Is Justin Barron losing his spot with the Montreal Canadiens?

Eric Engels did a great piece for Sportsnet on Sunday about Justin Barron and his mindset during this training camp. It can't be easy for Barron, who has a bunch of young defensemen nipping at his heels, hungry for a spot on the opening night roster. The unfortunate thing is Barron is still only 22 himself, but due to his experience, people expect him to be one of the veterans on the backend. Barron has 94 games played in the NHL, which is much more than Lane Hutson, Logan Mailloux, or David Reinbacher can say.

The problem is that Barron has no excuse for some of his flaws on the ice. If Martin St. Louis believes that some of the more raw defensemen can give at least the same effort without the puck while contributing more offensively, he won't be afraid to make a switch and put Barron down the depth chart. He alluded to this in his comments in the Engels' article.

“For me, it’s his physical engagement on the ice. JB is a really good skater, and we know he has a very good head for the game of hockey with the way he sees the ice and can read the game everywhere. Now it’s about the rest of the game. Over the rest of the game, it’s more about that than what you do with the puck because if JB plays 20 minutes, he might have the puck for one minute max and there are 19 minutes he won’t have the puck. So, how engaged are you? Are you boxing out? Are you blocking shots? I find he’s made nice improvements on this, and it’s good that he has. Now it’s about consistency in these elements. That’s what he needs to find"

Compare this to St. Louis' comments around the same time about David Reinbacher. He gushed about Reinbacher's abilities, and complimented him for being able to rebound from adversity and stay engaged.

He's [Reinbacher] very calm for a young kid. Even if he makes a mistake, he comes back and it doesn't turn out 3-4 mistakes. He corrects himself pretty quick. I like his first pass. I like the way he plays off the puck with his partner. He processes the game real well and for a young guy at his position, I don't think it's the norm."

Does this sound like a coach willing to send Reinbacher to the minors while Justin Barron takes his spot in Montreal? It's about the process for the Canadiens, but something about these comments makes me believe Barron could be falling out of favor with St. Louis in Montreal.

It looks like Barron and Reinbacher could both be playing in Montreal's preseason opener on Monday. It'll be the first audition for both players and could tell us a lot about St. Louis' decisions with the blue line by the end of camp. Let's not forget that Reinbacher isn't the only right-hand defenseman Barron has to worry about. Logan Mailloux is also knocking on the door for full-time duties.