Oliver Kapanen is no longer the center on the first line

Martin St-Louis has decided to shake things up.

At today's team practice, the Canadiens had a new top line on offense.

Oliver Kapanen lost his spot at center on the top line… and Alex Newhook took his place in practice.

We've talked about this in recent days, but Oliver Kapanen just didn't have what it takes to lead the first line. Add to that the fact that he's gone scoreless in his last 22 games (including the recent playoffs), and you get the result we're seeing today.

Newhook, a fast player, paired with Cole Caufield and Juraj Slafkovsky… I don't hate the idea, on paper.

The lines in Dallas's live practice (Kreider is out):

Caufield – Newhook – Slafkovsky

Anderson – Kapanen – Beck

Bolduc – Danault – Texier

F. Xhekaj – Evans – Dach

— Anthony Martineau (@Antho_Martineau) October 28, 2026

Martin St-Louis's decision surprises me a bit, though.

And I'm not saying that because I disagree with his choice—it's because it's usually rare to see a coach change his lines when the team is winning. The Habs have just strung together three straight wins without Nick Suzuki, which is practically a miracle…

At the same time, the Canadiens have scored eight goals in three games since Suzuki has been sidelined, and that's not exactly impressive. The Canadiens' head coach clearly wants to make some changes to bring more offense to the lineups, and it's good to see him adapting accordingly.

It's also been a solid showing for Newhook, who hasn't had a bad start to the season either. I'm looking forward to seeing how things play out tomorrow night in Dallas—assuming, of course, that everything stays the same for the game against the Stars.

Overtime

It's also worth noting that forward Owen Beck took Chris Kreider's spot on the second line during today's practice.

And based on that, it seems likely he'll be left out again tomorrow night… unless Kreider is too banged up to play against the Stars.

Oh, and it's also worth noting that Kirby Dach was on the first power-play unit today during practice. That's interesting…

Martin St-Louis is shuffling the deck on his special teams:

PP1

Caufield – Dach – Slafkovsky – Bolduc – Hutson

PP2

Newhook – Kapanen – Texier – Danault (Kreider?) – Dobson

— Anthony Martineau (@Antho_Martineau) October 28, 2026