Montreal Canadiens Final Roster Projection

The Montreal Canadiens wrapped up their preseason schedule Saturday with a 6-4 victory against the Senators in Ottawa. The next time that the team will hit the ice for a game will be on Wednesday night in Toronto to kick off the 2023-24 regular season against the Maple Leafs.

There are still outstanding questions on which 23 players will be wearing the red, white and blue jersey that day. The management team will need to make decisions based on performance, salary cap implications, and asset management.

Martin St. Louis’ practices during the club’s retreat to Mont Tremblant did not feature any line combinations or defensive pairings, and several regulars were not dressed on Saturday. This leaves us guessing on the makeup of the roster for Wednesday. 

I will use my crystal ball and project the roster that will be in Toronto on October 11th. This will be the third time that I take a stab at this exercise. If you missed my previous attempts, you can review them here and here.

Here are the assumptions that will apply in this version of the projection:

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Forwards

Scratches: Tanner Pearson, Michael Pezzetta 
LTIR: Christian Dvorak 

There was no consistent partner for Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki during training camp as St. Louis rotated several players to their right. Josh Anderson had that spot in Montreal’s overtime win in Toronto and I think he will be rewarded by the coaching staff with the first crack on the top line.

The duo of Kirby Dach and Juraj Slafkovsky was combined on numerous occasions, which leads to believe that it will remain intact to start the season.

Emil Heineman received a long look and his status of being waiver exempt will simplify the club’s decision to send him to Laval. He will likely be one of the first callups when required. 

Defence

Scratches: None 
Injured Reserve (IR): Chris Wideman

The first impact of asset management comes into play on defence as this projection includes only six defencemen on the roster for Wednesday. After Wednesday’s contest in Toronto, Montreal’s next three matches are at the Bell Centre, therefore having an extra defenceman on the roster is not critical with Laval being a metro ride away. A more detailed explanation on the reason will come in the next section.

With the six defencemen listed above, Mattias Norlinder and Justin Barron will end up in Laval as they are waiver exempt. Norlinder had a good camp and if he continues to perform in the AHL, he will certainly be a candidate for a recall when needed. Barron began last season with the Rocket and joined the team over the holidays for the balance of the season. 

Goalies

Starter: Jake Allen
Backup: Samuel Montembeault
Scratches: Cayden Primeau

During the offseason, I was convinced that the Canadiens opening night roster would have two names on it. An article posted by Puckpedia on Saturday provides an explanation on why keeping three goalies to start the season makes sense from a cap management perspective.

This would give Kent Hughes additional time to make a decision on the club’s tandem and add have an insurance policy around in case of an early injury to Jake Allen or Samuel Montembeault.

I expect Allen to get the start in Toronto to avoid him sitting out a long time since his last start on October 2nd and Montembeault to get the call in Saturday’s home opener against the Chicago Blackhawks featuring a certain Connor Bedard.

Waiver Wire 

Sunday’s waiver list at 2:00pm eastern will provide some insight on the Canadiens intentions for their season opening night roster due to the league at 5:00pm eastern on Monday. 

For the projection on defence to materialize, Gustav Lindstom’s name must be placed on waivers on Sunday for him to be claimed by another team or to be assigned to Laval before Monday’s deadline. 

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