Montreal Canadiens: Tough Decisions Loom As Final Cuts Are Approaching

With less than a week to go before their season opener at the Bell Centre on October 12th, the Montreal Canadiens are in the final stretch of what was a first training camp for many involved. Executive V-P of Hockey Operations Jeff Gorton, General Manager Kent Hughes and head coach Martin St-Louis are going through their first camp in Montreal and they have some serious decisions to make.

To create a clearer picture, sorting the battles at each position might help make for an easier exercise.

In Goal

There is no doubt about Jake Allen, whom the Canadiens just signed to a contract extension. Originally brought in to be Carey Price’s backup, he will be in a seat that is not truly his, as the team’s number one goaltender for a second year in a row.

To back him up, neither Samuel Montembeault or Cayden Primeau has shown enough so far to make a strong case to become Allen’s backup, or the team’s 1-B starter. That is troublesome as well. Unless one of them improves drastically, the Canadiens might be forced to look outside the organization for help, either for a clear number one, or for a veteran to share duties with Allen.

At Center

After acquiring Kirby Dach and Sean Monahan, the Canadiens find themselves with five players who are very capable centers in the NHL. While currently injured, there is no denying that newly appointed captain Nick Suzuki will be centring the team’s top line. But beyond him, it gets a bit murky.

Christian Dvorak, Monahan and Dach are all capable to center the second or third line and none of them are a typical fourth line center. That spot belongs to Jake Evans. A temporary solution might be to play Monahan and Dach on the same line, and get them to share faceoff duties. So either Monahan would play left wing or Dach would move to right wing. In such scenario, Dvorak would take third line duties.

On Left Wing

One word can sum up the situation on left wing: crowded. In spite of being a right-hand shot, Cole Caufield had most success on the left of Suzuki so he should be a fixture on the top line, left wing. As wingers can easily be switched to their off-wing, the situation beyond that is fluid.

You have Jonathan Drouin, Mike Hoffman, Evgenii Dadonov, Juraj Slafkovsky, Emil Heineman, Rem Pitlick, Michael Pezzetta and Paul Byron (injured) whom are all shooting left. Dadonov has played a lot of right wing though. But even if you move him to the right, there is a clutter on left wing. There will be six (seven counting Byron) fighting for three spots.

On Right Wing

Josh Anderson, Brendan Gallagher Joel Armia and Jesse Ylönen are the only right-handed right wingers at camp right now. For that reason, perhaps adding Dach to the right of Monahan, who is a more experienced centerman, could be a temporary solution. But what about Dadonov? You add him to the clutter on the left? Ylönen is a wild card as a right-shot right winger and while not a bluechip prospect, he appears to be NHL-ready.

On Defense

The decisions won’t be any easier on defense. There were four spots spoken for even prior to training camp. We know that Joel Edmundson, when back from injury, will have his spot. We also know that Mike Matheson, David Savard and Chris Wideman will be on the Canadiens to start the season. This leaves three “permanent” spots to make it seven defensemen.

Seeing that he’s been paired with Savard for several preseason games now, and that he’s done really well, it is fair to assume that Kaiden Guhle has earned his spot. This leaves Justin Barron, Jordan Harris, Arber Xhekaj, Otto Leskinen, Corey Schueneman and Madison Bowey fighting it out for the final three spots (two if Edmundson returns). Of that group, only Schueneman and Bowey must pass through waivers in order to be sent to Laval.

Kent Hughes has already talked about having  a rotation between Laval and Montreal, when talking about their young defensemen so you can expect that to happen. But for the development of a young player, he must play. So having one of them as the seventh defenseman would make little sense for a development perspective. Therefore, one of Schueneman, Bowey or even Leskinen should be retained as the extra.

Monitoring Waiver Wire

Due to having finished dead last in the NHL last season, the silver lining is that the Canadiens have first dibs at any player they wish to claim. That will be true up until October 31st as starting on November 1st, the NHL will be using this season’s standings at the time of a claim.

So this is one way for Hughes to try to improve on his team’s situation, whether it is in goal or to get a veteran right-handed defenseman. I’ve been saying this for a while, and it holds true even more today, but keep an eye on the Carolina Hurricanes.

Having signed Calvin de Haan from his PTO, and with Don Waddell confirming that Jake Gardiner is ready to return, the Canes have an abundance of defensemen needing to clear waivers. To make matters worse for them, they are in a very tight situation with their salary cap.

On the other side of the waiver wire, Hughes may be forced to use waivers to send higher salaries down to the minors as well, particularly on the left wing position. Could one of Hoffman or Dadonov be placed on waivers if Hughes can’t trade them? It’s an option for sure.

And then, there’s the trade option. We won’t get into it as the options are numerous. One thing we know for sure, is that Hughes still has plenty of work to do in the next few days. Stay tuned, Habs fans.