Montreal Canadiens: Charles Hudon Should Play in the Top 9

The Montreal Canadiens should try to get Charles Hudon as much ice time as possible to see what he can do, and that may mean time spend in the top nine.

So it’s already foregone conclusion that Charles Hudon will make the Montreal Canadiens out of camp. Or at least he should.

This shouldn’t be a surprise. Hudon has been around a point-per-game at every level he’s played. It makes it better that the Canadiens got him in the 5th round. He’s already spend some time in the NHL with a pair of three-game stints. Hudon finished with two assists in each of them.

Enough with the mid-season call ups. It’s time for the 23-year-old to be in the NHL full-time. One important question though, where in the Montreal Canadiens line-up does Hudon play? It appears that the only available spot on the team is the fourth-line left-wing.

Is that really the best place for Hudon? Absolutely not if you ask me. Even though he’ll be in the NHL, playing 10-12 minutes a night wont do him much good. Which brings us to the core of this here article. The Canadiens should find a way to get Charles Hudon in the top nine.

Rearranging the Line-Up

Ironically, where Hudon plays may depend on other things besides what he does at training camp. The Montreal Canadiens have a lot of wingers who can play in the top nine which explains why fans have him regulated to play in the bottom six.

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Hopefully Jonathan Drouin can prove to Claude Julien and the rest of the team at training camp that he can play center. From the comments made at the Captain’s tournament a couple of weeks ago, it sounds like they’ll at least try it. Additionally, Alex Galchenyuk needs to be given another chance to be the Montreal Canadien’s top-line center.

Montreal will have Galchenyuk and Drouin as their one-two punch (which looks pretty darn nice on paper). That would free up a spot on the wing, but push Phillip Danault down to the third line. Finally Tomas Plekanec would play on the fourth line.

So far so good. Paul Byron would move to the second line with a hopeful Drouin-Lehkonen line, and Hudon could play on the third line with Danault and Andrew Shaw. Hudon played with Shaw last season during his brief stint with the team and it didn’t look bad at all.

https://twitter.com/HabsHappy/status/801962494558408704

It doesn’t stop there. Hudon could even see time in the top six if there are any injuries. Who knows if that even happens. It would take a lot of things to go right for the Montreal Canadiens at camp.

With that being said, the Quebec native has the speed, skill, and hockey sense to player higher on a team than the fourth line. It will be a win-win for him and the Habs if they can find a way to make that happen.

Next: Review of an Interesting Off-Season

Do you think Hudon should be in the Top 9? How will it be done? Let us know what you think in the comments.

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