Hockey

Here’s how the battle for the 12th forward position is shaping up
Mathis Therrien
Here’s how the battle for the 12th forward position is shaping up
Credit: Getty Images

Last night, following the Montreal Rocket Canadien's 4-2 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Canadiens announced several cuts from their training camp.25 players were cut from the camp, including a certain Joshua Roy, whose future in the Habs organization is highly doubtful. This leaves 34 players in the Canadiens' training camp, which means that, normally, there are still 11 players to be cut to meet the maximum roster of 23.

With two pre-season games left on the schedule, the battle for a spot on the Canadiens' roster will intensify, especially on the forward line. In fact, as things stand, the battle for the remaining forward spots (12th, 13th and 14th forwards) will be hotly contested. In addition to the 11 forwards guaranteed to make the team, there are eight forwards still in contention at training camp.

Of course, Alex Belzile, Lucas Condotta and Sean Farrell aren't really in the running, and are expected to join the Laval Rocket in the next few days, after going through the waivers.The Habs will want to send them to the waivers at an opportune time (especially in the case of Farrell) to minimize the chances of them being claimed.That leaves us with five forwards, namely Owen Beck, Samuel Blais, Oliver Kapanen, Joe Veleno and Florian Xhekaj.

Here's the current state of play.

If the Canadiens decide to go with a 14-forward lineup, that is, with two extra players, that means three of those five guys will make the club. Samuel Blais will definitely be one of the club's extra forwards, given that he's a veteran, and seeing him sitting in the stands for several games doesn't hurt the team's future.

As for Owen Beck and Florian Xhekaj, they're both having a good camp, but I think the ideal would be to see them return to Laval for another season and play as much as possible. Not making the club this year won't hurt their development, and it wouldn't be cued as a failure, when they can continue to develop under Pascal Vincent.

So now we come to the last two candidates, the most serious as far as I'm concerned, namely Joe Veleno and Oliver Kapanen. Both forwards played well yesterday against the Maple leafs, but Veleno really stood out with a very solid performance.The Montrealer has proved that he deserves his place with the Habs, and I believe that right now, even if Kapanen is playing some good hockey too, he's the frontrunner to get the 12ᵉ forward job.

In short, if the Canadiens keep 14 forwards in Montreal, I think Veleno, Kapanen and Blais will be the chosen ones, while it would simply remain to determine whether Kapanen or Veleno will be in uniform for the first game of the season. spacer title='En Rafale'] – Heineman on the Islanders:

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