Montreal Canadiens: Top 5 Training Camp Battles To Watch
Position: 4C
Candidates: Ryan Poehling, Jake Evans, Paul Byron
The Incumbent: Jake Evans is the closest thing the Habs have to an incumbent at this position. He did play the final game of the postseason as the fourth line centre on a line with Charles Hudon and Alex Belzile. However, he was scratched for a few games in the postseason as Max Domi took on the fourth line centre role.
Whatever we label Evans from his six postseason games and 13 regular season games from a year ago, he looks like the right man for the fourth line job at the moment.
Evans was a 7th round pick of the Canadiens in 2014 and slowly worked his way up the depth chart from longshot prospect to suiting up for 2020 postseason games. He played four years at Notre Dame where he honed his two-way game and he looked quite comfortable when called up late last season to fill the void left by Nate Thompson’s departure.
Evans was one of the top scorers for the Laval Rocket over the past two seasons, scoring 27 goals and 83 points in 118 career AHL games. He looks ready for a full-time NHL role this season.
The Challenger: Ryan Poehling came to the organization with far more pedigree than Evans. Poehling was a first round draft pick in 2017 and looked great for the next two seasons at St Cloud State, scoring at a point per game pace and dominating the World Juniors at both ends of the ice, being named tournament MVP in 2019.
Things haven’t come so easy to Poehling to begin his pro career. Well, they came exceptionally easy for him in his first NHL game when he scored a hat trick plus the shootout winner against the Toronto Maple Leafs, but he struggled in his first full season.
The 22 (as of today) year old scored just one goal and one assist in 27 NHL games this season, and five goals and 13 points in 36 AHL games. It would take a huge leap forward for Poehling to steal the job from Evans, but he was drafted to play down the middle and showed plenty of promise at the position before the 2019-20 season. Don’t be surprised if he looks a lot better this season.
The Dark Horse: Paul Byron could find himself starting the year as the fourth line centre, but it’s admittedly a long shot. The only way this could happen is if the Habs elect to pinch every penny possible early in the year and keep their two-way players like Evans and Poehling on the taxi squad. If they elect to do that, someone would have to move from their more comfortable position on the wing to the middle of the ice. Byron makes the most sense of any of the Habs depth wingers to take on that role.
Position: Third Pairing Right Defence
Candidates: Victor Mete, Noah Juulsen, Cale Fleury
The Incumbent: Victor Mete has been a regular on the Canadiens blue line for the past two seasons. He just re-signed a one-year deal with a small cap hit of $735,000. He has done enough to show his speed and skill is an asset in the lineup, but his small stature and inability to score points with much regularity has him prone to lose his spot.
Mete was drafted in the 4th round with the 100th overall selection in the 2016 NHL Draft. He made the team as a 19 year old and has moved up and down the lineup throughout the past three seasons. With newcomers Joel Edmundson and Alexander Romanov in town, it doesn’t look good for Mete to move into the top four anytime soon.
The 5’9″ left shot was moved to his off-side on the third pairing during the postseason to make room for Xavier Ouellet. You could look at that two ways, either Mete has the versatility to play just as well on his off side or he hasn’t cemented enough of a role in three years to keep a position on the left side.
With Ben Chiarot, Joel Edmundson and Alexander Romanov battling for ice time on the left side (more on that soon) Mete will surely be staying on the right side after his initial audition in the postseason. He definitely has the inside track on starting the season as the third right defenceman, but he will have to look good in training camp to hold off a few youngsters.
The Challenger: Cale Fleury was a third round pick in 2017. After another season of Junior and a solid rookie campaign in the AHL with the Laval Rocket, Fleury was the surprise of 2019 training camp and won a job as the third pairing right defenceman to begin the season.
He played 41 games with the Canadiens last season, shutting things down defensively with a physical style. He didn’t bring much offensively, but as a rookie third pairing defender that wasn’t expected from him. He did play a smart, steady defensive game and didn’t make mistakes, calmly moving the puck up ice and out of trouble after winning a battle along the boards.
He surprised everyone when he made the opening night lineup last season, would it really be a surprise if he did it again?
The Dark Horse: Noah Juulsen is sort of the forgotten young prospect in the Habs system. He was a first round pick back in 2015. He played a couple more seasons with the Everett Silvertips but in his first pro season, he was called up to the Canadiens for 23 games. He had three points, adding to the six points he scored in 31 games with the Laval Rocket.
He looked like a regular NHL defender already, but the past two seasons have been disastrous for the 23 year old.
Juulsen made the Canadiens out of training camp in 2018, but he was hit in the face twice with pucks in a game against the Washington Capitals in November. He missed most of the rest of that season, and was plagued by migraines throughout the past season as well. He did get back into the Rocket lineup in March, just before the league shutdown and eventually cancelled the rest of its season.
Healthy now for nine months, can Juulsen make the team out of camp again like he did in 2018?
Position: Third Line Left Wing
Candidates: Paul Byron, Artturi Lehkonen, Tyler Toffoli
The Incumbent: Paul Byron has brought offence from the bottom six of the lineup better than most in the NHL over the past four season. Well, over three of the past four seasons. Last season was certainly not his best.
After being claimed off waivers, Byron had a decent season for the Habs in 2016-17, using his speed to become a regular penalty killer and a threat to break up a play and go down on a breakaway at any moment. He scored 11 goals in 62 games, but that would be his worst goal scoring season for a while.
After that, Byron mostly remained on the third line, but started scoring at a far higher clip. He scored 22, then 20 and then 15 in just 56 games, proving to be a terrific penalty killer while scoring plenty without getting much time on the power play.
