Canadiens captain Saku Koivu and star forward Alex Kovalev are both headed into the final year of their contracts, both unrestricted free agents on July 1, 2009.

In his

The Canadiens go into the final week of the season with a fistful of question marks and the team may go to battle in the playoffs

After going much of the season with little serious injury trouble, the Canadiens are staring at a few problems this morning, with tests and rehab ongoing. We'll report

Canadiens spokesman Dominick Saillant emails from Toronto that Habs captain Saku Koivu has a foot injury, suffered in Friday's 4-3 overtime victory over the Sabres in Buffalo, and

Updating Kovalev's status at 5:42 p.m.

Alex Kovalev did not take part in today's practice, nursing a sore ankle apparently dinged early in Wednesday's game vs. the Florida

Bulldogs callup Corey Locke was supposed to in the lineup tonight in place of flu-bitten Saku Koivu, who will watch the game from his New York hotel room.

But

Saku Koivu's two goals Saturday carried the Canadiens over the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Bell Centre.
Dave Sandford, Getty Images

It had been nearly 13 1/2 games, elapsed

A little sound from the dressing room post-practice on Friday afternoon:

Canadiens captain Saku Koivu on the team's troubles at home, playing with Sergei Kostitsyn and Koivu's own goal-scoring

Canadiens defenceman Andrei Markov holds a 51,088-vote lead over Boston's Zdeno Chara, continuing to lead all Eastern Conference rearguards in updated balloting for the NHL All-Star Game.