The Montreal Canadiens camp took a break on Wednesday after two very different victories in its first two pre-season games.
Head coach Martin St-Louis was elated after the 5-0 win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday. He admitted it was hard to draw such clear conclusions after a lackluster 3-0 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday.
St-Louis also recalled that the first preparatory matches were mainly used to discover and evaluate the team’s prospects.
“You want to see how they’ve progressed, if they’re ready or what they need to work on to get to the next level,” St. Louis said after Tuesday night’s game. “As camp goes on, you start to focus on the veterans, your core, the power play, etc.
“I think early in camp, the veterans are more interested in getting some reps. They’re not as excited to play a preseason game as a younger player. But as the season gets closer and they know it’s going to start soon, you’re going to get a sense of normalcy back.”
If few Canadiens players gained many points in the notebook Tuesday against the Devils, few also lost several.
No one expects a big fight in net. So far, all four goalies with NHL contracts have played half a game. Samuel Montembeault, Cayden Primeau, Jakub Dobes and Connor Hughes have all been perfect.
Hutson turns heads
On defense, it seems increasingly clear that Lane Hutson will start the season with the Canadiens. In addition to wowing the audience with his great feints in front of rivals and good passes in the offensive zone, the 20-year-old American has yet to show any trouble defending his territory despite his size of 5-foot-10 and 162 pounds.
A defender will have to lose his position on the left flank to give it to Hutson. It is difficult to say at this point who is at risk between Arber Xhekaj and Jayden Struble.
On the right flank, David Savard is the only veteran to have played so far. Kaiden Guhle could be used on this side, as was the case a few times last season.
Guhle recently underwent an appendectomy and the Canadian will provide an update on his health on Thursday.
Justin Barron, Logan Mailloux and David Reinbacher are therefore fighting to win one of the available positions.
Mailloux is the only player to have played in both of the Habs’ preseason games. St-Louis noted that he didn’t force the game in those two games, something that pleases the coach.
St. Louis also praised Reinbacher’s maturity in the game, despite his 19 years. Barron was very involved in the game against the Flyers.
It’s hard to say who has the edge so far between the three.
Few positions available in attack
Few positions appear available up front and the young players will have to show great things if they want to steal a veteran’s chair.
Oliver Kapanen and Owen Beck have done well so far, but will it be enough to steal a center job from Christian Dvorak or Jake Evans? Can they be moved to the wing and steal the job that seems destined for Joshua Roy?
Michael Pezzetta even had a two-goal performance, including an empty net, against the Devils, while he is one of those who could be penalized if a youngster were to impose himself. Other youngsters like Luke Tuch and Florian Xhekaj hope to carve out a role as a support player.
St. Louis must hope that the upcoming preseason games will help him and management make decisions. The Canadiens did not plan to cut any players before Thursday.
The Habs will play their next two preseason games against the Toronto Maple Leafs, Thursday in Toronto and Saturday in Montreal.