Martin St-Louis wanted to be patient with his second line, but the Injury Ninja decided to force his hand when Juraj Slafkovsky was injured.
The Montreal Canadiens will have new forward lines tonight. Many were hoping to see a change to help Kirby Dach get his groove back, but most were arguing for the centre to be reunited with Juraj Slafkovsky, which is now impossible.
With the big Slovak out of commission for at least a week because of an upper-body injury, Dach will have new linemates tonight, but he won't be playing at centre. Since Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki lost their right winger, Dach will be tasked with filling in on the first line.
While Dach is understandably struggling to get back to the level he was at before missing all but four periods of last season, the first line hasn't been as good as it was, either. While the points are there, their underlying numbers aren't. Perhaps Dach's presence will help in that department.
Meanwhile, Oliver Kapanen has been promoted to center the second line. For those wondering why Alex Newhook didn't inherit center duty, coach Martin St-Louis quickly explained that he would also take part in faceoffs, depending on which side the draw would be taken.
Promoting Kapanen makes sense, as center is his natural position, and he looks more comfortable playing there than on the wing. We'll see if his coach's assessment in the SHL (Olli Jokinen with Timra IK) about his being ready to fill a top-six role was spot on.
If St-Louis had said he would give his second line time to work with, considering how much time Dach had missed, events decided not to afford him the luxury. Hopefully, the change will benefit Dach and help Kapanen prove that he deserves a more significant role.
For now, though, and until Kapanen has proven he can make the second line work and be an offensive threat, the Canadiens are back to being a one true attacking line club, just like they were last season. While he doesn't say it, St-Louis must dream of having a full, healthy top six in a regular season game. As he says himself, the league doesn't care if the Canadiens are dealing with injuries; it just goes on, but the bench boss certainly cares.
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