A healthy dose of competition at the blue line will work in the Canadiens favor

Training camp and preseason are all about competition, yet you can’t help but notice an influx of it coming to the Montreal Canadiens blue line in 2024. While a logjam and deep organizational depth at a position could be costly to some teams - thanks to position controversies that could spring up, that shouldn’t be the case with Montreal. 

The Canadiens are in a different situation as a rebuilding team, and while they look good offensively, their blue line still has question marks. For one, it’s hard to tell who will be wearing a red and blue sweater when the puck drops for real next month, as players like Lane Hutson are doing more than enough to make their respective cases. 

Those questions will keep intensifying if Hutson and the likes of Adam Engstrom, David Reinbacher, Logan Mailloux, and others continue to show up, as was the case this past weekend.

Yet instead of this being another example of a controversy developing, for the still-under-construction Canadiens, this is what fans should want. Why? It’s because Mike Matheson and David Savard aren’t taking the Habs anywhere, and they’re nothing more than placeholders for the future, even if Matheson can put up big numbers.

Montreal Canadiens can only benefit from competition at blue line

Chances are, Matheson will be a player to watch this season, but he’s also in his age-30 campaign with a plethora of young talent ready to succeed him. And it’s the young talent, not Matheson, that will help lead this team into an eventual deep playoff run toward the end of the decade. 

So, while there are still limited spots in the lineup and so few in the defensive rotation that someone, multiple high-profile prospects really, will be playing for the Laval Rocket this year, competition won’t just bring the best out of these eager youngsters in training camp, but also long after the season officially begins. 

These players know they can be part of a special Montreal Canadiens team if they not only earn their spot with the big club come October but if they manage to hang onto it. Knowing the latter will keep them playing at a high level, and those who are stuck in Laval in the foreseeable future will be looking to prove their worth should a slip-up or injury occur in Montreal. 

Since the Habs are still building for the future, fighting for the right to stay long-term will be the stakes here. That means there could be some turbulence in the short-term, but a few years down the road, the competition we see now will ultimately create much-needed stability for this Canadiens team.