The Montreal Canadiens did not play a single hockey game in June.

The team was idle in May.

And in late April.

Despite the Canadiens' early and ignominious playoff exit, Habs Inside/Out had a good spring.

The numbers don't lie. Google Analytics credits the web site with 1,237,783 page views in June – an 85 per cent increase over the 668,327 views in June, '08.

Woo hoo! Bonus cheques all around for Stubbs, Boone, Hickey and Mio.

And imagine site traffic if the Canadiens ever made a deep playoff run.

Woo hoo! Bonus Depends and walkers for Stubbs et al.

Newly signed UFA Brian Gionta has just chatted with the Montreal media via conference call. The Canadiens, he says, have "a ton of speed and are well balanced." Needless to say, he's excited with this new chapter in his career.

Here's the full audio of that call.

Hockey Canada today released the names of the 46 players it will invite to its 2009-10 national men's team orientation camp next month, the first step toward selection of the Olympic team for Vancouver 2010 and the 2010 IIHF world championship.

Not one Canadiens player is on the list, though congratulations are due to Habs equipment manager Pierre Gervais, who will perform this task for his third consecutive Olympics.

Here's the full rundown.

Canadiens captain Saku Koivu meets the Montreal media for the final time on April 23, following his team's elimination from the playoffs. He prophetically said in this interview that if he wasn't signed with the Habs by July 1, he expected to be playing elsewhere next season.  Marie-France Coallier, Gazette

Updated Thursday 5:40 am ET

• Gainey reshapes the Canadiens
• Mixed bag for Habs: Fisher column
• Welcome to the Land of the Smurfs: Hickey column
• Record-setting spending spree: Globe's Gordon
• Major impact on free-agent landscape: NHL.com's Kimelman

Canadiens general manager Bob Gainey met with the Montreal media Wednesday night at the team's Brossard training facility to discuss his team's entirely new face. He said his work this free-agency season is "probably done," having dropped $107.8 million U.S. in 24 hours.

Brian Gionta is a new Canadien, having signed a five-year, $25-million contract tonight. Marian Gaborik, another sought-after free agent, has joined the New York Rangers for five years, $37.5 million.

Just off the phone with Mike Komisarek, who today signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Komisarek signed a five-year, $22.5-million contract with the Leafs, and in so doing leaves the only NHL club he's known.

"I've played in tough environments, I'm sure it's not going to be easy coming back," Komisarek said of what he'll face from Canadiens fans when the Maple Leafs come to the Bell Centre. "It's the competitive nature of the game (but) it's stuff like that that you don't really worry about."

Matt Keator, Komisarek's agent, said early this evening that negotiations with the Canadiens were "respectful." Komisarek agreed with that assessment.

"I've always looked at Bob (Gainey) in high regard," he said. "I've respected what he's done as a hockey mind. He's had plenty of success. He's always been good to me and I've always appreciated everything they've done for me and the way they've treated me. It's unfortunate that things haven't worked out (with the Canadiens) but it's the business of what we do."

Here's audio of a portion of our conversation.

Here's the audio of a conference call just concluded with Mike Cammelleri, who this afternoon signed with the Canadiens as an unrestricted free agent. The contract is for five years and $30 million.

(Former) Canadiens defenceman Mike Komisarek leans into Toronto's Matt Stajan.
Dave Sandford, Getty Images

Mike Komisarek is now a Toronto Maple Leaf. Which suggests that Mikhail Grabovski no longer will be the most loudly booed Maple Leaf when Toronto comes to the Bell Centre next season.

The deal is for five years at $4.5 million per season.

Komisarek was a popular man during the first day of free-agency, courted by at least 10 teams just one hour into the process. He's now headed to Brian Burke's Leafs, giving Toronto the size the Leafs GM covets.

TSN reports the deal is said to include a limited no-trade clause, giving Komisarek the opportunity every September to give the Leafs a list of 12 teams to which he would accept a trade, should the relationship between player and team not work out the way both expect it will.

Also today, Steve Bégin signed with the Boston Bruins, moving nearer Montreal from the Dallas Stars.

Visit the Bruins website for a conference call with Bégin, who said it will be "fun to be on the other side" of the famed Bruins-Canadiens rivalry, and that he'll "be on the right side now," as well as the announcement on the Bruins site.

Mike Cammalleri brings a scorer's touch to the Canadiens.
Dave Sandford, Getty Images

If you can't get a big centre, get two small ones.

That's Plan B for Canadiens general manager Bob Gainey, who has lured Mike Cammalleri from Calgary with a five-year deal worth $30 million.

Cammalleri, who is 5-foot-9 and 185 pounds, 39 goals and 43 assists last season while playing left wing and centre. It was a career season for the 27-year-old who had the advantage of playing with Jarome Iginla.

If you add Scott Gomez's height and Cammalleri's  height and divide by two, the results equals Saku Koivu's height and is one inch short of that of Tomas Plekanec.

A good look at Cammalleri's statistics here.

The Canadiens release is below. And go here for audio of Cammalleri's conference call with the media this evening.

Hall Gill with a trophy of some note, displayed in Detroit last month.
Bruce Bennett, Getty Images

It appears that the Canadiens have accepted the fact that defenceman Mike Komisarek is not coming back, and they're moving on with an even larger blue-line acquisitions. 

Montreal this afternoon signed stay-at-home defenceman Hal Gill to a two-year contract.

Gill adds considerable size to the blueline at 6-foot-7 and 250 pounds but he's yet another left-handed shot and he's not the most mobile player. He had two goals and eight assists in 62 games with the Pittsburgh Penguins last season.

The 34-year-old has played 851 games with Boston, Toronto and Pittsburgh.  

Jaroslav Spacek defends Sabres end against (former) Hab Christopher Higgins in Buffalo last season.
Bill Wippert, NHLI via Getty Images

Jaroslav Spacek, who signed a three-year contract with the Canadiens, is a steady,puck-moving defenceman. He's on the smallist side – what's new for the Canadiens? – at 5-foot-11 and a shade over 200 pounds.

He averaged more than 22 minutes of ice time in each of the past two seasons and was on Buffalo's No. 1 power-play unit. He scored four of his eight goals on the power play. He shoots left which isn't necessarily as an asset since the Canadiens' top two returning D-men – Andrei Markov and Roman Hamrlik – are also left-handed shots.

He was a plus-2 last season and has been a plus player each of the last five seasons with an aggregate of plus-20. 

Spacek signed a three-year deal for $11.5 million, whoich means a cap hit of $3.83 million a season.   

Canadiens release below:

The Canadiens have signed defenceman Jaroslav Spaceck to a three-year, $11.5 million deal.

The 35-year-old Czech has spent the last three seasons with the Buffalo Sabres and had 45 points (eight goals, 37 assists) in 80 games with the Sabres last season.

More details to come.

Multi-year deal with Chicago – a dozen years, $62.4 million.

When the Canadiens were looking for a goon – sorry, a tough character guy – laast summer, they signed Georges Laraque to a two-year deal at $1.5 million per annum.

The Leafs have signed Colton Orr to a four-year deal averaging $1 million a season. Orr had 1 goal and four assists in 82 games and was minus-15. But Toronto was most interested in his 193 penalty minutes and his 18 fights, twice as many as Laraque. Then again, Orr was healthy for the entire season.

Mike Komisarek has attracted the offers of 10 teams in the first hour of free agency.