There’s a great likelihood we acquired a take a look at what the Canadiens’ opening-night lineup shall be throughout Monday’s follow on the Bell Sports activities Advanced in Brossard.
It has been fairly apparent for the reason that begin of coaching camp that the primary line of Nick Suzuki between Cole Caufield and Juraj Slafkovsky will stay intact, as will the fourth line of Jake Evans between Brendan Gallagher and Josh Anderson. The make-up of the opposite two traces has been a query mark.
On Monday, head coach Martin St. Louis put Oliver Kapanen at centre between Alex Newhook and Ivan Demidov, whereas Kirby Dach was between Patrik Laine and Zachary Bolduc.
These traces make sense as a result of Kapanen shoots proper and Newhook shoots left, which means they’ll each take faceoffs on their robust aspect and likewise complement Demidov with their pace. Placing Bolduc with Dach and Laine offers them a dependable 200-foot winger who can assist them defensively and on the forecheck.
Dach between Laine and Demidov — which we noticed earlier in coaching camp — had the potential of being a defensive catastrophe — and
that trio completed minus-3 throughout final Thursday’s 7-2 pre-season loss
to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
At this level, it seems like Kapanen has received the one open ahead spot over his most important rival, Owen Beck. However St. Louis famous there are nonetheless two pre-season video games left in opposition to the Ottawa Senators — Tuesday in Quebec Metropolis
(7 p.m., TSN2, TSN5, RDS)
and Saturday on the Bell Centre
(7 p.m., TSN2, TSN5, RDS).
The Canadiens will open the common season subsequent Wednesday in Toronto in opposition to the Maple Leafs
(7 p.m., SN, TVA Sports activities).
The defence pairings on Monday had Mike Matheson with Noah Dobson, Kaiden Guhle with Lane Hutson, Arber Xhekaj with Alexandre Service and Jayden Struble with Adam Engstrom. Nothing stunning there.
The fifth ahead line had Joe Veleno between Florian Xhekaj and Beck, with Sammy Blais rotating in.
“I’ll have solutions … I simply don’t have them proper now,” St. Louis stated when requested about his potential opening-night lineup. “No matter I believe, I’m undecided that it’s truly the reply. That’s why we attempt it. Nothing is ready in stone. Even when we begin the season a sure manner, it doesn’t imply we discovered it.”
However St. Louis undoubtedly likes what he has seen from Kapanen.
“Kappy performs a really mature sport,” the coach stated. “He has an NHL laptop and I discover he’s taken a step bodily in comparison with final yr. He does a variety of issues on the ice.”
Florian Xhekaj additionally does a variety of issues on the ice that the Canadiens can use, together with his toughness. Nevertheless it seems like he’ll begin the season with the AHL’s Laval Rocket and Beck may very well be becoming a member of him. It appears unlikely the Canadiens would need these two younger gamers watching video games from the press field when veterans Veleno and Blais can be higher suited to that function.
“I don’t know but,” St. Louis stated when requested if he’d want to maintain the 2 veterans as his additional forwards.
Xhekaj has proven at this camp why Nick Bobrov — the Canadiens’ co-director of novice scouting —
described him as “a unicorn”
after the 6-foot-3, 217-pound ahead was chosen within the fourth spherical (one hundred and first general) of the 2023 NHL Draft. He’s a singular participant with a mixture of measurement, talent and physicality, together with the
willingness to drop the gloves
throughout a pre-season sport with the Philadelphia Flyers’ Nicolas Deslauriers, one of many hardest guys within the NHL.
“I believe he’s had a great camp,” St. Louis stated about Xhekaj. “Florian is aware of who he’s. He brings physicality, he’s combative.”
The Canadiens can undoubtedly use a participant like Xhekaj, however he’s most likely one other yr away from being NHL-ready and one other full season creating with the Rocket received’t harm him. The actual fact he wasn’t among the many 24 gamers lower from coaching camp on the weekend and despatched right down to Laval needs to be a giant confidence enhance.
“I really feel good,” he stated. “It’s a giant alternative and I simply acquired to maintain proving myself on daily basis. I believe within the (pre-season) video games, I confirmed them that I may very well be bodily, I may rating. I simply acquired to proceed to try this.”
St. Louis stated all 4 gamers who wore blue sweaters at follow Monday because the fifth ahead line will play in at the very least one of many last two pre-season video games.
What’s St. Louis’s recommendation for Xhekaj transferring ahead.
“The camp goes to be over and it’s going to really feel prefer it’s the end line,” the coach stated. “Nevertheless it’s not. It’s not a end line. That end line at all times strikes. It’s at all times: Can you retain sprinting not understanding how lengthy the gap is? As a result of the primary sport of the common season is a deadline, however the league retains going. Let’s say if he doesn’t win that race, it doesn’t imply that he’s misplaced the race. There’s nonetheless a race on the market. So to me it’s simply keep process-driven. Management what you’ll be able to.”
Xhekaj will ultimately play for the Canadiens. Nevertheless it most likely received’t be on opening night time this season.
