Joel Armia on the 1st line to start the season suggests Georges Laraque

What will Martin St-Louis’ trio look like in the season opener on October 9 at the Bell Centre?

This question has been on everyone’s lips ever since Patrik Laine was feared dead.

Obviously, there’s the option of splitting up the 1st line to calibrate the Habs’ offensive line-up a little, but it doesn’t seem ideal when you consider how excellent Suzuki, Caufield and Slafkovsky were together in the final stretch of the 23-24 season…

It’s decision time for the Habs head coach, and for the good of the cause, Geroges Laraque has taken on the exercise of building the club’s lines for the first game of the campaign.

His compositions have caused quite a stir, with Armia taking Slaf’s place on the first line, while Slaf finds himself on the wing of the second unit with Dach and Newhook :

Here’s what Georges proposes as the top 6 to start the season. Do you agree with his proposal? pic.twitter.com/8f1LpshJ58

– BPM Sports (@BPMSportsRadio) October 1, 2024

Before the acquisition of Patrik Laine, it was said that Kent Hughes needed to find a way to surround Kirby Dach well on the second line.

He needs quality players for him to be able to progress, and at that level, adding a guy like Slaf could help him develop, because there was a nice chemistry between the two players at camp last year, and because the Slovak is really better than he was this time last year.

That said, it’s Armia’s name on the 1st line that really startles.

The Finn may have had a fine end to the season, and he’s been good since the start of training camp, but he doesn’t belong on the first line because he’s never shown any consistency since arriving in Montreal.

After all, the Habs can’t have a guy who shows up 6 games out of 10 alongside two talented players like Caufield and Suzuki if they want to progress this season. I know, it’s going to be tough without Patrik Laine… But there may be other solutions internally too.

For example? Joshua Roy’s name is becoming more and more popular these days when it comes to who’s going to replace Laine on the 2nd line. It would look something like this:

Slaf – Suzuki – Caufield
Newhook – Dach – Roy

Is this ideal?

Not necessarily… But I’d rather give a youngster with top-6 potential a chance than a veteran who’s not always involved on the ice.