The Montreal Canadiens take on the Ottawa Senators twice on Saturday night, but neither game will feature a real NHL lineup. Find out who plays where and who just doesn't play right here.
There we are, one night of hockey left before the Montreal Canadiens wrap up their preseason. Much like Saturday, they’ll split it in two: one group will host the Ottawa Senators in Montreal, while the other will head to Ottawa to take on the other half of the Sens. Perhaps wisely, considering what happened to Ivan Demidov last preseason against the Sens (that forearm slashing thanks to Nick Cousin) and the fact that he missed practice a couple of times this week, Martin St-Louis has decided that the young Russian won’t be playing tonight, just like Lane Hutson, who will also be a healthy scratch.
Meanwhile, it will be a special night for Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki as he faces his brother Ryan for the first time in an NHL game, even if it’s just an exhibition one. Suzuki and the top line will lead the group playing in Montreal tonight. The lines and pairings are expected to be as follows:
Cole Caufield – Nick Suzuki – Chris Kreider
Alex Newhook – Phillip Danault – Juraj Slafkovsky
Alexandre Texier – Jake Evans – Josh Anderson
Florian Xhekaj – Owen Beck – Tyler Thorpe
Mike Matheson – Noah Dobson
Luke Mittelstadt – Alex Carrier
Maksymilian Szuber – Etan Samson
Jacob Fowler
Samuel Montembeault
St-Louis said in his post-practice presser that Fowler and Montembeault would split the game in Montreal tonight, while Jakub Dobes will play the whole game in Ottawa. This will be the first time Montembeault steps between the posts at the Bell Centre and a great way to see if he can perform well in the pressure cooker that is the Habs’ home.
As for the squad who'll play in Ottawa, its lineup will be as follows:
Zach Bolduc – Oliver Kapanen – Kirby Dach
Jared Davidson – Laurent Dauphin – Alex Belzile
Brett Berard – Hunter McKown – Sasha Pastujov
Samuel Poulin – Filip Mesar – Dillan Bentley
Jayden Struble – Arber Xhekaj
Adam Engstrom – David Reinbacher
Owen Protz – Reilly Walsh
Jakub Dobes
Kaapo Kahkonen
If you were hoping to see the big questions answered in tonight’s lineup, you’ll have to wait a bit longer. The first line seems set in stone; the second line probably is, too. As for the last two lines, it’s a bit more complicated. NHL contracts probably mean the youngest, Xhekaj, will head down to Laval, even if he’s unlikely to spend the whole year there, and Dach will be the 13th forward to start the season.
On the blueline, the Matheson-Dobson pairing seems to be there to stay, but it’s hard to predict what the rest of the defense corps will look like. David Reinbacher had a great camp, and he’ll have another opportunity to show what he can do in Ottawa tonight. Since he’ll be skating in the same game as the oldest Xhekaj and Struble, it may be a bit easier to compare the three and call the shots. With Kaiden Gule still sidelined, Reinbacher appears to be the front-runner to stick around to start the season. Will it be as the seventh defenseman or in the actual lineup? That is the question. And if it is in the lineup, whose spot is he taking?
Earlier today, the Habs announced that 12 players had been assigned to the Laval Rocket, including Vincent Arsenault, Alexander Legkov, and Xavier Simoneau, among others. Essentially, they were the guys in Group C at the start of camp and were always destined for the AHL at the end of camp. The rest of the answers will have to wait a bit longer. There might be cuts tonight after the two games, but teams have until Monday at 5:00 PM to submit their 23-man, cap-compliant roster, and the Habs have tomorrow off.
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