While the motto of this year's Montreal Canadiens season might be practicing patience, there are still some topics which need to be addressed pretty soon.
You've heard the mantra from the Montreal Canadiens, those of us in the media, and even from some of the players: this Habs season will likely require more than a little bit of patience as the rebuild continues and a larger focus is placed on development.
Montreal Canadiens forwards Cole Caufield, Juraj Slafkovsky, and Nick SuzukiAnd sure, that's absolutely fair and completely reasonable. The younger players do need maximized ice time and go through lots of different on-ice experiences in order to most efficiently and effectively grow, learn, and soak in all aspects of being a professional hockey player in the NHL.
However, I do believe there are some glaring areas in which patience could and should be wearing thin, prompting a more urgent need to address these topics in short order.
First there's the case of Cayden Primeau. We're about a month into the regular season, he's played just one game, and there still doesn't seem to be a clear-cut answer as to what the Canadiens plan to do with him. We know that maintaining a three-goaltender rotation at the NHL level isn't ideal, nor is it really sustainable, so what's the plan?
Then there's young Juraj Slafkovsky. The 2022 first-round draft pick has been front and center in media attention already this season, and mostly not for good reasons. His NHL development seems to have stalled, and, despite a feel-good game on Saturday playing on the top line for the first time and scoring his first goal of the season, a clear path forward still hasn't really been outlined.
Speaking of that top line, who is going to be Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki's permanent third linemate? There's been a revolving door of auditions on the first line, but it's difficult for Caufield and Suzuki to develop real chemistry with any of them because they don't spend enough time locked into that position.
So those are the questions, but what do I think are the answers? Well, you heard some of my thoughts if you watched the video excerpt at the top of this article, and if you want to hear the REST of my analysis, including who I think should be that winger on the top line, then I invite you to click the following link to watch this week's episode of Habs Hockey Report on YouTube: THREE Short-Term Decisions Facing the Habs
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