After Kaiden Guhle and Noah Dobson went down with minor groin ailments and David Reinbacher was ruled out for four weeks because of a broken bone in his hand, the Montreal Canadiens have announced that Zachary Bolduc will not be taking part in Friday morning’s practice because of an upper-body injury.
The organization did add that he is being evaluated daily, which indicates that it’s not a serious issue and there's no need to panic. While this is a shame for Bolduc himself, who’s trying to settle in with his new team and create some chemistry with his new teammates, this will likely allow one of the players who are on the bubble another chance to impress in the last preseason game.
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If Bolduc is ruled out of Saturday night’s tilt against the Ottawa Senators, Owen Beck, Florian Xhekaj, and Samuel Blais could get into one more game. According to the lines at practice on Thursday, though, Beck was already projected to play on the fourth line on Saturday alongside Joe Veleno and Patrik Laine. As for Bolduc, he was playing on the left wing with Kirby Dach and Brendan Gallagher, a line that was somewhat productive on Tuesday night in Quebec City.
It will be interesting to see who gets another chance if Bolduc does have to sit out. I’d like to see Florian Xhekaj take the spot. While Martin St-Louis has already acknowledged that there’s room for improvement in his defensive reads, the youngster has had an intense camp and has impressed.
Furthermore, once the Senators release their lineup for Saturday night’s tilt, the Canadiens may need to bring some sandpaper into their own lineup if they do not want one of their regular players to be targeted, as Alex Newhook and Ivan Demidov were on Tuesday night.
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