Montreal Canadiens sniper Cole Caufield was a full participant at practice, and as a result, it looks like Alexandre Texier is back on the outside looking in.
After the Montreal Canadiens’ win over the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday night, fans and media alike wondered what Martin St-Louis’ next move would be with his lineup if Cole Caufield were ready to return for Saturday night’s tilt with the San Jose Sharks. After a day off on Thursday, the Canadiens were back on the ice in Brossard on Friday morning. While the usual suspects were taking reps up front, Joe Veleno was swapping with Zach Bolduc, Patrik Laine (who’s still on IR), alternating with Oliver Kapanen and Alexandre Texier, alternating with Brendan Gallagher.
However, given the fact that the power play units remained unchanged, with Bolduc, Gallagher, Kirby Dach, Alex Newhook and Noah Dobson skating on the second unit, it led to a simple conclusion: those forwards were safe, meaning that despite having a great game on Wednesday night filling in for Cole Caufield, Texier won’t be called upon on Saturday night.
Speaking to the media after practice, the players all sang the same tune: internal competition is good for the team. There’s no denying that it is; having the luxury of spare NHL-calibre players is not something St-Louis has been used to over the years, but now that everyone’s healthy, that’s exactly what he has. He spoke earlier this week about his job involving making hard decisions, and it seems like crunch time is right around the corner. The coach added that all of his players know where they stand and that the plan will be reevaluated on a game-by-game basis. He also mentioned that when Gallagher himself entered the league, his presence influenced the ice time of older players; that’s just the way things go, the league is a wheel that keeps on turning.
With Texier delivering a very hungry performance on Wednesday night, one can wonder if guys like Gallagher or Bolduc couldn’t be vulnerable for the chop, but the coach is not ready to go there yet. Personally, even if they both stayed in the lineup, I believe that taking Gallagher off the power play and replacing him on the second unit with Oliver Kapanen’s younger legs would be a step in the right direction. Yes, the Finn plays on the penalty kill, but since Danault was reacquired, he’s seen less ice time when down a man, and there’s little doubt that he’d be able to handle the workload.
At Friday’s practice, Jakub Dobes had one net while Jacob Fowler and Samuel Montembeault alternated in the other one. After practice, the coach confirmed that the Czech netminder would take on the San Jose Sharks on Saturday. It will be a chance to make up for the 7-5 defeat he suffered on the last road trip. It will be interesting to see who gets the net on Sunday; logic points to Fowler, but it’s a delicate situation to handle given Montembeault’s status.
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