Enough with the scrimmages, the Montreal Canadiens have decided to get down to business and practice.
Contrary to what was initially scheduled, there was no scrimmage this morning in Brossard. Instead, all three groups took the ice to practice. So far in scrimmages, the most efficient line has been the Brendan Gallagher, Jake Evans, and Joel Armia line, three players that have played together in the past.
Other lines have had a harder time putting together convincing performances, and Martin St-Louis may have decided to schedule a practice today instead to allow his players to get to know one another on the ice.
We've also had good passing plays from the top line. Cole Caufield, Nick Suzuki, and Juraj Slafkovsky looked ready to pick up where they left off. Still, the newly formed unit of Alex Newhook, Kirby Dack, and Patrik Laine has just been trying to shake off some of the rust that comes with prolonged inaction and get to know each other as linemates.
Teams were altered this morning, and Team 1 was the first on the ice. This line now includes Jakus Dobes and Cayden Primeau in net. The backend featured Mike Matheson, Arber Xhekaj, Tyler Wotherspoon, Justin Barron, Zachary Hayes, and David Reinbacher. Up front, the first line was there, along with the Josh Anderson, Christian Dvorak, and Joshua Roy line. Florian Xhekaj, Lucas Condotta, Owen Beck, Filip Mesar, Sean Farrell, and Jared Davidson were rounding up the numbers.
After St-Louis dismissed Team 1 from the ice, everyone stayed on and did a bit of overtime. Matheson spent much time working with Reinbacher on saucer passes and back skating.
After their practice, Arber and Florian Xhekaj, Dvorak, and Matheson were made available to the media. The Xhekaj brothers truly stole the show. Arber was happy to say that it would be awesome to get a game together and that he'll be the one wearing the A while Florian will get the F. The highlight of the day was when Florian was asked by Jean-Francois Chaumont of Le Journal de Montréal if he thought he might be tested early in the preseason because of his brother's reputation. Arber grabbed the microphone and said:
Nobody's going to test him because I'm going to be there.
Florian then added that he would be ready, as the same had happened when he arrived in the OHL after Arber had left.
As for Mike Matheson, he reported he had a very quiet Summer with his daughter being born in May, which is why he wasn't on all the wedding pictures we saw on social media over the off-season. About Reinbacher, he had this to say:
Yeah, he's been working hard and I've liked the way he's played, we were on the same team for the exhibition games. He's working hard and doing the right things to put himself in a position to make the team.
The blueliner couldn't confirm if he would be playing tomorrow as the players hadn't been told yet; he expects they'll find out tonight. The pairings are nowhere near fixed, either.
Team 2 now features Armia, Evans, Gallagher, Newhook, Dach, Laine, Alex Barre-Boulet, Brandon Gignac, Emil Heineman, Oliver Kapanen, Luke Tuch and Michael Pezzetta up front. The blue line includes Adam Engstrom, Lane Hutson, Logan Mailloux, David Savard, Jayden Struble, and William Trudeau. Finally, in the net, Connor Hughes and Samuel Montembeault split the work.
Team 3 seems to include all the players heading to Laval in the AHL, although the organization hasn't said as much just yet. Aside from Riley Kidney and Xavier Simoneau, most of those players have only an AHL deal.
After missing practice yesterday for a therapy day, Laine was back on the ice and fully participated in all the drills. However, it remains to be seen if he'll be lacing them up tomorrow night at the Bell Centre, as everyone awaits St-Louis' lineup decisions.
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