The Montreal Canadiens offseason is over! Well, kind of. The official season is still not slated to begin for another month, but we do get the first taste of Habs action in 2022-23 tonight.
The Canadiens are taking part in a rookie tournament in Buffalo that begins this evening. They will play games against the Sabres rookie team tonight, followed by a contest with the New Jersey Devils rookies tomorrow night and an afternoon game against the Ottawa Senators rookies on Sunday.
The Habs have been drafting well in recent years, and a few trades at the deadline last year when they were clearly sellers has resulted in an impressive crop of prospects. That is abundantly obvious when looking at the group of players that are assembled for this year’s rookie tournament.
There are a total of five first round picks on the roster, including first overall selection Juraj Slafkovsky. Filip Mesar, Logan Mailloux, Kaiden Guhle and Justin Barron are also on the team and were first round picks over the past three NHL Drafts.
La formation officielle du match de ce soir.
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) September 15, 2022
Tonight's official lineup.#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/aPd8qSOPVs
Tonight’s lineup is going to be a fun one to watch. The first line of Slafkovsky, Riley Kidney and Mesar will bring plenty of skill to the ice. Kidney scored 100 points in the QMJHL last season, including 70 assists which led the league and his two wingers are likely higher profile prospects.
This will be a first real chance for Habs fans to get a glimpse at Emil Heineman who was acquired from the Calgary Flames as part of the return for Tyler Toffoli last season. He will be on the second line with second round pick Owen Beck and Lucas Condotta.
Xavier Simoneau played his overage season in the QMJHL last year and scored 86 points in just 48 games. He will be playing with Jan Mysak and the two are likely destined to be Laval Rocket teammates this season. Cedrick Guindon in on their wing after being drafted by the Canadiens in the 4th round of the 2022 NHL Draft.
The fourth line features Brett Stapley with Jared Davidson and Ryan Francis.
The Canadiens defence will be quite exciting to watch as well, and that is without their two best D prospects, Guhle and Mailloux, even playing. Mailloux is injured with a shoulder issue that has dragged on since last season and Guhle was dealing with an injury all summer and the team wants him to practice more before getting into a game scenario.
It will be Mattias Norlinder playing with Justin Barron, two players who have NHL experience with the Habs from last season. So does Jordan Harris who will be playing alongside William Trudeau this evening and Arber Xhekaj is suiting up with Miguel Tourigny on the third pairing.
The game can be streamed online through the Canadiens website, their Youtube page, their Twitter feed, or on Facebook. The game begins at 7:00 PM EST.
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