The Montreal Canadiens are set to open up their training camp, with 66 players expected to take the ice on Friday morning. Ahead of opening night on October 3rd @ Toronto, the Canadiens will have to trim their roster by 43 players. Until then, there will be ample opportunity for the young and old to prove that there’s a place for them on the Habs 23-man roster.
There are going to be plenty of projections ahead of the season for a Montreal Canadiens team that won’t exactly have the highest expectations. And maybe that’s not such a bad thing. Head Coach Claude Julien will have plenty of opportunities to experiment with line combinations in training camp, and he should be encouraged to get as creative as possible.
Let’s start with the forwards and by grouping the players. The players below are my locks to be in the top-12.
Forward Locks
In the mix
Jacob De la Rose
Nicholas Deslauriers
Young and promising, but needs more seasoning
Jesperi Kotkaniemi
Nick Suzuki
Lucas Vejdemo
You’ll notice that some forwards you likely expected to be listed as locks, aren’t. Fans will be dying to get a look at Kotkaniemi and their new shiny toy in Suzuki. But what’s best for these two young players is to continue their development in their respective leagues and shore up their weaknesses. With 11 players seemingly locked into the Habs 12 spots, that leaves two roster spots available for the forward group.