Music: {allcanada} Could be open spot for Henry

Thursday, September 30, 2010

{allcanada} Could be open spot for Henry

Experience and toughness might earn Alex Henry (notes) a spot on the Canadiens' opening-night roster.

When head coach Jacques Martin was asked about the decision to return Mathieu Carle (notes) to the Hamilton Bulldogs, he decided to take a longer look at the 30-year-old Henry, because he gives the team a much-needed physical presence on defence.

There's room for the 6-foot-6, 230-pound Henry, because Andrei Markov (notes) definitely won't be ready for the start of the season Oct. 7 in Toronto and Roman Hamrlik (notes) is a question mark. They are skating are on their own, but there's no indication when they will ready to practise with the team.

Martin said there was no possibility Hamrlik could play in either of the two remaining exhibition games, but held out hope that the Czech veteran would be ready for the NHL regular season.

"It's coming along slowly," said the 36-year-old Hamrlik, who suffered what has been described as a minor knee injury after colliding with fellow defenceman Jaroslav Spacek (notes) during an informal workout before the start of training camp.

"I don't heal as quickly as when I was a 20-year-old. I want to make sure I'm 150 per cent before I come back."

Markov suffered a knee injury during the playoffs and underwent surgery. He has been skating for a month and said he's feeling stronger every day. Markov has a date in mind on when he will come back, but he's unwilling to share it.

Henry has played 177 NHL games. He played a career-high 71 with Minnesota in 2003-04 before the lockout and 63 the year after the lockout. But he has spent most of the past four seasons in the minors, with the exception of two games with the Canadiens in 2008-09.

Latendresse the best No. 84:

Sports Illustrated has offered fans some fodder for debate by picking the best player to wear each of the 101 numbers that have been used in the National Hockey League.

There are 16 players who are listed with numbers they wore in Montreal. There's nobody with the last name Richard, but you will find Arron Asham (notes) (No. 45) and Guillaume Latendresse (notes), who was the first player to wear No. 84 -the last number which had never been worn in the league.

Gordie Howe got the nod at No. 9 over 24 Hall of Famers including Maurice (Rocket) Richard, while Boston's Bobby Orr was the choice over Jean Beliveau at No. 4.

The other Canadiens on the list are Doug Harvey (No. 2), Toe Blake (6), Guy Lafleur (10), Dickie Moore (12), Serge Savard (18), Bob Gainey (23), Chris Chelios (notes) (24), Ken Dryden (29), Brian Savage (49), Jose Theodore (notes) (60), Michael Ryder (notes) (73), Andrei Markov (79), Joe Juneau (90) and Doug Gilmour (93).

Blake is best-known as a coach, but he was part of the Punch Line with Elmer Lach and Rocket Richard.

He is in the Hall of Fame as a player and it's a shame that when the Canadiens went on a number-retiring binge around the centenary, they didn't raise his No. 6 to the rafters.