The Canadian | What we know after two preparatory games

Can we really draw any big conclusions after two meaningless games? Of course we can. Here are a few.

The guards are ready

We remember a phone conversation, in early August, with Samuel Montembeault, when he was already on his way to Brossard to prepare for the next season. It was not a detail: the Quebec goalie seems ready, as does his backup Cayden Primeau. In two preseason games so far, the two accomplices have not allowed a single goal in 24 shots. Of course, the most astute observers will have noticed that Montembeault and Primeau did not exactly face the cream of the crop among the Philadelphia Flyers and New Jersey Devils players, and similarly, Jakub Dobes and Connor Hughes also managed to leave the Bell Centre with a zero on their record. But still, we have already seen, in the not so distant past, Canadiens goalies look a little less than that in the preseason schedule; on this subject, who has forgotten the famous ” chill out » of a Carey Price who may still be a little rusty in September 2010? The two games of Montembeault and Primeau are good news for a club that, clearly, will have many challenges on the blue line this season.

Lane Hutson to be inducted into Hall of Fame

That’s what we can conclude from the many glowing comments about him after exactly 60 minutes of preseason play. We’ll see if the young defender will one day have his own bronze bust. In the meantime, he’ll (most likely) have the opportunity to play real games in the Canadiens’ lineup starting October 9, since his bosses, who believe in his enormous potential, will want to give him every opportunity to show off in games with real stakes. Also, and this is not a detail, a team that’s coming off a 28^e overall standings must at least give his fans some good reasons to come to the arena, and you can already tell Hutson is a crowd favorite. That works in his favor.

Hutson, of course, but who else?

Assuming that the Canadiens will start the season with Hutson, it’s hard to believe that the club will also choose to retain other green rookies on the blue line. It’s already looking complicated and difficult on defense some nights, it’s hard to see the Canadiens throwing two or three inexperienced defensemen into the fray at the same time, and that’s why Jayden Struble, not the most flamboyant, but who is coming off a 56-game season with the Canadiens, can’t be ignored right away. Logan Mailloux and David Reinbacher should, barring a huge surprise, head back to Laval. But we’ll see them again.

Kapanen makes a name for himself

Oliver Kapanen wasn’t exactly a name that was being discussed around here just a few weeks ago. Part-time scouts on YouTube may have had their eye on him, but otherwise, very few people knew about the Canadiens’ 2021 second-round pick who has been skating in the shadows in Finland for the past three years. True, the 21-year-old forward is having a very good camp so far… but he’ll need to be nothing less than exceptional if he wants to still be around come October 9. In opening camp, coach Martin St-Louis essentially laid out his four lines for next season, lines that excluded Michael Pezzetta and of course, Rafael Harvey-Pinard, who is injured. That doesn’t really leave much room for surprises among the organization’s other forwards, and Kapanen, due to a clause in his contract, would have to return to the Swedish elite league (and not to Laval) in the event he is cut by the Canadiens. At least he can take advantage of the next few days to continue making a name for himself.

Time is flying… already

With all that, there are only four games left on the Canadiens’ preseason schedule, including the next one, Thursday night in Toronto. That leaves Filip Mesar and Owen Beck with very little time to get going. For the reasons mentioned above, their chances of cracking the team are extremely slim, but for the rest of things, and to aim for a return here one of these days, these two will have to be more visible than that. Mesar still finished Tuesday’s preseason game with five shots, but this first-round pick was unable to collect a single point against the Devils’ C team. Beck, for his part, should have scored at least three times, but he left the Bell Centre with an assist.