Canadiens: Three Regulars Who Need To Prove Themselves at Camp

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Montreal Canadiens regulars risk being pushed to press box this season.

Montreal Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin was very busy adding talent this offseason.

Without subtracting much from his lineup outside of Max Domi, the Habs manager brought in Jake Allen, Joel Edmundson, Alexander Romanov, Josh Anderson, Tyler Toffoli, Corey Perry and Michael Frolik.

Allen, Edmundson and Anderson were brought in via trade, Romanov was signed and brought over from the KHL after being drafted in 2018 and Toffoli, Perry and Frolik were all free agent signings. Obviously, Bergevin left no stone unturned in his pursuit of improving this team for the upcoming season.

That season will look a lot different than any other we have seen in the past. First of all, the Canadiens will play in an all Canadian division this season. They will also play a 56 game schedule that begins on January 13, and will wrap up on May 8 before the postseason begins. They will play their home games at the Bell Centre, but with zero fans in attendance, at least to begin the season.

It is going to be a different looking season for sure. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out.

We will get our first look at this year’s version of the Canadiens tomorrow, when the Habs begin training camp. All the newcomers will be watched closely, but an interesting consequence of adding so many new faces without subtracting many is that some of the regulars from last year’s lineup won’t have a guaranteed spot on this year’s roster.

So, who was pretty much a given that they would dress if healthy last year but will need to prove themselves worthy of keeping that roster spot this season?

Let’s take a look at three players who won’t be nearly as comfortable tomorrow as they were during the postseason in August.

Victor Mete

Victor Mete was taken in the 4th round of the 2016 NHL Draft with the 100th overall selection in that year’s draft. He has proven to be great value at that part of the draft as he has become an NHL regular already. But will he be able to maintain that status?

The diminutive but speedy left defenceman played 51 of the Habs 71 games last season, missing some time with injury. He also suited up for 71 regular season games in 2018-19 and all ten games the Habs played in the postseason this past summer.

In those summer contests, Mete was moved to his off wing on the third defence pairing. His small stature has led to him being overpowered in the defensive zone at times and his two points in ten postseason games isn’t enough to guarantee him a regular spot in the Habs lineup.

Not to mention the Canadiens management team clearly has a preference for big, physical defencemen.

They traded for Joel Edmundson’s rights and signed him to a four year contract. He is 6’4″ and 216 pounds. Ben Chiarot was brought in last year and he is 6’3″ and 218 pounds. Shea Weber is 6’4″ and 229 pounds. Jeff Petry is 6’3″ and 207 pounds. Brett Kulak is 6’2″ and 187 pounds.

Mete is 5’9″ and 183 pounds.

That doesn’t mean Mete will be pushed aside for bigger players necessarily. But with the Habs four most used defencemen from the postseason: Weber, Petry, Chiarot and Kulak all returning and Edmundson and Romanov joining the team this season, Mete is at risk of being passed over and finding himself a healthy scratch.

He will need a strong camp to show he still belongs in the top six on opening night, and he must show that his speed and skill would be missed on the blue line with strong play early in the season.

Paul Byron

Paul Byron was picked up on waivers when the Calgary Flames decided they needed more grit (Brandon Bollig) and less speed and skill in their lineup. It’s hard to find a better player that was ever put on waivers.

Since arriving in Montreal as a castoff from a mediocre team out west, Byron proved to be a terrific penalty killer and a consistent 20 goal threat. He scored 11 goals and 18 points in 62 games during his first season with Montreal, but really found his offence in 2016-17.

That season, the Ottawa native scored 22 goals and 43 points in 81 games. The following year he would tally 20 goals and 35 points and after that he had 15 goals and 31 points in 56 games during the 2018-19 season.

Considering almost all of that production came from third and fourth line ice time at even strength and little power play time, Byron was a fixture heading into the 2019-20 season.

But, he didn’t have the same success. The 5’9″ left winger scored four goals and ten points in 29 games as he battled injuries throughout the regular season. He would score one goal and four points in ten postseason games in the bubble.

Byron mostly played on the third line in the bubble, but with added depth arriving on the wings, he could be pushed further down the lineup. The Habs are much deeper on right wing than left right now with the additions of Josh Anderson, Tyler Toffoli and Corey Perry added to Brendan Gallagher and Joel Armia on that side.

However, if Byron doesn’t bring much offence early this season, Toffoli could be moved to the left side, forcing Byron into a small role.

Also working against Byron is his large contract. He has a $3.4 million cap hit and the Habs are slightly above the salary cap at the moment. Placing Byron on waivers and sticking him on the taxi squad to begin the season could be a necessary cost cutting measure, unless Byron looks great in training camp.

If not, Gallagher, Anderson, Armia and Perry could be the four right wingers with Tatar, Drouin Toffoli and Lehkonen on the left side to begin the season.

Brett Kulak

Speaking of picking up productive players from Calgary for nothing….

Brett Kulak actually made it through waivers in September of 2018 before being dealt to the Habs for minor leaguers Matt Taormina and Rinat Valiev.

He has become something of an analytics darling since then, but hasn’t always felt the love from head coach Claude Julien. Kulak played 57 games in 2018-19, scoring 17 points and finding a steady partner in Jeff Petry by the end of the season. Last season was pretty similar in that he would find himself playing regular minutes on the top four for a while, and would then be a healthy scratch a few games later.

Some nights early in the season, Kulak would watch Mike Reilly from the press box but by the end of the year he was a regular on the second pairing.

The only real consistency for him all season was that he was behind Ben Chiarot on the depth chart every game. Well, Chiarot returns this season and Joel Edmundson also joins the team fresh off signing a four-year contract with a $3.5 million cap hit. Marc Bergevin was surprisingly open when talking about Edmundson, all but confirming he will start the season next to Petry.

Canadiens management is absolutely thrilled with the progression of Alexander Romanov since taking him in the second round of the 2018 NHL Draft. He is starting to look like a lock on that third pairing.

Where does that leave Kulak? Battling for the final spot on the third pairing with Victor Mete, Noah Juulsen and Cale Fleury. Fleury is not eligible for waivers so he will likely start the season in the minors, or on the taxi squad.

That still leave Kulak needing to outperform Juulsen and Mete for a spot in the lineup. With Kulak making $1.85 million this season and all the others making less than a million, the veteran could find himself going from second pairing in the postseason, to off the roster before this season starts.

Next. How can Habs become cap compliant?. dark

He will need to excel in a training camp with no exhibition games to prove he is worth his cap hit and roster spot going forward.

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