Montreal Canadiens: Trimming Down the Roster

The Montreal Canadiens continue to cut players from camp and the remaining roster is starting to look like what we’ll see in October.

If you thought the Montreal Canadiens were finished with cutting players after last night, you were wrong. Claude Julien and the rest of the coaching staff unleashed the scissors again Sunday morning.

The next wave of camp cuts included Nikita Scherbak, Martin Rèway, and Zachary Fucale. In different ways, all three are not surprising.

A lot of fans were excited to see what Rèway could do this season. Unfortunately, the lack of playing due to his illness affected his on-ice play conditioning-wise. After his first game in the Rookie Tournament, he mentioned how tired he was and that it was difficult finding his legs as the game progressed.

Rèway probably didn’t take part in any preseason games because of that reason. Hopefully with continued work with the coaching staff and Sports Science Department can help him improve and be ready for his first season in the AHL.

Fucale only saw a single game, and it was in the latter half of the Boston Bruins game. He didn’t look terrible, but was definitely overshadowed by Charlie Lindgren. His next goal will be to secure a spot with the Laval Rocket. After watching Michael McNiven at the Rookie Tournament, his spot is far from a lock.

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Finally, the most disappointing of the three, Scherbak. The 2014 1st round pick has had a rollercoaster career so far in the Habs system. However, his improved performance at the end of last year with St. John’s providing fans with some optimism. Whatever drive he had then was not present now. He didn’t do much to stand out at all, but he can turn that round with Laval.

Almost Complete Roster

Practice Sunday morning may have given us a sneak peek of what the final roster will be.

You can probably expect that the first nine lines and first three defence pairings are going to be intact on October 5th. The only question mark is regarding Victor Mete. He’s spend a lot of time with Shea Weber, so much so that there is an actual possibility that he makes the team at that position.

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Additionally, the Montreal Canadiens could just give him the nine games to see where he’s at and then send him back down to the London Knights. They did a similar things with Mikhail Sergachev the year before allowing him to play in four.

Of course there is still Jakub Jerabek who has continued to impress management the last few days.

The Canadiens next preseason game will be Monday against the Toronto Maple Leafs. We can expect them to dress a team more similar to the main roster for that game and for the next three coming up.

Next: Protecting Galchenyuk is the Right Move