A Winning Habit
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Montreal Canadiens: Positive things from a successful training camp

By Omar L

TORONTO, ON - SEPTEMBER 24: Montreal Canadiens Left Wing Artturi Lehkonen (62) celebrates after scoring a goal with Montreal Canadiens Center Jesperi Kotkaniemi (15) and Montreal Canadiens Left Wing Kenny Agostino (47) during the first period of the NHL preseason game between the Montreal Canadiens and the Toronto Maple Leafs on September 24, 2018, at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, ON, Canada. (Photograph by Julian Avram/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
TORONTO, ON - SEPTEMBER 24: Montreal Canadiens Left Wing Artturi Lehkonen (62) celebrates after scoring a goal with Montreal Canadiens Center Jesperi Kotkaniemi (15) and Montreal Canadiens Left Wing Kenny Agostino (47) during the first period of the NHL preseason game between the Montreal Canadiens and the Toronto Maple Leafs on September 24, 2018, at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, ON, Canada. (Photograph by Julian Avram/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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Montreal Canadiens
OTTAWA, ON – SEPTEMBER 29: Montreal Canadiens (Photo by Richard A. Whittaker/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

Preparation for a New Year

The start of camp had some positive news to come along with it as Paul Byron, who had offseason shoulder surgery, was ready to go. It was a bittersweet moment (with an extra piece of sweet) as the Montreal Canadiens are a better team with him healthy, but it left one less spot free to fight for. On the other hand, that increased the internal competition at camp and perhaps had a hand in some of the impressive performances we saw from the likes of Chaput and Agostino to name a few.

The 66-strong group were split into two teams and a third smaller one. Drouin and Domi were the heads of one while Brendan Gallagher and newcomer Tomas Tatar were the leaders of the other. Each group also had a key prospect on it between Kotkaniemi and Nick Suzuki, the big returning piece of the Max Pacioretty trade.

Another interesting tidbit came in the Gallagher group where Claude Julien made a conscious effort to have young defencemen Victor Mete and Noah Juulsen on the same pairing. We knew big seasons were on the horizon for both of them. Both had impressive starts to their NHL careers last season, and with the state of the blueline, opportunities were available for both to establish themselves as key pieces. However, doing it together wasn’t a move many saw coming.

On-ice sessions are great, but it wasn’t until the Red Vs. White Scrimmage game where Habs fans got the opportunity to see what these units could do.

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