The Montreal Canadiens are approaching the start of their season. In the waning hours before the beginning of the 2022-23 season. Let’s take a look at the Habs roster. Beyond that, lets’ put together possible line combinations that the Canadiens may use as the season gets underway.
There is no hiding that the Montreal Canadiens are going into a year of rebuilding after coming off a last-place finish, with not much hope for this season either. There already proclaiming this to be a year focused on the development of the younger players, and the regular season is going to be a tough go for the Habs.
But there are some players to watch, some youngsters who made the cut, and things for Habs fans to pay attention to this season. As the time ticks down, let’s run through some possible ways the Habs could line up during this year focused on development.
Montreal Canadiens’ possible line combinations and defense pairings.
Things are going to change, and the Montreal Canadiens are going to switch up their roster. But given the team’s roster heading into the first game of the year, here is one way the Habs could line up on offense and defense as the 2022-23 season is officially upon us.
Full disclosure these are my opinionated lines. In no way, shape, or form are these the best combinations or the right ones; these are my “armchair” coach thoughts. There’s a reason that the Habs pay their coaching staff, and as a fan, we watch.
Also, the forwards are arranged in LW-C-RW orientation, and the defenders are arranged in LD-RD orientation.
Montreal Canadiens Forwards
- Cole Caufield–Nick Suzuki–Josh Anderson
- Mike Hoffman–Kirby Dach–Jake Evans
- Juraj Slafkovsky–Sean Monahan– Jonathan Drouin
- Evgeni Dadonov–Christian Dvorak–Brendan Gallagher
- Extras: Rem Pitlick, Michael Pezzetta
While the top line has been pretty solid getting reps together throughout the pre-season and practices. There are some other changes I had that differed from some of the combinations that have been shown by the Habs in camp.
For JakeEvans to find that sort of production he had last year and hopefully surpass it, he deserves a bump up, and I think there’s a chance he could slide to the wing on that second line with Kirby Dach and Mike Hoffman.
He may end up seeing more time at center with Dach on the wing if this were to be the actual combinations, but it’s just how I laid them out for these predictions. The bold move of dropping Sean Monahan to the third line was within reason.
I wanted to keep that fourth line together as Brendan Gallagher has been working well with Christian Dvorak and Evgeni Dadonov in camp and commented on his new linemates being good for him. So I opted to keep them together as the fourth line.
Since I was high on Evans and moved him up the lines, Monahan had to come down. While Hoffman is likely to be moved downward first, putting him into a bottom-six role and watching him struggle again is not what the Canadiens need.
I also opted to go with Jonathan Drouin over Rem Pitlick, but those two are interchangeable in the lines I put together. Both are left-handed shots that can play center or wing. I threw Drouin on the off-handed wing since he has played there before.
Though, I’d expect to see Pitlick more often at center or wing, which throws off some of the combinations here. But that’s how I lined up the forwards, again, totally opinionated from an armchair coach position.
Montreal Canadiens Defensemen
- Kaiden Guhle–David Savard
- Arber Xhekaj–Chris Wideman
- Jordan Harris–Johnathan Kovacevic
- Extras: Mike Matheson(Hurt)
Looking at the defenders, there was a lot less nitpicking for me to do with the Montreal Canadiens’ thin defense core. It’s ugly. There is going to be a plethora of reliance on youth and players starting to get things on track as these guys adjust to the pace and intensity of the NHL.
I put Kaiden Guhle with David Savard on the top pairing. Guhle feels he will be the most offensively gifted of the younger defensemen and benefit most from Savard playing alongside him. Guhle gets the chance to learn from Savard in the process.
For Arber Xhekaj, I paired him with a veteran in Chris Wideman, which will allow Wideman to help him to adjust to the NHL. I also hope Xhekaj is worth a second-pairing slot and carries his strong training camp into the season. Let alone, he’s going to bring that physical presence to the team’s backend which will be much-needed.
If not, I would flip-flop Xhekaj and Jordan Harris, who’s currently listed as the LD for the third pairing alongside recent waiver claim Johnathan Kovacevic. Mike Matheson is the odd man out since he is hurt.
For the Habs, it’s going to be a lot of trial by error; expect the defense core to switch up a lot early on in 2022-23. I had a lot fewer tough choices here since it’s a mix of young players who are going to be in a Plug’n’Play scenario as things get going.