Montreal Canadiens games are back up and running and their schedule is about to get crazy.
With the four games cancelled from last week, the Habs are going to now have to cram in their final 25 games over the next 43 days. They are going to need to tap into their depth in order to make it through that gruelling schedule.
In a normal season, teams would usually play 25 games in 50 days or more. But with the circumstances as they are with a shortened season and a week of missed games to make up, the Habs will be playing basically three games every five days for the rest of the season.
They are going to need to find some reinforcements to pull this off. So far, they have hardly dipped into the Laval Rocket lineup at all for help. Over the first 31 games of the season, the Canadiens have somewhat remarkably used only 21 skaters. Their only real injuries to this point were a three game absence from Josh Anderson and a broken hand to Ben Chiarot that will keep him out long term.
With their hectic calendar over the next month and half, they are going to have to test a little more of their depth. They could go out and trade for some quality pieces to do that but they could also look to sign some free agents out of college hockey.
Cole Caufield just signed his entry-level contract with the Habs, and a handful of other NCAA players could help the Canadiens organization as well.
Now, none of them will have the same pedigree as a first round pick like Caufield, and none of them will be coming off a NCAA scoring title (because Caufield did) but there are some intriguing names available.
These players may not step right into the NHL lineup, but they could, at the very least, play a prominent role with the Laval Rocket if the Habs need to call up a few of the AHL team’s top performers.
Let’s take a look at some quality college players that the Canadiens should be calling in the coming days.