Samuel Montembeault, Alex Newhook, Arber Xhekaj: What We Take Away from the Teams

Charles-Alexis Brisebois
Samuel Montembeault, Alex Newhook, Arber Xhekaj: What We Take Away from the Teams
Credit: Cook

This morning at practice, we saw Martin St. Louis show his true colors.

As you've probably seen, Chris Kreider was with Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield on the team's top line. Was that a selling point to lure him to the city?

Juraj Slafkovsky, Ivan Demidov, and Oliver Kapanen were playing together.

But the Canadiens' roster is more than just the top six. That's why the other players in the groups deserve to be analyzed on this first day (on the ice) of the 2026 training camp.

Here are the groups, for those who want to see them.

It's worth noting that Owen Beck and (possibly) Sasha Pastujov are the forwards in Group A who have the “best chance” of making the team, if we even get that far.

They've been practicing with Jared Davidson.

In Group B, we imagine that Florian Xhekaj and Brett Bedard (or Samuel Poulin) will play with the regulars who won't have a set line. We're talking about the Josh Andersons, Zachary Bolducs, Kirby Dachs, Phillip Danaults, Jake Evans, Alex Newhooks, and Alexandre Texiers of this world.

We'll see later how everything lines up. But Newhook, who just signed a long-term contract, is the one who's taking the hit (in terms of the top-6) following the addition of Chris Kreider.

On defense, Mike Matheson and Noah Dobson are in Group B… as are David Reinbacher and Adam Engstrom. Those two are competing for a spot.

Lane Hutson and Alexandre Carrier are in Group A, as are Arber Xhekaj and Jayden Struble, who are battling for a spot in the opening-game lineup.

And the goalies? Jakub Dobes is in Group A… along with Jacob Fowler, who finished the playoffs as the No. 2 goalie. Samuel Montembeault, meanwhile, is in Group B with Kaapo Kahkonen.

That's definitely a clue.


In a nutshell

– Makes sense.

– Hello.

– Attention, everyone!

– He's bringing something good. #Sandpaper

– Ouch.

– Yes.

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