The best way the Montreal Canadiens should prepare for the playoffs
By Omar L
It also comes down to deciding who plays. Jonathan Drouin, Tomas Tatar, Victor Mete and Charlie Lindgren were all injured ahead of the NHL pause. Drouin was out with an ankle injury, and nothing came out about a timeline, but Tatar confirmed with TSN that he’s good to go. Mete, on the other hand, was deemed out for the rest of the season with a fractured foot, and I’m not sure if that changes.
Lindgren left practice with an upper-body injury back in March, but with the AHL shutting down their season completely, Cayden Primeau could get the backup role as Vasil Demchenko’s entry-level contract doesn’t kick in until the 2020-21 season. There’s also the possibility of calling up Keith Kinkaid, but I’m not sure if that’s an avenue the Montreal Canadiens pursue as they brought up the younger netminders before giving him another look.
Jesperi Kotkaniemi is clear to workout off-ice but still nothing on-ice after his spleen injury, so that keeps him out. Could Ryan Poehling or Cale Fleury get another look on the team for the playoffs?
Those decisions from Bergevin and Claude Julien will make the difference. The depths of the team will need to produce both offensively and defensively. The Tatar-Danault-Gallagher line has carried the team’s production as well as a good year from Nick Suzuki and Joel Armia. The Habs will need Max Domi to get back into his groove and for the blue line to be sound enough to handle the offence of those three possible opponents.
It’s going to be a master chess match preparing for the playoffs. Again, nothing is confirmed as of yet, but it looks very likely that 24 teams will make the playoffs. And if the Montreal Canadiens want to play more than three games in it, they’ll need to do their homework and make the right decisions.