The Montreal Canadiens head to St. Louis to take on the Blues this evening. The team is sitting at 4-4-0 after eight games played, which is actually quite a bit better than many expected.
The young blue line is holding up far better than anyone would have guessed and Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield picked up right where they left off last season (which means they are basically scoring at a point per game pace.)
The goaltenders have looked terrific as well, meaning the only real blemish on this roster to begin the season is a couple of veteran forwards who are not producing.
Canadiens scratching a few veterans tonight?
The Canadiens veteran forwards are being pushed down the lineup by younger players. At least, they should be pushed down the lineup by the younger forwards. It looks like a couple of those veteran forwards may be out of the lineup altogether this evening when the Habs face the Blues.
Jonathan Drouin has zero goals and two points in six games and Evgenii Dadonov has zero points in eight games played this season. Both are in the final year’s of their contracts, but aren’t playing like players that want a long term extension.
Jonathan Drouin, Rem Pitlick, Evgenii Dadonov and Joel Edmundston on the ice this morning. You have to expect they won’t play tonight. Confirmation later today. @CanadiensMTL
— Renaud Lavoie (@renlavoietva) October 29, 2022
Drouin, Dadonov, Rem Pitlick and Joel Edmundson were the only players skating this morning. That usually means they are not part of the gameday lineup. This is no surprise for Edmundson who is injured and yet to play a game this season, or Pitlick who has sat out three times already and has zero points in five games.
Drouin missed the first two games of the season, but it was played off like he needed a couple more days to get fully healthy. Dadonov has played all eight games so far, but the two wingers making $5 million (or more) could be sitting in the press box as healthy scratches this evening.
We will have to wait and see when the official lineup is released, but it sure looks like Dadonov and Drouin are out. That could make way for Michael Pezzetta who has been scratched for all eight games so far, or maybe Joel Armia is healthy and ready to make his season debut.
It is also possible that Juraj Slafkovsky is healthy after missing three games with injury.
It is not often that an informal skate invites this many questions, but with veteran wingers seemingly about to be scratched, we really don’t know what the lineup will be for tonight’s game. It will be interesting to see if Armia or Slafkovsky are ready to make their return to the Habs.
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