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HP and Laine to return soon: Martin St-Louis has a problem on his hands

 Marc-Olivier Cook
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HP and Laine to return soon: Martin St-Louis has a problem on his hands
Credit: Getty Images

The Canadiens’ infirmary is starting to empty slowly, but not fast.

Rafaël Harvey-Pinard will play his first game of the season tonight with the Rocket… And Patrik Laine was at practice with the rest of the group this morning.

The Finn was wearing a non-contact sweater, but still: his return is just around the corner.

I expect Rafaël Harvey-Pinard to spend the week in Laval before being recalled by the Habs.

The Rocket play tonight, and there are also two games on the weekend schedule. HP will have time to get back into shape.

On the other hand, if Harvey-Pinard is going to be ready to play against André Tourigny’s team next Tuesday (November 26), there’s one player who’ll have to bail out, and the logical solution is Lucas Condotta.

When the Québécois returns, the Rocket captain will most likely be handed over to Laval to rejoin his squad and make room for HP.

But it’s really when Patrik Laine returns that things get complicated. Not only will the Habs have to make room for him in the lineup… they’ll also have to make room for him in the official 23-man roster.

And there are two names that come to mind when you think of players who could be in danger: Michael Pezzetta and Emil Heineman.

Unless the Canadiens decide to send a message to one of their veterans (Anderson, Armia, Dvorak)… But that would surprise me greatly.

The title of this TVA Sports article sums up the situation quite well: Martin St-Louis will have a puzzle to solve.

There are no right answers in my eyes.

Emil Heineman plays like an NHL guy and he has qualities that can be useful to the Canadiens. He’s good at forechecking, he’s got a great shot and he’s not afraid to hand out checks to upset the opposition.

On the other hand… Pezzetta deserves a chance to shine, because we know he’ll be there when he gets his chance. He works hard all the time and we know the effort is there when he’s in the line-up.

You need guys with a heart like Pezz.

So I can’t wait to see what Martin St-Louis does with all this. Things have time to change, because the Canadiens aren’t immune to injury (even if we don’t want that to happen), but the Habs head coach is likely to face a nice dilemma.

A big one, in fact.


Overtime

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– Coming up.

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This content was created with the help of AI.

This content was created with the help of AI.

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