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Canadiens Look For Improvement Against Leafs, Roster Cuts, Mete w/Weber |
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***UPDATE: J Drouin will not play tonight (day-to-day, Upper Body) and will be replaced by Torrey Mitchell***
Tonight at Ricoh Coliseum in Toronto the Montreal Canadiens continue their preseason with a game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Canadiens are 0-4 for the preseason after a listless 5-1 loss to the Ottawa Senators on Saturday night. The loss put them in last place in the league for the preseason.
Some are already burning their Canadiens jersey and pegging Montreal for a lotto pick finish. *insert sarcastic voice* Clearly a reasonable response after a game in which 6 regulars played, including Al Montoya *end sarcastic voice*. I suppose some people just need to freak out about all things Habs, and that’s fine. It’s your life, you do what you do. I will look at these games for what they are: Chances for rookies and AHL lifers to find a role, and games that guys with one way contracts look for reasons to not play (cough cough, got the flu coach. Can’t go out and give 50% today).
Take these games for what they are: Rookie try outs, line combo tests, and trying to keep stars from being injured by an AHL lifer trying to get his $650k league minimum deal.
The Canadiens had released some players prior to, and after, the game against Ottawa. Those players cut include: B. Lernout, J. Gregoire, D. Audette, D. Broll, Z. Fucale, N. Scherbak, and M. Reway. No real surprises here. Audette and Lernout had a decent camp, and Scherbak struggled with consistency and decision making. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Canadiens moved Scherbak this season, he just isn’t progressing despite having size and skill. At this point, I would call him a bust. Reway has had an incredible comeback to hockey and his conditioning still needs work (obviously) so he will get that opportunity in Laval.
The Canadiens lines at the yesterday practice were:
Pacioretty - Drouin - Gallagher
Hudon - Plekanec - Lehkonen
Galchenyuk - Danault - Hemsky
Byron - Mitchell - Shaw
Carr - De La Rose - McCarron
Froese - Holland - Terry
Mete - Weber
Alzner - Petry
Benn - Streit
Morrow - Davidson
Jerabek - Taormina
Gelinas
Price
Montoya
Lindgren
To me, it would appear the first line is all but set with Patch/Drouin/Gallagher and the team with roll with a couple lines that both could be 2nd lines. Of the remaining players from the 5/6 Forward lines and 4/5 Defence pairs I think the last ones standing will be Jerabek, McCarron, Davidson. Just how I feel. McCarron could be the most likely of the three to prove me wrong, but I don’t know if the big man will learn more from the Laval staff. Might be best to have him learn from Julien and Muller despite being scratched a bit.
Victor Mete keeps surviving wave after wave of cuts despite only suiting up for one preseason game so far. Coach Julien commented on this in one of the latests articles on the Canadiens official website saying “He's played just one preseason game so far, but if he's still here, it's because we'd like to keep watching him. We’re keeping him here because we feel it's the best spot for him right now. He's a young guy who has impressed us and we're giving him the chance to show what he can do.”
Hard to believe Mete is being kept at camp for no good reason. It looks like the coaching staff may be surprised by the youngster. With todays NHL being pushed towards speed and skill it will be Mete’s ability to read plays and keep up that may determine where he starts the 17-18 campaign. Mete is being called “surprising” and “head turning”, but if you’ve been following the youngster you knew he was coming into camp with lots of skill and ability. He isn’t large like Juulsen but he’s smart, quick, and can be offensive. It hasn’t been so much of a surprise to me to see Mete still in camp, I had hoped he would be.
The surprise has been his constant pairing with Shea Weber at practice. I don’t believe Claude Julien would be wasting Weber’s training and chemistry building time by pairing him with someone he didn’t see as capable. This is the most telling thing about these practice lines. Julien knows the gong show the media will put on if he pins Montreal’s best defensive and offensive defenseman with a 19 year old rookie. Yet there he is, every practice, and every day the media is waiting to pounce.
The comments have already started with one reporter asking if Mete is ruining Julien's plans. One, what a stupid a question from someone who is allowed to be in these press scrums. Two, how is a highly talented 19 year old defenseman playing well ruining anything? By being too good, too fast? The only thing that was ruined is that reporters integrity and perception of their intelligence.
Tonight’s roster against the Maple Leafs is a veteran laden one, maybe the staff wants this win?
Aside from Montoya starting, this is as close to an NHL roster we have seen in the preseason to date. A win tonight likely won’t be enough for some, but it would go a long way for most of us. It is always a good night when the Canadiens beat the Maple Leafs.
Today’s lines at practice were:
Pacioretty - Drouin - Gallagher
Hudon - Plekanec - Lehkonen
Galchenyuk - Danault - Hemsky
Byron - De La Rose - Froese
Mete - Weber
Alzner - Petry
Streit/Davidson - Benn
Lindgren
Montoya
Pretty close to what we will see opening night, right?
Looking at the full camp practice lines and today’s game day lines its clear the lineup is starting to take shape. First and fourth lines appear set. Second D pair looks solid. Pretty sure we know who’s starting in goal. Hudon and Mete appear to have taken the high ground in the battle for NHL jobs. Everything seems to be coming together. It sure would be a good day to win a hockey game… Just sayin’…
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