Canadiens: The season’s first lines and pairs have been announced

Charles-Alexis Brisebois
Canadiens: The season’s first lines and pairs have been announced
Credit: Patrick Guillet

Training camp has begun in Brossard. All the Canadiens players are in town. The Habs golf tournament will take place next week, in four days.

So the season is approaching.

Aside from the fact that Martin St-Louis hasn't signed a contract extension, that Marco Marciano's situation hasn't been publicly resolved, that the Habs haven't added anyone, and that two players are still under contract, it's time to get started.

At today's practice, everyone (except Kaiden Guhle) was on the ice. And the players played an intra-team game, all together.

Anthony Martineau reported the forward lines and defensive pairs that were in place.

Obviously, training camp hasn't started yet, and these are still fairly informal practices, with Martin St-Louis not on the ice. So we have to take what we see with a grain of salt.

But it's still interesting.

Seeing that Kirby Dach has settled in at center on the second line—is that a surprise to you? Or is it, by default, the logical choice at the start of camp?

Oliver Kapanen, for his part, was on the wing of the fourth line.

What I'm looking forward to seeing is how the lines shake out once camp gets underway… especially with regard to Zachary Bolduc. Because if a Rocket player takes his spot, that'll send a message. But if things move forward without a spot being reserved for him, that'll send another message as well.

The simplest solution would be for him to sign a contract soon. But anyway.

On defense, Arber Xhekaj (also unsigned) was paired with Mike Matheson. I don't think that's the kind of pairing Martin St-Louis wants to see during the season—we're on the same page there.

But seeing Noah Dobson paired with Lane Hutson is interesting.


In a nutshell

– Note this.

– Nice.

– Indeed.

– Montreal's passion.

– A mistake can be fixed.

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