Montreal Canadiens: Who Will Be Left To Play Defence By End of Season?

The Montreal Canadiens have dealt with many injuries, illnesses and absences from the lineup this season.

So far, they have already used 40 different players this season, including five different goaltenders. Putting together a consistent lineup has been impossible with so many players out of the lineup on a nightly basis.

Some key players, like Carey Price and Joel Edmundson have not played a single game yet. While putting together a constant lineup has been difficult to date, it will become even harder down the stretch, especially on the blue line.

The Canadiens sit at the bottom of the NHL standings and will surely be trade deadline sellers before the March 21st deadline. Among those almost certain to be dealt are pending unrestricted free agents Ben Chiarot, Brett Kulak and possibly Chris Wideman as well. Even if the best offer for Kulak or Wideman is a 6th round pick, the team would likely make that trade and add another late pick instead of losing the veteran, depth player for nothing as free agents in a couple months.

There is no point in keeping them. Also, it has been widely rumoured that defenceman Jeff Petry wants out and should be traded in the coming weeks as well.

If all four of those defenders are dealt, who is going to be left to play defence for the final two months of the season?

If you take those four defenders off the roster, only Alexander Romanov and Corey Schueneman are left from last night’s lineup. Kale Clague was a healthy scratch so he would obviously step into the lineup. Sami Niku is playing well for the Laval Rocket and had six points in 13 games with the Canadiens this season before being sent down so he would be called up.

Eventually David Savard and Joel Edmundson (maybe) will return to the lineup, but Savard is not supposed to be back before the trade deadline. So, even if Edmundson returns, that gives the Canadiens five defenders, all of whom shoot left.

A top pairing of Romanov and Niku? Edmundson playing with Clague to cover for his defensive miscues? Schueneman playing with who exactly on the third pair? The Habs could call up Louis Belpedio, since he has played well for the Laval Rocket this season. But that would still only give them six defencemen, assuming all of them stay healthy. Xavier Ouellet could be called up to be the NHL team’s number seven but that isn’t ideal.

Ouellet and Belpedio play big minutes for the Rocket and are guiding them towards their first playoff berth in franchise history. The Habs farm team hasn’t made the AHL playoffs since the St. John’s Ice Caps in 2017.

It would be nice if Belpedio and Ouellet could stay in the minors but the only other defencemen under contract that could be called up are Gianni Fairbrother and Josh Brook who aren’t ready for NHL duty quite yet.

It isn’t the biggest problem, as the Habs could just run out a very young defence in Laval and have Ouellet and Belpedio called up to the NHL.

However, it would make sense for the Canadiens to acquire a couple of depth, veteran NHL defenders before the trade deadline. They shouldn’t give up any picks or prospects to do so, but if a journeyman finds himself on waivers, the Habs need to pick them up so they can then trade Kulak and Wideman for late picks.

Or, when the Habs do trade a player like Ben Chiarot, expect a first round pick or a really good prospects in return as well as a fringe NHL defender in return.

The focus for the Canadiens before the trade deadline has to be on getting the best picks and prospects in trades, but someone has to play the last 20 or so games after the trade deadline as well.

It’s not an enormous story in the grand scheme of things, but something to keep an eye on as we head toward the deadline.