Hockey

Samuel Blais’ toughness and lessons from the series against the Capitals
Charles-Alexis Brisebois
Samuel Blais’ toughness and lessons from the series against the Capitals
Credit: Screenshot / YouTube

The Canadiens, unsurprisingly, have decided to go with a 22-man roster. When your feeder club is this close, there's no point in having too many guys eating salary cap space every day, which will cut into the club's opportunities at the trade deadline. Without Carey Price's contract in the way, the Canadiens will be able to give themselves a chance of getting more cap space at the trade deadline, since the salary cap is calculated every day. Right now, the club is over $5.5M under the salary cap.

This means that if the club is looking to get a true second center (with all due respect to Oliver Kapanen, Kirby Dach and all the others) during the season, it will be easier to do it this way.

And the Habs are still on the case…

But the fact remains that, to achieve this result, the Habs were forced to waive Samuel Blais. Both GM Kent Hughes and VP Jeff Gorton have stated that this was not the plan. Blais seemed to have the role of 13th forward stuck in his forehead for months .But in the end, he got the axe, as Joe Veleno and Oliver Kapanen outperformed him at camp for the last two forward positions, for a number of reasons. So it's Blais who's been cut… and his claim to the waivers changes plans for the future.

I say this because, in effect, the Canadiens are losing a player who wouldn't have played often, but who would still have brought a different flavor to the lineup.

As François Parenteau says, the Canadiens are depriving themselves of forward strength.

Because Kapanen and Veleno made the club at the expense of Florian Xhekaj (who may be the first player recalled from Laval down the road) and Blais, it's easy to see why toughness wasn't the determining factor in the start of the season.

Jayden Struble is expected to start the year in the stands, andin last season's series against the Capitals, the Habs clearly saw that he was eaten up physically. And yet, Samuel Blais, Florian Xhekaj and Jayden Struble, three tough guys, won't be playing tomorrow night. Does that bother you? Of course, you have to keep in mind that October hockey isn't like playoff hockey… and that, in due course, the club will be able to adapt. Less space on the ice… but more on the mass: that's how the Habs have approached the start of the season. Will it pay off? It's very possible, but we can't know yet.

'Overtime'

– Read on.

– Right.

– P.K. Subban at ESPN to stay.

– Martin St-Louis, a great point guard.[BPM] – Interesting,

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