Jayden Struble, Michael Pezzetta and Jesse Ylönen will not play tonight

This morning, the Canadiens practiced in preparation for their duel with the Boston Bruins.

We were obviously keeping an eye on whether certain players would be present or absent, in order to get an idea of the state of health of several of the club’s key players.

Juraj Slafkovsky, David Savard and Josh Anderson, three players who skipped practice yesterday, did the same this morning. Mike Matheson and Tanner Pearson skated this morning, unlike yesterday.

That said, it’s worth noting that these guys will still be able to play tonight. Why? Because the changes will be elsewhere and they’re not injured enough to miss the game.

Offensively, Colin White will be back in action. He’ll be taking Michael Pezzetta’s place, which means Pezzetta will be joining Jesse Ylönen in the stands… and which means the Habs will (finally) be playing with four centers.

Defensively, we already knew that Samuel Montembeault would be back in net, but now he’ll be doing so behind a defensive brigade that will be different from the one on Tuesday.

Jordan Harris will be back in net, but rather than chasing Johnathan Kovacevic, he’ll be taking Jayden Struble’s place.

For those who are surprised, Martin St-Louis is the first to note that his defenseman has slowed down. And as I mentioned this morning, he missed two games recently when he was thought to be injured, but was healthy.

So he’s officially entering the rotation of those who can skip their turn. Doing so against Boston must hurt, but he must understand his coach’s message, I imagine.

Extension

I know there’s no longer a limit of 23 players on the active roster once the deadline passes, but White’s return means that for the first time all year, the Habs have 21 healthy skaters. Before, with three goalies, it was impossible.

So this is the first time the Habs have had three guys considered healthy scratchs this season.