Three key players were missing from practice (following yesterday’s uncertainty surrounding Martin St-Louis)

Charles-Alexis Brisebois
Three key players were missing from practice (following yesterday’s uncertainty surrounding Martin St-Louis)
Credit: Cook

Among the Canadiens' healthy players (healthy enough to play, at least), three of them were absent from today's practice at the training complex.

Which ones?

Mike Matheson, Juraj Slafkovsky, and Josh Anderson are the three players who didn't show up on the ice with the rest of the team, just a few hours before the team's departure for Florida.

Let's take it one issue at a time.

Offensively, it's no surprise that Slaf and Andy didn't take the ice this morning. They missed part of Sunday's game, and some rest could do them good.

But since Martin St-Louis has expressed doubts about their availability for Game #5, we can agree that questions may still arise.

The other 13 forwards were there and were grouped as follows… which suggests that changes aren't necessarily expected for tomorrow. It's not impossible, however, since Martin St-Louis hasn't revealed his lineup.

  • Red jersey: Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Kirby Dach, Alexandre Texier, Zachary Bolduc, and Brendan Gallagher.
  • White jersey: Phillip Danault, Jake Evans, Alex Newhook, Oliver Kapanen, Ivan Demidov, Joe Veleno, and Patrik Laine.

On defense, Mike Matheson was the only player (who is healthy) missing from practice. However, he skated for about 15 minutes with Noah Dobson earlier this morning, before the others.

I think Matheson will play tomorrow, but who knows? After all, what he did this morning is unusual.

As for Dobson himself, he took a few shots here and there during the 50 minutes he spent alone on the ice. But he doesn't seem to be just a few hours away from a return, let's say.

Stay tuned.

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