Romanov doesn’t play like a nervous rookie
EDMONTON — The firstoverall pick is always the consensus Calder trophy favourite, so winger Alexis Lafreniere has the advantage, but three Russians might actually be better choices: Rangers teammate goalie Igor Shesterkin, Minnesota forward Kirill Kaprizov and Montreal defenceman Alexander Romanov.
Romanov, a left shot who plays right side, doesn't have the glitz, but even before Montreal's training camp, Romanov seemingly had a spot in their lineup. Fast lane to the bigs for this precocious 20-year-old, who had already played two years in the Kontinental Hockey League.
First game, he saw Maple Leafs Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner.
Saturday, it was Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and the Edmonton Oilers.
He wasn't used as much against the Oilers as the 21 minutes he got against the Leafs, but Romanov doesn't look like a kid with two NHL games. He's strong and, but for a 70-second shift when his stick broke and he was gasping for air, he looked in control like everybody else in a Canadiens jersey.
He survived Matthews and Marner just fine.
But McDavid and Draisaitl was a step up.
“Yes, I like the challenge,” said Romanov, a teammate of Kaprizov with CSKA. “So excited to play against those guys.”
Canadiens coach Claude Julien figures ignorance could be bliss for Romanov, voted best defenceman at the 2019 world junior championships in Vancouver.
“He's got lots of confidence and he really feels he can play at this level. Nothing seems to faze him. It's the ignorance part of things, he doesn't know any better,” said Julien. “He knows the players but doesn't have that fear in him yet.
“Sometimes ignorance is a good thing. Eventually, playing against these types of players will bring a little bit more light to things he's not aware of yet. When he sees McDavid, he'll realize what he can't do is get caught up the ice.”
The six-foot-one, 208pound Romanov will be seeing McDavid and Draisaitl nine times and the same for Matthews and Marner in the all-Canadian division, so it'll be baptism under fire. But he's good and he knows it. The kid from Moscow looks like he'll be a top-four left defenceman in time.
REVOLVING CREASE
With Mike Smith on longterm injury, meaning at least 10 games or 24 days on the shelf, the Oilers claimed Milwaukee-born Troy Grosenick, who played university hockey at Union College with Daniel Carr, Shayne Gostisbehere and Rangers goalie Keith Kincaid.
As expected, Oilers general manager Ken Holland also called his old, out-of-work Detroit goalie Jimmy Howard to see if he'd come aboard as a No. 3 guy, but Howard said no. He'll likely retire.
Grosenick is going on the Oilers non-roster list (COVID-19 protocol quarantining like James Neal and Gaetan Haas). His $700,000 counts against the cap but he's not on the 23-man roster or the taxi squad. But he won't be able to dress until Jan. 28 because he's coming from Los Angeles.
Teams have to put goalies on waivers to get them to their taxi squads and they're being grabbed up (Anton Forsberg, Eric Comrie and now Grosenick). It's forced some teams to put three goalies on their main roster.
Toronto's doing it with Aaron Dell, Arizona with Aidin Hill and the New York Islanders with Cory Schneider to protect their interests. The Jets will likely put Forsberg on their three-goalie list, but he's currently a non-roster player who has to quarantine for seven days.
Grosenick was on waivers in Los Angeles to go to their taxi squad because Cal Petersen is coming off COVID protocol.
He's played two NHL games but one was a 45-save shutout for San Jose six years ago. He's played 254 American Hockey League games.
“Talking to our scouts and (goalie coach) Dustin Schwartz, he's had some quality time in the AHL. He's coming in to give us another option,” said Oilers coach Dave Tippett.
NO FAN CLUB FOR HABS
Normally when Montreal comes to Edmonton, Rogers Place is awash in Canadiens jerseys, their full-throated fans trying to drown out the Oiler followers with chants.
But with COVID and an empty building, that vibe was missing Saturday.
“It's unfortunate to have no fans when the Canadiens or Toronto comes here, any Canadian teams really,” said Alex Chiasson, who grew up a rabid Habs fan, born in Montreal. “My parents used to take my sister and I to games at the Bell Centre. Last year, I got my first goal there, pretty special.”