Montreal Canadiens: Eric Staal Given Surprising Role at First Practice

Montreal Canadiens newest addition Eric Staal is out of quarantine and is ready to make his Habs debut tonight against the Edmonton Oilers.

It was assumed by many Habs fans that Staal would step into a depth role, likely as the team’s fourth line centre. He has been in quarantine for a week and hasn’t really had a full practice with the team yet. He skated on his own yesterday and was at this morning’s skate in preparation for the game tonight at the Bell Centre.

However, he is going to be taking on a pretty big role for this team, at least according to the lines used at his first practice.

Staal was playing down the middle of the ice, but on a line between Jonathan Drouin and Tyler Toffoli. Drouin is leading the team in assists with 19 and Toffoli is the Canadiens leading goal scorer with 19. Staal is also being used on the team’s first power play unit with Nick Suzuki, Toffoli, Drouin and Shea Weber.

This isn’t the depth role we had envisioned for the veteran.

That spot between Toffoli and Drouin had been filled by Jesperi Kotkaniemi in the team’s most recent game. However, Kotkaniemi played well in the two games before that with Paul Byron and Artturi Lehkonen on his wings, so it makes sense to reunite that line.

It may seem like a demotion for Kotkaniemi, but I imagine all four lines will play fairly evenly at even strength and Kotkaniemi will take his regular role on the second power play as well.

It will be interesting to see how Staal fits on this line. He has produced plenty of offence in the past, but struggled to score this season with the Buffalo Sabres. Of course, everyone struggled to score for the Sabres this season.

Was Staal’s lack of offence due to a decline in his play, or just circumstance?

If he has anything left offensively, we will soon find out as he gets the chance to play with the team’s best goal scorer and leading assist getter.