Hockey

Martin St-Louis: “The Newhook-Kapanen-Demidov line has shown me enough”
Félix Forget
Martin St-Louis: “The Newhook-Kapanen-Demidov line has shown me enough”
Credit: Getty Images

The Canadiens' season begins in just a few days' time. The club will play its first game of the campaign on Wednesday night, when it takes on the Maple Leafs in Toronto. And more and more, the club's roster is starting to take shape. Some of the guys will have a final audition tonight against the Senators… but Oliver Kapanen will have the night off.The same goes for Ivan Demidov and Alex Newhook… and it's interesting in that these two are regulars, but they've also been on the same line as Kapanen for the past few days.

And on this subject, Martin St-Louis was asked at today's press conference… and his words seem to speak volumes about the plan for the start of the season:

The Newhook-Kapanen-Demidov line has shown me enough.

–

Martin St-Louis

The coach says he knows what he's got on his hands with this line, and now wants to give other guys a chance to make one last impression at this practice camp.

And that really suggests that Oliver Kapanen will not only start the year in Montreal, but also on Ivan Demidov's line,as we've seen over the past month (both at the rookie camp and the real camp): Kapanen and Demidov seem to have real chemistry on the ice. The guys have shown they can play big hockey, and adding Newhook's speed brings another dimension to this line.And above all, it brings familiarity to Demidov: it was with Newhook that he played the most 5-on-5 in his small sample of games in Montreal last year.Of course, it's hard to say that the Habs are putting Demidov with two line mates as talented as he is. That said, putting him with two guys who seem to connect with him is a good way to help him acclimatize to the NHL,and more importantly, they're two guys whose defensive game is a safer bet than it is for Patrik Laine and Kirby Dach, for example. I guess that played a role too

'Overtime'

– Speaking of Kapanen and Demidov. Reminder: just because the two guys start the year together doesn't mean it's going to last, you know.

– Wow!

– NHL 26 predicts a 100% Canadian Stanley Cup Final… without the Canadiens.

👀

– Of note:

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