Skip to content
NHL.com doesn’t see Lane Hutson and Joshua Roy in the Habs lineup
Credit: Getty Images

There’s just over a month to go before the NHL gets back into full swing. With camps starting up, there will be battles across the league for positions on the Bettman circuit.

The Habs will be no exception, of course, as the organization’s youngsters vie to be regulars with the big club. Lane Hutson, Logan Mailloux and Joshua Roy seem to be three players with a real chance of breaking into the club this season.

It would be surprising if all three succeed… but it’s safe to assume that at least one of them will.

That said, the NHL’s official website doesn’t really seem to believe it. In fact, in a paper written by Sean Farrell (the journalist, not the player), we find a projected line-up that includes… none of the three players.

And that’s surprising.

For many people, Joshua Roy seems to have a good chance of making the team. Where exactly he fits into the forward lineup is a matter of debate, but he showed last year that he’s got what it takes to play in the NHL.

And after last year’s excellent AHL debut, does he really have anything left to prove?

Defensively, Mailloux and Hutson are indeed congested and could end up in Laval. The fact that they don’t have to go through the waivers (unlike Jordan Harris and Justin Barron, for example) works against them, and they’ll have to have a big camp to earn their place in town.

The same goes for David Reinbacher… but giving him a year in the AHL before graduating wouldn’t be a bad thing. He seems to be lagging behind Hutson and Mailloux at the moment.

That said, in his text. Farrell does open the door to seeing Hutson in the NHL “if his stature allows him to survive the rigors of defending NHL forwards”. If he does play in the NHL, it seems to me that seeing him with David Savard would be a logical step in that direction.

As for Mailloux, much like Roy, he’s shown that he doesn’t have much left to prove in the NHL. That said, congestion on the blue line could well work against him.

He’ll have to be a lot better than Justin Barron in camp to earn a spot.

In the projected line-up, Josh Anderson finds himself with Alex Newhook and Kirby Dach on the second line, while Kaiden Guhle returns to his natural left side.

Things have time to change… and I have a feeling there’s at least one youngster who’s going to shake things up. And if Ivan Demidov were also to be there somehow, that would change things too.

Overtime

– That’s right.

– He wants to make his players work.

– Big news for the Rams.

More Content