Matheson-Guhle, Hutson-Reinbacher and Xhekaj-Mailloux: elite defence under construction

It’s September 16th, the day of the Canadiens Children’s Foundation tournament. Traditionally, the Habs golf tournament marks the end of the rookie camp and the start of the real camp. This year, the real training camp officially begins on Wednesday. The list of players taking part should be known in the next few hours…

We should also know the names of a few invited but injured players who won’t be able to take the ice on Thursday morning.

What do I take away from this rookie camp… and from the last few hours in the Montreal sports world?

1. The weekend ‘s results against the young Leafs are not important at all. Why not? Because the two goalies defending the Habs ‘ net were under invitation. With good prospects in net – or a veteran like Keith Kinkaid (35) on the Islanders – the Habs would have left the Bell Centre with a win or two this weekend. There weren’t too many scoring chances for the opposition…

2. Montreal’s first four defensemen each deserved a mention this morning. Lane Hutson was simply breathtaking, even if some would have liked to see him do less.

Mailloux looked a cut above the rest on Saturday and Sunday, and showed that he’s capable of defending well in this calibre. Can’t wait to see how he fares against the pros this week…

3. Logan Mailloux may have disappointed some scouts, but he didn’t disappoint me. He directed several dangerous pucks towards the net, he hit, he distributed the puck and he showed he had a very good skating stroke. Add to all this the fact that Habs management had given him the “C” for the weekend…

If the rumour that Kent Hughes and Jeff Gorton refused to send Mailloux to Anaheim in exchange for Trevor Zegras is true, we’ll have to start thinking that, yes, Mailloux’s value in the eyes of Montreal management is very high.

4. Many fans and members of the media have expressed disappointment with David Reinbacher’s play against Maple Leafs rookies. Why were they disappointed? Because he didn’t get as many flashes as Mailloux and Hutson!

Except that if you’re trying to evaluate Reinbacher based on his offensive flashes, you may have the wrong evaluation grid in your hands.

Reinbacher doesn’t need flashes to add points to his report card.

He’s a defenseman whose overall reliability will earn him – or not – a career in the NHL. This weekend, he showed that he has reliability in spades. He reduced the number of errors in his game, while showing great speed and mobility for a 6’3, 209-pound defenseman.

That’s an inch and 15 pounds more than when he was selected just 15 months ago.

Reinbacher is a complete defenseman who, if he develops to his full potential, will play more than 20 minutes per game against the best players on the other team in the NHL. #HigherCeiling

Not noticing him too much will be a good sign in his case…

5. Adam Engstrom was also very good. An expression that fits him like a glove: jack of all trades, master of none.

In French, this could be translated as “he’s good at everything, but excellent at nothing.”

You could tell that Engstrom had played with men in recent years.

6. Many observers believe that Mailloux and Hutson, who did very well together on the first pair this weekend, are destined to play together for many years in Montreal.

I think Hutson is destined to play with Reinbacher on the top four and Mailloux with Xhekaj on the third pair. With Guhle and Matheson on the first pair to start that era next year? #PowerhouseEnConstruction

7. The real camp opens on Wednesday with physical and medical tests. Preparatory games will be played on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, not this week, but next week. So this is your last week not to watch the Habs on weeknights…

8. I know, it’s still early days, but I’ve got a lot of the same combinations as the TVA Sports social network manager. With Struble or Mailloux as seventh defenseman; probably Struble…

And yours? pic.twitter.com/7opXB1JEnQ

– TVA Sports (@TVASports) September 16, 2024

Let’s hope there won’t be any injuries other than Rafaël Harvey-Pinard announced this week…

9. Good news that there won’t be a three-way battle in front of the Habs net this year! Montembeault and Primeau in Montreal, Dobe and Hughes in Laval, Cavallin in Trois-Rivières!

Once again, let’s hope that the organization’s goaltenders know how to avoid injuries, because there’s no real depth in this position this year, and management wants to be in the mix for the playoffs…

10. Patrik Laine, who arrived at this morning’s golf tournament with Joel Armia, was dressed a little more conservatively. Laine’s attire will not arouse passions this morning (and so much the better)…

11. Eric Engels tells us – without really telling us – to keep an eye on Florian Xhekaj and Luke Tuch during the Canadiens’ camp. In the medium term, he sees one of the two youngsters potentially taking Michael Pezzetta out of the Montreal line-up. Except that this could happen in 2025 or 2026, not 2024!