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Mitch Marner as defenseman against the Habs tonight : Craig Berube opens the door
Félix Forget
Mitch Marner as defenseman against the Habs tonight : Craig Berube opens the door
Credit: Getty Images
Tonight, the Canadiens will face the Maple Leafs in Toronto. This will be the team’s last game on the road until the end of the regular season.

Let’s recall that even if Ivan Demidov skated this morning, he will not play tonight. He was with the extras this morning, including the poor Arber Xhekaj, whom he roughed up.

Now, tonight, the Habs will face a team that is in a funny situation. With Oliver Ekman-Larsson injured, the Maple Leafs only have five healthy defensemen… and they are too close to the salary cap to make a recall.

This means they will play with one less player… and since they will be missing a defenseman, coach Craig Berube has an idea in mind:

[Mitch Marner] is capable, if we need it, of giving us minutes [on defense]. – Craig Berube

What seems to be understood is that Marner will not be a defenseman per se tonight. However, it’s really hard to rule out the possibility of seeing him take at least a few shifts on the blue line.

We’ve already seen him do that in the past, after all, and he also does it on the power play for the Maple Leafs (even if it’s not the same game, we get it).

We know Marner has solid defensive instincts, which means he can fill in on the blue line in case of extreme emergency. That being said, we understand that it’s not optimal… and it could smile at the Habs, that.

Because with the Blue Jackets’ win, the Habs need to win in 60 minutes at most tonight if they want to secure their spot in the playoffs.

Let’s recall that the team would still have excellent chances of making the playoffs even if they lose tonight… but with the Blue Jackets not losing anymore, it would be a good thing for the Habs to settle it once and for all against the Maple Leafs in a few hours.

This would allow the guys to breathe until the start of the playoffs… and most importantly, it would allow Ivan Demidov to make his debut in a context where there will be much less pressure.


Overtime

– The Islanders are officially eliminated.

– Tough break for the Oilers: Mattias Ekholm may have played his last game in 2024-25.

– This statistic is still just as surreal.

– The Yankees need to put an end to the Marcus Stroman experiment.

– Do we like it or not?

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