Montreal Canadiens: Three Players Who Have Something To Prove in Final Weeks

Corey Schueneman

The Montreal Canadiens defence is in a major transition period right now. At the end of last season, the top pairing was Ben Chiarot and Shea Weber, while Jeff Petry and Joel Edmundson played the second pairing role.

Well, Chiarot and Weber are gone and Petry is likely to be traded before next season. The blue line is becoming much younger as Alexander Romanov has taken on a bigger role while Justin Barron and Jordan Harris have stepped into the lineup after the trade deadline.

Schueneman is somewhere between the again veterans like Weber and the younger, future core that includes Kaiden Guhle and Logan Mailloux.

While he is a rookie NHL player, Schueneman will be 27 years old when next season begins. The free agent signing out of Western Michigan is in danger of being passed over by younger players before he gets a real chance to show what he can do at the NHL level.

He has played well in 20 NHL games this season, scoring five points but also using his speed and smarts to break up plays defensively and move the puck towards the opposing goaltender. He can start the rush with a burst of speed or move the puck up ice with a pinpoint pass.

The Canadiens already have Romanov, Edmundson and Harris signed on the left side of the blue line for next season. They also have to make room for players like Mattias Norlinder, Guhle, Arber Xhekaj and possibly Jayden Struble on the Laval Rocket blue line.

Schueneman is a restricted free agent at season’s end, and is going to have to continue to show he can play well at the NHL level. If he takes a step back in the next couple of weeks, he could be cut loose to make room for younger defencemen in the organization.