There's not much worth remembering from the Canadiens last season, everything was going wrong on and off the ice and the team didn't even really show up for the Classic 100 in Ottawa. That game on December 16, 2017 was the last one in which Shea Weber featured. We would find out a bit later (when the Canadiens felt it was time to stop messing with fans and the press alike, in February ) that Weber had been playing with a thorn tendon in his left foot, an injury sustained in the very first game of the season against Buffalo. While losing him for the rest of the 2017-2018 season was bad enough, Habs fans would find out in early July that the hulking d-man also needed a knee operation and would be sidelined for another 5 to 6 months. Fast forward to today and the long awaited moment has finally arrived, Weber will finally be sporting the C on the ice tonight! While one could be tempted to say: "And not a moment too soon" it's worth mentioning that Weber's return is a bit ahead of schedule.
Tonight's game against the Hurricanes will finally allow us to see what the Habs look like with their number one defence player in the line-up. While this does not mean that all the problems at the blue line will be solved, it is definitely a step in the right direction. If Claude Julien decides to use the line-up that was displayed at practice yesterday, Weber's partner will be none other than David Schlemko. Needless to say that raised more than one eyebrow yesterday but realistically, what could the other solution be? Petry is not comfortable playing on his off side, Mete has had a shaky start to the season so say the least, Kulak has only played 2 games with the team and is clearly not ready for that type of ice-time, Juulsen is injured and the list goes on. Until Bergevin finds a suitable partner for Shea Weber, the Habs blue line is bound to give everyone headaches but we'll just have to live with that.
If you missed yesterday's blog, these were the lines used at practice and we'll see if they change for the morning skate:
Drouin - Domi - Shaw Tatar - Danault - Gallagher Hudon - Kotkaniemi - Lehkonen Agostino - Chaput - Deslauriers Byron - Peca - Scherbak
Schlemko - Weber Kulak - Petry Benn - Mete Ouellet - Reilly
Price Niemi
It therefore looks like Peca will be on the press gallery alongside Ouellet and Reilly. I honestly can't help but wonder what Deslauriers has on Claude Julien to stay in the line-up. Yes he can dish big hits but does he dish that many? Last Saturday against the Bruins, he plastered an opposite player on the boards 5 times but in the same game, Charles Hudon (who's not a picture of toughness let's be honest) dished out 14 hits. I think it's safe to say that Hudon wanted to make sure he'd be in the line-up for a third game in a row.
As for the other lines, the Drouin-Domi-Shaw unit carried on scoring on Saturday, adding Shaw to Domi and Drouin has been a rather good move. Just like Gallagher on the Tatar-Danault-Gally line, Shaw is not afraid to step in heavy trafic to score the ugly goals and he's reaping the rewards. Speaking of Danault, some have said that he's not producing enough and that it might be time to give his spot to Kotkaniemi. Looking at numbers, Danault has got 13 points while playing with 2 of the top Canadiens scorers while Kotkaniemi has got 12 playing alongside Lehkonen who's struggling mightily to score on the youngster's beautiful set-ups and for now, Hudon on the other wing. Giving Kotkaniemi a promotion and wingers that can actually put the puck in the back of the net could be a rather good idea. It should be noted that Julien did try that briefly in last game however.
Nothing left to say but Welcome back captain!