Canadiens Lineup

Tomas Tatar – Phillip Danault – Brendan Gallagher

Artturi Lehkonen – Max Domi – Nick Suzuki

Paul Byron – Jesperi Kotkaniemi – Jordan Weal

Nick Cousins – Ryan Poehling – Joel Armia

Victor Mete – Shea Weber

Ben Chiarot – Jeff Petry

Brett Kulak – Cale Fleury

Carey Price – Keith Kinkaid

Nate Thompson, Mike Reilly, Christian Folin, Jonathan Drouin, Charles Hudon, Charlie Lindgren

Noah Juulsen (headaches), Michael McCarron (shoulder), Gustav Olofsson (shoulder), Joel Teasdale (knee)

Game Report

And just like that, the pre-season is done. The veterans have warmed the engines and are ready to go. The rookies have done all they can to impress the decision-makers and now they can only wait.

When the Canadiens stepped on the ice on Saturday September 7th for their first game of the Rookie Showcase, it was unfathomable that three of them would be poised to make the club’s opening night roster. But that’s where they now stand exactly three weeks later.

Ryan Poehling, Nick Suzuki and Cale Fleury have done everything in their power to earn a spot. They have outplayed not only fellow rookies, long since dispatched to Laval, but many of the Habs who had positions on the roster last season. The players scratched from the lineup for this game were not missed.

Now it’s up to Marc Bergevin to confirm that he is a man of his word. 

When the general manager was asked if he would sign veteran players like Andrei Markov and Jason Pominville, Bergevin said no, “we really want to give our young people a chance.” The three rookies, Poehling, Suzuki and Fleury, answered the challenge resoundingly leaving no doubt where they belong. Now Bergevin must honour his commitment to make room for them.

The counter argument is that keeping three rookies with the big club would mean exposing players to waivers with the risk, albeit low at this time of year, that they are claimed for nothing. But this is exactly the reason why Bergevin had no business re-signing far too many marginal players. It would be wrong to use the waiver exempt status of the rookies to cover mistakes he made earlier in the off-season.

Expect the verdict to come in the next couple of days.

The 23-man roster must be submitted by Tuesday at 5 pm. The Canadiens will be off Sunday and Monday returning to practice at Brossard at 11 am. Tuesday.

Plus / Minus

▲  Carey Price, Nick Suzuki, Artturi Lehkonen, Brendan Gallagher, Ryan Poehling

▼  Max Domi, Ben Chiarot, Victor Mete