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Joel Armia: a top-6 candidate not to be underestimated

 Emily Smith
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Joel Armia: a top-6 candidate not to be underestimated
Credit: Getty Images

If the Canadiens’ season were to start today, all indications are that the line-up of Juraj Slafkovsky, Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki would survive. And that’s even if I want to see Martin St-Louis try out several combinations during training camp.

There’s no doubt that Kirby Dach and Patrik Laine will play together on the second line, and everyone’s wondering which guy will get the chance to complete them.

My choice would be Alex Newhook. If he’s not going to play center on the third line, I might as well put him on the wing of the two big guys, to help them with his speed and left-handed stick… and to help Dach with his center responsibilities.

But don’t dismiss Joel Armia’s candidacy too quickly.

Even though the Finn is right-handed too, he has good size and knows how to protect the puck. It’s easy to imagine him retrieving the disc and passing it to Dach, who would find an open Laine.

But apart from his “awakening” last year, there’s another reason why Martin St-Louis might prefer Armia to guys like Alex Newhook or Joshua Roy on the top-6: the Finnish aspect.

Laine and Armia played together in Winnipeg, and Laine is looking to do what Armia did last year: get back to being the player he can be. And perhaps Armia could help Laine in this, as Mathias Brunet and Martin Lemay discussed on BPM Sports.

Armia, who could talk to his “new” teammate in his native tongue, could help Laine get back into the game. He’s well placed to share his experience.

But beyond that, on the ice, it could also have its advantages. Armia, whom the Habs obviously believe in, would take defensive responsibilities off Laine’s shoulders, and he’d allow Newhook and Roy to have less pressure on a bottom-6.

That could be part of the equation, too.

In any case, it’s hard to say before camp… and you know as well as I do that lineups can change 1,370 times over the course of an 82-game season.


Overtime

– We already knew he had a shoulder injury. His absence comes as no surprise.

– Speak of the devil.

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