Loose puck | A dozen players to follow in preparatory matches

The Canadiens’ first of six preseason games is Monday night. There’s no major internal struggle among the forwards, but the picture is less clear on defense. Our attention is generally more on the younger players with some proving to do, but some more experienced players are returning from long absences. Here are a dozen players to watch over the next few weeks.

Josh Anderson

Anderson has become a drag on the Canadiens this winter with his meager 9 goals and 11 assists in 78 games, and a lack of understanding of the game, especially at a $5.5 million annual salary. He spent the summer in Montreal refining certain aspects of his game with specialist Adam Nicholas and worked on improving his mental toughness. Can he become a 25-goal scorer again at age 30? That would be a big bonus for the team. Let’s see in the preseason if we see any improvement in his game. He’ll play again with Christian Dvorak and Joshua Roy on Monday night.

Patrick Laine

The new acquisition is obviously no longer a rookie at 26 and with eight seasons under his belt, but Laine played just 18 games last season in Columbus and attended the player support program last winter. The first few games will give us some clues about his physical and mental condition, but we’ll also need to give him time to find his bearings with Kirby Dach and Alex Newhook.

Kirby Dach

Dach, 23, was the Canadiens’ best player in training camp last year before getting injured for the rest of the season in the second game of the regular season. Most observers believe the Canadiens won’t move forward without their second offensive center back in top form. But how will his body respond after playing an average of just 37 games over the last four seasons?

Joshua Roy

This young winger, once a first overall pick in the QMJHL, drafted in the fifth round by the Canadiens in 2021, surprised by clinging to a job in Montreal after his recall in January, after a thunderous start to the season in Laval. Unfortunately, his season ended on March 19, with 9 points in 23 games. He was placed on a trio with Christian Dvorak and Josh Anderson. Will he be able to pick up where he left off? Martin St-Louis was full of praise for him a few days ago.

Oliver Kapanen

The 21-year-old center, drafted in the second round in 2021, made a good impression in his first simulated game at the Bell Centre a few days ago, after a brilliant second half of the season at Kalpa and an astonishing performance of six goals in eight games at the World Championship in Finland. Barring an injury or a trade, he is destined to return to Sweden for the winter, but all it would take is an injury or a trade… Kapanen will play with Emil Heineman and Alex Barré-Boulet on Monday night against the Flyers.

Owen Beck

This early second-round pick in 2022 is in the same situation as Kapanen, in direct competition with himself. Beck impressed at the Memorial Cup in Saginaw. A good season or two in Laval will allow him to develop into a solid support player. And who knows, an injury, a trade… Beck has Monday night off.

David Reinbacher

The 6-foot-3 Austrian defenseman, drafted fifth overall in 2023, is taking advantage of Kaiden Guhle’s absence to get an audition on Mike Matheson’s right side. Martin St-Louis likes his calmness with the puck and his decision-making with and without the puck. That duo should play Tuesday night.

Lane Hutson

The young defensive prodigy is now paired with veteran David Savard and they will play together Monday night. Following his two late-season games in Montreal and his exploits at Boston University – 97 points in 77 games – he has a job to lose, not to win, despite his 5-foot-9 and three-quarters.

Justin Barron

Barron has one advantage over his main competitor Logan Mailloux: his contract status. He’s subject to waivers if he’s demoted. Unless he has a terrible camp, the right-handed defenseman will start the season in Montreal. He’ll play with Arber Xhekaj on Monday night, a potential third pairing for the regular season.

Logan Mailloux

The burly 6-foot-3, 213-pound defenseman not only has to look ahead, but in his rearview mirror. Ahead is Barron and behind him is David Reinbacher. Or maybe both are ahead of him, since Reinbacher was chosen in his audition spot to the right of Mike Matheson, even though Mailloux had the privilege of playing Montreal’s final game of the season and Reinbacher didn’t.

Arber Xhekaj

One of the team’s (already) most popular players had his ups and downs last winter. He was even sent back to the AHL in favor of Jayden Struble. The two will be in a battle for the last left job… unless Lane Hutson is a slump in camp.

Jayden Struble

Same fight as Xhekaj. He surprised when he was recalled, but ran out of fuel in the second half of the season. Less strong and intimidating than Xhekaj, more effective defensively than him however.

Adam Engstrom

The surprising 2022 third-round Swedish pick, just 20 years old, is at the bottom of the left-field hierarchy behind Matheson, Hutson, Xhekaj and Struble, but he could shuffle the deck eventually after two seasons in Sweden. He’ll be paired with Logan Mailloux on Monday night, a pairing likely destined for the AHL to start the season.

The Flyers Formation

It will obviously be tempting to praise the young Canadiens players after Monday’s game if they deliver a strong performance. The same goes for Laine and Dach, who have been absent for so long.

But without wanting to dampen the fans’ enthusiasm, it will also be necessary to put things in context. The Flyers will count on only one defenseman who has played 100 NHL games on Monday night: Rasmus Ristolainen. And he, not the most technically gifted, played only 31 games last year. He will play with Egor Zamula, the only other Flyers regular last year among the defensemen in position on Monday night. Note, however, the presence of first-round pick Oliver Bonk.

Up front, Sean Couturier and Ryan Poehling will be the first two centers, and former Canadiens player Anthony Richard will play on the top line. A promising youngster, Tyson Foerster, will play to the left of Couturier and Richard, and Olle Lycksell and Bobby Brink will complete Poehling’s trio. Lycksell spent most of the winter in the AHL, at age 24. Brink has earned a roster spot in his second year as a pro.

Having played the day before, young Flyers sensation Matvei Michkov will not be there, as will his linemates Morgan Frost and Owen Tippett. The Flyers’ top four defensemen, Travis Sanheim, Cam York, Jamie Drysdale and Nick Seeler will also be absent.