Montreal Canadiens: Preview of the Preseason Opener Against the Bruins

The Montreal Canadiens are set to open their preseason Monday night with their first of eight games against the Boston Bruins.

Take a deep breath. Take in the sweet-smelling aroma. Do you know what that smell is? It’s the smell of Montreal Canadiens hockey.

The Habs begin their preseason Monday to take on the Boston Bruins at Centre Videotron in Quebec City. Obviously the Canadiens still have a lot of bodies, so the talent is going to be spread. One thing that may disappoint the fans is that Jonathan Drouin wont be playing. Completely understandable, but the Bruins aren’t playing many of their main guys anyway.

Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand, and Zdeno Chara won’t be playing, so it doesn’t make sense to pull out all the big names yet. That being said, the Habs still have some fire power in the line-up for tonight.

Alex Galchenyuk, Phillip Danault, and Brendan Gallagher will lead the team. After Marc Bergevin announced that Galchenyuk wouldn’t be playing center, it was expected that he’d line-up with Danault. We can expect that this will be the second line for the Habs this season. Additionally, the line of Torrey Mitchell, Paul Byron, and Andrew Shaw could be another line gearing up for October. Shaw was on the third line last season, but may be pushed down to the fourth with how well Charles Hudon has been playing

Another thing to make note of is that the pair of Karl Alzner and Jeff Petry has been split up. Petry will be playing with Joseph Morrow while Alzner will be with rookie Noah Juulsen. There’s probably nothing into this except to give the two younger defencemen in Juulsen and Morrow a chance to play well with a reliable partner.

Claude Julien did say that Morrow has some hidden potential. As a former first round pick, you’d hope that there’s more to the 24-year-olds game. Morrow was in the Bruin’s system for four seasons, so if anyone would know first hand what kind of player he can be it would be Julien.

It’s set to be an interesting start to the hockey season, and with Al Montoya starting, the Habs have a strong chance to come out on top.

Next: What to Look for During the Pre-Season

What in the game are you looking forward to? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

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