Montreal Canadiens: A healthy Paul Byron intensifies the camp battles

The Montreal Canadiens had Paul Byro taking part in Friday’s on-ice sessions, and with him back to full health, fewer spots on the roster are up for grabs.

It seemed like the Montreal Canadiens broke a lot of mirrors and stepped on a lot of cracks last season with the number of injuries they had. Unfortunately, that slipped into the offseason as well. The fanbase was taken by surprise when it was announced that Paul Byron required shoulder surgery and would need about six months to recover from it.

But the only positive to take away from that was the possible emergence of another player to fight their way through camp and earn a spot. That’s still the same for Andrew Shaw who is skating and still needs time return to playing action.

Shaw had a surgery of his own on his knee and also suffered from a concussion.

Byron, on the other hand, showed up to camp healthy and ready to go. Considering how important he is to the makeup of the team, it would’ve been a major loss not to have him around. However, Byron cleared to practice and most likely to start the season with the Montreal Canadiens further strengthens the battles for roster spots within the forward group.

It puts more pressure on players like Jacob de La Rose, Michael McCarron, and to some extent, Nikita Scherbak. Both de La Rose and McCarron signed near deals over the summer, and the former spent a lot more time with the Habs. He’ll be in an initial battle for the fourth line centre spot with Matthew Peca, and if de La Rose loses that, moving over to the wing is a likely scenario and one a position Claude Julien has placed him in when things haven’t gone well.

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McCarron is heading into his final opportunity to impress the Habs brass and show that he can be a player for them, long-term. It’s a similar situation to de La Rose, but he’s a lot further down the totem pole.

Many have already pencilled Scherbak in to make the Montreal Canadiens out of camp for the first time in his career. I agree that there’s a good chance he makes it, but he’ll also be playing for top-nine minutes. Nonchalant play and execution may see those minutes dwindle, especially with Byron around.

It extends to someone like Nicolas Deslauriers as well. The 27-year-old stood out last season after he was called up from the Laval Rocket providing the Habs with energy and shockingly, some goals. Deslauriers hit double-digits in scoring for the first time in his career with ten (10) and developed some strong chemistry with Byron Froese and Daniel Carr.

He mentioned when receiving the Montreal Canadiens uniform that he would make it difficult for them to take it off. Assuming Deslauriers has the same mentality, Byron possibly throws a wrench in that.

There’s nothing wrong with internal competition, and Byron being back is going to make watching these battles more exciting.