yankee."

And yet, I'm not so sure. The last time the draft was held in Montreal, the Habs picked an American in the first round, and who wouldn't want another David Wilkie on their squad? Zut alors!

Guy Lafleur was a legendary hockey player and beloved disco fashion icon for the Montreal Canadiens. His son, obviously not wanting to follow in his father's footsteps, instead decided to become a lecherous predator.

Today, the younger Lafleur pleaded guilty to 14 criminal charges. Father must be proud.

Mark Lafleur pleaded guilty to accusations including assault, uttering threats to a minor and forcible confinement of a 17-year-old girl.

Lafleur was first arrested in January 2007. The 23-year-old has been in jail since November, when his bail was revoked for breaking conditions.

Last winter, Guy Lafleur was plunged into controversy when he was accused of offering contradictory testimony at his son's bail hearing. He testified last October that his son was respecting a court-ordered curfew while in his parents' custody.

The Hall of Famer later admitted he drove his son to hotels to spend the night with his 16-year-old girlfriend.

The reason why this story is of note to hockey fans is that Lafleur is one of the more beloved players in the province of Quebec, ever, and this whole mess with his son has drastically tarnished his image as a happy-go-lucky kinda guy.

Lafleur is so worried about his reputation that he is suing a Montreal police detective and a Crown prosecutor for $3.5 million, claiming his arrest in January damaged his "reputation and earnings."

Well, lying to the police and assisting your son in committing crime and breaking curfew pretty much tarnishes your image on its own, doesn't it?

If you're a hockey fan, it might make sense to keep your eyes open on eBay over the next few weeks.

Why do I write that? Because it was only a few days ago that Pete Mahovlich, a 4-time Stanley Cup winner with the Montreal Canadiens in the 1970s and a member of the 1972 Summit Series team that defeated the USSR, had a pair of commemorative rings and a watch stolen from his car while he was playing golf in St. Catherine's, Ontario:

Mahovlich said he had taken off the rings and a watch and put them in one of the car's cupholders.

One of the rings was for the eight-game 1972 series, which Canada won four games to three. One game was tied.

Mahovlich scored a goal in Game 2 of the series. Canada won that game 4-1.

The other ring, given to Mahovlich by the Montreal Canadiens Alumni Association, commemorates his four Stanley Cup wins with the team in 1971, 1973, 1976 and 1977.

The watch that was swiped was originally presented to Mahovlich when he and the rest of the 1972 were inducted into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame. Though few fans today probably remember his name, Mahovlich scored more than 30 goals in a season four times, and scored over 100 points in a season twice. And if you've ever had a chance to read The Game by Ken Dryden, you'd know that Mahovlich played a very important role on many of those Cup-winning teams that extended far beyond the ice and the locker room.

Back in early April, Montreal Canadiens head coach Guy Carbonneau was voted outstanding coach of the year by his peers (27 of the NHL's 30 bench bosses). Interestingly enough, a smaller group of NHL head coaches (18) voted that same honor to the Detroit Red Wings' Mike Babcock, as he was recently named Sporting News' 2008 Coach of the Year.

Both Carbonneau and Babcock (along with Washington's Bruce Boudreau) are Jack Adams Award finalists (the coach of the year recognition that actually matters, if any do). So who's going to win the hardware when the NHL hands it out in June? I'll tell you who it won't be... Babcock.

One day, you're worth a second-round pick in the 2009 Entry Draft. Two months and change later, you're likely worth upwards of $5 million per year.

Such is life for former Canadiens backup netminder Cristobal Huet, who was stolen acquired by the Washington Capitals at the trade deadline and is now on the verge of perhaps testing his value on the open market as an unrestricted free agent (to be fair, Huet wasn't in the Habs' long-term plans with Carey Price having taken over the number one job, so moving him for a pick made some sense... until they had to start Jaroslav Halak in the playoffs).

How good (and under-rated) was Huet's season? Consider that only one goalie in the entire NHL (Jean-Sebastien Giguere) had both a better GAA and SV% than Huet in 2007-08. And that Huet won the highest percentage of games played of any goalie in the League with more than 43 appearances (and only the two Detroit goalies had a better percentage if you lowered the games played requirement to two). And that he ended the regular season on a 9-0-0 run during which he posted a 1.52 GAA, a .941 save percentage and allowed only seven even strength goals as he snuck the Caps into the playoffs by a single win.

As a confirmed tech nerd, I like to count myself lucky to have become an adult in the kind of world that I only dreamed about as a child. In uplifting moments I'm grateful for all the awesome information technology that's transformed the world. Then again, in other small minded moments, I'm grateful for a lot of the mischief this same awesome technology has facilitated.

Case in point: Carey Price, Pension Plan Puppets and Hockey Reference.

All I'll say right now is that Hockey Reference, like its sister sites, allows individuals to sponsor pages with personalized messages. PPP, albeit with some help from its readers, decided it was time to strike in defense of Leafdom, with Montreal goalie Carey Price being the first target. When you get to his page, the sponsorship line now reads:

More Ken Dryden (Liberal leadership candidate) than Ken Dryden (1971 Conn Smythe Winner)

Fresh off its foray into online hijinks, PPP is embarking on a long-term plan to buy up as many pages as possible to annoy fans of rival teams. Childish? Perhaps. But in terms of online marketing, it's sheer brilliance. I can't wait to see who might be next in line. In fact, if I was a less charitable man, I'd think that the folks at Hockey Reference might actually be behind this campaign. But that would just be naked speculation.

Now excuse me for a moment, I need to check out Cam Ward's page.

For the past couple of months now we've been reading rumors of a relationship between Calgary Flames defenseman Dion Phaneuf and actress Elisha Cuthbert. Now it seems as if we've got some serious photographic evidence via that paragon of journalistic integrity, Hollywood Tuna:

So it looks like Elisha Cuthbert gets passed around the NHL more than a hockey puck. Here she is with Dion Phaneuf from the Calgary Flames. Now I'm not 100% sure that's him since his face looks like it's taken more beatings than Lindsay Lohan's ...

Yowch, feel the snark! Hollywood is a rough place.

Though the folks at HT don't seem to be completely sure that it's Phaneuf that they've captured walking beside Cuthbert, the hockey braintrust here at FanHouse is happy to confirm their suspicion -- that's certainly Phaneuf in this blowup.

As other have noted, this would mean that Cuthbert has completed something of an NHL dating hat trick, progressing from Rangers bad boy Sean Avery, through Habs defenseman Mike Komisarek and now to Phaneuf, the highest paid of the three.

As far as I'm concerned, we're very happy that Cuthbert has decided to cut a swath through the NHL. In fact, we're just waiting for the moment she gets hitched to a hockey player and starts dishing to the press much like Willa Ford, aka Mrs. Mike Modano.

HT: The Big Lead.