Gustav Lindström: Grant McCagg sees him starting on defense’s second pair

In recent days, the Canadiens have welcomed Gustav Lindström to the organization.

He was acquired in the transaction that sent Jeff Petry home to Detroit. Lindström isn’t coming to Montreal as the saviour of the Montreal defensive brigade, we agree…

But there’s a chance he’ll be good enough to carve out a place for himself in the club’s line-up.

In fact, Grant McCagg shares this opinion… And McCagg even believes that Lindström could start the season on the team’s top-4 defense if Jordan Harris or Arber Xhekaj don’t play on the right.

This is what we call a “hot take”.

Competition will be fierce at training camp, and if Lindström does indeed start the season on the second defensive unit, some will have to pay the price.

That’s why McCagg believes Barron should start the season in the AHL, so he can continue to develop properly.

But if the right side of the defense is made up of David Savard, Lindström and Kovacevic… It also means that on the left, Jordan Harris or Arber Xhekaj won’t have a place.

After all, Mike Matheson and Kaiden Guhle already have a place in Martin St-Louis’ line-up. Xhekaj and Harris would have to fight for the last available spot on the left…

And it looks like I’m skeptical because I love the progression of these two players. They proved last year that they could play in the National League, but now… There’s starting to be some traffic on the CH blue line.

You’ll have gathered that I haven’t really talked about Chris Wideman… And I think you know why. The veteran will be used as a last resort (as he was last year) and is not part of the discussions about which guys will be in uniform for the first game of the season.

The blue line would look like this, if Lindström starts the year on the second pair:

Matheson – Savard

Guhle – Lindström

Xhekaj / Harris – Kovacevic

The prospect expert explains it well in the tweet above. He doesn’t see Gustav Lindström as a long-term lock on the second pairing… But if he does what he has to do at training camp, that opportunity may present itself.

And it looks like I’m not quite sure what to make of it.

Breaking news

– Whoa.

– Still, the Lightning should have a great season.

– That would make sense.

– If that’s what he wants…

– Really?