Montreal Canadiens: Make the Remaining Cuts Now
By Omar L
The Montreal Canadiens probably know who will be on the team for the most part. Make the cuts now so you can see how the actual team will look together.
Montreal Canadiens fans…chill. It’s been concerning how poorly the team has been playing so far, but relax a little here. Some of you are at a nine, let’s dial it back to a two or three.
You can’t sugar coat how bad the Habs have looked. They’ve struggled to score goals and have unfortunately created more turnovers than they have scoring chances. Another thing is that there are some players at camp who are still learning Claude Julien‘s system. Some have adjusted quickly and others are trying to.
‘Some’ is actually an interesting word to use here. Who are the players that have looked bad for the Montreal Canadiens? Some of them. If you guessed Brandon Davidson, Joseph Morrow, and Mark Streit, you are correct. The majority of these game-killing mistakes are being made by players who won’t be on the team.
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Taking that into consideration, is it fair to overly criticize the Canadiens here? Is it fair to re-start the fire Marc Bergevin movement, or say Julien is a horrible coach? No.
There’s only one way to fix all this. The Habs should make the majority of their remaining cuts now. The closest the team got to their full roster was their first game against the Toronto Maple Leafs save for Jacob de La Rose, Byron Froese, Al Montoya, and Davidson.
The other games have been one or two real lines with a bunch of fill-ins. Yes it’s the preseason and that’s what happens, but Montreal needs to start allowing the players who will be here for 82 the chance to play together.
Adding Brendan Gallagher was a good move and he along with Jonathan Drouin and Max Pacioretty look great. The Tomas Plekanec line with Charles Hudon and Artturi Lehkonen have been a unit since the scrimmage days and have continued to play well. It didn’t look like Alex Galchenyuk was creating any chemistry with his line mates, but adding Ales Hemsky has worked. They just need to play more. The same goes for the defence pairings.
We’ve seen enough from the bubble players. Only de La Rose may still have a chance to make the team as the fourth-line center. Besides that, everyone else can go.
The remaining two games are back-to-back at home. It wouldn’t be ideal to play them in both, but after that, they’ll have another five days until the regular season starts. This is their last chance to fiddle around because on Thursday, things get serious.
Next: Laval Rocket Lines and D-Pairings
Do you need to see more from the bubble players? Should the Habs focus on the players who will actually be on the team? Let us know what you think down below.