Montreal Canadiens: Charles Hudon Shines in Scrimmage Victory

The Montreal Canadiens finished their training camp with an inter-squad scrimmage match where Charles Hudon continued to prove that he belongs in the NHL.

16,000 Montreal Canadiens fans came out to see the scrimmage match on Sunday. It wasn’t your everyday game as the team gave the crowd a lot to cheer for. The training camp roster was split into Team Red and Team White.

Red was highlighted by Alex Galchenyuk, Phillip Danault, and Carey Price whereas White had the likes of Jonathan Drouin, Max Pacioretty, and Shea Weber. It’s hard to think that a team with Price on it could do anything but lose, even if it’s a scrimmage. However, Team White stood out on top winning the game 3-2.

There were a couple of things to make note of:

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Charlie Lindgren is continuously reminding Habs fans of how good the depth is at that position. The 23-year-old got in the game in the second period and looked really steady. The save he made on Joseph Morrow in the final minute of the match was really impressive. Drouin gave the defenceman a nice pass, but Lindgren flashed the glove completely robbing him.

Speaking of Drouin, his chemistry with Pacioretty gets better after every game. Unfortunately, there was a blemish on that line. Claude Julien‘s decision to play Ales Hemsky with them was puzzling at first, but made sense after some thinking. He’s a defensively reliable forward who could add support to the line.

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Hemsky didn’t necessarily play poorly Sunday, but he stood out for the wrong reasons. He didn’t do much with the puck when he had it, and at times it looked like he was struggling to keep up. Then again, it’s a scrimmage game. Additionally, missing time last year may have gotten him out of sync a bit. This wont change anything though, the Canadiens will probably continue to use him on that line. It makes you wonder if a change will be made if this continues.

Obviously the star of the day was Charles Hudon. The entire training camp has been phenomenal for the soon-to-be Montreal Canadiens forward. Sure it was only a scrimmage game, but this was just another addition to the, “Why Hudon will be on the team”, tower. He assisted on all three of the goals for Team White.

His assists on both of Tomas Plekanec‘s were definitely the best of the three. Plekanec is going to be a player on the team looking for a bounce back year in terms of scoring. He finished last season with 10 goals and 18 assists, but we know he’s capable of more despite his age. Perhaps playing a season with two offensive threats will get him back to that.

For a Julien coached team, all offence isn’t going to cut it. Hudon was also blocking shots, getting in the forecheck, and most importantly winning puck battles. The next step for him will be to see if he can continue this in the preseason. That being said I’d be willing to put money on Hudon being on the team this year.

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What did you think of the scrimmage game? Will Hemsky improve during the preseason? Will Hudon make the team? Let us know what you think in the comments.