However, Byron may have lost his grip on the third line role last season. He was injured for half the year, but only scored four goals and ten points in the 29 games he did play. He added another goal and four points in ten postseason games.
Was the downturn in production due to injuries? Or is age catching up with the 31 year old? Speed is his calling card, did he take a small step back and if so can he find that gear again?
If so, he is a great asset on the third line and won’t be relinquishing the role anytime soon. If he is a half step slower, other options may be considered.
The Challenger: The first option that could be used would be Artturi Lehkonen. We know he is a terrific defensive player and penalty killer and he causes as many turnovers as anyone in the game. The Finnish winger is a very smart, defensive presence, but his offensive game has never blossomed after an 18 goal rookie season.
He did score 13 goals and 27 points in 70 games last season which is a slightly higher rate than Byron produced. If the 31 year old Byron takes a small step back, the 25 year old Lehkonen is ready and waiting to take on the third line role. If he could just add that little bit of finish to his game and convert a few more chances, he would be an excellent third line player.
If Lehkonen looks like he is ready to take a small step forward offensively, he could take the third line left wing spot from Byron.
The Dark Horse: Tyler Toffoli will probably play right wing for the Canadiens this season. He had primarily played right wing his entire NHL career with the Los Angeles Kings and Vancouver Canucks. However, he does appear to have the versatility to move to the left side as he is smart and skilled enough to still bring offence if playing his off wing.
The Canadiens also brought in Josh Anderson and Corey Perry who play right wing. Brendan Gallagher and Joel Armia have played right wing their whole careers. That is five NHL caliber right wingers right there. If neither Byron nor Lehkonen are producing much offence from the third line left wing spot, I could see Calude Julien moving Toffoli to his off wing to try and find a third line that can bring offence on a nightly basis.
Position: First Pairing Left Defence
Candidates: Ben Chiarot, Joel Edmundson, Alexander Romanov
The Incumbent: Ben Chiarot stepped into the Habs lineup after signing a three-year contract with a $3.5 million cap hit and played far more and far better than anyone predicted. The most common comparison when he joined the Habs was to Karl Alzner. Those comparisons couldn’t have been further from reality.
Chiarot would end up playing 23:08 per game in the regular season, which ranked 30th in the entire league. It still put him third on the Habs behind Shea Weber and Jeff Petry but I don’t think anyone expected to see the 6’3″ and 218 pound defender taking on that much of a load.
He also set career highs with nine goals and 21 points, so he certainly is the favourite to play next to Weber once again.
The Challenger: Joel Edmundson was a big priority for Marc Bergevin when the offseason began. On September 12, about a month before he was scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent, Bergevin traded a 5th round pick for Edmundson’s negotiating rights. Four days later he signed him to a four-year contract with a $3.5 million cap hit.
You don’t target a player like that unless you have high hopes for him. The Habs are probably expecting him to play on the second pairing with Jeff Petry, but a really good training camp could see him earn the top pairing role with Weber.
The Dark Horse: Alexander Romanov was a second round draft pick of the Montreal Canadiens in 2018 but Bergevin talks about the Russian like it is his only child. Romanov has played a couple of seasons in the KHL so he should be ready to step into the NHL. He was terrific at each of the past two World Juniors, and will play a lot of games in the top four for the Habs in the future.
I don’t think he is ready for that yet, but there is a small chance he looks excellent in camp and is given a huge role right from day one.
Position: First Line Centre
Candidates: Nick Suzuki, Phillip Danault, Jesperi Kotkaniemi
The Incumbent: Phillip Danault played almost all of the past two seasons with Tomas Tatar and Brendan Gallagher on what is definitely the Canadiens first line. They have become one of the best two-way lines in the league, shutting down opposing teams top lines every night while adding plenty of scoring themselves.
While Tatar scored at nearly a point per game pace last season and Gallagher has scored at a 30 goal per season rate for the past three seasons, Danault hasn’t been as dangerous offensively.
Danault scored a career high 13 goals this season and had a career best 53 points last year. But is that, plus his elite level defensive game, good enough to keep him on the first line? Chemistry with Tatar and Gallagher will go a long way, certainly, but is it time for a younger centre to take on a more prominent offensive role? We will have to see as training camp unfolds.
The Challenger: Nick Suzuki was a rookie last season and he looked a little overwhelmed at times in October. He got better in November, and then continued to get better and better with every game for the rest of the season.
When it was all said and done, Suzuki had 13 goals (same as Danault) and 41 points (6 shy of Danault and I don’t recall Danault starting the year on the fourth line with Jordan Weal and Nate Thompson).
Suzuki had just three goals and three assists in his first 17 games. He finished with just one assist in his last nine regular season games as he hit a bit of a wall in his first full NHL season. That’s certainly not unheard of for a 20 year old centre. In between, he scored 34 points in 45 games.
He also bounced back from his sluggish finish to the regular season by leading the team in scoring in the postseason with four goals and seven points in ten games.
Suzuki doesn’t have the defensive game that Danault does, but he has the vision and creativity to be a much better offensive player. Is he ready to take on a first line role right now? That will have to be sorted out at camp, but I’d be willing to bet Suzuki will score more points than Danault this season, no matter what role he is given.
The Dark Horse: Jesperi Kotkaniemi was drafted third overall in 2018 and the reason he was selected that high was because he had the potential to be a big, skilled, first line centre. He looked a long way from first line status in the regular season, but he just turned 20 in the summer.
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The Finnish centre scored six goals and eight points in 36 regular season games. He looked much better in the postseason when he scored four goals in ten games, but he would need to take another monumental leap if he is going to steal a first line role away from Danault or Suzuki.