Montreal Canadiens: Three Players Who Need A Strong Performance To Close Preseason

Evgenii Dadonov

Some veterans are pretty much assured of their roster spot no matter what happens in the preseason. A player like David Savard, Brendan Gallagher or even Nick Suzuki don’t need to really prove anything in exhibition games.

If they play well, great. If they play awful, well hey, it is just the preseason and we know they are going to be playing opening night so they don’t need to be at their best yet anyway.

However, for other veterans, especially newcomers to an organization, that story is a little bit different. It is one thing to be Brendan Gallagher who everybody in the organization knows well and know exactly what they can expect from him when the games begin for real.

A newcomer, especially one who was picked up for basically nothing, and especially one who is on an expiring contract, needs to show they belong.

Dadonov was acquired from the Vegas Golden Knights for Shea Weber’s contract. He is in the final year of his contract before becoming a UFA and is not likely to be in Montreal for long. So, he needed to make a good first impression.

The skilled Russian winger was put on a line with Christian Dvorak and Gallagher for much of camp. It seemed to be a possible second line that could handle defensive responsibilities, but Dadonov hasn’t looked great. Now, Dvorak is injured and could miss the start of the season.

That could put Dadonov’s status in jeopardy as well. A couple of young wingers (more on one soon) are pushing to make the opening night lineup and Dadonov needs to show tonight that he can’t be scratched in favour of a rookie.

Dadonov is playing on a line with Cole Caufield and Sean Monahan, so he is going to need to show that he still has some offensive instincts.