Let’s line up the Canadiens two months in advance

Two months remain before the start of the NHL season. Teams are relatively formed for the next camp.

Obviously, there will be changes due to injuries, to certain transactions that may occur or via certain performances by young players at training camp… but we understand each other.

That’s why I thought it would be a good opportunity to draw up a sample line-up for the Canadiens for October. Even if it’s too early to do so, and things can change 15,326 times during camp.

Offensively speaking, I don’t think the first line (Nick Suzuki under Juraj Slafkovsky and Cole Caufield) is set in stone. It’s a strong possibility for obvious reasons, but I don’t think it’s the only possible scenario.

After all, giving Kirby Dach some tools wouldn’t be a bad thing either. And in my opinion, in camp, Dach will be tried out sometimes with Caufield, sometimes with Slaf, sometimes without either.

And I feel it wouldn’t be illogical to put Caufield with Dach, leaving Slaf and Suzuki to (continue to) develop some chemistry. Dach is bigger than Suzuki to help Caufield… and he loves making passes.

I’ve been seeing this as a possibility for a while now… and yesterday, on the Sick Podcast, we talked about it too.

In my eyes, the Alex Newhook and Joshua Roy could, with a good camp, take the other available positions on the top-6. And if not, Joel Armia is certainly a candidate for the top-6.

Failing that, Armia could play with a Christian Dvorak on the third line. If no youngsters – apart from Roy – make the club, I see Brendan Gallagher on that line. Otherwise, a youngster like Emil Heineman could play on the top-9.

Josh Anderson, Jake Evans, Alex Barré-Boulet and Michael Pezzetta are all candidates to play on the fourth line under current conditions.

It’s possible that the Habs will decide to start with 13 forwards (instead of 14) up top if no one stands out in camp. In such a case, don’t underestimate the 11-7 format too quickly…

Newhook – Suzuki – Slafkovsky
Caufield – Dach – Roy
Gallagher – Dvorak – Armia
Anderson – Evans
Extras: Barré-Boulet, Pezzetta
Injured: Harvey-Pinard

Defensively, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Habs go with seven defensemen in the lineup. After all, it would give playing time to the club’s young prospects, who are better than the forwards.

Would such a scenario really be unrealistic? Of course, for that to happen, Mailloux and Hutson would have to earn their place in camp, and the 11/7 format doesn’t have to be used every night, but…

Matheson – Guhle
Hutson – Savard
Xhekaj – Mailloux
Harris
Extra : Barron

In front of the net, we know which goalies will be present. All that remains is to determine what the division of labor will be between the Québécois and the American along the way.

There will be no ménage à trois this year. At least, there’s nothing to suggest that at the moment.

Montembeault
Primeau
Injured: Price

Overtime

– Will we see Ivan Demidov in action tomorrow morning?

We might have our first Demidov game action tomorow. SKA will have an inner team game tomorow at 5 am Mtl time. Hopefully, it’s going to be streamed on youtube. Here is their channel : https://t.co/MRrajjlLMl

– DemigodEnthusiast (@karralz) August 7, 2024